The Follow-Up Move

"Let there be light!" A gentle, mellow voice resounded across the entire real world, and the Astral World and Spirit World both blazed with radiance.

Endless, warm sunlight streamed from the distant Astral World. A deity cast a pitying gaze down from the Astral World upon this land ravaged by divine war.

Beneath the intense sunlight, the very epicenter of the ancient god battle began to heal. He was mending the entire world.

The storms and tsunamis stirred by the earthquakes subsided. The chaos in the Spirit World and Astral World was also brought to order. The whole world was restoring itself to its former state.

Likewise, His sunlight fell upon countless humans terrified by the divine war, soothing their hearts and even changing their faiths, causing them to pray sincerely and bow down before the might of the gods.

"Praise the Sun!"

Many heretics began to praise the sun.

This was the day the Ancient Sun God truly stepped onto the stage of history, no longer hiding in any way.

From then on, no record of the Second Epoch could ignore this day.

The ancient gods, driven by pride and conflict, slaughtered one another and unleashed a calamity that threatened to destroy the world. But the Creator, unwilling to see all living beings sink into disaster, awoke from slumber.

He opened His eyes and saw the entire world. He pitied all He had once created, and He was angered by those ancient gods who had brought ruin and harm.

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

All of the above would be recorded in the Holy Scripture of the Creator.

At that moment, all the ancient gods could only watch as the sunlight illuminated the world, powerless to stop it.

Even the few ancient gods who had fled before the explosion were in no better state; they needed time to stabilize themselves.

Moreover, when Lilith cried out "Betrayal," the so-called alliance among the ancient gods had already shattered.

That day, nearly half of the eight ancient gods died—something that had never happened in nearly a thousand years of conflict.

From then on, the ancient gods would no longer trust the other mad ancient gods.

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

The Sun God chose this moment to step onto the stage of history, naturally having seen everything in some possible future.

The terrifying storm completely dissipated, and the cracks in the world were mended.

Clusters of residual divine power and Beyonder Characteristics pierced the bonds of space. Some fell to the ground, becoming forbidden lands of life. Others plunged into the embrace of certain demigods and angels of the same Sequence.

But two mysterious existences seemed to have foreseen this scene long ago. They flickered countless times, intercepting many Beyonder Characteristics amidst the storm.

They were Truman and Sasrir.

After the Lord of the Mysteries Will was suppressed and annihilated, Truman had returned to this Ancient God Battlefield. He charged out at the same time as Sasrir, heading straight for the rain of Characteristics!

In his hands were many Characteristics of the Mother and Moon Pathways—these were to be returned to that one.

Of course, he also harvested many Characteristics of the Prisoner and Hunter Pathways, and even more miscellaneous items—divine objects that could not form complete Characteristics.

Sasrir also gained much. The Goddess of Misfortune, who had obtained all of Evernight's Characteristics and nearly half of the Fool's, also made her move, seizing a Red Moon.

Seeing this, many angels and subordinate gods were jolted awake and began to act on their own, grabbing at the residual divine power and Beyonder Characteristics.

The subordinate gods of the dead ancient gods were speechless with terror. Some didn't even dare to take the Characteristics that flew right before them, fleeing instead.

It was a feast. The biggest pieces of the cake were seized by those three, but still, many Characteristics fell into the hands of various angels and subordinate gods—after all, you could never predict just how many Beyonder Characteristics a mad ancient god had devoured.

Once an ancient god died, all those Characteristics burst forth.

When he had gathered most of the Characteristics above the demigod level, Truman nodded lightly toward the Goddess and Sasrir, then wandered away.

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

Speaking of which, he was still the Evernight's First Pope.

Truman went back to his dwelling, cautiously activated the hidden divine power of the Badge of Divinity, and then sealed the entire room with Dream Phosphor.

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

The coffin was small—at most, it could hold a child of ten or so.

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

The young woman before him looked exactly like the ancient god Lilith—unbelievably beautiful. She was the feigned-dead Lilith, and this body was Her resurrection contingency.

This body had been crafted by two deities, Lilith and the Ancient Sun God, and most of its Beyonder Characteristics had already been precipitated out.

"I'm probably only equivalent to Sequence 7 of the Moon Pathway now." The young woman suddenly opened her eyes. Her pupils were blood-red, carrying the characteristic coldness of an ancient god.

This wasn't due to the madness inherent in Beyonder Characteristics—it was because she had no humanity.

Literally. After losing everything that made her an ancient god, her state was nothing but coldness.

"I've never felt this good..." Even better than when she was in the Book of Dreams.

Back then, Lilith was an ancient god. Now, Lilith was merely a Sequence 7 vampire. The Book of Dreams' effect of neutralizing madness was especially pronounced at this moment.

She waved her hand lightly, and the coffin transformed into a beautiful flower crown that settled onto her head.

This coffin itself was a Sequence 2 Characteristic of the Mother Pathway—the "Mother of Abundance."

"Why did you choose to drop all the way to Sequence 7?" Truman studied her.

That Sequence was far too low—so low that if Truman, the Goddess, Sasrir, or the other two had any ill intentions, Lilith would truly become history.

"I believe you." Lilith's tone carried no fluctuation as she looked at Truman.

The corners of Truman's mouth twitched, and he shook his head with a wry laugh. "Very good. You've learned one skill humans inevitably master—lying."

He naturally wouldn't take Lilith's words at face value. Lilith, devoid of humanity, couldn't even comprehend the word "believe."

Her true reliance was probably still that flower crown atop her head. If necessary, She might be able to leap and become the "Mother of Abundance," right?

"These are yours." Truman returned the many characteristics of the Mother pathway and the Moon pathway to Lilith.

As these characteristics entered her hands, the coldness on Lilith's face seemed to fade by a few degrees.

"By climbing up from the Sequence pathway, I can preserve the most stable humanity upon ascending the divine throne, and only then can I truly contend with..." Lilith still offered an explanation to her collaborator. "This was also that one's suggestion."

As she spoke, a hint of wariness crept into Lilith's tone. The "that one" she referred to was naturally the Ancient Sun God. Only after truly witnessing the Ancient Sun God did she come to know what a True God really was.

Ancient Gods? Just slightly stronger madmen.

"And the Red Moon?" Lilith asked after lightly counting the characteristics.

"The Goddess took it," Truman replied, staring at Lilith. She only gave a slight nod, as if she had already anticipated this.

These two goddesses had already planned it out during the last Dream Conference.

The Red Moon was probably one of the terms of the trade.