Deep in the Berserk Sea, on the island where the Flesh Door had opened, the gods and the Great Old Ones beyond the barrier were watching.
The sky had returned to a leaden gray beneath its shroud of dark clouds. The dazzling flashes that seemed to come from another world had stopped. The lightning brewing in the Astral World, the sunlight illuminating all things, the hazy shimmer, and the brass-colored eyes no longer attempted to interfere here. Even the crimson tide surging inside the Flesh Door seemed to have frozen.
They were all waiting.
Before the Flesh Door stood Bethel Abraham, who had returned to normal human size after descending into the Physical World. He wore a gray robe whose style belonged to an entirely different era. The overlapping doors of light inside him were just a fraction away from fully aligning, yet they remained suspended at that moment.
After escaping the seal jointly imposed by Evernight and Storm, he had completed his apotheosis ritual. The Door Uniqueness and three Key of Stars characteristics had also converged within him. As a result, seals across the world had been broken, and everything that could be called a door had opened.
In essence, he already possessed the status of a god. Only one final step remained before he could ascend to godhood and become the existence he had longed for so desperately back in the Fourth Epoch, yet had never dared truly reach for because of the possibility of the Celestial Worthy's revival.
Struggle flashed in his azure eyes, framed by floating, medium-length black hair, rugged features, and a few wrinkles. His expression shifted violently, showing madness one moment and calm composure the next.
Just then, a familiar voice sounded beside his ear:
"In exchange for certain things, the Mother Goddess of