Silence.
A god was a being high above, a true supreme existence beyond social classes, cognitive frameworks, and planes of life; even comparing oneself to an ant beneath a god's fingertip was a form of profanity against the divine.
When a god appeared before you, all you could do was press your forehead to the ground in worship.
When a god spoke to you, you could only listen attentively and obey unto death, for it was a divine decree.
When a god offered you a bestowal, you could only feel gratitude and dedicate all your piety; to withhold even a fraction was a sin.
If this wisp of the Dark Moon Goddess's "will" had not descended, this island might have already vanished from the world, and every person and object upon it wiped away completely.
It could be said that the goddess's appearance had already saved Karen.
Yet, faced with the goddess's demand, Karen did not choose to swear an oath, nor did he choose to accept her bestowal. Instead, he stood there, demanding that this sacred goddess plead with him.
Logically speaking, the hunger of Order at this moment was enough to drive Karen mad. In fact, right now, Karen had temporarily lost all reason, reduced to a slave to "desire" and "need."
Thus, for Karen to restrain his "hunger" right now, pause his instinct to devour, and stand here making demands of a goddess could mean only one thing:
The newly emerged "desire" had suppressed the primal "hunger desire."
Not bowing to a god, not flattering a god, not worshiping a god;
not acknowledging a god's majesty, not respecting a god's supremacy, not believing in a god's greatness;
to be a priest in a world of gods, yet remain a staunch "atheist"—
what joy could possibly compare... to blaspheming a god?
*I care nothing for my life or death, nor do I care about the plight of my subordinates; I ignore what fate would befall me had you not restrained the destruction earlier or should you abandon restraint now;*
*I purely, naively, innocently want to shatter your pride, tear away your halo, and see you fall to your knees, begging me!*
*Because this brings me joy. This brings me pleasure.*
Hunger truly seemed to be only the outermost expression, just as the defining trait of the Inmeles family's faith system was "learning."
All things had a process of cognition, and deeper understanding inevitably brought new discoveries, sometimes even yielding conclusions completely opposite to initial impressions.
During this silence, looking down from above the well's opening, Pu'er and Kevin saw the phantom of a new divine robe of Order emerge over Karen. This robe was still predominantly black, but adorned with faint red stripes.
"An Adjudicator Robe?" Pu'er's eyes went wide. "Karen had a breakthrough?"
"Woof?" Kevin's doggy eyes widened once more.
"I knew it, meow. Ever since Diss, the Inmeles family has been mass-producing freaks! Fortunately, the mother's surname of the next little freak will most likely be 'Allen.'"
"Woof." Kevin nodded.
"So my great-great-great-great-niece needs to work hard and have a few more! I'm practically drooling over this bloodline. Let me think... if she has two, can I beg Karen to let one of them take the surname 'Allen'? Do you think Karen would agree?"
"Woof, woof."
"Stupid dog, I meant having two children! What do you mean 'two people giving birth'?"
Kevin craned his head out, continuing to observe carefully below.
"Woof?"
"It doesn't look like a breakthrough? At least, not an active one. What do you think, stupid dog?"
"Woof." Kevin nodded again.
"Karen probably amassed way too much horizontal foundation long ago, so he should have hit the threshold for an Inquisitor breakthrough by now. Could this be a sign of advancement? But I doubt he even knows. Even if he did, going by his past habit, he wouldn't advance right away; he'd want to weigh his options first.
"Honestly, I used to think I was a genius, touching the edge of the Ancestor's power limit at such a young age. But thinking about it now, if I hadn't been so impulsive in my youth, rushing to raise my family faith system tier, maybe I would've had a chance to spot the problems early on or make some changes.
"Diss had the same problem. We were both too exceptional—so exceptional that we advanced too quickly, and by the time we realized something was wrong and wanted to turn, it was already too late.
"Karen, on the other hand, has always stayed true to his own path, adhering to his own set of principles. I'm really looking forward to what kind of Adjudicator path he chooses."
"Woof." Kevin pointed a paw downward, reminding Pu'er that things weren't over yet.
"Well, it's not like we can help anyway. Whether this island blows up or not has nothing to do with us. But stupid dog, if you could be a bit more useful, take a look over there..." Pu'er glanced at Memphis, who was still frantically calculating. "Maybe we could have put the lid back on long ago."
"Woof~" Kevin looked aggrieved. His knowledge had gaps, and arrays weren't his main specialty. Most of the time, he could only serve as a theoretical advisor.
"Ah, so boring. If the island blows up like this, spending my final moments sitting by a well blabbering nonsense with a stupid dog like you doesn't fit my aesthetic ideal for dying."
Kevin wagged his tail.
Pu'er frowned, her cat face turning chubby and sulky as she scratched at the rim of the well with her claws. "If we get back safely this time, I'm going to design my own funeral."
"Woof, woof, woof."
"You're saying my funeral was held long ago? Oh, right. Before I returned, everyone in the family referred to me as a genius member of family history—well, that's code for deceased.
"Hm? Wait, no, you're talking about the tombstone Karen erected for me, the one with those nauseating words carved on it? I already had Young Anderson knock that tombstone down."
"Woof, woof."
"You mean when Ophelia visited the manor last time, Young Anderson put my tombstone back up?
"Oh, damn it, that unfilial descendant!"
...
Karen had no idea that a phantom Adjudicator Robe had manifested over him in reality. His accumulation had long been sufficient—overflowing to an unbelievable degree.
The description of an [Adjudicator] in the *Light of Order* was: *Under the premise of absolute calm and reason, pass judgment in the name of Order.*
Although Karen's current state was entirely that of a madman trapped helplessly in a whirlpool of desire, when a certain emotion reached an extreme, the resulting effect inverted.
Absolute calm and reason... was actually achieved by default.
However, Karen did not choose to advance directly. Not to mention that he was unaware of the situation outside, even if he knew, he would have chosen to shelve it.
Before choosing his direction, he would not rush to take a step. His path had never permitted compromise or ambiguity from the very beginning.
The silence was finally broken.
The Dark Moon Goddess raised her hand, pointing at Karen.
This divine shadow and the will currently emanating from the goddess were almost certainly not the goddess herself, but driven by instinct, she still prepared to punish the one who dared disrespect her.
Just as you wouldn't hate a mosquito, yet when one landed on your arm, you wouldn't mind swatting it dead.
Karen's actions had gone far beyond simply landing on a god's arm.
Yet, the moment the Dark Moon Goddess raised her arm, in addition to the purple-rusted chain that had bound her all along, hundreds of Chains of Order burst forth from beneath Karen's feet in an instant. They wove and crisscrossed behind him, eventually forming a great disc that rotated around him.
This was protection, a proclamation, and even more, a warning.
In reality, Karen could easily be blasted to death by a magic crystal cannon. But in the space of consciousness, as the person who resembled the God of Order "most closely," he could make Ankara cry out "Father" in shock.
Right now, Karen had only one thought in his mind: he would make the Dark Moon Goddess, make this deity, make this wisp of her consciousness bow her head and plead before him.
For this, he would spare no cost.
This was no pretense. A person whose emotions were completely out of control possessed not an ounce of acting, yet this was the greatest acting of all.
The Dark Moon Goddess's hand stopped halfway up.
If the true Dark Moon Goddess had descended, she would not have been fooled. But she was not; she was merely the final trace of will left behind by the Dark Moon Goddess on each altar.
Her operational rules were just like the closed-eyed God of Order Karen had once witnessed.
The Dark Moon Goddess spoke: "Order..."
In the previous era, even among the main gods, not every deity left detailed records in mythological narratives outside their own church.
And the war between the Dark Moon Goddess and the Moon God Artemis was an utterly unremarkable conflict, not unusual at all against the backdrop of incessant divine wars and slaughter in the previous era.
The faith of the Dark Moon had fallen into discontinuity, and the Moon God Church never made detailed public records of the Dark Moon faith. Part of the reason was undoubtedly the victor's pride and disdain, while another part was to protect their goddess's image—detailed records of this war would inevitably prompt people to trace and ponder the reasons behind the Dark Moon Goddess's vengeance.
In fact, the Moon God Church's portrayal of the two sacrificed "handmaidens" as positive and loyal figures, even positioning them as branch deities of their faith, was likely influenced by the Dark Moon Goddess's later challenge against the Moon God.
*You wish to avenge your mother? Then I shall define your mother as the most loyal sacrificial offering.*
Yet as a god, deities had their own clear circle. Just as mortals perceived and envisioned the glorious era of gods in the previous era through mythological narratives, a god clearly understood who the true pinnacle existences of her era were.
Mortals worshiped gods high above because distance created a heavy filter, always imagining gods to be purely pristine and ethereal;
yet gods within their own circle often displayed many "mortal" behaviors.
Had any other god stood before the Dark Moon Goddess demanding she "beg me," she would have met it with disdain, indifference, and apathy, because the target of her vengeance was the head of the lunar deities, a true main god possessing an orthodox divine church.
But if it was the God of Order...
That primary warrior of the Light camp during the mid-previous era, the entity who replaced the God of Light at the end of the previous era to become the most formidable main god—if he was willing to help her take revenge, then Artemis...
If earlier the hunger had driven Karen so mad that he felt he could even devour Pu'er without hesitation,
then now, with his deeper desires and needs stimulated, Karen was equally willing to resort to any means to make the Dark Moon Goddess kneel.
Deception?
Pretense?
Filth?
Moral constraints no longer existed, nor did any consideration of consequences. *I just want you to cast aside your dignity—your dignity as a god!*
"You... are willing to help me seek revenge?" the Dark Moon Goddess asked.
Karen frowned. Her neck remained proudly upright; this was not an attitude of begging someone, but more like an interrogation.
"There is a dog up above. I helped him suppress and slaughter the Sea God."
The Dark Moon Goddess lifted her head, looking upward.
A red light appeared at the well's opening, enveloping Kevin. This startled Pu'er.
Kevin froze for a second, then realized whose gaze had fallen upon him. He appeared relatively calm, reserved, and elegant.
Soon, however, he sensed a sensation so familiar it was practically branded into the depths of his soul. His dog eyes immediately looked toward Karen—or more precisely, using the Dark Moon Goddess's gaze as a conduit, he perceived Karen's condition within the consciousness space.
Kevin's tail shot straight up, before realizing something was wrong and quickly drooping back down.
The same feeling... the same feeling. It was that feeling once again.
The last time he felt this was in the master bedroom in the funeral parlor's backyard, when he and Pu'er pushed open the bathroom door to find Karen lying in the bathtub, his eyes brimming with hunger.
It reminded him of when he prostrated beneath the God of Order's throne, when the God of Order said: *He was hungry.*
At this moment, another scene surfaced in Kevin's mind: standing behind the God of Order, arriving at the periphery of the God-Burial Grounds.
Because the God of Light had gone missing, the buried deities within the God-Burial Grounds wished to sign a new treaty with the gods outside. Their attitude hadn't been terrible either, along the lines of: since Light's whereabouts are unknown, we hope to establish a new line of communication with the next main god taking Light's place.
That time, Raniedal originally thought it was just a routine meeting between gods. Although he didn't know why the God of Order had summoned him, the God of Order had promised him that he only needed to accomplish nine tasks for him, and the God of Order would step in to help him suppress the Sea God. Naturally, he went straight away, thinking it was as simple as could be.
Yet when he arrived and stood behind the God of Order, he immediately noticed something was wrong.
At the time, facing the God-Burial Grounds, the God of Order spoke two sentences:
The first sentence was: *Even in death, they still stubbornly and laughably hold their proud heads high. Their time has already ended; they should no longer exist.*
The second sentence was: *Gods should never have existed in the first place; they are the source of instability for Order.*
Hearing that second sentence, Raniedal was terrified, almost thinking the God of Order was going to kill him on the spot and casually toss him into the God-Burial Grounds to be buried!
Fortunately, the God of Order didn't do so, instead personally walking into the God-Burial Grounds. Raniedal didn't know how the negotiations went; he only remembered that while staying at the perimeter, he saw the God-Burial Grounds constantly collapsing and shattering, accompanied by the endless wails of gods.
In the end, the heavily wounded God of Order walked out alone and told him to banish the God-Burial Grounds.
This time, from Karen's display, Kevin quickly realized that the hunger of Order was merely a surface manifestation. The effect Order brought was a hatred for all sources of instability to Order—and among them, the greatest hatred of all... was toward gods.
*So this was why the God of Order slaughtered deities on a massive scale at the end of the previous era...*
The Dark Moon Goddess withdrew her gaze. Her form was slightly dispersing now; clearly, she could not hold out much longer.
"Can you keep your promise?"
Karen repeated: "Beg me."
The ring of Order beside Karen split into chains once more, issuing constant warnings toward the Dark Moon Goddess. Among them, one chain let out a hissing sound. It was trembling, yet extraordinarily excited—that was Thousand Phantoms.
It knew it shouldn't appear right now, but it had no choice; it had to come out. Besides, this feeling of profound terror combined with immense exhilaration was simply too intoxicating.
Only at this moment did this vicious creature, Thousand Phantoms, born of the realm of resentment inside the door, truly surrender to Karen. It was the awe of *I thought I was ferocious enough, but you're even more ferocious than me.*
"I hope to receive a definite answer."
"Beg me."
"For vengeance, I can disregard everything."
"Your 'disregarding everything' has already failed. Pleading with me is your only chance."
Before Karen, the phantom of the God of Order and the phantom of the God of Light took a step forward in unison. The faith avatars of two main gods pressed the Dark Moon Goddess down, making her seem even more diminutive.
"I do not possess the qualification to plead, nor do I have this authority."
"No, you do," Karen said. "Just like the two of them, you possess the capacity to think. It was you who permitted their betrayal."
Hearing this, the Dark Moon Goddess remained motionless, speaking:
"I want revenge."
"Then you should know what to do next."
The Dark Moon Goddess closed her eyes. She placed her hands in front of her, stepped back, and bowed her head.
Every subtle motion gave Karen immense pleasure.
*This is a god high above! This is a god high above!*
Karen said, "Wait."
The Dark Moon Goddess halted her movement.
"Your hesitation has already cost you the qualification to plead directly to me. I no longer wish to hear your words."
"What do you mean?"
"Someone else will hear it."
Karen's gaze sharpened, reaching his hand forward.
The next moment,
sitting by the rim of the well, Pu'er sensed a summons originating from the symbiosis contract. She immediately turned her head toward Kevin and said, "Stupid dog, is it so critical down there that even I need to help?"
Although she guessed things were extremely perilous, Pu'er didn't hesitate, immediately responding to Karen's summons to reinforce him.
Then,
having assumed human form wearing a hooded cloak and clutching a wand, Pu'er appeared within Karen's consciousness space.
Pu'er glanced to her side and saw the towering faith form of the God of Light.
"Hiss..."
Pu'er glanced to her right and saw the majestic faith form of the God of Order.
"Uh..."
She realized she was standing right between two supreme beings. Was this really a place she was allowed to stand?
Immediately following that,
Pu'er saw the Dark Moon Goddess bow down toward her:
"I beg of you, help me seek revenge."
*Oh gods! Heavens! Heavens!*
Pu'er felt her fingers and toes curl tight, her very soul trembling. She subconsciously stammered in reply:
"O-O-O-Okay."
Karen spoke:
"Very well."
—
The temple of the Moon God Church.
High above, the Moon Wheel turned incessantly. It was a precious gift bestowed by the Moon God upon her believers, and the totemic symbol of the modern Moon God Church.
An elder in gold-trimmed divine robes, bearing the mark of a full moon between his brows, sat with closed eyes on a chair facing the Moon Wheel.
He was the guardian of the Moon Wheel; he had sat here for two hundred years.
*Crack...*
A crisp sound, so subtle it was barely audible, rang out.
The elder opened his eyes, a flicker of sheer horror instantly surfacing in his gaze. One had to understand, even when subordinates reported setbacks on the front lines to him recently, he hadn't even bothered opening his eyes to care. But now, a palpable dread trembled in his voice:
"The Moon Wheel... has cracked!"
Chapter 467