When the seal of the forbidden curse was applied to him, it felt as if a pair of hands had materialized out of thin air.
One hand clamped onto the back of his neck while the other pressed against the back of his head, forcing him down into the ocean in a manner that utterly disregarded his will.
He could see bubbles continuously rising before him and feel the light slipping away. Endless darkness had become his predestined final resting place.
If one were to pull back the perspective and zoom out from Karen himself, Karen became small, and the ocean shrank as well. Beyond the ocean, where light and shadows rippled, an ancient desk appeared, laden with books and a quill.
A colossal figure resembling a mountain sat behind the desk, holding a pen, seemingly engaged in reading or writing.
Compared to him, Karen was as minuscule as a speck of dust.
In this era when the gods walked the world no more, even the most devout believers had lost their clear perception of divinity. Attempting to imagine it through mythological narratives always felt like looking through a veil, falling just short of the mark.
A sage of the Church of Principles had once left behind an educational work that introduced believers to what kind of existence a god truly was from a unique vantage point. It contained the following passage:
*In the eyes of a god, you may be a person. In your eyes, the other is a god. But when you detach from your own mortal shell and look upon both the god and yourself at the same time, you will suddenly realize you do not know who you are at all... no, what you are.*
Later generations offered many interpretations of this passage, elevating it to philosophical heights that transcended the concepts of gods and mortals.
Karen's current state was the finest demonstration of those words.
Darkness encroached rapidly. The passage of time lost all measurable meaning here; life no longer possessed breadth or length, reducing back to a primordial single point.
All change ceased to exist. Any development ground to a halt.
There was no death, yet it surpassed death.
A tiny quill barb fell from an unknown pen, drifting and fluttering until it finally landed atop Karen's head, as if to place the final period upon this paragraph.
At this moment, Karen could be said to be "dead"—all that was lacking was one final breath, one last blink, one last sigh.
When the sealing reached its absolute peak, Karen lost all rational control. The hunger addiction concealed within the deepest recesses of his heart, constantly guarded against and suppressed, seized its final opportunity to catch its breath.
Originally, it would have achieved nothing. Had it been a forbidden curse of any other faith, or even one left behind by a branch god, the hunger addiction—even if it surfaced—would have had time only for a final, futile revel before being thoroughly sealed away alongside Karen.
However, the forbidden curse Morindi had cast by sacrificing her life to fuel the undead summon Norton fundamentally exploited the relationship between Norton and Tyrannus, lowering the difficulty of invoking this forbidden curse in a remarkably opportunistic manner.
It was like raising your hand to borrow something: when personal ties and favor existed, borrowing was naturally easier, and the interest was considerably lower.
Yet that was precisely where the problem lay.
When Tyrannus's forbidden curse sensed the aura of the "God of Order," what would he do?
This question could be examined through another lens:
If Alfred were to use the Succubus Eye on someone and suddenly realize the target was his own young master, what would he do?
Karen knew he had no direct connection to the God of Order; he had merely stepped onto the exact path the God of Order had once walked through a confluence of coincidences.
Even though the God of Order had set up a false signpost for nearly all believers during the "God's Revelation" phase, Karen had never been led astray.
Consequently, the aura on him that resembled the God of Order had been preserved.
It was like someone who loved eating bean paste: they always carried the distinct smell of bean paste, so whenever neighbors and acquaintances caught a whiff, they instinctively assumed it was that person coming.
If they took a closer look with their own eyes, they would realize it was someone else entirely. But the issue was that in an era where the gods walked the world no more, those qualified to "look" were virtually nonexistent. Kevin was a rare exception, which was why he had never "misunderstood" from the very start.
Back then, the fragment of Ankara had also mistakenly cried out "Daddy" upon seeing Karen at first glance, only realizing something was wrong after observing him further.
As for the others, they had never "seen" the God of Order in the first place, so they mistook this scent as belonging exclusively to him.
Karen had once joked with Purr that his situation was much like the Emperor's New Clothes. He had even recounted the fable to Purr specifically, with the sole difference being that his new clothes were worn inside out.
He knew he wasn't wearing anything, yet every single person around him was more convinced than he was that he wore regal garments.
Karen didn't dislike this, because there was no denying that this "New Clothes of the God of Order" had indeed brought him substantial benefits.
Just like now: what should have been the final curtain call caused the nearly negligible mental imprint of Tyrannus lingering above the forbidden curse to violently tremble, triggered by the aura stirred up by the hunger addiction.
Raniedal, who had once served as the God of Order's white glove, had immediately prostrated himself in terror and shivered at the sudden manifestation of the God of Order's hungry aura, leaving him with enduring psychological trauma.
As one of the Four Retainers beneath the God of Order, Tyrannus could not possibly be unfamiliar with this aura. In fact, his terror and reverence would run far deeper than Raniedal's.
Karen, completely dominated by the hunger addiction, opened his eyes. His gaze seemed to penetrate every barrier, striking directly into the core of the forbidden curse, and issued a single inquiry—not even words, but a mere syllable:
"Hm?"
In an instant, the sealing that had been just a hair's breadth away from taking full effect began to unravel.
Where it had previously surged like a tidal wave, it now fled in panic like a beaten dog.
In the unseen realm, the figure seated behind the desk fell into a prostrate kneel.
Tyrannus had founded the Church of Order for the God of Order. In modern mythological narratives of the Church of Order, he stood as the embodiment of wisdom and loyalty. Now, he offered the most devout confession:
"God, I have sinned."
Karen paid him no heed and opened his eyes.
In reality, he still stood on the level floor of the cavern. Beneath his feet lay the completely shriveled, lifeless heart.
"Ugh... ugh..."
Throaty, beastlike growls began rumbling continuously from his throat. Deep within the frantically swirling darkness of his eyes, a bloodthirsty crimson showed through.
Spreading his arms wide, the sealing array—already unable to sustain itself after Morindi's death—shattered directly. Karen regained his freedom.
He cast his gaze downward, meeting Morindi's eyes for a final exchange.
Morindi died with shock lingering in her gaze.
She did not even have the time to comprehend what the final scene she witnessed truly meant. Yet in her dying moments, her shriveled arm trembled faintly. That subtle movement spoke of her final urgency and yearning.
It was what she had sought to grasp for her entire life... Sadly, she no longer had the chance.
Little Kanna had reverted to her little girl form. The spider woman who had previously clashed with her had crumbled into flying ash and scattered upon Morindi's death.
Yet the moment little Kanna's gaze fell on the freed Karen, her expression turned dead serious. She positioned her hands before her chest, poised to transform back into a dragon at any moment.
Right now, Karen exuded an aura that made her deeply uncomfortable. She possessed few complex thoughts; her greatest obsession stemmed largely from the fierce, stubborn madness ingrained in the bone marrow of the Rebel Dragon God.
Gods were the very existences that the dragon god had loathed most.
Even though it was the God of Order who had "awakened" the Rebel Dragon God, the mythological narratives of the *Light of Order* contained no dedicated records concerning the God of Order and the Rebel Dragon God. There was bound to be a reason for this, and the most probable explanation was that the Rebel Dragon God and the God of Order had turned against each other.
Karen's gaze first fell upon Neo. Neo looked back at Karen. He had thought Karen was finished, yet Karen had broken free once more. However, he also recognized the precise change that had overtaken Karen.
The hunger addiction that had constantly plagued Karen had flared up—and this time, it had erupted with unprecedented thoroughness. Karen seemed to have lost all conscious control over it.
All Neo could do right now was blink repeatedly, but he knew full well this would achieve nothing.
Still, when Karen's gaze shifted away from him, Neo let out a deep breath of relief inside.
Neo understood that in his current mangled state, he hardly qualified as food anymore, and that made "Karen" lose interest in him.
He was... hunting!
For a moment, a pang of disappointment welled up in Neo's chest.
Last time, when he had lost his mind after inhaling a breath from the Church of Principles' god-making jar, Karen had punched several gaping holes into him under the pretext of "saving" him, mocking him on his sickbed by calling him a lawn sprinkler while Neo couldn't even swear back.
This time Karen was the one lost to madness. It should have been a glorious opportunity to properly beat some sense into him. What a shame that he lacked the strength right now. It was truly a pity.
Karen continued shifting his gaze. Philomena lay on the ground, critically wounded and on the verge of death. He shook his head.
Ventura lay on the ground, his back drenched in blood, already unconscious. Karen shook his head again.
Dying food not only lost its nutritional value, but it was also no longer fresh, ruining the texture. It was not to his taste.
Then Karen looked toward Alfred, who was slowly pushing himself up from the ground ahead. Alfred's face had taken a brutal knee strike and was coated in blood, yet among everyone present, he was undeniably in the best condition.
He raised his head and looked at Karen, his eyes brimming with shock.
"Young Master..."
In the end, Karen shifted his gaze once more, landing upon little Kanna. This bone dragon best suited his current appetites.
Sensing Karen's practically undisguised killing intent, little Kanna instantly dropped into a defensive stance.
Karen merely raised his palm, and the master-servant contract materialized.
Upon seeing the contract, little Kanna's eyes widened instantly, her face filling with bewilderment, disappointment, grievance, and rage.
Alfred spoke up. "Young Master, you cannot do this! She is someone you acknowledged as sharing the same aspirations!"
Karen paid no mind to Alfred's words and activated the contract. Little Kanna dropped to her knees at once, stripped of all ability to resist. Yet her neck remained held high, glaring at Karen with furious eyes.
She had chosen to trust him, to believe in that moment of shared resonance. But the man who had previously stepped on a god's head right before her eyes was now radiating that disgusting aura and betraying their pact.
Karen's body floated upward, descending toward Kanna.
Just then, Alfred's figure moved to intercept him. In a deep voice, he said, "Young Master, you must not do this. Please wake up!"
Karen extended his hand. A thick Chain of Order shot forward, looping directly around Alfred's neck and hoisting him into the air.
Alfred did not struggle. With blood streaming down his face, he continued his plea:
"Young Master, please wake up. I don't want to see you regret this afterward!"
The Chain of Order tightened further. Alfred's mouth opened wide, and he forced out a low roar:
"Thousand Phantoms! If you don't act now, once the Young Master regains his senses, I will ensure he wipes you out!"
In a flash, a pair of black wings spread wide, then slammed forward to envelop Karen.
With a heavy clatter, a black sphere formed upon the ground.
Thousand Phantoms hadn't wanted to cause trouble; it would have preferred playing the invisible bystander. But the moment Alfred uttered those words, it knew it could no longer feign ignorance.
However, accompanied by a series of crisp, grinding creaks, the wings were slowly pried back open. Thousand Phantoms lost control over them. Karen clenched his right fist, trapping Thousand Phantoms—wriggling like an earthworm—firmly within his grasp.
Thousand Phantoms began to thrash, begging desperately for mercy.
The crimson hue in Karen's eyes expanded steadily, signifying that the effects of the hunger addiction had not weakened in the slightest; instead, spurred by continuous stimulation, it grew increasingly extreme.
He lowered his head and parted his lips, intending to pop Thousand Phantoms into his mouth and eliminate this disobedient little creature first.
"*Woof!*"
A dog's bark rang out. Kevin lunged into the air, leaping forward and clamping his jaws directly onto Karen's wrist. Because the momentum was immense and Karen's wrist remained immovable, the dog's body spun three full revolutions around Karen's arm like a gymnast on a horizontal bar.
Steeling his resolve and conquering his inner terror, Kevin drove his canine teeth into Karen's wrist. The teeth penetrated only a fraction, yet in that instant, he launched a backstab—he sought to reclaim control over his former body!
It was a suicidal backstab, for success was virtually impossible. Had Karen been severely wounded and his soul withered, there might have been a sliver of hope. But right now, while Karen's consciousness was overridden by the hunger addiction, his physical and soul condition remained in prime shape.
Yet what Kevin truly wanted was merely to use this action to jolt Karen's deeper consciousness.
A cluster of blue runes rippled outward from the dog's mouth, sinking into Karen's body.
The next instant, a large golden retriever appeared inside a pitch-black space of soul consciousness.
This body had originally been modified by Kevin. Although Karen had undergone several integrations and alterations afterward, the foundation remained largely unchanged. Possessing the original blueprints, Kevin found it easy to slip inside.
Yet getting inside was one thing; accomplishing anything once inside was quite another. That was precisely why Kevin had never staged another bid to reclaim the body.
As Karen grew progressively stronger, the entities standing within the depths of his soul multiplied. Rushing in while in his current weakened state gave him zero chance.
Otherwise, launching a sneak attack would have been far too convenient—after all, he had his own dog bed in the master bedroom. Wouldn't biting Karen in his sleep have been child's play?
Kevin looked back and saw Karen floating behind him, surrounded by Chains of Order that continuously manifested, preparing to bind him.
Though currently weak, Kevin remained an evil god at his core—meaning the hungry Karen had just spotted an exquisite delicacy.
Seeing this, Kevin barked hysterically at the top of his lungs, sprinting forward without stopping.
Karen pursued from behind, steadily compressing Kevin's room to maneuver.
It appeared as though he were deliberately toying with his prey, but in truth, just as outside, Karen's movements—while resolute—remained sluggish. A force constantly dragged at the hunger addiction; it held dominance, but it was far from the sole authority.
"*Woof, woof, woof!*"
Kevin barked frantically. Ahead in the darkness, a colossal figure emerged, draped in a layer of black mist.
With Kevin's arrival, the black mist began to peel away, and the presence within started to trigger.
This was an absurd mechanism: the entities within Karen's soul possessed an instinct to defend this realm, and any outside intruder would face their suppression. That was how Karen had managed to defeat formidable opponents inside his soul-consciousness space on multiple occasions.
However, due to the preceding seal, these presences had all been suppressed. Even with the seal lifted, they remained in a semi-dormant state.
Kevin's appearance as an "intruder" effectively jolted them back awake.
"*Woof!*" *(God of Light!)*
The faith dharma body of the God of Light awoke, standing upright to suppress Kevin.
Kevin sprinted forward, shouting diagonally ahead once more: "*Woof!*" *(Dark Moon Goddess!)*
The faith dharma body of the Dark Moon Goddess tore through the binding black mist, revealing herself and preparing to strike at Kevin.
Kevin executed a knee slide, spotting a relatively smaller figure ahead—Ancestor Allen, likewise shrouded in black mist.
"*Ugh...*"
Kevin shook his dog head at once. *Forget it, you just rest.*
With that, Kevin's paws churned furiously. Leveraging the speed boost granted by his status as former owner and architect, he arrived before yet another massive figure:
"*Woof!*" *(Diss Inmerlais!)*
Diss's phantom stirred under the stimulation, broke free of its restraints, and awoke.
Having triggered three in a row, Kevin was still pondering what else remained when he found himself before the largest black shadow of them all.
*This one's huge...*
Then he instantly realized who this phantom represented!
*Oh no, absolutely not! How could I wake Order right now?!*
*Alright, that's enough for now. This should do it.*
The three colossal figures closed in on Kevin simultaneously. But when Karen approached, the three massive phantoms suddenly froze.
Because while Kevin was indeed an "intruder," the hunger addiction currently controlling Karen was, in essence, an intruder as well.
In the past, Karen had relied on them time and again to suppress the hunger addiction.
*Buzz, buzz, buzz!*
At that moment, a massive black scythe awakened on its own without Kevin needing to call upon it—for it had grown addicted to cleaving Karen.
The initiative taken by the Scythe of War instantly set the rhythm, prompting the three massive figures to abandon Kevin for the moment. One after another, they turned to face Karen.
Kevin barked excitedly in rapid bursts:
"*Woof!*" *(Everyone, get him together!)*
"*Woof!*"
*(Beat this Order to death!)*
Chapter 642