Sandalphon (Hebrew: סַנְדַּלְפוֹן) is an archangel in Kabbalah and Western mysticism, corresponding to Malkuth, the Tenth Sephirah of the Tree of Life, also known as the Kingdom. Its core symbol is the aggregation of the will of all living beings and the hub through which the power of prayer flows from the lower world to the celestial world.
Malkuth is the endpoint of the Kabbalah Tree of Life, symbolizing the material world. It is also equivalent to time and change. It is there that living beings possess the meaning of time, growing there, aging there, and finally dying.
Caelus looked at the exceptionally beautiful Angel Sandalphon before him and asked, "So you want to retrace the Fiery Sword Path, heading all the way up from the Kingdom you guard to the Crown, and finally returning to the Infinite Light to become a so-called Saint, God, or Angel?"
"No, it is not I who walks this path. I am not that angel from mythology. I only took on this form because all living beings walk upon this road."
The angel with white hair and blue eyes looked at Caelus with eyes full of extreme pity.
"Since ancient times, when the first living being appeared, it possessed the most instinctive desire, survival, followed by reproduction. After hundreds of millions of years of evolution, living beings gradually became diverse, but their desires and cravings remained at their most primitive impulses, until humans appeared in this world."
Even primitive humans possessed thoughts that were more chaotic and complex than most other living beings. In their continuous evolution, they developed fear and reverence toward a series of natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, lightning, storms, and tsunamis, viewing those natural disasters as gods.
They offered deep reverence to those fictional gods, even going so far as to offer their captured prey, or even their fellow humans who were regarded as slaves, as sacrifices to those gods.
Under long-lasting faith and prayer, humanity itself multiplied and expanded step by step, until their desires finally interfered with the instincts of all living beings that had accumulated over the long years.
"I was born because of this. I am the fear of nature, the craving for great power, the resistance against death, and the pursuit of eternity held by all living beings.
I allowed a portion of humanity to possess power. Those humans were called Wizards. I had originally thought this would allow humanity to grow step by step, possess more abilities, and achieve a higher level of sublimation, but unfortunately, the Wizards who possessed power began to grow blindly arrogant, proclaiming themselves gods and immortals.
Humans are truly a species full of contradictions. Sometimes they are content with the status quo, sometimes they are overly greedy. Sometimes they clearly fear death, yet sometimes they are full of the pursuit of death.
Contradictory living beings and contradictory thoughts forced me to start thinking about how the path to sublimate all living beings should move forward. Finally, 30 years ago, I gave the answer.
I divided the space-time of the solar system. I created countless stories and countless scripts, all revolving around stories of mortals and Spirits. I made the ordinary and the extraordinary collide continuously, I made contradictions constantly arise, and I made the plot change millions of times.
When countless space-times change, when extraordinary stories are continuously performed, when people accept the existence of Spirits time and time again, and when love becomes a universal value, then I can unite all parallel universes into one, creating a world where everyone is a Spirit and everyone loves each other.
Everyone will be a saint, everyone will be an angel, everyone will be a Spirit, everyone will be a god, and everyone will have walked the Fiery Sword Path. By then, everyone will have obtained an immortal body and spirituality, becoming a new life, a new existence."
Caelus looked at the smiling angel recounting its plan, and after a moment of silence, he asked, "Then what is the price for this?"
"The price? When living beings become higher-level existences, naturally there will be no more base nature, no more sloth, no more greed, no more anger, no more fear, and no other such emotions. Also, because of the need to consolidate parallel space-times, it may cause many casualties among the living beings in every parallel world.
But just as people must offer sacrifices when they pray to gods for good weather, those who die and the emotions that are lost are themselves the sacrifices for people to step onto the path of the extraordinary."
After listening, Caelus shook his head and said, "Your plan is indeed great, but losing anger means living beings will no longer learn persistence. Losing sloth means living beings will no longer think about progress. Losing greed means living beings will not accumulate anything. The living beings you create in this way will, in the end, only be nothingness."
"It seems you do not agree with me."
"I am a person who walked from nothing to something, so how could I agree with a god who walks from something to nothing?"
"Then are you going to stop me?"
The angel said this, and then a long sword burning with flames appeared in its hand. Clearly, it would not sit and wait for death, because that is what all living beings crave.
Caelus pulled the Spiral of Contradiction from the void. He was hostile to the angel, not only because of the difference in their philosophies and paths, but more importantly, because the system had already given a prompt.
[Hidden quest released. Hidden quest: Sever. Quest objective: Sever the path to godhood for the living beings of this world. Quest reward: Apple of Eden. Note: Even if it is the path that all living beings crave, what does it have to do with us? Only the winner is right.]
"Partner."
Cyrene appeared by Caelus's side, simultaneously unfolding her Reality Marble. She had taken on her adult form, and a long bow carved from crystal appeared in her hand.
Caelus nodded, then raised the Contradictory Spiral in his hand, aiming it at the angel flying in the air.
Amid this boundless light, under the witness of the Kabbalah Tree of Life.
The Will of All Living Beings and the Extraterrestrial Demon began their duel.
In a certain parallel world...
The black-haired boy frowned. In the process of mobilizing resources to transport Honjou Nia, the plot involving Tokisaki Kurumi also occurred, but that guy still had not shown himself, which made him increasingly uneasy.
"If it weren't for that guy constantly hiding in the shadows, making me afraid to act, I definitely would have tried to seize Tokisaki Kurumi's Spirit Crystal. That is the power of time, and even after inversion, it possesses the power of space. This power alone would be worth it.
But I don't dare to show myself at all right now. That guy must have prepared something extremely terrifying. As long as I show even the slightest flaw, it might cause a terrifying instant-death effect.
Both of us are like two hunters in a dark forest. We don't know whether the other is holding a compound bow or a firearm. We are both afraid that the weapon in the other's hand can kill with one blow, and we are both afraid that we will show a flaw first and then be tracked by the other... Sigh! If I had known this, I should have been more aggressive in the last world. Although the risk would have been higher, maybe the harvest would have been greater, and I wouldn't be as passive as I am now."
The black-haired boy could only calmly wait for an opportunity. As the story of Honjou Nia played out, the other party would definitely know what he was doing. If he did not show himself then, he could only watch helplessly as I successfully seized Honjou Nia's power and then found him. But once he made a move, that would be him lighting a lamp in the dark forest first.
In a situation where I have the initiative, even if I cannot kill him in one blow, I will definitely be able to create a huge advantage in the subsequent battle.
"Hehe! The advantage is mine!"
He said this with a smile, and finally elegantly took a sip of the liquid in his red wine glass.
"Tsk! Room-temperature Pepsi is basically toilet cleaner!"
He complained with a frown.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)