Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1397 Victory
As the black cosmic space twisted and deformed, numerous glass-like cracks appeared around it, and a planet appeared out of nowhere. The deep blue sea, the white clouds, and the green earth gave people a sense of peace and tranquility.

Angel could see the bright light left by the shooting stars in the sky. These were the traces left by the physical bodies of angels who did not have convenient abilities such as teleportation or spirit world travel when they entered the atmosphere. They were also their way of celebrating their victory.

Life always needs a sense of ritual.

Unlike these victors, the figures of "Decaying King" and "Unending Whispers" departed the solar system somewhat disheveled. They entered the astral realm reopened by "God" Grisha, leaving this star system at perhaps the fastest speed in their lives, and decided never to return.

In their haste, they didn't even have time to take their own angels with them.

However, sensing that the Outer Gods, who had previously been terrified and considered invincible, were now fleeing in disarray, Angel breathed a sigh of relief. Until the very last moment before the agreement was reached, she was still worried that the "Fallen Mother Goddess" would not be able to resist overthrowing everything.

After all, the Outer Gods suffered a truly devastating defeat this time, losing two Great Old Ones. Almost all the survivors were wounded, and even their only pillar of support only managed to reclaim its own Source Essence by abandoning an entire path of power and signing a ceasefire agreement.

Fortunately, the notarization by "God" was eventually completed. After obtaining the power of the Mother Nest and the "Mother" pathway, the "Fallen Mother Goddess" left without hesitation. Her repeated use of the "Chaotic Primal Embryo" had weakened her, and she needed to find a place to properly contain the source matter. However, due to the lack of a pathway, this process might take decades.

The Fates left with Him, while the Outer Gods, who still retained their reason, such as the Ring of Fate and the Decaying King, also left one after another when they saw that things were beyond saving.

The remaining "Primal Hunger" was not difficult to deal with. Before He could recover from the fear of sensing the fatherly aura of the "First Creator," He was hit by a series of "Magnification," "Deception," and "Daydreaming." The fear of the "Father" in His heart overwhelmed His desire to unite, and He quickly left the solar system with the other temporary teammates.

Then, the surrounding space dimmed, the distant starlight disappeared one after another, and even the Earth vanished from sight.

All the old days have entered a state of "secrecy," and no conversations or actions will be leaked.

This belongs to the authority of Amanisis, the "Eternal Darkness".

The Great Old Ones, who had all reverted to human form, exchanged glances. Finally, Grisha Adam, with his fair skin, sunken eyes, and almost identical appearance to when he had just emerged from the Chaos Sea, spoke:

"It's temporarily over."

Yes, it's only temporarily over... Angel thought to himself, as the contents of the agreement with the "Fallen Mother Goddess" slowly surfaced in his mind, appearing as golden characters that did not change according to his imagination.

It was reached under the witness of "God" and mainly consisted of three points.

First, as a condition for the "Fallen Mother Goddess" to refrain from using the symbol of the "Primordial Chaos" and for a new creator to be born, Earth will immediately return the torn half of the "Mother Nest," as well as the uniqueness of the "Mother" pathway and the two "Nature Walker" traits. The latter two were temporarily preserved by Klein within the safest Source Castle after the fall of the "Earth Mother Goddess" Lilith, while the former was exiled to an unknown space, its location known only to him.

Of course, the "Great Mother" was a little dissatisfied with this request, believing that all three extraordinary properties of Sequence 1 should be returned together, rather than withholding one of them.

Angel understood the other party's concerns. With the entire "Moon" pathway missing, the "Fallen Mother Goddess" urgently needed the other three pathways supporting the source matter to share the pressure. Not only the "Mother," but She might also need to reclaim the Sequence 1 characteristics of the other two pathways symbolizing "Original Sin" and "World" as an aid to quickly accommodate the Mother Nest. Naturally, she was unwilling to give up this precious "Nature Walker."

Therefore, Grisha Adam kept only one copy and handed over the other two, causing the "Fallen Mother Goddess" to hesitate for only a moment before agreeing. Angel was somewhat impressed by his accurate understanding of the other party's psychological bottom line.

As for why he left behind a "Mother" pathway sequence 1 characteristic that none of the Old Ones present could use, Angel had some guesses:

Like the complete "Moon" pathway, it was reserved for Lilith, the "Earth Mother Goddess".

In order to severely damage the "Fallen Mother Goddess" who entered the barrier alone, Lilith merged all the power belonging to that pillar within the barrier, and using the law of similarity in mysticism, she deliberately died under the sword of Angel, who had just been promoted to "Cataclysm of Destruction," silently sacrificing her life before this war.

Thanks to His efforts, the Fallen Mother was forced to use the special symbol of the "Primordial Chaos," which can only be used once every 2160 years and only once a year. This ultimately led Him to abandon the "Mother Nest" and join the war of the end times with an incomplete pillar of strength.

Otherwise, the battle will be even more difficult and unpredictable.

Therefore, leaving behind a Sequence 1 of the "Moon" pathway and the adjacent pathway can compensate Lilith to the greatest extent, giving her the opportunity to become a deity again, to take back the faith that originally belonged to her in the "Church of the Earth Mother Goddess," and to continue to control this pathway's extraordinary being by relying on a Sequence 1 of the "Mother."

Although this carries the risk of allowing the "Fallen Mother Goddess" to remotely influence Her and Her followers, with two pillars guarding the Earth and the protection of the "Cataclysm," the ancient being who once severely injured Her from afar, it is believed that the Great Mother will make a choice from the heart.

The second clause of the agreement is also somewhat related to this matter:
The war between Earth and the Outer Gods ended the moment the agreement was reached. From then on, the "Fallen Mother Goddess" would not participate in any wars against Earth as a whole. Similarly, Earth could not initiate attacks or provoke Her, otherwise "God," as the impartial witness, would do everything in his power to stop it.

This is the key to the ceasefire agreement. The Outer Gods have lost their pillar-level combat power and have no chance of defeating the Earth. Therefore, although this agreement does not include the surviving Ancients such as the "Ring of Destiny" and the "Higher Dimensional Overlookers", it is equivalent to binding their behavior.

The only point of contention was the duration. As the invading party, the "Fallen Mother Goddess" initially hoped that the agreement would last forever, but under the insistence of the "Lord of Mysteries" Klein, it was finally agreed that the ceasefire would only be maintained during the "Great Moon" in the mystic world, in 2160, after which it would be invalid for both sides.

After a moment's thought, Angel understood the key point.

If the ceasefire agreement is permanent, after a month, the weakness of the "Fallen Mother Goddess" caused by using the Chaos Primal Embryo will be healed. She will then have the ability to use this terrifying "nuclear weapon" to threaten the entire universe again. Earth, on the other hand, may be unable to stop this due to the constraints of the agreement. At that time, the current awkward situation may reappear, and Earth may have to make some concessions again, such as handing over the power of the "Moon" pathway.

As for bypassing the "Fallen Mother Goddess" and directly controlling the "Chaotic Primal Embryo" through a protocol, even "God" cannot do that.

How could a pillar possibly influence the original Creator? Neither the new Creator nor the one in the mirror can.

Therefore, setting the ceasefire agreement for 2160 is a timeframe acceptable to both sides.

When that time comes, whether Earth launches an attack or the "Fallen Mother Goddess" once again rallies other Outer Gods to join the war, both sides will have a way out and room for maneuver.

As a safeguard for this possibility, the Fallen Mother Goddess also demanded a third point:

During the same ceasefire agreement, the other Outer Gods present are also under protection, unless they launch an attack on Earth, breaking the tacit understanding between the two sides.

This is naturally not due to the maternal radiance in the heart of the "Great Mother," but rather because she wants to ensure that the Earth side will not seek out the Old Ones who once besieged Earth one by one within these 2160 years, killing or sealing them away one by one, thus causing a situation where many Old Ones on the Earth side are left alone with the "Fallen Mother Goddess" after the end of the ceasefire agreement.

However, neither Angel nor Klein agreed to this point, because the purpose of the "agreement" was to appease the "Fallen Mother Goddess" who was preparing to self-destruct, to give her some incentive so that this pillar, whose interests did not conflict much with Earth's, would no longer be their enemy, rather than simply pressing the pause button and waiting for a big month to start another apocalyptic war with seven or even more Great Old Ones.

In other words, once Earth has recovered and regrouped, it will inevitably seek revenge on some of its former enemies. This may not include the "Fallen Mother Goddess," but that is the bottom line.

Ultimately, after both sides compromised on some points, the "Goddess of Fate" was included in the agreement, enjoying a 2160-year truce with her mother, while the other six Outer Gods, including the "Uncertain Mist," only had 60 years to breathe.

This gave them time to leave Earth and recover after the war. On the other hand, Earth retained the right to seek all "compensation," especially since the "Uncertain Mist" now occupied half of the "Disordered Kingdom," which belonged to Earth. As the guardian of the crippled "Den God," Earth naturally wanted to seek justice for him. Seeing the resolute attitude of Grisha, Klein, and Angel, the "Fallen Mother Goddess" agreed without much hesitation, essentially sacrificing her protection of the other Old Ones in exchange for her own and her eldest daughter's safety.

Sixty years is enough for the Outer God in this war to recover and have at least the power to escape. With a way out, He is unwilling to truly detonate the "Primordial Chaos" and reduce everything in this universe to zero.

The ancient beings on Earth each had their own problems and had no intention of going into space to wage a new war in the short term. Therefore, they readily agreed to the above three agreements, which were notarized by "God" Grisha.

To Angel's dismay, the "Fallen Mother Goddess" added a clause at the end of the agreement, forbidding the "Lord of Mysteries" from interfering with the ceasefire agreement in any form or by any means.

Overall, Klein is quite trustworthy, isn't he? He even intends to fulfill his promise after the ceasefire and release the "Genius" back into the starry sky, rather than using the power of the pillar to distort and alter the matter... Angel muttered to himself, letting the golden "ceasefire agreement" fade from his mind, and then spoke:

"Although the ceasefire is only temporary, as long as we maintain a good state of affairs, our advantage over the 'Fallen Mother Goddess' and the Outer Gods who have invaded this time will only increase."

"The premise is to maintain a good condition."

“The shadow of order,” Russell said.

Although He had gained control of the "Disordered Kingdom" with the cooperation of the successive "Heavenly Emperors" of the Western Continent, and truly become a great being above the order, He still had many hidden dangers. He needed to slowly reach an agreement with the many historical emperors within him, and also suppress the spiritual imprint of the original "Child of Chaos". At this time, His condition was not very good.

Not only Roselle, but all the other Great Old Ones who participated in the War of the End Times have encountered some problems.

The holy monk, Will Onsetin, and Urolius in the "Key of Light," and the master of the Dark Lodge and Fabuti in the "Shadow World" have all been attacked by the "Unending Whispers" more than once. They had already returned to Earth before this secret meeting to try to stabilize their condition.
Although both "Eternal Darkness" Amanisis and "Knowledge Demon" Steano became complete Great Old Ones, they were hastily promoted before the war. Moreover, they were also affected by the delusions and went through the process of "aging". Their own destiny was also changed by the "Ring of Fate", and they urgently needed to rely on the anchor of believers to achieve a new balance.
After repeatedly using the special symbol of "creator in the mirror," Angel, the "catastrophe of destruction," gave the "negative side" in the mirror a certain degree of self-awareness. Although the "positive side" was still firmly controlled by the imbalance she deliberately created, its actual state was not as stable as before the apocalyptic war.

Most importantly, the two pillars of the Earth side, "Lord of Mysteries" and "God," are not as confident as they seem.

As a crucial force in blocking the "Fallen Mother Goddess" and holding back three Outer Gods, the "Celestial Being" consciousness within Klein had already been affected by the symbol of "rebirth" and experienced a brief revival. Although He was very considerate of the overall situation, getting up to take a look before lying back in the coffin, this still had a significant impact on Klein, who had only been an Outer God for a month.

This also led to the simultaneous awakening of the "Primordial God" within Grisha.

As two pillars who had been secretly fighting since before the split of the original creator, and fought from birth to fall, they could accept that they would slowly merge with the new "Lord of Mysteries" or "God" over millions of years to awaken, but they could not accept that the other would awaken faster than them, because once one awakens, it will inevitably do its best to crush the other's coffin.

Therefore, the two most powerful ancient beings on Earth cannot attack or harm each other. Instead, they must do their utmost to maintain each other's condition to prevent another consciousness within them from waking up in response to stress.

This could perhaps be considered another form of "deterrence"... However, in this way, even with so many Great Old Ones inside Earth, a relatively peaceful state can be maintained until everyone is ready to leave this planet and enter the starry sky... Angel muttered to himself, secretly glancing at Klein, only to find that he had also been looking at him at some point, a faint smile on his lips.

Fortunately, he came up with a way to get the "Fallen Mother Goddess" to compromise in time. Otherwise, the pillar who would not gain any benefits and would even be in danger herself might have really summoned the "Chaotic Primal Embryo" at all costs... She returned the same smile and then looked at her teammates who were somewhat tired but relaxed and communicating in "secret".

Everyone survived, successfully repelled the Outer God, and received considerable rewards, making it a fairly perfect ending.

Aside from needing to complete another part of the "Shadow World," the source matter and corresponding pathways possessed by the "Superstar Overlord" will naturally belong to her, the "Cataclysmic Destruction." In other ancient realms that can accommodate these powers and symbols, the "Knowledge Demon" first needs to stabilize her own state and has no spare strength to suppress the ancient spirit and consciousness within another source matter. The "Shadow of Order," on the other hand, needs to complete her own source matter and will not add any burden to herself at this time.

Rather than cultivating a true god from scratch through the "Dense One" path and having Him accommodate the Source Matter to become the new "Superstar Ruler," all the Earth-based Ancients believed that it was more appropriate for Angel to complete the authority of the "Reality" realm and become a dual-Source Matter Ancient.

That would create a terrifying being with pillar-level combat power, lacking only the corresponding symbolism, which would be of great help to the Earth, which now must and has already united.

Of course, all of this requires more detailed discussion and planning. None of the ancient beings present had experience in accommodating a second source substance, and they were unsure what problems might arise during the process. They could only speculate based on the Outer Gods' purpose.

At least, the "Celestial Venerable" and the "Primordial God" who did such things are still pulling each other back in a resurrection contest, setting a not-so-good example.

……

As Amanisis removed the veil of "secret," Earth, floating in the boundless darkness, reappeared before Angel's eyes. Around it, all the stars and planets that originally belonged to the solar system had been completely destroyed when the ancient beings came here ten thousand years ago.

Seeing this, Klein snapped his fingers and said in a deep voice that everyone could hear:

"I hope this star field can be restored to what it was like before the end of the old era."

As he made his wish, the interstellar matter left over from the fall of the "Super Star Overlord" seemed to be attracted by an invisible force, rotating and coalescing, compressing and burning at a distance from Earth, and initiating a nuclear fusion reaction that emitted light and heat.

One by one, familiar celestial bodies to the "remnants of the past" present took shape, revolving around that star according to strict laws of the cosmos, while also rotating on their own axes.

Although the real sunlight would not reach Earth for another 8 minutes, before that, "God" Grisha would pretend to illuminate the planet with his own symbol of "sun," but the latter looked down at the planet with a smile, as if he saw cities and villages on four continents and five oceans, and people who did not know that they had just survived the apocalypse and were still living busy or leisurely lives.

The other Great Old Ones also put aside their own concerns and quietly watched over everything they were protecting.

There is still much to be done. The legions fighting the Outer Gods in the "Mirror World" suffered some losses, and the fallen angels may be resurrected in various ways; the destruction caused in various places when the barrier shattered and the Outer Gods descended must also be repaired; after the seal on the Western Continent was broken, the clashes and friction between the two completely different civilizations will need to be controlled by the churches of the various gods...

The Western Continent surrendered almost all of its source material and paid a heavy price, but did not receive a corresponding return. Although Rosell and Klein were essentially descendants of that continent, and Amanisis and Steiano had made a promise to repay the sects of the Daoists, how to allocate resources and repay the debt of gratitude still needed to be carefully considered.

However, judging from the attitude of the "Celestial Master" and the leader of the Haoli lineage, it will probably not be an easy task to persuade these cultivators who have merged with the Dao but are unwilling to take over the mess of the source material to become the old day.

Furthermore, the angels belonging to the "Mother Tree of Desire" and the "Superstar Ruler" fled in panic, and it remains to be seen whether they will voluntarily return and surrender afterward. In the vast universe, without the protection of the ancients, they will likely soon be sought out by angels of other outer gods, becoming prey through other means. Only by submitting to Earth will they have a chance to survive.

Taking over and transforming the original power of these two Outer Gods also requires the help of these "guides".

A variety of thoughts surfaced in Angel's mind, making her feel somewhat heavy-hearted, but as she looked at the small planet bathed in sunlight and starting to move again on its orbit, her mood relaxed once more.

At least today is a day to celebrate...

Angel looked around at Klein, Grisha, Amanisis, and Rosell, noticing that these "time travelers" also wore the same smiles as him, and silently said to himself.

Stiano, the "Knowledge Demon" who had returned to his prime as a middle-aged man from the dazzling stream of information, suddenly felt a little out of place here.

(End of this chapter)