Back to Ella, who sat in a meditative state. She patiently waited for her twin sister, Olivia, to wake. While waiting, she began reviewing her current realm and reflecting on the one she had just left behind.
"Back then, I didn't really understand what Scillia meant when she said the body of a god contains a Dao. But now, I think I finally get it."
As her strength increased, the system forcefully enhanced her body. Along with that came memories and simulations — battle experience, insights into her own body, and the essence of her realm. She studied them carefully. Yet, she noticed something that didn't align with Scillia's explanation.
"The body of a god is supposed to contain ten Daos. If one awakens, the person should gain heaven-defying power capable of manipulating that Dao. But that wasn't the case for others, and it isn't the case for me either."
Ella opened her eyes, their glow a deep red. Her gaze grew distant as she continued to think.
"Creating a Dao has never been easy. Even if a God Physique holds ten Daos, it doesn't mean the person has entered or understood any of them. In reality, they haven't even reached the starting point. At that stage, touching those Daos is still impossible."
She shook her head, finally understanding much of it. The system had given her many methods and insights, but it also raised new questions. She had asked the system directly, which helped her reach her current conclusion.
With a blank expression, Ella began to materialize primordial force and destructive essence. She shaped them in her hands, making them glow. One resembled the sun, the other the moon — yet both were cloaked in abyssal black mist and flame, giving them an eerie and unapproachable presence.
As she observed the raw power from the two realms, she became certain of her theory.
"It looks weak on the surface, but the Dao is definitely there.""
With a flick of her finger, both powers vanished.
"It must be a matter of connection. But the idea that the Dao is awakening in the body is a misunderstanding."
Ella shook her head again. She hadn't expected that the faint and risky connection to the Dao had been so widely misinterpreted. Many believed the body already contained the Dao and that it simply needed to be awakened.
Ella couldn't help but look down on that perspective. However, despite this misunderstanding, those individuals had still reached terrifyingly high realms — proving their approach wasn't entirely wrong.
"Thinking about it, the presence and connection to those Daos wasn't meaningless. It showed that someone truly had the potential and the method to awaken them. The one who discovered this method was a true genius. The God Physique was created to draw out the connection to these Daos, since doing so came more naturally through the body's innate nature."
Ella spoke with deep understanding. She finally realized the God Physique was only a foundation. If someone failed to complete or perfect that foundation, their chances of progressing would fall. Without a strong start, it would be difficult to find a Dao path truly suited for them. In the end, they would become stuck, unable to move forward, and ultimately fail.
Unlike the foundations of others, hers was incredibly robust. If calculated, her foundation would be hundreds of times more perfect than an average God's foundation — which was already flawlessly built. With this realization, Ella couldn't help but be amazed, though she couldn't fully comprehend how the system had accomplished it. It was truly a heaven-defying method.
This led her to question who or what the system really was. She had already asked the system once, but it only responded that it needed an upgrade to unlock its origin.
However, it did not specify what version it would need to reach before revealing that information.
"Ah, forget about it. It's useless to keep thinking about it. Instead of being wary, I should be grateful it has nurtured us until now."
Tilting her head, Ella scratched lightly before standing up. She raised her arms and stretched a bit. It had been a while since her body felt this warm and full of power — a stark contrast to when her entire being had endured the unbearable agony she experienced through her clone.
"I should check on Tia and ask if she has eaten. She is no longer a god, and her body is now human. She needs proper nourishment to survive."
With that in mind, Ella teleported using the space coordinator within the divine space, guiding herself to Tia's room.
The distance was considerable; the castle had been designed so that each person had their own separate room, spaced far apart to ensure privacy. The separation might seem excessive, but it was intentional.
Once she arrived, Ella prepared some food and waited for Tia to eat. Afterwards, she stayed with her for a while to help her fall asleep. Since she could not force her to rest, she sat beside her and told stories to ease her mind. Ella cared deeply for Tia and felt sorrow for everything she had lost.
Despite knowing Tia was a ticking time bomb, Ella refused to let her remain alone. As her master, she would visit whenever possible to keep her from feeling abandoned. It was also the safest choice, since time in the divine space flowed much slower than in the God Realm.
So Ella stayed there for an hour, keeping Tia company to ease her loneliness, even if only a small part of it.
Meanwhile, inside the divine space, in the grand hall where Ella had previously been, a massive throne stood at its center.
Olivia sat on it, still mysteriously asleep. The black rat that had once rested in her hand was no longer there. It had been thrown to the floor beneath the throne. When their realm advanced, the overwhelming pressure they released distorted the surrounding space, sending the rat flying into the distance and nearly killing him.
"Ugh, I almost died because of them. Now I'm certain they aren't human. They must be a different species from the God Realm," muttered the black rat. More accurately, it was the Dark Emperor speaking. Now cursed into this form, he could no longer use human language. He could only squeak and speak through his mind. The curse was so potent he could neither transform nor absorb any kind of energy.
Moments later, recalling what had happened when the twins increased their strength, he trembled in shock.
"They're not ordinary lesser gods. There's no way a normal god could advance so quickly," he said, confused. He admitted they were geniuses, but even so, their speed of progress was unbelievable. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he might not have believed it.
"Back in my day, it took me two thousand years just to reach the Inferno Realm. There were countless restrictions in every domain. Could this place be a domain too?" He tilted his head and looked around. One thing he noticed was the complete absence of natural energy.
"There's no natural energy or cosmic essence at all. This is not a heaven domain," he said in disbelief. Although he could no longer absorb energy, he could still sense it faintly. As a former powerhouse, detecting energy was second nature. Yet here, there was nothing. That only deepened the mystery of how the twins were growing stronger in such an environment.
"This is absurd. How are they doing it? It should be impossible to grow stronger without energy to support your core."
Troubled by the thought, he shuddered.
"This… this is a monster among monsters. Those twins are true monsters."
He had never expected to witness such terrifying talent in his entire life. Even during his time as a lesser god, he had never heard of anyone with such impossible potential.
"Could it be that the discrimination and hunting of heaven-defying talents has stopped?" he wondered aloud. "That must be the only explanation. So many geniuses were hunted down in the past. There were even those who cultivated in their sleep and still advanced their realm, yet they were killed all the same. Maybe now, the killing has ended, and new geniuses are emerging, surpassing even those from the rumors I once heard."
He guessed as he gazed at Olivia. A shiver ran through his small body. The thought of defying them no longer crossed his mind.
"Damn it. I really have no choice but to obey them from now on. I cannot stay this low forever. I still want to surpass those I want to take revenge on."
The desire to rise again still burned deep inside the Dark Emperor's soul. Even in this pitiful form, his obsession with reaching the peak had not faded. His entire being focused on that one goal. If he could not achieve it, madness would surely follow. His eyes burned with determination.
Just as he turned his head toward Olivia, her eyes slowly opened.
Suddenly, an overwhelming pressure slammed into him. A terrifying mental force invaded his mind, ancient and unfathomable. Within her gaze lay a cold calmness—distant, yet heavy with a deadly seriousness. Her eyes narrowed as she fixed him with a look that pierced through to his soul.
She whispered, her voice low but echoing across the void.
"Shh. Forget everything you've seen here. Speak of this, and you will regret it."
The words struck like a curse. His body froze. His soul trembled as if exposed to forbidden knowledge far beyond mortal comprehension. The Dark Emperor—once a fearsome titan—found himself powerless, unable even to move a single paw.
His voice cracked, trembling with disbelief and fear.
"What… who is she? What have I just witnessed?"
Somewhere beyond the silence, something else began to stir.