#90: Necromancer Of The Black Bible (90) — Necromancer of the Black Bible

El flew with all her strength to this place where the handle of the Ethereal Gate was located.

Originally, reaching here required running day and night for seven days, but this time was different.

She could fly with the power of her newly acquired body.

Moreover, thanks to the shortcut shown by Kallios’s memory body, she could ascend easily.

Thus, Eliastra arrived by flying through the air, not using the web-like passages connecting to the uppermost layer.

‘Fortunately, I’m not late.’

El gazed at the Ethereal Gate she had just opened.

The Ethereal Gate opened for the first time since creation.

The ripple effects were enormous.

Not only the wraiths fighting near the Kallios Theocracy but countless souls wandering the surface began being sucked in all at once.

The sight was so unfamiliar and mystical that even Eliastra, the one who opened the Ethereal Gate, watched in a daze.

‘This is the Ethereal Gate.’

In the distant past.

El recalled when Kallios had constructed the Ethereal Gate.

At that time, Kallios had said this about the Ethereal Gate:

-This will become the cycle ring for all life.

Kallios’s vision sounded magnificent even to Eliastra.

Gather souls that have lived one life through the Ethereal Gate and plan new lives.

If repeated, any soul would clearly mature gradually.

‘Advancing by gathering such matured souls.’

That was Kallios’s plan.

If there had been no rebellion of the angels, the Ethereal Gate would have opened long ago, and Kallios’s plan would have proceeded.

‘But 3,000 years have passed since then. In that time, the souls of this land have all lost their way.’

El did not know well how souls had gained new lives in the meantime or the process.

Even in the Theocracy she had overseen, they had not investigated how souls inhabited newly born children.

Her powers were too insufficient for such investigation.

The only fact known about soul circulation.

Is that someone had been substituting the role of the Ethereal Gate.

She had not known who until now, but now it seemed clear.

Because severed iron collars on the necks of incoming spirits caught her eye.

‘Wearing <Punishment>.’

The only artifact capable of creating <Punishment> is the Wheel of Eternity.

‘If someone stole this…’

Then Damian’s voice came.

[Penbris. Do you remember that name, El?]

-I remember. He was one of the youngest angels, a timid one.

[He has been playing Lord of Wraiths all this time.]

-Then he…

[I gave him a fitting punishment. But… is this sufficient?]

She understood what Damian was asking.

With the Ethereal Gate open and all wandering souls of the world gathering now, there could be no lack of issues here.

Since it was the first opening since construction.

Eliastra quickly recalled memories.

‘After absorbing souls, there was a selection process.’

Kallios is a meticulous god.

He wanted to grade souls by maturity and plan new lives accordingly.

Until then, souls had time in a waiting place to reflect on and repent their lives.

‘Where was the waiting place?’

Several memories flashed by, and El followed them.

On one side of the space she advanced, large glass tubes connected, and inside, souls were mixed and sucked in together.

‘I must go to the end of these glass tubes.’

Eliastra rushed as if flying.

Coming here alone had consumed tremendous energy, yet strength remained.

The power received from Damian was that great.

She could freely wield power unbearable for a living body.

After passing six doors along the long corridor.

Finally, she arrived in a large room.

The room where all spirits sucked in by the Ethereal Gate were gathered.

Already countless spirits filled the room, each placed in small glass tubes.

‘Fortunately, this place is almost undamaged.’

The sight nearly matched her memory.

Then Damian’s voice came.

[Where is this place?]

Damian seemed to already sense this place through El’s eyes.

El carefully examined the surroundings and replied.

-It is the space where souls wait. Inside those glass tubes, souls reflect on their memories, and the devices connected to the tubes record those memories in the artifact.

The artifact’s name is Oracle.

An artifact that records the memories of souls in tens of thousands of glass tubes.

So massive that no one seemed to have touched it.

[It looks like a lot of work.]

Yes. It can hold about 100,000 souls at once, but not all souls in the world. Controlling and managing the artifact requires at least 100 people.

[I have already sent ones you can command. Use them.]

When El raised her head, brilliant silver light burst from several glass tubes.

This was light intentionally emitted by souls.

‘Souls emitting light this brightly are rare…’

A soul emitting light on its own means that much purity.

To do so requires sufficient maturity to reach a high grade.

El approached the tube emitting the brightest light and opened the door.

Then a spirit entirely dyed silver rose and bowed to her.

-I am Ceres, guardian spirit of the Principality of Tarnia. I greet you for the first time, Angel.

The low yet clear resonance of the soul touched El’s heart.

Just from the voice, she could tell how high Ceres’s grade was.

El looked into her eyes.

Even as a spirit, much is reflected in the eyes.

After observing briefly, El spoke.

“You know me?”

Ceres bowed her head and replied.

-When I first emerged in this world, I had a celestial power hard to express in human words. I still remember receiving that power.

Memories from then flashed in Ceres’s eyes.

A silver-haired girl.

Before a child not yet ten, golden radiance appeared, and within it, a woman emerged.

She was Eliastra.

The former archangel of the Ethereal Realm appeared and granted Ceres the power of healing.

El’s eyes wavered briefly facing her past self in distant memory.

Though much changed from then to now, Ceres clearly remembered her.

-It is an honor to meet you again like this.

“No.”

El shook her head and replied.

“Rather, I am honored. That you remember me, so fallen.”

Yet Ceres shook her head.

She looked at Eliastra’s core and spoke.

-You still emit pure Light, Angel. Unlike demons who lost their Light and fell. So cease self-reproach.

Eliastra did not reply and gazed at Ceres.

The reason for granting healing power to a child not yet ten came to mind.

It was her own will, not Kallios’s.

God created humans after elves and dwarves.

But humans were far weaker than the two prior races.

Watching this, El felt pity and thus chose Ceres to grant healing power.

El could confirm in Ceres the Light she had seen back then.

“You have truly become Light.”

Words laden with much thought and emotion.

El smiled gazing at Ceres.

Then, holding her hand, continued.

“Help me. First, let us release your kin from here.”

-Yes, Angel.

Eliastra, with Ceres, extracted all souls sending silver signals from the glass tubes.

They were souls of far higher grade than El expected, making handling Oracle much easier.

As Oracle began operating properly, the system inside the Ethereal Gate stabilized.

The continuously incoming souls entered waiting state, and souls in glass tubes could reflect on their lives once more.

This was a safeguard arranged by God in advance.

Originally, upon death, a being’s soul briefly reviews its life.

This period is very short, so most vaguely watch their passing life.

Thus, most blankly observe their flowing life.

God judged this insufficient.

One must meticulously and three-dimensionally examine one’s life to reflect, and only through reflection can a new life be planned.

Thus, Oracle was created.

Souls entering Oracle’s glass tubes are given opportunity to closely examine their lives.

‘Thus, time is needed.’

El slowly surveyed the souls reflecting on their lives in the tubes.

Most were souls wandering the world for over 3,000 years.

Few likely experienced proper reincarnation meeting guardian spirits like Ceres.

Thus, they need considerable time.

That time will be essential for completing the Ethereal Gate’s internal system.

Eliastra carefully examined connections among internal artifacts, including Oracle.

‘From the rebellion until I closed the Ethereal Gate, this place was abandoned.’

Thus, other demons might have entered and stolen artifacts here.

Decorative weapons on walls matter not, but missing system-forming artifacts would be grave.

‘I must check meticulously.’

El opened the thick booklet in her hand.

A booklet brought by Ceres, directing Oracle maintenance.

It detailed how to operate inside the Ethereal Gate and its principles.

‘Hmm. I see.’

Though long ago, having heard rough principles from the God once, Eliastra easily understood the booklet.

<…Once soul reflection ends, Oracle enters the second stage and plans anew. Then it matches suitable bodies, where another artifact, the Wheel of Eternity, functions….>

‘Wheel of Eternity?’

Eliastra raised her head to check the diagram in the booklet.

Then examined the room interior—the space for the Wheel of Eternity was empty.

‘Oh no…’

Wrinkles formed on El’s brow.

According to the booklet, the Wheel of Eternity is essential for soul reincarnation.

Without it, souls cannot match new bodies and must remain here.

‘It’s already saturated here.’

Though the Ethereal Gate is closed, Oracle has accepted too many souls.

Without activating reincarnation to infuse souls into new bodies, the Ethereal Gate cannot reopen.

Yet the Wheel of Eternity is not here.

As Damian recently informed, Penbris fled with it and had been posing as Lord of Wraiths using it until now.