Chapter 735: Another Cosmology! The Ambition to Devour the Gods!
"Is this... your world?"
Canaria stood on the polished, obsidian-like floor of the grand villa, her golden eyes scanning the surroundings with the sharp, dissecting instincts of a master strategist.
The air here tasted different. It was cleaner, sterile of the chaotic Ether that permeated the Little Garden (Hakoniwa), yet it hung heavier in a way that had nothing to do with gravity. It was the weight of absolute reality, untethered from the whimsical rules of Gift Games.
Most importantly, there was truly no trace of Hakoniwa to be found. The ley lines, the spiritual density, the curvature of the horizon outside the window—it was all alien.
She had been resurrected. Pulled from the grave of history where she had rotted as a corpse, and brought to this outer world along with Leticia Dracul.
As for the younger generation, Kasukabe Yō and Kudou Asuka, Ren had already sent them to Kuro Usagi. One wanted to achieve great things to prove her worth, the other wanted to make friends to heal her loneliness; they would find their path under the rabbit's guidance in the main city.
But Canaria and Leticia were kept here. In the inner sanctum.
"Leticia... do you feel it?"
Upon arriving at the center of the villa, Canaria's delicate brows furrowed seriously. She adjusted her poet's hat, trying to hide the slight tremor in her hands by gripping the hem of her tunic.
"Mm..."
Leticia Dracul, the former Vampire King and Knight of the Round Table, hugged her own shoulders. Her face, usually composed and stoic, was pale. Her ruby eyes were dilated, darting towards the ceiling and the hallway leading to the upper floors.
"There are so many... terrifying presences here," Leticia whispered, her voice barely audible. "It feels like walking into a nest of dormant dragons."
It wasn't malice, exactly. It was sheer, unadulterated power.
From the room to the east, a chilling cold that could freeze time itself seeped through the walls (Esdeath). From the floor above, a crackling, chaotic energy hummed like a railgun ready to fire (Misaka Mikoto). Deep below, a void-like hunger seemed to pulse in its sleep.
Leticia, whose senses were attuned to the supernatural, felt like a small boat in the middle of a gathering hurricane. These weren't just guests. They were apex predators.
"This will be the place where you serve me from now on. Get to know it well."
Ren Kazama walked past them, casually throwing his coat onto a nearby sofa. He turned, a relaxed, predatory smile on his face that did nothing to dampen the overwhelming aura he projected.
"The terrifying presences you speak of are all my women. They are the mistresses of this house. I'll introduce you to them later. Try not to provoke them; some of them have short tempers, and they don't follow the rules of 'Host Privilege'."
"Serve..."
Canaria repeated the word, tasting its bitterness and confusion. She looked down at her attire—a simple poet's outfit that felt woefully inadequate.
"I don't understand," Canaria admitted, her analytical mind failing her for the first time. "I am a strategist. A manipulator known as the 'Death Creator'. I have no combat power to speak of compared to Leticia or... the monsters residing in this house. What is it that you desire from me?"
She looked at Ren's handsome face and felt a strange, unfamiliar heat rise in her chest.
"Do you expect me to... warm your bed? Or perhaps manage your affairs?"
Because she really couldn't imagine what about her—a "dead" woman from the past who had failed her own son—could attract a being like him. This was indeed just her unawareness of her own charm. Plus, Ren might have a slight collecting habit. When he truly has control over Hakoniwa, even the Queen of Halloween might find herself in his collection.
"Why choose? Why not both?"
Ren stepped closer, invading her personal space.
"!!!"
Canaria gasped, backing away until her back hit the cold wall. Ren placed a hand next to her head, boxing her in.
He reached out, his finger hooking under her chin, forcing her to look up into his eyes. His touch was electric, sending a jolt through her nervous system that made her knees weak.
"You think too much, Canaria. You calculate, you scheme, you try to find the 'victory condition' in every interaction."
Ren leaned in, his breath ghosting over her lips.
"Here, there are no schemes. There is only my will. You will serve me with your mind, yes. But you will also serve me with everything else you possess. Your loyalty, your body, your future. It all belongs to me now."
Canaria's heart pounded against her ribs like a trapped bird. She wanted to retort, to use her silver tongue to negotiate, but under his gaze, her mind went blank. She felt stripped bare, her secrets exposed.
"Obedience," Ren whispered, satisfied with the blush spreading across her cheeks. "That is all I require for now."
He released her, stepping back to the center of the room. The tension broke, leaving Canaria gasping for air, clutching her chest. Leticia watched, blushing furiously but unable to look away.
Ren then turned over his right hand, palm facing up.
Hummmm.
A low, vibrating sound resonated through the room, vibrating in their teeth. The light in the room dimmed as if absorbed by a black hole.
A ball of light appeared—no, not light. It was a swirling vortex of stars, nebulae, and darkness. A miniature universe contained within the span of a hand.
"Another Cosmology..."
Canaria breathed out, her eyes widening in a mix of awe and primal fear.
This was nothing else.
It was precisely the Another Cosmology (Simulated Star Creation Chart) obtained from Sakamaki Izayoi.
Ren looked at the swirling galaxy in his hand and decided to put the final nail in the coffin of Canaria's past. He explained Sakamaki Izayoi's true situation to her, dispelling the doubts that had plagued her soul for years.
She had intended to acquire divinity and become the center of a divine group, thereby triggering a historical turning point to save the future of humanity. However, she mistakenly made the nameless infant, Sakamaki Izayoi, the strongest candidate for the original scripture.
For years, she believed her selfishness in kidnapping him was the cause of his tragedy. She thought she had ruined his life.
But Ren revealed the cold, hard truth of the timeline.
"The parents of the Saigou family were destined to die on the three-dimensional parallel world line regardless," Ren explained, his voice echoing with authority. "Even if you, Canaria, had not abducted the infant Izayoi, he was destined to disappear from that timeline at that specific point."
"That means..." Canaria's voice trembled.
"It means that 'the death of Izayoi's parents' and 'Izayoi's disappearance' were fixed historical turning points. Convergence points. They were inevitable."
Ren crushed a small nebula in his hand, letting the stardust fall to the floor.
"You blamed yourself for a storm you didn't create. Your actions were merely behaviors included in the script of fate."
Tears pricked Canaria's eyes. The crushing weight of guilt that she had carried even into death began to dissolve.
"After I resolved your inner turmoil," Ren continued, "I truly severed the connection between Sakamaki Izayoi's destiny and the world of Hakoniwa. From then on, the boy can freely choose his own life. He is free."
"But..." Ren smiled, tossing the miniature universe into the air and catching it. "I don't work for free. As a transaction fee, I obtained this from him."
Another Cosmology.
Also known in the texts as "Another Universe."
It is a cosmic view observed from two perspectives: the mythological world and the material world. It is called the blueprint of the universe created by God.
"Do you understand what this is, Leticia?" Ren asked, holding the swirling mass towards the vampire.
Leticia stepped back, shielding her face from the radiation of pure power. "It... it feels like the weight of a world. No, bigger."
"Correct. It can be understood as a Gift that infinitely magnifies one's own cosmic view to interfere with external matters."
Ren clenched his fist, and the room twisted. The walls seemed to stretch into infinity, and the floor became a sea of stars.
"This is the mystery of the gods," Ren declaimed, his voice echoing from everywhere at once. "It is the core of building a pantheon. It is the fundamental manifestation of a divine system. Those who possess an Another Cosmology are destined to become the center of the gods."
Only one Another Cosmology can be born from one specific worldview.
"The effect varies depending on the worldview," Ren lectured, enjoying the look of shock on their faces. "In some cases, like the Greek Pantheon's 'Aigis', it provides absolute defense. In others, it nullifies all other Gifts."
It is equipment made by giving form to the universe itself.
In the face of this surging power, there is no means of resistance other than using another Another Cosmology.
"Whether it is a mythological weapon at the apex of the world, like your Lance of Indra, or an omnipotent truth that dominates reality... they are useless," Ren said ruthlessly. "They are merely elements within a world. They cannot reach the realm of wielding the world itself as a weapon."
Its power is so immense that even if it is only activated outside of Hakoniwa, it can turn an entire planet to dust. It has the power to overwrite reality with the user's truth.
"In terms of mass and conceptual quantity, nothing in the world can surpass the Another Cosmology," Ren concluded, dispelling the illusion and returning the room to normal. "Unless it is a top-tier Star Spirit—a 2-digit entity—or a pure-blooded Dragon after maximum growth, it is almost impossible to confront it head-on."
Possessing it means controlling the core authority of a divine system. It requires the ability of a Chief God.
Canaria stared at the ball of light, her mind racing. "And... you took this from Izayoi? Does he... does he still have power?"
"He does," Ren nodded. "This specific Cosmology belongs to the 'Last Future of Embryo'. It's a Gift that violates the common sense of the Hakoniwa world."
"Violates?"
"Yes. Because Izayoi himself possesses the Gift to shatter heaven and earth, and the power to shatter Gifts. A paradox."
Ren began to list the contradictory nature of the power he now held.
"A tenacious body that can resist instant-death attacks. The ability to throw objects at the third cosmic velocity—escaping gravity itself. Fists that can shatter mountains, split seas, and crack stars. A constitution completely immune to petrification and death curses."
"And," Ren's eyes glowed, "the Aurora Pillar. An attack that pierces the sky and shatters the stars of the night. It mirrors the cosmology of the Demon Lord Azhi Dahaka's Avesta."
Such a Gift is considered by Baron La Croix, the Lord of Life and Death, to be only the superficial part of the uppermost layer.
Canaria looked at him, puzzled. She smoothed her skirt, trying to regain her composure.
"Ren... with your own power, which seems to transcend dimensions... this Another Cosmology seems useless to you. You are already stronger than a universe. Why take it? Is it just a trophy?"
"That's right."
Ren shrugged, closing his hand. The universe vanished with a soft pop, like a soap bubble.
"An Another Cosmology is indeed useless to me as a weapon. My own existence is a cosmology. I don't need a blueprint when I am the architect."
He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the peaceful scenery of his domain. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the garden.
"But..."
Ren turned back, his silhouette framed by the dying light. A dark, ambitious glint appeared in his eyes—the eyes of a being who saw the gods not as rulers, but as prey.
"Perhaps obtaining all Another Cosmologies will yield some unexpected gains. A complete set has a certain appeal, doesn't it?"
Ren stroked his chin, thinking this thought aloud.
"What?"
Leticia was stunned. She froze in place, her mouth slightly agape.
What is the concept of all Another Cosmologies?
Canaria exclaimed in shock, her voice losing its composure completely. She stepped forward, grasping the magnitude of what he was suggesting.
"You... you want to collect them all? Do you realize what you are saying?"
There are at least ten known Another Cosmologies, held by the strongest Chief Gods of Hakoniwa.
Indra's Vajra. The Greek Gods' Tartarus and Aigis. The Celtic Gods' Táin Bó Cúailnge. The Crusaders' Testament. The Buddhist 3,000 Worlds.
To collect them all...
"You want to be an enemy of all the gods?" Canaria whispered, horror dawning on her. "You intend to declare war on every Pantheon in the Little Garden?"
Ren shrugged indifferently, as if discussing what to have for dinner.
"Why not?"
He looked at his hand, imagining the weight of ten universes resting there.
"They sit on their thrones, thinking they are absolute. I think it's time someone reminded them that there is always a bigger fish."
Canaria looked at the man she had sworn to serve. She had thought she was joining a powerful Demon Lord. She realized now she had joined a Calamity that would devour history itself.
And terrifyingly... she found herself smiling.
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