Chapter 62: Light and Darkness (I)

At some point, strange electrical discharges appeared in the sky. The surging currents emitted crackling sounds from time to time, but these sounds were so faint that they were completely drowned out by the sounds of battle, leaving no one to notice them at all.
Wait—someone did notice…
It was Jerry Belfort, the president of the Royal Magic Association. From earlier on, he had been constantly staring at the sky around him. His entire body was hidden beneath a large magical robe, so that no one could see his expression. All that could be seen was his left hand occasionally turning the magic ring on his right little finger—a habit he only exhibited when waiting.
Gradually, small fragments began to fall from the sky. They were pure white and transparent, drifting down like light rain. Along with this strange phenomenon, the Dead Zone, that desolate black land that had been completely destroyed and hung upside down in the sky, suddenly began to collapse on a large scale. Accompanied by loud roars, countless huge rocks engulfed in raging flames fell downward—no, it should be said that most of the remaining Dead Zone fell…
The Dead Zone had completely collapsed!
Yet the sky did not show the expected scene. Although it was daytime, the sky was shrouded in darkness. No, that wasn’t darkness—it was something even deeper and more terrifying than darkness: the chaos from the birth of the world…
According to ancient legends, the world was born from chaos. All matter originated from this most mysterious realm, which symbolized “the birth of life.” But at the same time, chaos also represented “destruction and annihilation.” Once the world lost its balance and the laws of the world became distorted, chaos would emerge. To maintain the normal functioning of all worlds, it would devour the unbalanced world, end everything in it, and give rise to a new world.
This was an unchangeable will, the most sacred law. No one could stop the process of the world’s destruction and rebirth.
Suddenly, it seemed as if a whirlwind arose from the chaos. No, it wasn’t a whirlwind—it was a rapidly converging force that formed a huge black vortex, beginning to absorb and devour all matter in its vicinity…

This enormous black vortex seemed to possess some powerful attraction; it actually prevented the massive fragments that had fallen after the destruction of the Dead Realm from collapsing. Under the astonished gaze of humanity, those fragments as large as mountains, castles, or even larger were drawn into the center of the vortex—a center from which not even light could escape, resembling an open eye.

The sun, that star once covered by the inverted Death Realm, was gradually swallowed by the giant black vortex. The entire star disintegrated like sand, with its fragments drawn toward the massive black vortex.

“It’s starting, it’s starting…” Belial’s eyes showed signs of madness; his entire body trembled from excitement.

“What… what’s going on?” Thor’s face showed horror as he frowned and asked anxiously, “What’s happening here, Belial?”

“Hehehe,” Belial laughed heartily, glancing at Thor before saying lightly, “It’s happening faster than I expected. The collapse of this world… no one can stop this immense force. Before long, this place will be destroyed by the ‘Eye of Chaos’…”

“The Eye of Chaos?”

“Oh, it’s the force that maintains balance among worlds. Once a world becomes distorted or collapses, the Eye of Chaos appears to completely destroy that broken world and create a new one, thus maintaining balance across the entire universe…”

“Is this what you desire?” Thor frowned and looked up at the sky. During their conversation, half of the sun had already been destroyed, along with its light and the fragments of stars, all swallowed by the Eye of Chaos.

“Yes, yes,” Belial said in a low, mad voice, “Just a little longer… Once the Eye of Chaos reaches here, once the ground beneath our feet begins to collapse, time in this world will stop, and its laws will vanish… Hahaha! I’ve succeeded! I’ve finally succeeded!”

Watching the madness in Belial’s eyes and then looking at that giant eye in the sky, Thor said solemnly, “You haven’t succeeded yet!”

“…” The madness in Belial’s eyes vanished instantly. He stared at Thor with cold eyes and said coldly, “Do you want to stop me? Me, the ‘I’ of this world?”

“Ah,” Sos nodded heavily, raised his right hand and pointed at Belial, then said slowly, “I will absolutely not let you do that, Belial!”
Belial stared deeply into Sos’s eyes. Seemingly understanding something, he let out a low hum and said in a deep voice, “It seems there can never be any common ground between us. This ‘I’ of this world… no, Volmon Krest, let me destroy your naive confidence. It will be me… Belial!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Belial’s eyes suddenly changed. With two swishing sounds, he and Sos disappeared from their positions almost at the same time, turning into red and blue flames that spiraled around each other at incredible speed.
Their speed was so fast that ordinary people couldn’t even see their movements.
“Boom! Boom!”
Continuous explosions rang out without pause. The powerful shockwaves generated by the collision of the two forces blew everything in their surroundings apart. Neither the Gushavos warriors nor the human soldiers, nor the dark magicians could withstand such immense force.
As for the skeleton army of the Human Alliance, it was completely destroyed without even a chance to resist. That powerful force was like a storm, tearing the skeletons’ hard bones into the smallest particles.
“What’s going on?” The sudden massive casualties shocked the Immortal Kings, who had been focusing on the strange phenomena in the sky. They quickly scanned the battlefield and found that Sos and Belial had already begun fighting.
“How foolish! This human brat!” The Immortal Kings were furious. They had originally planned to use the undead army and the human forces to drain Belial’s strength, even if just a little, to increase their chances of victory. How could Sos start fighting Belial right away?
“Charge! Charge over!” The Immortal Kings shouted frantically, leading the undead army in a desperate attack on the Gushavos warriors’ defenses. They were growing anxious, as Sos, who possessed the Source Power, was an indispensable fighting force for them—someone who absolutely could not be sacrificed.
Under the orders of the Immortal Kings, the undead army launched a suicidal attack, disregarding all consequences as they stormed the enemy’s defenses, sacrificing their own skeletons, just as they had done in the Death Realm to prevent Belial from approaching the Crystal Tower.

“Hey, hey…” Watching the Immortal Kings charge at the enemy with their massive bodies, Allen wore a peculiar expression before raising his Great Knight’s Sword and shouting loudly, “Brave warriors, who dare face the most terrifying enemies! Uphold the justice in your hearts—for glory, for victory, charge forward!”
“Oh!” The knights of the Free Wind Knights Order were the first to respond to Allen. Though this order had only been established three years ago, it possessed beliefs and strength on par with the Royal Knights.
“Vando’s black magicians, please protect our valiant warriors!” The old dean and Professor Hodde continuously cast enhancement spells on the warriors at the forefront while also coordinating the magical attacks of Vando’s black magicians, keeping themselves extremely busy.
“That Allen guy…” Scott frowned as he watched the knights charging ahead. Raising his long sword, he shouted, “There’s no time to waste! Galk’s gun cavalry, charge! Gunners, form up and advance! Remember, we are the toughest army! No one can defeat us! No one!”
“No one!”
Two thousand of Galk’s gun cavalry charged under Scott’s orders, preventing Allen’s knights from advancing alone. Soon after, four thousand Galk gunners reinforced their defensive formation and moved forward step by step. Though each advance was difficult and came at a heavy cost, this tenacious army gradually turned the tide despite the pressure from the powerful Gusavos warriors.
Although not a single Gusavos warrior had died yet, they began to retreat under human pressure. The mighty Gusavos warriors were retreating in the face of humanity, at the cost of countless human lives.
The humans’ counterattack was fierce, catching the demons on Belial’s side off guard. More importantly, they discovered what was happening in the battle between Belial and Thoth.
“What’s going on?” The Fourth Demon, ‘Death’s Servant’ Simachimo, glanced doubtfully at Belial fighting alongside Thoth and frowned. “In this situation, you don’t even need to get involved personally. Why? Lord Belial…”
As soon as he finished speaking, Simachimo seemed to suddenly sense something. He turned sharply only to be shocked to see an arm piercing straight into his chest.
“Careless, you demon!”
“You…” Simachimo stared in shock at his opponent—the magician covered head to toe in a large gray cloak: Jerry Berford.

Jerry Belford slightly raised his head, revealing his pale red eyes hidden beneath his cloak. With a brief glance at Simachimo, he surged magical power within himself. Suddenly, Simachimo’s body emitted a strange red glow, and with a loud bang, he was completely destroyed by Jerry Belford’s powerful magic.
No, he wasn’t destroyed…
Demons are immortal beings. Simachimo’s shattered body reassembled itself and, looking at Jerry Belford with a sneer, said, “Attacking from behind isn’t a good habit, human!”
“I’m truly sorry about that!” Jerry Belford smiled oddly. Before Simachimo could react, he suddenly felt a disturbance in his body, and soon his limbs were trapped.
Simachimo instinctively lowered his head and was shocked to see three golden spears piercing his waist. Before he could do anything, two figures appeared beside him, gripping the golden spears and shouting, “Great Sealing Spell!” It was Neomi Metment and Alma Beard, two cardinals from the Church.
Simachimo struggled desperately as he realized his powers were restrained by their holy energy.
“White magic… No! No!”
Amidst Simachimo’s furious screams, the sacred power gradually engulfed him. With a dazzling silver light, a solemn silver cross appeared on the ground, covered in intricate spells.
The Fourth Demon, Simachimo, was sealed…
“Huh,” wiping the sweat from their foreheads, Cardinals Neomi Metment and Alma Beard turned to Jerry Belford and said softly, “We are extremely grateful for your help, Great Mage Jerry Belford!”
“Heh,” Jerry Belford chuckled lightly, lowering his head politely. “I simply did what was right at the right time. It’s nothing!”
Hearing his humble words, the cardinals exchanged a glance and fell silent. They had a strange feeling—that Jerry Belford wasn’t as easy to deal with as he seemed.

Jerry Berford noticed the expressions of those two Vatican cardinals clearly. He didn’t care; his gaze remained fixed on the battle between Belial and Thor. After pondering for a moment, he murmured in a voice only he could hear, “Anyway, I can’t let you destroy this world. There’s no other choice but to deal with Belial first, right, Mammon?” As he spoke, a vague silhouette emerged behind him, as if fiercely declaring something.
[Kill him! Kill him! Kill this man! We must get rid of him, my apostle, Jerry Berford!]
“Heh, don’t worry, Mammon,” Jerry Berford said, glancing at the battlefield where red and blue flames clashed violently. “But not now… Let them exhaust each other first!”
[Yes, yes… You’re much smarter than Argus, and also much more despicable. Jerry Berford, I like it very much, hahaha…]
“Heh, what a grating compliment!” Jerry Berford smiled faintly.
Due to a moment of carelessness and Jerry Berford’s intervention, the fourth demon lord, Simachimo, failed to notice the approach of those two Vatican cardinals. He was temporarily sealed by sacred power. Without his spells, the Gushavos warriors on the battlefield lost the protection of the law of death and their ability to remain immortal. Under the fierce counterattack of the Human Alliance forces, the Gushavos warriors began to suffer heavy losses. The “dead” warriors’ souls could no longer control their empty armor, floating helplessly in the air before being completely killed by the human mages using psychic magic.
“That stupid Simachimo…” Tyrant Bal, who was fighting Nina, frowned and glanced at the cross disdainfully.
As soon as he spoke, he suddenly raised his arms to block in front of him, barely resisting a powerful lightning strike.
Feeling the burning pain in his arms, Bal stared solemnly at the beautiful female mage not far ahead and said self-mockingly, “Hey, when did humans gain such abundant magic? Are you a witch?”
What answered him was a massive lightning bolt as thick as a pillar.
On the other side, the eighth demon lord, the Death Archer Babatos, also noticed Simachimo being sealed, but he had no time to worry about anything else at the moment.

Once majestic, he now appeared in a sorry state; his cloak was riddled with arrows, and he had also been struck by an arrow in his armpit, from which blood kept seeping out. After catching his breath on the ground, Barbatos stood up and watched Lelajin struggling to get up not far ahead. Once again, he drew an arrow from his quiver at his waist…

“Has Simachimo been sealed?” The Third Demon God, ‘Prophet’ Vashak, sighed with sadness, gazing at the cross statue with pity. Shaking his head, he said, “This too is fate. Simachimo… fate cannot be resisted…” As soon as he finished speaking, it seemed he sensed something; he shifted slightly, and darkness rushed past him, landing on the ground and revealing Lilith once more.

“The next is you! Realize it!” Lilith said viciously. She was so angry that her beautiful face appeared grotesque.

“If that’s really the case, then it’s fate…”

“Shut up!”

The situation on the battlefield was gradually intensifying, with the most eye-catching sight being the clash of two flames in the air—red and blue flames, or white and black flames. It was a battle between Belial and Sos. Below them, the King Puppet Cain and the Light Governor Besup were also engaged in a fierce fight.

Cain, who possessed great power, and Besup, who resembled a magic swordsman—both puppets evolved from [Soldiers]—fought from different positions with distinct styles and powers, just like their masters.

“Has Simachimo been killed? Damn it!” With a powerful swing, Cain sent Besup flying far away. Worryingly, he glanced at the fiercely colliding flames in the sky and murmured, “Master…”

As soon as he spoke, a slender blade suddenly appeared at his neck, accompanied by Besup’s cold laugh.

“Better worry about yourself, Cain!”

“Tch!” Cain crouched down sharply and raised his black long sword.

“Boom!”

Both of them felt the force rebounding back at them. Cain stumbled back three steps, his chest heaving heavily, while Besup used jumps to mitigate the impact, though his hands seemed to be bleeding.

“Damn it!” Both of them gritted their teeth simultaneously and charged at each other again, slashing with their blades.

The battles between the puppet masters are no longer something ordinary people can intervene in, and the fights between their masters are even more intense, too fierce for others to watch. The scattered red and blue flames, or white and black flames, splash everywhere as the two clash violently. Whenever their flames touch anything—whether it’s a undead, a human, or even a Guasavos warrior who has lost their immortality—they are instantly reduced to ashes.

“Bang!” The two flames in the sky separated after a particularly fierce collision and fell to the ground one after another.

“You’ve grown stronger, Volmon Krast…”

From that sea of flames that shifted between deep blue and black, Belial’s voice was heard. Soon, the dancing flames gradually formed his figure. Belial had indeed mastered the art of elementalization.

“It’s all to be worthy of standing before you!” As Sos’s voice rang out, his figure gradually emerged from another sea of flames that changed between crimson red and white. It was clear that in this clash of flames, neither of them had managed to hurt the other.

“Is that so?” Belial smirked eerily, a dangerous blue glow appearing in his eyes.

Without any warning, countless triangular magic arrays appeared in front of Sos, covering him from head to toe—perhaps a hundred or so.

Damn it!

Seeing the dangerous glow emanating from those magic arrays, Sos’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t even have time to use his teleportation spell and rolled to the side on the ground.

At that moment, those hundreds of magic arrays suddenly emitted blinding beams of light. Though they didn’t hit Sos, they devastated the allied forces hundreds of yards away, piercing their bodies with those terrifying beams.

“Good hiding!” Belial sneered, his left eye flashing with blue light. In no time, Sos’s surroundings were filled with triangular magic arrays.

After a brief pause, those dense arrays burst forth with powerful beams at the same time. From Belial’s perspective, it looked like countless blue roses blooming simultaneously—a truly magnificent sight.

“Mirror Flower”—this was Belial’s unique technique, a spell that used spatial magic to attack opponents. It involved setting a coordinate first, then concentrating elements there to strike the opponent. Just like Sos’s signature move, “Flame Flash,” it could bypass any defensive barriers to attack.

“Disastrous! Truly disastrous!” Belial sneered at Thor, who kept dodging.
“Tch!” Hearing Belial’s contemptuous tone, Thor felt an inexplicable anger rise in him. Glancing at where Belial stood, he snapped his fingers.
With a loud boom, Belial was instantly engulfed in a white flame. Yet just one second later, the white flame vanished completely, replaced by Belial’s black flames.
“Mirror Flower” and “Flame Flash” were both techniques that could bypass the other’s defensive barriers. Flame Flash focused on speed and damage during an attack, while Mirror Flower emphasized precision and coverage. Aside from their strength differences, although Mirror Flower was less powerful than Flame Flash, it had a wider attack range due to its linear beam. If multiple instances of Mirror Flower were used simultaneously, it could deliver a more comprehensive attack—something Flame Flash couldn’t do.
It should be noted that Belial had once used this technique to instantly eliminate thousands of skeletons near the Gate of the Dead.
“Hmph!” With a faint smile, Belial quickly marked the surrounding space with his own symbols. Triangular magic arrays appeared in large numbers, forming what resembled a wall. The power generated if all these arrays exploded at once was unimaginable.
Even Thor felt some pressure at this point.
“Swish!” Thousands of powerful beams were fired simultaneously, almost eliminating all of Thor’s chances to dodge.
Use teleportation magic to escape? But Mirror Flower’s attack range was linear. How could Thor dodge under the cover of countless triangular arrays, like a wall? Unless he could grow wings and fly away!
Unfortunately, Thor couldn’t do that.
“Boom!” After a loud explosion, the ground turned into an ocean of blue flames once again.
But Belial’s expression showed surprise, as he sensed that his opponent seemed unharmed. Looking at Thor, who appeared intact before him, Belial grew curious. Suddenly, he noticed hundreds of fireballs floating beside Thor.
“Oh? Did you summon these fireballs at the last moment to block my attacks?” With a light laugh, Belial gave a faint nod of approval. “You accurately blocked every one of my beams—impressive insight!”

“Hmph, I don’t want your praise!” Looking at Belial’s slightly approving expression, Thor said in a deep voice, “It’s not just you who knows how to cast multiple spells… It’s time to face your opponent properly. I’m no longer the one who was helpless against you back then, Belial!”
“Oh?” Belial chuckled lightly, with a hint of contempt, “That’s really impressive!”
“Tch!” Frowning at the disdain in his opponent’s eyes, Thor said solemnly, “Let’s end this boring game, Belial. We both know that magic attacks at the elemental level mean nothing to us now. The only thing that can truly harm us is the use of primordial power!”
“The power to perceive the laws,” Belial smiled faintly, as if hearing a joke, shaking his head in mockery. “No problem. If you have that confidence, I don’t mind ending this game early…” As he spoke, his aura grew stronger, and the immense power he released blew like a hurricane, causing the flames around to surge.
Under Thor’s solemn gaze, wisps of darkness, like mist, began to appear behind Belial. That darkness gradually formed a huge, hazy figure—a fiercely wild dark bear, radiating a violent and cruel aura. From the moment it appeared, it kept roaring, its roars shattering large parts of the undead army. Even the most powerful human archmages felt dizzy.
At the same time, Thor’s body emitted a intense flash, and a gentle, soothing energy spread out. Within this sacred and gentle force, an angel holding the Eye of the Holy Flame and the Book of Wisdom gradually appeared behind Thor. Its solemn and majestic appearance inspired awe, like that of a deity. The sacred light slowly illuminated the surroundings, dispelling the thick darkness.
The battle to come would be beyond human comprehension…