The Death of the Serpent Father

The Serpent Father's conversation with the Lord of Scales and Feathers had not been kept from outsiders.

Judging by the reactions of the Cardinal Bishops, they had clearly known about this future for a long time. Perhaps it was because of Loki's prophecy, or perhaps the Pillar Gods they had contracted with had mentioned it long ago.

It was also possible that no human or god had told them anything at all—after all, this was a future that could be deduced through logic alone.

Not every Path had an endpoint. Some Paths would continue into eternity. But Transcendence was not one of them.

—The Serpent Father would ultimately reach the end of his road. And the day he had set was already drawing near.

This was a road whose ending had been determined from the very beginning.

Transcenders never retreated and never stopped—and for that very reason, those who transcended would never know peace.

Yet this endless, day-after-day pursuit was precisely a form of happiness for Transcenders. Wherever they went, all they had to do was raise their eyes to find a new goal.

—However, "transcendence" ultimately required a goal in order to exist.

Thus, if one looked toward the infinitely distant future, Transcenders would eventually face an unavoidable fate.

One day, they would ultimately go from being "Transcenders" to becoming "the strongest."

And when there was nothing left for them to transcend, it would mean they had betrayed their Path. Just as a rebel who became a monarch was no longer the same rebel as before...

Conquering the world was easy; holding on to it was hard. This was more or less how the story would proceed.

"The Pillar of this world can never betray the Path of this world," the Lord of Scales and Feathers said, looking toward