The holographic image at the center of the conference room magnified the twisted black-and-red runes to their limit.
Each rune looked alive, writhing silently in the projection and radiating pure malice. Staring at them for too long left a person restless.
Dawn and Mirror had gone a little pale. Confronting these alien rules directly felt worse than facing the oppressive presence of a High God.
"Rewrite Apocalypse's rules into its own..."
Night Cherry Tangle repeated Qin Chuan's words, his expression graver than ever.
"Guild leader, you mean we're essentially fighting it for this world's 'underlying permissions'?"
"That's one way to put it."
Qin Chuan waved the image away.
Season Star picked up the thread. "From my preliminary analysis, Richard's actions were the key to triggering the descent of the God of Wrath. But why was he able to do that? Nothing like this has ever appeared before."
That was the crucial question.
If they couldn't find the pattern, the next crisis could erupt at any time, anywhere, in any form.
It would be a nightmare they could never fully guard against.
Qin Chuan's gaze swept over everyone before settling on Season Star.
"Because of one thing: faith."
His voice was calm, but the atmosphere in the conference room changed instantly.
"Before Richard made his move, the Western European War Zone's original faith system was already on the verge of collapse. Night Cherry Tangle and the others' actions in North America had frightened the players in Western Europe."
"What Richard did wasn't the important part. The real issue was that after Apocalypse Descent, players who'd once had faith discovered that the powers they believed in never answered them. Instead, they watched gods from other worlds rampage across their land. Their faith naturally collapsed, creating a 'Faith Desert.'"
"An unclaimed field was