Chapter 55
Chaos and the avatar of the god of the void continue to fight inside the broken space of what used to be a region of the Dark Sea. The two celestials had completely changed their surroundings due to their cataclysmic clash. From the looks of things, even if the entire Dark Sea recovered, one certain region would forever become a forbidden zone where no life could exist.
However, that outcome was still a lot better compared to what it could have been if the avatar of the god of the void was left to do what it pleases. Moreover, the only reason that the damage was contained to a small region was largely thanks to Chaos who played no small part in preserving and protecting the world.
If Chaos didn’t seal that small region, their berserk power could have spread and destroyed the entirety of the world. Indeed, as the sorceress had surmised, the world was very lucky that Chaos was present when the god of the void descended by using an avatar.
“Who the hell are you and why do you interfere with my business?”
The avatar of the god of the void was in a terrible shape. His appearance was horrible to look at with countless wounds littering all over its borrowed body. Worse still, the avatar of the god of the void couldn’t heal the wound for some reason. Also, one of its wings that resembled that of a galaxy had been torn out in the battle between the two. One would think that a torn wing made out of energy held no significance in the grand scheme of things but in reality that couldn’t be far from the truth.
The avatar’s wings were actually an indicator of how much power the avatar possesses in its body besides increasing the avatar’s speed and power. The fact that the wings could no longer be regenerated after being torn out proves that the avatar of the void of the god had been weakened greatly and could no longer receive more power from its main body.
With how the things are going, the avatar of the god of void could only wait to be destroyed by Chaos. That said, Chaos wasn’t exactly on his best condition either. As he was fighting seriously with the avatar of the god of the void, Chaos inadvertently used more power than necessary and is now facing rejection from the world itself. It was because of this rejection that Chaos was very slowly becoming transparent – a sign that he would vanish into nothingness unless he chooses to stop it.
It’s not like the will of the world really wanted to reject Chaos but it’s more like that the world could no longer tolerate the power that Chaos inadvertently released. Think of it this way. Chaos could be considered an implanted organ that the body has no trouble accepting at first. But after some time had passed, the body started treating the implanted organ as a foreign object; rejecting it thoroughly. Unless that organ (Chaos) is removed, there's a high possibility that the body (world) would die.
Being rejected by the world was not really a problem for someone of Chaos’ level. If he wanted to, he could just easily prevent himself from slowly vanishing into nothing. And yet, Chaos chooses not to do it in fear of destroying the world.
“Who the hell want to interfere with your business?” Chaos answered in a voice filled with disdain. “If not for the fact that you annoyed me and even tried to kill my student, I wouldn’t even bother with a weakling like you.”
“That’s it? Just because I annoyed you and tried to kill a human girl that you destroyed hundreds of (mortal) years of preparations?” The avatar of the void asked in anger and disbelief. Although time is nothing to a celestials as they have infinite lifespan, that doesn’t mean that working for hundreds of years was nothing to them.
Yes hundreds of years. The god of the void had worked hundreds of years just to prepare a mortal body that could accommodate a small portion of its soul and power. As the god of the void couldn’t forcefully descend into the world using its true body as the will of the world would rather choose destruction than to allow it, the god of the void could only do so in a roundabout manner – by using an avatar.
One might ask why go to all that trouble just to devour a single world. Couldn’t the god of the void just devour the world from the outside? That’s actually a fair and simple question of which the answer was also similarly fair and simple: The god of the void could not. Or rather it could not as the god of the void would surely face the counterattack from the will of the world if he did so from the outside.
Even though the god of the void was exponentially more powerful than the will of the world, the world’s last measure which was self-destruction that could lead to some damage to a celestials’ soul was a price that the god of the void was unwilling to pay. After all, the god of the void wanted to increase its own power by devouring the world and not decrease it by receiving injuries to its soul. It just isn’t worth it.
But if the god of the void did it from the inside, then it was possible to devour the entire world by weakening and removing the world’s ability to self-destruct. To do that though, the god of the void must first seduce its inhabitants of the world it wanted to devour to work for it which was a very time-consuming and troublesome task.
Devouring worlds was initially a taboo for higher beings as celestials but once they discovered that they could easily increase their powers by devouring a world, some power-hungry celestials broke the taboo and started devouring worlds. But as worlds have its last resorts, many worlds ended up being destroyed rather than devoured.
Of course not all celestials were greedy bastards that choose the easy way to increase their powers. Many conscientious celestials actually disliked such method as it disrupts the natural order, or so they claimed. Unfortunately, most celestials were very detached and would usually not bother with their brethren’s’ actions so only few of the conscientious celestials actually tried to do something to stop such a grievous act.
Fortunately for the countless words in the cosmos and its inhabitants, the ones that decided to act are very powerful and usually more powerful than the ones doing the devouring. Maybe it was for this very reason that these conscientious celestials care not of the benefit of devouring a world.
Was it because that they do not want less powerful celestials to become more powerful and threaten their position that they decided to be a busybody and interfere? No one really knows the answer to that question but one thing was certain, it’s all thanks to this celestials that countless worlds were saved from the fate of being destroyed or devour.
“Those reasons were enough for me,” Chaos answered. “Enough talk. Let’s get this over with.”
****
With the help of Sol, the airship easily found the exit of the Dark Sea. But once they exited the region they meet ‘someone unexpected. No, calling it a meeting was a bit of a stretch as that ‘someone’ purposely waited for them.
“Titan Leviathan…”
Yes, the ‘someone’ that was waiting for their group was none other than the Lord of the Oceans, the titan Leviathan. Everyone aboard the airship with the exception of the sorceress, and the monster king Sol were flustered seeing the titan; and understandably so…
After all, the titan was incredibly humongous sea serpent and was more than capable of swallowing the tens of airship pack together in a single gulp. If not for the fact that titans are usually benevolent; everyone on board would have panicked already.
Kak! Kak! “You kept your promise and actually waited for us here!” Sol exclaimed after flying around the titan.
“We titans don’t make promises easily, little one. And since I gave you my words it’s only given that I would wait for you here,” the humongous sea serpent answered in a booming voice.
The sudden conversation between the two surprises almost everyone on the airship. But it also helps clarify some of their question. For example; they now knew why the titan Leviathan was waiting in the same place as the exit they had chosen to use.
“Leviathan did you get attack while waiting for us?” Sol asked after noticing a wreckage of what seemed to be an airship.
“Yes, two airships filled with lunatics were lying in wait in this region. When I surfaced to question them, they attacked me in panic,” the titan Leviathan confirmed. “They passengers of those two airships were surprisingly strong for a group of humans, especially the ones that keep calling themselves envoy of the void or something.”
“But although they were strong they were not my match, and I easily destroyed one of the airships. As for the other airship, it escaped after seeing the fate of the first airship that attacked me. I could have destroyed the escaping airship as well but I let them go as I dislike senseless slaughter,” the titan elaborates further.
Envoy of the void! The Sect of the Void!
Sol’s eyes gleamed after hearing the titan’s explanation. As someone who almost fall victim to the sect’s machination, Sol was especially wary of them. So when she heard from Leviathan that members of the sect were waiting in the same region where their airship was suppose to emerge, the monster king Sol knew that someone from their group had leaked the information.
If even Sol understands such a simple Logic, there’s no way that Sorceress Cassandra and the others would not have understood the implications. As a royal, Russell was quick to react and ordered his men to surround the acolytes from the Sect of the Void which leaves Dahlia flustered.
To ensure the gnomes that they meant no harm, Dahlia raises both of her hands indicating that she was unarmed and would not needlessly struggle. Most of the acolytes followed Dahlia’s example and peacefully surrendered. A few acolytes on the other hand tried to escape which indicate their guilt. These people were probably the ones who leaked the news to the sect.
Seeing this, Dahlia could only shake her head. She could already tell the fate of the acolytes that tried to escape. Russell might be free spirited and straightforward but through their interaction with him back in the island; she could tell that he’s a man that will never forgive anyone that betrayed his trust. So after betraying his trust just like that, coupled with the fact that these acolytes’ action put the lives of everyone aboard the airship in danger Russell would surely not allow them to escape.
And as she had expected, Russell didn’t show any mercy and quickly ordered the escaping acolytes to be put down. Although the escaping acolytes did their best to escape, they couldn’t escape the gnomes who peppered them with bolts from their crossbows. Russell’s merciless action didn’t surprise the gnomes but had greatly shaken Miranda and Pina who had never seen such carnage their entire life.
The sorceress on the other hand didn’t show much reaction as she’d seen her fair share of bloodshed. And although she was feeling guilty that the girls had to witness such a scene, she still allowed Russell to continue. In her mind, the earlier they learned the true color of the world the better it would be for them. After all such was the world they were leaving in.
What’s more the descent of the god of the void was a harsh lesson for everyone living in this world. Allowing the Sect of the Void to grow barely uncontested for so many years was a terrible and pricy mistake. If not for accidental discovery of Carl’s identity as the vessel for the god of the void, they would have remained ignorant till now. Still, they had discovered it too late and allowed the god of the void to actually descend.
“How brutal…,” commented Leviathan after seeing gnomes bringing down the acolytes that leaked their information to the sect. “Still, they only have themselves to blame. By the way, where is your master, little one? Is she safe?” Leviathan asked.
“But of course! I’m still here, aren’t I?” Sol energetically answered. As the contract between Rennel and Sol was a bit special, the monster king would die if her master, Rennel dies. The fact that she's still alive was proof that Rennel was safe and sound.
“Unfortunately, master could not return right now. Master’s teacher contacted me using the link between me and master, and told me that he teleported her somewhere to train as master was still too weak. He said that once master made a breakthrough she would be allowed to return,” she explained further.
“I see… then what about her mysterious teacher. Where is he now?” Leviathan asked.
Hearing Leviathan’s question made Sol slightly sad. “He told me that he’d used power that far surpasses the threshold of this world and could no longer stay or risk destroying the planet. And since he doesn’t want to see the world destroyed, he could only leave…”
Sol was actually very afraid of Chaos at first due to his overwhelming power. But after interacting with him for some time, Sol found out that he wasn’t really as scary as she initially thought. What’s more, although her master’s teacher seemed quite lazy and harsh with words, he actually cared a lot for her master’s well-being. Moreover, even she had benefited from Chaos’ teachings and advice.
“I understand. Since he’s not originally from this world, it’s only expected that he would leave one day,” Leviathan commented with a little of regret in its voice. “Unfortunately, we missed the chance to personally thank him for saving this world…”
****
The news that the god of the void to successfully descended in the Dark Sea quickly spread all over the continent which cause great uproars among the citizens and the ruling class of the empire and every kingdom in the continent. And as one would expect, chaos and panic followed the dissemination of the news.
As the main culprit of the descent of the god of the void, the hatred towards the members of the Sect of the Void increases a hundred fold. But the Sect of the Void wasn’t the only that suffered the wrath of the populace. The nobility, the officials, the kings, and even the emperor were blamed for allowing the sect to grow to its current state.
But that’s nothing compared to what the four major churches has to face after the news of the four major gods abandoning their world in fear of facing the god of the void in battle spread. Feeling betrayed and disillusioned, the populace takes it upon themselves to punish the followers of the cowardly gods. Of course the leadership of the four churches didn’t just wait for their doom. The four popes all came out together and denied the allegations – claiming that the news were the works of heathens that wanted to destroy the churches and that doubting the four major gods was a blasphemous act.
Unfortunately for them, the popes’ announcement had little effect in quenching the fire of anger in the heart of the people. Armed with sticks, pitchforks, and torches, the enraged mobs riots and burned down every churches and temples belonging to the four major churches. In just one night hundreds of churches and temples were burned to the ground. Moreover, the enraged mobs also lynched and killed countless priest, monks, and believers that belonged to the four churches.
That said, the four major churches’ with its thousands of years of history would not fall so easily. And after falling back and regrouping into their holy cities, the four major churches manage to survive being destroyed. Still, they had lost a lot of their influence and many of their believers.
Also, whether by accident or by design, the chaos was allowed to persist for some time until the dissemination of another news which greatly calmed the burning anger in heart of the populace – the destruction of the avatar of the god of the void in the hands of a nameless god.
****
End of Arc 2
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