The Four Horsemen

The Emberland Continent.

The earth is withering.

A hunched and withered old man walked slowly. His body was as thin as a dead tree, his skin clinging to his bones, like a skeleton covered in skin.

But their eyes burned with an inextinguishable flame—hunger, longing, and an insatiable greed.

Where he went, fertile fields cracked, and those once rich lands instantly turned into arid deserts.

The crops withered and turned to ash; all the produce was reduced to dust the moment he passed by.

Livestock withered and died, and even the mutated creatures that could survive in the Ashen Land fell at the same moment, their fur clinging to their bones, like mummies who had starved to death for hundreds of years.

The inhabitants of the Emberland Civilization began to die in large numbers.

They already lived in a barren land, and now they had no food left.

The world suddenly began to wail in hunger and madness.

Finally, the most silent terror descends.

A black-robed phantom emerged from Ethereal, without substance, temperature, or sound.

He simply stood there, like a doorway to the end.

Immediately after its appearance, 25% of the population on Origin Star quietly died...

"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have arrived! The world is about to be destroyed!"

This statement spread like wildfire throughout the entire Origin Star.

There was originally a civilization that passed down such a Mythic:

The lamb opens the first four seals, and the four horses emerge:

The white-clad rider, bow in hand and crowned, triumphed again and again.

The Red Cavalry seized Taiping, causing people to kill one another; they were then given large swords.

The Black Knights held the scales of justice, causing grain prices to skyrocket;

The gray riders died, their names carried to the underworld, slaughtering a quarter of the earth.

These correspond to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Mythic: Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.

There are three more images: a great earthquake, the sun turning black and the moon turning red, stars falling, and the sky swirling like a scroll; mountains and islands shifting, people hiding in caves to avoid the wrath of the gods and the lamb...

But it is not often sung, and it has not been used to unite people in faith.

The arrival of Origin Star brought different things: Plague, war, famine, and death.

Their Authority is different.

Mu Ri sat in his office in Changhe City, sorting through information coming from all over the world.

Reports were spread out in front of him.

"The Pestilence Rider currently resides in the three kingdoms that emerged after the dwarves split. He spreads a wide variety of Plagues, including common viruses, Mana viruses, and even Curse diseases that completely defy biology. More than two hundred thousand dwarves have already died."

"The War Rider, that's the one above us. He doesn't Killing directly, but since his appearance, seventeen local wars have broken out around the world, and the death toll is still being tallied."

"The Famine Rider, on the Emberland Continent. Wherever he goes, nothing grows. The Emberland Civilization has begun to see mass starvation."

"Death Rider..."

Mu Ri's finger hovered over the report.

Death Rider currently do not have a fixed location.

He simply stands in this world.

The moment He appeared, the global population decreased by 25%.

His influence continued thereafter, reducing the lifespan of everyone by approximately thirty years.

It is now the ninety-year Civilization Calendar.

Of the few people who had stayed by his side for the first fifty years of civilization, only a handful remained, and under the influence of the Death Rider's Authority, they were all killed.

This includes the Minister of Military Affairs whom I met when I recently regained consciousness.

Mu Ri sat there, silent for a long time.

He suddenly had a strange feeling.

It wasn't sadness; he had long since lost that emotion.

It's a feeling of... helplessness.

He hadn't felt this way in a long time. Ever since he became the "incarnation of God," ever since he obtained the Silver-White Book, ever since he took the helm of this civilization, he had never felt helpless again.

But now, he has it.

He looked out the window at the blood-red figure in the sky, at the faint smoke rising from the distant city, and at the shocking numbers on the reports in his hands.

He suddenly didn't know what to do.

He can't do anything.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse arrived too suddenly; they could not be killed by conventional means. Like a natural law, they stood on the Origin Star, bringing despair to all living beings.

After a long silence, he picked up the phone.

"Order the closure of the country. All borders are sealed off; no one may enter or leave. Hunger and Plague will spread with globalization, Tracing Light is currently unable to care for other human civilizations..."

"... I only seek to protect myself."

Pure White Space.

This global crisis will no longer primarily be resolved or devised by civilization itself.

It's a matter for those "Gods ".

Qing Yunnan took the lead in taking action.

His Mirror Civilization was located in the central part of the Cangyuan Continent, right next to the territory of the War Rider. After the War Rider appeared, turmoil first began to occur within his civilization.

People are blaming each other, political parties are attacking each other, and friction continues along the border.

His approach was very direct.

Split.

The Mirror Civilization was split into one large nation and three smaller nations.

Large countries maintain neutrality, isolate themselves, and focus on development.

Three small nations were sent out to wage war against other civilizations, diverting attention from internal conflicts and acting as "Agent" in the war.

In this way, the cost of war was minimized.

It could split into multiple countries, with some countries fighting wars and others developing.

Generally speaking, civilization is a higher concept than nation, and nation is a higher concept than ethnicity.

However, in the past, almost all Survivor civilizations consisted of only one country, leading to some confusion in the concept.

The method was discovered by Qing Yunnan after a long period of Dwarf Civilization following its split [fog].

This is somewhat similar to how modern large countries drive smaller countries to wage Agent wars or regional wars in order to ensure that their own environment is not affected.

It worked surprisingly well; what was originally twelve countries in the world quickly split into more than thirty.

The War Rider still stands there, still spreading the desire for war.

Desire needs an outlet, and wars between small nations are the best outlet.

The Pestilence Rider has remained entrenched in the dwarven territory and has not left.

He seemed quite satisfied, only occasionally spreading excessive amounts of virus.

Thanks to the early closure of borders by countries around the world, those viruses did not spread on a large scale.

Occasionally, when there are excessive viruses or Curses on the Mana Side, Su Luo will take the initiative to intervene.

The Famine Rider relentlessly destroy fertile fields around the world. Food prices skyrocket, and for the first time since the dawn of time, the world experiences mass starvation.

Countries have had to spend more effort cultivating new fields, and some have even begun to research artificial foods.

The Death Rider is the most unsolvable opponent.

He directly reduced the upper limit of lifespan, which is unavoidable in the current era. At present, the only way to extend lifespan is to cultivate Mana Spells to a high level, but very few people can reach that level.

People are almost helpless against the Death Rider.

But it doesn't matter.

With the help of many parties, the beleaguered Origin Star stumbled and staggered forward.

The Four Knights and all living beings coexist.

But the [Disaster of Faith] has never ended.