Chapter 401 - Ascension Ceremony
Riveting Night appeared in a realm with no sky, no earth nor stars. It was eerily similar to the Anomaly Realm, just that the color of this world was the same as her abyssal eyes.
There was extremely thin lighting as well. It was barely enough to illuminate Riveting Night and a few kilometers around her body. Just like in Draco"s description, there were hundreds of statues arrayed here.
They seemed to have been arranged in order of importance, the ones in front of her were quite big and got smaller the farther away they were.
The most prominent statue to the left of her was that of a strange ent.i.ty that looked like a badly rendered shadow... in fact, Riveting Night remembered that she had seen this kind of form before.
It was the spitting image of the energy lifeform she had purchased from the Bazaar back then, an unknown form of existence that those slave traders had been unable to properly identify.
Back then, she hadn"t even cared that it was relatively cheap compared to the rest of the slaves. It had been part of the lineup, so she bought it. It was that simple and straightforward.
However, she now realized that she might have lucked out in a way she could never comprehend fully. A creature looking like the main representation of one of Eva"s three Inheritances, it was impossible for something like that to be mere coincidence.
Behind this main statue was a line-up of over a hundred different types of other statues, with most of them being bizarre and disturbing aberrations. If anyone saw them, they would blanch and run away in fear and dismay.
Many of these aberrations were things Riveting Night had seen in horror media, and some were definitely freakier than Frankenstein. Right behind the main statue were two slightly smaller ones that were way bigger than the other subsidiary statues.
Riveting Night recognized the notable aberration with a huge central eye and many tentacles that formed their own eyes at the end as a Void Beholder. Beside it was the most famous octopus-like monster from Lovecraftian lore with a suppressive aura that forced others to wors.h.i.+p it, Cthulhu.
Riveting Night tore her eyes off these bizarre sets of statues and moved over to those on the far right. The one in the lead was a divine maiden so beautiful that even Riveting Night was enraptured.
It took her almost ten minutes to extricate herself from this daze, and she was shocked. As the epitome of beauty, she had always been annoyed that people "overreacted" whenever they saw her face, like was it that much of a big deal???
After being on the receiving end of such beauty for once, Riveting Night sympathized with all those who had been "unfortunate" enough to feel these effects and apologized to them in her mind. If she, the possessor of the bloodline, was enchanted so easily, then how about others?
In fact, they were likely extremely lucky that she could only use up to 30% of the Celestial Maiden Inheritance, otherwise no one would be able to remain sane.
The Celestial Maiden depicted by the statue was Amaterasu herself, clad in lovely golden robes and possessing long flowing hair that was of a burnished gold color. She wore a benevolent smile befitting a divine maiden, and her eyes were locked onto Riveting Night.
Behind this statue were about 20 others. All of them were legendary women throughout the history of humankind that were wors.h.i.+ped for their divinity and beauty.
Riveting Night saw them, and despite not knowing exactly who they were, she felt the information flow into her mind when she gazed at them. For example, she saw Celestial Maidens like Aphrodite, Venus, Freyja and Ishtar.
These were mythological females known to be G.o.ddesses of Love or Affection, sometimes even L.u.s.t and S.e.x. All of them fell under the purview of the Celestial Maiden Inheritance, and Riveting Night suddenly understood that this inheritance might not be as pure as it sounded… as pure as she had thought.
It was exactly as she had told Draco before, the Dark Angel Inheritance was a perfect mirror of the Celestial Maiden Inheritance. Both of them tempted all mortal minds into adoration or infatuation, but the means in which the two Inheritances did so were different.
In the center of the two statues was one that was pretty simple in design. It was the form of a white sun with matagama symbols hovering around it. It looked esoteric and bizarre, but Riveting Night sensed the raw power from it.
It was crus.h.i.+ng and yet soothing, forceful and yet tender, punitive, and yet merciful. If there was anything that could perfectly fit the words "Justice" and "Righteousness" it would be the aura this sun gave off.
Behind it were relatively few statues. In the front row were three, a mirror, a sword, and a jewel. Riveting Night easily recognized them as the three sacred treasures of her homeland as they were the defining possessions of Amaterasu in legend.
The mirror was called Yata no Kagami and represented the virtue of wisdom. The sword was called Kusanagi and represented the virtue of valor. The jewel was called Yasakani no Magatama and represented the virtue of benevolence.
What shocked Riveting Night silly was that behind these three statues were exactly two more. The one on the left was a large white snake, which looked familiar to her but the only information she got from it was the image of a white-scaled snake with emerald eyes and red lines forming a sort of eye shadow.
It was actually quite a beautiful snake, and Riveting Night was sure she had seen shrines dedicated to this kind of hebi (snake) before. What stunned her more was the other statue on the right, which was that of a Dragon!
There were rumors pa.s.sed in j.a.pan"s s.h.i.+ntoism that Amaterasu was of a serpentine affiliation, and that she could turn into a snake or a Dragon at times.
(Author"s Note: This is actually true, let Big Brother Google educate you.)
If so, it would explain a lot of loopholes in the relations.h.i.+p between Lucifer and Amaterasu, as well as explain why she hadn"t received an augmented State of Being after giving her blood to the AI.
She still had a Supreme Rank Draconic Source Origin thanks to the Dragon"s Blessing potion and her Perfect Existence pa.s.sive skill. It seemed as if the AI hadn"t bothered to change it because she was already on the right path.
｢System to Player Announcement
Beginning Celestial Prime Cla.s.s Up Procedure. Standby.｣
｢Celestial Prime – Divine Cla.s.s Up Procedure
Description: You have the n.o.blest of bloodlines, as well as half the Origin Essence of an alternate universe and as such, you have the right to forge your own path as the one and only Celestial Prime. Clear the objective to complete this procedure.
Rewards: Divine Cla.s.s - Celestial Prime｣
｢System to Player Announcement
The objective of the Celestial Prime Cla.s.s Up Procedure has been set. Player Riveting Night must complete the ascension ceremony to clear this task.｣
Riveting Night took a deep breath and pulled down her hood, walking up to the statute of the void ent.i.ty first. Like Draco, she had to go on her knees before the statue and saw that there was a basin before her.
In it was some black-ish miasma that would make anyone apprehensive. Eva instinctively knew what she was supposed to do though. With a trembling body that resembled a leaf in a hurricane, she grunted in pain as she inhaled this miasma.
She breathed it in deeply, and it flowed through her body like it was a part of her. However, this foreign element was still new to her, so it caused excruciating pain for her as it a.s.similated with Eva"s body.
However, just like Draco, living through the s.h.i.+tty events of the previous timeline had hardened her will, so she was able to bear with it to the end. Eva rose from her kneeling position and walked over to the statue of Amaterasu.
There, she once again knelt down. A long tray appeared before her, and Eva saw that there was a thin bag of skin placed atop it. When she understood what she had to do, she froze for a second but continued.
With a strong rip, she tore the outer layer of her epidermis off, like some monster in a horror movie trying to change their skin. Eva did just that though, as she took the new skin on the tray and wore it like she was putting on overalls.
This scene was too bizarre and ghastly, especially Eva nonchalant reaction to it all. Any sane person would be screaming in agony and unimaginable pain, but she only pursed her lips in displeasure.
After wearing her new set of skin, it seemed to merge with her flesh and become taut. Now, Eva once again looked like a normal person, only that her skin was far more resplendent than before and her beauty had increased significantly.
Even her chest had grown a bit and her body had filled out a little. It would be hard for her to wear tight leather outfits in future, which made her unhappy.
She then proceeded to the final statue. Here, she knelt once again before the sun surrounded by matagama. Neither a basin nor a tray appeared before here, instead, the sun flashed brightly for a second, and a ray of light shot out from its almost rock-like body and onto Eva.
This light was searing, and directly caused her new skin to blister and fry like someone had placed her under a microwave. Eva"s eyes became red and her breathing turned rough as she endured the pain, which was far greater than replacing her skin.
She understood that this sun wasn"t burning her physical form per se, but her mind and soul. This stage was truly trying for her, for this light was of the cleaning nature. It sought to purge all evil from her mind and soul, but this would practically wipe out Eva herself, as she was the epitome of evil in this day and age.
Luckily, the "good" and "just" aspect of this Inheritance was subjective, meaning that it followed Eva"s beliefs and understandings of what was good and righteous. Had it followed the traditional theory of goodness, Eva would have been turned to ash.
After more than ten bursts of similar light that cleansed her each time, Eva was finally freed from the torture and rose to her feed. Her blistered skin had long recovered, and even looked better than before.
She pinched her fair skin and smiled. It seemed like she would no longer need to worry about being disfigured or the like, as she would always return to her most beautiful state in mere seconds.
She also felt a strange energy coursing through her, which made her feel a connection with a dimension that was full of bizarre monsters and had extremely chaotic laws of reality.
Finally, she felt like her mind and soul radiated a holy light of purity, and all evil that dared to infringe on this light would face two choices, either be cleansed of evil or be purged from existence.
Satisfied with the changes in general, Eva gazed at the three statues casually. Then, all these statues came to life immediately, and showed reverence to something behind Eva.
She knew of this stage from Draco"s recount of his own experience, that the statues were bowing to an image of themselves seated upon a throne.
When Eva turned around to view how her bloodline would represent itself - as the ent.i.ty seated on the throne could be considered an avatar of sorts - she was stunned to find that it was nothing like she expected.
What appeared before her was a cracked and partially decayed throne that looked like it would crumble at the slightest touch. There was no one seated atop it, and it even had cobwebs upon it.
The moment Eva saw this, her mind exploded and she clutched her head in agony as she began to scream.