Chapter 67: Hope

The Eye of Chaos, capable of destroying the world, was approaching this world ever closer. Under the influence of its powerful gravity, the earth began to crumble. Rocks of all sizes could not escape its pull and mysteriously rose into the air, drawn into the heart of that darkness.
—Saronia—
Maliz Klerest, the former pope who had stepped down due to health reasons, stood in the Vatican’s garden, leaning on a cane and gazing solemnly at the sky.
At that moment, hurried footsteps came from the corridor. Soon after, several cardinal deacons in red robes rushed past, casting a glance at the old man in the garden before their expressions turned fearful. They exclaimed, “Your Holiness, the Pope! Why are you still here? The situation is extremely dangerous. Please go to the shelter immediately…”
“I am no longer the pope,” the old man said with a slight smile, leaning on his cane. “Ignore me. Go and do your duties…”
“But…”
Seeming to understand their thoughts, the old man sighed softly and murmured to the sky, “If this world is truly doomed, what difference does it make where we hide? Trust in the Lord—he will grant eternal life to His most faithful believers!”
Hearing the old man’s words, the deacons’ anxious expressions gradually eased.
“The order to evacuate has been given, right? Many people have lost their lives and loved ones in this disaster. As followers of the Lord, now is the time to spread His kindness and true love. Go and help them! As for me… let me stay here for a while.”
“Yes, Your Holiness!”
The deacons bowed respectfully and turned to leave.
Watching them go, the old man continued to gaze at the sky and murmured, “The hope of the world… Volmon…”
Suddenly, a relieved smile appeared on his face.
“It seems humanity’s history isn’t over yet…”
—Altak—
“Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong!” Amidst panicked shouts, a soldier from Altak rushed into the castle.
Suddenly, a sharp rebuke came from the end of the corridor.
“Why are you making such a fuss?”
“Uh…” The soldier froze, then looked up at the woman dressed like a noblewoman standing before him and said respectfully, “I’m sorry, Miss Queen. The sky outside…”

Queen Puppet Queen Qunin frowned and interrupted him, saying in a deep voice, “I’m aware of this matter. I’ve already reported it to the lord. You may go now and inform the townspeople that it’s no big deal… The Altak people never fear any disasters or powerful forces!”
The soldier immediately stood at attention and shouted, “Yes!”
“Go!”
“Yes!”
However, only after the soldier left did Qunin’s face show deep concern. After sighing sadly, she pushed open the door to her right and entered the room.
“Avi,” Qunin said worriedly, looking at the girl standing by the window, holding the railing and gazing at the sky, “More and more people are discovering this. If they find out the truth, it will be difficult to handle…” She stomped her foot in frustration and snapped, “What on earth is Volmon Klaest doing? If this continues, the entire world will be destroyed!”
As soon as she finished speaking, a soft sigh came from the window. Lavia, dressed in a robe, stood by the railing, gazing at the sky, and said softly, “He isn’t an omnipotent god. He’s just an ordinary human. Don’t blame him too much…” She sighed deeply and murmured, “I really wish I could be by his side at the last moment. If this world is truly going to be destroyed…”
Seeing Avi’s vulnerable side, Qunin couldn’t bear it any longer. She stepped forward, gently put her arm around Avi’s shoulders, and encouraged her, “Maybe all women in the world would think the same, but not you, Avi. Because you are the queen of the Altak. If you act like this, what will the Altak people think who trust you, fear you, and submit to you?”
“Yes,” Lavia said with a soft laugh, lowering her head slightly and touching her swollen abdomen. “Sos…”
Suddenly, Qunin seemed to notice something and pointed at the sky in surprise, “That eye has disappeared! Look quickly, Avi!”
Lavia raised her head in shock. She saw that the terrifying Eye of Chaos in the sky seemed to be restrained by some force and had stopped its endless absorption of matter.
With the disappearance of gravity, countless huge rocks fell back to the ground, hitting the snow-capped mountains and the snowfields, splashing up large amounts of snowflakes, as if winter had arrived.
Gradually, the Eye of Chaos disappeared, and the long-absent blue sky reappeared…
“Oh!” The Altak people in the city burst into joyful cheers.

“Thors,” looking at the long-missed sky and listening to the deafening cheers, Ravia placed her right hand on her abdomen and let out a sigh of relief. With a hint of maternal love, she smiled at Quinn and said, “Hey, Quinn. I’ve made up my mind. This child will be named Holp, Holp Vormisley Klaest!”
“Holp?” Quinn was momentarily stunned before responding, “The Child of Hope? Oh dear, already carrying his mother’s entire hopes before even being born—what a hard fate for this child!” Then, as if struck by an idea, she looked at Ravia teasingly and said, “It’s a nice name. But what if it’s a girl?”
Ravia’s face showed surprise as she glared at Quinn angrily and said defiantly, “That won’t happen. It must be a boy!” Then she laughed softly, stroking her abdomen, and said in a motherly tone, “You must become an honest and brave person, little Kupé, just like your… father.”
“Oh dear, what a strict mother…”
“What?”
“Giggle, giggle, giggle…”
However, although the process of destroying the world had been halted, Thassan, thousands of miles away, was in a state of apocalypse.
By the time Allen, Scott, Lilith, and the others arrived in Thassan, the capital of this empire had already turned into a sea of fire…
Amidst countless cries of fear and panic, an incredibly giant bear was rampaging through the land, slaughtering every human it saw.
Slos, the Ancient Will that had separated itself from Belial, vented all its anger on these innocent people.
Thassan’s protective shield held no resistance against Slos; it was torn apart like thin paper. Although the royal guards and mages in the city quickly realized the situation and launched a counterattack, their attacks were utterly ineffective against Slos.
“Damn it! Thassan is my territory!” Ignoring what kind of being Slos was, Lilith summoned the phantom of Asmontis, ready to attack, but suddenly stopped.
“Asmontis?” she exclaimed in shock, for she felt that the Ancient Will within her was preventing her from acting.
The phantom behind her slowly opened its pale red eyes and stared at Slos, who was causing havoc, before saying in a deep voice, “Stop, Lilith, if you don’t want this land to be completely destroyed!”
“Hm?” Surprise appeared in Lilith’s eyes.

Not far from her, Allen widened his eyes, staring at the Ancient Will behind Lilith. In surprise, he said to Scott beside him, “Did you hear that? That voice…”
“Lust, Asmontis?” Scott nodded, instinctively reaching for his glasses only to realize they had been damaged in the earlier battle.
Seemingly hearing Allen’s voice, the shadowy figure of Asmontis behind Lilith turned to look at Allen, chuckled, and whispered, “It’s an honor to be able to hear my voice, human!”
Noticing Allen’s strange expression, Scott lowered his voice and said, “This is bad. Although Thoth seems to have stopped the progress of the Eye of Chaos, this world has still been severely damaged, making it easier for these guys to invade it with their minds. This is terrible…”
As Scott frowned, Lilith said impatiently, “What’s going on? Asmontis, why are you trying to stop me?”
The shadowy figure behind Lilith trembled slightly, and then Asmontis’ solemn voice was heard.
“Because I’ve never seen Thoth this angry before…” There was even a hint of fear in his voice.
“Can Sammael not help either?” On the other side, Little Lilith also pleaded with the Ancient Will [Anger] Sammael in a cute tone, but received a response similar to Asmontis’.
Seeing Little Lilith’s sulky expression, an unusually calm voice came from the shadow behind her. It was hard to believe that the owner of this calm voice was Sammael, who symbolized [Anger].
“Thoth is very dangerous now…”
“Hehehehe, even the strongest [Anger] says so,” said Mammon, the Ancient Will [Greed] behind JerryJerry Belfort, with malicious glee. “You’re done for, humans!”
Hearing that shrill laughter, Allen gritted his teeth in anger and snapped, “There’s only one of them, and don’t you have four Ancient Will here?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a cold sneer came from the side.
“Be careful with your tone, human, if you don’t want to die!”
Allen instinctively turned his head and was surprised to find that it was the shadow behind Vincent, the Ancient Will [Jealousy] Leviathan, who had spoken.
It was JerryJerry Belfort who brought the unconscious Vincent back to Sason. After all, the Ancient Will Mammon he carried was the weakest among the seven eternal beings. For his own safety, he needed Vincent’s strength.

“Wow, you’re awake?” Allen sneered with a smile.
“Hmph!” Vincent’s face turned pale as he let out a cold snort, then turned to look at Sloth, who was wreaking havoc on Thasson, and said in a deep voice, “Can’t even defeat him with your strength? Leviathan? You didn’t say that before—you said only [Anger] could be your rival…”
“Yes, I didn’t deceive you,” the shadow behind Vincent, the Ancient Will [Jealousy] Leviathan, chuckled and glanced at the Ancient Will [Anger] Samel behind little Lily, saying with a hint of envy, “In ancient times, that bastard Samel defeated me. Damn it, he was only slightly stronger than me—I was just a little short…”
“Let’s get back to the topic!”
“Sloth?” Leviathan paused for a moment before speaking in a complex tone, “That guy has never shown his true strength. Even back then, he was quickly defeated by Asmontis and withdrew from the battle… But I advise you not to think about defeating him now. We’ve never seen Sloth this violent before…”
“What if you all team up?” Scott interjected.
“Team up?” The energy ripples of the four Ancient Wills present changed momentarily, making Scott realize the rudeness in his words.
Indeed, asking these four eternally existing Ancient Wills to team up against their own brother? Not only would it hurt their pride, but why would they do such a thing for humans?
“Hehehehe, the issue isn’t that,” Mammon eased the tension with a sinister smile, whispering, “As you can see, the true forms of us humans are still in the Second World. The ones in front of you are just projections, with at most one-third of our strength. Meanwhile, Sloth, because of Belial, appears in his full form in the Third World. Expecting us to fight him at one-third strength? Ha!” He paused briefly before adding in an inscrutable tone, “Besides, my brother isn’t easy to deal with. That guy has never taken anything seriously since birth, but his strength… hmm, he might even be the strongest among us…”
“I really want that strength…”
Leviathan’s jealous voice indirectly confirmed Mammon’s words, while Samel remained silent, offering no rebuttal.

“What should we do? Just stand by and watch him destroy our city?” Lilith frowned. Desiring supreme power, she had long regarded the prosperous city of Sassen as her own property, and she couldn’t stand Sloth destroying it on her territory.
“It’s okay,” Mammon chuckled maliciously. “Let him vent his anger. Once he’s had his fill, he’ll return to the Second World to sleep again. Don’t worry—he’s different from me. This guy has no interest in controlling your world!”
“What comforting words…” Allen said with a sigh.
“Give it a try,” [Anger] Sammael whispered angrily, watching his apostles look with pity at those cruelly killed by Sloth. “Lilith, do as you wish. Unfortunately, I can’t help you stop my brother right now…”
“Four apostles teaming up against Sloth?” Asmodeus grinned eagerly. “Interesting… very interesting…”
“Hmph, it won’t work!” Leviathan sneered disdainfully.
“It certainly won’t work, hehehehe!” Mammon laughed maliciously.
In the end, Lilith, Vincent, Little Lilith, and Jerry Belford—the four apostles—reached an agreement. For their own purposes, they joined forces to attack Sloth.
Meanwhile, the Ancient Will beings watched everything with a playful attitude. Except for [Anger] Sammael—after all, the most threatening enemy to them, Belial, was already dead. The remaining humans were nothing but weak creatures in their eyes.
Besides, the Ancient Will beings were immortal. Even they couldn’t kill their own kind. The best outcome would be for Sloth to return to the Second World and sleep again.
The Ancient Will beings were correct—Sloth’s strength wasn’t as weak as it seemed, as proven by Belial’s power. Even with all four apostles combined, they couldn’t harm Sloth; it would only make him angrier and more violent.
“Tch, if I could have done that back then, I’d have controlled the whole world by now!” Mammon muttered helplessly when his apostles’ attacks failed.
With a cold sneer, Leviathan taunted, “You? Mammon?”
“What do you mean by that, Leviathan?”

“Shut up all of you!” Samel, transformed into an enraged giant warrior, used his presence to stop the two brothers from arguing.
“Kill! Keep killing! It’s fascinating, absolutely fascinating…” Asmontis shouted excitedly.
Slos grew even angrier; his massive body covered the entire sky, as if the demon king of the apocalypse had descended. The black flames he spat out destroyed most of Thassan in an instant.
His sturdy scales completely blocked the attacks of human magicians; even apostles could at most leave a few scratches on them.
“Roar!” Slos let out another furious cry. The intense sound waves, seemingly tangible, blew away most of Thassan’s sturdy city walls. Under the terrified gazes of the humans, he stepped into Thassan through the black flames, and with a single swipe of his paw, the entire Gory Mage Tower was snapped in half like a toy.
Watching him violently smash buildings in the city with the remains of the mage tower, the royal magicians were desperate.
This was not a battle on equal terms at all!
The humans resisted helplessly. The magicians used their weak spells, while the guards didn’t even dare approach that colossal figure.
Yet, these humans, who seemed as insignificant as insects in Slos’s eyes, were in such large numbers that he couldn’t bear to kill them one by one!
Suddenly, Slos’s eyes widened, his blood-red eyes resembling two blood moons.
“Close your eyes!” [Anger] Samel immediately warned the human magicians.
But it was too late…
Apart from those who knew, like Allen and Scott, the human magicians had no idea about Slos’s divine power.
[Erasure of Existence]—this was a divine power that could erase any life, aside from apostles and the Ancient Will. Even if the target was an immortal being, any life from the Third World couldn’t escape its grasp.
In the blink of an eye, all those who saw Slos’s blood-red eyes vanished instantly, leaving no trace—not even a cry of death. Their souls were completely erased from this world.
Hundreds?
Thousands?
Tens of thousands?
No! That single strike reduced Thassan’s population by more than half.
Seeing the streets, once crowded, now completely empty, Allen felt a wave of chill surge from the depths of his soul.
It’s terrifying… utterly terrifying!

For the lives in the Third World, Sloth’s divine power is more despairing than that of any other Ancient Will…
“That guy Sloth, wasting his immense power for nothing!” Leviathan glared jealously at the towering Sloth. Aside from [Anger] Sammael, the other Ancient Wills showed expressions of agreement, which made Allen and Scott, as humans, secretly relieved.
It’s fortunate that [Laziness] holds this most deadly power for humans. If it were another Ancient Will, like the ambitious [Mammon], the consequences would be unimaginable.
The battle continued, and ordinary humans were utterly desperate, fleeing Sasan with their loved ones. Even Theo, as king, fled to a shelter in a hurry under the protection of the royal guards and mages.
In the vast Sasan, the four Apostles were still fighting hard, while figures like Ulric and Connel couldn’t even harm Sloth. As for Allen, Scott, and the others, though they kept an eye on the battle, unfortunately, they couldn’t do anything to help.
Sloth, filled with violent aura, posed a greater threat than Belial after his seal was broken!
“What on earth is Thos doing?!” Allen clenched his fists anxiously, hating his own helplessness. He swore silently that after this was over, he would master the Source Power, no matter what heavy price it took.
Because this feeling of powerlessness was simply unbearable for him…
In fact, not only him—Scott, Ulric, Connel, and even the four Apostles shared this thought.
Just then, a pillar-thick strike hit Sloth. Allen turned his head in surprise and saw Nina arriving.
“Sister Nina?” Allen’s face showed a strange expression as he saw Vashak.
Seizing Allen’s strange gaze, Nina glanced at Vashak and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, he’s not an enemy!”
Not an enemy? The third demon god on Belial’s side wasn’t an enemy?
Allen forced a smile.
“How’s Sloth’s power?”
Under Nina’s worried gaze, Vashak opened his triangular eyes on his forehead and turned them a few times before saying gravely, “As expected of an Ancient Will—no weaknesses at all…”
“How can we hurt him?”

“Only by using the Force…” Vashakton paused, speaking with a hint of humility, “Unfortunately, my mastery of the Force isn’t complete…” As he spoke, it seemed he sensed something; he quickly raised his hand to create a shield that just in time blocked Sloth’s black flames.

Glancing at Vashak, Scott frowned and said, “Where’s Thors? If he were here, at least it would increase our chances a bit!”

“A bit of a chance?” Nina gave a mysterious smile.

At that moment, a dark curtain appeared in midair with a whoosh, and soon, a figure stepped out of it, slowly descending before Allen and the others. Apologetically, they said, “Sorry for the delay—it took some time to get the Holy Spirit Stone to the center of the Eye of Chaos.”

Seeing that familiar move, Allen instinctively stepped back two steps and exclaimed in shock, “Be… Belial?”

Before his words faded, Nina chuckled softly, “No, look closer!”

Allen looked stunned, staring at the person who had suddenly appeared through space magic, and said in disbelief, “Th… Thors? Your hair, and your eyes… Wait, when did you learn space magic?”

“Hehe,” Thors smiled and shrugged. With a bang, the puppet [Pope] Poppe landed beside him and whispered, “There are basically no survivors left in Sassen City, master!”

“Ah!” Thors nodded. A strange pale blue glow appeared in the trident-shaped magic array in his right eye. Immediately afterward, countless trident-shaped magic arrays appeared all around him, targeting Sloth, who was attacking the four apostles.

“Whoosh!” Thousands of terrifying beams struck Sloth’s sturdy scales at once. With a pained roar, Sloth stopped attacking the four apostles and turned to look at Thors below.

“This… isn’t that Belial’s move?” Allen was filled with surprise and doubt. “Are… are you really Thors?”

“Ah,” Thors nodded and smiled. “That’s Belial’s power!” Before Allen could process this, Thors saw Sloth’s attention shift back to Lilith and the others, so he snapped his fingers.

With a boom, an explosion of incredibly powerful white flames erupted from Sloth’s forehead.

“Flame Flash?” Allen was stunned for a moment before finally relaxing. He glared at Thors and said, “I thought it was Belial! You scared me to death. What’s going on here?”

Sos sighed softly, with a hint of sadness, and said in a low voice, “Before leaving, Belial poured all the strength he had left into me—his achievements throughout his brief life, his astonishing accomplishments, spatial magic, etheric power, and Mirror Flower…”

Seeing Sos’s solemn expression, Allen fell silent for a moment before saying jokingly, “Hey, should I call you Belis now or Soria?” His playful tone immediately dispelled the heavy atmosphere.

“You!” Sos glared at Allen irritably and said helplessly, “I’m still me, Sos!” Then, taking a few deep breaths, he walked toward Sloth, saying as he went, “You’ve vented enough, right, Sloth?”

But what answered him was a burst of black flames spat out by Sloth.

“Be careful, Sos!” Nina cried in panic.

As the black flames drew closer, Sos raised his right hand. Without any apparent movement from him, the flames struck his palm and strangely transformed into a thick wave of darkness that swept past him on both sides. Yet Sos himself wasn’t harmed at all.

“Boom!” A loud explosion erupted on both sides of the street behind Sos, engulfed by the terrifying black flames.

Looking up at Sloth, who was staring at him with angry eyes, Sos sighed softly and said in a tone as if speaking to an old friend, “Stop it, Sloth. Destruction and killing aren’t what you want, are they?”

Surprisingly, Sloth’s blood-red eyes gradually returned to their normal light red. Suddenly, for some reason, as if stimulated, he once again showed a violent aura.

Amidst everyone’s shocked gazes, flames burst forth from Sos’s raised right hand—black flames, white flames, hellfire, and holy flames. These four flames of completely different natures twisted and merged together, illuminating the darkness around them.

“It seems it will take some time to communicate!”