"Truly a miracle of creation."
"Seven layers of interfaces, each different. This is a new world, subordinate to Chaos yet independently originating."
Beside the illusionary Nether Moon, the gentle voice of the Night Lady came through. Just like her, it was elusive and seemingly both real and illusory.
She wore a black dress woven from the night sky, and anyone, mortal or god, who looked upon her could only sense her beauty but could never grasp just how beautiful she was, only able to envision it within dreams.
Even Laine had only glimpsed the maiden form of Nyx at the moment of the birth of the Primordial Gods. Beyond that, the visage of this creation goddess was never known to others. She was like the night, mysterious and hazy.
"What a pity," Nyx said in a tranquil tone that belied the cruelty of her words, "If it were before, I could have shattered it. But now, its origin has been reshaped."
"Time-space and fate are bound together by Spirituality, unless Chaos is willing to give me all of his remaining time-space source power, otherwise I can't touch it."
Nyx could feel that the Spirit Realm was right before her eyes, even covering most of the Underworld.
But it was useless, because Spirituality separated the two realms. Nyx could use the powers of destiny to fix the trajectory of fate, but she lacked the divine authority over time-space to break this shield.
In many cases, divine authority is absolute. Even though her power was enough to shake the entire Underworld, she could not breach this barrier, just as the later Zeus could not stop the hypnotic powers of the God of Sleep.
"But Chaos won't do that."
Suddenly, a male voice that betrayed no age came from beside the Night Lady.
The voice was very calm, but the tone was somewhat mocking. Clearly, the speaker did not favor the instinctive consciousness of Chaos.
"This is a world without self, just like our divine bodies, preferring to be slowly bled dry rather than knowing when to cut losses."
That was The Dark Overlord Erebus, his existence even more secretive than Nyx's, for he was darkness itself.
"Perhaps we can talk," Erebus said.
Laine knew he was speaking to him.
"In the past, I dismissed you due to your weakness. But the facts have told me that as a Primordial God older than us, your power is far greater than you show."
That's what The Dark Overlord said, and he truly believed it. As the most ancient deities, the Primordial Gods were all aware of Laine's existence. But after sensing Laine's power, they no longer paid him any attention.
If not for Uranus's interest in 'the weakest of the Ancient Gods' later on, even Mother Earth would not have come to see Laine, let alone the subsequent prophecies.
Within the Spirit Realm facing the invitation of The Dark Overlord, Laine felt a bit hesitant.
In essence, Laine, who had just completed creation, was extremely powerful. He had snatched a tremendous amount of origin power from the world, and even if he had not yet fully digested it, its intensity was far beyond his imagination.
Especially the Oracle Stone Tablet, from which Laine had obtained a terrifying amount of the powers of destiny and order, and even many miscellaneous powers.
For instance, Script was one of them. The inherently carved Script on the tablet was older than Mnemosyne, the God of Script, and it was with this power that Laine created the Spirit Script belonging to the Spirit Realm.
The great origin powers stacked upon one another, and in Laine's perception, his current Spirituality, if measured by godhood, was nearly as strong as The Sky. Even when he completely digested this gain, he could reach even higher levels, but in reality, Laine's power was not that strong.
Like the original Sea God Pontus, before his godhood was divided, the Ocean was not inferior to The Sky, but he never matched up to Uranus. It wasn't a gap in godhood but a difference in actual strength.
Godhood determines the upper limit of a deity's Divine Power Level determines a deity's current power. Laine had a powerful origin, but like the newly born original Sea God, he only had a Divine Power Level of eleven.
If it had been another god outside, even Gaia, Laine would have dared to meet them, but the Twin Gods of the Dark Night were different.
The personalities of these two Primordial Gods were not deeply individualized, therefore their power was much stronger.
At this moment, both inside and outside the Spirit Realm, silence fell. After a lengthy hesitation, Laine ultimately gave up the idea of avoiding confrontation.
He couldn't stay in the Spirit Realm forever, slowly accumulating divine power over tens of thousands of years.
He had many more things to do, besides, he was born of the Spirit Realm. Even if he were captured, at worst he would die once and his divine power would fall.
As long as the Spirit Realm existed, he could always reassemble his divine body, and they could not possibly trap him forever.
However, by that time, his grudge with the Twin Gods of the Dark Night would have definitely solidified.
With his mind made up, Laine took a step forward. In the next moment, he appeared outside the Spirit Realm.
His silvery-white shadow shifted from intangible to solid, his robe adorned with light purple patterns. Laine stood before the Lady of the Night, nodding to her in greeting.
He was no longer his former self. Even the Primordial Gods were no longer worthy of his bow.
"Good evening, Lady Nyx and Lord Erebus, I apologize for keeping you waiting. May I ask what you wish to discuss with me?"
Narrowing her eyes slightly, the Lady of the Night scrutinized the young deity before her.
Unlike the other male gods of this era, Laine didn't have distinctly built muscles, nor was he dressed in rudimentary garments congealed from divine power. His silver-white robe looked very distinctive, and he had an altogether different aura about him.
"Heh, you really are surprising, Lord Laine, you do seem out of place among the gods."
"I guess, in front of my unfortunate sister, you wouldn't have looked this way."
Accompanied by a ripple of light laughter, Nyx's ethereal voice rang out again. But for some reason, Laine always felt that there was a mocking tone to it.
"Perhaps, but if Mother Earth could have set aside the pride in her heart earlier, perhaps she wouldn't be in the predicament she is now."
"Besides, I fail to see where you and Mother Earth have shown 'sisterly love'."
With a slight chuckle, Laine responded to the Lady of the Night's remark noncommittally.
When he was still weak, he always had to 'dust it off.' If he had the strength he has now back then, Laine wouldn't have had to go to such lengths to deal with any 'prophecy.'
If he were a deity with great divine power now, even if the Twin Gods of the Dark Night sensed the will of the world, they would choose to turn a deaf ear.
"However, Lord Erebus, please forgive my impertinence," Laine said with a smile, his tone a tad casual, "but could you please come out and speak? It's quite unsettling speaking to a deity I cannot see. Since you've invited me, it's only right to meet face to face, isn't it?"
"You are correct, it was impolite of me."
The next moment, as The Dark Overlord's voice fell, Laine caught sight of his figure.
A black hood draped over him, different from the darkness of Nyx's black dress.
Her dress's color was more like a mutable "black," whereas The Dark Overlord's hood was more akin to a black hole.
It had no color of its own, but only by comparing it to its surroundings did people realize it was "black."
Furrowing his brows slightly, Laine found that Erebus hadn't actually concealed his presence. He had always been standing there; it's just that his existence was so subtle, it was almost as if he didn't exist at all.
Compared to Nyx's discourtesy in her words, the one who came straight up to 'shatter it,' this Dark Overlord was truly not easy to deal with.
This move was undoubtedly a show of force, yet Laine still had to swallow it because this type of concealment ability worried him more than pure strength.
Only three beings possessing the covert authority were gathered here at this moment. One could conceal secrets in history, one could veil secrets under the night sky, but only Erebus — darkness was a secret in itself.
After a moment of thought, Laine spread his hands open. The radiance of Spirituality emerged, turning into thousands of nascent points of light.
These were the embryos of souls; with divine power to mold their forms, he could create Nymphs or Daimones.
And this was the gift Laine had prepared.
"The gods should be revered," Laine spoke, "They may obey someone, but they should not serve anyone. Treating one's own children as servants will ultimately invite disaster."
"These are the embryos of souls, a modest gift, in the hopes that the tragedy of the Heavenly Father will never recur in the Eternal Night."
The only response to a threat is another threat. And the only thing in this world that could make the Primordial Gods wary was probably the unpredictable nature of destiny itself.
The implication in Laine's words was clear — if you can't kill me, then you had better think carefully about the consequences of being my enemy.