Super Righteous Player
Chapter 1063 - 121: Choice: "Illusion and Reality

Chapter 1063: Chapter 121: Choice: "Illusion and Reality

"... Yes."

Annan nodded honestly.

He had also realized this issue.

Yawen reached out and tapped the corner of the table near where Paper Princess was. Then he lifted the teacup from the table. Although he did not look at Paper Princess throughout, Paper Princess, standing behind with her hands on her back, suddenly revealed a somewhat helpless light laugh.

"Let me explain."

Paper Princess sighed gently, "The truth is... Pygmalion did not initially intend to use the power of the Book of Truth to materialize me. He believed I indeed existed, just without a body and soul.

"So, he prepared a large alchemical ritual. Using his soul as the material to forge mine, using his body to forge my body... With a willing Sacrifice, to perform a ’life for a life’ biological transmutation.

"I inherited his memories, his feelings... his everything.

"In fact, right after he died, before I ascended to godhood, I had already stepped out of the painting."

Paper Princess murmured softly, gently pressing her right hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat, "I am but a body reforged with the traces of his soul, using his flesh, harboring his memories and desires... simply taking his place in the ritual to become a deity."

Deities do not originally require hearts—deities don’t even need to eat; their physical makeup is naturally entirely different from mortals.

When reshaping their bodies in the realm of light, they can become any form they desire. And if they wish to change bodies, they can always return to the realm of light and reshape their divine forms.

Because of this, deities can take any form, even the phantom in a mirror. The appearance of a typical deity differs more or less from their mortal guise... this is the gap between ideals and reality.

And the power of the realm of light can fulfill this ideal.

Paper Princess is a particularly rare exception—she still has a heartbeat.

That’s because this body was made from Pygmalion’s own body, crafted by his own hands. When entering the realm of light, she specifically kept this heart as a memento.

It is both the heart of Paper Princess and can be considered Pygmalion’s.

"So, that means..."

Annan realized the crux of the issue.

If Paper Princess truly exists, why does the Book of Truth claim she is false?

"You see, that’s where the problem lies, child."

Yawen took over the conversation.

He voiced with an aged yet elegant tone, "Just because the Book of Truth didn’t exist before, does that mean the things it corresponds to didn’t exist in this world?"

"No... the Book of Truth came after those concepts."

Annan shook his head.

"Then, why can ’Falsehood and Truth’ determine that Paper Princess is false? Although Elisa has existed since the moment I made the final stroke... the Book of Truth claims it can turn Elisa into ’the falsest thing closest to the truth’?"

Yawen inquired further.

Annan frowned deeply, lost in thought.

The so-called ’Falsehood and Truth’...

"... Could it be," Annan’s pupils slightly constricted, "it truly can turn Paper Princess ’into’ the falsest thing closest to the truth—"

He realized the crux of the issue.

The Book of Truth, which governed "Falsehood and Truth," was it truly not capable of reversing "falsehood and truth" itself? Why could it only transform the Paper Princess into the closest thing to real—a "Falsehood of Reality"?

This actually explained everything.

—The Paper Princess had been real all along!

"This is the final test of the Book of Truth!"

Annan blurted out.

He finally understood everything.

If Pygmalion had believed the Book of Truth at that time and decided to use its power to excavate the Paper Princess from the painting, granting her a body that could move freely in the real world.

—It would mean that deep down, Pygmalion still thought "Sally didn’t exist." His reason told him that nothing could be better than this.

Since there was no real thing to begin with, turning something false into "something false which is extremely close to the truth" seemed like a pure profit.

But that meant he would never see the true Paper Princess ever again.

No matter how real that "Elisa" would be, she was not the real Paper Princess... not the paper dragon who looked at Pygmalion from another dimension with mutual affection, yet could never speak.

Because the Paper Princess who fell in love with him at the beginning had already been killed by the deepest doubt in Pygmalion’s heart. What he endowed with a body, consciousness, and soul was only "Elisa Gladini" in his imagination.

This agony that spawned self-hatred, the rebellion against the reality of things, and a heart that no longer coveted "the unreal" could make him the "God of Reality."

—For the aspect representing falsehood had been personally killed by Pygmalion.

Therefore, his existence could anchor this truth, clarifying the boundary between the real and the unreal. To ensure that other beings like the Paper Princess would not emerge again.

"...So the chosen ones of ’Falsehood and Truth’ at that time were you two!"

Annan had an epiphany.

That’s why Pygmalion received such a peculiar Book of Truth...

"Because the heart that resonates increasingly with me has brought me closer to ’reality’... but no matter how close, I cannot become a real thing.

"And because the feelings he had for me were excessively fervent, this identical desire was even enough to twist the world. In an instant, the world developed a self-doubt about ’what is real? what is false?’ and thus, this book came into being—one that held only one precise answer between can and cannot."

Paper Princess spoke softly.

At that time, the only person in the whole world who could use this Book of Truth was him—or rather, only "one" within him and Paper Princess!

Either let Pygmalion admit that Paper Princess could not possibly exist independently and create a "man-made yet real thing" exceedingly close to Paper Princess; or prepare an alchemy circle for Paper Princess, one with only body and soul, to see if she could truly descend upon this world and completely shatter the barrier between falsehood and truth.

"...And the decision he made out of impulsive love led me to become the goddess of falsehood. This indeed firmly anchored reality, allowing ’the unreal things to have the right to exist.’"

Paper Princess said gently, looking toward the flying iron gauntlet: "Like that child.

"The ambiguity that the world does not permit has to lean toward one side. Either it exists, or it does not... If Pygmalion had chosen to let ’another me’ accompany him, then the world would have been corrected at its core.

"That is to say, ’Paper Princess’ did not exist from the start... My existence is indeed an unreal thing. Although I miss him very much, I also think perhaps this outcome might be better. After all... if I had always been nonexistent, wouldn’t that be too pitiable for him?"

Paper Princess earnestly looked at Annan: "The ritual of divine ascension is powerful enough to change the past and the future. The choices of the future can even determine the cause of something in the past... This is also why Yawen did not interfere with this matter initially.

"In the beginning, the one facing the choice was Pygmalion.

"—Now it’s you."

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