Chapter 216: Lore Revelation (2)

’Goddess Zemira?’ Kaelen mused in genuine shock and disbelief.

"You’re right. My intuition was also right, and Zemira ended up killing her elder sister and her youngest sisters who stuck with her because she was too powerful for our jealous Zemira. Do you understand now why Emir took a beating for trying to make a change?" Kelsey asked with a knowing smile.

"What you’re saying still makes no sense. You haven’t answered my question either; if we’re all descendants of Atreus, why is my bloodline being scorned upon?"

"Do you have a comprehension problem?" Kelsey asked blankly as she twirled her hand around the side of her head, making Kaelen frown deeply.

"Out of the nine siblings, only five survived the Great War when a truce was called, and the realm was divided into five universes, one for each. Of course, the people under them were still scared of their origin, so to ensure a revolution never happened, five of them dropped their father’s name to become independent supreme beings in their domains.

"If you still don’t get it, then let me break it down for you. Every single one of the five universes in our realm resents the others for the bloodshed during the Great War. In your bloodline’s case, after the Great War, Zemira decided she didn’t want her younger sister around anymore and decided not just to end her but also her entire race discreetly. But she fled with humanity’s survivors across the universe, searching for a safe haven to hide... Does that sound familiar to you, Kaelen?" Kelsey asked Kaelen, whose eyes were wide with shock as all the pieces clicked into place.

"That was... when they found Akkad..." he trailed off.

"Bravo—"

"No..." Kaelen suddenly interrupted her.

"Huh?"

"That still makes no sense. If humanity is innocent, who revolted against Akkadians? If this nameless woman successfully escaped to Akkad with humanity, where is she now? And most importantly, are you trying to say both Zemira and all her siblings have the same bloodline ability that makes people fear us?"

Kelsey only smiled before she replied. "Who revolted against Akkad? What do you expect? Another conspiracy?" She laughed. "Humanity did, of course. They found no reason to be under another race when they had this ’nameless woman’ who was as strong as Zemira herself. And that brings us to your second question. This nameless woman wasn’t happy with what humanity did, and this made her abandon them. Just like her father, she disappeared, leaving everything behind. Everyone knows her legend but mysteriously forgot her name after she disappeared, as if she never existed. That’s how powerful she is.

"To answer your third question, I think you know the answer full well. The Atreus bloodline ability can’t be replicated. Each time an ability is created using the Atreus bloodline ability, it’s unique, just like the multiplication ability you have can’t be found anywhere else. So when I said Atreus had nine children, each and every one of them got a different ability, except the last child, who inherited the abilities of her father that allowed her to create abilities and bestow them upon others. That was what Zemira saw and feared about her youngest sister."

Kaelen was silent for a moment as he worked through the pieces and realised they all fit together perfectly.

He still wasn’t satisfied. He remembered what his mother had told him about humanity: how the Atreus bloodline created abilities to crown humanity’s strongest warriors, who waged war against other worlds. What about that?

"Hmm? Is that what your mother told you?" Kelsey asked in confusion.

Kaelen froze as he stared at her. He had just posed that question in his mind, yet she answered him.

"Yes, she told me that. Are you trying to say she lied to me?"

Kelsey didn’t reply immediately. She paused as if she were thinking about it for a moment. "She didn’t. But that’s not how it actually happened. The big families from your race at some point figured out how to tap into the realm’s power through a virtual console. So they did that, and with the help of the Atreus family, who bestowed abilities upon a select few they found worthy in their eyes, they launched several attacks on various innocent worlds in a bid for revenge. That was what sparked the hatred for your race, and it was around that time that the Akkadians, who had been growing behind the scenes, struck back for the first time in many years. That attack killed most of humanity’s so-called strongest warriors. I guess they weren’t the strongest after all," Kelsey said thoughtfully.

Her reply threw Kaelen into utter confusion. "Wait... did you just say the Akkadians launched an attack that killed humanity’s strongest warriors? All of them?"

Though the story made sense, it explained what Governor Grey had mentioned to him about leading an army of humanity’s strongest warriors to destroy worlds. But if that was before the Great Cataclysm, who were the warriors fighting Akkad inside Evolution Online?

"Warriors fighting Akkad?"

"Can you stop reading my mind and just listen to what I tell you?" Kaelen scolded in exasperation.

"No, but seriously. What are you talking about? There’s nobody fighting Akkad, not even humanity. Your race lost everything, including the entire Atreus family, leaving only your mother because she was basically the one who killed all of them."

"W-What? No. You’re wrong. Before my mother did it, you guys did it first. You attacked humanity. You caused the Great Cataclysm before my mother went back in time to do it herself."

Kelsey stared at him strangely. "What? What nonsense are you spouting? No one can invade Akkad from outside thanks to Atreus’s youngest daughter, which is exactly why your enemies are trying so hard to shortlist your world for the Global Descent. Have you ever stopped to wonder what the Global Descent means? It doesn’t mean hell; it only inaugurates Akkad into the universe to make it accessible to all. Besides, that wouldn’t have been possible because after the Great Cataclysm, as you call it, humanity became afraid of their enemies coming to finish them off and surrendered themselves to Goddess Zemira. If they remitted a good amount of evolution points every month, she’d make sure no one touched them. And any item she wanted from your world was to be given to her.

"Your race defaulted twice: once when they failed to hand over a Supreme Gourmet Cauldron because the man who was in possession of it refused to hand it over, and again when a boy, who turned out to be the son of that man, killed the men whom the Goddess had put in charge in a bid for revenge for destroying his Stronghold.

"Does that ring a bells, Kaelen Cross?"