The Restoration

In a secret realm above the Three Realms, atop the threads of time and fate woven by causality, Miketsu stared blankly at the girl of destiny who was her other half. Their previous conversation had plunged them into a wordless silence, and they gazed at each other for a long time without speaking.

Evidently, their earlier topic possessed a touch of philosophy that was not easily answered.

Was it humanity that had abandoned divinity? Or divinity that had abandoned humanity? Such a question yielded no answer no matter how much one pondered it. After thinking for a moment, Miketsu could only shake her head.

Forget it. They were already separated; there was no point in discussing it further.

"Fine, let's set that aside for now and talk about what comes next. According to the timeline, after you became the Fate Weaver, you began dealing with the remaining Ancient Gods and guided the era of the modern gods into being, correct?" Miketsu asked, exhaling softly. The Fate Weaver nodded indifferently.

"Correct. After I utilized the remains of the world's will to become the Fate Weaver, I stripped it away, partitioned it, and transformed it into the seedlings of myth. I called them the 'Seeds of Prophecy.' After imbuing them with a portion of my own power, I scattered them into the mortal world to find suitable candidates for implantation. Guided by destiny, they led mortals to wage wars of investiture, creating modern myths to seal the remaining Ancient Gods and bring the era of the Ancient Gods to a complete close."

'So that's it... The root of mythical power is actually the original consciousness of the world. No wonder they are so closely linked to the world's rules and so heavily influenced by Chang'e...'

Miketsu thought to herself as the Fate Weaver continued in her calm, detached voice.

"In the beginning, the boundary wall between the Celestial Realm and the mortal world was very thin. The influence of the modern gods in the mortal world was no less than that of the Ancient Gods. Therefore, I specifically created the divine virtue system to constrain their actions. However, because the Chief Gods needed to lead their subordinate modern gods and coexist with other mythologies—while also remaining vigilant against the Ancient Gods, whose consciousnesses had not yet fallen into a deep sleep after being sealed—they needed to know the truth. Thus, they were not bound by divine virtue. Furthermore, the energy scale of the Chief Gods was too vast, making it difficult to impose divine virtue upon them."

"And the result was that while you were thickening the boundary wall, attempting to gradually strip the influence of the modern gods and move it to the Celestial Realm to further advance the era, those Chief Gods—unwilling to lose their rule—united to resist you. They even went so far as to borrow the power of the sealed Ancient Gods, only to be double-crossed by the Great Snake, leading to the mess we see today," Miketsu added, following the Fate Weaver's logic. The girl of destiny nodded slightly.

"Indeed... However, their plans were always within my sight. To counter all of this, I used the divine soul connection between us to awaken your consciousness, which had also been imprisoned within myth.

"When we separated, I took the memories of the Ancient God known as the Heavenly Mandate Mysterious Bird, while you took the memories of the human you were before your transmigration. This is why, after you awakened, you mistakenly believed you had transmigrated into the role of Inari Okami."

The Fate Weaver continued in her emotionless, indifferent tone. Hearing this, Miketsu's mouth twitched.

"So you're saying my awakening was designed from the start to deal with today's situation? My fate has been 'arranged' by you all along?"

"Do not misunderstand. Our status is equal. I cannot manipulate your fate. I simply understand 'myself' very well and knew what choices I would make upon waking. You were bound to become the force that opposed the Ancient Gods and those Chief Gods to resolve this crisis; no manipulation was necessary.

"Moreover, while we appear separated on the surface, we are a single entity with a deep connection at the core. We are two sides of the same coin. Your divine soul leads directly to me, which is why your energy is inexhaustible."

The Fate Weaver spoke calmly, leaving Miketsu stunned as a long-standing question was finally answered.

From very early on, Miketsu had wondered where her 'limitless pool' of energy came from. Before she knew how to use divine power, she thought it was due to her status as an orthodox god. After seeing that the power of other orthodox gods had its limits, she suspected it was related to her identity as an Ancient God. But when she saw that Ancient Gods who were reduced to mere divine souls possessed nowhere near her level of continuous power, she was left at a loss.

Now the answer was revealed: the Fate Weaver was behind her. Or rather, she was the Fate Weaver.

Having heard the full explanation, Miketsu understood the cause of everything. Facing this reality, she let out a long sigh.

"Whew... Fine. I think I understand everything now. So, one last question: why did you call me up here? Surely it wasn't just to give me an explanation?" Miketsu asked solemnly. The Fate Weaver replied, her voice still devoid of any fluctuation.

"Yes. Explaining this to you is only part of it. More importantly, I need you to cooperate with me."

"Cooperate on what?" Miketsu asked, puzzled. The Fate Weaver turned her cold gaze toward the surging torrent of destiny below.

"Although you stopped the rampage of Yamata no Orochi, he still caused significant damage to the world structure we built. Four mythologies are nearing collapse, and the boundary wall between the Celestial Realm and the mortal world has become extremely thin. More importantly, the abnormalities in the myths have caused other Ancient Gods—who were originally sleeping within their seals—to begin regaining consciousness. If left alone, the advancement of the era will be halted, and Ancient God disasters even more severe than the Calamity of Yamata will occur one after another."

Miketsu frowned as she listened.

She was right. Yamata no Orochi's destruction of the world's architecture was indeed severe. Such deep-seated damage was difficult to repair simply by eliminating causality.

Furthermore, the mythology system was heavily compromised. Other Ancient Gods suppressed by those myths were showing signs of waking up. Each of them was a potential Yamata no Orochi; if they weren't put back to sleep, they would find various ways to break their seals.

Although Miketsu had regained her ancient god body and could theoretically break the seals to devour their divine souls, soul devouring was not something that could be done without limit. If handled poorly, it could lead to a backlash. Otherwise, Ancient Gods like Suwako or the Ancient God of the Sea wouldn't have survived the era of the Ancient God wars. Having already devoured the souls of two Ancient Gods in succession, Miketsu needed a long time to digest them and could not continue devouring those within the seals.

"So you want me to help you repair the world?" Miketsu asked directly, sensing the Fate Weaver's intent. The girl of destiny gave a faint nod.

"Yes. Repairing the world's architecture, re-thickening the boundaries, fixing the broken myths, rewriting the Chief Gods, and suppressing the awakened Ancient Gods to make them fall back into slumber... These are massive undertakings. I cannot handle them alone. Therefore, I need you to merge with me for a period of time, so we may perform these tasks as the complete Heavenly Mandate Mysterious Bird."