Not since his childhood, right after he destroyed that Dark Guild, had Ankh experienced this kind of deep unease.
Ankh stared at the other version of himself before him, maintaining a calm expression while his mind was in absolute turmoil.
She wasn't lying—Seram truly wasn't responding.
"Ankh" gently curved her lips and said with a soft smile, "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."
Ankh mobilized the Death God Power within his body, remaining highly vigilant while trying to speak casually.
"You couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to."
"Hehe..."
Ignoring Ankh's sharp tone, "Ankh" stared at him unblinkingly with her crimson eyes and teased him.
"That is true... after all, you are the God of Life and Death. But at this point in time, you should still be far from having the true strength of a god."
"Time? What do you mean by that?" Maintaining a safe distance, Ankh couldn't help but show a hint of curiosity.
"It is nothing... just call me Anko. I prefer that name."
Ankh's eyelid twitched as he suddenly remembered how the children at the guild used to mistakenly call him by that exact name.
Ignoring Ankh's silence, Anko stepped forward slowly and studied his face.
Her translucent eyes revealed a trace of sadness as she whispered:
"I brought you here with no other intention. I just want to entrust you with one matter."
Looking into Anko's eyes, Ankh's mind suddenly became active. "Why should I solve your troubles for you?"
"And you still haven't answered my question—did you and I... know each other before?"
Anko nodded, hesitating for a moment before saying somewhat uncertainly.
"In terms of human emotions, you could say we were close friends?"
Ankh raised an eyebrow, neither confirming nor denying his belief in her words, and praised her.
"Impressive. So you are also a god?"
"No." Anko hesitated inexplicably for a while before saying, "I am not sure if I count as one."
"Due to certain reasons, he... or rather, you, entrusted a god's inheritance to me, so I am somewhat..."
"A Divine Successor?" Ankh seemed to piece something together and finished Anko's hesitant sentence.
Anko nodded. "More or less, just that the power is somewhat stronger than normal."
After hearing these vague pieces of information, Ankh felt his mind becoming even more confused.
This Anko was being evasive and unwilling to share the full details.
For example, why did she appear here? Was she truly a friend from a past life?
After much back-and-forth conversation yielded no real answers, Ankh finally frowned helplessly.
"So then, why did you summon me here? What exactly do you want?"
Anko raised her hand toward Ankh's wrist, and suddenly, several colorful beams of light emerged from her palm.
Various streams of light converged toward Ankh, then slowly unified into a single hue, gradually solidifying into something wrapped around his wrist.
Puzzled, Ankh raised his hand to examine the bracelet now adorning his arm.
The bracelet was composed of twenty-three irregular, prism-shaped crystals linked together, all emitting a dark gray luster.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary string of stones.
"What is this?"
Anko withdrew her hand, her beautiful eyes fixed seriously on him as she said, "Something to help you fulfill your long-cherished wish."
"Huh?"
Anko continued, "One of the reasons the God Ankhseram became human was actually to collect the power of the other twenty-two gods. For this purpose, he created this thing."
Ankh gasped sharply, inwardly complaining: 'This is heading toward becoming the God King...'
"Don't think of something so cliché. Ankhseram wants to collect all Divine Power simply for freedom."
"Freedom?"
"Yes. Roughly speaking, he wants to become a free god—one who possesses the power of a deity but can roam the world at will, without having to remain trapped in the divine realm."
Ankh widened his eyes, touched his own head, and muttered, "Damn, I am quite ambitious..."
For some reason, Ankh suddenly imagined Ankhseram as an unrestrained, freedom-loving wanderer—completely lacking the traditional, majestic demeanor of a god.
It was nothing like the rigid, emotionless embodiment of the laws that Seram had described to him.
"Wait... can you hear my thoughts?"
After randomly pondering for a moment, Ankh suddenly realized what had just happened and pointed at Anko in shock.
"Guessed." Anko rolled her eyes charmingly, while Ankh felt a sudden chill looking at that familiar face.
"Anyway, this bracelet is a divine artifact created by the God Ankhseram using his Life God Power. Only you, who possesses Life God Power, can use it."
"Strictly speaking, this won't instantly make you stronger—it only raises your physical potential. With it, you can sense the locations of Divine Successors, absorb other gods' powers, and perfectly integrate them into your own Life and Death Divine Power. Ultimately, it will give birth to the perfect power of all gods."
"Although this will make your path to power increasingly difficult, the benefits gained will also be maximized."
Ankh nodded in understanding, feeling it was quite similar to his own plan to forge a divine body...
Seeing Ankh lost in thought, Anko inexplicably showed a look of sheer disdain and remarked sarcastically.
"Don't compare that shoddy plan of yours—fusing Dragon and other racial traits to forge a divine body—to this. It is downright embarrassing."
"Huh? What do you mean? No—you know about that too?! You really can read minds!"
Just as Ankh reacted and was about to erupt, Anko quickly raised her hand and dismissed him in a rapid tone.
"Alright, alright, I have entrusted what needed to be entrusted. Hurry up and leave this place."
The surrounding golden flower field began to warp like an illusion, and Ankh once again felt that strange, overwhelming dizziness.
Knowing he was about to be forcibly ejected, Ankh had no time to think further and hurriedly shouted to her:
"Hey! That's it? I still want to ask about other things!"
Anko watched Ankh's gradually fading form, sighed softly, and seemingly already knew exactly what he wanted to ask.
She whispered, "The sleepwalking issue can be resolved with that bracelet. It is just some mischief-loving fellow."
"No way, you really can read minds—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Ankh completely vanished, his unwilling voice cut short.
The golden flower field once again fell into a boundless silence.
Anko stared blankly at the empty spot where Ankh had just been for a long time.
Then, she suddenly curled her lips into a smile.
The sorrow in her eyes from before seemed to have completely vanished.
"We will meet again, Ankh."
...
"Whoosh!"
In the dimly lit secret chamber with faint candlelight, Ankh uttered the last unfinished word before suddenly appearing and falling to the ground with a heavy thud.
[Ankh! What happened? I suddenly couldn't sense anything just now. Where did you go?]
The familiar, anxious voice of Seram echoed in his mind, bringing Ankh some immediate comfort.
Brushing the dust off his clothes, he said, "You won't believe it, but I just got played by myself."
[What?!]
Ankh looked up, narrowing his eyes slightly as he gazed at the vividly animated statue of Anko.
'Did that statue just blink?'
Rapidly processing the massive amount of information Anko had just given him, he touched the bracelet still securely fastened around his wrist and smiled.
"Still, at least there is some gain."
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