Watching Adam dissipate into particles once again, Eve sat on the balcony of this grandiose library as a sense of melancholy started to wash over her being.
How long had it been since she truly had a fun moment with any of her relatives?
It had been so long that even with her eidetic memory, which could store and remember each and every moment of her life, she was not able to remember the days of such bliss.
'I miss the old times.'
When she became a mortal and was banished to earth with her husband, she truly thought that it had been the end of the world for them.
They were strong without a doubt but there were even stronger creatures roaming on the surface of the planet and even more hovering in the infinite void of space. They had to fight, bleed, and learn absolutely everything from literal scratch to fend for their survival.
Thanks to having eaten the fruit of knowledge, they were quickly able to adapt and form their own house and slowly started to become used to their daily life.
Her first pregnancy had been hell; the pain was like nothing she had ever experienced before.
But, holding her adorable little Cain and Calmana in her arms, had been the most joyous time in her life and made all that pain worth it.
Then came her second pregnancy which brought her Abel and Balbira [1].
They were happy. As happy as they could be in their current circumstance that was no different than hell when compared to their times in heaven.
They created a new and blooming civilization and might have even found a road back to Eden with enough time and effort.
If only that cursed event didn't happen. If only she had been a better mother and able to better guide her children… Perhaps she could have stopped the tragedy that forever divided their family.
"Lost in thoughts once again?"
Eve did not so much as twitch when shadows gathered beside her and Lilith walked out of them in her usual set of provocative attire.
"I am simply thinking about what could have been achieved and wishing for a better future for my children. Nothing more."
"Heh… If you say so."
"What do you want?"
"My avatar on earth shared her memory with me. I must say, the boy surprised me to no end. I must admit that he is indeed 'special'."
"I know you are not here to praise Adam. Speak your mind."
"Indeed… I am not…" Light shimmered in Lilith's eyes as she spoke out her true thoughts to Eve, "Asmodeus wasted a great amount of his Karma for this descent of his and even lost a part of his authority to the boy you are raising."
"So?"
Lilith bristled slightly at the nonchalance of her counterpart but relaxed and sighed out loud before continuing, "Help me bring him down. I want to take back what is mine."
She hated putting herself down like this. But it was slightly bearable since it was none other than Eve, her counterpart.
The authority of Lust belonged to her and her alone. The fact that she had lost a part of it because of her sisters' betrayal still irked her to this day.
She was supposed to be one of the queens of hell. But she had to settle for being something mediocre. And she was having none of that.
Her rightful place was on the throne of hell.
"Hmmm…"
Eve mused before materializing a book in her hands and opening it as she asked her a question, "What do I gain by helping you."
"What do you want?"
Eve smiled slightly at the sharpness of her tone. Since she was such a loving and giving grandma, she had to prepare another gift for her favorite grandson, right?
"[Dream]. I want the greatest share of the Dream authority Asmodeus has. 70% of it, to be exact. You can keep the rest for yourself."
Eve chuckled as she watched Lilith scowl visibly at the contract that she proposed to her. It wasn't every day that she could one-up this woman after all.
Lilith hesitated. While the authority of Lust itself was powerful, it was ultimately limited. Meanwhile, Dream stood at the peak of many laws and concepts and was an authority many would kill to have.
'Tch, I have to make some concessions.'
"Very well." She gritted her teeth as she answered.
"Tututu~ Let's make an oath to the Scales first. Come back later after I have worded our exact contract. I will help you then."
Lilith gave a long look of somber interest at Eve, "You have changed, Eve."
"Well, I can't always be the naive woman who doomed her entire family because of her curiosity now, can I?"
And so the two first women in the history of humanity made a deal. Each for their own reasons but a deal that would without a doubt cause fear in anyone who heard about it.
—
When Adam woke up on Earth, he could feel his body starting to hollow out as the fact that he stayed for 6 months without food or water hit him with the full wrath of god.
It was a process he was now used to and he watched indifferently as his own body started to wither and weaken. His sights dimmed, his stomach growled and brought immense amounts of pain packed in a small amount of time. His mind became weak and he felt parched.
Even through all of this… Even though his body was screaming in pain, Adam felt nearly nothing in his mind.
By focusing on his inner self, he was able to slightly dissociate his body from his mind and all he felt was a slight numbing pain rather than the intense suffering he should have been subjected to due to this entire process.
For an instant, Adam felt like his body was nothing more than a prison putting shackles on his true self and stopping him from advancing forward. Like it was a limiter that brought down his true potential, that still tied him to the weakness of mortality.
'Ugh…'
A slight headache spiked through as this thought destabilized him more than he would have liked but he was otherwise able to stay conscious until the inevitability of death finally took him away once more.
.
.
.
The dead and withered body of Adam stayed still on the bed and then,
Thump~
A heartbeat sounded and life came back to him soaringly. It was like watching a moment being completely inverted. His body started to fill up again, his pale skin took a healthy color and his sunken cheeks were once again rosy and proper.
Opening his eyes, Adam sighed and stood up to stretch his body.
'I feel weird.'
This time, he had managed to stay more than nearly 6 months in the Library. Six months during which he did nothing but study endlessly and assimilate the theories he was given by his millennia-old grandmother.
It was a level of concentration that was absolutely impossible outside of the Library for a human. But even though he went through such a session, he realized the fact that there were no sudden and massive changes in power like his earlier powerups whenever he visited the Library.
Rather than the spike in his powers, he felt more controlled, more at ease with himself and his being. He felt like his thoughts were less jumbled and that using The World felt far less straining than usual.
Snapping his hand, a perfect copy of himself appeared and Adam looked at the illusion with a grin on his face.
He brought his hand slowly and placed it on his shoulder.
'I can feel it.'
He grinned. Even as his hands inevitably passed through the illusion, Adam had the feeling that he was touching something right now.
He could see, smell, and touch. Imagining an apple, Adam bit on it carefully and felt like he was indeed eating a true apple at the moment. The sensation and the taste were all as he imagined them to be, making him jubilant at the progress of his powers.
"So tell me, Adam, who is the most awesome man in the world?"
The second Adam grinned and adjusted his suit, "Me obviously."
"Or perhaps you mean me?"
Another Adam appeared and the 'three Adams' looked at each other while grinning.
"This feels fucking weird."
He muttered as he made the two illusions dissipate. Since he had three different minds currently, he had simply been using those minds to control the illusions and act independently.
In a way, it was something akin to remote play.
For now, this was nothing more than a waste of computing power as using illusions like this meant that there were many other things he could not do.
But this was the perfect alibi for any crime he might perpetrate in the future.
As long as it was in the zone of The World, he could perfectly control those illusions.
Thereby being at different places at the same time.
'My zone is…'
He looked up and realized he went from 500 meters to more than 700 meters after his rigorous training in the Library.
'Many naughty couples in this hotel, I see.'
He thought idly as he 'saw' many things through the walls of the hotel. Some of which he wished he had not seen. But it was the risk of this power.
Finally, Adam opened the book of Genesis and looked at his current stats.
『 Name: Adam Gospel
Affiliation: Hunter Association, Wild Hunt
Alias: Midnight Prince, Cinder, The Magician
Race: Primogenitor
Age: 21
Weakness: Curse of Cain (Undergoing Evolution)
Acquired Power: Book of Genesis
Innate Authority: [Origin] || [Domination ] || [Death]
Unique Skill: [The World] || [Fear] || [The Magician]
Skills: [Eyes of Truth] || [Parallel Thinking] || [Accelerated Perception] || [Silver Tongue] || [Eidetic Memory] || [Soothing Speech] || [Mermaid's Voice]
Strength: D+
Speed: D+
Dexterity: D+
Endurance: D+
Prana: A
Charm: C+
Willpower: A
Luck: EX
Overall Combat Capacity: B+ → A
Remark: Congratulations. You have graduated from being a complete cannon fodder. 』
[1]: So the thing is even though Cain and Abel are talked about every time, they weren't the only children. They had many children. One thing in Genesis 4:17 states that after he had killed Abel, "Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch."
So who was Cain's wife? Well, the thing is Cain and Abel were each born with a twin.
The name of the twin changes in the functions of the religion.
In Muslim tradition, Cain was born with a twin sister who was named Aklima, and Abel with a twin sister named Jumella. For the Jewish texts, Cain's twin sister is called Calmana, and Abel's twin sister is called Balbira.
They say Eve had 20 pairs of twins. The only one without a twin was Seth.
Technically Seth is the father of humanity as he is the Ancestor of Noah. Everyone else got offed during the flood.
