Chapter 56: A Broken World (II)

—Half a month later—
In his backyard, Thors stood with his eyes closed. In front of him stood a sharp, pointed rock, almost half his height. After maintaining this posture for about five minutes, Thors suddenly opened his eyes and raised his right hand. An invisible force, like a gust of wind, shot toward the rock. Strangely, the rock showed no change at all.
“Tch!” A dismissive sound came from beside him. Little Lily sat on the steps in front of the door, chin in hand, smiling and saying, “Big brother, you’re really bad! After all this effort, you can’t even break a rock!”
“What do you know?” Thors rolled his eyes irritably. Then he walked over to the rock. With a light touch of his finger, the entire rock split into neat square pieces. As it shattered, those pieces continued to break into even smaller ones, repeating this process until they turned into the most basic, smallest elements.
“Wow!” The little girl was amazed. “That’s… amazing! Is this the Source Power? Can you teach me?”
“Teach you?” Thors smirked disdainfully. “Wait until you can meditate first!”
“Tch!” The little girl pouted angrily. “Hmph! Apostles can’t meditate, and you know that too! Lily is very angry!”
“Hey!” Thors shook his head, picked up his coat hanging on the garden fence, and said calmly, “That means giving up the power of an apostle. No matter how strong it is, it’s still illusory!”
“But if I give up that power, I won’t be able to see things like I do now!” the little girl said, pouting.
Thors shook his head speechlessly. Just then, a gentle voice came from inside the house. Soon after, Dia appeared at the door wearing a light blue dress.
“It’s time to eat!”
“Yay! Time to eat!” As if hearing this, little Lily rushed into the house happily.
“Walk slower!” Dia shook her head helplessly. Then she walked over to Thors, raised her right hand, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with her sleeve. She then said gently, “Don’t push yourself too hard, Thors. The Grand Elder also said that the Source Power isn’t easy to master…”

“But we have to speed things up.” With a slight smile at Dia, Thors couldn’t help but look up at the sky. The once clear sky was now covered by a largely shattered inverted world. Looking at those towering peaks in that world, who would have guessed they might fall at any moment and create a crater in the earth? Pinching the bridge of his nose, Thors said tiredly, “We can’t keep letting that madman Belial act unchecked. He’s gone insane… I must fully master the Source Power if I’m to be worthy of fighting him!”
“Sigh,” Dia sighed softly, speaking in a low voice, “I’m sorry, I can’t help you at all…”
“How could that be? Haven’t you always encouraged and supported me? To me, that’s the greatest help!” With that, he gently wrapped his arms around Dia.
Facing Thors’ passionate gaze, Dia couldn’t help but laugh lightly, a hint of shyness appearing on her face. Then she stood on tiptoes, closed her eyes, and pressed her warm lips against Thors’.
It took several minutes before Thors reluctantly pulled away.
Looking at her beloved man’s affectionate gaze, Dia felt overjoyed. She said reproachfully, “Stop it, let go already. Lily will laugh at us again…”
“I won’t let go…”
“Alright,” Dia said softly, gazing tenderly at her beloved man, “You still have to go to Vandel for a meeting later. If you’re late, Sister Aibel will be furious—that would be terrible!”
“Hey!” At the mention of Aibel, Thors instinctively touched his nose, then said in a low voice, “Shall I come to your room tonight?”
Dia’s face immediately turned red. She bit her lip shyly and then shook her head, saying, “No, Lily said she wants to sleep with me tonight…”
“What about me?” Thors looked stunned.
Seeing her man’s strange expression, Dia couldn’t help but laugh. Pretending not to know anything, she said, “Don’t you have your own room?”
“You…” Thors pointed at Dia irritably.
“Alright,” Dia said softly, hugging her man affectionately, “Lily will be moving to Vandel Tower in a few days. Just go along with her!”
“I go along with her? Who goes along with me?”
“Really, you’re still acting like a child at your age…”
“That annoying brat! Why does she keep pestering you?”
Dia giggled and said mockingly, “Who wants her to be like me, without anyone who cares about her…”
“Hey hey…”

“Okay, I know, hehe…”
Thors glanced at Dya helplessly, then walked toward the house while saying, “I’m going to take a shower first. Tell that brat to leave some food for me—I don’t want to lick the plates!”
“Got it!” Dya couldn’t help shaking her head, then glanced at the wedding ring on her left hand, a happy smile appearing on her face.
An hour later, after breakfast, Thors headed straight to Vando Square and used the bubbles from the fountain there to enter Vandel Delta.
Passing through the lobby on the first floor, he went straight to the conference room on the second floor. Today, the most important alliance meeting in human history would be held here. In addition to Vando’s magicians, representatives from various regions and factions would also attend.
Nina, the representative of the Sassen Royal Magicians;
Lilith, representing the Sassen nobility, including the Flores family;
Allen, the representative of [Operelles];
Scott, the representative of [Galic];
Ginevieve Dorby, the leader of the Theland people, along with Tami Sampford, their top warrior.
These were all familiar faces.
There was also Sir Ibi Womisley, the representative of [Altak], a spirited old man in military uniform. He was a distant relative of Ravia. Perhaps because of that incident or something else, Ravia did not attend this meeting.
Sir Alexa Alrid, the representative of [Gron], was the younger brother of the local lord, Count Bernard Alrid. Wearing a monocle in his right eye and having two small mustaches, he sat upright with a finely crafted staff—clearly a gentleman.
Gawain Bech, Count of Brownhill, was the local lord, a pleasant middle-aged man.
Wallace Norlin, the representative of Jacobsonbu, was the president of the local magic association. He appeared somewhat dazed, a magician from the Vandel and Heliriox school.
General Crollie, the representative of Bird Fortress, had previously attended Vandel’s meeting with Agus. He was a very disciplined general.
In addition, there were representatives from various important cities and regions of the empire, such as Casalis, Boydell, Giang, and Kalia—a total of eighty-three representatives.
Besides the empire’s representatives, Salonia also sent its own delegates to the meeting:

One of the twelve cardinals, Bon Hamsworth, along with Cardinal Father Bion and Alma Bird, an even more respected archbishop in charge of the Holy Cross Legion. Somehow, the atmosphere in the meeting room was rather strange—aside from these people, there were five skeletons of various appearances and temperaments, emitting a strong sense of death. Beside them sat over a dozen representatives of necromancers, led by the necromancer Purl, including even the five elders of the necromancers. It could be seen that Cardinal Alma Bird of Salonia had her brows deeply furrowed. As a messenger of the gods, how could holy believers stay together with such dark creatures? Yet, Alma Bird held back—not only because those five skeletons were the legendary rulers of the Land of Death, the Immortal Kings, but also because this meeting was crucial for all humans and even all life in the world. “Hey, buddy, over here!” Allen, with his sharp eyes, spotted Sos and greeted him. Sos walked over and sat down next to Allen. “See that?” Allen tapped on the five skeletons, each about human size, and wore a strange expression as he said, “The Immortal Kings… Back then, that guy Beelzebub dealt with us as if it were a game. I wasn’t convinced back then, but now I admit it—he’s truly formidable. These Immortal Kings are even seeking help from us humans. Tsk tsk, this has never happened before!” Sos smiled slightly. He had known about it long ago, but he had indeed been shocked at the time. That day, just as Sos had returned to Vandor with Dia and little Lily, fire-bearing meteorites began falling densely from the sky. Huge meteors struck Vandor’s protective shield, causing it to rumble loudly. Judging from the size of those rocks, it was easy to imagine the severe disaster Vandor would have suffered without that shield. At that time, almost all of Vandor’s black magicians rushed outside the streets, using their magic to maintain and strengthen Vandor’s magical shield—Sos was no exception.

After the meteor shower lasted for about ten minutes and gradually thinned out, just as everyone thought they could breathe a sigh of relief, countless dense clusters of flaming rocks appeared in the sky, denser than any before. What was even more shocking was that these flames contained not meteors but skeletons—ranging from normal size to those dozens of yards tall. Some dark magicians even saw the legendary bone dragons. The most astonishing of all were five enormous skeletons, each hundreds of yards tall. When they emerged from the pits of fire, alarms rang throughout the city, and everyone felt in danger. With those five giant skeletons surrounding Vando City, the dark magicians inside were ready to give up hope.

They learned from the necromancers around them that these beings were the rulers of the legendary Land of Death, the Immortal Kings. How could mere humans possibly deal with such formidable entities?

The bodies of those Immortal Kings were incredibly massive. With five of them surrounding Vando City, they almost enclosed the entire city, causing chaos among the dark magicians inside, who sounded alarms and called on their peers to fight against the enemy. Even the professors at Vandelta nearly used magic crystal cannons in panic, fearing that those beings would destroy the city.

Even Thos found the situation extremely difficult. But as the strongest magician in Vando, he had no choice but to face it head-on. Surprisingly, when he appeared before the Immortal Kings using teleportation magic, these powerful beings were unusually cooperative. One of the Immortal Kings spoke first.

“Stop, mighty humans! We don’t want any conflict with you!”

Hearing the Immortal King’s words, Thos, who had been preparing to attack, halted his magic. Looking at the intense aura of death surrounding them, he frowned and said, “This is our world. If you don’t want conflict, why did you enter our world?”

“Do you think we wanted to come?” Edmund Pankhes, the Emperor of Bones, an Immortal King once summoned by necromancers at Rexox Academy, sneered. “It’s because you humans destroyed our world!”

“A world?” Thos was stunned for a moment before suddenly understanding. Pointing at the inverted world in the sky, he exclaimed in shock, “Is that… the Land of Death?”

The five Immortal Kings fell silent. Half a minute later, [Uterred Baines, the Emperor of Corpse] spoke in a tired tone, “Our enemies are too powerful; we cannot resist them. This world is about to be destroyed. The reason we came here is to unite with you humans… no, to unite the powers of other Apostles to deal with that human who is as powerful as a god!”
“Humans?” A name suddenly popped into Thors’s mind. With a bitter smile, he said, “The human who destroyed your world—could it be named Belial?”
As soon as those words left his mouth, anger flashed in the eyes of the five Immortal Kings simultaneously.
“That damned human!” The Emperor of Corpse said, looking at Thors in surprise. “A human warrior—although you’re not an Apostle, you possess such great power. It truly surprises me!”
Thors couldn’t help but smile bitterly and mumbled, “Because I used to be an Apostle!”
“Oh,” the five Immortal Kings nodded in understanding. Then one of them said, “Our world is about to collapse. Before we left, our seven comrades tried their best to hold off Belial to buy us time so we could come and warn you in advance. But even so, it can only delay him for a short while. Belial will return to this world soon. If we don’t stop him and take back that Sacred Spirit Stone from his hands, this world will be destroyed sooner or later!”
At that moment, Thors heard the message sent by the Grand Elder through his mind: If they can shrink their bodies, let them in. Thors, with our strength alone, we simply aren’t enough to defeat Belial. We need more help!
Thors relayed the Grand Elder’s words to the five Immortal Kings. The five of them exchanged glances and, without hesitation, shrank their bodies to the size of ordinary people, turning into skeletons. Yet the intense aura of death surrounding them ensured that no one would dare underestimate them.
As for the other undead armies that followed them, they could only stay outside the city. After all, those massive bone dragons didn’t possess the abilities of the Immortal Kings. Only a few liches managed to slip into the city during the brief time when the protective shield was down. Although they caused some panic among the mages inside, nothing uncontrollable happened.
The Immortal Kings weren’t lying—they truly came seeking help!

Recalling the panic that day and seeing the gloomy atmosphere in the meeting room, Thoros couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. He had no confidence at all in his ability to defeat Belial—after all, the latter had single-handedly defeated thirteen legendary Immortal Kings and nearly destroyed the entire Land of Death. Such power was beyond even ten Thors combined.
Was the gap really that vast?
Suddenly, Thoros faintly remembered the words of the Grand Elder: “Only by mastering the Source Power can one qualify to fight Belial.” It was merely a qualification, not resistance, let alone victory—just the right to fight…
If the Apostles had paid an inhumanly heavy price to gain such power, what price had Belial paid to acquire a terrifying strength comparable to that of the Ancient Will? Thoros had no idea.
As he frowned and sighed in silence, Abel, dressed in an indigo astrologer’s robe, along with the professors of Vandalta, arrived in the meeting room. Everyone stood up to show respect for these senior professors, especially the Grand Elder of Vandalta. Apart from those five Immortal Kings, they merely nodded—after all, to humans, they were beings of such lofty status that, if not for Belial’s appearance, they would never have bowed low to seek human help.
“Well, please sit down!” Abel stepped to the front of the meeting room, glanced at everyone present and the skeletons, then said in a solemn voice, “We held a similar meeting in Sgeldel before—back then, it was to steal Argus, who ruled our country. This time, it concerns the entire world…” She briefly introduced the people present, including the five Immortal Kings, before continuing, “You must be aware of the drastic changes that have occurred over the past half month. Indeed, the world hanging above us now is the legendary Land of Death. Two months ago, one of our kind, Belial, committed a tragedy in Sassen. Using the power of blood and souls, he forced open the gates to the Land of Death. His existence now threatens the world we live in…”
At that moment, Wallace Norlin, the president of the local magic association and representative of [Jacobsenbu], interjected slowly in a puzzled tone, “I don’t mean to offend you, respected astrologer, but I doubt that just one human could pose a threat to the legendary Land of Death.”

Seeing someone interrupt her, Eibel couldn’t help but frown. However, realizing it was a mage from her own faction, she softened her tone slightly and nodded, saying, “Yes, Old Norlin… Indeed, our human strength is very weak compared to some ancient beings. But Beelzebub… that man cannot be simply classified as human. He possesses power greater than that of your gods!” With that, she turned to glance at the five Immortal Kings.

One of the Immortal Kings nodded in understanding. He reached out with his skeletal arm and dug into his empty eye socket, pulling out a pale, ghastly eyeball. With a sharp pinch, the eyeball instantly turned into dark green gas, which condensed into an image at the front of the meeting hall—showing the thirteen Immortal Kings leading countless undead armies to resist Beelzebub.

Watching Beelzebub stand alone before an army of millions, summoning the ancient being Sloth, waving his hand to turn thousands of skeletons into basic particles, and killing the Immortal Kings time and again while stepping on their skulls, every representative present turned pale with shock and was speechless.

Even Allen, Scott, Thors, and Lilith couldn’t help but frown deeply.

“A monster… A true monster!”

Sir Alexa Alrid, the representative of [Gron], with his two sideburns, trembled constantly, leaning on a short staff. After all, what he saw far exceeded his imagination.

The battle scenes were shown for only half an hour, yet they imposed a heavy burden on everyone present. As the Immortal Kings had said, the opponent was too powerful—powerful like a god.

After a brief silence, Scott frowned and asked, “What exactly did Beelzebub do to bring down the entire Death Kingdom?”

One of the Immortal Kings answered Scott’s question.

“This man has seized the core of our Death Realm—the Holy Spirit Stone, a mystical gem that maintains the balance of the entire Death Realm. Without it, the various spaces in this world will fall out of balance, leading to the collapse of time itself…” As he spoke, the Immortal King glanced at the humans present and said in a solemn voice, “Remember, humans, we are not begging you. You have seen the collapse of the Death Realm. If we do not retrieve the Holy Spirit Stone from that man and stop the spatial collisions caused by the imbalance, the world you live in will be utterly destroyed! The entire world will fall back into chaos, and all life will perish at that moment…”

“Retrieve the Holy Spirit Stone from that man?” The representatives present looked at each other in confusion. What could they possibly do against such overwhelming power?

—Meanwhile, in the distant Altak—

Ravia, who was not present at this meeting, was sitting at her desk in her room, handling official duties. In just one and a half months, she seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Suddenly, under the concerned gaze of Queen Queen, Ravia stood up abruptly, rushed to the bathroom, and leaned over the sink, vomiting violently. After struggling for over ten minutes, Ravia finally calmed down, breathing heavily. She sighed helplessly at her own abdomen.

“Avi…” Queen Queen stepped forward and gently wrapped her arms around Ravia’s waist, asking softly, “Is it really okay not to tell him?”

“Heh,” Ravia laughed lightly, with a hint of arrogance, “Don’t see me as one of those weak women, Queen Queen. Since I chose to leave that place, I will never go back. I, Ravia, am not the kind of woman who relies on men for comfort! This is my own path, my fate—unchangeable!” With that, she couldn’t help but sigh and mutter to herself, “But this fate seems even heavier in terms of loneliness and solitude than I imagined… Heh, what a headache!”

“Avi…”