Ch 186 – A Deal Between True Gods

In front of her eyes, motes of dark purple light slowly gathered together. The motes of light then formed a humanoid silhouette, with two arms and legs, yet lacking a face nor distinct features. It had a slim and athletic body, yet if one were to look at the humanoid figure, one couldn't differentiate it from either being male or female, its appearance was extremely androgynous.

"Who are you?" Angelica responded with a flash of hostility in her eyes. For a new being to appear in her True World, it made her feel alarmed and threatened. For a being to achieve this feat, that would mean that they are also of True God level!

Seeing her acting hostile, the dark purple humanoid figure raised both of its arms quickly while shouting: "I'm not here to fight you, I just want to talk."

Hearing that didn't ease her worries, but she hid the hostility in her eyes and let the figure approacher her. As the figure did so, her eyes gleamed with countless thoughts in mere moments: 'Are they an enemy? How come they were able to enter my True World? What True God are they? Wait, purple… Don't tell me!'

Countless thoughts flashed in her mind in just a few seconds, this was the strength of a True God. Even though she may be a cheater wielding broken abilities, she still faced countless trials and tribulations to reach her current stage of growth. If she was naïve and stupid, then she would have died already before even reaching Godhood!

"It seems that you already know who I am based on your expression of shock," the being said as it stopped a few meters away from her and continued: "Yes, I am Akasha, the owner, and creator of the Akashic System."

Seeing that the mysterious figure—Akashas, confirmed her suspicions, the aura around her body flared up as hostility and killing intent burst out at full force. She raised her arm, and beams of golden light flew out at an unprecedented speed.

Seeing her attack, Akasha remained still and the attack passed through its body like it was a mere illusion. "Don't worry, I'm just a projection."

"Speak, who are you, why did you spread your system in my world, and why are you here?" Angelica didn't loosen up one bit, she was still fully prepared to attack to stop Akasha's funny business at any given moment.

"Well, I am Akasha, and I would like to keep my law hidden because it seems like you are plotting to kill me. And as for me spreading my system to Earth and all your other worlds, well it was simply a coincidence. I was merely spreading my system to any world I find, and besides, didn't it benefit you immensely?" Akasha responded with a light-toned voice but Angelica wasn't having any of that.

"Answer the question," Angelica responded coldly.

"Hmm, it seems like you are struggling a lot over there," Akasha dismissed Angelica's orders and turned its head towards the large gaping hole in the far distance that spread for thousands of kilometers.

Seeing that the topic went towards the hole in her True World, she glared at the being in front of her and said: "It seems like you are interested in my predicament."

"Well, interested is an understatement. To think that the powerful Goddess Angelica has fallen to the trap of the Demon Lord, isn't that quite tragic?" Akasha looked at Angelica with its eyeless head and continued: "Tell me, are you willing to cooperate with me?"

"No," Angelica instantly responded with her cold voice.

Cooperating with an unknown stranger that she had zero info about? Only a madman would do such a thing.

"Now don't be so prejudistic. While my first impression of you was indeed quite bad considering I spread my system to the entirety of Earth, you should understand that the majority of the reason why Earth is still surviving was due to me," Akasha said as a purple screen opened up in front of the duo.

There, they saw countless purple dots moving all throughout Earth, some were larger while some were smaller, and a faint purple thread connected all of the dots into outer space towards nowhere. Seeing that, Angelica lessened her killing intent but still gazed coldly at Akasha.

Slowly, the screen zoomed in toward Earth where they saw a peculiar sight.

There, humans can be seen fending against hordes of monsters relentlessly inside cities. The human hunters all wore white armor with the golden symbol of the Paragon Guild etched onto their chests, and they all fought fiercely against the monsters without fear.

On the front, a man wielding a ginormous hammer charged towards a ginormous mantis that had a black metallic carapace and sharp silver scythes, blood dripped down from its scythes and it stared coldly at the approaching human in front of it.

"Hah!" The man shouted and fierce red energy exploded from his body. His muscles bulge, his skin hardened, and his veins popped.

All throughout his hammer, the red energy wrapped around the handle to the head and it gave off a dangerous aura.

In response, the mantis charged forward like a gust of wind, and its scythes appeared right in front of the man in mere moments. But just as it did appear, the man swung his hammer and it directly collided with the mantis' scythes, causing a loud explosion to occur as their collision produced gargantuanly strong air pressure that broke the windows of the nearby buildings.

As the smoke receded from the fight scene, a man dripping with blood stared at the sky with a wobbling body. But slowly, a strange form of energy coursed throughout his entire body, his bleeding body healed, his exhaustion went away, and strength coursed through his muscles.

He roared loudly to the sky, and a burst of energy erupted from him as the epicenter: "Hahaha! So this is S-Rank! It truly feels like I am reborn!"

The man cheered and he picked up his hammer as if it was a light sword, and stared at the horde of monsters rushing toward him with a fearless smile.

"Come! Sacrifice yourself and be my strength!" He charged forward and swung his armor like it was a light sword.

Just like that, he decimated the horde of monsters, and intense energy coursed through his body, rejuvenating him, and removing his wounds while providing him with the energy to continue fighting. It was exactly like a game, where killing monsters would give experience to the player and make them get stronger the more they fought and kill other beings.

"Now let's see how your other worlds are faring up without my system," Akasha continued, and the screen changed to show a bleaker world.

On the screen, they saw pools of blood enveloping entire continents and dying the seas and ocean red. Monsters roamed freely throughout the entire area, as any signs of human life were quickly extinguished.

Human corpses were littered everywhere, as pulverized bones, torn flesh, exposed innards, and other gruesome scenes can be seen wherever the two looked. Then the screen flashed once more, showing a ginormous kingdom covered in a golden barrier that struggled to protect the people inside from the harsh onslaught of the monsters outside.

Inside it, people wearing priestly robes shot magical projectiles toward the monsters banging at the golden barrier. Yet no matter how much they killed, more monsters would just appear and continue to attack their barrier.

"Oh, Goddess Angelica! Please grant us your protection from these hysterical monsters!" Many chanted prayers to her name while they desperately fend off the beasts, yet she felt a sense of powerlessness as the Demon Lord, Ordo, completely blocked her from the outside world.

As they desperately prayed, the barrier finally broke down into fragments of shattered golden light that made their eyes widen in fear. Screams and shrill cries broke out from the ginormous kingdom as monsters invaded it relentlessly. Every human inside died one by one, and the monsters didn't let a single whiff of human life go unnoticed.

Just that alone made her feel her control over reality that she holds due to the Law of Divinity getting weaker, causing her eyes to glare at the monsters that rampaged around her world.

Seeing her eyes glare at the screen, Akasha laughed and said with a polite tone: "See? Without my help, all of your worlds would eventually be taken over and you'll lose all your worshippers, unlike other True Gods whose strength relies solely on their True World Core, your strength is dependent on your worshippers due to your Law."

Hearing that, she paused for a moment before responding coldly: "So what? I'm still a True God, I have grasped the 'Truth' of the Law of Divinity, even if all of my worshippers were to die, I can just restart over with my remaining worshippers in my True World."

"Well, in my eyes…" Akasha said while looking back at the chaos corrosion brought by Ordo, "At this rate, you'll actually lose all of your worshippers and truly start from zero. But, if you were to listen to my deal and accept, I might just help you out of this precarious situation."

Angelica, at that moment, sighed inside her mind. She knew that she can't afford to start over from scratch, because once she is weak enough, the Demon Lord would instantly go for the kill. So she calmed down while remaining cold outside and said: "Go on."

"Hehehe, it seems like we're finally on the same page. All I want from you," Akasha said and pointed their finger toward Angelica, "Is that you allow my system to spread all throughout the worlds you conquered. I can assure you that there will be no funny business in regards to my system, and I'll just be using all of your worshippers as sources of 'experience' for me too, which is a win-win situation for the both of us, wouldn't you think so too?"

'He's obviously right. I have examined his system for a long time already and I can confidently say that he's saying the truth. Akasha… You truly are interesting.' Angelica thought with a cold smile inwardly.

"So?" Akasha continued.

"I accept."

"I knew you would accept. Good, good, I hope that our partnership would be full of prosperity," Akasha smiled and stretched out its hand.

Responding calmly, Angelica stretched out her hand and both grabbed each other's hand, grasping each other tightly as a strange power coursed through the duo. As her vision flashed, she saw countless worlds that she had under her domain enveloped by a dark purple light, which caused her to feel slightly shocked. But she calmed down and turned her head towards the large gaping hole in her True World, and she loosened up upon seeing the corrosion has finally gone away.

"I sadly have no way to remove the cage that the Demon Lord put you in, so it's entirely up to you to remove it. But I wish you the best of luck at overcoming this struggle, partner," Akasha said and just like that, Angelica found herself alone in her True World once more.

"Akasha, I'll remember that name when I eventually get out of this universe and enter the wider multiverse."

***

In the dark void, one can find a strange dark purple sphere silently pulsating with purple light at random intervals. Sitting beside the dark purple sphere was a man with long white hair, wearing a large white robe with a white halo floating behind his back. He

"The connection is set," a calm soothing voice came out of the dark purple sphere. Upon hearing the voice, the man with long white hair opened his pair of blue eyes.

"Mmm, my connection with Angelica has proceeded smoothly. It seems like Phase 2 is just going as you expected," Nicolas Olfen said with a smile.

In response, the dark purple sphere remained silent and only continued to pulsate with purple light, but Nicolas didn't seem bothered by it and closed his eyes once more.

AN: This chapter has 2034 words.

Just so you guys know, I still have no clue how I'll make the progression for True Gods so the 'Angelica Law of Divinity different progression dependent on worshippers' was utter bullshit because the way True Gods grow stronger isn't even finalized yet.

(November 3, 2022 – 344th day of writing)