Oberon remained silent in response.
"Since you joined the Greed Gods, you haven't," Dr. Nakamura added. "From what I can see, something strange is eating your body from the inside out; if I had to guess, I'd take it as the vow you made with the Omnithrallian."
Oberon's eyes widened in astonishment as he looked at Dr. Nakamura. He had been feeling unwell recently and thought it was due to his brutal defeat against the man beside him; he had never imagined it to be the price for not yet fulfilling his vow with the Omnithriallian.
Above them, Orion redirected his focus to Aegis of the Arctic Deity. "Was that the reason why you are weaker than you currently are and unable to live for much longer?" he asked, his voice solemn.
Aegis of the Arctic Deity nodded in response to Orion. "Yes," he confirmed.
"And what about the fluid?" Orion asked solemnly.
"I know you have ideas. However, we'll only get our answers as we continue to observe," Aegis of the Arctic Deity responded.
Orion nodded and refocused his gaze downwards, joined by Aerialia, whose eyes remained fixed on the unfolding scene before them.
Afterwards, they watched as Dr Nakamura studied the blackish fluid that consumed everything it touched, including the body parts of the Omnithriallian, without difficulty. He identified it as a curse Oberon was suffering from due to his vow and decided to study it further, even extracting more from Oberon when needed.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nakamura continued working on creating his unique race while studying Oberon's curse. During this time, he also had numerous conversations with Oberon. They discussed General Reynolds' growing suspicion due to the delayed return of the divine Crimson Greatsword.
Also, Dr Nakamura shared details about how the remaining Five Greed Gods sought revenge by utilizing all their abilities to capture all the animals worldwide with their remaining alliances.
Using the Divine Mysteries, they drew these animals towards an unstable plane they had created within the earth. Luckily, Dr Nakamura managed to launch a catastrophic attack on them, instantly killing three as they fled once he deciphered their intentions.
Nonetheless, if he wanted to break into the plane that he suspected had collapsed slightly due to the deaths of three of the Five remaining gods, he would need to dedicate a significant amount of time to research and effort.
However, he couldn't afford to do so at the moment because he was occupied with stabilizing Oberon's curse, studying it, continuing his creation of the perfect race, and surprisingly, maintaining a secret romantic relationship with Ilse, the goddess of treasure, who had become the new overseer of Paradise after recent events.
During this period, the Seven Great Gods regained control of all their territories, with the remaining races and gods now serving under them. Despite their desire to eliminate the other gods to prevent potential future issues, they were cautious of the unforeseen consequences if pushed too far, like the Greed Gods had done. Therefore, they opted to keep them under control, chaining them and gradually binding them to humanity's influence.
One seemingly ordinary day, he finally achieved a breakthrough, crafting a complete goddess forged from the essence of an Omnithriallain and a goddess. He believed this creation would win the approval of the Divine Mysteries and ascend into divinity. However, there was a significant issueshe couldn't harness any form ofenergy,despite her astonishing strength as she aged.
"DAMN IT!!" Dr. Nakamura cursed, gazing at the mature woman peacefully suspended in the fluid-filled glass tube. "This is a failure!! What am I missing here?! How were the gods even capable of creating beings of such calibre in the first place?"
Orion and Aeralia observed the woman in the glass and instantly sensed that she was the Princess of the Garden. Despite being created for greatness like the others before her, her failure led Naka to realize that he couldn't easily replicate the abilities the gods wielded when they were in heaven. Consequently, she was abandoned and left aside, to be utilized only if he found any usefulness, as she was the closest thing he had come to creating the perfect race.
After that day, Naka set aside the experiment of creating the perfect race and temporarily shifted his focus, fully concentrating on researching the curse within Oberon's body and slowing down its effects.
Over time, with his fearsome mind, he discovered that due to Omnithrillain's will to combat the divine energy within Oberon's body and utterly destroy it, it had developed a specific new kind of frightening energy. He quickly harvested and beganto researchit more, gradually testing it on other races with Paradise.
He quickly realized that humans were the perfect specimens for his research, as every other race would be consumed by it within hours or days, depending on their strength. Unexpectedly, Naka reignited his urge to create the new race, and instead of starting from scratch, he began with humans - both men, women, and infants - and the Vylkr energy, which he named after the new energy.
Soon, he began to progress; however, just like his previous failure in creating a specifically new race, he soon began to face some challenges. To grow stronger, they needed to continue being fed the Vylkr energy. Not only was the Vylkr energy limited, but they all had a specific barrier where they would be instantly eaten by the Vylkr energy from the inside out. This made him realize he needed something morepowerfulthan the Vylkr energy, which could suppress it.
The only thing that came to mind at that moment was the Primordial energy. However, the only way to obtain it was through a true god, and encountering a true god was an almost impossible feat as they ascended through the Divine Mysteries into heaven, becoming untraceable.
From Oberon's perspective, unexpectedly, the Primserions, who had been treated as one of themost specialraces within Paradise, rebelled within it. They killed some of the elemental water dragon species, tree nymphs, water nymphs, and other species or races on their way to reach Naka upon learning that their goddess was still alive and under his control.
This caused chaos within Paradise, with General Reynold taking the opportunity to sneak into Naka's underground laboratory.
Orion, Aerialia, and Aegis of the Arctic Deity observed as General Reynold spoke with Oberon, realizing they would finally understand how everything had ended and had become the way it was.
.........
Author's note:I hope I didn't keep you guys waiting for long. As promised, we are officially over with this mini-arc and will continue with the Vylkr spawns' imminent attack tomorrow!