Established Pinnacle: The Enigma

'Mystic huh?' Enigma couldn't help but reminisce about this word, it was his grandfather's favorite word and also the last name of all members of the Mystique branch families.

'It can't be...' He shook his head and smiled back at her, "My name is Enigma Mystique, you can call me En. I'm curious why you chose me for this favor of yours."

"It's because it's suitable for you. I would've have given it to the other predecessors if I saw them first as well, but I'd more than happy with you instead." She said.

"I see." Enigma nodded.

"My favor is quite simple, I'd like you to help me find the King of Gloom while stopping the Conspiracy of the Cloud Palace." Her words shocked Reynolds as he hurriedly stood up.

But Enigma was shocked by something else.

『The update has long been successful. True Will has sensed an opportune moment, generating a mission right away』

『Missions will now be determined by your actions that will affect your soroundings. The larger the area, the greater the difficulty. True Will is Ever-Adapting』

『Conspiracy of the Gods (S)』

『The Ancient Beings are beings that preside the Beginning of the Nine Worlds, and thus cannot do a lot of things by themselves. One such being has asked you to help them bring peace to the Cloud Palace or keep their conspiracies to themselves, while searching for the Lost King of Gloom himself』

『1. Lost King (A)』

『2. Pushing Back The Invaders (A)』

『3. Purging Gods (A)』

『4. Disrupting A Conspiracy (A)』

『5. Become Gods of The Infinite Realms (A)』

『Note: Each sub mission represents a 20% completion rate. As long as you get a 60% and above rating, you can considered to have passed』

『Success rate: 14% (38% including Allen Asvath and Su Han. 50% if even Takashi Minamoto participate together. Please try your best to prepare yourselves beforehand)』

'...What bad timing.' He thought.

"I have a few questions to ask. I hope you don't mind." Enigma sighed and proposed. Veritas shook her head and gave him the chance to ask his questions.

"Why us?" He asked. There were a lot of Heroes, some highly talented like Code and Killer, while there were also something called Faux Gods, the equivalent of Origin Beings but without a Divinity.

Such as having Strength or Speed beyond those of Gods, despite not having a Divinity. How badass was that? It was very badass. And that was all it was.

After all, they were still 'Gods' without a Divinity. Without a Divinity, one would not have the ability to Learn Laws unless they were Unique or rather special. Thus no authority over Creation itself.

Sure, they can Manipulate Fire, Lightning or even Fate, but will never have Authority over the said power. Such people also climbed the ranks of power at a much slower rate, and had weaker battle prowess as well.

After all, they did not have the boosts from the Laws others recieve. A Minor God could already affect Reality as they please with their Laws. A Minor God of Fire, being able to manipulate all flames throughout Reality, regardless of where they are.

While Minor Faux Gods could not. Such a person wouldn't even be a Transcendental being even after 200 000 years of Cultivation just the 1% of the Advance level of a Law.

While Gods who also aspired for the same goal, would only take less than 20 000 years of Cultivation. And this was taking in the effect of being in a higher Realm.

It was even harder, presumably three times harder if they were perhaps in Realms like the Mortal Realm to do the same thing.

So, despite being 'Gods', they mostly used their strength to fight instead of Laws, like the Ancient Sword God that he met that other day. He didn't use any Law power at all. Just his speed and hints of his Nascent Rule.

As well as himself. He and his brothers, after meeting up and powering up with Goddess Abigail, were like Faux Gods in their own rights. Powerful ones even.

"It's because you're Primo... no, Ancient Origins." Veritas instantly responded as if she had prepared a long time ago, surprising Enigma. But seemingly hid a few information.

'Maybe I should just tell the truth.' Despite his thoughts, he didn't didn't do so. Because he felt like it might not really be a lie at all. Maybe he was an Ancient Origin, if not more.

According to her cut off words, maybe a Primordial Origin? Who knows what that even was. But it would definitely be beyond Ancient Origins, right?

Even if it was, he will apologize and find a way to compensate for all the treatment he got because of it. Anyway, he instantly threw away irrelevant thoughts and continued asking,

"Fine then. Tell me more about the King of Gloom, the Gods that already descended, the Gods that need to be killed and those that should be spared.

"The so called Conspiracy and how to become Gods. We can leave out our relationship for now." He threw out questions after questions, using the sub mission's quotation as a hint. As for whether she would doubt him, he didn't care.

"You're are really perceptive. You're aware that a lot of Gods have descended and that most of them need to be eliminated. Okay, I'll start from top to bottom." Veritas sat upright and sternly began.

"The King of Gloom is the older brother of the King of Radiance, a person who Embodies Immortality, while his younger brother Embodies Mortality itself.

"He is one who rules over Gloom, Divinity, the Sky and Plague. He is someone around my current level, but he suddenly vanished without a notice. He left his post, and endless Gloom and Plague are already spreading throughout the whole of Terra.

"With his ruthless and silent personality, this should be expected from him. His whereabouts are unknown, and I suspect that he went to the Abyss for something. That is all the clues I can give out for now." She said, and Enigma nodded.

He tried to deduce and of course, he couldn't do it. They had no Karma and weren't connected by Fate for now. But what he deduced was a young and ethereal cold beauty at the brink of death, within a dark environment.

Fate also told him that the woman before him was manipulating the flow of Destiny, giving out words and directions according to a certain flow... how like he could glimpse information from his small Destiny Spring.

And he did not reject her advances, as she seemed to be guiding him towards an opportunity he, himself could not see through at the moment.

It was a game of two people manipulating each other through Fate and Destiny, guiding the other secretly. But him being on the losing end of the Game.

He frowned and did not pursue the matter. Instead, he let Veritas continue. "The Gods that are already here are only four, God of Vines, Mountain God, Lord of Fire and Goddess of Venom."

She paused to let them digest the news. Reynolds frowned as he was not told about this. He only knew that Allen was fighting the Ancient Forest Goddess that awakened, not about the other Gods descending.

"As for the Gods that could be killed, any God that is found can be killed. This applies now and also in the future, when more Gods descend. So don't worry when more of them do descend." She said, causing Reynolds to frown more.

"The Conspiracy of the Gods has something to do with the mortal world. Gods need their believers to progress their Laws and Reiki or regenerate them at a faster rate.

"The more believers, the more they can regenerate or learn faster. So, they will try to push the Calamity down below to progress faster so that they can descend.

"They are planning to use the civil war as an excuse to kill the lower ranked Gods and then use their blood to cause a rain of Providence down below in the mortal world." She paused one again, and Reynolds couldn't hold it anymore.

"Arent they afraid that the number of Gods will decrease?" Reynolds stood up and cut her off, but Veritas did not mind. She instead smiled as if she expected it.

Because she did. So did Enigma.

"Faux Gods are still Gods, unfortunately they were not written on the Divine Board, and thus do not have the blessing of faith. But they are still Gods nonetheless.

"Powerful ones even. Though the number of faux gods is low, they have more stronger Gods than the Gods in Cloud Palace. I know you're smart, you can guess what they want to do." She stopped there.

"No way." Reynolds slumped down in disbelief and despair. They had been checkmated, and they didn't expect it coming. He thought they outsmarted the Cloud Palace, unfortunately...

"Just as you thought. This way, they are killing four birds with one stone. One, purging the more useless gods through the filtering process before the Calamity strikes us as well. Two, progressing the Calamity.

"Three, recruiting even more powerful Gods from down here. If they refuse, the Abyss or the lower realms might invade and destroy this place, thus they have no choice." She elaborated with a mischievous smile.

"That's three though." Enigma added.

"Indeed. The fouth... is preparing for the greater Divine Cataclysm. Something that will result not in the fusion of Regions and Continents, but Realms instead... and possibly Greater Worlds even.

"It is even more terrifying and deadly than the first three calamities put together. So much that, it usually doesn't occur even after the third Calamity is over. It is Ragnarok even for the countless Creators." She said sternly.

"...!!!"

"...."

Reynolds was shocked beyond despair and Enigma didn't have any change of expression, as his Fortune was already dimming at the mere mention of this Cataclysm.

He only wondered if Lulu and the others were doing fine back at home or not. He kind of missed them, now that he thought about them.

"As for your last question, the way to become a god. I mentioned it before subconsciously, it's through the Divine Board, or rather the "Ascension Rights".

"This is a tool left behind by the Central Extreme Emperor, the only Successor of the Four Extreme Emperors and leader during the War of the Age of Old." She said, her eyes staring at Reynolds briefly.

He didn't even wait for her to say anything before manifesting the new fragment of history that he just recieved.

[23. War of The Age of Old: During the end of the battle of Successors, the world entered an era of peace. But the Central Extreme Emperor still stood above all and forsore the past and the future. Thus, he used all his powers while he was at his peak to create an artifact for his Descendents, the "Ascension Rights", out of the inspiration he got from his masters. A tool that would allow anyone to obtain a Divinity, hence giving them the capability to use that Divinity to affect the workings of Existence and Nonexistence]

"...."

"...."

"...."

Enigma silently read through it and shook his head, he stood up and then smiled at Veritas with a charming smile, "I'll help you. But before that, I'd like to meet up with my brothers first. There is a lot we need to discuss pertaining to all of this."

She didn't seem to mind and nodded, then she added, "I'll give you rewards for this, so do try your best as I assure you, you will not regret any of them."

"...Will do. Now please excuse us, let's go." He said and led the way out. Reynolds was still lost in thought after reading the fragment and failed to respond.

Of course, just the few rewards from Ancient Goddess Abigail made them extremely powerful, let alone her, another Ancient Goddess. Thus Enigma was looking forward to it.

'....'