Chapter 607 - 607: Twin Gods

Ever since the war six months ago, the Magic Council's upper ranks had begun treating divine inheritances with an entirely new level of seriousness.

Leading figures from the fields of archaeology and history had practically been driven out into the field like a flock of sheep, ordered to search day and night through every possible source for information concerning the gods.

Surprisingly, despite almost all reliable records of the divine era having vanished from the modern world, Ishgar's relentless investigation actually managed to piece together fragments of several legends concerning gods who had once walked among mortals.

The deity with by far the most surviving information was still Ankhseram, the God of Life and Death.

The Council investigated numerous ancient families with long, well-preserved genealogies and was surprised to discover descriptions of Ankhseram scattered throughout several family histories.

There were quite a lot of them.

Unfortunately, Ankh found the contents increasingly ridiculous the more he read.

One story described a poor young man whose engagement had been broken off by a wealthy family. After falling from a cliff, he happened to encounter Ankhseram while the god was traveling through the mortal world. Impressed by the young man, Ankhseram supposedly took him as a disciple, casually transformed his constitution, and granted him peerless magical talent.

From there, the man rose from obscurity, gathered countless beautiful admirers, established a powerful family, and eventually returned to humiliate the former fiancée who had once looked down on him.

And that was hardly an isolated example.

Nearly every family claiming to have received Ankhseram's blessing told roughly the same story.

Their ancestor had been dying, destitute, persecuted, or otherwise at rock bottom when the God of Life and Death suddenly appeared, saved them, and launched them onto the path of becoming the protagonist of some wildly indulgent adventure story.

Laxus stared at the thick stack of records in his hands with open disdain.

"I'd bet less than half of these families had ancestors who ever actually saw a god."

"Be more confident."

Ankh flipped through another account, clearly enjoying himself as though he were reading a novel.

"None of them did."

By now, Ankh had recovered enough memories from his previous existence to know that much with certainty.

Aside from Irene, he really had helped several unfortunate humans during his time in the mortal world.

But nothing nearly this dramatic had happened.

At most, he had cured incurable illnesses, improved weak constitutions, and then left people to build their own lives.

There hadn't been many of them, either, and everyone he chose had possessed decent character. Those who later prospered through his blessing had all sworn never to publicly reveal what had happened.

These modern families claiming divine ancestry were probably descended from ancient devotees of Ankhseram who had never received a blessing at all and had simply embellished their family legends over generations.

Hyberion watched as nearly every important figure around the table lowered their head and became absorbed in what was essentially a collection of ancient wish-fulfillment stories.

Hardly anyone was listening to him anymore.

He coughed pointedly.

The room gradually quieted.

"Besides Ankhseram, we have also recovered the names of several other gods, although very little information about them survives."

Hyberion turned toward the display behind him.

"For example, Laius, God of Stars. Atush, God of Combat and Technique. Reinelk, God of Peace and Order."

His expression became more serious.

"But after Ankhseram, the greatest amount of surviving information concerns the deity associated with the ruins Dimaria entered."

The screen changed.

A full view of the mysterious ancient site appeared before everyone.

Hyberion spoke solemnly.

"Yuluye, God of Sin and Merit."

"A deity said to have judged the deeds of all living beings."

Ankh immediately showed a flicker of recognition.

"Yuluye…"

He murmured quietly.

"Then unless something unusual happened, Falutbeth should have been with them too."

Hyberion didn't notice Ankh's reaction and continued.

"It was only after our deeper investigation that we discovered another important detail."

"Yuluye was almost never mentioned alone."

"They were said to be constantly accompanied by another deity—Falutbeth, the god responsible for defining good and evil among living beings."

He paused.

"In other words…"

"The divine ruins Dimaria entered may contain not one divine inheritance…"

"…but two."

A stir immediately spread around the table.

Ankh, however, merely nodded to himself.

'Just as I thought.'

He quietly recalled what he knew about those two gods.

Yuluye and Falutbeth had indeed been nearly inseparable.

One judged merit and sin.

The other established the distinction between good and evil.

Their authorities overlapped and complemented one another so closely that it was difficult to speak of one without the other.

By Ankh's estimation, Yuluye ranked somewhere in the middle-to-upper tier among the twenty-three gods of the Divine Realm, roughly comparable to Atush.

Falutbeth was somewhat weaker, though still comfortably above Yusalk.

Of course, those distinctions only mattered when comparing gods to other gods.

For humans, inheriting even a fraction of either deity's power would be enough to transform someone's entire destiny.

As for their relationship with Ankhseram…

Ankh couldn't remember anything particularly significant.

If his memories were accurate, both had belonged to the rare neutral faction and had sided with neither Ankhseram nor Zous.

That made sense.

Both wielded powers rooted in opposing concepts. One judged sin and merit, while the other defined good and evil. Their very authorities demanded balance and contradiction.

After the Divine Power of Emotion began affecting the gods, they would have become even less likely to follow either faction blindly.

Around the table, however, many people still looked unconvinced by Hyberion's conclusion.

Laxus was the first to speak.

"How do we know there's actually a divine inheritance inside those ruins?"

He leaned back in his chair.

"Ishgar has controlled that place for years. If the Council had found anything that important before now, we'd know about it."

Laxus had a talent for saying uncomfortable truths without realizing how sharp they sounded.

Fortunately, Hyberion had expected the objection.

"When the Council originally investigated the Old God Ruins, every movable object with research value was removed."

He gestured toward the screen.

"But not everything could be taken away."

"For example…"

The image changed.

A gigantic magic circle appeared on the display.

It was weathered and badly damaged, its patterns ancient enough that even experienced mages had difficulty recognizing the structure.

"Another teleportation array…"

Ankh recognized the general principle immediately.

He had dealt with enough of them recently.

This one, however, was clearly far older than any modern design.

Hyberion nodded.

"Correct."

"And after an extensive investigation, we discovered something else."

The screen changed again.

This image was much blurrier.

It showed the interior of a mysterious grand hall, where portions of another magic circle could barely be seen beneath layers of stone and decoration.

Ooba Babasaama of Lamia Scale narrowed her eyes.

"Where is that?"

A bitter expression crossed Hyberion's face.

"Inside the Alvarez Empire."

The room immediately became quieter.

"In Daspech, a major port city connecting several of Alvarez's maritime trade routes."

"The corresponding magic circle is located inside a heavily guarded hall."

Hyberion sighed.

"Our intelligence agents risked their lives to obtain even this much information."

Silence settled over the table.

Goldmine, the experienced Guild Master of Quatro Cerberus, rubbed his chin while studying both images.

After a moment, he spoke uncertainly.

"A one-way pair?"

Hyberion exhaled.

Then nodded.

"Yes."

"The Old God Ruins in Ishgar are only an entrance."

"The exit lies inside Alvarez."

"From our side, the array allows entry but no return."

"From their side, it allows exit but no entry."

He looked around the table.

"A sealed space whose entrance and exit are controlled from two different continents…"

Hyberion's expression became grave.

"If whatever lies inside has nothing to do with a divine inheritance, then frankly, I have no idea what else could justify such an elaborate arrangement."