Chapter 339 338. Significance.
As Isha gazed at Eshwar with a rather complicated gaze, she also couldn't help but be surprised at the sudden intruder.
WHOOOOMMMmmmm-!
'Lord Shiva...' Isha muttered inwardly as a suffocating ambience began to ooze from Lord Shiva, as if he were challenging Eshwar for a territory battle. Of course, Eshwar didn't lose to the presence in the slightest, but he had only released enough to nullify the suffocating ambience that oozed through Lord Shiva.
Her gaze flitted across the room, and she noticed that except for her, Eshwar, and Lord Shiva, none had their heads up. Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Charlie, Zu'e, Marcia, Okisada, Alexandru, and Godred were seen trying their best to hold on to their consciousness; if Isha released even a bit of divine presence, they would collapse, along with the imperial palace they were currently in.
Still,
'They are strong....' Isha thought inwardly; the ambience oozed through Lord Shiva, and Eshwar was rather suffocating even for her.
CRA-CRACK-!!
The prides of two major gods clashed against each other as Eshwar began to gait towards Lord Shiva, with his "Eshwar"-ly character disappearing entirely. Isha needed but a glance to tell that the current Eshwar was different; the one in front of her wasn't the lover boy Eshwar, nor was he Eshwar the human, but a God. The one Isha was currently gazing at was a god, and a stronger one at that.
Isha glanced to her front, where Grace, Neal, and Reynolds were seen kowtowing, and gently tapped her feet on the ground, which had majorly cracked due to the suffocating aura. A golden ripple shot out, but before it reached her target, the ripple dispersed, and as if understanding her thoughts, an ominous snap resounded throughout the room.
SNAP-!
CRA-CRACK-!!
BOOOMMM-!
With a loud boom, the unnatural room exploded into pieces as the debris shot out, but a translucent box that was exactly as big as the room from before held them in place. As the dense dust cloud surrounded the now translucent room, Isha's gaze soon landed on the one responsible, and gazing at the broad, strong, and dependable back of Eshwar, Isha sighed inwardly, feeling complicated, before she tapped her feet on the translucent room.
TING-!
A golden-coloured ripple shot out from her feet until it covered the entire room. Groaning, the pride-shattered royals, a royal fanatic, another three pride-shattered God hunters, and a protagonist gazed at their surroundings in fright.
[I do not know what it was like when you fought against the minor gods, but this is the subtle presence of the major gods.] Isha stated this to everybody, except Eshwar and Lord Shiva, telepathically.
And Grace, Neal, and Reynolds trembled violently at Isha's mention that the presence they were feeling was a "subtle" one. Of course, the others too trembled, but since they didn't know what it felt like to fight against a god, their reactions weren't as fierce as those of those who had experienced first-hand.
Since the ambience that bore down on them mostly resided, their gazes were obviously drawn at Eshwar's imperiously gaiting figure, and they instinctively felt that they shouldn't make eye contact if they didn't want to die.
The aura Eshwar and Lord Shiva oozed continued to increase as seconds passed, and exactly as they expected, a fight seemed to break out as the atmosphere around Eshwar twisted dangerously before a bright golden trident materialised in his right hand.
ZZRRRROOOOMMMMM-!!!
A seemingly eager tremble was seen in Eshwar's trident, Trishul, held in his hand, and
HISSSSSS-!!!
A loud, ominous hiss sounded as a black king cobra manifested on Lord Shiva's right arm before it slithered up to his neck as it glared at Eshwar dangerously.
Similarly, an ominously beautiful, pure white snake with bright orange eyes, similar to Eshwar's, manifested around Eshwar's neck as it snuggled close to his neck before a joyful hiss sounded.
Leaning his head and snuggling back slightly in response, Eshwar gazed at the black snake and Lord Shiva gloatingly. Eshwar loosened his grip over the trident and held it right below its head before passing the staff to Lord Shiva, who took it with a serious expression on his face.
'Damaru' materialised below the trident head as soon as the trident was handed to Lord Shiva, the rightful owner of the artefact. Though there weren't any words exchanged between the two, somehow Isha felt like they had talked a lot in that short brief as a suffocating yet friendly atmosphere filled the now translucent room.
Suddenly, lord Shiva gaited towards Isha, who absent-mindedly sat on the throne, but noticing that she was being approached by lord Shiva, her heart palpitated with different emotions, fear being one of them, but startling Isha and dumbfounding everybody present, lord Shiva took her hand gracefully and planted a kiss on her knuckles, making Isha jump on her feet with a soft, low yelp, and before they understood what was going on, Eshwar appeared next to her and hugged her in a heartbeat, without behaving too disrespectfully as yanking Isha's hand out or doing something like that.
"You can always call me if he, your husband, doesn't treat you right and ask me to beat him up; this is an offer only exclusive to you." Lord Shiva smiled gently, and a low, jealous "grrr" sounded in Isha's ear as she gazed at everything happening in a daze.
"Look after her well. She is named after my wife, Parvathi, as you are named after me." Lord Shiva said this to Eshwar and disappeared from the spot.
"I would have done that even if you didn't say so." Eshwar's complaint sounded like a ring and snapped Isha and the others out of their daze before their dumbfounded gaze landed on Eshwar, who was seen pouting lightly.
*
DING
[Trishul was released from the user's possession!]
"Haaa...." I sighed deeply, relieved, but I still couldn't help but feel bitter since, without the damaru, Trishul was basically only half as powerful as it was when it was with the damaru, but it wasn't like I hadn't tried to obtain it; it was just that it didn't recognise me as worthy at that time, though I don't know what the results would be if I tried now.
And well, that aside, I gazed at Isha, who was in my arms, still dazed due to what had just happened.
These were the actions that I hoped he wouldn't learn from me, but well, the result of my hopes and expectations shattering unfolded before you.
Initially, before my first regression in this world, I was honestly extremely surprised to learn that Lord Shiva had turned into a fallen, but it wasn't long before it turned into excitement, thinking of how I could fight not a fake but a real "God of Destruction."
Later, after a few regressions, I had roamed everywhere in search of things that could help me sever my strings of fate that were determined by the divine laws, and since Lord Shiva was the only higher-ranking god present in the world as a fallen, I had managed to pass his trials in return for a wish, using which I was able to "borrow" Trishul, his artefact.
Later, since Lord Shiva wasn't interested in influencing this world, he hadn't really done anything except meditate, so with an absurd thought in the heat of that moment, somehow, even though I don't really remember how, I became his friend, and we roamed the world as I showed how things worked here, in the mortal realm. Well, if one spends a lot of time with the other, they subconsciously gain the habit of the other, and that, flirting, was a habit Lord Shiva gained due to me, although even I hadn't realised that I was flirting before I saw him do the same.
It wasn't really flirting; it was more like he learned the human's sugar coating way of speaking. Since we were mostly surrounded by women, he learned the gentle and Casanova-ic manner of speech when talking with women.
Again, putting that matter aside, many regressions later, after I had the perfect theoretical and practical experience in creation, I accumulated everything needed before putting it all in place.
I then placed it, the Trishul, as a dungeon reward on the Earth I created, a reward that I managed to obtain in each of the regressed lives on Earth. Since my other self was ignorant about weapons and matters similar, I had to forcibly make him remember the location of the dungeon in each and every regression, since the regressed memories weren't remembered by my other self while I did, as I enticed his emotions to grab hold of the weapon.
(AN: that happened in ch10 Assistant Professor (3))
And from then on, you know what happened.
Sighing inwardly, "Isha." I called out.
"H-huh?" Isha slightly gazed down at me as I clung on to her, hugging.
"E-Eshwar?" Isha called out, stuttering and trembling.
Hurt by her involuntary actions, I took a few steps back. Since I had more things to do, I walked to the middle of the room without glancing back at her.
"Two birds with one stone...." I mumbled under my breath. What I am about to do will have two significant changes in two significant lives that are extremely and equally important in my life. They would be there for each other, while I'll take the hard way and made up with Isha, who doesn't really hate me but still needs her alone time. She was thinking of many things, with me deceiving her being one of them, which was also the reason I had chosen to not show the real side of myself. Haaa.... There is nothing I can do right now except give her the answers, which would sound like nothing but excuses to the current Isha.
I waved my hand as I drew two half circles mid-air using both of my hands, and soon a golden ring manifested in front of me. With a tap of my index finger in the middle, cracks formed mid-space before I started to initiate the commands to the system, whose owner was me.
<[Create: Body]> I spoke in an indescribable series of words and a hollow voice, as those around me winced and covered their ears at the unexplainable hollow, ominous sound that leaked out of my mouth.
[Command initiated...]
[Creati....]
ZZZT-ZZT-!!!
[CREATING BODY....]
A bright, miniature orb of blinding light materialised in the middle of the ring as the cracks in space healed completely.
<[Soul search: Eunomia]>
[Command initiated...]
ZZZT-ZZT-!!
[SOUL SEARCH INITIATED...]
[SOUL FOUND]
<[Coalesce]> I muttered with persistence clearly sounding in my voice.
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
[ERROR]
...
.....
[ERRO...]
ZZZT-ZZT-!
[COMMAND INITIATED....]
[COALESCE COMPLETE]
<[System: Manifestation]> I initiated the command under the entire authority of the system, and the reality twisted dangerously as I could see the stars, multiverse, 4th dimension, and many other phenomenal things that I shouldn't have been able to see normally.
The entire planet Antinoüs trembled violently, the after effects of which were culled by the magic circles surrounding the world, before, with a snap resounding in my consciousness, she manifested in reality in front of me. Knowing that she would manifest naked, I waved my hands hurriedly, completing what I was making in the last moment.
A little angel, a loveable little girl, adorably gazed around with profound confusion; she had glass-like pure white hair that glimmered brilliantly under the warm orange sun shine, making her hair seen warm orange; her big, round, similarly glass-like, bright sky-blue-coloured shone with cuteness overloaded, confusion and curiosity, with absolute innocence visible in her profound gaze; she had two sets of detached glass-like wings floating behind her shoulder blades; and finally, she was dressed in a cute fairy-like bright white dress.
"Eunomia." I called in a low, gentle voice since I wasn't sure how sensitive her hearing currently was, and noticing her wince, I was glad that I spoke in a low tone. With a tap of my index finger mid-space that was hidden behind my back, I made those present shut up so that Eunomia could adjust herself to her current body.
"?!!??!?!?" With her big, round eyes widened, she frantically gazed around, with her expression changing by the second. Finally, seemingly after she calmed down her frantically beating heart, she gazed at me with tear-filled eyes that made my heart churn, but the next words that came out of her mouth made my heart skip a beat.
"P-papa...."