The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 545: A Goddess Completely Different from Her Image

”...” I’ve wandered for a while inside this area of the Fundamentals of Creation, and I’ve found several amazing things, and although the excess of information flooding into my head is inconvenient, it’s still acceptable.

However, the most important thing is that I found one of the things I wanted to find, the goddess of the apocalypse, although she wasn’t the best thing to be found. Finding my mother, or an avatar of the primordial goddess, would have been better.

But I can’t complain too much. The place is immense; finding this is even lucky, since I could search and never find anything. Besides, I think this place is infinite in size, because it probably expands as one advances, showing everything that exists in existence.

”Well, well, well, look at you!” I approach her, crouching down because she’s tiny compared to me, then I touch her face to get her to start moving.

But unlike the reaction I expected, she just takes a few steps back and stares at me, making a disgusted face.

”That thing floating above your head is hideous. It’s truly repulsive to see how you have such impure Mana... I can’t believe you’re my successor,” she says with that disgust in her voice, looking at the spiral above my neck.

”You know me?” How did she realize I’m the goddess of the apocalypse?

”I know the future. I clearly know you to a certain extent, because I’ve seen my own future, and knew I would lose the position. But you’re even more disgusting up close than when I saw you before!” She insults me in every way possible.

”Honestly, why did you inherit my position? Of all things, a vile, disgusting, repulsive monster with a sick mind and even worse actions.”

”...Great way to describe me, but you could call me Pandora.”

”Thaniel. Call me Thaniel, since I no longer hold the position of goddess of the apocalypse.”

”You know where you are?” I ask, interested.

”Of course I know. It’s the Foundation of Creation. I’m the one who secretly gave this book to the goddess of demons. How would I not know what place this is?” She steps back slightly as if wanting to see my whole body.

”Do you have no basic decency? Why are you naked? With so much magic, making clothes would be easy,” she questions, looking at my chest.

”...Because clothes are unnecessary... but maybe I really should start wearing something.”

”What do you want to talk to me about?” She seems frustrated with me, which is funny in a way.

”Just... a few things...”

”I won’t give you information about the goddesses. Why would I do that? You want to kill my sisters. I would never help you. Besides, I won’t teach you magic or anything like that. I know perfectly well what you’d try to use anything you learn from me for,” she says before I can speak.

”You’re absolutely right, Thaniel. Pretty name, by the way. Anyway, all that’s left is for me to kill the goddess of humans and everything will be perfect...” My journey is nearing its end. The last real threat to my life is the goddess of humans. After she dies, I can live peacefully in a place of my choosing with what I’ve built.

The avatars of the primordial goddess, who are all level 1 trillion, are no real threats to me. They can’t even be considered enemies; they’re just things that keep concepts in order.

”But it’s a shame. Since you’re the same type of goddess as me, I thought you could teach me many things.” What a waste.

”Helping you would be a failure as a sister. I don’t understand why the primordial goddess gave you my position. You don’t deserve it. A monster attaining the power of a goddess? Isn’t that complete madness?”

”You’re just an irrational beast pretending to understand things.” Even though Thaniel says that, she’s wrong, because I am changing. Ever since I consumed the other Pandoras, and consumed Takashi in this place, I’ve been mentally becoming more stable.

Not less instinctual, but with rationality and self-control far superior to monsters in general.

Combining that with all the knowledge I’m gaining here in this place, I’m very far from both the general races and monsters in terms of mentality. I’d say I’ve become a new category.

’Impartial neutrality...’ I’m almost reaching that state, although I don’t know how I’d get there. Maybe I’ll never reach it because I’ll always see a need to destroy things, or maybe that’s precisely why I’ll reach it, since it’s my duty as a goddess to bring about the end of things.

”Thaniel, since you hate me so much, then tell me, what is the duty of a goddess of the apocalypse?” When I ask this, she bites her lip.

”...”

”Nothing? You know, our duty is to kill and destroy. This universe is already very old. The goddesses are too. A time will come when things have to change. Old things must disappear so new ones can arise. That’s how balance works, considering the universe and finite resources.”

”Your obvious prejudice against me doesn’t matter, because in the end the position is mine, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”

”And don’t forget, Thaniel. You’re my aunt in a way, so we’re relatives. You should hate me a little less.” I stand up from the ground, looking at her as she makes a horrible expression.

”I can still kill you!” She points her hand at me threateningly, and she really would have enough power to do it.

”Yes, you could. But being able to and succeeding are different things...” She makes a symbol with her hand, and immediately my body is split in two vertically. However, the parts don’t separate and fall to the ground; they remain stuck together by my blood, which grips the severed part.

”You attacked me?...” I simply step on her using Mana, and she’s crushed against the floor. I lift my foot, seeing her with some damage. She looks surprised, but the reason for her failure is obvious.

”You’re too young and have too few abilities. You’re not a threat to my life.” Unlike the current goddesses who’ve had billions of years to practice magic, this goddess here has had much less time.

”Y-You arrogant... I can still...” I give a kick that sends her stumbling back.

”Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re my aunt. Don’t be so arrogant, Thaniel... I don’t mind taking your life if you threaten mine. Besides, I didn’t come here for this nonsense.”

”If you’re completely useless with nothing to offer, then I’ll look for someone else.” Even though I say that, I couldn’t withstand a battle for very long, because much of my brain is being spent on learning the Fundamentals of Creation.

”You’re heading in a horrible direction, you know that, Pandora? Being the goddess of the apocalypse isn’t so great,” she says with a devilish smile. It’s a very different image from the loving sister. It seems all her love is directed solely at her sisters.

”I know.” Ever since I accepted acting as the goddess of the apocalypse, many things have changed, and one of them is the vague instinct of duty that all goddesses must have.

”But I don’t care.”

”...You aberration. It seems it’s not just your body that’s repulsive.”

”...”

”Hey!! Don’t turn your back on me! I’m still talking to you!” she says angrily. I guess I expected too much from a child. She seemed so responsible in the vision the primordial goddess showed, but children are still children, no matter how mature they seem.

”...” I raise my four arms, tilting my whole body as I stretch, cracking my knuckles loudly.

”Thaniel... I’ve already gotten what I wanted from you.”

”...?”

”!!!”

”Y-You damn...! You miserable thief!!! You aberration!!! I’ll—” I take a step back, moving out of her range, causing her to revert to being static again.

”Pfft, hahahaha, how hilarious.” I laugh at her, frozen in that funny position with an angry face, pointing at me.

We are goddesses. Our very presences give away a lot. The moment she came out of static mode, I began analyzing everything about her: her Mana, the way her body works, and most importantly, how the system and magic behave near her.

”It’s impressive. Even though it’s weak, all magic near her ’dies’ and a new form of magic is ’born.’ That’s incredible...” The goddess of the abyss has an aura that makes all nearby magic become obscured and destructive.

And as expected, after learning this and changing the behavior of my Mana, it started acting similarly. Now all magic near me self-destructs, and new magic is born.

’Isn’t this literally infinite Mana?’ I can absorb this Mana, and new will appear. It’s an effect of the goddess of the apocalypse position. Mana reacts to the state of everything around it, so although this might not seem like much, it changes a lot.

As long as I don’t spend more Mana than I recover, I can literally have infinite Mana thanks to being the goddess of the apocalypse.

’If Mana is constantly changing, it means no one near me will be able to absorb Mana from the environment.’ This is an incredible change, because many spells use ambient Mana to fortify themselves, and there’s also the fact that ambient Mana is different from the Mana within people’s bodies.

So there’s no way for someone to easily process ambient Mana into their body if it’s constantly ”dying” and changing.

”This is perfect... With this, I’ll be able to block Elysia’s immense amount of Mana in a fight.” Goddesses already have a monstrous amount of Mana, so when they use ambient Mana, the quantity probably seems endless. But with this, any goddess who fights me will be forced to use her own Mana reserves.

”Thanks for your little help, Thaniel. It was nice meeting you, despite your hatred for me,” I say in a somewhat mocking tone, waving my hand at her as I start walking again.

’The guardian seems even more frenzied...’ The guardian’s gaze on me has intensified. There’s no murderous intent, but its painful focus on me is still obvious.

’Well, since I got very little from that goddess, all that’s left is to seek other things...’ I start walking calmly again, to give my mind time to absorb everything calmly.