The fierce winds still tore at Apekus's battered tentacles, scouring the scorch marks across his body again and again. In this natural disaster unleashed by a colossal beast from beyond the heavens, the deep-sea administrator's body seemed small and helpless.
He could control the planet's tides and guide the power of the oceans, yet he could not withstand the storm King Ghidorah had casually stirred up. This power had long since exceeded the ordinary laws of Yilisai World. Every second it continued, it tore at the atmosphere and disrupted ocean circulation. If it went on any longer, the planet's entire ecosystem would collapse before the demon gods even awakened, and the human civilization of the seventeenth era would be wiped out by this unprovoked catastrophe.
Apekus cautiously raised half his face, his scarlet eyes timidly looking up at King Ghidorah looming above him. His enormous body curled inward slightly, countless soft tentacles brushing the ground without daring to make the slightest unnecessary sound. Only after working up to it for a long time did he ask meekly through a faint mental transmission.
"Could you call off the storm first...? If this keeps up, this planet's ecosystem is finished..."
His tone was full of pleading, without a trace of the dignity of a world administrator. All that remained was the obedience of someone beaten into submission. He feared his request would anger the three-headed golden dragon before him and bring down another blast of golden electricity powerful enough to annihilate his soul.
King Ghidorah's three heads shifted at once. His golden slit pupils swept over the still-raging sky, then lowered to the trembling Apekus. He fell silent for a moment.
He had originally stirred up this unprecedented super-hurricane only to test the limits of his power after crossing worlds and confirm that traveling through space had not diminished his combat strength. Now that he had achieved his goal, there was no need to keep the disaster going. Besides, he was not a bloodthirsty destroyer at heart. If he reduced the planet to a wasteland, the rest of his journey would become dull. An intact world full of variables was far more entertaining than devastated ruins.
His mind made up, King Ghidorah beat his enormous golden wings and rose ten thousand meters into the sky. All three heads tilted upward and unleashed a roar that shook the cosmos. Golden electricity swept out along his wings, colliding and merging with the hurricane's power in the sky before forcibly reversing the storm's course through absolute strength.
An enormous opening spanning heaven and earth instantly tore through the hurricane that had blotted out the sun. Sunlight poured through the gap, illuminating the murky sky and churning sea. The opening expanded wildly at an unimaginable speed. Gravitational force utterly dismantled the hurricane's core, the spinning columns of wind broke apart inch by inch, the dense thunderstorms gradually dissipated, and the torrential rain began to thin.
In just a few breaths, the super-hurricane capable of destroying an entire continent rapidly dissolved before the naked eye. The clouds slowly parted, revealing blue sky once more. The fierce winds that had raged for so long died away completely, leaving only gentle ripples across the sea and rainwater that had yet to dry on the ground as evidence of the catastrophe.
A long-absent peace returned to heaven and earth. Sunlight spilled over the scorched ground, bringing a trace of warmth, while the fresh sea breeze slowly diluted the aura of destruction lingering in the air.
Apekus slumped to the ground and let out a long breath, his tense body relaxing completely. Sensing the fluctuations of the planet's ecosystem gradually stabilizing, his scarlet eyes filled with relief. He hurriedly sent a respectful mental transmission to King Ghidorah high above.
"Thank you for your mercy..."
King Ghidorah slowly descended to the ground, his enormous claws settling lightly on the scorched earth. He no longer held the ocean beast down. His three heads dipped slightly, his golden gaze appraising as he directly posed the question on his mind.
"Let me ask you something... Are there any others like you on this planet?"
Apekus froze at first, then realized what King Ghidorah meant. He hurriedly shook his enormous head, carefully considering his response.
"I'm the only planetary administrator... Oh, you mean giant beasts."
The eyes of King Ghidorah's middle head narrowed slightly, and he gave a low nasal grunt tinged with confusion.
"? There are quite a few of those left over from ancient times," Apekus hastily added, afraid his pause would displease him.
"How do they compare to you?" King Ghidorah pressed. There was a hint of indifference in his tone, though he also wanted to establish the baseline of this planet's top combat strength.
"They're far weaker than me..." Apekus answered truthfully, a trace of his remaining pride in his voice. "Most are merely sleeping ancient beasts that act on instinct. They have no authority to control the world, and their power falls far short of mine. They can only occupy their own territories. They cannot shake the world's foundations."
At this, a flicker of understanding crossed King Ghidorah's golden eyes, and he considered it inwardly.
So, apart from some potentially flashy magic, this setting... was actually weaker than the Legendary Universe's Earth... At least that world had Titans comparable to him. Godzilla's Atomic Breath could contend with his Gravity Beams, and Shimo had even frozen him in Antarctica. Yet this planet's strongest fighter was merely the ocean beast before him, who could not withstand even a single Gravity Beam. The other monsters were even less worth mentioning.
Disappointment flashed through him, then gave way to curiosity about the newly emerging variables. He looked at Apekus, and his mental voice sounded again.
"Right, tell me about that human..."
The scene shifted to the apprentice's residence in Dawn City-State, in the Karelia Empire.
Nuoyaji stood before the open window, soaked through with rain. Confusion and astonishment covered his youthful face, and his mind was in turmoil.
This sudden superstorm and the apocalyptic sight of heaven and earth changing color had never appeared in his memories of his previous life. In 1164 AD, Dawn City-State had enjoyed favorable weather, and the empire's borders had been secure. Even ordinary downpours had been extremely rare, let alone hurricanes and tornadoes sweeping across heaven and earth. What had caused this bizarre catastrophe?
Was it connected to his rebirth?
He clenched his fists tightly as memories of his previous life surged through his mind. He clearly remembered that his final moment before rebirth had been his death beneath a demon god's claws. By then, the empire had long since fallen apart, and humanity had stood on the brink of extinction. Yet in the timeline he had returned to, everything was clearly still peaceful. Such a terrifying upheaval should not have occurred.
Could his rebirth have changed more than his own fate, directly disturbing the course of the entire world and triggering unknown variables?
Just as he turned these questions over and over in his mind, the scene outside the window suddenly changed.
The terrifying black clouds on the distant horizon dispersed at astonishing speed. The tornado columns connecting heaven and earth collapsed with a crash, turning into water vapor that filled the sky. The dense thunderstorms vanished completely, the torrential rain gradually stopped, and the fierce winds lost all their force. In mere moments, the sky cleared again. Sunlight pierced the clouds and spilled across the city-state's stone-paved streets, making the wet ground shine.
A catastrophe resembling the end of the world had begun without warning and ended just as abruptly, so quickly that Nuoyaji thought he had imagined it.
He stared blankly out the window at the restored calm and let out a long breath, suppressing his unease and confusion. This was not the time to dwell on the storm's origins. His chance at rebirth had been hard-won, and he had more important things to do: prevent the empire's destruction, awaken humanity's sense of crisis, and stop the ancient demon gods from awakening. That was what gave his continued life meaning.
Nuoyaji turned away from the window and walked to the bed. He picked up the neatly folded magic apprentice's uniform-a navy-blue linen tunic paired with black trousers, with a leather belt at the waist for storing basic magic scrolls. These were the clothes he had worn most often at seventeen, clean and tidy, without a trace of war.
He quickly changed, wiped the water from his face, tidied his appearance, then headed down the wooden stairs.
The residence's ground floor was a simple sitting room. His grandmother sat in a wooden rocking chair, weaving an animal-hide rug. Seeing Nuoyaji come downstairs, she stopped her work and gave him a gentle smile as she spoke.
"Little Nuoyaji... How did you sleep? That wind was fierce. I thought disaster was about to strike the city-state."
"Mm, all right." Nuoyaji nodded, his tone calm, though he could hardly conceal the heaviness in his heart. He offered no further explanation, nor could he explain the bizarre storm. He merely gave a perfunctory reply and headed for the door.
He still had much to do, and every second was precious. He had no time to waste on everyday small talk.
Nuoyaji pushed open the wooden door and stepped into the street.
Washed by the downpour, Dawn City-State's stone-paved streets were clean and tidy. The fresh scents of earth and vegetation filled the air. Many residents had already begun working: vendors arranged their stalls, craftsmen wiped their tools, and knights patrolled the streets. Everything had returned to its usual peace, as though that apocalyptic storm had never occurred.
As he walked along the familiar streets, everything he knew about this era surfaced clearly in his mind.
It was now 1164 AD, the height of the Karelia Empire's prosperity. Border friction with Saint Junxi Victoria amounted to minor skirmishes, with no large-scale conflict yet; tensions between the empire's reformists and conservatives had only begun to emerge and had not yet sparked a full civil war; the fuse for the War of the Kings had yet to be lit, and the entire continent remained nominally united. Most importantly, the beings known in legend as ancient demon gods still slept in the world's abyss, showing no signs of awakening.
People believed those so-called gods were merely inventions of ancient legends, expressions of their ancestors' worship of and fantasies about unknown powers. Only Nuoyaji knew that those gods were no legends, but ancient powerhouses who truly existed in this world.
Humanity in this era divided combat strength into nine tiers. Ninth-tier powerhouses represented the limits of the mortal world, pillars of the empire and legends revered by countless people. Yet they did not know that beyond the ninth tier lay even more terrifying realms.
In ancient times, beings of the tenth tier and even beyond had existed in this world. Collectively known as the gods, they controlled the laws of heaven and earth and possessed the power to move mountains, fill seas, and tear continents apart. A world-shattering war had erupted among them. In the end, they had fallen, entered slumber, or retreated into the abyss, disappearing from humanity's sight and leaving only countless legends.
Among those gods, some revered destruction and slaughter. People called them ancient demon gods. They were calamities upon the world, the natural enemies of life. In his previous life, as humanity approached destruction through infighting, it was these awakened demon gods who had delivered the final blow, pushing their entire civilization to the brink of annihilation. Mountains of corpses, seas of blood, and despairing wails were his most vivid memories of that life.
How to make humanity feel the danger was the greatest problem Nuoyaji currently faced.
In his previous life, he and his few companions had traveled every inch of humanity's remaining lands, paying with countless lives and untold blood before they persuaded those nations on the verge of extinction to set aside their grudges and unite against the demon gods and monsters. It was not because he was eloquent, nor because humanity had suddenly come to its senses. The enemy's blade was already at their throats, and their population had dwindled to an extreme. Everyone understood that without unity, death was the only outcome. They had acted because they had no choice.
But now, the appearance of peace blinded everyone. The empire's nobles lived in drunken indulgence, mages immersed themselves in the study of power, and ordinary people were content with their lives. No one would believe those supposed legends of demon gods, much less abandon their immediate interests and peace for some vague, insubstantial threat.
Humans were always like this. They never felt pain until the blows landed on their own bodies, and never understood vigilance until they witnessed destruction themselves.
As Nuoyaji walked, he repeatedly considered possible measures, his brow tightly furrowed. His experience from his previous life simply would not work in peacetime. He had to find a new method, lay his plans in advance, and awaken humanity's sense of crisis.
Just then, at the city-state's gate, he saw an imperial official in official robes riding a tall horse swiftly toward the center of the street. Several fully armed guards followed him, their expressions hurried, as though they were delivering some urgent order.
Nuoyaji's eyes lit up, and an initial idea formed in his mind...
He strode toward the official. Just as they passed one another, a figure in pure white robes slipped silently past his side. The robe's hem brushed his ankle, carrying a trace of cold, eerie presence.
!!!
Nuoyaji's body instantly stiffened. A chill originating in his soul swept through him. He whipped his head around, his pupils abruptly contracting.
The white-robed figure's back and the concealed pattern at the robe's cuff were branded into his mind. The conversation from just before his death in his previous life instantly echoed in his ears.
"You haven't understood."
"The dangers of this world... have never been limited to what lies on the surface."
"The true threat you will face will always come from beneath the ocean's abyss..."
He would never forget that voice, that mysterious woman, or the emblem she wore. It belonged to a mysterious organization hidden in the world's shadows. They knew the truth of the world, the secrets of the demon gods, and even the terrifying beings in the ocean's depths. In his previous life, even up until the destruction, he had never managed to uncover the organization's true nature.
"Wait!"
Without time to think further, Nuoyaji immediately sprinted in the direction where the white-robed figure had disappeared, shouting as he ran and forcing his way through the crowd.
"Make way... Sorry, let me through!"
He pushed past the tightly packed pedestrians and vaulted over roadside stalls, chasing with reckless abandon. Yet amid the people coming and going along the sunlit street, the white-robed figure seemed to have vanished into thin air, disappearing without a trace. No matter how he searched, he could no longer see that pure white figure. All that remained was the bustling crowd and the city-state, peaceful once more.
Nuoyaji stopped and bent over, gasping for breath, his chest heaving violently. His eyes were full of gravity and bewilderment.
Why would someone from that organization appear in Dawn City-State at this time? What was their purpose?
She had said the true danger came from beneath the ocean's abyss. Could ancient "gods" also be sleeping within the boundless ocean?
In his previous life, he had spent his entire life fighting demon gods and rebels on land. He had never ventured into the deep sea, nor heard of gods sleeping in the ocean. Could this be the new variable that had appeared in the world after his rebirth? Was that sudden superstorm also connected to the beings deep in the ocean?
Countless questions filled Nuoyaji's mind, throwing his once-clear plans into confusion again. This world was far more dangerous than he had known in his previous life. Its hidden threats already lay beyond his understanding.
King Ghidorah looked toward the distant human continent, curiosity filling his golden-red eyes, and casually asked Apekus, who still lay on the ground beside him.
"Hmm, what's he doing?"
Apekus closed his scarlet eyes, connecting his consciousness to the world's origin and sensing Nuoyaji's every movement. A moment later, he opened his eyes and replied respectfully.
"Perhaps thinking about something..."
King Ghidorah's interest stirred at this. No longer wanting to passively listen to descriptions, the eyes of his middle head abruptly changed. His golden slit pupils turned a deep azure, emitting a soft yet mysterious blue glow. Two pale blue beams shot from his eyes and intertwined in midair, forming a translucent blue screen of light.
The screen clearly projected the scene in Dawn City-State. In the image, Nuoyaji stood on the street, looking around with a grave expression. Even the boy's expression and slightest movements were perfectly visible, as though a scene a thousand miles away had been brought directly before them.
King Ghidorah leaned closer to the screen, his three heads taking turns examining it. His golden scales gleamed strangely in the blue light, and he clicked his tongue in wonder, his tone full of novelty.
"How amazing. It's like a projector."
He turned to Apekus and asked curiously through a mental transmission.
"Is this magic too?"
Apekus shook his enormous head, his tentacles swaying gently as he explained.
"No... This is my own ability."
"Given to you by the world consciousness?" King Ghidorah pressed, his interest in this planet's world consciousness growing.
"You could put it that way, since I've had it since I came into the world, and I myself was created by the world consciousness..."