Chapter 173: The Goddess of Eternal Grimoires
Hearing such words, Jovian waved the question off with an unconcerned flick of his fingers and glanced toward his companions.
"Go ahead and board the ship." He said as he turned back to the Dean, "This won’t take very long."
HUMMMMM!!!!!
But before anyone had the chance to move, the Dean’s aura surged outward in an almost instinctive reaction.
His Tier 17 Star Union power burst forth, the sudden wave of pressure sweeping over the open field and flattening the vibrant grass in wide, rippling circles.
Having steered the Academy of Eternal Knowledge’s plans for decades, it was no surprise that such efforts had only sharpened the older man’s strength.
Even so, the weight of it passed over Jovian like little more than a breeze.
Snap!
HUMMMM!!!!
In that instant, he snapped his fingers, and a soft purple glow swept over Melissa, Jack, Selia, her sister, and her aunt, lifting them effortlessly onto the deck of the Dreamer’s Drift in one smooth motion.
Once the last of them had slipped inside, Jovian rolled his neck with a series of soft cracks and turned fully to face the Dean.
"Old man... I really don’t want to fight you. You’ve been pretty good to me over the years."
A faint, almost lazy smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
"It wouldn’t be any fun knowing I could kick your ass without even trying too hard."
Truthfully, Jovian’s power might not have been all that far from the Dean’s, but the sheer amount of Divinity he now carried was a game changer.
His brief time on Akasha’s mountain had clearly given him something—maybe not its full effect, but enough to matter.
And with Akasha’s domain spanning the entire world, it would, as always, mold itself to suit him best.
That meant no one else alive, save for the Academy of Veils and those who had stood upon that mountain, could tap into the domain’s benefits.
The Dean’s eyes narrowed, and his voice came out deep and weathered.
"I guess you always did walk your own path, Jovian." He said with a shake of his head.
"That stubbornness has served you well... though it left more than a few gray hairs in its wake."
The truth was, the Dean had never intended to keep Jovian from leaving; all he sought was understanding.
From the moment he had brought Jovian into his care, he had known the young man carried a destiny far greater than anything the world of Kalpa could contain.
Jovian let out a brief, amused laugh as he stepped towards him, his white hair catching and shimmering in the kaleidoscope of sunlight streaming through.
"Look, I’m not abandoning my duties," he said. "I’ve just seen more of the situation than the rest of you."
The Dean turned with him, his gaze steady and ancient, his voice low and roughened by centuries.
"Oh... not abandoning your duties, are you?" he asked. "So, how would you define it then?"
Jovian slowed to a stop when he came alongside the older man, and for a moment, it felt as though the open field itself was holding its breath.
"Hmm, let’s just call it prioritizing," he said, his tone shifting to something more serious.
"I know... in just under eighty years, an envoy from a Pantheon will arrive in this world."
He gave a short laugh, one that carried no warmth, more frost than mirth.
Hearing such words, the Dean’s eyes narrowed yet again, but instead of speaking, he only listened to what he had to say.
"The Academies have been blind for far too long. It’s not only Kalpa that’s surrounded in chaos—this whole star system is....
And from what I’ve pieced together, it’s not just a single Pantheon with eyes on this world. There are many of them, and every last one is fixed on Kalpa."
He gave the Dean a single, almost friendly pat on the shoulder before continuing on his way.
"And... Pantheos, they’re not something you want to fuck around with, Old Man."
The Dean stood motionless, his thoughts beginning to drift.
As the purple glow of the Dreamer’s Drift wrapped around Jovian, the air between them pulsed with memories—shared lessons, laughter, and regret.
Jovian’s last words lingered, heavy as prophecy.
"Oh... and a bit of advice... don’t even think about attacking the Academy of Veils," he said before the starship disappeared.
"It’ll be best to lie down quietly... otherwise, you’re certain to die."
-----
Far from the Central Continent, in a realm shaped by blood and song, Liliana stood at the edge of a crimson ocean that stretched without horizon.
The water itself was thick and dark, carrying the metallic scent of bloodlines, while faint, haunting melodies drifted on the wind... like siren voices that never fully resolved into words, only longing.
High above, a single burning star dominated the sky, its light neither warm nor cold, only absolute, casting long, shifting shadows across the endless surface.
After being here for a while... She had already reached the final stage of the trial.
The other version of herself—the one the trial formed using her Star of Burning Scriptures... it now lay broken and fading behind her.
That false Liliana had fought with everything it possessed to rewrite her fate, to pull her away from achieving an entirely new destiny...
But it had failed, quite miserably.
The last of its form dissolved into the bloody water with a soft, resigned sigh, leaving only the true Red Lady standing beneath the burning star.
HUMMMM!!!!!!
A black grimoire materialized in the air before her, pages of living shadow turning of their own accord.
"The Eternal Grimoire, huh?"
Liliana murmured, feeling a torrent of information flood into her mind.
She approached it with a determined gaze and a faint, knowing smile, the hem of her blood-red coat skimming across the ocean’s surface without ever sinking.
"Truly... how did my husband possess the power to reshape entire stars?" she muttered, still struggling to grasp the impossibility of it all.
As if that weren’t enough, he had even taken her existing bloodlines and elevated them drastically, bringing them both to the God Rank.
Her eyes finally fixed on the glowing text that hovered above the grimoire, curiosity and anticipation intertwining within her.
[To become the Goddess of Eternal Grimoires, you must first forge an Eternal Contract with anything or anyone.]
With the information flooding into her mind, she already understood what it meant.
An Eternal Contract could never be broken—no amount of force, the passage of time, or even the death of one of the parties could undo it.
It was something that was... absolute.
Normally, for her, such a Contract was meant to serve a beneficial purpose.
When applied to something as vast as a world, a concept, or a being of considerable power, it could grant advantages that edged dangerously close to the unfair.
Yet, as the weight of the requirement settled completely in her mind, a small, almost secretive smile curved her lips.
"It would be good," she murmured to the empty ocean and the burning star, "to contract myself to Akasha... eternally."
HUMMMMMM!!!!!!
[You are Eternally Connected to Akasha... Originat.]
In that moment, the words left her mouth; the Grimoire flew directly into her mind as an ethereal connection was formed.
And... the decision carried no ill will towards Akasha, of course not.
She knew full well that such a bond would change nothing about how he felt toward her, nor would it alter the depth of her own feelings.
But the obsession that lived in her chest as a second heart wanted more... wanted any thread, any chain, any permanent mark that would pull her even a fraction closer to him.
Little did she realize that the Contract, this bond, might turn out to be the greatest advantage she’d never imagined.
"Alright... let’s expand the Dark Hold~"