The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 551: Means to Freedom

”...What are you doing, Pandora?” My mother asked, doubtful. The moment I woke up, I had crossed my legs, begun to levitate, and was now hanging upside down from the ceiling.

”Just testing something. I successfully altered how gravity functions in the abyss within my immediate area.” It might not seem like much, but the magic in the abyss is so dense that what I did qualifies as high-level reality manipulation.

Doing this outside the abyss would let me literally alter the gravity of thousands of nearby galaxies, completely reversing its function and throwing every single orbit into utter chaos.

”That does seem interesting, though not very useful inside the abyss. Here, time, space, reality, basic physics, even gravity itself barely matter, because they’re always in flux.” She spoke with absolute certainty.

She was right. This ability is useless inside the abyss, where everything is in constant change, but it’s still fascinating to learn.

”I know, Mom. I’m just trying out new things because I’m going to expand the universe I created, and I need to make sure it’s stable. It’d be a disaster if it self-destructed!” I didn’t want to lose the heroes’ souls trapped inside.

”Well, that sounds great, but hanging upside down like that, you’re soaking my floor with black sludge.” When she said that, I looked down. The black spiral hadn’t obeyed the new gravity because I hadn’t applied it to my body, so the black sludge was dripping onto the floor.

”S-Sorry, I didn’t notice. I’ll clean it up in a bit. Also, thank you so much for letting me sleep here. It was really nice.” It feels so good to get a full night’s sleep every now and then.

”It was nothing. Now, Pandora, we should start planning, shouldn’t we? You need to get me out of the abyss so I can help you defeat the goddesses.”

”Considering that bitch Elysia, we’ll probably have to face the Dragon Goddess, the Elf Goddess, the Nature Goddess, and her. And Delphina probably won’t help this time since she’s with you now, so that’s four enemy goddesses.”

’Four goddesses... Considering what I learned in the Foundation of Creation, that’s a problem...’ Even with the power we have, fighting four goddesses at once is complicated because of the numerical disadvantage. The best option would be to split them up.

”Mom, what’s the best way to separate them? Could Azraelith and I each take one goddess, and you take two? Ah, but I want the pleasure of smashing Elysia’s face in myself, so she’s mine!”

”...”

”Alright then. I believe handling the Elf and Nature Goddesses would be best for me, while Azraelith deals with the Dragon Goddess. That matches her explosive fighting style.” She said this, but of course the future can’t be predicted. Plans can always change.

’Freeing you...’ I thought about how to get my mother out of the abyss. She’s literally fused with it, trapped inside. The easiest way would be to manifest her outside the abyss by causing chaos, letting her break free.

But that method is too complicated. Even Azraelith tried it and caused plenty of chaos, but she still failed. Maybe it’s better to come up with another way.

”Wait!!! Mom, I think I know how to get you out of here!” I said, alarmed. There actually was a simple method, one I’d even used before. I just never thought to apply it to my mother.

”Oh, really?” She grew attentive as I floated down from the ceiling.

”Yes. You know how I went to Japan a while back? The Stars sent me there in exchange for an agreement. When I got to Japan, I ended up impregnating the local goddess because she had fused with the planet Earth to stay alive and continue existing. My Mana invaded her and conceived a baby.”

”Notice the similarity?” I asked excitedly.

”...Yes. She was fused with the entire planet to survive, probably similar to how I fused with the abyss to survive... I see. And you managed to pull her out of that place, even though she was merged with it...”

”Correct!! I can do the same for you! The way I did it was by linking Tsukuyomi to myself through the System, and then I pulled her out of that universe and brought her into this one!”

”In other words, if I link you to myself somehow and pull you into another universe, I can get you out of the abyss permanently. You won’t necessarily lose your power—just your connection to the abyss.”

”And I already know where I can take you! Right into the universe I’m creating!!! With just a few modifications, I can do it in a few days, maybe weeks...” When I said that, my mother broke into a huge smile. She grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.

”How wonderful, my daughter!! I knew you could get me out of here. I love you so much!! You’ve only been with me for a short time, and you’ve already found a way to set me free. You’re so brilliant. I could never have done this alone.”

”And Azraelith never even thought of this. Even if your idea came from something you’d experienced before, that doesn’t take away from your merit. What do I need to do now?” She asked, pressing me tightly against her enormous chest.

”I-I just need to link you to me. The System should make it easy. In Tsukuyomi’s case, I linked her to me because she was a goddess who depended on people believing in her existence to grant her power.”

”Since they didn’t believe in her anymore, she fused with the planet so she wouldn’t die. To keep her alive, I bonded her deeply to myself. But with you, it’s different. You won’t die without the abyss. So I just need a lighter connection so the abyss can’t hold on to you!”

”Perfect. I know exactly how to do this, Pandora. Here.” She set me down on the floor and opened her own System window.

[Alert. Alert. Alert.

The Abyss Goddess wishes to bless you with the blessing [Curse of Complete Lapse]. Do you wish to Accept or Decline?

[Curse of Complete Lapse] A passive curse that eternally connects the bearer and the invoker through an invisible bond woven into fate itself. This intertwines their destinies forever and may generate unpredictable effects.]

Despite the urgent warnings, as if it were something dangerous, I didn’t hesitate for a second. I just clicked Accept and received the blessing. Immediately, I checked my status and saw it had been added to my passives.

”There, Pandora. Now we have the connection you needed!” She spoke with an excited smile, as if she could barely wait to be freed from the abyss.

”Okay, Mom, but you’ll have to be patient. I still need to modify and expand my universe. If you enter it right now, you’ll collapse it completely!! My universe doesn’t have the means to regulate magic properly yet! I’m literally the only one inside who can use magic at will!!”

”Of course. I can wait. What are a few more days, weeks, or months to someone who has waited so long already? Just knowing my freedom is this close is deliciously good.” She sat down on the bed, radiating joy.

And I understood her. Considering the age she once told me she was, any chance of freedom must feel wonderful. Actually, now that I had the Foundation of Creation in my head, I finally understood just how big that number really was.

And my god. What a fucking massive number. It was so large that the zeroes seemed to never end. You could use the entire universe as a sheet of paper, write zeroes the size of atoms, and still not even come close to writing 10% of that number.

And this universe is way bigger than the planet Earth’s universe. Which means that number—her age—is grotesquely, obscenely huge. When she’d told me her age before, I hadn’t realized it was that monstrously massive.

”Now, Mom, which room will I be staying in?”

”Let me think... The castle has many rooms, but I want you to share one with your older sister. Also, I’ll summon some of my servants here so you can learn things from them.”

”Don’t worry, they won’t try to kill you this time. I know they tried before, but that was because you kind of threaten their hierarchy, pushing them further down the ladder.”

”To put it simply, the abyss has a five-layer food chain. I’m at the very top, alone in my layer. Azraelith is second, also alone in hers.”

”The third layer holds my servants. The fourth holds their servants. The fifth holds ordinary monsters. But with you here, a sixth layer would be added, right below Azraelith’s, and you’re still stronger than that.”

”So to them, you’re a threat worth risking my anger over, just to keep you from gaining power. Because with you here, they’d have three beings they must be cautious of and submissive to.”

”It’s stressful for those beings to have three of us here, understand? But since you’re inside my castle, none of them would be insane enough to attack you directly. They might still try other things, though, so stay alert. They’re monsters. You can’t trust them much.”

”Okay, Mom!” I honestly didn’t mind sharing a room with Azraelith. Having a room together with an older sister sounded great.