Dorothy’s Forbidden Grimoire

Chapter 802 : Chaos

Tivian, East Coast of Pritt.

In the daytime, under the bright sunlight and gentle warmth of a spring breeze, the tree-lined streets outside the east gate of the Royal Crown University in North Tivian were peaceful and quiet. The rustling leaves added to the serene atmosphere of Green Shade Town. In this rather relaxing setting, Dorothy was enjoying a cup of coffee in House No. 37 while listening to Beverly’s explanation.

“I figured as much—the reason that infant reacted so violently upon sensing your approach was because you’d been hunting it all along.”

After hearing Beverly's words, Dorothy placed her coffee cup back on the table and rubbed her chin with interest.

“So basically, that infant got royally screwed over by the Spider Queen? Just sold out its ally without hesitation to get past you…”

“That’s about right—or rather, Morrigan never considered the infant, or any of the fallen gods for that matter, as her true allies to begin with. Even if the infant’s coordinated plan had succeeded and the fallen gods had attacked simultaneously, knowing their personalities, each of them would've just focused on their own immediate enemies and interests. No one would've helped Morrigan get past me. But by selling out the infant, she practically guaranteed her own survival.

“So really, why not? From Morrigan’s perspective, selling out the infant was a win-win.”

Beverly spread her hands and spoke with a light and teasing tone, to which Dorothy responded with her own analysis.

“It might have been a good deal for the Spider Queen herself, but for the fallen god faction as a whole, it was a definite loss. In the long run, that decision doesn’t even benefit her.”

“Exactly~ That’s why she’s the goddess of schemes, not strategy. A schemer and a strategist differ in foresight. Morrigan may have understood that keeping the infant around would’ve benefitted the faction overall, but her extreme selfishness wouldn’t let her pass up the juicy short-term gain.”

Leaning back on the sofa, Beverly continued with a chuckle. Dorothy, as if recalling something, added.

“You mentioned before that you deployed sentinels across various inner realms to search for the infant. In that historical storage space I entered, I ran into some strange roaming entities, and when they got close, the Radiance relic enhanced by Yellowstone triggered an alert. Those weren’t your sentinels, were they?”

“Ah... those were mine. The staff Yellowstone gave you should’ve shown friendly signals when my sentinels approached. If you got a warning instead, then that was the infant’s doing. Since it was hiding in the Forgotten Archive, it could somewhat sense my sentinels and even distort their signals—both to mess with their detection ability and to mislead your receiver into showing false alerts.

“That way, you'd back away from my sentinels, and I’d lose the chance to establish contact with you. That meant I couldn’t use your movement to locate the infant’s actual hideout, and it could face you without my interference and try to take your divinity. But honestly, it worked out better for me—if you’d met up with me before entering its lair, it would've fled right away. But because you went in solo, it got cocky and showed itself. In the end, it couldn’t run even if it wanted to~”

Beverly explained with a breezy tone, and upon hearing all this, Dorothy gained a deeper understanding of the battle she'd had with the infant.

“The infant’s emergence began the moment I obtained the Revelation divinity from Viagetta. Its plan started right then—it wanted to grow in secret and stage a major play with the other fallen gods. But thanks to the Spider Queen’s petty scheming, that plan collapsed. Not only did the alliance fail, but it also got exposed...

“Looking at it now, the Spider Queen’s original plan probably wasn’t as grand as the Tivian incident. At first, she just wanted to use the Expo and the preparations laid in Pritt over centuries to crack the sealing ritual set by Mirror Moon. That ritual was the first safeguard, hiding the location of Arthur’s tomb using Mirror Moon’s power. Once broken, she could find the tomb and gain access. But inside, there was a second safeguard: the automaton guardian. And against her, the Spider Queen had no means.

“So she probably intended to spend another few centuries crafting some elaborate scheme to deal with the automaton woman and snatch Arthur’s divine remains. After all, the tomb couldn’t be moved, and with enough time, maybe she could use some underhanded trick to steal Arthur’s body. Her initial goal at best was one divine cocoon—Arthur was just a long-term plan.

“But as always, plans never keep up with change. The infant reaching out to her was a gift too good to pass up. With that leverage in hand, she immediately changed course—sacrificed the infant to distract the guardian and went for a two-for-one deal. Feast time...

“Tsk, tsk… Even though the infant was a god of Revelation, it was far too naive as a newly born deity. The first time it tried to work with another god, it ended up getting sold out by that spider hag… and wound up in this mess…”

Dorothy shook her head slightly and reflected inwardly. After a moment of quiet thought, she straightened up and said to Beverly.

“I see... So in a way, this counts as internal strife among the fallen gods. Thanks to the Spider Queen’s maneuvering, their faction has taken a serious blow…

“She’s been repelled, the King of the Underworld is heavily damaged, and the infant is gone... That just leaves the Mother of Chalice’s faction to carry the fallen gods’ banner. Our situation’s improved considerably…”

Dorothy spoke with confidence, but Beverly’s expression turned solemn as she slowly replied.

“Yes, the situation has improved. But considering the nature of the ‘Fall’... it’s still too early to relax.”

Hearing Beverly’s grave tone, Dorothy’s own expression tightened, and she responded in kind.

“Then... as the God of Craftsman, could you now tell me—what exactly is the nature of this so-called ‘Fall’?”

Beverly paused for a moment, then lowered her crossed legs and sat upright on the sofa. With a serious look, she spoke solemnly.

“Of course. For someone like you, who is about to enter the divine realm, you have the right to know.”

At those words, Dorothy felt a jolt in her heart. Her entire being snapped to attention, her posture instinctively straightening.

Fall…

Ever since she first heard the term from Viagetta, this concept had troubled her. Most of the crises and hardships she’d faced could be traced back to this so-called Fall.

She’d long wondered—what was its true nature? Why did it affect so many powerful beings, even gods above gods? Why couldn’t even the chief gods resist its influence? Why had Heaven’s Arbiter, able to peer into fate itself, fallen because of it?

She had pondered this question for a long time. And now, at last, she was about to receive an answer. Beverly, a god herself, was going to reveal the truth to Dorothy, soon to become a main deity herself.

“Fall,” she said, “is a flaw born at the very beginning of this universe. It may well be the fate that all things—perhaps even all universes—must eventually face. But in our universe, it arrived early.”

“Our universe…”

Dorothy murmured softly, and Beverly nodded as she continued.

“Yes… the home where we now reside, live, and reincarnate.

“You, as someone from beyond the world, should already know: outside of this universe, countless other universes exist. Some arose naturally, others were created by gods. As for our universe—it was created by three primordial gods.

“These three were known as the Wild Primordial Gods. They were immensely powerful—even among the countless deities in the infinite cosmos, they stood out as apex beings. For unknown reasons, they each abandoned their own universes and divine systems, and came together in a remote corner of the infinite cosmos to create a new universe together. That universe… is ours.”

Seated upright on the sofa, Beverly calmly recounted a tale of unknowable antiquity and depth, while Dorothy listened intently, her expression solemn as she spoke.

“The three Wild Primordial Gods abandoned their own universes and divine systems… gathered here and created this universe… Was this universe their collaborative creation?”

“No… We can’t be certain it was a collaboration. It’s also possible the three of them fought here, and their divine powers collided in such a way that unintentionally gave birth to this universe. There’s no guarantee they meant to create it,” Beverly responded directly, and Dorothy raised her brow slightly.

“Why? They all gathered, and the universe was born—wouldn’t that more likely suggest intentional co-creation?”

Hearing Dorothy’s question, Beverly gave a slight shake of her head before continuing.

“According to what we’ve researched, the Wild Primordial Triad once attempted to escape this universe. They seemed to be avoiding something… fleeing something. It was as if they didn’t want to be gods of this universe at all, didn’t want this universe to exist—yet they failed to escape.”

Dorothy’s expression darkened at Beverly’s words. She took a deep breath and said,

“Escaping what…? Could it be that they were trying to avoid…”

“Yes… precisely—the Fall,” Beverly confirmed her concern, then solemnly continued.

“Among the countless universes, there exist innumerable gods. These gods, depending on their nature, are divided into many factions. These factions interrelate with varying degrees of intimacy and hierarchy, but broadly speaking, they fall into three major categories. The Wild Primordial Triad were top-tier beings within these three categories.

“For unknown reasons, these three gathered and, through an unknown process, brought this universe into being. At first, they were simply curious about the new universe… until they discovered that they had become deeply intertwined with it. Or rather, they had become entangled with each other…

“Yes, these powerful gods from three different kinds of divine nature experienced a strange reaction when their powers clashed—some of their essences fused ever so slightly. This tiny fusion held together… and that infinitesimal fusion became their nightmare.

“They found that the fused portion could not be removed or destroyed—no matter what they tried. Worse still, it kept growing. That fusion became an independent entity—still linked to them, yet no longer them. Like a fetus, it grew by siphoning their power through its connection to all three of them.

“They named this entity the 'Egg of Chaos’... This is the true essence of the Fall, and the root of all cataclysms across this universe’s countless cycles.”

Beverly stated all this with quiet weight, and after hearing it, Dorothy couldn’t help but freeze for a moment before slowly responding.

“Chaos… born from the mingling of the three Primordial Gods’ powers? So the Fall is a phenomenon caused by Chaos?”

“Correct… or more precisely, the Fall is merely the symptom of Chaos.”

Beverly nodded and continued, sipping her oil-like drink before going on.

“After the Egg of Chaos was formed, it bound the Wild Primordial Triad like chains, leeching their power endlessly. No matter what they tried, they couldn’t stop the process. They were now irrevocably linked to it, and it had become part of the universe’s very structure. As it drained them, they inched ever closer to oblivion…

“To fight back, they tried countless methods. They performed massive rituals, scattered their power, and created domains, matter, and the stars themselves. Their goal was to diversify and complicate their existence—to make it harder for the Egg of Chaos to consume them. This became the First Epoch of this chaotic universe—an age of experimentation and creation by the Wild Primordial Triad.

“However… while these efforts slowed the Egg’s consumption, they couldn’t stop it. Given enough time, the ending was still the same: all returns to Chaos. To preserve what was left of themselves, the Wild Primordial Triad began an even more drastic effort—complete self-division.”

Beverly focused as she explained, and after listening intently, Dorothy pondered aloud.

“A more intricate, diverse, and widely spread existence could better resist Chaos’s corrosion? So the Wild Primordial Triad split themselves into what we now know as the Six Gods?”

“Exactly. The logic is simple—three becoming one is straightforward, but six becoming three and then one is far more complex. The Wild Primordial Triad resisted Chaos to the extent that they would rather fracture themselves than be consumed.

“At the end of the First Epoch, the great ritual of divine splitting began. Each of the Triad divided themselves in different ways.

“The Earth Mother gestated a stone fetus in her womb. She gave birth to it—and the remaining shell shriveled into the Mother of Life…

“The Luminous Moon used the Celestial River as a mirror to reflect its own shadow. When the river shattered, the reflection split, and sun and moon parted, each ruling day and night…

“The Lord of Knowledge fell into slumber, half-dreaming, one eye open and one eye closed—dividing awareness and oblivion, life and death…

“And thus, at the dawn of the Second Epoch, the Wild Primordial Triad were no more. In their place stood the Six Great Gods, each embodying a portion of their divided powers and forming the foundations of the world to come.”

Beverly patiently explained, her gaze drifting to the scenery outside—the sunlight, the spring breeze, the blooming flowers and stone paths—almost as if reminiscing about a bygone age.

Dorothy, on the other hand, remained silent after hearing all this, her expression grave as she stared at Beverly, her thoughts unreadable. The small, cluttered sitting room fell into a hush.

Minutes passed in silence. Then, Dorothy finally moved, picking up her coffee cup. After a sip, she asked Beverly in a serious tone.

“The Six Great Gods are self-divisions of the Wild Primordial Triad… So spiritualities like Chalice-Stone, Lantern-Shadow, Revelation-Silence—all these dualities we see today that seem so opposed to one another… Are they actually from the same source? Were they made to clash on purpose?”

“Exactly~ You’re right. These pairs of opposing spiritualities were originally meant to be the closest, the most easily merged. But when the Wild Primordial Triad divided themselves, they deliberately imposed restrictions on their own divine fields—ensuring these paired forces would become inherently antagonistic.

“This way, it would prevent any accidental re-fusion of the powers split from the same source—avoiding a recombination of the Wild Primordial Triad’s essence and drastically slowing the Egg of Chaos’s consumption.”

Beverly affirmed with confidence. Dorothy, considering that, offered a new hypothesis.

“You mentioned the Earth Mother birthed her aspect in the form of a stone fetus. Could this be the origin of the title Stone Prince?”

“Exactly. That stone fetus was the Stone Prince—son of the Earth Mother, son of the Earth Queen, honored as the Prince of Stone.”

Beverly confirmed Dorothy’s guess. Dorothy continued with another question.

“And what happened next? Based on today’s circumstances, even the birth of the Six Gods didn’t stop the Egg of Chaos, did it?”

“Hah… you’re right. The emergence of the Six Gods helped alleviate the Egg’s influence on this universe, but couldn’t fully erase it. The corrosion is faint, but it never stops—always gnawing at all things, day and night.

“Since their birth, the Six Great Gods worked together to maintain the universe. Though there were occasional conflicts, overall balance was upheld. But as time passed, Chaos’s influence deepened. The stability began to fray.

“Over the ages, divine minds grew tainted. Their personalities shifted. Powers once wielded with care began to twist toward extremes.

“The Mother who loved all life began to see threats everywhere—wanting to reclaim all creation back into her womb to protect it.

“The Solar King grew arrogant and prideful—looking down on everything, even his fellow gods. He became a tyrant, starting wars to dominate them all.

“The somber Lord of the Dead, weary of the world’s noise, wanted to drag all—gods included—into eternal slumber…

“And thus, corrupted by Chaos, the gods slowly descended into madness, and uncontrollable conflict followed. This led to the divine wars that nearly brought the world to ruin—the first time the Fall manifested among the gods.”

Beverly continued to recount what she, as a god, knew about divine history and the secret origins of the cosmos. As she reflected on this universe’s earliest cycles, Dorothy listened carefully, eventually offering her own thoughts.

“So the Fall drives the gods mad and into endless conflict—does that mean Chaos strengthens itself through these struggles? After all, the maddened gods only seek to dominate, consume, or assimilate others. Doesn’t that create fertile ground for Chaos?”

“You’ve understood it well~ Chaos thrives on endless, unrestrained conflict between divine forces. When those powers clash and entangle, Chaos grows stronger. No matter their intentions, maddened gods always seek to bring everything under their own domain—and that, in turn, stirs Chaos ever further toward awakening…”

Beverly nodded in affirmation. Hearing this, Dorothy couldn’t help but recall the fallen gods she had encountered before. Their ideals… all seemed to follow this same pattern.

Take the Moth God, for example—it sought to plunge the entire world into dream, drawing all the gods into illusion as well. The King of the Underworld, on the other hand, aimed to establish an eternal empire of the dead, turning all things into everlasting shades.

“The gods fell into madness and chaos… but the universe itself did not collapse. Someone must have retained clarity amidst that insanity, right?”

After a moment of contemplation, Dorothy continued. Hearing her words, Beverly nodded again and responded.

“You're right. Amid the escalating madness, only the Fate Sovereign—who holds a secret connection to time and history—and the immutable Lord of the Mountains managed to maintain clarity. They came to understand the essence of the Fall and stepped forward together to stop the divine conflict, to reason with the gods and explain the cause and effect of everything.

“At that time, though the gods were tainted by madness, they had not yet lost all reason. After considerable effort from the Fate Sovereign and the Lord of the Mountains, the gods were still capable of understanding the situation and chose to trust the words of the Fate Sovereign.

“However, even if the gods reconciled and reached consensus, it could only ever be temporary. For with time, the corrosion of Chaos would deepen, the gods’ descent into madness would worsen, and eventually, they would lose their wills entirely—driven irreversibly insane. The Egg of Chaos, which even the Wild Primordial Triad could not eliminate, was beyond their power. They could only seek alternative solutions.

“In the end, the gods proposed one—Reset. Five of the Six Great Gods granted authority to the Fate Sovereign, empowering his influence over themselves and the universe at large. Then, assuming the role of Arbiter, the Fate Sovereign judged history, negated all that was fated to fall, and reset the universe’s timeline to the beginning of the Second Epoch—the time when the Six Gods first came into being.

“Through this reset, the gods could purge the greater portion of the Fall within them. The lighter corruption could be directly recovered from, while the heavier portions—though irreparable—could be cut away over time and sealed by the Fate Sovereign into shattered fragments of history. Thus, the gods began anew within a rebooted world.

“To further counter Chaos, the gods sought to increase the complexity of divinity. They began creating subordinate deities—splitting off parts of their divinity and allowing those fragments to be influenced by others, giving rise to auxiliary gods who would both serve and stabilize their creators.

“In the end, every god created subordinates… save for the Fate Sovereign. As the judge of history, he had to retain the greatest portion of his power for resetting the universe. He was the final safeguard for when things reached the point of no return, and thus had to remain powerful.”

Beverly continued recounting the hidden history among the gods—tales from before all recorded time. After hearing her explanation, Dorothy nodded in understanding.

“I see… So that’s why Heaven’s Arbiter never had any subordinate gods…”

“Correct. After all, Osiris—granted authority by the other five—was always the gods’ strongest tool against the Fall, their final resort.

“After that, the gods began to research how to prevent the Fall. But once they realized it was completely unstoppable, they developed a new mechanism to counteract the Egg of Chaos’s corrosion. It was a rotational system: in each cycle of history, one of the main gods would take the lead and shape that era, while the others supported in auxiliary roles. Once that leading god had fallen to a dangerous point of madness and the era reached a doomed conclusion, Osiris would enact their divine authority and reset the universe, returning it to the dawn of the Second Epoch.

“Following each reset, the god who had led that era would retreat into seclusion to recover—cutting away irreparable corruption over a long period of time. A new god would then lead the next era, until they too reached their breaking point… and the universe would be reset again. The gods in seclusion typically needed three cycles of history to fully excise their corruption and return to a state untouched by the Fall.

“In this way, the universe cycled over and over again—using resets to delay the arrival of complete ruin.”

Beverly massaged her shoulder as she spoke from her seat, while Dorothy responded with a deepening gloom in her voice.

“But… each cycle isn’t perfect. Each reset fails to fully eliminate the corruption. And while the amount of the Fall left over each time may be small, over many resets it accumulates. If all that is to be cut away, both the gods’ power and the universe’s scale will gradually shrink… This may look like a cycle, but it’s actually decay.”

“Mmh… Exactly~”

Beverly nodded as she listened to Dorothy’s words, then gave a dismissive wave and continued.

“To the eye, the gods’ mechanism seems like a return to the same starting point each time—but that ‘starting point’ keeps sinking lower. Eventually, they will reach a point of no return. And so, through every cycle, the gods have been searching for a true solution—one that might break the fate of inevitable fall. They evolved fate itself, reshaped worlds in countless different ways, sculpted histories with different themes—hoping to find a variable that would crack the predestined doom.

“But no matter what sort of history the gods evolved… The Fall always returned. The corruption wrought by the Egg of Chaos was like a tide—irresistible and unstoppable. No matter how the gods tried to avoid it, the apocalypse would always come.

“This… is the ultimate fate that no cause or effect within this universe can escape.”

“So then… the gods turned to causality beyond the universe?”

Following Beverly’s words, Dorothy continued seriously, and Beverly nodded without hesitation.

“Exactly… When all options within this universe had been exhausted—when all possibilities failed—the gods could only look outward. They sought power from other universes… hoping to introduce external causality and find new variables.

“But since the Egg of Chaos is linked to the Wild Primordial Triad, and the Triad gave birth to the Six Gods, and the gods in turn shaped all creation… everything in this world is unknowingly tied to the Egg. It binds the universe in a giant cage. Nothing within can escape ‘outside’—and not only can nothing leave, it is extremely difficult for anything from the outside to get in.

“At the beginning of one cycle, the Six Great Gods worked together in a grand ritual to forcefully crack open the ‘cage’ and summon something from beyond. Due to the cage’s immense power, the ritual was incredibly difficult. Even when successful, it could only bring in a single soul—and not directly to the gods, either. Because of the cage’s interference, that soul would arrive somewhere in the future of that cycle, somewhere on the land of this world.

“Thanks to the gods’ blessings, these summoned souls often carry with them fragments of power from their original universes—abilities or tools unique to them, which introduce more potential variables into this world…”

As Beverly said this, Dorothy fell into a daze. She immediately thought of her system—could that be where it came from? A blessing granted during the summoning between worlds? A weapon unique to her?

“From what you’re saying… in each cycle, only one outsider is summoned? The ritual begins at the start of the cycle, but the time and place of the outsider’s arrival is unknown?”

Dorothy distilled Beverly’s explanation into a question, and Beverly nodded silently in confirmation.

“Correct…”

“Then since the start of this system, many cycles must have passed already, right? And if the world is still like this, can I assume all the past outsiders… failed?”

Dorothy asked seriously, and Beverly slowly nodded again.

“Broadly speaking… yes, they all failed. These outsiders did carry foreign power, and they did introduce change—but overall, they were too small in scale. The variables they introduced, though present, were minor. Some of the more exceptional ones did manage to show glimpses of hope—made people believe that the Fall might be defied—but in the end, they all still met the same fate as the universe: judgment at the end of days, followed by another reset.

“These outsiders could bring change—but the changes were always too faint to alter the final result. A few outstanding ones managed to ascend and take the place of a god who had fallen beyond salvation, allowing their will to carry forward into the next cycle… But by that point, they had already become a part of this world—completely losing their ability to create variables or miracles.”

Beverly continued her explanation, while Dorothy found several key points worth noting in what she said.

“From what you just said… even throughout the many cycles of reincarnation, some of the gods have been replaced?”

“Yes. As the cycles accumulated, the Fall brought on by the Egg of Chaos grew more severe. By the later stages of a given cycle, the leading main god—or their subordinate gods—could become so deeply corrupted that they refused to proceed with the next cycle. This severely interfered with Osiris’s judgment. In such cases, the remaining sane gods would have to intervene, guiding fate to select a mortal from the world as a fated one to bring down the fallen god. Upon the fallen god’s death, the mortal would ascend and take their place.

“Fall through death is the only other major way, apart from a reset, to purge corruption. It can’t eliminate it entirely, but it at least alleviates the crisis at hand.

“And since transmigrators are inherently imbued with power from other worlds—and often watched and blessed by the gods during their journeys—they have a high likelihood of being chosen as these fated ones. Of course, this doesn’t mean that native mortals have never ascended to godhood… It’s just that transmigrators tend to have an easier time of it.”

Beverly explained steadily, while Dorothy continued her line of questioning.

“Transmigrators can partially ease the Fall and trigger miracle-like deviations from fate—but only in the cycle they arrive in?”

“Correct. The variables brought by a transmigrator only affect the cycle they first descend into. Even if they manage to preserve their will into the next cycle by ascending to godhood at the end of the world, they fully become a part of this world… and lose the power to bring miracles.”

Beverly answered unhurriedly, and Dorothy, frowning slightly in contemplation, followed up.

“Then in this current cycle’s history, of the Six Great Gods, how many have been replaced?”

“At the beginning of this cycle—almost all of them. The only ones who weren’t replaced were the Fate Sovereign and the Stone Prince. Osiris, being the eternal judge, never led a cycle himself, so his corruption accumulated more slowly. As for the Stone Prince, you already know—he’s the most stable of the gods, but his reign creates the fewest variables and offers the least hope.”

Beverly waved her hand decisively, answering Dorothy’s question. Dorothy furrowed her brows and continued.

“But… in this cycle, Heaven’s Arbiter has fallen—and by self-destruction at that…”

“Sigh… Yes. Osiris has already fallen. As one of the original Six Great Gods, he lived through countless cycles and presided over the judgment of countless histories. Though he never led a cycle, and so didn’t accumulate the Fall as quickly as the others, even he had amassed a substantial degree over time.

“As I said before, the only two ways for a main god to purge corruption are reset and death through succession. Osiris had gone through so many resets but had never died once. By this cycle, it was simply his time to fall…”

With a soft sigh, Beverly spoke solemnly, and Dorothy echoed her gravity.

“So… at the start of this Second Epoch, Osiris’s Fall had already become irreversible, to the point that only death—rather than a reset—could purge it?”

“More or less. From the very beginning of this Second Epoch, Osiris couldn’t hold on much longer. So his priority from the start was to find a successor, and as safely as possible, pass on the mantle of the God of Revelation.

“But that’s no easy feat. Since the cycle system was created, the God of Revelation has always been its core. There has never been a single successful succession of that role. If it were handled poorly, the Fall could exploit the transition and collapse the entire cycle system.

“Thankfully, with help from the God of Lantern, Osiris was able to glimpse far into fate—greatly aiding him in laying down various arrangements before his death. With Lantern’s help, he even foresaw the transmigrator of this cycle: your arrival…

“Perhaps, having placed his hopes in a miracle from beyond the world, he chose you as his successor. And judging by everything that’s happened—he chose well. You’re indeed a worthy candidate to become the next God of Revelation after Osiris. You and Osiris may have never met, but the coordination between the two of you has been seamless. You’ve fully utilized the arrangements he left behind. At this point, becoming the next Arbiter of History is only a matter of time…”

Pointing at Dorothy, Beverly said this with utmost seriousness. Hearing her words, Dorothy fell into a long silence, seated quietly, her thoughts churning.

“So… the force behind all these calamities—the Fall—is actually the power of Chaos… A force that surpasses even the Wild Primordial Triad.

“It’s still unclear how the Egg of Chaos came to be. Was it a deliberate collaboration, or an accidental conflict? Regardless, it was the power of the Triad that gave birth to the Egg… and to all the troubles that followed.

“The Egg of Chaos has affected this universe through countless cycles. Its corrosion, its Fall, still clings to this world even now.

“Chaos is the essence; the Fall is the manifestation; madness is the result. And now it’s clear—the fallen gods all share that obsession: the urge to draw everything into themselves. That is what Chaos desires. It’s what the Egg of Chaos delights in.

“The forms and goals of fallen gods may vary, but they all inevitably move toward Chaos. And once a fallen god achieves their goal—consumes and assimilates everything—then the Egg fully awakens. That fallen god will no longer be themself… but become Chaos incarnate: a God of Chaos.

“Every fallen god is evolving toward a chaos deity. And once that evolution completes… the universe ends.”

Having grasped the nature of the Fall, and the reasons why it is irreversible, Dorothy’s expression grew heavy. She sat in silence for a long time.

Countless thoughts flickered through her mind. At last, after a soft sigh, she looked up at Beverly again and asked solemnly.

“So in the end, was Osiris’s only expectation of me to take over the Throne of Revelation, become the next Arbiter of History, and at the end of this doomed cycle, bring it to a close and restart the loop—just to keep this hopeless game going?”

Beverly paused slightly at that, a faint trace of uncertainty flashing in her eyes.

“I don’t know~ Maybe that’s all it was. After all, as broken as this world is, so long as the Arbiter of History still stands, there’s still a thread of life left.

“This universe has cycled so many times, yet this is the first time the Arbiter of History has been replaced. It may be the most perilous moment in the entire history of the cycle system. You’re just one step away from stabilizing everything. The fact that you’ve made it this far is already an achievement.

“I understand what you’re thinking. Maybe you’re wondering whether the root problem of the Fall can be solved in this very cycle. But I’d advise you not to attempt anything too extreme. The Fall has never been eradicated across all these cycles—that alone shows how difficult it is to contend with. Don’t be too hasty or reckless in fighting it… Just take that final step well. Complete the succession properly.

“In future cycles, perhaps—with your guidance—another transmigrator might create an unprecedented miracle.”

Beverly said this seriously, even with a hint of persuasion. Dorothy responded, her voice low and firm.

“Then maybe all things will return to Chaos… Maybe the great tide of fate, that no universe can resist, truly is unstoppable…”

“Maybe… all universes will return to Chaos eventually—but definitely not within a future we’ll live to see!” Beverly replied, her voice forceful.

Dorothy, hearing this, asked curiously.

“What makes you so certain?”

“Because according to what the original gods, the Wild Primordial Triad, knew… the outer universes—though some show signs of chaotic transformation—do so only very gradually. Their chaos progresses slowly, over hundreds of millions to billions of years. But our universe… is different. Its descent into Chaos is bizarrely fast.

“What you don’t know is this: though our universe has undergone so many cycles… each one lasts less than 100,000 years!

“All our cycles combined—plus the entire First Epoch—still don’t add up to a full billion years!

“A billion years! That’s infancy for most universes… So why is ours already in this state? Why has Chaos progressed this far, this fast? Do you think that’s normal? That it makes sense?”

She slammed her palm on the table. Beverly’s tone was deadly serious. Upon hearing all of this, Dorothy’s eyes widened slightly. She had no idea… that this decaying, melancholic universe she lived in—was actually so young…