Gospel of Blood-Chapter 652 : Origin

Charlotte had no idea how long she had been asleep.

When she once again regained consciousness, it was as if she were slowly awakening from a sea of darkness and chaos. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Her awareness gradually revived, and with it came a sense of the world.

The first to return was hearing—she could hear howling wind, drenching rain, the roaring of thunder, and the rustling sound of leaves blowing in the breeze.

The sounds around her changed constantly—sometimes noisy, sometimes tranquil—as though time itself was flowing.

There were cycles of wind, rain, and lightning, and the endless chirping of insects like those in a jungle.

No…

It was a jungle.

As her sense of smell returned, Charlotte detected the distinct scent of a primeval forest—the air was thick with the fragrance of foliage, and the earthy aroma of moss and humus was so rich, it felt almost tangible on the tongue.

Her sluggish thoughts gradually turned over, and Charlotte came to understand: this time… she had traversed into a forest.

She didn’t know how much more time had passed.

She only felt the smells and sounds around her continuing to change and cycle—like an eternity flowing by through a foggy, dreamlike awareness.

Gradually, more sensations returned. She began to feel temperature.

At times warm, at times scorching, and sometimes bitterly cold.

From these changes in temperature, she was able to accurately discern the passage of years.

And in that dulled perception, she could only feel the temperature shifting again and again—over and over… one year… another year… and then another…

Finally, in what she calculated to be the seventy-eighth year, Charlotte’s consciousness fully awakened.

As though reaching a certain threshold—like a program that had finally finished loading—Charlotte regained complete control over her sense of self and was freed from that half-dreaming, half-awake haze.

Her long-lost vision returned, and what appeared before her was a vast, ancient primeval forest.

However, when Charlotte looked at “herself,” she immediately noticed something abnormal—though it was something she had already faintly anticipated:

She… had become a leaf.

The very same leaf she had held before the time-travel—the anchor that had taken her to this era.

And soon after, Charlotte gained a deeper awareness—this world had no magic.

No.

More accurately, this was the world of Myria before the Origin’s arrival, before the emergence of the extraordinary!

Realizing this, Charlotte quickly began inspecting her current state.

She then discovered: she hadn’t truly become a leaf, but was instead inhabiting it in a manner similar to Divine Descent—her essence residing within the leaf.

Her divine power had disappeared. Even her divine core was gone.

And yet—despite the loss of her godhood and divine power, her divine rank had not changed.

In her perception, she was still like a god of Creation-rank, able to see through the essence of all things at a glance and capable of manifesting mythic authority—if she had the power to wield it.

Deep within her awareness, the Gospel of Blood had also vanished—or more precisely, it had completely fused with her.

No—rather than saying it had vanished, it was because of the fusion with the Gospel that she was still able to retain her divine rank.

She was the Gospel.

The Gospel was her.

It was a very peculiar state of being.

Without divine power, she had formed a deeper and more complete integration with the Gospel of Blood.

She was no longer just a spirit bound to a relic, and the Gospel was no longer simply a book. Together, they had become the same concept—

The Gospel of Blood was also, in essence, the True Ancestor of Blood.

The Gospel possessed all the laws she had once wielded. And through this union, her very existence had become that of a living divine core.

The pollution of the Origin had already completely vanished.

This era had no Origin, and the one that had once corrupted her had been left behind—sealed in another time with the severing of her soul.

In other words, she had become a Creator-rank God who had descended into this era, yet possessed no divine power and no divine body.

Charlotte wasn’t surprised.

No—more accurately, when she agreed to cooperate with Lilith for this time-travel, she had already understood the latter’s plan.

Only a sufficiently powerful “aberration” could resist the Origin.

But if the time-traveling Charlotte wished to wield great power, she would have to accept extraordinary power. And the moment she accepted such power—which was inherently tied to the Origin—she would inevitably lose her identity as an aberration.

So, if that was the case… there was only one path left to her:

Return to an era without the Origin, and become an aberration powerful from the very beginning!

In other words, the current Charlotte—who retained her Creator-rank divine status, yet bore no Origin mark or corruption!

As for divine power… even without extraordinary forces, it could be restored over time—divine power was just a form of energy. Extraordinary power was simply one unique and active state of energy, capable of transitioning between matter and energy.

In other words—just as the “Creator God” once scattered extraordinary power across the world of Myria to “graze” the beings within it, Charlotte too could directly convert energy into divine power.

And energy—was everywhere.

The sun’s radiance was energy. The organic matter stored in plants was energy. Even the thoughts and emotions of all living beings—were a form of energy.

Among all these, the most active and easily transformed forms were vital force and mental power.

At this thought, Charlotte turned her attention to the massive tree to which the leaf she inhabited belonged—a towering tree over thirty meters high.

She stirred her thoughts, attempting to absorb some of the tree’s life force—and sure enough, the ancient tree’s vitality began to flow into the leaf, slowly converting into threads of divine power.

But as she drew power, the giant tree visibly withered—its life force draining before the naked eye—while the divine power Charlotte gained was minuscule.

She quickly ceased the conversion.

This was just a test.

This ancient tree had essentially “awakened” her; she had no desire to drain it dry.

But with even a single thread of divine power, she could now do much more.

After brief contemplation, Charlotte redirected that thread of divine power—injecting it back into the tree.

A vibrant vitality burst forth. The branches sprouted new buds, blooming into delicate blossoms.

Soon, under Charlotte’s guidance, those blossoms pollinated with the wind and began to bear fruit.

Plump, round, crimson fruits grew all over the branches, releasing a rich, refreshing fragrance.

Sensing the faint divine energy infused within the fruits, Charlotte felt a flicker of anticipation.

Compared to plants, animals possessed far more active life force—and could provide greater extraordinary feedback through their growth in power.

Once an animal consumed one of these fruits, it would gain a trace of Charlotte’s divine power. That trace would lead it into the extraordinary realm—and from that moment forward, every power advancement and energy intake would feed back a portion of that strength to Charlotte.

"The Origin has not yet descended… but it will descend."

"The divine power it casts upon the world is enough to turn the entire world extraordinary in an instant. The power it holds is beyond anything I can match. So… before it descends, I must accumulate enough power to survive."

Charlotte quietly resolved in her heart.

So she waited.

But unfortunately—perhaps because the birds had never seen such fruit on this ancient tree before, or perhaps the color red was too vibrant—several days passed without a single bird daring to peck at them.

Just as Charlotte was considering whether to actively guide some nearby creatures with mental influence, a group of uninvited guests entered her perception.

They were humanoid beings.

And when she “saw” their distinctively pointed ears, something immediately clicked in Charlotte’s heart.

“Elves?”

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Author’s Note:

emmmm… While the setting and content of this chapter might resemble that of a certain other novel, the two have no actual connection.