Epic of Caterpillar

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The stream of memories and images began to rush through my mind, which made me remember a bit of how Gaia's memories transferred into my mind.

Although this was not accidental like it happened in that time, Ghiotl and the other Gods with her had decided to share these memories with me.

What I saw was quite interesting.

It was when this place, the Dark Steppes, was not a big wasteland (courtesy of Jorgrakog) yet…

The Gods gathered in here, inspecting the place and finding it quite ideal for their mortal tribes.

Each one of them had a tribe of mortal demi-humans, there were lamias, rat beast-kin, turtle beast-kin, poison elves, and more.

All these races shared the same thing, they were able to live quite comfortably in similar conditions with each other.

And the Dark Steppes was a place so perfect for them that the Gods could not help but let them get out of their Divine Realms and thrive on the surface of the Realm of Vida.

As time went by, the Gods became closer, almost like siblings.

They formed the small Pantheon of the Gods of the Dark Steppes, and due to their position here, they seemed to not be bothered by other Gods.

Jorgrakog was sealed in this place though, but it seems that they did not realize this yet, as they were living quite carefreely.

However, here is the thing…

When they were peacefully living, the groups had begun to create small Dungeons to help their mortal children, however, as they created more Dungeons, one of those Gods, Ghiotl, came across a strange… item within the underground.

Its power seemed slightly sealed, but as the Gods glanced at it, the item began to exude a wave of primordial energy so strong that it began to give the gods enlightenment and even information they had never know before.

After a lot of investigation, they discovered that this piece of white-gold crystal was something so ancestral and powerful that they could not believe how it ended in here, to begin with.

Its own existence was discovered because one of these Gods, Ghiotl, had seen the former body of this fragment.

When Genesis was destroyed and its vast landmass of the planet shattered into pieces, it was revealed within its center that an enormous crystal was the core of the planet.

A crystal where the one and only World's Will seemingly inhabited, although it was still a mystery if the World's Will was truly the personification of this crystal or an external being that inhabited it.

When the planet shattered into pieces, and the surviving Immortals glanced at the crystal, the World's Will finally manifested itself, holding on to this gargantuan crystal that had suffered large amounts of damage, as many of its pieces began to spread around the cosmos and over the fragments of the planet.

The Gods at that time seemed to not be able to catch them, or at least, not that Ghiotl saw with its very eyes, but I assume that many other Gods may have found these transcendental fragments.

A fragment of what is called the world's Origin Core.

I cannot really get that much info of what the heck is the Origin Core other than a core inside a world… not a planet, but a world.

Yeah, it means something else. I guess not every planet always has an Origin Core, maybe those that are special or something?

No idea, but the thing is this valuable crystal holds into the power of the entire World of Genesis…

Yeah, I am not joking here.

But of course, this tiny fragment is so small it is not even comparable to the real thing.

I also learned from the memories, that an Origin Core holds a World 'into place'…

What does this even mean?

Well, it seems that it sticks with the Fabric of Reality, the thing I've seen through Void Magic.

In resume, the Origin Core creates the World's Laws, which binds the world into the Fabric of Reality and the Spatial Layers, becoming 'something real' within the vast existence.

Woah, a lot of things to comprehend.

Yeah, I am just as confused as anyone would be.

Although my thought processing is immensely fast, so I guess I figure things pretty fast for other people that do not see the entire process in my mind...

Anyways, this little crystal fragment, which has the size of around ten to twenty meters, is a Fragment of the Origin Core of Genesis.

The Gods speculate that there might be many of this spread all around the Realms, perhaps some were already found by other Gods, but this one has been very well guarded.

Mostly because the Gods created several dungeons around it, enclosing it inside a small space in between all of these Dungeons, so its energy was not able to leak out as much.

Thing is, they have not tried to touch it or do anything with it because it is way too dangerous, the power that it emanates affects the soul directly of anyone who touches it, filling their minds with enormous amounts of knowledge and also filling them with this energy.

Not even Gods can take so much power, and would usually burst like balloons that took too much air.

And because they do not have some way to move it around, they had left the fragment rest within this underground area, while they protected it from anyone that would try to use them for something bad… for example, destroying the Realm or something.

I already know a bunch of Demon Gods that would like to get their claws into it, thankfully, the idiots seem to have never realized its existence.

Now, due to the chaos that Hephaestus caused and that Jorgrakog did through his Miasma, the Miasma has leaked underground and is reaching the Origin Core Fragment, affecting it and making it go berserk…

It's beginning to release waves after waves of powerful divine energy, filling everything with it.

And if it continues for some more time, it will grow in intensity to the point that the entire Realm will begin to tremble.

At that point, I believe that the Central Continent Gods will have already noticed it, and might put some countermeasure to it, or perhaps all the Great Gods that live in here would go and grab it or do something with it, so it doesn't simply destroy literally everything.

It seems that such an item has this effect…

To think that I would come across problems after problems…

Now there are two options, I leave it alone alongside the other Gods and I fly back to my Empire to help out my other body there.

Or the other Plan is to do the unthinkable.

I will eat the Origin Core Fragment so I do not let the Gods grab it before me, and with the powerup I get, I will wreck the entire Thanatos Pantheon.

Sounds good, right?

The bet?

My life.

If I cannot completely devour it in time, I will be completely consumed by its power and explode into Divine Energy.

It is quite a difficult decision, but I am very tempted to grab this opportunity while I can.

If I am capable of actually eating it, the power I could get through it will be insane… Although I do not even know the totality of the capabilities I might acquire.

And well, there is the whole thing about dying.

If my soul gets overcharged… would not my body at my Empire suffer the same fate?

Then I would be risking it all for this opportunity.

But…

Something is telling me to do this.

I do not know why, but the energy that this fragment is constantly releasing…

The power that it emanates…

It's calling to me.

I do not really like to talk about Fate and whatever…

But for some reason, this feels like a predestined meeting.

This means that while I devour this thing, I will be fighting against the things back in my Empire…

A risky move.

Now that my power has skyrocketed since I ate three more Gods… maybe.

The Gods glance at me with curiosity, although through their expressions in their monster faces, I can tell they had already guessed what I was thinking.

"Kireina-sama… You can't possibly think…" muttered Ghiotl, her body was that of a gigantic squid-like monster.

"But Masta, we have to go back!" said Rimuru.

"Is this really the way to do it?" asked Zehe.

"…I feel like we won't be able to convince her," said Brontes.

"…Sigh. Very well then, we might as well guard you while you do all of this…" said Nesiphae.

"Thanks, everyone," I said.

"Maybe if we fuse it could be easy, guu?" asked Rimuru.

"No, I might get more power out of it, but your soul's compositions are still weaker than me, it wouldn't be something you could take…" I said.

"Okay then… Please be careful, masta! D-Don't die!" said Rimuru, hugging me tightly.

"Make sure to come in time," said Brontes, hugging me as well.

"Honey… Please make sure to eat that thing and come quickly, oaky?" asked Zehe.

"Amiphossia and I will be waiting for you back home, make sure to come back," said Nesiphae, entangling me with her tail.

"Don't worry… I will make sure to come back… And it is not like I am not there, so you will see when you finally reach the Empire, no worries," I said.

"Kireina-sama, we will separate and assist your Empire!" said Ghiotl.

"Thanks," I said.

It seems that everything is decided, I am going to do this.

Rimuru, Brontes, Nesiphae, and Zehe ended up going back to my Empire to give any support they can to the battle going on in there, Jorgrakog remained at my side, and half of the Dark Steppes Gods went with Rimuru's group as well.

"Kireina-sama… please be careful!" said Jorgrakog.

"Stay in here and see how things go, I have a bad feeling that something or someone might perceive what I am doing and come here…" I said.

"Very well!" said Jorgrakog, as the rest of the Dark Steppes Gods remained within one of their Divine Realms above the underground dungeons where the Origin Core Fragment rested.

I descended, quickly flying through the dungeons, opening them all with my Dungeon Sovereign Magic, walls after walls of bricks or spaces with different biomes greeted me one by one, as I kept descending into this abyss.

Soon enough, I arrived at a strange place.

An enormous cave was enclosed completely by the walls of four different dungeons.

The Fragment of the Origin Core… it was exuding great amounts of energy waves one after another, hitting me directly.

It was hard to just walk in here.

The power it exuded was like if the gravity was increasing by tenfold, even my soul was feeling the aftereffects, and my body had long ago since I entered here fallen into a pulp of flesh.

Of course, it was not as if being a mass of slimy flesh was bad.

I crawled my way towards the white crystal, which had beautiful and iridescent yellow gold colors, releasing sparkles that covered me entirely.

Unlike I thought, I did not particularly felt any pain, it was more like a power that was constantly filling me.

Through my Uroboros Skill, I managed to slowly devour and assimilate it, and even the most recent Skills I awakened were helping me in transforming this power into mine.

However, the level of power I was receiving was enormous, even I was beginning to feel incredibly tired…

However, I knew that if I were to close my eyes now, I would be a goner.

I kept slithering my way in, using as many Skills as possible, coating myself in my Divine Aura and hundreds of other skills and spells.

By using Spatial, Chaos, and Void magic, I somehow managed to lessen the power exerted over me…

Finally, I reached it.

I knew that the moment I were to touch this, my mind would most likely be filled with the same amount of insane information as those Gods suffered.

It was as if an Origin Core was a gigantic computer, which granted knowledge and power to anyone that it touched.

Of course, it depended on the entity if it could survive such shock.

So, I slowly extended myself, covering the enormous crystal.

I breathed deeply.

The moment I jumped over it… I don't know what I will go through.

But I need to do this.

Something deep within me, and even around me, even the Fabric of Reality that I can finely perceive is reacting to me at this moment.

I have to do this.

I begin to think about my family and everything… and then, I decided to divide my main mind before going in.

This way, the men in my Empire do not have to go through the same thing as the one in here.

Generating this mental wall that protects our divided minds, I seal it countless times over through the usage of all the Skills available to me, and even every spell.

I even modify the space around me and enclose myself into a pocket dimension of sorts.

Now it is just me and the Origin Core Fragment.

I begin to think about my wives, about my children, my friends, allies, the life I have gone through this whole time…

I feel, for some reason, that everything was slowly built up to this very moment.

I instinctively hesitate, but I cannot.

I cannot hesitate…

If I do, this thing will keep making the Realm tremble, it will probably affect any nearby Kingdom or Empire, meaning my own.

I might be able to escape in time, but if I can grab this power… Then I will be able to protect my Empire against what I am battling through.

There is no going back now.

I jump in, extending my body while activating every Skill that lets me consume things, alongside God Devourer.

My entire body covers the crystal entirely, as I immediately, within a quarter of a second, begin to devour it, crack it as much as I could…

It was weakened, and it seemed to begin to give in.

But the amount of power that flowed into me instantly sent me to a different place altogether.

And alongside that, my entire being began to be consumed by the Fragment.

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