Village Head's Debauchery

It moved like sentient mercury. Mysterious inscriptions rippled along its surface, warping chaotically.

BOOM!!

A blazing white flame erupted from the liquefied Vylkr armour, bathing it in radiant brilliance.

At that moment, Orion understood: the White Flame was attempting to purify the Vylkr armour and the essence they had both consumed, just as it had tried to do when he had previously attempted to create two Vylkr containers, nearly dying in the process.

Surprisingly, the Vylkr armour resisted.

The Vylkr armour fought back, resisting the purge.

It was sentient enough to know something terrible was about to happen to it.

Orion was taken aback. But still, if the Vylkr armour had truly been forged from the corpse of an Omnithriallian, then it wasn't unexpected that it could resist even the White Flame's purification.

As the intense clash between the two forces reached its peak, Orion felt his consciousness beginning to fade.

"I have to hold on," he gritted his teeth.

Unfortunately, his awareness continued slipping away.

Suddenly, Orion felt a jolt in his mind and realized he had been struck by another mental attack.

"Huh?" He opened his eyes in confusion.

Around him burned a flickering white flame within a vast, empty void—he was inside it. And before him stood an enormous morphic puppet, towering in the flame, its head bowed as it stared directly at him.

Yet it remained completely unharmed by the fire.

Its sleek black surface shimmered with a radiant sheen.

Orion couldn't tell how large the Vylkr armour or the surrounding white flame truly was. But in comparison, he felt as small and insignificant as a mote of dust before a colossal being.

It took him a moment to realize he was completely naked. Even though this was a space within his consciousness where such things held little importance, he wasn't about to face what was about to happen unclothed.

With a thought, he manifested new attire: a black shirt embroidered with gold and matching trousers adorned with various precious gemstones.

Exactly as his wives had designed.

He turned his attention back to Morphic Puppet, which had begun to vibrate. Its smooth black surface began to shift, morphing into a tall, slender figure whose skin shimmered with an opalescent glow and shifting colours that pulsed within the flickering flame.

Its hair flowed backwards like shooting stars arcing through the void, illuminating it with radiant trails of light.

As the being solidified, Orion trembled.

The being that had emerged from the Vylkr armour was something he recognized with a single glance.

The progenitor of humanity.

His ancestor.

An Omnithriallian.

The Omnithriallian gazed down at him. Its eyes shimmered with tiny orbs as though stars and celestial bodies were carved within them.

Then, Orion felt a resounding vibration ripple through his form, shaking his consciousness.

"You… are human."

The being had not moved its lips.

The words echoed telepathically through Orion's mind. He couldn't tell if the voice was male or female—only that it was vast, ancient, and absolute.

This was Orion's first time encountering an Omnithriallian. He was unprepared. He didn't even know how to respond.

The Omnithriallian turned its gaze to the flickering white flame surrounding them.

"A self-sustaining spiritual flame... forged from the collision of Divine Mysteries, the essence of a half-stepped true god, and the curse. As each force seeks to annihilate the others, its very nature has become one of purification, capable of cleansing corruption and tempering both soul and flesh alike."

The Omnithriallian looked at Orion.

"You want to use this… to cleanse the Vylkr armour."

"Yes," Orion responded. His voice reverberated across the burning flame.

"Why?"

Orion hesitated. He didn't know how to answer that question.

In truth, he had no idea what he was truly doing. No one had ever walked this path before.

There was no template or guidance to follow.

All he knew was that the White Flame was linked to his Divine Archetype, and with it, while devouring Nyzarrork's corpse, he could ascend safely to divinity, aided by the Mysteries of the Twelve-Step Stairs.

"I want to ascend to divinity," Orion finally said.

He looked up at the being who could crush him with a single thought.

"A being called Naka used your corpse to create the Vylkr armour and other abominations. He is a threat to Paradise, the only sanctuary left for humanity since the Material Realm was ravaged by the curse. I must become strong enough to stand against him."

Only now did Orion realize that it was likely the presence of the Omnithriallian's essence that allowed the Vylkr armour to resist the White Flame's purification?

Yet something still didn't add up. How could an Omnithriallian manifest from the armour after it had already been forged?

Silence enveloped them.

"I see. Paradise truly is a beautiful realm," the Omnithriallian said. "You've accomplished much… and gathered powerful allies on your path. If only we had foreseen how devastating the curse would become, perhaps we would have done more; perhaps we could have helped humanity escape."

A faint sorrow filled its voice.

"A moment of anger… led to such tragedy. But what has happened cannot be undone. We must now look toward the future."

Then the Omnithriallian added, "Very well. I will not only allow you to proceed with the purification but also aid you in your ascension."

Orion sighed inwardly in relief. He had never been so grateful.

His first meeting with his ancestor was ending on a hopeful note.

But then, the Omnithriallian continued.

"However… it will be under one condition."

Orion frowned. He had learned from Oberon's fate that Omnithriallians never did anything for free.

Still, he hadn't expected such a condition to be placed upon their own descendant. He forced himself to remain calm and listen.

"You will withdraw all your companions into this realm and remain here permanently. I do not know how you managed such a feat, but a realm comparable to the Material Realm and Mysteries akin to the Divine Mysteries… that should be more than enough to serve as your hope for the next million years."

Orion's expression hardened.

"I'm sorry, ancestor, but I can't accept that," Orion responded, his tone firm.

"To agree to your condition would be the same as turning our backs on the world. Naka, the Vylkr spawns, and all other Vylkr entities must be stopped. Surrendering now, after all we've endured, would be tantamount to accepting defeat."

"We've toiled too long and come too far to abandon our mission at this critical juncture."

He gritted his teeth.

He never expected that this would be the Omnithriallian's condition.

He swiftly received his answer.

"My child, listen to me. I am telling you this for your own good. Do you think Naka can desecrate our corpses and use them to create the Vylkr armour without our permission?"

The response struck him like a boulder.

"What… do you mean?" Orion asked, doing his best to keep his voice steady, his heart sensing a forbidding chill.

"This was meant to be a private matter, but since you are my child, no different from him, I will disclose this to you. Naka's goal is to break into heaven, and our race's lifelong wish was to exterminate the gods. But now that the gods are trapped in the Material Realm, losing their heavenly rights, it is much easier to kill them."

"So in exchange for aiding his desire to break into heaven once more, he must eliminate the gods." The Omnithriallian's words stunned Orion.

"The only reason that the world still stands is because of the safety measures we have put in place in case the gods find our dimension. They did, and they recklessly attempted to turn it into the same ruins they had left the other worlds and dimensions in before arriving here. With the Vylkr energy continuously ravaging it, no one can save it."

"As such, we have no issue with what he does as long as he accomplishes it. Because he is the only one who can do it. Attempting to fight Naka would be the same as going against your ancestors' lifelong wishes."

Orion found it hard to believe what he was hearing.

The Omnithriallians were aiding Naka?

He had never seen things through this lens before. Now that he did, he realized that Naka's goal—to create the perfect race and break into heaven by any means necessary—slightly coincided with the Omnithriallians' goal of eliminating the gods.

No wonder Naka had known that Oberon would encounter an Omnithriallian.

No wonder the Vylkr armour consumed the gods in order to ascend to divinity; this wasn't just due to its inherent limitations but because of them.

No wonder he had come this far.

Naka and the Omnithriallians were working hand in hand.

Orion didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that he had overlooked such vital information.

"Does heaven even still exist at the moment?" Orion asked, his voice tinged with a myriad of emotions. "I had heard that after its countless rebirths, it is now a void where only the Divine Mysteries exist."