Chapter 66: The Secret of the True Gods
"What’s wrong?"
Sylvia leaned back against the chair, asking in a tone of doubt.
"This…"
Lakdevo leapt from the chair back onto the table, carefully examining the diamond with his small red eyes, while tapping it lightly with his wing.
At the very instant his wing touched the gemstone, Sylvia keenly noticed a flash of deep purple light that vanished in an instant. Just as it was about to sink into the interior of the gem, it seemed to be scorched by something, emitting a sizzling sound.
"Hmm?"
Seeing this scene, she straightened up with great interest.
At this moment, both her sight and spiritual intuition told her that this was an extraordinarily valuable treasure.
Seeing his experiment yield results, Lakdevo let out a long breath of relief, then turned to face Sylvia and respectfully spoke:
"Esteemed Master, I believe my judgment was correct."
"Speak."
The gray-haired puppet lightly tapped the tabletop with her finger, adopting a listening posture. After organizing his words briefly, Lakdevo slowly spoke:
"We transcendents of the God of Death path walk alongside death and eternal silence, able to clearly perceive the marks left by the passage of time."
"Therefore, by my judgment, this diamond was carved more than fifteen hundred years ago, whereas the rest of the necklace was crafted no more than three hundred years ago."
"Oh?"
Sylvia reached out and took the necklace. A flash of starlight passed through her hand, and all parts except for the diamond turned into shimmering particles of light and dispersed.
"And the craftsmanship of this gemstone feels extremely familiar to me. I… may have seen it in its complete form."
At this moment, Lakdevo’s voice was filled with a sense of reminiscence.
"Its complete form?"
Sylvia chuckled lightly and repeated his words.
"Yes."
This time, Lakdevo did not keep her guessing, but directly said:
"It was once embedded on a crown."
"And that crown was called the 'Dolgounas Crown,' originally regarded as a symbol of supreme royal authority."
"But three hundred years ago, it came to be known as the 'Crown of Misfortune and Curse.'"
Upon hearing this, the smile on Sylvia’s face grew more pronounced, and she did not hide her curiosity:
"'Dolgounas Crown'? Is the 'Dolgounas' here referring to that 'Pure-White Emperor' of the Koinsprache Empire?"
"Yes."
Lakdevo nodded:
"This crown was one of the symbols of His authority. It was lost along with His fall."
Sylvia nodded, then continued to inquire:
"You said that three hundred years ago, this crown was called the 'Crown of Misfortune and Curse'?"
"According to this timeline, was it related to that war?"
"Yes."
Lakdevo nodded once more:
"It was the trigger for that war."
At this moment, the tone of the former Ferryman atop the River of the Dead gradually turned solemn:
"The Emperor of the Leston Empire obtained this object that symbolized the supreme royal authority of the Koinsprache Empire and placed it upon his own head, attempting to become the 'true emperor.'"
"True emperor?"
The gray-haired puppet repeated the phrase with a playful tone:
"He wanted to become a god?"
That Pure-White Emperor of Koinsprache, based on various descriptions, could already be confirmed as a great being at the level of a True God.
"Yes."
Lakdevo nodded for the third time:
"But his path was destined to fail, because that emperor’s position had already been occupied, and merely possessing a relic, he obviously couldn’t contend with the one who held it."
"Occupied? Was it the Lord of Radiance?"
Sylvia's voice became even more playful.
This time, Lakdevo didn’t answer immediately but glanced around furtively with his scarlet eyes.
Seeing this, the gray-haired puppet chuckled softly and waved her hand, letting fine black veils fill the entire room.
The Authority of Sloth also possessed the effect of concealment.
Of course, such an effect was negligible before gods, but judging from Lakdevo’s demeanor, what he was about to say should not be of grave importance, since he still knew his limits.
Upon seeing this, the fat crow flapped its wings twice and said solemnly:
"Your guess is correct!"
"My Master, you must know, the positions of True Gods are limited. The birth of a new god will inevitably be accompanied by the fall of an old one."
What? The positions of True Gods are limited!
Hearing these words, Sylvia’s finger tapping on the table suddenly paused, her heart filled with disbelief. But after linking together the clues she had seen in church texts, she found it made perfect sense.
Every ancient True God recorded in history held authorities that were extremely similar to those of present-day True Gods.
Moreover, no matter how the divine nature of this world changed or mixed, its underlying base always remained among those few.
Hmm... in that case, her own rank and true body’s value in this world seemed to have risen?
At this moment, her finger-tapping rhythm on the tabletop had already grown somewhat chaotic.
Lakdevo seemed to have noticed this and only continued after a long pause:
"After the Pure-White Emperor’s fall, the Pure-White Pope officially ascended."
"From that day on, papal authority completely surpassed royal authority."
At this time, though Sylvia still wore a faint, barely discernible smile on her face, her heart had grown somewhat numb from uncovering this hidden truth of the world.
No wonder the Leston Empire directly invaded the Western Alliance at that time, for that emperor’s target was the Lord of Radiance!
But it was strange. Before the might of a god, even an army composed entirely of transcendents stood no chance.
This was a war doomed to fail from the start. Why, then, did that emperor still choose to wage it?
After pondering for a few seconds, she finally asked:
"Did that Emperor of Leston not know of such a secret?"
At this, Lakdevo finally began shaking his head:
"Perhaps he knew, perhaps he didn’t. After all, at that time, he was merely a Third Metamorphosis transcendent and had not yet ascended to the apostle rank to obtain divinity."
"But even if he had known beforehand, he still would have launched that war recklessly."
Still would have?
Upon hearing this word, Sylvia suddenly thought of a possibility, and in the next instant, a name slipped from her lips:
"God of War?"
"Exactly."
Lakdevo flapped his wings:
"Although I don’t know the exact situation back then, according to the speculations of our River Council, the god worshipped by those northerners absolutely supported the Leston Empire."
"At first, it was only our speculation, and we couldn’t truly confirm it. But by the end of the war, we were nearly certain."
"Oh?"
"Do you know what became of most of the seventy-two war golems of the Church of Machinery?"
"Destroyed on the front lines."
Sylvia answered calmly—
That was recorded in the church’s scriptures.
"Yes. But have you considered how war machines, each possessing at least weak apostle-level strength, could be so easily and massively destroyed?"
Sylvia gazed calmly at him without giving her answer, though a conclusion had already formed in her heart.
Divine descent!
Then, she cast a questioning glance at the fat crow on the table.