Chapter 527: The Babylonian Pantheon

After a great battle, the supreme god of the pantheon disappeared. Two of the three higher gods self-destructed to stop their enemies. Under the force of those powerful explosions, this realm along with the pursuing enemies was flung out of the void where the main world lay. Those enemies also left their homelands and seized parts of the divine kingdoms, using them as bases to wage endless battles against the remaining true gods led by the master of the Sphinx. Both sides sought to annihilate the other and completely take control of this realm and the divine kingdoms.

After an unknown length of time, only the master of the Sphinx remained as a higher god on one side, while the other side had fewer than ten gods. Realizing his own inevitable demise, that earthly king chose to perish along with his enemies.

After that final battle, the connection between that divine kingdom and the material realm was severed. Only a few of the enemy’s minor messengers managed to escape to the material realm. The relationship between that divine kingdom and the material realm was like the two ends of an hourglass—indivisible, connected only by a narrow passage.

It took many years of self-recovery before a connection between the divine kingdom and the material world was reestablished. By then, the master of the Sphinx had long since perished, becoming merely the master of a tomb filled with resentment. The other gods who died there also formed their own distinct tombs. Thereafter, the passage between the two sides opened roughly once every hundred years. Unfortunately, the rules of the passage were set by the former master of the divine kingdom, allowing only beings from the material realm to be easily expelled by its rules. Only the three higher gods could enter and exit freely and change those rules.

Although the Sphinx could move freely among the ruins of the divine kingdom, it could not leave. Thus, aside from waking up every hundred years when outsiders entered, it remained asleep in its tomb most of the time.

“If my form of life weren’t special—unlike other messengers or holy spirits, who are bound by the rules of the tomb—I too would be trapped in a tomb and unaware of all this!”

After hearing this explanation, Donald let out a sigh of relief.

“So that’s how it is! The Totem Continent actually came from another universe. Now everything makes sense!”

No wonder the gods of the main world hadn’t noticed the emergence of a vast realm like the Totem Continent at all—this was because it had directly emerged from beyond the universe. Since it fell within the realm of the material world, rather than entering through the outer realms as usual, the gods remained unaware of it.

Donald then asked, “Your former master was called the King of the Earth. So he must have been a powerful true god who controlled the elements of earth and soil. What was the name of his pantheon?”

“I once sneaked into the mortal world of the material realm and was worshipped by those mortals as a god or monster. I remember them calling my master’s pantheon the Babylonian Pantheon!”

“Babylon?”

Donald exclaimed in surprise upon hearing this.

Although his knowledge of history wasn’t very thorough, he still remembered that it was one of the earliest ancient civilizations in the previous world, an important part of the Mesopotamian civilization. The people of Mesopotamia built the world’s first cities and enacted the first codes of law, making it the cradle of Western civilization.

“Could it be that the Totem Continent came from that universe on Earth?”

Donald thought in shock.

Considering the familiar name and appearance of Sphinx, he had to admit that this astonishing hypothesis might very well be reality!

“Your master came from the Babylonian Pantheon. So what are the names of the other major true gods in that pantheon?”

Sphinx thought for a moment before saying, “The chief god of Babylon is Anu, the ruler of the heavens. He is a god of creation and the founder of that pantheon. Later, Anu passed the position of king of the gods to his son, my former master, Enlil.”

“Enlil is the King of the Earth and the guardian of nature. He was involved in the creation of the Earth and would punish those mortals and gods who disrespected nature! Every time I followed my master down from the divine realm, when the gates of the divine realm opened, those mortals would shout ‘Babylon’ loudly. I remember that term seemed to mean ‘gates of the gods’!”

Hearing this, Donald’s eyes lit up. The divine powers held by Enlil overlapped significantly with his own main domain. It seemed that the gains from this journey would be even greater than he had imagined!

The Sphinx continued, “Later, the King of the Earth passed his throne to the third-generation god-king, Marduk. At that time, with the help of some powerful beings, mortals built a towering tower on earth, aiming to create a passage between the material realm and the divine kingdom, so that mortals could enter heaven at will and gain the chance to become immortal gods. This greatly displeased Marduk, the god-king of that era, who ordered the destruction of that tower, which had become a powerful artifact. Eventually, the Tower of Babel was taken away by the god of creation, Anu, and humanity lost the chance to reach heaven. Yet their kingdoms on earth grew ever more prosperous! But within a few years, the War of the Gods broke out, and it is likely that everything was destroyed in that cosmic-scale battle!”
Hearing the key points in the Sphinx’s story, Donald could confirm that even if the Totem Continent did not originate from the universe where Earth was located, it must still be closely connected to Earth—otherwise, names like Babylon and the Tower of Babel, the legendary Tower of Heaven, would not have appeared!
As for why the image and name of the Sphinx appeared in Egyptian civilization, it was probably because Egypt was one of the civilizations directly influenced by Mesopotamian civilization.
Did all this mean he still had a chance to return to Earth?
Soon, Donald temporarily buried this uncontrollable desire deep in his heart, knowing that even if he learned of a way to return to Earth, figuring out the conditions to do so and actually achieving it would take far more time than he could imagine.
At this point in the story, Donald calculated that a few minutes had passed outside. Not wanting to keep others waiting, he waved his hand, and with the effect of the Supreme Contract, the Sphinx, who had completely submitted to him, left the projection space and reappeared at the foot of the mountain.
Charlie and the others were waiting there, and nothing unexpected had happened.
“This is my newly acquired servant, the Sphinx. Let him greet everyone!”
With no way to back out now, the Sphinx had no choice but to obey his master’s command and greet the others.