The hauntingly beautiful goddess laughed as she cursed all the future inheritors of Elder Ichor.
The curse, though seemingly simple, held a profound purpose. Through this malevolent enchantment, the hauntingly beautiful goddess ensured that no worthy inheritor of the Elder Ichor would emerge with a promising destiny.
She intended to employ her own curse as a guide to locate potential Elder Seeds, thwarting their growth before they could sprout. By targeting these budding Elder Seeds, she wanted to assure herself that the dying god's "throne" would remain vacant for all eternity.
This curse had the potential to affect all prospective True Inheritors of the Elder Ichor to varying degrees. The more capable and closer to becoming the genuine heir to the dying god's throne they were, the more pronounced the curse's impact. Moreover, this curse was designed to manifest in any world in the boundless cosmos where potential Elder Seeds existed, leaving no escape from its grasp.
If she couldn't claim the dying god's throne, the hauntingly beautiful goddess aimed to keep it unclaimed and vacant for eternity. With no worthy successor, she believed she had nothing to fear.
"No! Stop her!" implored the goddess with tear-filled eyes, cradling the dying god's head in her lap, as she beseeched the omnipotent presence standing beside her. However, the latter calmly explained.
"I can't. She possesses the authority and means to curse the potential true inheritor of the Elder Ichor." The omnipotent existence directed its gaze towards the hauntingly beautiful goddess as it delivered this neutral assessment.
The establishment of this Divine Curse had come at the cost of the hauntingly beautiful goddess's very Divinity. The last curse she had placed upon the potential true inheritor of the Elder Ichor had already inflicted significant damage to her Divinity. These injuries were compounded by her previous curses upon the dying god.
Consequently, this cursing goddess was destined to enter periods of slumber and wakefulness in the future. Henceforth, she would be known as the Slumbering Goddess.
The only way for her to rid herself of the aftereffects of these curses and prevent her perpetual bouts of slumber was to take the curse back. This was something she would never do.
***
"It is done," the hauntingly beautiful goddess proclaimed, a wicked grin adorning her face as she lowered her hands. Eren sensed through the dying god's memories that both goddesses had weakened due to the immense strain of wielding their divinities in such a manner.
His ally goddess, his sister, endured suffering as she endeavored to ensure a part of him was revived through his heir. She sought his Echo's existence. On the other hand, his enemy goddess—the one who had just cursed all his future inheritors—was also in pain, having gone the extra mile to bring about his destruction and that of his potential successors to his "throne."
Emotions stirred within the dying god for the first time in a long while as this scene unfolded before him. Initially, Eren had believed that the dying god could not experience emotions because of the effects of the dream-like world he had been summoned inside. Yet, when the dying god began to harness these emotions, they surged like tidal waves.
"Alephee, my sister!" the dying god finally spoke, his eyes welling with tears as he observed the hole in her heart, symbolizing her sacrifice of her own Divinity using her own hands. He gently grasped her hand, gazing into her eyes that had been brimming with tears for a considerable time.
"I am sorry you had to endure this," the dying god spoke as clarity returned to his eyes. For the very first time, Eren saw the reflection of the dying god in the weeping goddess' eyes.
Eren was struck by the appearance of the dying god. He had to admit that the dying god was better endowed in the looks department than he was. The god possessed waist-length, snow-white hair and a chiseled face that made him strikingly handsome. His icy blue eyes appeared as profound as the concept of the deep blue sea itself. It reminded Eren of his white-haired transformation.
However, he felt a bit regretful that he could not naturally harness such looks in that transformation. Not that he couldn't alter his appearance as per his whims and fancy if he really wanted to.
This dying god wore flowing white robes. His divine form was immaculate in every sense, or would have been if it were not gradually melding into nothingness.
***
'Hmm? Hold on1 what did he say?'
Eren took a moment to grasp the implications of what he had just heard, or rather, understood from the dying god's memories and emotions.
'Did he just mention Alephee?' Eren was dumbfounded when he recognized the identity of the weeping goddess. If he had any control over the dying god's body in this dream-like realm, he would have expressed his astonishment by widening his eyes upon discovering Alephee's origins in this manner.
Only now, Eren could scrutinize the face of the weeping goddess for himself after realizing who she truly was. She bore striking resemblances to the current Alephee residing in a homunculus body. There were only subtle differences in her appearance, but these nuances were sufficient to depict the beautiful goddess she was at this point in her existence.
"Brother! You... you can speak?" Alephee was taken aback to witness the dying god exhibiting emotions after such a long period of emotional silence. Not too long ago, he had cast aside all his emotions to create the Seven Planes of Sins, establishing order in the boundless cosmos that had been plunged into chaos by the infiltration of demons into various worlds.
He had then appointed Seven Demon Princes to govern these Planes, ensuring that demonic influences adhered to the laws of the boundless cosmos and Creation.
Ever since the dying god had forged the Seven Planes of Sins by relinquishing his emotions, he had remained quiet and reclusive. Even when brought to death's door by the enemy goddess, he had felt nothing. No anger towards the enemy goddess, no wrath towards her allies who had harmed him.
His heart had been devoid of negative emotions, for he had willingly abandoned them.
Yet, Alephee—the tears of her sister and her current state of suffering—was something he could not ignore. The Seven Planes of Sins, constructed upon the foundation of the dying god's discarded emotions, now faced the risk of crumbling as he began to reclaim his emotions.
The dying god gently caressed his sister's tear-stained face with his bare hands before addressing the omnipotent existence. "Mother, you know that you owe me one, right?" he declared in an authoritative tone.
It became evident that the dying god held more sway than his sister as he issued commands to the omnipotent presence before him, whom he referred to as mother. She acted promptly upon the dying god's resurgence of emotions.
"Very well," the Mother responded to the dying god before raising her own hands to enact a grand spell.
"The fabric of cause and effect within the boundless cosmos shall remain untarnished. Curses and blessings shall be distributed impartially. The Curse of the Feminine shall lose most of its powers when the future inheritors are devoid of their mothers' love.
And since they have been cursed by the feminine, they shall also be blessed by it," the omnipotent existence utilized her own powers to ripple through the intangible fabric of cause and effect.
A faint smile graced the dying god's lips upon hearing his Mother's words. Instead of directly opposing the enemy goddess's curse, she had redirected it by ensuring his future inheritors would be raised without their mothers. However, he discerned a deeper significance in his Mother's handling of this curse.
"You do not wish a part of me to call someone else their mother, do you? How possessive of you!" The dying god spoke serenely to the omnipotent existence, even though all that remained of him was his upper body, as the lower half had dissolved into nothingness.
AN: Chapter 1059 talks about the dying god relinquishing his emotions to craft the Seven Planes of Sins and designating the seven Demon Princes as their de facto rulers. Chapter 1060 introduces the term "unoccupied throne" for the first time.
