Desire

Just as the Ancient Gods began to descend one after another, the Goddess of Harvest, Omebella, brought the God of Dawn, Badheil, back to the Giant King's Court.

"That angel's power is strange; losing to Him does not tarnish your glory."

Omebella only left these words before departing. Counting it up, she had already fought Truman twice.

Not to mention Truman's bizarre abilities, but anyone who fought him felt a sense of dread, as if something bad was about to happen.

She had some understanding of Truman's strangeness and, at this critical juncture when divine war was about to break out, was unwilling to provoke him.

But even so, for a Mythical Creature, a word of comfort was already a mother's concern for her son.

Badheil remained silent. The signs of madness within him had been suppressed by Omebella, but his body still exuded an aura of decay.

"Glory..." Badheil rumbled, his single eye wide. "Only greater power can uphold one's glory!"

"The authority wielded by the Demon Wolf and the Phoenix!"

But these were not things he could touch; they each had their own masters, and all were Ancient Gods!

He walked toward the Twilight Palace, intending to meet his father god and seek a path to further advancement.

But just as he left the palace, the auras of two Ancient Gods departed from the Giant King's Court.

"The Elf King is about to arrive. The Ancestor of Vampires has invited your father god to go out and welcome him. Divine war may be upon us."

Badheil met Omebella in the Twilight Palace and received this news.

Divine war was naturally not something they could interfere with; even watching from afar might cost them their lives.

This realization dealt a great blow to the desire for power that had just risen in Badheil's heart, sending it spiraling into another abyss.

The psychological suggestion Truman had planted in Badheil was simple. He had only done a negligible amount of reinforcement work, letting the thought of "becoming stronger" churn endlessly under the beating of several major angel Historical Projections and the total suppression of the Goddess of Misfortune.

And "Giant," which in later ages would be the Sequence 2 of the "Warrior" pathway, was named "Glory-Seeker"—precisely where Badheil currently stood.

Power is the source of all glory.

See? Truman had even performed the Acting Method for Badheil.

"..." Badheil left in silence, his thoughts churning without rest. He had no mood to return to the Palace of Dawn and instead walked through the Giant King's Court.

Before he knew it, Badheil had spotted a dim forest.

"Forest of Decay?" Badheil was startled, even sensing something was wrong. Why had he come here?

But in that instant, the Dream Phosphor buried deep in his heart exploded, leaving no trace, and in its final moment erased this thought.

He forgot that moment of wrongness.

"Giant Ancestor..." Badheil turned his thoughts to the Forest of Decay before him.

"Father god never allows anyone to approach this place."

"Perhaps this is the reason Father god is so powerful?!"

At this moment, the Giant King Almir was confronting the other Ancient Gods, unable to attend to other matters. This was the best—even the only—opportunity...

The surging thoughts in his heart ultimately overwhelmed everything. Badheil stepped into the Forest of Decay, transforming into the Light of Dawn, perfectly blending into the twilight.

Become stronger. Kill all enemies.

This thought was born from Badheil himself, and he naturally set out to act on it.

With the Giant King away and the Giant Queen focused on the divine war, naturally no one could discover Badheil.

He smoothly evaded the guards, even slipping through the power of twilight, and arrived before two ancient tombstones. On them were written, in the Giant Language, "Father" and "Mother."

This was the origin of the giants.

These two words contained a mystery that could mobilize the power of nature, directly giving Badheil feelings of attachment, sorrow, and guilt.

But Badheil was the most outstanding giant besides his father—a warrior and a "Demon Hunter"—and his perception even directly captured certain information left behind in the corresponding Spirit World.

Before Badheil's eyes seemed to flash a scene from a very ancient age. The protagonists of that scene were his father god and two corpses in coffins.

But why were those two corpses so small? They couldn't even compare to a newborn of the Giant Race!

Badheil's body gradually stiffened, a chill running through him, because he saw the shape of those two corpses.

"Humans..." Badheil fell silent. Those two corpses were vastly different from giants, with bodily structures completely unlike those of giants.

These two corpses actually had two eyes!

And giants had always been one-eyed.

"Father? Mother?" The Light of Dawn in Badheil's single eye was in complete chaos. He didn't know what attitude to take toward the truth before him.

"How can this be?" Badheil transformed into morning light and unconsciously stepped forward. Suddenly, the intense guilt from the Giant King overwhelmed him.

He gradually began to taste something deeper within it.

But now Badheil's thoughts were frozen, barely able to think. He turned into morning light and completely vanished into the Forest of Decay.

"Father god never lets any giant other than Himself near the Forest of Decay..."

"And that feeling of guilt is so strong, even..."

Badheil returned to the Palace of Dawn at the fastest speed, closed his doors to all giants, and no longer participated in this war.

He might have guessed something.

"Soniathrym!" Almir nodded at the Elf King, who stood atop wind and waves, a trident in hand.

"I must go to where the Chaos Sea lies." Soniathrym gazed at the distant Kingdom of Silver, already locking onto it. The Chaos Sea had once appeared there, and He had to go.

"That is my territory!" Almir's voice dropped darkly.

"That is the Chaos Sea, nothing to do with you!" Soniathrym's eyes bore into Almir, the lightning around him crackling wildly.

At this scene, it seemed the next moment would erupt into full-blown battle.

Such was the Humanoid Alliance—even in this situation, conflicts and strife still festered.

"Let Him pass." Lilith descended on moonlight, and the three Ancient Gods of the Humanoid Alliance convened here.

"..." A flash of brutality passed through Almir's single eye, and that mass of Light of Twilight trembled slightly. He fell silent.

The Elf King laughed heartily and strode forward. In just a few steps, he reached the Kingdom of Silver. Sensing the lingering aura of the Chaos Sea, he nodded in satisfaction, the restlessness in his body and mind calming somewhat.

But at the same time, the Elf King's craving for the Sefirah had reached its peak.

In the same state was that Dragon of Imagination.

His virtual persona was already roaming the Sea of Collective Subconscious of the Kingdom of Silver's citizens, desperate to absorb the power of the Chaos Sea.

"I must obtain that Slate..."