"The pure-hearted God of Creation narrowly escaped death. His radiance attracted many gods to follow, vowing to expel the villains who usurped their place…"
"The collaboration between gods is a very sacred matter, symbolizing the union of the highest level of power, deserving to be remembered and passed down for a thousand years…"
Perradat's head lay askew on the table, spitting out words without emotion. "…In theory, that's how it is. Haha, in theory."
Under the candlelight of Kando, her surroundings were filled with bottles and jars, and the whole snake seemed much deflated. Mentor was enthusiastically conducting alchemical experiments, while Teest was tasting the new popcorn from Paradise.
Lynn was trapped in a pile of Paradise documents. It was hard to say which of the two sisters looked worse.
For a moment, Nol seemed to see the office working overtime late at night. Worse, he himself was the damned leader ordering overtime, unable to even placate with milk tea.
He slowly pried Teest's claws apart, took a small basket of caramel popcorn, and placed it beside the half-dead Perradat. Perradat's head didn't move, directing the popcorn to fly into her half-open mouth.
"How's it going?" Nol asked a bit embarrassedly after he waited for Perradat to chew and swallow.
"The Blood Potion and the avatar of Star Stealer Sol have very similar flesh."
Perradat said slowly, "Using the flesh and blood of a god as a vessel and partitioning some power, this method has been popular lately. Star Stealer Sol, uh, Enbillick might have heard of it too."
"He added just a tiny bit of power to the blood, stingily bestowing it upon humans."
"It seems his power is related to 'the past'." Teest put away his popcorn, reaching for the basket in Perradat's.
Perradat weakly glared at him. "He really isn't capable of manipulating time itself. At most, he interferes with 'the past'. Even so, this ability is very tricky."
Indeed, Nol thought.
During non-combat times, Enbillick could freely collect information, investigating enemies using this ability. And when they fought, Enbillick would use this move to "reload" repeatedly.
The battle at Ship Island was a narrow victory. Next time it might not be so easy.
"The Blood Potion is Enbillick's blood. What about the 'Essence'?" Nol's tone became serious.
"The 'Essence' is much more interesting. It's almost like a mixed fruit and vegetable juice. I found many 'god-level' beings' blood in it—of course, all inactive—the components maintain a delicate balance."
Perradat struggled like a dead fish. "And it contains a bit of the system's power."
Hearing "mixed", Teest's eyebrows twitched. He glanced at Nol, breezily changing the topic. "Since it contains the system's power, it's not strange for the Supplement Demon to obtain monster traits. What I'm curious about is why the Blood Potion is mixed into the Supplement Demon Potion… Don't tell me it's to improve the flavor."
"Don't know. Too little information." Perradat said, "You should take it to my core. My power of possession is limited."
Nol scratched his nose. This thing was very similar to what Granny Meng remembered, suspected to be his own blood. Maybe he should also spare some flesh and blood for testing…
"I understand. Let's discuss it at the core."
Teest moved a bit, subtly positioning himself between Perradat and Nol. He turned his face, tapped his temple with his index finger, then placed it in front of his lips.
…This strange "mixture"—could it be related to his memory seal?
Teest definitely knew something about his memory seal.
Nol was dying of curiosity, but he restrained himself, just nodding to Perradat.
"I'll go first." Perradat's head finally left the table, her voice carrying a hint of hope.
The next moment, a hand slapped down in front of Perradat. If not for the scent of caramel butter from this hand, the deterrent effect would probably be more pronounced.
"Don't be so hasty."
Teest leaned in. "It's just sharing information. Your possession is enough for now. Now that Nol and I are officially opposing Star Stealer Sol, it's best not to have a similar situation like 'concealing information for self-preservation' on Ship Island happen again."
"Okay." Perradat hummed softly.
"Besides Enbillick Alva, could there be other avatars of Star Stealer Sol?" Teest stared intently at Perradat.
Nol held his breath. He was also curious about this.
Perradat sat up straight. "No. Based on my interactions with him, his consciousness is singular—meaning when using an avatar, his consciousness can only be attached to one avatar at a time."
At this point, she seemed to have made some decision as her voice deepened.
"Listen well. Avatars are more precious than you think. To create an avatar, one must use the body's flesh and core power."
"And avatars are connected to the main body, able to draw power from it when necessary, so they're not so easy to deal with. The 'headless body' sealed by Enbillick, is part of my avatar."
Teest fiddled with a small hunting knife. "If we kill the avatar…"
"Enbillick's consciousness will return to the main body. The main body will be injured, but not dead. Given that guy still wants to preserve Tahe, even if 'Enbillick' died, he would just create another avatar."
Perradat's tone became serious. "Gods are not so easy to kill, you two."
Nol pondered for a moment. "What if we kill the main body first?"
Perradat looked at him somewhat blankly. "This…"
"I need to consider all extreme scenarios," Nol earnestly said. "If we kill the main body first, what happens to the avatar?"
"…Theoretically, the avatar would survive carrying the consciousness of 'Star Stealer Sol'. Killing the avatar then would mean his complete death."
Perradat shook her head. "Believe me. Such situations are rare. The power of the main body is usually millions of times greater than that of the avatar, even more. I've only heard of abandoning the avatar as bait—no one would be foolish enough to abandon the main body. Have you ever seen a lizard's tail tip run away after being severed?"
"Truly fascinating."
Teest clearly didn't care about the difficulty of hunting Star Stealer Sol. "Can we two create avatars?"
Perradat shook her head like a rattle. "I and Star Stealer Sol do this because our main bodies are extremely large, likely to destroy the world—avatars divert power. I personally don't recommend you two weaken yourselves like this."
"Can't we divert just a little? As a last resort for survival." Teest sighed regretfully, glancing at Nol.
"Even if you save your life, you'll only have that 'little bit' of power. Lord Nol will have to push you in a wheelchair." Perradat tapped her fingertips on the table. "Once the main body is gone, it's gone. Everything has to start over. Can you accept that?"
Teest glanced at Nol again. "I'll pass, but I don't mind pushing my—"
"I won't consider it." Nol answered decisively. "If it comes to that, Star Stealer Sol won't give us a 'restart' opportunity."
Perradat sighed. "That's what I wanted to say."
"First kill the avatar, then before a new avatar appears, find and kill Star Stealer Sol's main body." Nol murmured. "That's the 'normal strategy'…"
"Yes, that's exactly what Enbillick did at first—destroy my avatar, then kill my main body." Perradat's expression turned bitter. "My core is my life. Please understand my caution."
Teest politely quieted for two seconds. "We'll visit it with respect, so when do we go?"
"To receive two distinguished guests, my people still need to prepare," Perradat said, her gaze a bit scattered. "It'll be in these few days. When the time comes, I'll inform you both."
Nol: "Your people?"
He suddenly had a somewhat uneasy premonition.
"I've said, Desolation Island is just a part of me." Perradat slowly turned her head, saying with a subtle smile, "There are large areas that haven't been interfered with by the ancient Demon King, inhabited by my people."
"Recently, they've been dealing with sudden ground tremors. Half of my church has collapsed. It's really not suitable for receiving guests."
She almost seemed to grit her teeth by the end.
Nol: "..."
Teest: "…Ah."
After a long thought, Teest solemnly handed the rest of his popcorn to Perradat. She rolled her eyes dramatically and clocked out on the spot.
"Wow, thank you!" Lilith blinked, joyfully inheriting the god's grace.
...
Lost Tower, Nol and Teest's room.
Nol lay on the bed, casually summoning his status bar.
He spaced out for a moment at the word "Demon King". He was just a cursed humanoid Demon King. If the four moons above were related to the true body of Star Stealer Sol, he couldn't think of any tactics right off.
Whether it was Players, neighbors, or dragons, their strength was limited to the ground. Dealing with Enbillick, who could "save and load", was headache enough, and even if they managed a lucky victory, few could fight beyond the atmosphere.
Facing an opponent millions of times more formidable than "Enbillick", the true body of Star Stealer Sol, seemed like an impossible target. Luckily, Star Stealer Sol was so cautious that it was almost pathological. If the roles were reversed, Nol could think of thousands of ways to kill both himself and Teest.
Mr. Demon King turned over in worry.
Although Perradat allowed them to approach the core, the "memory seal" was too dangerous, and his former self also stressed "not to unlock it". With limited time, he couldn't place all his hopes for victory on this memory seal.
He needed to come up with a more respectable plan.
One had to eat their food one bite at a time and kill their enemies one at a time.
The first step in strategizing was to understand the basic condition of the enemy. Before Perradat was ready, they still had tasks to do—they needed to thoroughly investigate Enbillick Alva.
"Teest." Nol leapt up from the bed. "We need to go see the General in Grape Collar."
"What a coincidence, honey." Teest had already changed into a set of light attire, even donning his white armor. "We haven't had a proper date in a long time."