Chapter 241: Universal Adaptation System
The words echoed through the boundless astral court, ringing with a chilling finality.
"They broke the Heavenly Principles. And that single, unforgivable crime is the reason you were born."
Hide stood in the center of the midnight-black obsidian promenade, his fists trembling against his thighs. A suffocating, ice-cold numbness crept through his veins, dulling the senses.
His mind, which had always dissected every combat encounter with mechanical precision, felt as though it were fracturing under the weight of an existential hammer.
"What are you saying?" Hide asked, his voice shaking with a dangerous mixture of confusion and rising hostility. "My mother... Erin Volter was a human. She was an NEA researcher. What do higher gods and broken principles have to do with my birth?!"
Lord Wartz remained motionless upon his crystal throne, resting his chin on a slender, pale hand. His pure gold hair caught the faint glow of the celestial nebulae, and those endless, pitch-black eyes stared through Hide as if reading every scar etched onto the boy's soul.
"To understand the origin of your existence, you must first know the truth of the entity whose bloodline you carry," Lord Wartz began, his resonant voice vibrating directly within Hide's consciousness. "You know nothing of your father, do you, child?"
Hide stiffened. His jaw tightened so violently that the muscles along his cheek burned.
"I know nothing," Hide muttered through gritted teeth. "Only that he left my mother to bleed in the dark."
"He was not a monster by choice," Lord Wartz said softly. "Centuries ago, during the mortal eras of your realm, he was a human warrior. A soul of exceptional willpower and unyielding spirit. When he died in battle, his soul did not dissolve into the natural cycle of reincarnation. Instead, it was plucked from the veil by Lord Odo."
The cosmic tapestry above them shifted. Amidst the swirling stars, the blood-red serpent crest of House Odo flared with a sinister, crimson brilliance.
"House Odo needed a bridge to bypass the Heavenly Principles and wage their war across the lower dimensions," Wartz explained, his tone devoid of pity, reciting the ancient tragedy with cold clarity. "Lord Odo took that human soul, wiped away every single fragment of his memories, and forcefully reincarnated him upon the world of Rilth. They reshaped his spiritual vessel into a supreme Calamity Lord, crowning him with the primordial Authorities over Space and Darkness. He was named Roshhide."
Roshhide.
The name struck Hide's chest like a physical blow.
"Roshhide was designed to be Odo's ultimate tool of ruin," Lord Wartz continued. "With the Authority over Space, he tore open the sky of Rilth and began anchoring its dying landmasses to Earth, initiating the slow, agonizing convergence of two worlds. My household could not descend with divine armies to stop him without shattering the fragile universe. And so, House Wartz attempted to break Odo's hold on the board."
Lord Wartz raised his hand. Floating down from the heavens was the illusory projection of a multifaceted, blinding crystal that radiated an unearthly, prismatic aura.
"We reached into Rilth through subtle conduits and gifted Roshhide one of our greatest divine relic: the Ascension Crystal, known across the mortal planes as the Boundary Pusher," Wartz said. "It was an artifact capable of allowing any mortal or lower-dimensional vessel to completely shatter the limits of their soul's birth and ascend into true godhood. We offered it to him so he could purge Odo's dark corruption, sever his puppet strings, and seal the spatial gates forever."
"Did he use it?" Hide demanded, his voice cracking.
"No," Lord Wartz sighed, a faint flicker of disappointment shadowing his black eyes. "Because a wild, unpredictable variable entered his domain. Your mother, Erin Volter, fell through the Reverse Gate and what came to pass was something I or any other of us had foreseen."
The nebulae shifted again, displaying the misty, violet forests of Hubin and the small wooden house where a human and a Calamity Lord had lived in quiet isolation.
"Lord Odo had wiped his memories, but they could not erase the fundamental essence of his human soul," Lord Wartz murmured. "Living beside Erin, listening to her speak of Earth, of humans, and the suffering of the world... the suppressed embers of his humanity began to reawaken. Roshhide began to remember who he had once been. He began to hesitate. He could not bring himself to destroy Earth, nor could he bear to use the Boundary Pusher and surrender his newly regained emotions to cold, detached godhood. He hid the crystal deep within the vault of Hubin."
Lord Wartz's expression darkened into an aura of frigid menace.
"House Odo and House Mord realized their vanguard was failing," Wartz said coldly. "They saw that their weapon had developed a heart. And so, the two lords committed the unforgivable heresy. Bypassing the Heavenly Principles, one of them—whether it was Lord Odo or Lord Mord, the records of heaven do not distinguish. They executed Roshhide where he stood."
Hide's breath hitched in his throat.
"Before Roshhide drew his last breath, his primordial Authorities severed from his dying vessel," Lord Wartz explained, his gaze fixing upon Hide. "His firstborn child inherited the Authority over Space. When Erin fled back to Earth, the child was lost in the spatial tear. House Odo and Mord seized the boy. They took Rosh, nurtured his hatred, and raised him in the dark to become their brand-new, mindless instrument of convergence. The very being who now commands the gates."
"And... and me?" Hide's voice dropped to a hollow, trembling whisper. "Where do I fit into this horrific game?!"
"When Roshhide was murdered by divine interference, the Heavenly Principles demanded cosmic retribution," Lord Wartz stated, leaning forward on his throne. "Because they broke the rules to kill, House Wartz was granted the right to take action and use one divine counterweight into the mortal plane. When Roshhide's soul dissolved, his residual life mana and Authority over Darkness sought refuge inside your mother's core. And into the second child born from that union—into you—I embedded a seed of House Wartz. A conceptual seed that adapted to your biological framework and manifested as the Universal Adaptation System."