"I don't know the arrangements or attitudes of those few, so I'm afraid I can't answer your question."
Ilúvatar shook his head.
"When the time comes, you'll naturally know the answer to that question."
It seemed he was not familiar with the Three Pure Ones and Buddha, but thinking about it, that was not impossible. Then...
"Could Yahweh be among those beings?"
Adam put on a somewhat uncertain expression.
Ilúvatar froze for a moment, then understood.
"It seems you know more than I imagined... Yes, you guessed correctly. I am connected to Yahweh."
Ilúvatar's gaze flickered slightly.
"To be precise, I once was Yahweh."
"...Once?"
Adam was stunned.
What did that mean? Was Ilúvatar a rebellious Yahweh?
If Yahweh had not already achieved true singularity throughout the Sea of Worlds, then his projections could indeed possess different thoughts of their own, even striking out on their own.
"Since you asked me that, it means you know something about those beings. Then you should know that Yahweh is not unique."
Ilúvatar seemed to sink into memory.
"Like those powerful beings, Yahweh could also radiate his power into various worlds. We were different from one another, yet fundamentally one... until that day."
"Yahweh died."
???
Adam's pupils contracted sharply. For a moment, he could not even process it.
Yahweh was already dead?
Although his previous life had spoken of God being dead, that was because nihilism had deconstructed inherent correctness, whether moral standards or the so-called idea of one's duty.
The notion that people ought to be good, or that one was born meant to do this or that, had all been reduced to a heap of fragments under nihilism.
A person could have nothing at all in their hands.
That was the collapse of theology's foundation caused by philosophical developments, not