Gospel of Blood-Chapter 659 : The Origin’s Temptation

“Teacher!”

Inside the sanctuary, the two elven gods summoned by Charlotte bowed respectfully.

“Artemis, Helios, how has the recovery of your power been recently?”

Charlotte asked gently.

Artemis replied with respect.

“Very smoothly. The Elders’ Council treats us extremely well and does everything they can to meet our requests. At most, I think it will take another ten years for me to recover to my former peak.”

“Very good.”

Charlotte was quite satisfied.

However, Helios looked hesitant.

After letting out a light breath, he answered.

“Teacher, my power should recover in at most another three years, but…”

Helios hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“These past days, a mysterious voice has kept appearing in my mind… telling me many forbidden truths…”

“A mysterious voice? The Origin?”

A glimmer flashed through Charlotte’s eyes.

Helios’s expression grew confused. At times he struggled, at times he was uneasy, and in the end it turned into an inexplicable fear.

“I… don’t know.”

“It even seems able to guide my thoughts. Teacher, if you hadn’t summoned me and asked about this—if I weren’t in your sanctuary—I… might never even have thought to report this matter to you!”

So it had come to this?

Charlotte’s gaze sharpened.

Looking at the sunlike divine radiance on Helios, she pondered briefly, already arriving at a conclusion.

The voice influencing Helios could be nothing else.

It had to be the Origin.

Unlike Artemis, Helios had been one of the Creator God’s chosen targets in his previous life, and in the end had even been devoured and fused. His bond with the Origin far surpassed that of other mythic beings.

Although his divine soul had been reshaped in this life by Charlotte, he was still too deeply tied to the Origin—so much so that the very root of his soul was, in truth, a part of the Origin itself.

This connection could not be washed away. And with such a tether, it was only a matter of time before he would once again be influenced by the Origin.

Unless one day, the Origin were to be completely destroyed.

Fortunately, Charlotte now stood at the same rank as the Origin.

Though her power was still inferior, she had long anticipated Helios’s current predicament.

And in response, she already had an idea.

“Helios, step forward,” she said.

Helios nervously stepped closer. Charlotte extended her hand and touched a strand of golden-crimson light to his forehead.

In an instant, Helios sensed his soul origin being wrapped in a trace of crimson-gold radiance. Though he could still hear the distant, indistinct whispers of the Origin’s temptation, they could no longer influence his will.

“This is a fragment of my divine power. It can protect your soul origin from being polluted or devoured by it,” Charlotte said.

Helios was overjoyed.

“Thank you for your grace, Teacher!”

“Don’t thank me just yet.”

Charlotte waved her hand and continued.

“My power can give you temporary protection, but it cannot completely sever the connection between you and the Origin.”

“You are, after all, an embodiment of the Origin’s power. If you wish to truly escape its prison, the only way is for the Origin itself to be utterly destroyed.”

Helios looked worried.

“If that’s the case, then… what should I do?” 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Charlotte smiled.

“Don’t worry. I already have a plan.”

“Speaking of which, this is actually an opportunity. Helios—do you still remember my plan?”

Helios nodded and answered respectfully.

“Of course. To hide within history, gradually manipulate history, and in the end replace it—guiding everything toward a new history we can control!”

Charlotte nodded slightly and continued.

“Then you should also remember the elven history of the previous life that I told you about, yes?”

Helios’s expression turned complicated.

“Of course I remember. In my previous life, I… was tempted by the Origin, sought to ascend to supremacy, and instead caused the Origin’s power to descend, leading to the destruction of the Western Continent and the decline of the elven race…”

“And because of me, the Origin gained an avatar that could walk the world, ultimately succeeding in infiltrating its power into the entire world.”

Charlotte nodded.

“You’re right. The destruction of the Western Continent was a key node—no, more precisely, the divine war between the elven gods and the ‘you’ who had been possessed by the Origin was the most critical node in history.”

“The Origin won, so elven civilization collapsed and the Old Gods rose again.”

“But now, you are protected by my divine power. The Origin… can no longer devour your divine soul.”

Helios’s heart stirred.

“Teacher, do you mean… to intervene in that ‘historical node’?”

Fragments of shattered time surfaced in Charlotte’s mind. She let out a soft chuckle and said.

“History that has already occurred cannot be changed. If we do not wish to completely awaken the Origin, then history must happen once more.”

“But history is history, and truth is truth. And those repeated ‘cycles’ of ‘me’ have long since handed the initiative of writing the truth into my hands…”

“Since the Origin wants to revive through your body, how is this not also an opportunity for us to strike it a heavy blow?”

At this point, Charlotte’s expression turned solemn, a faint glimmer flashing in her crimson-gold eyes.

“Helios…”

“I command you—accept the Origin’s temptation!”

…

Elven Era, Year 1347.

Less than ten years after Artemis and Helios ascended to godhood, the final Old God still resisting on the Eastern Continent also submitted under the combined assault of the elven gods.

All known Old Gods of Myria—twenty-eight demigods and eight true gods—formally pledged allegiance to the elven pantheon.

By order of the elven gods, they dismantled their own idols and instead enshrined the Creator God worshiped by the elves.

However, many Old Gods did not agree with the title “Creator Goddess.” They believed that the Creator had no gender, being the origin of all things, and should instead be revered as the “Origin God.”

Naturally, this met fierce opposition from the elven gods. Though ultimately forced by pressure to worship the Creator God, in private many mythic beings chose not the “Creator Goddess,” but still the “Origin God.”

High above, Charlotte was fully aware of these developments.

But she did not interfere.

The elves had already won. The Origin was sleeping—not dead—and suppressing things too harshly now could very well accelerate its awakening.

At this level, it was enough.

And Charlotte’s faith, as many Old Gods turned to her side, quietly spread across the Myria Continent at great speed.

Charlotte had a feeling—

She was already capable of choosing suitable intelligent beings on the Myria Continent and bestowing power upon them as she had with the elves, making them her vassals.

However, she did not act rashly.

The place where the Origin had descended was the Myria Continent, and its control over Myria was far stronger than over the Western Continent.

It was one thing to spread faith indirectly through the elves. If she personally intervened, she might directly awaken it.

Even if she were to act, it would have to be after further weakening the Origin—forcing it into a deeper slumber, or simply banishing or slaying it outright!

With that thought, Charlotte turned her gaze once more toward the Western Continent.

After several years, the number of Origin believers there had grown even larger.

Hidden Origin temples rose across the land, and even some elven mythic beings were gradually being tempted by the Origin.

And at this very moment, inside the central sanctuary of the elven holy city, a fierce argument was erupting among the elven gods…