Chapter 65
The future has changed, but the old era continues to move forward.
Where exactly did the artifact, the Key of Mikanoran, go? We'll probably have to interrogate the Twin Gods. Veris didn't devour the Twin Gods' divine essence; he could only sense whether the artifact was in the current world.
Veris frowned in thought as he walked back with Lortheran, only to encounter a subordinate rushing towards them. The subordinate stopped, bowed, and said, "Lord Orlando, those outsiders have suddenly disappeared."
The blood-red sky above was gradually swallowed by darkness. Veris looked up at the street in the distance. On ordinary days, he could see many people with ropes around their necks, but now there was not a single one.
His expression remained unchanged, still indifferent. He simply raised his wrist, and a magic circle floated in his palm, the runes on it spinning rapidly.
A soft cracking sound rang out. The black-haired youth lowered his eyes and stepped down from the city wall, pulling his hood back up. Now, his stray hairs obscured his eyes and brows, revealing only the flawless lower half of his face.
The magic circle shattered, and the subordinates dared not utter a sound, nor did they understand what had happened.
Veris clasped his hands together and said, "I was forcibly dragged into the ruins, but... He came for you, Lortheran."
He raised his head and glanced sideways at his old friend who still maintained the appearance of a young man.
Lortheran raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Alright, then I'll go in and see what they want me to do."
Veris frowned but didn't speak, only staring at his clasped hands. After a moment, he looked up again: "Is there something wrong with your body?"
-
Lord Martin and his party have decided to go to the ruins, and Long, having eaten and drunk his fill, plans to fly there tonight.
At this moment, Veris shoved Lortheran, who had a smug grin on his face, into their group.
Lord Martin's expression was somewhat strange, but he didn't say anything. He was only carrying a heavy sword on his back, along with light armor. Streams of light occasionally swirled across the armor, and incantations unique to magic circles appeared and disappeared.
This armor wasn't carved by Veris for him. It has quite a history. It was probably the work of a master blacksmith more than ten years ago. The master blacksmith used all his treasures to create this armor that looks light but is actually harder than heavy armor and can withstand most attacks.
By the way, Lord Martin accidentally fell into a trap. In a fit of anger, he kicked it twice, causing the hole to collapse. He then fell into someone's grave. When he got up, he saw the armor quietly placed next to the master blacksmith's coffin.
Lord Martin took the ruins very seriously this time. Although the armor had a remarkable history, it wasn't particularly conspicuous in his treasury.
Having just learned Lortheran's true identity from Lord Martin, the dragon and Hill looked at the boy curiously. The elf nodded: "He does look a lot like the Lortheran from before, but he's a bit fairer. Didn't I notice at first glance?"
Lord Martin thought the elves were saying he had dark skin.
The dragon was happy, though its emotions came and went quickly. Its mind was much simpler than that of a human. It asked Lortheran if he was more powerful than the current Lord Martin.
The blond-haired boy smiled and said, "How could that be? I'm just an old man."
It's really strange to say such things while wearing such a body.
It was getting late, and the trial participants were forcibly drawn into the ruins. Lord Martin urged the dragon to set off. The dragon muttered something under its breath, but still obediently went to the open space outside the city and released its true form.
A gigantic dragon appeared in the open space. The humans standing on the ground could only look up at it. The dragon's shape blotted out the sky, and its wings alone were more than ten meters long.
Lortheran stared intently at the black wings. Near the body, where the defenses were relatively weak, the wings were flesh-colored.
A group of two people, an elf, and a dragon set off towards the Elf Forest.
Veris stood on the city wall, watching the huge shadow recede into the distance. The night wind blew his cloak, outlining the curves of his shoulders and making them appear even thinner.
He watched the shadow disappear before shifting his gaze to the sky above the city. Unlike the starry sky that suddenly appeared when the dragon came last night, it was now as black as swamp mud, with the moon only behind a cloud, its edge emitting a faint light.
The ruins of the Twin Gods have been opened.
The ruins of Ambrose will close in less than a day. If the dragons travel diligently, they will have half a day left. During this half day, Lortheran and his companions must obtain the artifacts of Ambrose.
Veris believed in his companions' strength. If Ambrose were to unleash his divine power, it would clash with the restrictions he had placed on his companions, causing a direct confrontation with his divine power. In that case, Ambrose would surely die.
That deity will surely hold a grudge and will not easily let his companion go.
Moreover, the body of Lortheran from later generations possessed a rare divine physique, and he did not believe that Ambrose was unaware of this, nor was he certain that Ambrose would find it difficult to resist this temptation.
It should also be noted that the hero team from three hundred years later has also been assembled. Although they are all inexperienced newcomers, the effect of the hero team is very different.
Those people are born with a certain amount of luck.
As for who will ultimately wield the Staff of Earth, while Veris personally felt it was most likely to fall into the hands of his partner, there was no denying that the chances of that brave warrior's team being able to claim it were equally high.
Just like the four categories of red flame stone and gold liquid in alchemy, if you put one of the red flame stone or gold liquid into the alchemical furnace, nothing will happen; it will only remove the impurities from the red flame stone.
The same applies when you put in Crimson Flame Stone, along with Gold and Water.
However, once all four elements of gold and water are added, the Crimson Flame Stone will be refined into Thunder Rock with tremendous power. It doesn't matter what the last element of the four elements is, as long as they are all present.
This will produce an unparalleled reaction.
Veris tapped on a stone on the city wall, lost in thought, his eyes fixed on the moon's silhouette that kept moving behind the clouds.
So far, the god Yannis has not appeared.
Although he has not yet fully mastered the power of dual divinity, he is currently the only being in the world recognized as having the qualifications to become a god.
His perception of other deities was accurate.
Yannis...is not from this era?
impossible.
Has He already found a body to possess? No, just like Ambrose, even if someone possesses a human, He can still tell.
Veris frowned, unable to figure it out for a moment.
If you can't figure it out, so be it. Killing those fragile gods is a piece of cake.
Veris straightened up, his hood blown off by the strong wind, revealing his pale and beautiful face in the vast darkness of the night.
He took two steps back, raised his wrists, and snapped his fingers together as if he had grabbed something, causing the veins on his wrists to bulge.
He actually tore a dark crack in the void in front of him.
The twin gods, who were observing the ruins of Ambrose, suddenly had a bad feeling.
Micanoran exchanged a glance: "What happened?"
The gods' intuition is always right, but the twin gods are extremely anxious. They should perhaps leave the ruins, but where else can they find a safe place besides the ruins?
Should we go to the ruins of Ambrose?
No, no, deities cannot freely enter the ruins of other deities. The ruins of Ambrose can only accommodate one of them at most. What about the other one?
But in that fleeting, uncertain moment...
A crack suddenly appeared on the path in front of them. They gripped the edge of the crack with their fingers, and the crack grew larger and larger, gradually revealing the figure inside.
The twin gods took two steps back in alarm.
That, that is...
"Unfortunately, we meet again."
The black-haired youth, who had seemingly torn through space to appear before the twin gods, slowly raised his head. Beneath his disheveled hair, his heterochromatic pupils reflected the terrified faces of the two deities.
Why do most deities look exactly like humans?
Yannis, Ambrose, Michael, Nolan... even Poseidon, the god who loves sea creatures, retains a human upper body.
The world has always favored humans.
These gods may have realized this long ago, and spared no effort in toying with these weak races, scattering plague-laden mosquitoes, leaving behind an inextinguishable flame, stirring up floods from time to time, and causing the ground to tremble and canyons to form.
Humanity has endured countless natural and man-made disasters, centuries of war, and plagues and desolation, yet none of these could kill them.
Among them, there came Veris.
More than half a month ago, he raised his longsword high and cleanly beheaded Mika, then swung his sword again and pierced Nolan's forehead.
Even their weaknesses are similar to those of humans.
The interior of the Twin Gods' ruins resembles a vast starry sky, with countless stars twinkling within. A path shimmering with white light meanders through it, making it appear beautiful and dreamlike, but in reality, it conceals deadly dangers.
Veris stood quietly before Mikanoran. The twin gods' expressions shifted from panic, perhaps realizing how humiliating it was, to feigning composure, each trying to bolster their own courage with a few words.
Noisy.
Veris raised his wrist, and a completely black staff that could not reflect any light appeared in his hand. His lips were pressed straight, and a gentle breeze from somewhere stirred the stray hairs in front of his eyebrows. The stars reflected in the eyes of the twin gods.
The young man's face bore a resemblance to the god of love.
The jet-black staff in that hand undoubtedly exuded an aura from hell.
The twin gods share life and death, possessing dual divine status. However, Veris also carries two divine statuses. In the past, Veris faced the twin gods single-handedly, and the twin gods never won. How could he possibly win now?
Mika was somewhat devastated. The harsh words he had just uttered were clearly just to comfort himself. He and Nolan had already been killed by Eros once, and then by Veris again, not to mention the countless times they had traveled through time and been chased by Veris in different times.
Nolan gritted his teeth: "Let's go. This is our ruins. Our remaining divine power is still there."
These words were like a wake-up call. Mika realized that it was true; their divine power had been stored in the ruins when they were still alive... No, it wasn't a ruin at all back then, but their domain.
Because the deity died, it was called a ruin.
The countless stars attacked Veris at a terrifying speed, but the young man, holding his staff, merely touched the white path of light with the bottom of his hand.
The twin gods were already hiding not far away. The ruins were only so big, and they began to regret that they should have built a complex of buildings like Poseidon's, so that they could at least hide there.
The two deities watched intently as the stars fell, while the youth, whose cloak was billowed by the wind as countless stars rushed towards him, raised his pale and beautiful face. He held a staff in both hands, the white light obscuring part of its base, but at the same time, certain changes were particularly obvious.
A magic circle appeared and then expanded wildly, covering their entire ruins in an instant, before the twin gods could even see it in horror.
Before the stars could even get close to Veris, they were shattered by an invisible force, and the streams of light exploded.
Demons are gods who can manipulate magical elements.
Magic exists in the world. Even the source of divine power contains magical elements, but these elements are analyzed and reshaped to become the power used by the gods.
The divine power derived from the demon godhood is a divine power that is completely subservient to Veris, even if its structure and rules contradict Veris's main godhood.
Under a starry sky like a dream, the black-haired youth floated up and stared at the twin gods opposite him. Behind him, a huge pattern rose up.
The twin gods couldn't help but clench each other's hands tightly.
That is the divine symbol of the god of love.
Red and light pink intertwine, with golden light dancing within. That is a complete and mature divine nature. When the god of love inherited the divine nature to Veris, the level of the divine nature was even comparable to that of foreign gods like Sylvain.
However, even though they are both part of the same pantheon, the power of the god of love is not invincible.
The gods are mutually reinforcing and mutually restraining; the god of love, God of Love, is in conflict with Nolan, yet He also restrains the god of love.
Micah clenched his fist, about to unleash his divine power, when he witnessed an unbelievable scene.
The beautiful and enormous divine pattern, from some unknown point, was shrouded in ominous black and blood-red smoke, which transformed the familiar image of the God of Love into a pattern that was both familiar and strange.
The distorted black light intertwined, resembling the clawing tentacles of His true form, yet the shape of the pattern was indescribable. Even a god, staring at the pattern for only a short time, experienced a sharp pain in his eyes.
Things that cannot be named should not be looked at directly, not even by gods.
"It's Sylvain!" Nolan finally realized what was happening and let out a piercing scream.
"Damn it! How could you possibly have fully inherited His divinity? He wasn't even—"
The black staff was raised and pointed at the twin gods.
The same beautiful and intricate patterns were reflected in Veris's heterochromatic pupils.
It turned out that the twin gods, in their terror, had unknowingly activated their divine nature to manifest, but their divine nature was too weak, and the combined image did not match the immense terror behind Veris.
With the demonic deities completely filling their field of vision, they could only close their eyesight and rely on their control over the ruins to capture Veris's movements.
But they soon realized it was a waste of time.
When the three-meter-wide magic circle appeared and was aimed directly at them, they still clung to a sliver of hope, thinking they could evade it.
"Where is your divine artifact?" Veris asked before taking action.
Mika's body trembled inexplicably, yet he was still driven by an unknown force to answer Veris's question: "The artifact lost the power of 'rules' after it opened the past and cannot be used."
Nolan, standing nearby, looked at Mika in astonishment. How could Mika have revealed something that only they knew?
As soon as the words left his mouth, Mika's body trembled again. He gasped for breath, clutching his throat. What was happening? Had he just been manipulated?!
Seeing this, Nolan understood what had happened.
“We will use all of God’s power directly,” He said.
But even when they were fully divine, they couldn't do anything to Veris, let alone now.
The demonic divine essence suspended behind Veris exuded an ancient aura of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of millions of years. Standing before the demonic divine essence, what difference was there between them and newborn infants?
The young man got the answer he wanted, but he still didn't rush to kill them. Instead, he continued to ask, "Where did Yannis go?"
Nolan's body began to tremble. Mika grabbed Nolan's wrist and screamed, "No! You can't say that—!!"
“He is in Arnold’s soul.” But even as He covered Nolan’s mouth, the voice from his lower body still rang out.
Even if it's obscure, the meaning is clear.
Mika opened his eyes wide and helplessly lowered his hand.
It's over.
They had only one thought left in their minds.
At the center of that great magic circle was a complete image of a demon god, and the power that erupted from the center of that image was enough to destroy the ruins, including the two weak god-heads. Even at their peak, they would have had difficulty stopping it.
"Time! Reverse it—"
At the critical moment, Micah shouted.
Nolan also poured the divine power of the entire ruins into Micah's divine essence. The dreamlike starry sky around them shattered inch by inch. They had nowhere to go. Just being illuminated by the demon's divine essence for a long time would be enough to make their divine essence turn to ashes!
The shattered white light left a long trail, and when Mika realized that the broken starry sky of the ruins was being repaired, he was overjoyed.
Unexpectedly, His power could overwhelm the clash of divine forces between demons!
The ruins, which they had painstakingly renovated over the past few days, have been restored to their beautiful and dreamlike appearance.
Veris isn't here either!
Micanoran slumped down, exchanged a glance with them, and seeing their disheveled appearance, he did not laugh at them. Instead, he felt wave after wave of fear wash over him, making even these mighty gods dizzy.
The cost of reversing time is also obvious.
Mika's divine status was nearly shattered, and much of the divine power within the ruins was used to set up barriers, which are now fully revealed to the people.
The latter two are irrelevant; the site was meant to be opened anyway.
However, the complete loss of divine power within the ruins also told the twin gods that if they escaped this time, they would have no chance of escaping next time.
Mika stood up shakily, helped Nolan up, and asked in a trembling voice, "Where is Veris?"
They looked out of the ruins and saw the curious and searching gazes of countless humans within the city, but not the terrifying cloaked youth.
Nolan shook his head, his tone uncertain: "He doesn't seem to be here? What time is it for you?"
Micah was bewildered: "Just before he came in, divine power couldn't have lasted any longer."
The twin gods, having reached an impasse, were about to destroy some checkpoints in hopes of recovering more divine power when Ambrose's voice rang out.
Gods can communicate with each other.
Ambrose's voice was even louder than theirs had been, filled with terror and rage: "Micah! Why turn back time!"
Mika frowned, clearly displeased: "Ambrose, you should understand that we reversed time because we encountered a difficult situation that we had no choice but to do so. What, did you kill someone? If you could kill once, why can't you kill a second time?"
"You, you—" the noble god uttered the vulgarities only human scoundrels would use, "Tell me, why are Veris here! I almost killed the hero just now! It's all your fault, Mika—ah!!"
Ambrose's final, piercing scream sent a chill down the spines of the Twin Gods.
However… the Mikanoran exchanged a glance and breathed a sigh of relief. Veris had gone to Ambrose's side, which meant that their ruins were safe.
It's better to kill Ambrose than for them to die!
We should take this opportunity to try to contact Yannis and ask him to transfer some more divine power.
What cooperation, what working together to deal with Veris? When it really came down to this, Mikanoran didn't care about any of that. Just now, when he faced the demon god, the sharp pain in his eyes felt like a thousand sharp needles were piercing his eyes, stabbing in and out, then stabbing in again!
The mere act of eye contact was so terrifying; they didn't want to face it a second time so soon.
Anyway, Ambrose didn't do any of the things he did well. I guess it would be good enough if he didn't get in their way when he was sent to kill Veris!
After comforting himself, Micanoran ignored Ambrose.
Meanwhile, in the Elf Forest, thousands of miles away...
In such a short time, the dragon would normally not be able to fly to the Elf Forest.
However, midway through their journey, they discovered a teleportation array sent by Veris at some unknown time. The group happily entered the teleportation array and, sure enough, arrived outside the ruins of the Earth God in an instant.
There were many people around the ruins, but no one dared to enter; they just lingered there.
Lortheran and the others didn't care about anything else. The dragon also transformed back into human form and followed his companions into the yellowish-brown vortex.
After the feeling of floating in the space dissipated, what came into view was a scene of twisted corpses scattered all over the ground.
His abdomen was ripped open, and his death was extremely gruesome.
The lingering, strong smell of blood suggests that the owner of this site was a tyrannical man.
Lord Martin's face immediately turned cold. Lortheran surveyed the hellish scene without saying a word, but his eyes were also filled with icy coldness.
These were all his future recruits, meant to cultivate the land for him to build his kingdom, and now they're all dead!
Hill frowned as he examined the mangled corpses and said, "There are outsiders and native humans."
“And my descendants.” The dragon’s voice was unusually displeased.
Although he usually looked down on these descendants, when he actually saw his descendants turned into pieces of rotten flesh and thrown on the ground, the dragon felt his anger surge to the top of his head.
Lortheran closed his eyes, sighed, and finally began to recite scriptures.
He came from the future, so he had naturally studied the scriptures of the Veris Church, including those for the salvation of the dead, which he could recite by heart.
However, no one asked His Majesty the King to perform a ritual to help anyone pass on to the afterlife.
This was the first time Lortheran truly used the scripture for deliverance.
In the era before the emergence of the Veris faith, those wandering souls, haunted by resentment, suddenly sensed something, and an unseen force guided them to a certain place.
hell.
Veris, who had just arrived outside the ruins following closely behind his companion, paused.
He paused for a moment, then looked up at the night sky.
Within a space undetectable to others, countless wispy specks of light emerged from the ruins, then converged into a river, flying towards the place in his consciousness.
Her lips trembled slightly, then her brows furrowed deeply.
In just one day of opening, thousands of lives were lost at the site!
In this era, life is also a precious resource.
Veris shouldn't have been angry; he should have known the habits of these gods.
But……
He clenched his fists.
A bunch of damn bastards.
I originally wanted everyone to get some experience and go through some difficulties and setbacks.
In retrospect, he was too lenient with these shameless individuals.
Bind Ambrose, make him watch helplessly as his artifacts are taken away, and then kill him.
Veris stood before the earthen-yellow vortex, raised his hand, and a magic circle the same size as the vortex appeared. Unlike before, this magic circle shimmered with a pale golden light.
He glanced at it with a puzzled look, but after carefully sensing it, he found that the effect of the magic array had not changed, and was even stronger, so he continued his actions.
Inside the ruins, Ambrose, who was beaming with pride, suddenly stood up.
His ruins have been forcibly sealed off!
A fleeting look of panic crossed Ambrose's face. Without the slightest hesitation, he detached himself from his current body, attempting to leave the ruins and hide in the ruins of the Twin Gods.
However, those ruins, the ruins He relied on, became a cage that imprisoned Him.
He became a lamb to the slaughter, no different from any other human being!
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Author's note: See you tomorrow! [hugs]
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