Thanatos felt the response from the authority over death.
He raised his hand, and a light-golden butterfly emerged, fluttering lightly toward the body that had already lost its life aura.
An extremely faint soul slowly rose from within the mountain beast, before being guided by the butterfly to land quietly in the palm of the God of Death.
The entire process was without any abnormality.
Death had truly occurred.
And what had brought all of this about was not the divine power of death personally brought down by Thanatos.
Rather, it was the “Cessation” Aergia had just created.
At the very moment the mountain beast's soul was collected, an extraordinarily clear tremor echoed from within Aergia's body.
That law of Cessation, which had still been quite vague, finally received a response from the world.
A vast quantity of fine rule traces emerged from the surroundings.
Some stemmed from Sloth's weakening of ongoing operation, some came from the rules regarding the end of life within the authority over death, and others were rule structures completely established for the first time during the process of Cessation truly causing death just moments ago.
They gathered together, continuously surging into Aergia's body.
The strand of authority over death bestowed by Thanatos had completely fused into the newborn law of Cessation.
The powers of death and Sloth were no longer separate from each other.
The two rules achieved fusion in a way that had never existed before.
Afterward, an entirely new godhead slowly condensed into shape.
Its color was extremely deep, almost pure black, as though any surrounding light that fell into it would involuntarily grow dim.
Only in the deepest depths of the godhead did a faint spot of brilliance still float.
That light was extraordinarily tiny, looking as though it could go out at any moment, yet it constantly maintained that final thread of brightness.
An extraordinarily deep silence slowly spread alongside the formation of the godhead.
—The godhead of Cessation.
Aergia felt that brand-new divine power flowing through her body; it was a powerful force.
Unlike Sleep Induction and Rest, Cessation possessed an extremely clear lethal capability.
As long as a target could not effectively resist this divine power, it could directly weaken the continuous operation of their life origin, causing them to gradually decline and ultimately cease vital activities.
If the target lacked a sufficiently strong will to resist death to begin with, the process of Cessation taking effect would be even smoother.
When facing powerful beings with vibrant vitality and firm spiritual wills, although Cessation might not necessarily take their lives directly, it could still interfere with the operation of their life origin, weakening their recovery capabilities and combat endurance.
This was no longer merely an auxiliary divine portfolio, but a godhead that could truly come into play in actual battle!
Aergia could not help but feel a surge of joy in her heart.
Previously, whether it was Sleep Induction or Rest, although both possessed quite special rule value, they acted more upon the spirit and consciousness, offering little direct help in actual combat.
But now, the appearance of Cessation finally granted her a power that could directly threaten other lives.
Even when facing enemies stronger than herself, as long as she could find a suitable opportunity, she might still be able to use the divine power of Cessation to gradually weaken them.
This was the ability she truly needed.
After all, in this era crawling with powerful deities where disputes over divine authority could erupt at any moment, simply possessing a talent for comprehending rules was not enough to guarantee her safety.
In the end, she needed to possess the power to protect herself.
And now, she had finally taken an important step on this path.
“You...”
Thanatos's voice suddenly came from beside her.
Aergia turned her head.
She saw the young God of Death staring at her with a complex gaze, his expression filled with undisguisable disbelief.
“You actually condensed it?”
Aergia nodded.
“Thanks to that strand of authority over death Your Highness granted me earlier, I was able to forge such a deep connection between the rules of Sloth and death.”
Thanatos was temporarily speechless.
That strand of authority over death—he had originally thought it would at most help Aergia gain a deeper understanding of death, or perhaps allow her to further perfect her godhead of Rest.
Who could have expected that she would directly use this authority over death to create yet another brand-new godhead?
And this time, it even truly touched upon the end of life.
Thanatos gazed at that deep divinity still lingering around Aergia; far from feeling the slightest displeasure, he actually grew increasingly excited.
He was the God of Death.
As long as death still existed in this world, the core authority over death would always belong to him.
The Cessation mastered by Aergia was merely a special manifestation born from combining the rules of death with the laws of Sloth.
This would not affect his dominant position over death.
On the contrary, as a god who had proactively granted Aergia a strand of authority over death, he could even clearly feel that quite a tight rule connection existed between this newborn godhead and his own authority over death.
This meant that Aergia was fully capable of taking on more duties in the domain of death.
She could even independently complete a portion of the work that originally required his personal attention.
At this thought, Thanatos suddenly felt that the invitation he had extended earlier was simply as right as could be.
How could such a treasure be left to remain with Hypnos!
That guy knew nothing except sleeping all day, and his authority over sleep had long since approached perfection; for Aergia to stay there was truly far too wasteful!
The domain of death was different.
Here, there were clearly still many rules worth her continued exploration.
In today alone, she had already obtained both powers of Rest and Cessation in succession.
If she continued patrolling the earth with him in the future, wouldn't that be incredible?
The young God of Death grew more excited the more he thought about it.
Even the shock that had arisen in that fleeting moment earlier was gradually replaced by a certain indescribable smugness.
That guy Hypnos probably didn't even know what kind of subordinate deity he had cultivated, did he?
“Aergia.”
“Your Highness?”
“I am even more certain now.”
Thanatos suddenly spoke with great solemnity.
“You should become my subordinate deity.”
“...”
The smile on Aergia's face stiffened slightly.
Wait, what?
How did it loop back to this question again?
She had originally thought that with the smooth condensation of the godhead of Cessation, this God of Death would at least shift some attention to the newborn rules.
Unsurprisingly, he had turned out to be even more determined in his resolve to poach her.
Thanatos clearly failed to notice her helplessness.
He was already beginning to earnestly consider how exactly he should raise this matter with Hypnos.
As for Mother Goddess Nyx's side...
The young God of Death frowned in thought for a moment, ultimately making up his mind.
Since Aergia had already proven her talent in the domain of death, he had ample reason to personally fight for her before the Mother Goddess.
Though the Mother Goddess was majestic, she was not unreasonable.
Besides, he didn't want to take Aergia away to do anything dangerous; he simply hoped she could continue to grow in a domain far more suited to her.
What issue could there possibly be with that?
At this thought, Thanatos's mood brightened considerably.
“Let's go. That's all for today's patrol.”
He withdrew the light-golden butterfly from his palm, turned, and walked toward the outside of the valley.
“Once we return, go inform Hypnos first.”
Aergia startled slightly.
“Inform him of what?”
“Naturally, that you are preparing to transfer to the Temple of Death.”
“...”
Aergia fell silent.
She realized this God of Death seemed to have completely defaulted to assuming she would accept his invitation.
But the problem was, she had never made such a promise from beginning to end.
What's more, taking the initiative to mention leaving the Temple of Sleep to Hypnos...
She would probably be granted eternal slumber by that lord...
Rate on N.U.
