Draco was about to set a batch of Enlightenment potions up for batch-crafting when he was suddenly ejected from the game. It took him a second to realize that he was back in his pod, and it had opened.
Worried that there was some form of attack or something, he leaped out of it and cast his Control outward, ready to fight off even a legion of foes.
However, what he saw was something far worse. The green lights on Eva's pod that indicated that everything was functioning as it should be had turned red, and there was an alarm blaring from it.
Draco rushed over to her side and gazed into the translucent nanites to see that her body was twitching and thrashing slightly within, something that should have been impossible since the entirety of her consciousness was supposed to be in the digital world.
Draco's heart shivered and he felt weak to his stomach as panic started to overwhelm him. This fellow had few weaknesses in his life, but Eva was undoubtedly one of them. Seeing her suffer like this almost drove him mad, and he almost assumed his True Demon Body to smash the pod apart.
However, he barely managed to control his mind and checked the interface panel of the prototype pod. Before he could understand what exactly was going on, Amber called him on his Holo-watch and Draco quickly answered.
A screen was projected from the face of the watch, showing Amber in her usual lab coat with the AI's 'body' floating in a tank behind her. Her expression was serious as she quickly spoke before Draco could demand answers.
"Eva has entered an extreme state of shock, and her mind and body are trying to… separate themselves. She was in the middle of acquiring the Divine Class the AI had drafted for her, only she failed to meet one important criterion."
Draco could didn't even have the mind to feel excited or shocked that Eva found a way to pay for the Divine Class. Some part of his mind even felt it was normal, since if he could do it, she certainly could too.
What had him confused was what Amber said at the end. "You mean there are things we have to look out for in our Divine Classes?"
Amber looked at Draco strangely, a very subtle gaze. However, Draco immediately recognized it to be one that a person made when they were looking at someone who had just uttered something incredibly stupid.
"Yes, all things have requirements and criteria, especially the classes the AI has tailored for your bloodlines. They have the most stringent and tight rules of them all."
Draco facepalmed mentally and realized he was letting his fear and worry cloud his reason, so he calmed down, ignored the blaring alarms behind him, and focused on what Amber had to say.
"Continue."
For her part, Amber seemed relieved that Draco seemed more fit to listen to her. "There are many things both of you need to have before you can acquire your classes, but Eva is missing one of them... which was something we were unaware of but suspected."
"That is, her mind and personality."
When Amber told him this, Draco immediately understood what she was on about. "Is it because Eva's mind and personality deviate too far from the original bloodline holder, Amaterasu? Is that what is causing a conflict when she tried to perfectly assimilate herself with the Divine Class?"
Amber nodded. "That's exactly it. As you must have figured out by now, the Divine Classes are basically our way of providing you with a means to activate your bloodlines and reach a state of perfect atavism."
"However, there is a process to it, as you have already experienced now that you are Rank 2."
Draco smiled bitterly. "Upon acquisition, we pay respects to the statues - the avatars of our Inheritances - and accept their blessing to remold ourselves to achieve perfect synchronization with our bloodline."
"We then see 'ourselves' being paid respect to by the avatars, but that isn't entirely correct. What they are really paying respect to are their true masters, our progenitors, which we just happen to resemble as their clones."
"On the first Rank up, that image is removed and we ourselves must seat upon the throne and command the respect of the lesser avatars, thereby increasing our potency and connection with our bloodline and setting up the foundation for a handover."
"I assume that the next Rank up will require me… us… to get the greater avatars to do the same and finally achieve rudimentary control over our bloodline. At that time, I guess that our real bodies should have our Inheritances activated to 100% across the board, finally."
Amber smiled. "Well, you are partly right, but I fear it's not going to be that convenient, but I can't tell you anything concrete until we've researched it further. What you need to do right now is find a way to get Eva to reach her proper state… you know what I mean."
Draco was incredibly saddened by this, because he understood. It was a problem he had noticed from the very moment Eva told him the truth about the bloodline and when he had reconciled with her.
She was simply nothing like Amaterasu. Amaterasu was a Goddess of Benevolence, Valor, and Virtue, always fighting to purge evil and save the helpless mortals of the world.
She was the supreme Celestial Maiden, the mother of earth, and all livings things. She cradled them with love and affection, and she would make herself present among them for the mortals to bask in her beauty and worship in her magnificence.
Did any of that sound like Eva?
Cruel, merciless, and evil. Willing to kill anything and anyone that stood in Draco's way, even if they were babies or the innocent. Incredibly mad and mentally unstable, having more split personalities than even Draco. Always hiding her face and not allowing the common man to bask and worship her beauty because she wanted to reserve it exclusively for Draco.
Eva was the diametric opposite of Amaterasu mentally. Apart from sharing the exact same face and bloodline, those two Goddesses couldn't be more different.
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This was unlike Draco who was 110% Lucifer. He was so much like Lucifer that even the three greater avatars had almost submitted to him during his Rank up, and they even paid some respects to him before he left.
Shameless, masochistic, mean, and loving chaos, Draco, and Lucifer were 1=1.
Right now, the solution for Eva's calamity had boiled down to two choices. The first was to erase her current personality and make it return to her origin, adopting the full characteristics and mannerisms of the real/original Amaterasu.
The second was to sever her bloodline for now and never regain the chance to achieve perfect atavism ever again. She wouldn't lose access to it, but she would basically remain at this level for eternity, even after Draco broke through 100% and beyond.
Both options… were f.u.c.k.i.e.d.
The first would pretty much require him to delete the Eva he knew and replace her with someone else. While Amaterasu's real personality appealed to his bloodline and made it boil, Draco was not too happy about it.
Amaterasu was Amaterasu, whereas Eva was Eva. Even though she was extreme more often than not, he had accepted her for who she was and wasn't interested in changing that.
The second option was even worse. Eva would lose her chance of ever progressing and Draco felt that this would snowball many things that could lead to disastrous consequences where not even a timeline reset would fix things.
He was basing this on his own gut feeling and Caelo's words, as well as the small revelations the AI had made to them. Caelo had told Draco that the latter would one day reach his level, and it was clear that Caelo was not a deity fashioned by the game, but something more… something greater.
There were also other clues. The AI had stated that he had half of an alternate universe's Origin Essence in his bloodline, which could only mean that it was the real universe.
According to Caelo he could only reach that level once he 'merged with his other half' which further buttressed his suspicions. He assumed that Eva was his other half, and their spiritual, mental, and physical connection would explain it all.
Not to mention, Lucifer had told Amaterasu that he had done something different when they were about to leave the world. Amaterasu knew he was making clones of themselves to leave behind, but Lucifer apparently added something else to the mix at the last moment.
Draco knew not what it was, but it was why he placed unearthing his bloodline's talent and secrets as the number 1 priority. If Eva were to lose it, it could be the yodel that catalyzed an avalanche.
Draco was solemn and turned to Amber. "How do I help her?"
Amber had a difficult expression on her face as she smashed Draco's calm apart. "You can't. You can only watch and hope she makes the right decision."
Draco's face became ashen. He could only clench his fists in anger as he watched Eva continue to twitch and thrash in the pod, an expression of suffering on her face.
.........….
Eva was currently screaming while clutching her head before the cracked throne. The statues behind her still remained on their knees, completely ignoring her as well as her suffering as if she had nothing to with them.
Eva felt like her mind was about to explode as her bloodline revolted throughout her body. It was like something was draining her blood while replacing it with a corrosive acid.
Only this pain was a pittance compared to the feeling of her mind fracturing and being smothered by an internal force. If it was external, she would not be this debilitated and might even be able to counterattack.
However, when the attack came from within, it was ten times more difficult to deal with, yet just as damaging. However, she soon gritted her teeth and raised her body up.
She let go of her head and battled the pain and trauma with her sheer will, her beautiful face twisted from something that represented extreme beauty to something hideous and scary.
Well, not really hideous, but scary. A face like that would have a hard time ever dropping below 9.9/10, but being chilling to the eye of an onlooker was easy.
Her black eyes flashed intermittently, like she was trying to activate her Abyssal Eye Inheritance to destroy this realm, yet something was stopping her. Amber and Draco thought that Eva would choose one of the two options, but the madwoman chose the third.
If she was not qualified to activate the bloodline due to incompatibility, then she would f.u.c.k.i.n.g beat this bloody bloodline and all that supported it until it deemed her compatible!
However, she was far too suppressed to carry it out. Her madness had made her extremely unreasonable at times. As such, she continued trying futilely again and again, determined to either succeed or die.
This clearly exasperated her bloodline and slowly a shape formed behind the throne so enchanting that only Eva could probably match her splendor. Not only that, but the two of them were perfect lookalikes, with the one difference being that one had long golden hair and golden robes while the other had short green hair and tight leather armor.
Amaterasu came along stately, a benevolent and kind smile on her face. Her robes billowed majestically, as if there was a gentle breeze blowing against her.
The statues behind Eva clamored slightly but didn't move or raise their heads. However, one could see that they were kneeling harder and much more fervently.
Amaterasu gazed upon Eva with a gentle glance that a mother would give her troublesome daughter, showing that she was exasperated yet still loved her dearly.
This was how Amaterasu truly felt, or at least the representation of Amaterasu in her bloodline. After having been with Eva for so long, how could she not know her personality?
In response to this, Eva simply sneered derisively and spoke in a tone of mocking: "So, finally decided to show your face you prissy bitch?!"