While Xie Xiao was on a massive sweep across Volstar, the Romans arrived with their festival dedicated to the "No." Though many Romans were unsure who their actual Mother Goddess was, having long since replaced her with their own unique deities, the Mother Goddess Festival remained the most solemn and extravagant of all Roman ceremonies. Every single Roman would pour their entire resources into celebrating this holiday, commemorating the legendary day their Mother Goddess descended to the mortal realm, giving birth to the Roman people.

The high nobility of both the First and Second Roman Kingdoms gathered on a scenic grassland—a place of fertile soil and lush growth, teeming with all manner of beasts and fowl—to indulge in revelry. According to Roman tradition, on this sacred and grand day, even mortal enemies would meet with broad smiles to toast each other with fine wine; no unpleasantness was to be mentioned.

On this day, all Romans were like blood brothers, jointly enjoying the comfortable life brought about by Roman civilization. The towering, pitch-black Roman Pantheon, faintly emitting countless fine black rays of light, stood atop the central knoll of the grassland.

The massive complex of halls occupied the highlands spanning over ten kilometers, and hundreds of thousands of Roman priests hovered high above the temple on disc-shaped flying craft, holding flowers and offerings, paying their highest respects to their Mother Goddess. While the priests performed their duties, the nobles, following their most ancient tradition, formed groups—fully armored and helmed—and rode upon large steeds or various bio-engineered beasts.

Wielding antique long-spears and long-swords, they paraded around the perimeter of the grassland, showing off the formidable military might of the Romans. At the very center of the grassland lay a vast martial training ground where all Roman adolescent nobles under the age of thirty would test their skills.

They hacked at alloy locks, unleashed various psychic abilities, hurled long spears and lances, or bent their bows to shoot arrows, displaying their prowess to the utmost to capture the attention of the noble maidens watching from the sidelines. Borbert watched the swaggering young men with ill grace.

Holding a cup of wine, he sneered quietly, "What adorable, what proud little roosters! Oh, cluck, cluck, where are your hens?

Ah ha, let me see, let me see... the tenderest and most beautiful little hen in this arena is—" A sharp gaze swept across the entire assembly.

Borbert immediately spotted the most charming, the one with the most delicate, fair skin and the most dignified and solemn aura among the thousands of noble Roman maidens. He strode purposefully toward her, rushing ahead of everyone else to bow deeply before the maiden: "Honored Lady, would I be so privileged as to invite you to a dance?" The maiden’s face flushed crimson with excitement.

The newly appointed commander of the Roman Knights, the valiant knight who served the mighty Roman God of War, Mailaru Huan. The Chief Grand Tribune of the First Roman Kingdom.

Borbert held far greater appeal for these noble maidens than those fledgling youths still sheltered under their families' wings. The maiden delicately offered her soft, slender hand to Borbert, and with light steps, followed him out of the crowd.

Amidst countless jealous stares, the two gradually drew close, walking toward a tent pitched on the distant grass. Just as Borbert’s blood surged, preparing to show this tender little hen his prowess and might, a Roman priest clad in a deep purple robe materialized before him as if from a phantom.

"Lord Borbert, the High Priest requests your presence at the Pantheon." The priest's voice was low, eerie, and carried an undeniable force. "I am busy right now!" Borbert roughly pulled the maiden close by her slender waist, glaring angrily at the Roman priest.

In Roman tradition, the Mother Goddess Festival was also known as the Rite of First Loss, where virtually all noble Roman maidens bid farewell to their pure maidenhood. Borbert had no intention of letting this delicacy he had within reach be snatched away.

"This concerns the future and destiny of the Roman people, honored Lord Borbert!" The priest spread his hands, blocking Borbert’s path. Borbert glanced at the priest, then reluctantly summoned Yazak to lead twelve Doom Guard Knights to escort the maiden.

He himself sulkily followed the priest toward the Pantheon. Along the way, he grumbled constantly to the priest; in Borbert’s view, even the supreme Mother Goddess should not have the right to strip a beautiful maiden of her right to fully enjoy life's pleasures.

The purple-robed priest remained silent, entirely ignoring Borbert’s complaints. He quickly led Borbert through the crowds, ascending a wide stone staircase onto the knoll, and entering the hall where the light suddenly darkened.

Borbert noticed that the hall was completely empty; all the priests were engaged in the sacrificial rites. In the vast, deep recesses of the Pantheon, there were only him and this one priest.

Cautiously looking around, just as Borbert was about to summon the Doom Guard Knights, the leading priest suddenly whispered, "Worry not, Borbert of House Holsating. In the presence of the deities, no one dares lay a hand on you.

Surrounded by the gods, you are safe." Borbert shrugged, following silently behind the priest. The priest walked quickly, leading Borbert past more than a dozen great halls before entering a side chamber.

This side chamber was lofty and magnificent, flooded with light. Green, purple, blue, pink, white, red—brilliant hues diffused through the air.

Although there were so many colors of light, each one was distinct and clearly separated, yet all permeated the air simultaneously. At the center of this grand hall stood two statues, male and female, soaring ninety meters high.

The pale green statue was entirely transparent, carved from an unknown crystalline material. The male figure held a wooden staff, while the female held an exquisite longsword.

They leaned toward each other, their faces bearing a smile that felt unsettling. The Great High Priest of the Roman Pantheon, the Elder whose face had been perpetually hidden in the shadow of his cloak for years, was kneeling before these two statues, murmuring prayers.

Behind him, Nanket, Hessoqin, Polugin, Yakjin, and other high-ranking officials from both Roman Kingdoms were lined up, looking strangely at the two statues. Borbert cautiously approached Nanket.

The guiding priest had vanished as silently as he had appeared. Borbert lowered his voice and asked quietly, "This...

this is our Roman Mother Goddess? Why are there two?

And one of them is male!" The High Priest, who had been praying, stopped his recitation. He roared in a deep, powerful voice, "This is our Roman Mother Goddess; all of us Romans originated from them." Slowly rising, the High Priest turned to face Borbert and the other Roman leaders.

He asked coldly, "Tell me, what is your attitude toward the Earthlings?" After a moment of tense silence, Nanket and Hessoqin spoke simultaneously: "Expand the army, prepare for war, and conquer them." The High Priest shook his head, sneering, "Wrong. Befriend them.

Become their allies, and at any cost, become their friends, and then—use them to withstand the coming calamity!" "Calamity?" Borbert and the others were stunned speechless. What calamity?

Where was this calamity coming from? Everything seemed fine, so how could there be a disaster?

Two deep golden lights flashed from the shadows beneath the High Priest’s vast cloak. He spoke calmly, "The Mother Goddess has given us revelation.

I sense that the eternal enemies of the Roman people are about to discover our existence. Soon, the blow will fall.

The Romans of today are in no way their match. We must utilize every available resource, use those who can be used to fight for us." After a long silence, Nanket bowed deeply to the High Priest and asked, confused, "Our eternal enemies!

But, Great High Priest, during our long journey of wandering, we Romans have even forgotten who our enemies truly are! The Elders who held wisdom and knowledge died during our long migration.

Who is our enemy?" The High Priest let out a few cold laughs, turned back toward the two statues, and heavily struck the scepter he tightly gripped. He said coldly, "Yes, you have forgotten those matters.

But the great Mother Goddess has not forgotten those calamities. Everything is recorded in the statues of the Mother Goddess.

She has given us revelation: the enemy approaches." Four strong beams of light shot from the eyes of the two statues, condensing in the air to form a vast, three-dimensional image. Incredible scenes unfolded before the crowd, and a tremendous wave of sound swept through the entire hall.

As Borbert and the others watched the images, their bodies trembled in waves, their faces etched with disbelief. "Our Mother Goddess was born from the core of a planet?

Ah ha, High Priest, are you joking?" Hessoqin suddenly burst into laughter. The High Priest struck his scepter forcefully and pressed his right palm toward Hessoqin across the distance.

An invisible, immense force struck Hessoqin’s chest, flinging him back dozens of meters until he slammed into the wall of the temple. The High Priest roared in fury, "Your Majesty Hessoqin, do you wish to be incinerated for blasphemy against the Mother Goddess?

In the history of the Pantheon, seventeen kings have been burned to death for desecrating the Mother Goddess. Do you wish to be the eighteenth?" Hessoqin spat out a mouthful of blood with a cry of pain.

He staggered to his feet, bowed apologetically to the High Priest in disgrace, and then retreated shamefacedly back into the formation. Frowning angrily at Hessoqin, the High Priest issued a stern warning, "Any act that dares to profane the Mother Goddess will receive severe punishment!

You must all remember this!" No one spoke. Facing the Pantheon, which controlled the religious beliefs of the Romans, even Nanket and Hessoqin dared not show the slightest disrespect.

The light shifted, and the images projected from the statues continued to change. Borbert and the others finally understood everything related to the Romans, including their origins, their former glory, the process of their Mother Goddess’s demise, and how the vast Roman Empire, which once occupied large swathes of the stellar expanse, disintegrated within merely a thousand years.

The final image showed a fortunate remnant of the Romans fleeing their homeland, endlessly wandering through the vastness of space. Wandering, while simultaneously enduring endless crises in space, they also had to face the pursuit of their enemies.

That once enormous population of Romans wandered in the void for untold years, until finally only a very small contingent remained—an immigrant fleet. This fleet was so weak that ultimately, only one Mother Ship carrying the statue of the Mother Goddess was preserved.

Eventually, even this single Mother Ship was swept away by the turbulence of spacetime, and the statue of the Mother Goddess was separated from the priests of the Pantheon. It was only when Borbert and the others found that Mother Ship that the statue of the Mother Goddess returned to the Pantheon.

The crystal used to carve this statue of the Mother Goddess was incredibly strange; it recorded everything the statue had experienced. When Borbert witnessed their fleet being drawn into subspace by the Red Dragon King's technique of Samsara Annihilation, he finally believed that everything they had seen was real.

The scenes recorded by this statue of the Mother Goddess had actually occurred, meaning the incredible origins of that pair of deities, Scar Ghost and True Spirit, were real. "Remember precisely what you have seen.

You must relate these events to our people later, so they understand that we are not safe in the universe!" Sighing deeply, the High Priest muttered under his breath, "Of course, perhaps we are not alone in the universe. The Romans who escaped the Roman Empire were not the only branch; perhaps our kinsmen survive in other corners of the cosmos." Shaking his head, the High Priest said indifferently, "However, that is temporarily of little concern to us; we cannot go searching for them." Pausing, the High Priest spoke coldly, "Follow me.

My premonition is dire, which is why I entrust everything that might pertain to the future of our Roman people to you." Looking deeply at Borbert and the others standing before him, the High Priest spoke profoundly, "Perhaps one day, when that day arrives, you will flee from here carrying our fate and our hope. Remember what you have just witnessed: technology alone is insufficient for us Romans to survive safely in the cosmos.

Individual might is our ultimate goal for evolution!" With a gentle wave of his hands, the enormous statue of the Mother Goddess slowly floated upward, revealing the entrance to a passage glowing with seven-colored light below. The High Priest led Borbert and the others slowly into the passage.

Borbert and the others walked into the passage in astonishment, descending into a massive underground space. Nearly a thousand priests clad in white robes moved silently across the smooth, clean floor, like formless phantoms.

Countless pieces of equipment were haphazardly piled around, and all the machinery centered on a colossal cultivation tank in the middle. Hundreds of thick conduits connected this tank, and large amounts of bubbles and energy flows churned within the pale green nutrient fluid.

Waves of powerful, suffocating energy fluctuations continuously surged from the tank, making everyone feel unwell. At the very center of this huge tank was an infant, curled up only about a foot high.

This infant’s body was semi-transparent, suspended between flesh and semi-energy form. His body showed no distinct sexual characteristics, seeming to exist between male and female, as if possessing both or neither.

Every time this infant inhaled, the lighting in the vast underground space would abruptly dim, clearly indicating that the energy the infant absorbed during a breath even affected the backup lighting power supply of the location. "This is?" Borbert stared at the infant in shock.

The child's body was semi-transparent, situated between a physical body and a semi-energy being. His body lacked clear gender