A Backup Plan

"Let There Be Light!" A warm, rich voice rang throughout the world of reality. The Astral World and Spirit World lit up as well.

Endless, warm sunlight came from the distant Astral World. A God cast a compassionate gaze over the land, ravaged by the divine war.

Beneath the intense sunlight, the very center of the Ancient God Battlefield began to heal. He was repairing the entire world.

The storms and tsunamis raised by the earthquakes subsided, and the chaos in the Spirit World and Astral World was brought under control. The whole world began to return to its former state.

His sunlight also fell upon countless humans who had been terrified by the divine war, soothing their hearts and even changing their beliefs. They prayed from the bottom of their hearts, bowing before the power of God.

"Praise the Sun!"

Many heathens praised the Sun.

Today was the day the Ancient Sun God truly stepped onto the stage of history, no longer hiding from view.

From now on, no account of the Second Epoch could overlook this day.

The Ancient Gods had fought over their ambitions, unleashing a disaster that threatened to destroy the world. The Creator, unwilling to see all living things plunged into calamity, awoke from His slumber.

He opened His eyes and saw the whole world. He pitied all He had once created, and was angered by the Ancient Gods who had brought destruction and suffering.

He loved His people, and once more bathed the whole world in sunlight and warmth.

This would all be recorded in the Creator's Holy Bible.

At that moment, all the Ancient Gods could do was watch the sunlight illuminate the world, powerless to stop it.

Even those few Ancient Gods who had fled before the explosion were in no better condition; they needed time to steady themselves.

And when Lilith cried out that they had been betrayed, the so-called alliance between the Ancient Gods had already fallen apart.

Today, nearly half of the eight Ancient Gods had died. Nothing like this had happened in the struggles of the past thousand years.

From now on, the Ancient Gods would no longer trust the other Lunatics.

Who could guarantee they wouldn't be the next Lilith?

The Sun God had chosen this moment to step onto the stage of history because He had already seen everything in some possible future.

The terrifying storm finally dispersed, and the cracks in the world began to close.

Remnants of divine power and Beyonder Characteristics pierced through the restraints of space. Some fell to the ground, turning into forbidden zones for life; others fell into the hands of demigods and Angels of the corresponding Sequence.

Yet two mysterious figures seemed to have foreseen this scene long ago. They flashed in and out countless times, intercepting many Beyonder Characteristics amid the storm.

They were Truman and Sasrir.

After the Lord of the Mysteries Will had been suppressed and perished, Truman returned to the Ancient God Battlefield. He and Sasrir rushed out at the same time, heading for the Characteristics scattered across the sky!

Many of the Characteristics in his hands belonged to the Mother Pathway and Moon Pathway. They all had to be returned to Her.

Of course, he had also obtained numerous Characteristics from the Prisoner Pathway and Hunter Pathway, along with even more miscellaneous divine items that couldn't form Characteristics.

Sasrir had gained quite a lot as well. The Goddess of Misfortune, who had obtained all of the Evernight's Characteristics and nearly half of the Fool's, also took action and claimed a Red Moon.

Many Angels and Subordinate Gods who witnessed this scene came to their senses and began actively seizing the remnants of divine power and Beyonder Characteristics.

The Subordinate Gods of the dead Ancient Gods were overwhelmed with fear. They didn't even dare pick up Characteristics that floated right in front of them, fleeing instead.

It was a feast. The three of them claimed the biggest pieces, but many Characteristics still fell into the hands of the various Angels and Subordinate Gods. After all, you could never know just how many Beyonder Characteristics a mad Ancient God had consumed.

Once an Ancient God died, all those Beyonder Characteristics burst free.

After collecting nearly all the Characteristics above demigod level, Truman nodded lightly to the Goddess and Sasrir, then departed, drifting away.

He returned directly to the City of Darkness, the city concealed from view.

As it happened, he was the First Pope of Evernight.

Truman returned to his residence and cautiously activated the concealment power of the Badge of Divinity. Then he sealed the entire house with Dream Phosphor.

Only then did he open the Book of Dreams and pull out a coffin made of flowers and trees brimming with boundless vitality.

The coffin was small, large enough to hold a child of perhaps ten or so.

"Hiss!" Truman opened the coffin and sucked in a breath. "Did you keep a 'God of Beauty' Characteristic?"

The girl before him looked exactly like the Ancient God Lilith, and was unbelievably beautiful. She was the supposedly dead Lilith; this body was Her backup plan for resurrection.

Lilith and the Ancient Sun God had created this body together, and most of its Beyonder Characteristics had already been extracted.

"Right now, I'm probably only equivalent to a Sequence 7 of the Moon Pathway." The girl suddenly opened her eyes. Her pupils were blood-red, and she had the peculiar coldness of an Ancient God.

It wasn't the madness inherent in Beyonder Characteristics. It was because she had no humanity.

Literally. After losing everything that made her an Ancient God, all that remained of her was cold indifference.

"I've never been in such good condition..." She was even better off than she had been inside the Book of Dreams.

Lilith had been an Ancient God then; now She was merely a Sequence 7 Vampire. The Book of Dreams' effect in tempering madness was especially pronounced in her current state.

She waved a hand, and the coffin transformed into a beautiful wreath that settled on her head.

Even the coffin itself was a Sequence Two Characteristic of the Mother Pathway: Mother of Abundance.

"Why did you choose to fall to Sequence 7?" Truman sized her up.

That Sequence was far too low. If Truman, the Goddess, and Sasrir had any ill intentions, Lilith would truly become history.

"I trust you." Lilith looked at Truman, her voice utterly flat.

Truman's lips twitched. He shook his head with a wry smile. "Good. You've learned a skill every human must master: lying."

Naturally, he wouldn't take Lilith's words at face value. Without humanity, Lilith couldn't even understand the word "trust."

Her support was probably the wreath on her head. If necessary, She might be able to leap straight to becoming the Mother of Abundance.

"Here, take these back." Truman returned the many Characteristics of the Mother Pathway and Moon Pathway to Lilith.

Once she had them in her hands, the coldness on Lilith's face seemed to fade a little.

"By advancing through the Sequence Pathway, I can preserve the most stable humanity when I ascend to the divine throne. Only then can I truly oppose..." Lilith offered her collaborator an explanation. "That was also Her suggestion."

As she spoke, Lilith seemed a little wary. She was naturally referring to the Ancient Sun God. Only after witnessing the Ancient Sun God for real had she understood what a True God was.

An Ancient God? Just a slightly stronger Lunatic.

"What about the Red Moon?" Lilith asked after counting the Characteristics.

"The Goddess took it," Truman replied, watching Lilith. She merely nodded, as if she had expected it.

The two Goddesses had already made their plans at the previous Dream Conference.

The Red Moon was probably part of their deal.