Chapter 147: It Is Not He Who Adapts to the World, but the World That Adapts to Him
After the Age of Gods ended, gods could not normally emerge from the Inner Sea of the Planet.
Even the most ordinary gods were bound by this rule, let alone beings like the God-King.
The reason Odin could appear was that he had left behind an Avatar long ago—a being similar to an Incarnation—which allowed him to be present here.
But the aura Odin was sensing now was absolutely not something other God-Kings could emit through mere Avatars...
Moreover.
Even if, for argument's sake, Odin's true form were to descend, it would still be utterly impossible to cause the current situation!
It wasn't the earlier Spear of Light that had frightened Odin.
Rather, after sensing the other's aura, Odin could clearly feel the surrounding mystery beginning to warm and revive!
If it were just a normal regression of the Age of Gods, he wouldn't have been so alarmed.
Because that kind of phenomenon was merely a force that reproduced the past and affected the surroundings—essentially equivalent to spreading oneself outward, with the core still residing within oneself.
But...
Odin could sense that the warming and revival happening around him now was completely different from a regression of the Age of Gods!
It was as if... as if this world, which had already rejected gods, resisted gods, and ended the Age of Gods, was welcoming this being's return!
The other had not spread their Divinity outward.
The other had not unreservedly unleashed their Divine Core.
They had merely released their aura, their will.
And then, to welcome them, to greet them, the world spontaneously began to regress toward the Age of Gods!
"This... this can't be possible!?"
Lying on the ground, covered in dust and looking utterly disheveled, Odin even forgot to get up at this moment.
He listened to the approaching footsteps, waiting for the other's appearance.
He wanted to see what kind of being this was!
As Odin harbored such thoughts, Noah's figure appeared at the top of the stairs.
At this moment, he stood calmly at the height.
Odin felt the other was looking at him, but it seemed as if they weren't just looking at him—they were observing everything below.
Even Lucius had quieted down, staring blankly at Noah atop the stairs.
This was the first time she had seen Noah like this.
Because Noah was usually gentle when dealing with his own people, many might be startled when they first witnessed the aura he exuded in the face of outsiders.
Lucius was exactly like that now.
After interacting with Noah for some time, she had thought that Noah, the King of Britain, gave off a similar impression to her own.
But seeing Noah now, she realized she was different from him—very different!
She had always strongly rejected the identity of emperor.
But never before had she felt as unsuited to becoming an emperor as she did at this moment!
Perhaps... in his presence, no one was fit to be an emperor, no one was fit to be a king.
Some things didn't need to be said aloud.
At the very least, Lucius felt that merely standing before him and remembering she still bore the title of emperor made her instinctively afraid to look at him, as if she were a sinner claiming to be an emperor!
Even though he had never said anything, never blamed her for anything, it still made her spontaneously feel this way!
Lucius was like that.
But at this moment, Noah's gaze was essentially fixed on Odin.
"Noah, do you know who that person is?"
Mary's voice echoed in Noah's mind, and Noah responded to her inquiry without changing his expression.
"Yes... But Mary, don't worry. The reason you can't see through him isn't because his illusions surpass yours, but because he isn't using illusions at all."
Not using illusions?
Mary was momentarily stunned, but she quickly understood.
"...Are you saying that what he's using now is an Incarnation identical to Lucius?"
"Correct."
Seeing that Mary had grasped the situation, Noah continued to explain to her.
"He's using an Incarnation... For you, with this kind of disguise, it would be difficult to recognize him unless you make contact. But for me, even if he transforms into this appearance, his Divinity cannot be concealed..."
Before Noah's Divinity expanded and he fully mastered the Authority of the Blessing of the End, he couldn't perceive things like ordinary gods.
But now, Noah could see from the perspective of a High God.
From the viewpoint of a High God, no matter how perfectly this being's Incarnation matched Lucius, there were certain things he absolutely couldn't hide.
————That was his immense Divinity.
Just by seeing the other's Divinity, Noah naturally visualized the being's true appearance and identity in his mind.
So at this moment, he was both explaining to Mary and addressing the other party directly, speaking his mind.
"I've been wondering about some questions before, but now it seems I've found the answers... Odin, wasn't it said that the Age of Gods had ended? Yet it appears a God-King like you is still walking the earth using such an Incarnation. This truly disappoints me regarding the so-called 'Star.'"
Odin wasn't the least bit surprised that Noah recognized his identity at a glance.
"After all, among High Gods, greetings are exchanged through Divinity."
His Incarnation could deceive mortals, but it couldn't fool the being before him.
"Talking about disappointment in the Star... I'm the one who's utterly disappointed in the 'Star' after seeing you!"
"What Age of Gods ending, what Root choosing humanity — after we were all forced to hide in the Inner Sea of the Planet, didn't this world still give birth to a being like you?"
Just as Noah recognized Odin by seeing his Divinity, Odin was far more shocked upon truly seeing Noah.
Because after observing Noah's Divinity, he felt as if he wasn't looking at a god or a God-King — he felt as if he were seeing a deity not merely at the pinnacle of a Pantheon, but as if the entire Pantheon were gathered into one!
He is the God-King, He is the One True God, He is the Pantheon itself!
And...
Even Odin, as a God-King, had to admit that compared to Noah, they, the so-called gods and God-Kings, "felt no different from mortals!"
After all, Noah stood right there, not retreating to the Inner Sea of the Planet. The world that had long since ended the Age of Gods was spontaneously welcoming Him, embracing Him, naturally transforming the place and environment where He stood into the Age of Gods!
It was not Him adapting to the world, but the world adapting to Him!
Compared to Him, they were merely a group of Phantasmal Species with sheer power, utterly unworthy of being called gods!