Volume 4: The End of the World Chapter 94: Heart of Oak
"What happened down there? How is Neh? Didn't he reincarnate successfully? Why is he still..."
After the two of them escaped from the underground roots in a very embarrassing manner, Remedios excitedly grabbed Sibylla and asked:
"Didn't you say before that the minor disaster had subsided? Why did it suddenly become active again? Didn't your eyes even notice this? The ritual you designed is just like this..."
"What are you so excited about?"
Sibyl, whose forehead was scratched by the thorn branches and left bloody marks, angrily shook off Remedios's hand. She then straightened her clothes, took a deep breath to calm herself down, and then said:
"The ritual I designed failed due to some unforeseen reasons... Why are you staring at me? Is it necessary to make such a fuss? A ritual built on a legend that has no circulated history, trying to accomplish the miracle of reincarnating the dead into the living, wouldn't it be expected that such a result would occur?"
As she spoke, she looked at the densely packed thorn branches surging under the roots . If the exaggerated number of them surged to the surface, it would probably turn the entire area around the World Tree into a sea of thorns.
However, at this moment, they seemed to be held by some force, struggling to come to the surface, but they all stopped trembling under the roots.
"At least he can still do some remedial work now, which is a fortunate situation."
"What a blessing this is..."
Remedios said through gritted teeth.
"Isn't it lucky that we didn't create an uncontrollable main god who acted on instinct, and didn't cause a large-scale disaster outbreak? I remember reminding you from the beginning that designing a ritual based on unverified legends would involve unpredictable risks that even I couldn't foresee. But you insisted on taking this risk and trying this plan with a success rate of less than one in ten thousand."
Sibyl stared at the squirming thorns below and spoke in an increasingly irritated tone.
" I can understand that Neh is paranoid and crazy because of his experience, but why do you have to be paranoid and crazy too? Do you have such a groundless belief that a miracle will happen to you? Now do you know why the Chief Judge hid his life box and threw it away? It was because he had predicted that if Neh really took back his life box, without him watching over it, who knows what would happen!"
At the end, Sibilla's tone began to become excited.
From the beginning when Nehe approached her, Sibylla strongly opposed this plan with a very low chance of success. It was not until Remedios came to persuade her and promised to help her continue to search for the "end of the world" that she reluctantly agreed.
And now, when things really failed as she expected, the emotions that had been accumulating in her heart naturally burst out.
"Oh right, the Soul Box!"
However, after hearing Sibylla's complaint, Remedios seemed to recall something, and her eyes suddenly turned to the quaint box hanging around the waist of the "Stargazer".
"Although the ritual went out of control, Neh's reincarnation was still completed. As long as there is the soul box, I can sneak down and try to preserve Neh's soul again, so..."
Hope rekindled in Remedios’s eyes.
However, Sibyl directly put the soul box into her own storage space despite the other party's "eh" look.
"It's impossible... The ritual failed in this way. It's likely because there are other secrets in this soul box."
Sibilla said calmly.
"What secret?"
Remedios asked immediately.
Sibilla did not answer immediately, but took out the magic-sealing rune and set up a sealing barrier outside the root system. After applying a simple blockade, she slowly said:
"We still need to investigate what it is exactly... But during the previous ceremony, when the soul box was opened and Nehe's soul was released to feed the 'Mother Earth', I saw that there were two other powerful souls stored in the box..."
…………
The ritual that ran wild in the underground roots only completely subsided after three days. The surging sea of thorny vines seemed to have had all its vitality sucked away overnight, and all of them withered to the point where they would turn to ash and dissipate with just a breath of air.
After resting, Sibilla and Remedios made all the necessary preparations before going back to the underground root system. But when they returned to the hall, they found that it had already become a ruin.
There were no living people or dead people. In the hall, which could have been a museum of plant specimens from the entire Vic continent, all the plants were dead and the air was filled with a foul smell of corruption.
At that time, they did not suspect Ms. Hungry.
This was because Sibyl did not see any trace of the Moon Realm at all; secondly, all the Moon Realm rifts had been closed at that time, and all the Void Kings had signed a contract with the Chief Judge on Gray Castle that they would never actively affect the real world.
In that era when the contract had not yet been shaken, it was unlikely that they would cause such a big commotion in the world.
In that hall, there was no trace of Neh, and the Mother Goddess of Earth, who had almost been awakened before, also fell into silence.
After searching the underground roots for about a month, Remedios had to accept the reality. During this time, Sibyl had been studying the strange soul box.
When Remedios returned to the surface a month later, all she saw was a thick stack of research materials left for her by Sibylla.
"Let me tell you the conclusion first. Nehe's soul is the child of the first person who mirrored the Earth Mother. As for the true identity of the first Earth Mother, I have a very crazy guess, but to verify that guess, I must find the end of the world. But anyway, I 'll tell you my guess here. She is..."
…………
Although Nezemar did not hear clearly what "Sibyl" said before, he could tell from Remedios's expression at this moment that it was definitely something extraordinary.
Because she had never seen such a rich expression on Remedios's face.
For a moment, she almost thought that the Shadow Queen of Ava was an ordinary person with normal emotions.
Is it guilt, sadness, or some kind of repentance for something that cannot be pursued?
"I never thought..."
Remedios came back to her senses and spoke, looking as if she wanted to explain something.
However, before she could finish her words, Sibyl turned around.
"Time is running out."
As she spoke, she walked to the end of the Root Hall, which was the tunnel leading to the core of the World Tree.
Seeing this, Remedios did not say anything else but followed her.
Nezemar at the side also followed and asked with some doubt:
"What time is running out?"
"I don't have much time left to stay on this side."
It was Sibilla who answered.
"At the very bottom of the tree hole, the core of the World Tree is stored. Back then, Nehe used [Anti-Entropy] to set up an absolutely perfect defensive barrier. If it weren't for me, you would never be able to open it."
She turned around and looked at Remedios.
“The so-called core of the World Tree, the oak fruit that symbolizes the origin of all life—the Oak Heart—is actually the core symbolic image of Lady Hungry and Corrupted Camilla as the Void King, and is also one of the conditions for Lady Hungry and Corrupted’s birth.
"After Nehe was reincarnated, he gave his all, even allowing himself to be assimilated into Camilla's body and turned into a humanoid Moon Rift that spread the plague of corruption, just to completely prevent that thing from being activated."
Remedios answered slowly:
"I know that in the Moon Realm, this concept is called the Source of the Moon. It is the cornerstone for forging the immortal throne of the Void King..."
An unactivated Moon Source might turn into a solid substance, but once activated, it would become an ethereal concept. If it was activated in the real world, it might even bring a whole new law to the real world.
"Did the people of the Takma Cult tell you all this?"
Sibilla asked.
Remedios nodded.
"They told me that every Moon Source can be used as a consumable to create a true miracle. Whether it is to completely kill a person, or to create a field that can imprison all magic power, or to resurrect a person without any conditions.
"They said that as long as the deal is completed, the Moon Source named Oak Heart will be mine. The Moon Source related to life will most likely perform the miracle of rebirth..."
Hearing this, Sibyl sighed.
"So, what actually happens?"
Remedios returned to her previous expressionless face, but Nezemar, who was standing by, felt that her expressionless face at the moment seemed more like she was suppressing her emotions.
When they were almost in front of the tunnel, Remedios spoke:
"The miraculous effect of the Oakheart is indeed related to life. But its ability is not to resurrect the dead, but to give real life to anthropomorphic dead things."
