[Divine Realm]
A little earlier…
The divine realm was a place where time and space were extremely blurry and distorted. Even more so than it was in the Astral Realm.
Another difference in this realm was that the divine realm was divided into different Divine Kingdoms rather than just simple Territories.
Those were the places where the goddesses dwelled. Among the endlessly stretching ocean of stars.
If one could have a bird’s eye view of the entirety of this place, then one would realize that there were far more than just fourteen Divine Kingdoms in this place.
But outside of the fourteen related to the sin and virtues goddess, one related to Ymir, and two more Divine Kingdoms, the rest of the kingdoms were now in a state of ruin beyond even the faintest hopes of restoration.
Above all the Divine Kingdoms were three gigantic palaces that seemed to stretch beyond the horizon of providence.
Two of the palaces were showing a faint dim light while the third and largest one was also in a state of ruin like the other kingdoms.
It was in that ruined palace that the goddesses reunited when they had to discuss important matters.
This was the Divine Realm. A place where a magnificent pantheon once existed with all its insurmountable glory. A pantheon that was now nothing more than a shadow of its past self.
———
[Invidia's Divine Realm]
When the goddesses were not convening in the main palace, they would stay in their respective Kingdoms and observe the world or just experience the innumerable strings of the future.
Gods were absolute energy beings and the form they took was nothing but a matter of convenience for them.
The rules between the goddesses were rather simple.
They could not intrude into each other’s dominions. Be it in the Astral Realm or in the Mortal Realm. Observation was still possible but no direct attack was allowed otherwise repercussions were required to be endured.
In the end, goddesses rarely observed the territory of the others as they had no interest in doing so.
This wasn't the case for Invidia, however.
Ever since the altercation with her sisters about the treatment of Sol, she had been observing Lustburg non-stop like a stalker.
Not only that she had even tried to observe the future of the individuals involved, but she could feel too many interferences hampering her observation.
Not only was Sol's future absolutely blurry and hard to read, but it was clear that Luxuria was also interfering.
She also tried to observe Lilith's future, but not only Lilith was basically a Singularity, but she could feel something like a fog blocking her sight whenever she tried to peer in and see beyond.
Invidia chalked it up to her relationship with Sol and did not think much more of it.
When she initially felt the fluctuations of power, Invidia's eyebrows rose in surprise and bewilderment.
She knew very well about Lilith’s current circumstances. It wouldn't be a mistake to say that each swing of her sword now was paid with her life as collateral.
Her already dwindling lifespan was melting like snow under the radiant and merciless sun.
When she heard the name of Lilith's sword art, Invidia scoffed at the hubris of mortals who wished to do the impossible and reach beyond what they should be allowed to.
But she did not take her eyes away from her. Not even for a single second. Not even when she felt absolute disdain at her mere tricks in the name of arts.
Even though they were nothing but small ants fighting helplessly against the impossible, Invidia had to admit that there was something beautiful about chasing a seemingly impossible dream.
The reason gods observed mortals was that there was something beautiful at the core of such an inferior species.
Even more so when it was an ephemeral abomination like Lilith. Born from the struggle of another mortal who wanted to play god.
Their struggle was amusing. Their passion was attractive and the despair they felt at the end of their fleeting life when they realized that everything they did was futile gave her a rush like no other.
As such, she watched on.
She was absolutely certain that— Sol would never let Lilith die. No matter what and how he behaved.
It was an impossibility.
She had even taken into account the possibility of Sol hiding in his dimension to cure Lilith and as such, she had recently strengthened the link between them in order to be able to monitor her situation even if she could not observe her directly.
In a way, the current Lilith was as close as possible to Invidia without the possibility of her being her Blessed.
When Lilith broke the wall of dimension with her Sword, Invidia was indeed surprised. This was something that no one could do with just pure power.
One needed a deep understanding of the Laws of Time and Space to replicate this feat. Something Lilith didn’t have. Neither of Space nor of Time. What she did have, however, was an intent to cut. To sever. To annihilate everything in her path.
But this was as far as her surprise went.
Lilith was dying. The last sword had hollowed her out of all her mana. Her body was devouring her own life.
Furthermore— Sol had closed his dimension.
'This is the moment!'
Invidia, in her human form, stood up and looked down below. She was feeling emotions like never before.
This was it. This was the moment she had been waiting for all along.
Sol would never let Lilith die. He would go against her order and save her. Then she would have the perfect justification to order a Holy Crusade against the sinner.
Finally, she would show her sister that her new toy was nothing more than a rebellious ungrateful bastard like all the others before him.
Her sisters would understand that she was neither crazy nor jealous nor a whistle-blower.
If she had a heart, her heartbeat would have accelerated enough for her to risk getting a stroke. If she could sweat, her palm would be sweaty because of how much stress she was feeling.
This was why….
When she felt the link between her and Lilith severed….
Invidia screamed with rage.
"This is impossible!!"
Her rage born from the mixture of disbelief, disappointment, and pain created a storm of annihilation as she shrieked out loud.
The only possible reason for the link to vanish was Lilith’s death. There was no other way around it.
Because of how much she strengthened the link between them, she felt a deep pain in her soul due to the severance of their connection. But this pain was nothing in front of the absolute rage that was boiling inside of her.
But…
"This must be a play."
Invidia forced herself to not lose her wits.
She could not accept this reality.
She tried to read the future, but in all the few futures she could see, Lilith was indeed "dead".
But even then, she continued to believe that this was a play. An illusion. Created by the mortal she hated without equal.
The futures she could see were too severely limited to believe in them.
"I have to go down. Right now."
Invidia took a step.
Immediately, all semblance of her being a human vanished as her body grew to disproportionate dimensions.
Tall and vast enough to overlook the stars and hold them in her hands if she had the desire to do so.
She decided to break the dimensional walls and land in the space of that accursed play. That damnable illusion.
Goddesses could not see what was happening in dimensions belonging to dimensional mages.
But it wasn't like they couldn't forcedly enter if they wished to.
Tiamat was a false god. So it was one thing. But Sol was nothing more than a Duke.
No matter what trick he had, even if he used the divine powers of Luxuria to temporarily become a demigod, this would change nothing.
She did not have the coordinates of Sol's dimension but she would be able to find it if she focused on the task.
"Have you gone absolutely mad!?"
Her advance was stopped as an even more gigantic being appeared in front of her.
Luxuria. The eldest and strongest of them all.
"Sister! Why must you stop me!?"
Invidia screamed but Luxuria paid her no heed.
"When you used the rules we established against me, I stayed silent. Now you too must bow to the rules. If you move even an inch from this spot, I will attack you."
Invidia was not reconciled. She could not accept this.
It was one thing for Luxuria to scold her when she tried to break her toy.
But to even threaten her?
"Sister. You are letting a toy create a chasm between us?"
The fourteen of them had stayed together all the way since time immemorial.
Even when the Twilight of the Gods happened, they survived the madness-induced slaughter of their father by staying and protecting each other.
When Chaos and Order started to fight, they still protected each other.
Luxuria was now acting as if all those events were not even as important as a simple toy.
Seeing Luxuria staying silent, Invidia slowly lost hope.
She was losing the affection of her sister to a mortal, a mere mortal? A simple toy? A poor lost soul that was summoned to this world on a whim?
"Sister."
"Go back. Lilith died and was resurrected as an undead by Anubis' daughter. If you wish to declare a holy war against him for that then be my guest."
Invidia clamped her mouth shut.
She could see the others slowly gathering as they observed the situation.
In the end, the first one to step in was none other than Industria. The twin sister of Acedia and one of the angels' goddesses.
"The two of you know the rules. No infighting between us."
Out of all the rules they had created, this was perhaps the core one. The one that should absolutely never be disobeyed.
The only reason they survived all those ordeals was because of their unity.
Invidia bowed her head, "I wish to call for a new god summit to brand Sol Dragona Luxuria as a Heretic and declare a holy war against him."
She did not believe for one instant what Luxuria uttered just now. Undead were nothing but a shadow of their past self. Cursed and unnatural monsters unable to change or grow.
Even though they could look no different from their living self, there was something fundamentally lacking about them.
The other goddesses stirred at her declaration but Luxuria showed no expression.
In an instant, all of them projected their divine consciousness into the past in order to understand what happened for Invidia to ask for such a gathering.
Sadly for her…
Industria closed her eyes and shook her head,
"Luxuria's Blessed broke no rules as he let Lilith die. He may have used a loophole but it's not enough to accuse him. Innocent until proven guilty. The motion of branding him a heretic is rejected."
Luxuria smirked and turned around.
"Give up, sister. Stop obsessing over my Blessed."
The other goddesses looked at each other and slowly left.
The only one standing close to Invidia was her twin sister, Humanitas.
"Do you also believe I am crazy?"
Humanitas sighed.
"None of us are stupid, you know?"
Humanitas shook her head, "I do not know what he did exactly. But in the end, the rules are the rules. You lost this round."
Invidia closed her eyes.
This was indeed her loss.
—At least for now.
End of Vol 11.
(AN: So here is the end of a long volume. Wasn’t easy. But was worth it. Vol 12 will be shorter and sweeter. More dev for Lilin and Setsuna, new dev for Lilith, and an overall simple good time as Sol moves around the Kingdom and sees different sights. Vol 12 will be a transition chapter for Vol 13 which will be focused on the War. This volume will be the one where Sun Wukong officially shows up and fight. For Vol 12 I am still hesitating between Sol's coronation or Sol's visiting the elf kingdom. But either way, the heroine of Vol 12 are Lilin and Setsuna.)
