Greshina leaned back into the couch. One leg was crossed over the other. Her glasses caught a faint reflection from the news still playing on the screen and for a moment it looked like she was actually considering how much she wanted to say and how much she was willing to hold back.
"That part is a story only Veneri is supposed to know, not you two, so I can't say it."
Phae immediately frowned. Ely didn't react outwardly as much. Neither of them pushed further, though. Veneri didn't dwell on that either. He took another bite of pizza, chewed slowly, then asked.
"You mentioned something earlier. The Second Krepsuna War is going to start. What exactly did you mean by that?"
That got her attention. Greshina tapped her finger lightly against the armrest.
"I'm the Reniatsus of Ledatic Siliportem. I have authority over this entire realm so I know it's going to happen."
"But Edarea Avinaris is acting as the ruler here."
"Miss Ely, she believes she is. And technically, she's not wrong because the authority she's using comes from me."
"So you're letting her rule your domain?"
"I'm letting her think she rules it. There's a difference."
"And you don't interfere?"
"No."
"Not even if she messes things up?"
"No."
"Do you care if she dies?"
Greshina didn't hesitate.
"I don't. You can kill her to avenge your people and I won't interfere. When I transmigrated to Spheraphase, I removed my original soul from the Spheraphasian infant I was placed in. I left behind a fragment to sustain that body and allow it to develop independently."
"Why?"
Greshina shrugged lightly.
"Because I didn't want to be bound to this world or the Hidden Citadel. As a Split of Death, creating a physical form isn't difficult for me. I don't need a natural body to exist. I can construct one, discard it and rebuild it whatever I want. Deities don't 'die' in the physical sense. At most, their bodies are destroyed, and they reform. It's the Undying Form."
Phaenora immediately turned.
"Wait, what? Okay, no, we're not skipping that. What exactly is an Undying Form?"
Greshina sighed softly, adjusting her glasses.
"You three really are clueless but I didn't expect that from an Omniscient. I expected the Nexuses to explain the Spheraphasian power system to you properly, especially since you're already operating at a level where this knowledge matters."
Elyonari crossed her arms. "Then explain it."
"What Overwrite do you have?"
"Closed World Overwrite."
"That makes this easier. The power of a Deity isn't just about raw strength. It's determined by the type of Overwrite they possess and how deeply they understand their Divinity in relation to the universe. This isn't just a Spheraphase thing. It applies to any world that's advancing toward the Deity stage."
Phaenora leaned back, listening now.
"So break it down."
"There are many Overwrite categories in the universe but the two most relevant are Enhancement Overwrites and World Overwrites. For those with Enhancement Overwrites, once they reach the Fifth Enlightenment—which in other worlds is often called the Demigod Stage—they need to live for about a century to properly understand their Divinity. Not train, but understand. If they fail to comprehend how their Divinity interacts with the universe, they can still advance to the Sixth Enlightenment, but they will never become Deities. They'll be stuck below that threshold permanently."
Phaenora frowned, "So they hit a ceiling."
"Yes. World Overwrites are more complex. They require two hundred years of understanding, which is roughly a hundred years for the Divinity itself and another hundred for the Overwrite. If they fail that process, they skip the Sixth Enlightenment entirely and move straight to the Seventh."
Elyonari's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Skip a stage?"
"Yes, but it's not a reward. It's compensation. Even if they fail, they can still become Deities through training or forced ascension. However, if they succeed in those two hundred years, they still reach the Seventh Enlightenment."
"Wait, so either way they reach Seventh?"
"Yes, Veneri. But the difference is what happens next. The Seventh Enlightenment is essentially a pseudo-deity stage. You're not a Deity yet, but you're close enough to contend with them. If someone at that stage successfully breaks through, they don't just become a Deity. They become a Primordial Deity."
That made both of them go quiet. Elyonari spoke first after the silence was suffocating.
"So the Seventh Enlightenment is a gateway."
"Sort of. For me, I was born as a Demigod on Earth, which is equivalent to the Fifth Enlightenment. It took my entire life there to understand my Divinity, and even more time after transmigrating to Spheraphase to fully grasp my World Overwrite. By the time I reached the Seventh Enlightenment, I had already done most of the work."
"And breaking into the Deity stage?"
"A few centuries, but I didn't train for it. The Death Divinity isn't something you train. It's something you understand on a conceptual and physiological level. Once you grasp it fully, the transition happens naturally."
Then Phaenora raised her hand like a student.
"Okay, that was a lot, but you're dodging the actual question again. What is the Undying Form?"
Greshina looked at them both, then smiled faintly.
"I had to explain all of that first because the Undying Form only makes sense once you understand what a Deity actually is. The Undying Form is the true state of a Deity."
Silence filled the room.
She continued, "When a Deity's physical body is destroyed, they don't 'die' because their existence isn't anchored to that body. Their Divinity and Overwrite is what defines them. The Undying Form is what remains when the body is gone."
Phaenora frowned slightly.
"So it's like… a soul?"
"No," Greshina said immediately. "It's more than that. Souls can be destroyed. The Undying Form cannot be erased through normal means. It exists outside standard physical and metaphysical constraints. So as long as the Undying Form exists, the Deity exists. They can reconstruct their body at will, return to the physical world, or remain in that state indefinitely. The only way to truly 'kill' a Deity is to erase their Undying Form itself, which requires power on the level of Primordial Deities or higher."
Every concluded with a serious look on his face.
"So Deities don't die unless something absurdly powerful decides they should."
"Yes. And the Undying Form is stored in your Overwrite."
That alone made all three of them pause. She noticed it immediately and smirked faintly.
"Yeah, that part tends to catch people off guard. When someone becomes a Deity, their Overwrite stops being just an ability. It becomes their anchor. Their existence is defined through it. If a Deity's body gets destroyed, they revert to the Undying Form."
She leaned back slightly, crossing her legs again as she continued,
"When a Deity fully unleashes their Overwrite, they transition into that state. It's not something they 'activate' casually, but when they do, they exist as pure Divinity. It's harder to kill an Undying Form and even harder to injure. For Deities with World Overwrites, they're even worse."
Phaenora groaned.
"Of course they are."
"World Overwrites are already tied to large-scale existence. So when someone like that enters their Undying Form, they're not just a being anymore. They're closer to a phenomenon. Their durability, regeneration and resistance to erasure are on an entirely different scale. Now, in my case…"
They were speechless when they heard the next words.
"I'm a Primordial Deity of Death with a Closed World Overwrite."
"You just stacked three nightmare titles in one sentence."
Greshina ignored Phaenora's words.
"When someone becomes a Primordial Deity, they gain authority over others who possess similar Divinities. It's not absolute control but it's influence and dominance on a conceptual level."
"So you can control other Death-related beings."
"To an extent, yes. And as a Split of Death—someone directly chosen by the Death Primordial—my authority is even higher than standard Primordial Deities."
Greshina continued explaining.
"That's one of the core merits of becoming a Deity. You achieve true immortality unless the Undying Form is destroyed. But even that isn't always final. If a Deity with Primordial Divinities intervenes, they can reincarnate another Deity. Or if the Deity themselves has a Primordial Divinity, they can bypass death entirely."
"Wait, what?"
They asked that in unison.
"Yes. If someone somehow destroys my Undying Form, I can just use my Death Divinity to negate my own death and come back."
"You're kidding."
"I'm not, Veneri."
She looked at all three of them then, and for the first time since this explanation started, there was a noticeable weight behind her words.
"Deities are overwhelming by design. That's why EPOCH is helping you."
Elyonari's expression changed as well.
"Because of the Mopherian Pantheon."
"If you fight them as you are now, you'll die."
Phaenora didn't even try to joke this time.
"That bad?"
"Your win rate isn't just low. It's negative. Deities aren't a joke. The reason the Mopherian Pantheon hasn't already taken over Spheraphase isn't because they can't. It's because they don't need to rush. Also, it was because some Nexuses were there. If Spheraphase falls, the Hidden Citadel is next."
That made Veneri look at her properly.
"And you're here because…"
"There's something I need to do before that happens."
She didn't elaborate and this time, none of them asked. Phaenora leaned forward, running her hand through her sapphire blue hair.
"Okay, let's be realistic for a second. If Deities are that strong, and we need one to even stand a chance, we have, what, less than four years before Mopheria shows up? And becoming a Deity takes at least a century or two. Yeah, we're screwed."
Greshina however, just smiled faintly.
"That's not an issue."
All three of them looked at her. Greshina lifted her finger.
"There's only one way to bypass the time requirement. You need a Divine with a Time Divinity."
All three of them slowly turned to look at Veneri, who then pointed at himself.
"Why are you all looking at me?"
Phaenora didn't even hesitate. "Because you have the Time Divinity?"
Veneri raised both hands slightly.
"Okay, first of all, I am not the Time Pentarch right now. I'm the Love Pentarch. Secondly, I need Time Fragments to get to fully use the Time Divinity."
"So let me get this straight. The only way we can cheat the entire Deity progression system is by using Time Divinity and the only person remotely connected to that concept doesn't have the full authority of it. Great."