The Prelude to the Divine War

The secret struggle among the Ancient Gods had already begun.

But for one particular Ancient God, this was still far too slow. Dawdling like this would only give the others a chance to seize the Chaos Sea. How else could destruction be brought about?!

The Goddess of Misfortune, Amanises, transformed into a wisp of mist and descended upon a mountain peak.

This peak was shrouded in the Fog of History, and the moment Amanises set foot there, the being within the fog opened its eyes.

"Salinger and Kotar have reached the designated positions without arousing anyone's suspicion," Amanises reported expressionlessly.

"Excellent." A terrifying, indescribable demon wolf emerged from the Fog of History.

It bore all the traits of an ordinary wolf, yet also slick, slimy tentacles. A bone mask covered its wolfish face, revealing a pair of blood-red eyes that radiated a desire for destruction so intense even angels would recoil in fear.

"Destroy everything! End everything! Pollute everything!"

The wolf's voice carried a strange, rhythmic cadence, savage and cold.

"Destruction be praised!" The Goddess of Misfortune bowed her head.

At the same time, the God of Death, Salinger, and the God of Wishes, Kotar, both received the command of destruction transmitted from the Fog of History.

Along with it came the Authority of Concealment.

"Owww!" The hidden power borne by Kotar erupted in an instant. He lowered his head and made a wish: "I wish for the citizens of the Golden Kingdom to fall into slumber!"

The next moment, the entire Golden Kingdom was plunged into sleep. Yet, shielded by the Authority of Concealment, no one outside could detect anything amiss.

Salinger silently extended both palms and pushed forward with force, tearing open the barrier between the Spirit World and the real world. Strand after strand of black mist seeped from the Spirit World into reality, crawling toward the sleeping citizens of the Golden Kingdom.

This was power from the Destruction Demon Wolf.

Their bodies convulsed, then returned to normal.

At that moment, Concealment dissipated, and the Golden Kingdom was reabsorbed into the original world.

But in truth, it had already become a city of anomalies.

The citizens of the Golden Kingdom opened their eyes simultaneously—no whites, only pure black. Then they began to pray to the Giant King, Almir.

"Great King of the Giants..."

The entire Golden Kingdom chanted the honorific name of the Giant King. These people were the most important "anchors" for the Giant King, aside from the Giant Race itself, in maintaining his state. He had even sent his eldest son, the God of Dawn, to guard them.

But now, the God of Dawn had been driven back and had locked himself in his palace. The Giant King was away, and the Giant Queen was constantly on guard for the coming divine war.

Here, a rare undefended area had appeared.

The Destruction Demon Wolf had glimpsed an opportunity in fate and decided to destroy the entire Golden Kingdom—even using all its citizens to reverse-pollute Almir!

The Destruction Demon Wolf was a true destroyer, mad enough to want to annihilate the entire world!

At that very moment, Almir, who was confronting the other Ancient Gods, heard the prayers of the Golden Kingdom's citizens ringing in his ears.

He listened intently, then suddenly let out a furious roar. The Twilight Light in his single eye trembled violently!

The points of light representing prayers materialized, but they were stained black. A pollution emanated from those prayer points—for an Ancient God, the pollution was actually not strong, merely a "Miracle Invoker" Beyonder Characteristic.

It had merged into the bodies of the Golden Kingdom's citizens in a miraculous way, then followed the prayer points to reach Almir in the same miraculous manner. This was the wish the Destruction Demon Wolf had made.

This was already a mad Ancient God; now he became even madder.

Among the manifested prayer points, a slimy tentacle shot forward like a spear, stabbing straight at him!

"Get lost!" Almir roared, sweeping his Greatsword of Twilight horizontally. The Twilight Light decayed everything, cutting down all the prayer points.

The Destruction Demon Wolf's plan had not fully succeeded, but that momentary wavering of his anchor had worsened Almir's mental state.

"Owww!" An excited howl rang out across the land. The Destruction Demon Wolf watched it all with savage glee.

But at the same time, a bolt of maddened Thunder had already struck the Destruction Demon Wolf!

This was the opening act of the divine war!

In an instant, the sky-filling Thunder, the high-hanging Red Moon, and the twilight of dusk all converged upon the Destruction Demon Wolf.

"Fool!" The demon wolf didn't even bother to block those attacks. It let the Thunder tear its body apart, dissolving into a rolling mist composed of the Authority of History and the Authority of Concealment.

A strange ripple spread like water, causing the three Ancient Gods—Almir and the others—to freeze momentarily, as if they had forgotten to attack.

Then came attacks from every corner of the world. Countless Light Doors opened, turning space into a sieve. Behind those doors were the death of the underworld, Psychic Breath, curses of exotic species, and even Corruption and filth.

The three Ancient Gods of the Humanoid Alliance had shown such a flaw—how could the Alien Alliance let it pass?!

They struck simultaneously. The Ancestor of Phoenix, Gregali, used "Gate of Opening" to channel the attacks of the other three Ancient Gods here.

The Dragon of Imagination, the King of Exotic Species, and even the Demon Monarch.

All of this was exactly what the Destruction Demon Wolf had hoped for. It cared nothing about the complexity of the battlefield—it only wanted to create the most terrifying destruction!

What scene of destruction could be more terrifying than all the Ancient Gods tearing into each other?

The Ancient God Alliance was already a web where pulling one thread moved the whole net. The Destruction Demon Wolf, in its madness, had struck at the Twilight Giant, actively provoking a divine war, and dragged the other Ancient Gods into the conflict as well!

"Damned demon wolf!" The Giant King Almir roared in frenzy. The Twilight eroded the Evernight, and his orange-red Twilight Greatsword slashed toward the maddened wolf.

The other Ancient Gods also found their opponents. Eight Ancient Gods were locked in fierce battle, and the world itself seemed to teeter on the edge of destruction.

"That's... kind of terrifying!" Truman watched the Ancient God Battlefield and let out a soft breath. The gods were far more fearsome than he had imagined—especially mad Ancient Gods like these.

"But those humans can't die." Truman wandered into the Golden Kingdom. Everyone here had been contaminated by the Miracle Invoker's characteristics, and further defiled by Almir's Light of Twilight—mass death had already begun.

After the divine war, the best outcome for this place was to become a dead city. In a worse case, these people would all turn into monsters devouring each other until one consumed everything.

"Stop right there!" Truman pressed down on the Book of Dreams, and endless Dream Phosphor fell upon every person's head.

Dream Phosphor halted the human slaughter driven by the convergence of Miracle Invoker characteristics, separated them, and extracted those characteristics from within. The process went smoothly, with no one to disturb him.

He collected the Miracle Invoker characteristics. They were neither here nor there for the Destruction Demon Wolf, but for him, they were an excellent harvest.

"As for these people, you shall become my followers." He opened a Light Door, leading to his territory in the Kingdom of the Ancient Sun God.

That place might serve as his base for quite some time.

"Picking up so many followers for free!" Truman was very satisfied.