Inside Cipher’s spiritual sea, he observed the corpse of the Evil God before him.
[Name: Evil God]
[Rank: Transcendent]
[Level: 2000]
[Species: Demon]
[Health: 0/450,000]
[Mana: 48,000/48,000]
[Strength: 5,000]
[Stamina: 4,500]
[Agility: 4,200]
[Intelligence: 4,800]
[Skills: Demonic Absorption (Legendary), World Breaker (Legendary), Titan Manifestation (SSS), Miasma Regeneration (SSS), Abyssal Pressure (SSS), Dark Lightning (SSS), Demon Lord’s Dominion (SSS)]
[Unique: Demon World Domain (World)]
"Can you get rid of that thing already?" Lyra asked in annoyance.
He smiled. "Alright, I’m on it," he said, placing his hand on the body.
Since the Evil God had absorbed all the demons - even the corpses - he could only take skills from it with his Skill Theft cheat. That being said, the Evil God didn’t have any decent skills at all.
He sighed and decided to just go with Demon World Domain. It didn’t really matter since only its designation mattered. With a Commit card, he was sure to get something useful out of it.
He was about to destroy the body when he realized something.
He paused, turning to Lyra. "Say, do you get a familiar feeling from this guy?" he asked.
Lyra showed a look of disgust. Then she calmed down as she observed the corpse more closely.
"I guess he does give off the same vibe as the Demon God," she said.
Just as I thought, he thought.
He remembered seeing this same skill with the Demon God, only then it was Absolute instead of World.
"Can you explain how domains work? What’s the difference between World and Absolute?" he asked.
"Domains are abilities that let one exert control over space within a certain range," Lyra explained. "They start at the Domain level. Above that is World, and at the peak is Absolute."
She continued, "Domain is just control over a short range. World allows one to exert control over an entire planet. And Absolute makes that control... well, absolute."
She gestured casually. "Take my Absolute Sword Domain as an example. When I used it at full power, I could cut the entire world in two."
Cipher nodded. It seemed quite powerful.
In the system, it was designated as a unique skill. He guessed there were two paths of progression for unique skills.
There was the skills route - starting at Unique, with the second evolution being Ultimate, and Transcendent meaning absolute power.
Then there was the domains route - starting at Domain, progressing to World, and ultimately reaching Absolute.
Overall, Transcendent unique skills seemed much stronger, at least from what he had seen. The Transcendent Lord of Time skill even had Time Domain as a subskill. Elara literally couldn’t die.
Compared to unique skills, domains were just... meh.
Though the power was definitely real.
The way he saw it, domains were like martial arts abilities, while unique skills were similar to cheats in a way - in a different league entirely.
"Do you think they could be connected?" he asked.
Lyra looked at him, then at the Evil God. With a sigh, she nodded.
"They probably are," she said. Then she turned to him. "Your theory was that the Eternal Flame had turned against his own creation, right?"
He nodded.
"How about another theory?" she suggested. "What if there are actually two?"
"Two Eternal Flames?" he asked.
"Yeah. More precisely, two beings of equal power," she said. "The Eternal Flame created the Chaos... and the other one wants to destroy it. The Demon God and Evil God could be his minions."
Cipher nodded slowly. That was indeed an interesting idea.
He looked at her. "Wouldn’t that mean you’re on the evil side?" he asked. "I mean, your title was literally Heavenly Demon. You use demonic qi. And you’re not even human."
Lyra’s eyes widened. "What do you mean not human?" she asked.
Cipher was confused. "Wasn’t your species Asura?" he asked.
Then he scratched his head. "Though I suppose it doesn’t matter now, since you lost your body and all," he said.
He observed her more closely. "Your species is now Spirit. Oh, it’s similar to that hero guy."
Lyra suddenly got up, her expression serious.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"I need to be alone for a sec," she said as she walked into the house.
He watched her go, confused.
What’s up with her all of a sudden?
Oh well.
He shrugged and exploded the Evil God’s body into nothingness.
He then summoned the status screen.
"Time to optimize my skills," he said.
...
Lyra sat in a meditative posture, her expression serious.
How could she have missed it?
There was a huge inconsistency in her memories.
She had started out as a servant of the young cult leader. But how had she become a servant? Who were her parents? How come she didn’t have any memory of them?
Her expression turned even more grim.
And even worse... how come she had never questioned it?
She exhaled slowly, forcing herself to calm down.
There must be a logical explanation.
She closed her eyes and dove into her own spiritual sea.
She appeared in a beautiful landscape. Flowers extended infinitely in all directions - vibrant, alive, endless. Totally different compared to Cipher’s infinite dead world.
She looked around.
While she was young back then and could have forgotten some things, the spiritual sea was the embodiment of one’s mind. She should be able to recover any lost memories from here.
She focused on her past self.
Suddenly, the scene changed and everything went dark.
...
Then suddenly, everything was bright again.
A massive structure of ice towered before her - a castle, grand and imposing. Every surface was carved with intricate decorations, frost patterns weaving across the walls. The architecture was beautiful beyond words.
In the center of a great hall, a couple stood over an ice platform.
On the platform lay a crying baby.
A beautiful woman with flowing white hair gazed down at the child, her features elegant like the castle around her. Beside her stood... well, there was definitely something. An entity that simply defied description. Every time Lyra tried to focus on its form, her mind simply refused to process what she was seeing.
As the baby cried, the world around her resonated with her wails.
The space around the couple began destabilizing. Cracks appeared in space, and even time began showing signs of collapse - moments stuttering, freezing, reversing.
Yet the woman only smiled, her expression bright with joy.
"Husband, it’s a girl..."