Chapter 290 Types of Immortality

(A/N: For visualizing the world mentioned in the novel, please check #gallery on discord. https://discord.gg/TGmqHw3 )

Kiba looked on as the misty, rosy fog enveloped the entire room. Soon, the fog started twisting and churning with temporal waves. 

In the center of the room, while sitting across a table, Pythia opened her eyes. She snapped fingers and an ethereal orb popped out of the fog. The orb was radiating orange glow that was soothing to the eyes. Rings of glittering light and dots of light spun around the orb, creating a hypnotic sight. 

The orb flew away from the stop and stopped after arriving above the table. It floated alongside the vase of roses. 

"Legacy Orb," Kiba muttered as he sensed the strong time fluctuations from the orb. "It must contain memories of time."

"As expected, you are acquainted with the mechanism of Celestial Elysium Plane," Pythia glanced at him and said. "Then again, this is the least I could expect from an Alpha."

She has her own reasons for showing Legacy Orb to him. She waved her hand and the orb stopped in mid-air.

Ashlyn also focused on the orb. As she focused, her eyes entered inside the orb, and observed a scene from a different time and space. 

She saw castles spanning for thousands of miles with their peaks resting in clouds. Alongside the castles, there were skyscrapers above which hyperjump planes were hovering. The sky was crystal clear with no hints of pollution and the rivers glittered under the sunlight.

The scene changed and a royal palace appeared in the middle of an ocean full of hot lava. The palace was in the shape of the mouth of a sinister dire wolf.

Gigantic beasts leaped out of lava and fought against each other. Ripples of the encounter created terrifying waves capable of eradicating continents and yet the castle remained safe.

"Celestial Elysium Plane," Kiba thought as he looked at the scene. "It was endless and limitless. As such, it held everything. Magic, fantasy, technology...everything that is possible existed in the plane. In a way, the present Earth is trying to copy the mechanism of that plane."

The organisms from the lava fought each other for supremacy. 

Inside the palace.

In the throne room, a humanoid male in a royal attire was sitting on the throne. He has six eyes with canine teeth and red glittering skin. His red hair reached his shoulders and his beard stopped at his belly.

"My respects, your majesty, Asmodeus Freyr Burislav," A three-headed male with dark skin materialized in the throne room. He kneeled down and greeted the king before continuing, "All preparations are done."

"Good, Neytterson," Asmodeus Freyr Burislav rose to his feet. He disappeared from the room and appeared above the palace. His mere presence made the fighting beasts stop their battle and flee. 

Asmodeus Freyr Burislav didn't look at them. He raised his hands towards the sky and streams of dark energy boomed out. 

The energy streams concentrated before converging into an enormous gate that shrouded the entire earth and sky. The surface of the black gate was embedded with carvings of unknown text and inscriptions of extinct lifeforms.

At the same time, thousands of sea beasts and other living beings in the region started aging rapidly. Their bodies turned listless and in no time, they disintegrated into dust. The dust carried the lifeforce of the deceased and it floated towards the black gate.

"Gate of Death," Kiba was stunned. 

Some ten days ago, Kiba has met Sophia when she was taking a bath in a crystalline lake. The barely eighteen-year-old girl was shocked by Kiba's presence in the lake and her jaws dropped when Kiba called her a pervert. Angered, she decided to teach the shameless villain a lesson by summoning Life & Death Gate. As she was a human and very young, she wasn't able to summon the true gate, rather she materialized an imitation. 

Sophia summoned a false gate but the one he saw in the Legacy Orb was a true gate. 

Inside the orb, the scene continued to play. The gigantic gate opened up slowly, and as it did, blinding radiance shot out. Every form of light was suppressed and hollowing sound ringed along with terrifying roars.

From the opened gate, countless vicious and horrifying lifeforms that have long ceased to exist stepped out. A Magma Hippocampus flapped its wings so fast that the lava below rose up like a vortex. 

Slrrrr

A two thousand miles long Basilisk flipped its tongue. Poison shot of its mouth and enveloped the sky into a vicious mist. 

"Undead. In theory, it was one of the easiest ways of achieving immortality. After all, Undead cannot die due to technically being already dead. "Pythia explained the scene playing in the orb. "Normally, a corpse is reanimated by supernatural forces, by the application of either the deceased's own life force or that of another being. This paragon of Celestial Elysium Plane didn't even need a corpse. He could bring back any lifeform that has died no matter how long ago."

The universe followed the concept of equal exchange and balance. The affects of reanimating from death made it impossible for Undeads to experience the simple pleasures of life. It is a cost they must pay for being undead. It was not like there were no benefits. They were extremely resilient to a number of effects and substances that were extremely harmful to living. Undeads were immune to all mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and so on. 

 "I shall make the entire plane as my dominion," Asmodeus Freyr Burislav declared.

His aspirations for grandeur and world conquest made him summon the legendary Death Gate. He was not granting immortality to supreme living beings who have died long ago. Instead, he was employing them as his servants into his personal army known as Death Knights.

"This event took place some million years before the destruction of Celestial Elysium Plane, "Pythia tapped a finger on the Legacy Orb and the scene fast-forwarded to a few years. 

Now, the scene in the orb was of gloom and destruction. The sky was darkened and the land was wrapped with blood. 

Among countless corpses, Asmodeus Freyr Burislav stood. His body was broken with his hands cleaved and his eyes ruined. 

In front of him, the other paragons of the plane were standing, their weapons pointed at him. 

"My conquest failed," Asmodeus Freyr Burislav said, his voice filled with happiness rather than anger or sadness. "I shall be called as a sinner and you will be called as heroes for defeating the master of evil."

Asmodeus Freyr Burislav knew the outcome of win and loss.

After the completion of any war, the winner becomes the king while the loser becomes a villain. No matter how many atrocious acts the winner commits, they are forgotten or glorified by the masses. While the actions of the loser are forever remembered as evil. 

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently," Asmodeus Freyr Burislav said with a burst of laughter. "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. And I shall succeed!"

"You will get no chance!" A six-armed humanoid paragon said. He has a holo of cosmic behind his head and a heavenly phenomenon manifested around him.

Cosmic energy enveloped his body as he dashed at the sinner of the plane.

Asmodeus Freyr Burislav's listless eyes glinted with slyness. Just as the paragon attacked him, he exploded into blood and gore. The paragon was startled for the explosion carried no energy blast, and but this didn't give him any joy. If anything, it terrified him for he didn't understand why his enemy would simply kill himself.

"Maybe he didn't want to die by the hands of others... but then why he said what he said?" 

Just then, from a piece of gore, an ethereal smoke-like insect ripped out. Before the paragon could even sense it, the smoke-like insect entered his ear. His consciousness turned muddy and he slumped down. It took him a minute to rise again.

"Are you all right, Wattsabba Skyadams?" A female paragon asked from behind. 

"Yes, just exhausted," Wattsabba Skyadams answered, his eyes flashing the same viciousness as Asmodeus Freyr Burislav.

"Parasitic Immortality," Pythia paused the scene and said. "Another easy way to attaining immortality by abandoning the body. You just need to transfer consciousness to another body. Like this king, you can possess someone else or switch to a backup body if you have time and resources."

Kiba didn't comment. He knew people have long used magic and science to look for a way to live forever.

"From what I have researched, this immortality is actually based on immortality via reincarnation or resurrection," Pythia shared details.

She wouldn't show everything within the Legacy Orb for obvious reasons but she didn't mind sharing theoretical details.

"As you know, we humans have long believed the soul as immortal part of our existence," Pythia continued. "Scientists consider the soul as simple fragments of data while others consider it a vital life essence that lives on even after our death. In either way, this type of immortality allows you to reincarnate within another body or resurrect yourself at a later point in time."

Pythia tapped the Legacy Ball and it disappeared into clusters of light.

" His Highness Asmodeus Freyr Burislav also discovered another variant of immortality," Pythia said as the clusters of light entered the rosy fog. "I can't show it to you, but it is known as Reliant Immortality. You won't die as long as a certain being, object, or even natural concept exists."

The fog converged into misty droplets which then wrapped on the petals of the roses in the vase. 

"Asmodeus Freyr Burislav also believed there were at least two wore ways to immortality," Pythia continued, her voice filled with fascination. "Meta-Immortality... The beings are neither alive or dead in a conventional sense. They stand outside the ordinary laws of reality, fate, temporality, and dimensionality. Supposedly, Lords of Time were a half-step into Meta-Immortality."

"...."

 "Then there is true immortality. In the folklore of the world, it was called Transcendental Immortality," Pythia said in a concluding tone. "The entity with such immortality is free from all rules of universe... Only such entity is entitled to eternal life, being exempt from death, and unending existence."

A single destination might have various paths leading to it. The same applied for immortality. There were hundreds of ways to achieve it, at least theoretically. It was a different matter that no one has gained complete immortality or even come close to having eternal life.

"Thanks for expanding my horizons," Kiba said with a smile. "I guess you were right. Maybe the supreme beings from that world really came close to immortality."

"I'm glad you agree. And I'm sure you know why I shared my knowledge with you," Pythia said, her eyes concentrated on his. "Are you interested?"

Pythia observed him closely. She has shared her knowledge because she needed him for collaborating. Otherwise, there was no reason for her to spend her time on showing him glimpses of future or explaining about immortality.

Of course, what she shared was just the tip of an iceberg but she would share further knowledge after he joins her.

"I'm not interested," Kiba answered with a sigh. "Immortality is just not for me."

"What?!" Pythia was stunned by his words.

How can a living being not be interested in immortality?!

Is he one of those who feel that death is what defines all living things, and as a natural part of life, should not be taken away?! Such thoughts are only shared by those who knew they have no chance of gaining immortality so they pretend to be philosophical and romanticize death! It is like a fox saying grapes are sour!

"I have my reasons," Kiba added after he saw her shocked look.

Kiba didn't believe in seeking immortality but that didn't mean he wanted to criticize those who pursued immortality. His beliefs were based on cynicism and practicality of very slim chances of achieving immortality and thus wasting entire life on pursuing pipe dreams. 

Then again, from others perspective, his dreams of lust and vanity were an actual wastage of life. 

"To each his own... you like what you like."

Ever since he accepted the Eternal Wisdom of Dreams from Veronica, he has firmly believed no one has the right to look down on the opinions and dreams of others. 

For him, life was far too short to waste on illusory concepts, no matter how alluring they were to others.

Besides, what was the use of life if it was not enjoyed?! Countless humans waste their entire lives in seeking power or eternal life, but on their deathbed, they realize the futility of their actions. They die with regrets...

Kiba didn't want to die with regrets. He might not be able to fulfill his dreams but at least, he won't have the regret of not giving it his full.

Ever since he gained the strength to be the master of his own fate, he has spent almost every opportunity to seek happiness. Even in times of despair, he continued his pursuit of happiness.

It was the same after Felicity was injured in Delta City. Despite the gloom and despair, he found time to seduce Suzane in a hospital while her husband and son were outside. 

And even now, in the forest, he was doing the same. His mission was to find a cure for Felicity but he didn't forget to enjoy himself.

The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live! And Kiba wanted to live his life to the fullest!

If you obey all the rules, you'll miss all the fun...

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