Chapter 736: The Glorious Purgatory

Dictator Ughesh finally launched an attack on his long-time rival, the Lord of Dawn. At this moment, the gods of the Pantheon were all watching the developments of this battle between the two sides. However, due to their attitude toward Ivan, the Kingdom of Dawn was invaded by hostile forces, and no true gods came to offer support. After all, His Majesty Ivan himself resided in his own divine kingdom. Even if he allocated some of his power to his avatar in the abyss, it was not something that a few ordinary true gods could overcome in his own domain. Moreover, since Ivan’s two most powerful allies, Princes Jerome and Behistan, showed no signs of action, it was still too early for other true gods to intervene, so everyone remained on the sidelines.

After venting his fury outside the Kingdom of Dawn without revealing the true form of the Lord of Dawn or his other subordinates, Ughesh was not disappointed. This situation was within the expectations of this orc god. If a powerful supreme god like the Lord of Dawn could be easily provoked into acting under the influence of emotions, then Ughesh wouldn’t have regarded Ivan as a mortal enemy to be feared so much!

The dictator raised his bloodthirsty spear, gave a signal to the evil gods and demon lords behind him, and charged headfirst into the infinitely radiant Kingdom of Dawn.

Just how powerful are the realms of supreme gods? Donald himself was well aware of this. Whether it was the elf kingdom of Avandor ruled by Ignatz or the Kingdom of Truth inherited from that otherworldly powerhouse, both could suppress enemies beneath supreme gods by over 80%, rendering the invaders’ strength barely a fraction of what it should be, while also subjecting them to severe rule-based restrictions. The Kingdom of Truth might be slightly inferior in this regard due to the lack of a true supreme god at its head, but its fundamental rules were likely stronger than those of most supreme god realms in the multiverse. After all, the former owner of the Book of Truth had reached the level of one of the three great divine kings in that universe. It was probably only a semi-supreme god like the Elven Lord who could surpass him.

After the evil coalition invaded the Kingdom of Dawn, they found that the entire realm was filled with endless light—both the clouds in the sky and the land below were composed of condensed radiance. Intense positive energy, along with light and heat, intertwined to block their progress. Aside from Ughesh and Theia, who possessed exceptionally great strength, the other members of the evil coalition had to use all their strength just to resist being purified by this omnipresent, powerful radiance, as their own abilities were suppressed to less than 10% of their normal level.

If things continued like this without breaking into the core of the Divine Kingdom, 90% of its population would be lost. As the initiator of this war, Ughesh naturally wouldn’t stand by idly; he had long been prepared for this.

The Beast God solemnly released a black beam from his hands, which descended like a comet into the endless brilliance. If it were an ordinary force without radiant properties, it would have been purified by the laws of endless light upon entering the Dawn Divine Kingdom. But this black beam was different—after its outer layer was burned away by the radiant light, it shed that black substance as if peeling an eggshell, revealing a black orb roughly the size of a human fist.

This black orb, stimulated by the surrounding radiant forces, suddenly erupted in a massive energy explosion akin to a nuclear storm. The violent energy vortex contaminated at least one-fifth of the Dawn Divine Kingdom’s realm. Even the intense radiant light, which repelled other substances and energies, could not stop the spread of this dark cloud.

“Haha! Ivan, you didn’t expect this, did you? This is cosmic impurity I gathered from the deepest depths of the abyss. It’s enough to contaminate a mid-tier divine kingdom. Even your country will suffer severe damage…”

The Beast God laughed heartily, yet the ruler of the Divine Kingdom, the Lord of Dawn, still hadn’t appeared. With these negative impurities present, the suppression exerted by the surrounding divine realms on the evil alliance was barely 30%. Compared to the endless light, the members of the evil alliance preferred this environment filled with evil and negative impurities.

Yet at that moment, the surrounding divine realms began to change. The clouds of endless light suddenly changed direction, moving collectively toward the contaminated area, encircling both the region polluted by cosmic impurities and the evil alliance.

Did the Lord of Dawn intend to resolve the enemy outside the divine kingdom without stepping in personally? This idea seemed laughable to the powerful gods of the evil alliance. Even high gods could only suppress opponents who were also true gods through the rules of their divine kingdoms. Even demigods wouldn’t be defeated solely by those rules; direct intervention was still needed. Moreover, they had the Beast God and the Lord of the Evil Dragons among them—both warriors whose combat strength rivaled that of high gods.

Yet things took a turn unexpected for the evil coalition. As the endless cloud of light compressed inward, the rules within it underwent drastic changes. Both the forces of pollution and the evil coalition itself seemed trapped in an unbreakable cage, under immense pressure. By the time they realized what was happening, it was already too late to escape!

Although those negative pollutants were difficult to purify with light, the light itself had changed its nature—no longer pure and righteous, but instead carrying an extreme, almost evil force. Instead of purifying the polluted energy, it used these pollutants as fuel, igniting a grisly, ash-gray flame. The power of this ambiguous, pale flame was almost unimaginable, as if facing an attack from a higher deity. Immediately, many demon creatures outside were instantly burned to ashes, not even having time to scream.

“What kind of flame is this?” Ugesh demanded angrily.

Tia, the evil dragon lord disguised as a beautiful naked woman, said with a grim expression, “Ivan has tricked us all! This is a trap that was prepared long ago!”

At this point, many true god-level powerhouses could see that outside the gradually compressing space of light, there were radiant messengers at all directions—above, below, left, right, and in front—each wielding a true artifact resembling a page of a book, pushing inward and shrinking the living space of the evil coalition.

The evil deities tried to intervene but found they couldn’t even shake the spatial rules around them. Those six artifacts alone weren’t much, but when combined, they created a highly mysterious transformation. Though all were lower-tier true artifacts, together with a powerful higher deity nation like the Dawn Divine Kingdom, they formed a spatial barrier and rules even more solid than those of a higher deity nation. Even other higher deities would find it difficult to break through in such a short time. By then, they would likely already have been burned to ashes by that terrifying pale flame!

This sight not only filled the demons with despair; many, in panic, rushed into the flames and were burned to death. Even the true god-level powerhouses in the coalition were thrown into chaos, arguing wildly among themselves.

It wasn’t until then that the voice of the divine kingdom’s ruler reached the invaders’ ears.

“Ugsh, this trap of the Glorious Purgatory was prepared a hundred years ago, with power comparable to high-tier divine artifacts. Who would have thought it would be put to use on you? Though these artifacts are destroyed after just one use, it’s worth it to have you heretical evil gods as sacrifices!”
After speaking, the Voice of the Dawn Lord disappeared.
“Great King Ugsh, what should we do?”
Rebman, the cunning God of Vipers, was the first to lose his resolve and ask the God of Orks. He had originally thought that joining the larger group would ensure safety, especially since the main forces of the Three Glorious Gods were focused in the Abyss. Now, trapped in a premeditated pitfall, this evil god who had come to take advantage began to consider surrendering. Tiya, the God of the Five-Color Dragon, also glared at the God of Orks and said, “King Ugsh, I only joined this mission out of respect for you. I never expected to fall into such a perilous situation. Although my avatar may not be harmed if it perishes, my strength will inevitably decline. I certainly don’t want to die with you!”
Ugsh, with a fierce expression, cursed, “That wretch Ivan is still as cunning as ever. How dare he call himself a true god of glory? You must be able to feel that these eerie flames are growing stronger by burning demons. To prevent this force from reaching a level that could threaten us, let’s start acting and eliminate our own subordinates!”
With that, Ugsh took the lead in attacking a group of demons across from them. These demons were temporarily recruited by the God of Orks from the Abyss.
With Ugsh leading the way, the other evil gods and demon lords also began to slaughter.
Seeing their boss turn on them and attack them, the demons, facing death, ignored their status and began cursing loudly.
In no time, hundreds of thousands of demonic creatures died at the hands of these godly warriors. Streams of resentment, hatred, and demonic blood mixed with those pollutants to form eerie streams of energy, flowing into the hands of the dictator Ugsh.
The powerful allies witnessing this scene looked in astonishment at the God of Orks.
Then, Ugsh’s face showed a strange smile.

“Ivan, I forgot to tell you that while collecting these cosmic impurities, I also discovered a wisp of evil essence hidden at the bottom of the abyss. I originally wanted to give you a surprise and didn’t plan to reveal it so soon, but I didn’t expect you to be so cunning. It seems I have no choice but to give you this great gift ahead of time…” As he spoke, a mass of black light in his hand pulsed as if it were alive. In just one flash, the hundreds of thousands of evil forces remaining suddenly froze as if possessed, their souls and bodies turning into nourishment and being absorbed by that mass of light. After the demons, it was the turn of those demon lords. These creatures tried to escape, but they were surrounded by endless flames on the outside and numerous powerful evil gods on the inside. Even though they possessed strength on par with true gods, they were no match for beings like Ughesh and Theia, who were comparable to higher gods. Thus, with each flash of the light in the hands of the God of Orcs, another demon lord turned to nothingness. That wisp of evil essence, which was originally just a tiny amount, swelled to more than three times its size thanks to the nourishment from these chaotic evil creatures, resembling a deadly black serpent writhing in Ughesh’s grasp.