Ch 148 – The Goddess 

It was finally New Year for the people of Earth. They have managed to fend off the dangers of the apocalypse from the Year 2020 and now, they're a thriving society that can handle the dungeons that run rampant on their planet.

Now, they have survived for 31 years as it was finally the Year 2051, and it was something everyone in the world celebrated. No matter the ethnicity, race, country, or continent, they all laughed in joy for they survived. No, they didn't just survive, they thrived!

Fireworks, drinks, foods, and feasts, all of them waited in store as billions of people celebrated this monumental day in history, but humans aren't the only ones celebrating.

In a place called heaven, it was depicted as a place above the clouds where angels and dead souls roam in eternal happiness.

Though it might not be a direct depiction, that place does indeed exist. A light golden sky, endless rolling clouds, humanoid beings with white wings flapping behind their backs, floating islands of brilliant scenery, streams of crystal-clear water, trees with shiny red apples dangling down from branches, it was simply a dazzling sight of fantasy.

And in such a place, the angels and dead souls celebrated. They ate food, sang songs and holy hymns, played games with one another, partied, and they did everything to their heart's content.

Even the warrior angels can be seen playing around, casting away their strict and serious demeanor as they enjoyed their time with everyone else.

But one place remained silent amidst all the celebration, a golden palace of divine size, its presence casting a holy presence to the entirety of heaven. It shone like a brilliant sun, illuminating heaven with its golden glow.

Inside it, the servants of the Goddess were gone as she has given them some time off, so the palace felt barren and lonely on such a festive day. But a singular figure remained inside the aloof palace that stood loftily above the fluffy white clouds.

There she was, a humanoid figure that sat on a golden throne. Her face was divine, her skin was akin to white jade, and her golden hair and eyes complemented one another as if she was the purest gold one can find on heaven and earth. Her beauty can simply be described as otherworldly, directly surpassing the mortal realm, and would make anyone who looks at her bow in revery, for her holy presence can make anyone worship her in her honor.

She held the qualities one would expect from a Goddess, but her godly visage was seemingly broken as her brows were furrowed and she stared at the air in front of her where a projection of Earth can be seen. Weirdly enough, the projection of Earth in front of her had countless dark spots slowly spreading everywhere, they were akin to dark miasma and held a sinister aura to them.

"Annoying pest. The Demon Lord is still trying to spread his influence on Earth. Not only that, he's been getting stronger every passing year, his influence is slowly spreading like wildfire, which makes my sources of Mental Energy die off one by one. But as long as devoted souls remain in heaven, I can continuously receive Mental Energy," She muttered while her eyes glowed golden, and the places with darkness slowly receded.

As the golden glow receded in her eyes, she looks down and felt her body slightly weakened. Considering the Demon Lord has spent more than a thousand years growing, his strength could now affect even the current Goddess.

'Though I am only an avatar.' The Goddess, Angelica, added.

Taking another look at the projection of Earth in front of her, she closed her eyes and felt her body going back to its peak state as countless streams of Mental Energy flooded into her. Moreover, the streams of Mental Energy coming from billions of subjects that know of her existence and worship her slowly made her strength grow, slightly increasing it bit by bit each second.

That was the terrifying ability of beings who harness Mental Energy as the source of their strength. When you reach a certain level of growth, you'll only grow exponentially from there. And right now, Angelica has reached the level of a Multiversal Goddess with countless avatars spread throughout the entirety of the multiverse, each bringing her countless sources of Mental Energy.

The strength she currently wields can not even be imagined, for she has spread her foothold throughout the Multiverse with her special cheat.

But, as she looks back at the projection of Earth once more, she can already see more dark spots start to appear which she swiftly took care of, returning the Earth back to its pure state once more.

Waving her arm, she dismisses the projection of Earth in front of her and replaced it instead with multiple golden screens in front of her. Each screen was like the status of a game character, with their general information being seen on the screens.

She slowly waved her arms and zoomed in on a certain screen where a certain man can be seen.

"Grid, the current holder of the Merchant System. Hmm, he's been growing quite fast compared to the others, especially with his high intelligence and attunement to money. Though his cheat isn't that beneficial to me once I take it back considering my real body is already multiversal. But any cheat is a good cheat."

Yes, the Goddess does indeed have the absurd ability to not just have the ability to gather Mental Energy, but also bestow and acquire cheats! It's like she holds abilities for a Goddess in those animes that bestow cheats to random bozos for free without any strings attached, but not for her, she's a cunning fox who has reached a level of power few could ever reach by using her abilities to the fullest.

She's a full-fledged Goddess through and through. With just a single avatar alone, she has spread her influence onto multiple worlds already as her avatar's power grew throughout the thousand years. And just like what any person with a brain would do when they have the power to bestow cheats which they can take for themselves, they would of course farm the heck out of it.

With her ability to bestow and take, she was able to quickly rise in power and break through the boundaries of her universe. And like the smart woman she is, she made countless avatars and spread her influence throughout the multiverse, spreading her name and allowing herself to grow more powerful as more and more cheats are given to her.

Each second that passes is equivalent to another cheat being given to her.

In fact, her home universe has already been thoroughly conquered, this is simply a parallel universe. Many Demon Lords have already died at her avatars' hands, and she is simply another avatar that has to deal with a Demon Lord.

Her current level of strength is simply the start, she has already spread her paws throughout multiple planets with her ability to reincarnate gained from another cheat before, so she has multiple worlds already worshipping her.

Waving her hand, the screen changed to another person as she smiled pleasantly, "Shadow Monarch, you truly are the biggest pie on Earth. You've already surpassed Kilt, one of my most loyal pawns on Terra by leaps and bounds. With your cheat, you'll grow to be a fine general under me, and be one of my leading attackers later on once I forcefully take hold of other planets, especially when I have to deal with that Demon Lord who's been harassing me constantly."

She truly was pleased with the progress of this certain pawn of her. Shadow Monarch, that's a name that is as famous as the Empress of Light, two hunters that have reached the apex. With his horde of shadows and fast growth that is akin to a shooting star, he became a powerful Z-Rank Hunter in only a couple of years, and him reaching even beyond that is very much a certainty.

As she waved her fingers once more, the golden screens in front of her disperse into golden glitter and transformed into multiple spheres of gold. Each of those spheres of gold in front of her was the planet she has under her grasp, which indicates how terrifying her strength might be as of now.

'My influence on Terra is already waning due to the Demon Lord.' Angelica commented as she looks at one of the planets and saw that a certain continent on it was colored black and that darkness continues to spread outwards that even the Western and Eastern Continents are facing a turbulent time, not just the Central Continent.

'What could have changed that made the Demon Lord become so aggressive? It all started around 2050 when he started to turn more aggressive, but why would he do that? No matter what I think of, it doesn't seem like his "plans" has another side to them.' She wondered. Considering 2050 was the time the Demon Lord changed, it made her wonder what plan he has in store for her.

'Plan all you want, my own strength will crush whatever you have in store.' Angelica grinned, before dismissing the golden sphere and inspecting the others.

Considering how strong she was, her mere presence alone could destroy an entire planet, so she needs to grow generals under her that can do her bidding. Yes, she was indeed suffering from success.

'Hmm, there is also some turbulence in Gaia. Other than that, most of the worlds under my domain are doing well, good, good.' She nodded her head and felt pleased with her current power.

Multiple worlds were under her grasp, and hundreds of billions of lives were worshipping her, as long as this trend goes as expected, she'll grow exponentially the more time passes, and perhaps she'll conquer the entire galaxy in only a hundred years from now.

But, as she dismissed the array of golden spheres in front of her and relaxed for a bit, her eyes widened in shock as she noticed the burst of energy exploding outwards more than a hundred million kilometers away in the void of space in the solar system of Earth.

Hastily, she opened her eyes wide as they glowed a bright golden light, and her vision changed to inspect what was happening. As she inspected at a place far away from Earth's solar system, she saw an explosion of purple light swallowing the entire solar system whole from out of nowhere with no clear point of origin. It was like the source of that burst of energy was scattered throughout the entire solar system, which was strange.

The burst of energy that appeared was strange. It was clearly mana, but it held a strange quality to it that Angelica can't describe clearly. Not only that, she can't even trace back to the source no matter what method she employed, including the broken cheats she gathered over the years.

'Strange? What did that light do?'

As soon as the light covered the entire solar system, it simply disappeared like it never existed. Moreover, she was the only one who noticed it, which should have been impossible due to how strong it was, and yet here she was, dumbstruck at what truly happened.

But, as she moved her focus to Earth to see what happened, she saw nothing strange at first before feeling that strange feeling once more.

'What is it? What is this feeling?'

She questioned what that feeling could have been. Until finally, she activated another one of her cheats and her eyes opened wide.

'What is this?!' She asked in shock. All throughout Earth, she can see countless streams of purple light all interconnected to one another, and each one leads to countless humans all throughout Earth, with the source of that purple stream of light stemming from an unknown place.

*Ding*

[Akasha System has activated]

AN: This chapter has 2012 words.

Ah, the satisfaction of finishing an overly complicated scheme is really great. Yeah, the thing the two have been doing was for this system this whole time. And finally, it's time for Isaac Deathwill to take the throne of the dead and cement his name as the Emperor of Death.

(September 15, 2022 – 295th day of writing)