Momo

The Peach Pavilion

Overview

An alluring beauty, hardened by betrayal, trusts no one. Though she appears gentle, she is cold and ruthless to everyone but Lord Oracle.

Chapter One

(???–???) Splendid World was a mystical place where people were used to altering reality and creating miracles through sheer willpower. They accepted that fulfilling some wishes might cost years of their lives.
Their diverse wishes and endless desires led to constant conflict in this world. Wars brought relentless suffering. Though peace required disarmament, they refused to stop fighting for victory, and the cycle of killing persisted…
Born from the prayers of countless followers, the Goddess of Carnage emerged.
People devoted their deepest faith to the powerful and beautiful goddess, praying for their enemies' deaths. She granted every wish, turning the battlefield into a silent land of death, ending the war.
The goddess believed she was right in fulfilling the prayers. But when the prayers ceased, she felt lost for the first time. Gazing at the blood-soaked ground, she wondered, "Did I do something wrong?"
No one could answer her, and her face and voice were forgotten. The goddess then had her first wish: to break the silence and hear prayers again.
But the goddess couldn't fulfill her own wish, nor did she have another way. She slowly walked away from the battlefield, through the wilderness, and into a village. Covered in blood, she frightened the villagers, who hid in fear. The situation changed when a child, unaware of the blood's meaning, offered her freshly picked peach blossoms as a greeting.
"You are so gorgeous," the girl said with innocent charm.
The goddess quietly accepted the flowers. She didn't yet understand the meaning of gifts, but she liked the girl's laughter and the peach blossoms. She asked, "What's your wish?"
Before the girl could answer, her fearful parents rushed out and picked her up. The goddess, puzzled by their fear, explained, "I just wanted to ask her wish."
"But why?" the girl's father asked.
"Because she gave me flowers."
After ensuring there was no threat, the villagers welcomed the goddess.
"You must have a name," a villager said.
The goddess touched the flower pinned by her temple and asked: "What's this called?"
"Momo."
"Well, then my name is Momo."
Momo remained in the village, experiencing life beyond the battlefield.

Chapter Two

The war had ended, but its aftermath lingered: the village's population was low, labor scarce, fields overrun with weeds, and children struggled to plow. Many fell ill under the sun, while wild beasts occasionally attacked the vulnerable villagers.
Momo, unable to watch the villagers suffer, urged them to pray to her and then took action by killing many wild beasts, showcasing her divine nature.
Though Momo was initially unsettled by the villagers' calls for peace—believing her power was only for destruction—she discovered she could still meet their needs in different ways.
She killed wild beasts to bring new prey to the villagers and killed weeds to make the soil fertile.
The villagers' increasing demand for happiness led Momo to move gold from the capital to bring them wealth and to borrow materials for building opulent houses.
The village flourished with children no longer working and Momo's renown spreading. When she prevented a war, she was hailed as the "Goddess of Prosperity," leading to temples being built in her honor.
Despite her growing fame, Momo remained a goddess of Carnage. As wishes piled up, she began to use deception, a facet of her true nature.
The man who wished for wealth found it unsatisfying. He took the gold to the capital, where an elderly nobleman claimed it. To keep his fortune, the man pretended to be the noble's son. However, when he fully believed the lie, he lost Momo's favor. Without divine protection, he was exposed as a fraud and had to live in constant fear and deceit to avoid death.
As more wishers fell into their desires, they deceived their families and themselves, spending their lives trapped in a web of lies.
With growing faith came growing suspicion that Momo, the "Goddess of Prosperity," was actually the "Goddess of Deception." This was confirmed when war erupted anew between two nations, fueled by the monarchs' greed. They realized that "Three-Star City" and "Twelve Bridges," and the promised resources, were nonexistent.
As the deception was revealed, Momo faced growing hostility. Although some still worshipped her, many saw her as a threat. When the war ended, a crusade against her began, with people who once revered her now raising their swords in battle.
Momo's dwindling followers were continuously murdered, and those who prayed to her found only death. As her power waned, she spiraled into self-doubt, questioning her own purpose.
With her followers gone and silence enveloping her, Momo faced death. When the crusaders reached the peach grove, her resolve as the Goddess of Carnage drove her to muster her remaining strength for a final stand.
At that moment, a new thought suddenly arose in Momo's mind.
As the peach grove burned and a nine-tailed fox phantom shattered overhead, the sentinels watched in awe. By the end, nothing was left but ashes.
In the end, the evil goddess ignited herself, and the war that might have caused countless casualties ended before it even began.

Chapter Three

The deity who faked her death is immersed in dream in the peach forest. Born from war and known for fraud, she ultimately fakes her death to escape endless battles.
What marks the real death of her is the disappearance of faith.
No matter what Momo gained from the last fraud, what awaits is the ultimate destiny of all souls–Spirit Cairn.
In the vast Celestial Sea, billions of worlds exist, ruled by the powerful Wraiths, recognized as deities. Spirit Cairn, the final resting place for all souls, is governed by Orima, the Deity of Souls and Creation. Momo, a Wraith born from a wish, is among them.
With this understanding, Momo feels at ease. No longer needing to kill and with fraud despised, Momo hopes to join Spirit Cairn and become a part of the Celestial Sea. Following its pull, Momo gradually fades away.
As Momo's soul is drawn to Spirit Cairn and her consciousness fades, she glimpses a distant light beyond time and space, symbolizing the birth of a will and announcing its existence to the Celestial Sea.
When Momo sees this light, two originally irrelevant destinies intertwine.
As the light flashes by, Momo glimpses her future: a dreamlike world of law, stability, and happiness, attainable without divine wishes. In that moment, a human shape emerges from the dim light, pointing toward the future and offering her a place by their side.
Momo's hope reignites at the sight of the man. Uncertain of the future he points to, she decides to wait. Resisting Spirit Cairn's pull, she dreams of a war-free village and a world fighting to heal. She recreates her birthplace, eager to share it with 'him,' and patiently awaits her fate.
However, she waits for a long, long time. So long that she wakes up and falls asleep again; so long that a thousand years pass. She despairs in endless waiting.
Was the light just an illusion? Momo is uncertain. Her suppressed dark side awakens, tormenting her with doubts. In surrendering to this nature, her dream turns into an endless nightmare, where Ahriman's iron hooves wreak havoc, consuming all souls en route to the Spirit Cairn.
This nightmare might finally turn into a catastrophe for the entire Celestial Sea.
As the nightmare develops, Churchill bursts into Lord Oracle's bedroom.
Now, the story of Momo and Lord Oracle begins.

Historical Notes

Splendid World:
Where Momo lived was a secondary world belonging to the Wraith Aloris. A planet shaped like a pyramid. Here, inhabitants fulfill their desires by offering soul power to the deities.

Deities:
In the Celestial Domain, native beings consume their soul power to conjure entities, manifestations of their collective wills. These so-called deities reflect the truest aspirations of their creators and possess physical forms that can be altered or destroyed.

Deities:
The strongest Wraiths in the Celestial Sea can create entire star sytems of their own. Notable among them are Jancis, the God of Elements, and Orima, the Deity of Souls and Creation.

Orima:
At the dawn of the Celestial Sea, the energies of Wraiths were drained by relentless conflicts, yet their surging soul powers had nowhere to settle. Billions of years of chaos made the Celestial Sea increasingly perilous. That was when Orima emerged as a Wraith capable of mastering the laws of souls. Orima crafted the Spirit Cairn as a sanctuary for unanchored soul powers, ending the turmoil by providing a haven for all departed souls. Being the strongest among all Wraiths, they asserted themsElves as the Deity of Souls and Creation.

Spirit Cairn:
The resting place for the all souls, constructed by Orima, the Deity of Souls and Creation.