As day after day passed in the fulfillment of her divine portfolio, Aergia's understanding of the laws grew increasingly profound, and she gradually began to get the hang of things.
Aergia noticed that whenever she finished fulfilling her divine duties, a faint strand of power would merge into her divine core.
The same phenomenon was happening to Thanatos as well, but he seemed unable to perceive the existence of these faint powers.
Furthermore, the attributes of the divine power that merged into her divine core each time differed from those that merged into Thanatos's.
Although both were powers of the aspect of death, Aergia keenly sensed that the divine power of death entering her body was gentle and calm, as if it were born from her own godhead of Cessation.
The attributes of the divine power merging into Thanatos's body, on the other hand, were far more complex—some were violent, some heavy, some scorching...
Linking this to the circumstances and process of harvesting lives over this recent period, Aergia formed a vague theory in her mind.
But ideas still needed verification. On this day, Aergia asked Thanatos, "Your Highness Thanatos, can you sense a faint increase in divine power every time after fulfilling your duties?"
Sheathing his dagger, the young God of Death raised an eyebrow. "Oh, that? How perceptive of you. That is a gift of the world, granted to every deity who fulfills their own duties. However, that strand of gift is so faint it's almost negligible, so you needn't pay too much mind to it."
As a direct descendant of a Primordial God, the matter of the world's gift was hardly a secret in Thanatos's eyes.
But he was born the ruler of the domain of death, his divine power as vast as an ocean. Truth be told, unless the Mother Goddess mentioned it, he wouldn't notice that bit of divine power at all, nor did he care.
The reason he was so hands-on and conscientious was truly because if he went on strike, the world would fall into chaos.
Forget the world—even the Mother Goddess wouldn't allow him to mess around, leaving Thanatos with no other choice.
Fortunately, now that he had Aergia, his terrifying 007 schedule finally showed signs of shifting toward a 996 schedule.
At this thought, the gaze Thanatos directed at Aergia couldn't help but grow a bit more affectionate.
What a good kid (beast of burden)...
Thanatos's strange gaze made Aergia's scalp tingle with discomfort, and she hurriedly changed the subject.
"Your Highness, I sensed different divine power attributes from the world's gift. I suspect this may be related to the way living beings die, but this is merely my conjecture and still requires further verification..."
"Divine powers of death with different attributes? Like your Cessation?" Thanatos had never paid attention to this issue. It was his old habit again—as the original God of Death, he governed all death in the world. No matter how a living creature died, it was all the same to him, so he naturally wouldn't notice the subtle differences within that faint divine power.
"My Cessation represents death from natural aging, a branch beneath the authority over death. I believe that living beings dying in different ways should also represent a law belonging to the aspect of death. If we can analyze and decipher them..."
Thanatos's eyes instantly lit up. The Cessation condensed by Aergia had already made his domain of death more complete. If every manner of death truly represented a strand of death's law as she described, the benefits to the domain of death once they were analyzed and deciphered would naturally be self-evident!
He had truly struck gold!
He thanked his past self once more for boldly asserting himself—one moment of speaking up had secured a lifetime retirement plan.
Thanatos, you're awesome!
After listening to Aergia's concept, the God of Death wished he could kill a living creature on the spot right then and there to test her idea.
Fortunately, while death was not a constant occurrence at any given point, it happened almost every day.
On this day, Aergia accompanied Thanatos to a mountain valley where a collapse had just occurred.
A mountain beast lay among the scattered rocks, its spine shattered and a deep wound beneath its chest.
It sensed the arrival of death, yet could not even raise its head, letting out only a low gasp from its throat.
Aergia squatted down in front of it, using Rest first to soothe its pain and fear, while Thanatos harvested its life.
Light-golden butterflies fluttered over gracefully, receiving the soul from its physical body.
A faint strand of divine power emerged from the mountain beast's body.
Thanatos intercepted that strand of divine power and sensed a relatively violent divine power of death within it. He sank his consciousness into his own origin, following the divine power left behind by the mountain beast's death to draw out the portion belonging to trauma.
At first, it was merely a few exceptionally sharp strands of light. Then, more and more matching divinity responded from deep within his origin, gathering toward his palm.
Thanatos closed his fingers and channeled his authority over death into it. The mixed divine light gradually faded away, leaving only a sphere of pure, dark gray power.
Fine, fractured patterns unfolded within the brilliance, only to be linked together by the deeper laws of death.
The powers that previously required temporary manual adjustments began to flow along a unified order, and a core capable of sustaining itself slowly took shape in his palm.
"Death by Trauma."
The moment the light core stabilized, the dark wings behind Thanatos snapped open.
The airborne dust at the bottom of the valley settled silently, and an immensely deep divine power of death surged forth from him, causing even Aergia to slow her breathing subconsciously.
The world responded to this change.
Thanatos looked down at his palm. That newly born godhead slowly merged into his divine core; though attached to the complete authority over death, it already possessed a law that could be invoked independently.
He tried channeling it, and the dark gray divine light flowed out naturally.
The details he previously had to distinguish and control one by one were now neatly gathered within this godhead.
"It actually works," Thanatos said in pleasant surprise.
A smile also appeared on Aergia's face.
Meanwhile, Thanatos had already turned his attention back to his own origin. As the master of death, his comprehension of the laws of death could only be described as terrifying.
With "Death by Trauma" as a template, the subsequent sorting proceeded much faster.
"Death by Burning" in fierce fires, "Drowning" by asphyxiation in water...
In less than half a day, three newly born godheads attached themselves to his original core of death, giving a dedicated place to those laws that had previously required temporary adjustments.
Thanatos's power did not decrease due to the separation; instead, as the laws gradually stabilized, it became even more condensed.
His domain of death was further perfected. When he activated his authority again, divine powers of different natures could flow naturally with his thoughts. That far more precise control brought an increasingly prominent smile to the young God of Death's face.
Thanatos even vaguely felt that as long as he continued to discover different manners of death and condense the corresponding godheads, his domain of death would continuously improve.
He could even design methods of death for living beings himself and trigger the corresponding laws to manifest!
If Aergia knew what he was thinking, she would definitely light a candle for the living beings of the world of Chaos.
This was practically a Greek mythology version of Final Destination.
Hypnos soon learned of this matter, because Thanatos personally came to show off to him.
The young God of Death stood before the obsidian couch, a projection of a dark gray godhead floating in his palm, the pride on his face completely unhidden.
"Do you see this?"
Hypnos kept his eyes half-lidded, remaining silent as he faced his idiot brother showing off in front of him.
"This is only one of them." Thanatos felt that wasn't enough, so he raised his hand, causing two more beams of divine light to emerge. "Trauma, Burning, and Drowning. Three different kinds of death, each possessing laws that can be invoked independently."
As he spoke, he gestured with his chin toward Aergia nearby.
"She discovered it."
Aergia had originally been preparing to put the dream crystals she had just collected back into the depths of the temple, but her hands paused upon hearing this.
"Is that so?"
The corners of Thanatos's mouth remained turned up.
"Now, whenever I encounter the same kind of death, I can directly invoke the corresponding power. It really is much more convenient than before."
"..."
Only after those dark wings vanished outside the door did Hypnos's gaze fall lightly upon Aergia.
Aergia scratched her head in slight embarrassment.
"Your Highness."
"And the dreams?"
"...Still organizing them."
Hypnos said nothing, simply staring at her quietly.
Rate on N.U.
