World Keeper

Chapter 846: Identity Theft

Aznod stood across from his opponent, the two standing on a platform one hundred meters wide. As it was determined that distance was largely irrelevant to many gods, the ring was condensed in order to make the event easier to broadcast.

His opponent was a human woman with long black hair and sunken eyes. Aznod gave her a brief glance before deciding that she was a god that he had never heard of before, which increased the difficulty of the coming battle considerably. He himself was famous to some degree, so it would be common for his opponents to know about his abilities, while he had to try and guess what his opponents would do in the midst of battle.

It’s fine… I have prepared for this. Aznod closed his eyes, taking a deep breath while the timer ticked down. In order to ensure that he moved on to the next stage of the tournament, he had to first defeat the opponent in front of himself. And so, he aimed for the moment that the timer hit zero, golden light pulsing around his feet.

“Who are you?” The woman asked, slowly walking closer, as if she did not notice the expanding territory beneath his feet. She entered the golden field, her steps carrying her closer and closer to Aznod.

The polite chef in Aznod compelled him to answer, but his battle awareness stopped him. There was nothing that was insignificant in these fights. Perhaps the opponent’s techniques required the target to answer her questions, or she required their names to make it work.

Either way, he sensed that she had already stepped into the area of his ability. His eyes opened sharply, lunging forward as a butcher knife appeared in his hand. His body moved forward like a blur, only to stop a moment later, his eyes wide in surprise. The woman he had targeted, who he was certain should only have been less than thirty meters in front of him, was still at her original position. “Who are you?” She asked again, slowly tilting her head.

“Do any of you know anything about this girl?” I asked, looking at the black-haired woman that was displayed on the screen. It was an extremely surreal sight, watching her walk forward, only for her to teleport back to her starting position the moment her opponent moved a muscle. Furthermore, it didn’t look like she employed any kind of magic to do this. Rather, the moment he moved, it was as if she had never left her position.

Tsubaki, Dana, and Lifre looked at one another, shaking their heads in unison. “I’ve never heard of anyone matching that description, boss.” Dana answered, though Gerard simply stared at the screen for several seconds.

“I believe that is Laura Bowley.” He said, causing the four of us to look over. “Originally ascended as a Goddess fifteen years ago with the Names domain, she then joined the Earth Exploration Force as a protector for extraterrestrial vessels. Using her divinity, she assigned names to monsters, imbuing them with different positive or negative effects. In her last battle, she was injured in a battle against two monster gods who were defending a primordial relic. Upon her victory, she was given the relic, which was at the time identified as containing the divine domain of ‘Distortion’.”

“After this battle, she retired from her guardian position, claiming that she wanted to further refine her own power. There are also records that indicate she has had her divinity forged, though not by the Researcher. However, her third domain is currently unknown.”

“How do you know all of that?” Lifre asked with wide eyes.

Gerard simply glanced over at the slime girl. “It is one of my duties to keep a registry for all deities who enter into a public service field. If any of them are met with problematic situations, I am to provide assistance based on their service record.”

“Oh, right. I forgot about that part.” Dana chuckled, nodding her head. “So… Names, Distortion, and something else. That’s… honestly, a scary combination.”

I furrowed my brow, deploying my Mirrors domain to try to track down this woman’s real body. She was sure to be watching the event, so there would be some kind of surface for me to look at her from. Once I found her, I scanned her with my World Sight, before letting out a long sigh. “She’s ruined herself.”

Tsubaki glanced over, not seeming to know what I meant, so I explained. “Names, Distortion, Tracking, Darkness, Strength.”

“Five domains?” Dana asked, her eyes going wide. “I get the first three. And maybe she cultivated in Lorek, but where did the last one come from?”

“I see…” Gerard nodded his head. “I believe that I have come to the same conclusion as the Keeper. After being granted the Distortion domain from the primordial relic, she had her third domain forged, which she trained to be the Tracking domain. Using that domain, she personally tracked down two more primordial relics, hoping to get an increase in power.”

“That’s what I’m guessing.” I agreed. “Primordial relics are different from normal ascension methods, since they contain a core concept from the creation of a universe. It’s possible that you can use multiple relics like this, but they’re a lottery on what domain you get. She lucked out with the three she got, but having more than three domains causes instability in your divinity.”

“Worse, I got a look at her with my World Sight. She’s… a mess on the inside. The power she gained from the relics was too unstable for her to control, if I had to guess.”

“Why, what’s going on?” Lifre asked, before looking at the screen and gasping.

Aznod furrowed his brow, unsure how the woman had returned to her starting position. He closed his eyes, and immediately felt as if she was directly before him. But when he opened them again, she was back at her starting position. Which is the truth?

“Who are you?” The woman continued to question, and Aznod closed his eyes again. Once he sensed her in front of him, he immediately slashed out with his knife, feeling the blade connect. After doing so, he was convinced that he had struck her real body, and opened his eyes again.

This time, she was still standing back at her starting position, but there was a long cut across one of her sleeves, a gash in her arm that seemed to leak divinity. The woman smiled, nodding her head. “Now I remember. You’re Aznod, aren’t you? I saw your food stall on the way in.”

The moment she said his name, Aznod felt something twist within his divinity. His eyes widened, and he jumped back to the opposite end of the arena, where he had originally started the fight. “In that case, can I be Aznod, too?” The woman asked, her voice seeming to be directly in Aznod’s ear, despite the visible distance between them. “I can be Aznod, and you can be me. I don’t remember who ‘me’ is, though… would you mind trying to figure it out for us?”

Aznod felt a growing sense of danger, before a hiss left his mouth. He looked down at his arm, and saw that it had been cut open. However… it did not look like his arm. It was shorter, more slender. “I see…” He muttered, shaking his head in realization. “Identity transferral.”

Aznod could feel his divinity being rewritten, his very name becoming obscure. He lost access to his Saint Energy, his domains, and his divine powers. However, he felt new powers flooding in, organizing them in his mind.

He didn’t think about why he could suddenly not remember his name. His experience, his training was still there. He used this training to organize the five domains within his mind, laying them out before himself. Names, Distortion, Tracking, Darkness, Strength. What can I make with this?

He could understand vaguely how his opponent had moved strangely now, as it was a combination of Distortion and Darkness. She existed in two positions, depending on whether or not her designated opponent had his eyes open. If I simply take back my name, this will be easy. But first, I’ll need to get her to say it.

He couldn’t remember what his name was at this point, preventing him from simply undoing the ability that she had used on him. The only thing he could be thankful about was that she did not gain his training, while he did not lose it. That meant that they each kept their own minds, they just lost their concept of identity, as well as their domains.

Names, Distortion, Strength. He nodded his head, focusing those three domains together. They appeared in a circular ring around his body. “I borrow the name of the great Goddess whom I serve, that my strength may equal her own. Udona!”

His body distorted, skin rippling and hair flowing back. If this was a game of identities, then he knew names far more powerful than the one he had lost. A smile crossed his lips as he looked at the woman across from him, who was still trying to figure out her new domains. Her expression was confused, her mind clearly muddled. I see… she entered this tournament to try and resolve her problem. I will remind my main body to contact her later.

He could feel his body changing further, losing its original shape to become that of the blonde Goddess of Life, Education, and Entertainment. “I’m sorry.” Udona’s voice spoke softly into the air. “This is where we part ways.”

Like that, the body of the woman crumbled to the ground, the ring filled with nothing but silence for several long moments. Afterwards, a great fanfare arose around the victor, who was slowly starting to revert to normal.

Aznod looked down at himself, nodding in satisfaction as he witnessed his hands once again becoming his own. “Just because I am greeted with unfamiliar ingredients does not mean that I cannot make a potent dish, young lady.” He said, offering a bow towards his opponent’s body. Thankfully, it was only her Virtual self, and her true self would still be fine in the real world.

“Wow… he’s definitely got guts to call the name of Udona.” Dana chuckled, shaking her head as she witnessed the end of the match. Tsubaki nodded her head emphatically in agreement, while I continued to focus on the screen.

That was actually a decent strategy from the woman, switching identities with her opponent. However, because of her own problems, she was unable to properly take advantage of it. Her mind was already muddled from the rampaging divinities in her body, so she couldn’t make sense out of the new domains.

While Aznod was compartmentalizing the domains and treating them as new ingredients, Laura was left frozen, when she should have been the one most prepared to take advantage of the situation. “Gerard, are there currently any methods to remove someone’s domain entirely?”

“Of course, sir.” Gerard nodded his head. “Various domains are capable of this through their own methods, with varying degrees of permanency depending on the method involved.”

I gave a small nod at that, happy to hear it. “Please send a message to invite her to visit the Citadel. Her mind and soul are a shattered mess, and she’ll need some special treatment to piece herself back together, once her excess domains are removed.” I gave a meaningful glance to Dana as I said that, who opened her eyes wide in shock, nodding her head.

This is why we have the rule of three. I muttered inwardly, already planning what domains I could use to purge two of hers. Naturally, having more domains wouldn’t always cause this, but she received too many from those relics, meaning she lacked the proper training to control them. I’ll preserve the two domains I remove, and let her slowly accept them again after she regains control over herself.

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