The Villain Rising: Ascension of Arcane Trickster.-Chapter 214: The Gaze of the One Beyond.

"...have you already forgotten me, Luneth?"

I muttered, my voice barely holding my emotions back. I even let a tear roll down my cheek as I looked at her.

The moment she heard that name, a massive aura exploded outward. It was powerful enough to make even so-called Demi-Gods wet their pants but well... I had a skillset designed to handle things like this, so I forced myself to stay composed.

"You still have the same anger issues, huh?"

Right now, I was completely winging it.

When I had taken my memories back from Ra, I remembered many small details from the novel that I couldn’t recall before.

Ra had said it was because his memories were unfiltered and were taken directly from my soul, unlike the ones stored in my mind that had been dulled by the endless mundane information humans absorb every day.

And among those memories was a tiny easter egg about Hel, her name before she became a God. The name she abandoned to become Hel, ruler of the underworld.

It had only been casually mentioned once, in a tiny line, when Noah entered an ancient cave connected to her and back then, it was useless to me, so I forgot it completely.

But now that I am in this world... I made sure never to forget such details again and well, the enhancement my Moon card provided helped me process information within mere seconds, so yeah, that helped too.

Hel, meanwhile, looked at me coldly.

"Who are you? And how do you know that name?"

Her pressure intensified, making her already near-transparent avatar even more translucent. I mean... who even asked her to infiltrate the divine domain of another god and start threatening someone there?

"Out of all people, I never thought you would forget me." I muttered, looking at her in nostalgia.

Truth be told, I didn’t know shit about her except her name as for the anger issues part, well, most girls, no, scratch that, most sentient beings had that problem.

So I just shot an arrow in the dark and honestly, it wasn’t even that important.

The name alone had already given me enough shock value to last at least five minutes. Now I was just trying to keep the conversation alive and make her believe I was someone she had known closely in the past... so she wouldn’t grab me by the throat and force information out of me.

Before she could say anything, Ra’s voice echoed in my head.

"Rael, it’s ready. I’m pulling you in now, the Gaze will be here any moment."

I smiled inwardly while keeping my outward expression sorrowful.

"You should go now, Luneth... IT is coming and I don’t want you to get hurt. I’ll meet you in another body next time as this one is already destroyed..."

I added the last line in case she remembers my face or presence so that she wouldn’t search for me and search for someone else.

The moment I said that, her eyes widened in shock. She opened her mouth to speak, but my consciousness was already being pulled away.

"Ma—"

That was the only sound I heard before everything faded and I returned to my domain and the instant I landed, something smacked the back of my neck.

"Tsk... bastard, why did you call her by her true name?"

Of course, it was Ra.

"Fucker, what else was I supposed to do?" I snapped back. "I had to stop her from erasing me like she did to the Mind Harvester. So, I just used the first thing that came to mind."

"It could’ve ended badly, you know." Ra said sharply.

"But it didn’t, right?" I smirked. "And we are Tricksters, the gamblers of fate. It’s fine to gamble sometimes."

"Tsk..." Ra clicked his tongue in irritation.

"In any case, what about my body? What happens to it now?" I asked curiously.

"Well, since your consciousness is here, the Gaze will probably focus on Hel as she is the only sentient being left in that space." He replied calmly. "And if she leaves after your warning, then the Gaze will find nothing and leave too."

He paused before adding mischievously.

"Let’s just hope Hel doesn’t take your body for research."

I rolled my eyes. "I might have lost a few memories in the last few loops but I’m not that dumb yet."

"Tsk..." Ra clicked his tongue again. "Just when I was getting used to your dumb state."

I hadn’t entered the domain for the last four loops, so a lot of my memories had been eaten while I was studying.

Still, I understood how the body Hel had sent was only an avatar, a fragment of her true power. That was also why she had arrived faster, by slipping into the Divine Domain in a weakened form, unlike the Gaze, which traveled with its full authority and would be restricted by the domain itself.

"Give me my memories now."

I demanded, and Ra finally got to work.

He raised his hand into the air and memories started gathering from all around the domain. Countless fragments, scenes, emotions and forgotten moments converged, forming a single floating orb. It shimmered with shifting images and faces, constantly changing, like a living thing.

I walked toward it without hesitation and absorbed it completely. The moment it merged with me, a familiar sense of completeness washed over my being. My mind stabilized, my thoughts aligned and that missing part of me finally snapped back into place.

Only then did I feel whole again as my smirk widened.

Right on cue, Ra’s voice echoed again.

"Rael... It’s here."

—

Meanwhile, far from the mortal world, within a shifting realm where even concepts struggled to exist, a being slowly opened his eyes.

HE was the one known by countless names.

Some called HIM the Overseer.

Some called HIM the Heir of the Creator.

HE was the one who had existed since the very beginning.

Is that... HIM?

A voice echoed like an absolute law itself as the fabric of existence began to tremble and the worlds quaked the moment HIS awareness shifted toward the mortal plane.

The world did its utmost to block HIS gaze as they had been created to do. Layers upon layers of suppression activated but before HIM, resistance was meaningless as a tiny fragment of HIS power slipped through and with that fragment, a massive eye manifested in the sky above a particular city.

It was formed from only a small portion of HIS existence... and yet, it possessed the authority to erase even the mightiest Gods without effort.

As he peered into a Divine Domain of God of Forgery, the presence that had summoned HIS was already gone, vanished without a single trace, leaving behind only silence...

Before he could fully withdraw HIS gaze, something impossible happened. A white-haired mortal, floating just outside the treasury, lifted his head and looked straight at him with his crimson eyes with an amused smile as if he could see him.

It should have been utterly impossible to feel his gaze without his intention and yet, the mortal stared directly into that massive eye without losing his sanity.

His gaze was calm... curious... and almost playful.

For the first time in countless eons, the being hesitated but before he could inquire further, before he could even deepen that connection, the Heavenly Principles intervened as the laws of existence descended like an execution.

The manifested fragment of his power was erased from that world permanently as the massive eye vanished as if it had never existed.

Back in the realm where concepts struggled to survive, a faint smile curved upon the abstract face of the being.

"The quiet never lasts."

—

Meanwhile, still floating just outside the treasury after witnessing the Gaze of the one Beyond, Demon King Ashavar, smirked.

"What could have attracted HIS gaze?"