Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

Madam Magician seemed to understand The Chariot Lumian's current feelings and chuckled, "When the original Creator split Himself, He also wanted to reunite and complete His revival. For this purpose, He left behind a barrier to protect the planet we live on.

"Without this barrier, those Great Old Dominators would have destroyed us along with the entire world long ago. By the way, try not to mention the cosmos to people without an Angel's status, or rather, don't let them understand the true situation of the cosmos- the Outer Deities come from there.

"Well, the original Creator's will is gradually fading with time, and power and psyche without will become chaotic and problematic. The barrier formed from this will end up increasingly unable to resist the great existences, until it reaches a critical point and completely shatters under the horrifying pressure.

"According to different prophecies and previous patterns, this critical point will arrive in 1368-this is the essence of the apocalypse.

"However, from the current situation, the apocalypse may not wait until the critical point appears. Problems within the barrier might cause the passageways to open prematurely."

The Chariot Lumian nodded slightly, finally understanding completely why there would be an apocalypse and what the main dangers would be when it arrived.

When the barrier shatters, even if Mr. Fool fully awakens and replaces The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings to become a great existence, their planet would only have one Above the Sequences being who could fight against the Great Old Ones, while there were a full ten Outer Deities in outer space!

"In the Vortex incident, the deity worshiped by the Aurora Order, with the help of Amon consuming Termiboros and the Genie's special nature and other arrangements, severely wounded the Uncertain Mist and killed all the Brokers. This is a good thing." Madam Magician suddenly smiled. "The Great Old Ones waiting to invade from different planets in the solar system have lost one of Their number, and the remaining ones can no longer be effectively united. The bad news is that after such careful planning and great effort, there are still nine Outer Deities left."

Lumian already had some understanding of the final outcome and general development of the Vortex incident, but it wasn't entirely clear.

Now, he finally understood what all those arrangements were for.

He remained silent for a few seconds before repeating one of his previous questions, "Besides the Mother Goddess of Depravity and Mother Tree of Desire, what are the other seven Great Old Ones trying to achieve?"

Mr. Fool had mentioned earlier that accommodating multiple sefirot was impossible for the Celestial Worthy, although He had indeed done so. From the subsequent narrative, it seemed that the Celestial Worthy's ultimate fall was somehow related to this.

Madam Magician glanced at the bronze long table in front of Mr. Fool, and seeing no objection from this great existence, she carefully said, "There are actually different levels for Above the Sequences.

"The Mother Tree of Desire, Monarch of Decay, and other Great Old Dominators are at the first level. Besides Them, there are some other Outer Deities in the depths of cosmos, but They are either weaker in strength or have no desire for the symbolic meanings of the sefirot within the barrier, so They aren't involved in this matter.

"The original Creator is at the third level, representing the ultimate, representing chaos, beginning and end, representing the unknowable and undiscussable. No existence can surpass this level, and this level can only have one being, and it's very unstable because both aggregation and division are His instincts.

"Between the first and third levels, there's another level-the second level.

"The great existences at the second level aren't much more powerful than the strongest first-level Great Old Ones like the Mother Tree of Desire, Child of Chaos, and Monarch of Decay, but They possess special symbolism. They are the foundation for the universe's maintenance and development, each supporting a realm, and are known as 'Pillars'."

"Pillars..." Lumian thought of the "Ten Pillars" of the Moses Ascetic Order.

Madam Magician Fors said with undisguised amusement, "This is a case of knowing the term 'Pillars' but not understanding its true symbolic meaning. They thought it sounded sophisticated and misused it. In the eyes of those who truly understand the weight of 'Pillars,' it's simply foolish."

"It was the Brood Hive that brought the Hidden Sage to life and secretly corrupted Him.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Mother Goddess of Depravity, who split off the Brood Hive, is one of the true Pillars, right?"

"Ah, yes..." Madam Magician Fors was stunned again.

"Fate is truly wonderful..."

The Chariot Lumian glanced at the head of the bronze long table, then withdrew his gaze and asked Madam Magician, "Are there only three Pillars?"

Madam Magician Fors nodded. "From a realistic perspective, there are countless planets in the universe, each planet equivalent to a world, and simultaneously, there exist numerous alternate dimensions, too many to count.

"But in mysticism, there are only three layers of worlds: the physical world, the spirit world, and the astral world.

"Many schools of mysticism might have different interpretations of this, but the final division of worlds still comes down to just three layers.

"Returning to conventional concepts, the primordial God Almighty is the dominator of the astral world, Mr. Fool is the lord of the spirit world, and the Mother Goddess of Depravity is the sovereign of the physical world. Well, although She had part of Her sefirot torn away. She still possesses the symbolism and status of a Pillar.

"You should know that besides the Mother Goddess of Depravity Herself, the Mother Tree of Desire, and the Child of Chaos being directly born from the original Creator, the remaining Great Old Ones were all born from the union of the Mother Goddess of Depravity and the original Creator. They are the first batch of beings She created. She is literally the mother of the Monarch of Decay, Supernova Dominator, and other Great Old Ones-the true Mother of All Things.

"Each controls a realm, but not completely. Their authorities overlap with each other-that's what Pillars are.

"Complete Pillars are at the second level of Above the Sequences, with a status higher than other Great Old Ones and slightly stronger in power, but not fundamentally different. A complete Pillar can defeat a Great Old One but cannot truly kill Them, and at most can simultaneously fight against two Great Old Ones, probably..."

Mr. Fool, shrouded in grayish-white fog, neither confirmed nor denied her statement.

Madam Magician withdrew her gaze and said to Lumian, "If a complete Pillar accommodates one more sefirot, They will lose control over Their aggregation instinct and will actively consume more sefirot until They aggregate into the original Creator, causing His revival.

"Once this process begins, it can only be interrupted by Their complete fall and division.

"As for the first-level Above the Sequences Great Old Dominators, They can still accommodate another sefirot that has similar, close, or adjacent symbolism to Their own. This would make Them equal in power to the Pillars, though They still wouldn't possess the symbolism of Pillars.

It seems the apocalypse is inevitable and unavoidable because the contradictions cannot be reconciled!

Madam Magician reminded him, "Don't think that sending away the sefirot would prevent the apocalypse.

"Let's not even discuss whether the current owners of the sefirot are willing, but those Outer Deities would need all the Uniquenesses of the corresponding pathways and one Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic from each pathway while accommodating the corresponding sefirot. Should we have those true gods and Archangels commit suicide or find ways to lower Their status?"

Sequence 1 was often referred to as Archangels.

Hearing Madam Magician's words, Lumian suddenly had some thoughts.

Madam Magician continued, "Even if we overcome all difficulties and reach an agreement on similar matters, and this world doesn't destroy itself through internal strife, the apocalypse would still come.

"You should know that godhood's tone is fundamentally madness, chaos, filled with desires for destruction and creation. Those Outer Deities have waited for thousands or tens of thousands of years - They won't spare our planet.

"Once the barrier is damaged, even if Their attention is focused on the sefirot, Uniquenesses, and Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics, it would still be unbearable for other Beyonders, ordinary people, and our planet. They are the manifestation of such symbolism.

"For example, the Monarch of Decay would naturally cause the entire planet and all living beings to start decaying, eventually either rotting to death or becoming disgusting creatures loyal to Him, and without necessary resistance, the mere approach of the Supernova Dominator would tear the planet apart.

"At that time, those above Sequence 2 will be watched, and below Sequence 2, not many Beyonders have the ability to survive in space. Sequence 2 is probably the Sequence most likely to survive the apocalypse, but for most Sequence 2 Angels, it would be extremely difficult to cross space, resist various dangers, and find a suitable planet for subsequent survival."

Madam Magician was telling Lumian that once a house collapsed, most people inside will die-escape couldn't solve the problem.

The Chariot Lumian thoughtfully said, "Is it possible to find common desires among multiple Outer Deities, throw out the sefirah that would satisfy the most Outer Deities' needs outside the barrier, incite internal strife among that portion of Outer Deities, let Them severely wound each other first, make the wounded ones retreat to deep space, and thus reduce the number of invading Outer Deities when the apocalypse comes?"

As he spoke, Lumian furrowed his brow.

"But the victorious Outer Deity would become more powerful-it's impossible to assess whether this would be equivalent to the Outer Deities who were driven away...

As he was muttering to himself. Mr. Fool, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke, "Actually, there is a hidden fourth Pillar."