Alfred opened his hand, and a thick book manifested in his palm. Though its cover was brand-new, it naturally carried a solemn, dignified aura.
Diknuo glanced at it and marveled, "What an extravagant book."
"My mentor, Mr. Hoffen, scraped a bit of pigment from his own cover and shared it with me."
That was the Notebook of the God of Principles—undoubtedly the most precious book in the entire world.
Diknuo chuckled. "He was truly generous."
A faint, eerie radiance rippled across the book's cover, revealing its title: *Light of the New Order*.
Diknuo said, "I take back what I said earlier. The God of Principles' notebook should just be blotted out completely and used directly to record the Light of Order."
"If my mentor heard that, he'd probably jump up in agitation and shout, 'Look, look! See the insolence and barbarism of Order believers!'"
"Haha."
After their banter, Alfred took out a pen and began writing on the manuscript:
"The Church of the Storm, the Church of Black Rock, and the Church of Crystal—these three churches bravely stood at the very forefront of resisting the gods, firing the first salvo in humanity's defense against the returning deities."
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Right on cue, the magic crystal cannons up ahead began firing volleys, blasting countless holes into the descended shroud of darkness.
Diknuo asked, "Why record it like that? I don't think they deserve it."
"Historical records should focus on what actually occurred. As for the internal motives, discovering and interpreting them over tea is where future generations will find their pleasure."
Diknuo nodded. Stretching out both hands with himself at the center, intersecting phantom silhouettes began flickering continuously around him.
Alfred asked, "Are you recording a battle report?"
"Yes. A war between gods and a war between mortals and gods are entirely different. The returning gods are visibly weakened, and the decline of the churches' various capabilities in this era is an undeniable fact. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I need to collect and update the latest actual data to prepare for when the Order Knight Order takes the field."
"Need any help?"
"Of course."
Alfred put away *Light of the New Order* and extended both hands as well. Their posture resembled two people performing a piano duet on the same instrument.
Pouring out around them was an ocean of mental energy so dense it was nearly suffocating.
A colossal Eye of Order slowly surfaced above.
Just as it was about to open so it could observe the battlefield more comprehensively, Diknuo warned through their mental bridge, "Beware: do not gaze directly upon a god."
"It's fine. The Young Master is not far away. He will shield his devout believers from the pressure of the external gods."
"Did you forget? The Young Master is standing right beside the High Priest."
"It will be fine."
"Oh, so that's how it is."
The Eye of Order opened, beginning its brazen scrutiny of the battlefield.
Ahead, Mobiten was the first to turn his head and spot the massive eye.
Sitting in his wheelchair, the High Priest simply asked in a low voice, "Your men?"
Karen bowed and answered, "Yes, High Priest."
"Once you finish observing, remember to compile a report."
"It will be synchronized with the knight order."
"Good."
At that moment, thirty-six crystal giants rose from the ground, tearing through the night sky in one motion.
Beneath the shattered night, the Goddess of the Night's visage was no longer refined and dignified; instead, she displayed an intensely sinister gauntness.
This was her true current appearance. An entire era of isolation had long since tortured these once-lofty deities into emaciated husks, looking like starving ghosts crawling out of hell.
Alfred remarked, "It seems the goddess also needs makeup."
Diknuo retorted, "Shouldn't it be that the goddess also needs to eat?"
"Are those thirty-six crystal giants the complete original set from history?"
"Indeed. They are the creations of the God of Crystal. She personally sculpted thirty-six guardian statues. Half were shattered during the divine war, and this era must have brought considerable attrition as well. The reason a full set has appeared now is likely that the Church of Crystal paid a tremendous price and expended massive effort to provide temporary substitutes."
"Fine treasures."
"Yes, but they shouldn't be used like this. They still lack experience and have underestimated the methods of gods—especially... a chief god."
The emaciated goddess wore an indifferent expression. She lightly raised her hand, and the shattered darkness that had fallen began merging into the bodies of the crystal giants like seeping ink. In an instant, half of the crystal giants turned black.
*Roar! Roar! Roar!*
The giants roared incessantly as the blackened crystal giants began indiscriminately attacking everything around them, causing massive chaos across the Church of Crystal's front lines.
Priests began chanting, and colossal phantom silhouettes of priests radiated holy light, intending to cleanse the divine corruption from the crystal giants.
They had no choice. Whether in symbolic meaning or practical utility, these thirty-six guardian statues were vital to the Church of Crystal.
Diknuo voiced his disbelief. "Is their commander an idiot? Not only did they fail to sever the transmission of divine corruption in time, but they're even attempting to purge corruption on a battlefield facing a god!"
Alfred reminded him, "You'd better use metaphors that people today can understand. The Young Master needs to use your battle analysis to reinforce his influence over the knight order."
"This action is equivalent to performing neurosurgery on the back of a galloping horse."
"Understood. And the consequence?"
"They'll get drenched in blood." Diknuo's tone carried unmistakable fury. "A waste. An utter waste. They originally had a chance to put up a fight—at the very least, they could have worn the god down to extreme exhaustion. But now, it looks like they're simply throwing everything away for nothing."
The battlefield situation unfolded precisely according to Diknuo's deduction. Not only did the summoned colossal priest phantoms fail to cleanse the crystal giants, but they themselves were stained black.
Immediately afterward, black spots appeared on the faces of more than half the priests in the formation. They spat blood, their spirits withering.
This essentially paralyzed the legion's endurance. One had to understand that the essence of war between mortals and gods was ants gnawing an elephant to death; it was never a fair duel.
The Church of Crystal launched an offensive, attempting to push the god's threat back—just like a person instinctively putting their hands out to shove an encroaching danger away under duress. On an ordinary battlefield, that was standard doctrine.
However, accompanied by a piercing wail from the throat of the Goddess of the Night, the array masters in the legion's midsection clutched their heads and screamed in agony—and there were no priest blessings to protect them now.
A disconnect and a breach opened in the middle of the advancing legion.
The goddess's divine body vanished from where she stood. Then, the night descended a second time, falling squarely upon this breach.
*Boom!*
The bloody night surged like a tsunami, completely dividing the legion. Unlike the Order Knight Order, which was battle-hardened and always sharpening its blades, this crystal legion—though the concentrated heritage of the Church of Crystal—was far too naive.
Like losing tension in a tug-of-war, the legion's operational cohesion collapsed. The entire army fell into disarray, which, before a chief god... was tantamount to slaughter.
The endless darkness devoured and enveloped everything swiftly, sparing no priest and no magical beast. Even the magic crystals of the cannons lost their energy fluctuations once enveloped by the night.
And those lives, those resources, all turned into the gradually returning luster upon the goddess's face.
She was using living beings as her makeup.
Alfred remarked, "You said this crystal legion wasn't inferior to an Order Knight Order."
Diknuo replied, "From the perspective of personnel and equipment, it even surpassed one."
"Yet just like that, it's gone." Alfred was somewhat shocked. "Even Neo playing the stock market has never lost so cleanly."
"Their command structure is flawed. The Order Knight Order would never fight like this. The moment the middle ranks were breached, a cavalry battalion should have launched a suicidal charge to tie down the goddess, buying time for the rest of the legion to regroup."
"A bit intricate," Alfred said. "Yet at its core, it's still stacking human lives, isn't it? And it has to be stacked very meticulously, rigorously, and scientifically."
"I call it—the art of walking to one's death."
...
Tattered armor covered the divine form of the God of Thunder. Every step she took created a domain of lightning.
Under her overwhelming pressure, the Black Rock Legion was forced to erect continuous absolute rock walls in defense. Yet those towering, sky-scraping fortifications were utterly incapable of withstanding the howling, world-ending thunder, pierced through time and again.
Nevertheless, as the God of Thunder pressed forward, the environment around the god shifted. An ancient execution platform materialized, and a sense of crisis capable of alarming even a deity swept in.
Diknuo explained, "The God of Black Rock served for a period as an executioner in the Light camp, responsible for executing gods of opposing factions. What we are seeing now is the god-slaying array created by the God of Black Rock, replicated here through the combined strength of the legion."
Chains filling the sky bore down, forcing the God of Thunder to bend her back. Clearly, she was bearing terrifying pressure.
Sets of torture instruments carved with specialized runes appeared, fastening onto the divine body to restrict her further.
Layers of barriers sealed off every direction. The God of Thunder began exerting her strength, but just as her back straightened slightly, she was forced to bend again.
High above the heavens, an enormous rift appeared. A world seemed to shift out of alignment at that moment, falling like a cosmic guillotine straight toward the god's neck with a thunderous roar.
*Bang!*
A blinding glare flashed as countless lightning serpents danced wildly.
Alfred commented, "The effect is quite pronounced."
Diknuo replied, "It's meaningless. They failed to prepare sacrificial offerings to feed the blade in time. Our Order Knight Order possesses similar legion-grade spells. At a moment like this, an adequate number of shield-bearers with the richest vital energy should have voluntarily sacrificed themselves to merge into that final strike, allowing the true killing power to be unleashed."
The initial binding effect was exceptional, but the final strike merely scratched a patch of white marks across the God of Thunder's neck, failing to breach even her skin.
As the god flew into a rage, the previous bindings shattered. Having regained her freedom, the god raised her right hand, condensing a spear of lightning in her palm.
*Buzz!—*
Infused with thunder, the spear was hurled, piercing through the wall barriers and plunging straight into the heart of the legion.
Terrifying thunder began drowning the living beings, causing the Black Rock Legion's formation to disintegrate. The God of Thunder raised both arms and threw back her head in a roar, and countless illusions of thunderous magical beasts spilled from her body, charging across the entire battlefield to ravage and devour.
Those phantoms grew increasingly solid as they feasted. Soon, after gorging themselves, they would return to the god's body to fortify her bones and flesh.
Meanwhile, another battlefield was shrouded in hurricanes. Yet within these winds, sparks danced everywhere, leaving both sides locked in a stalemate.
The Church of the Storm possessed deeper foundations than the other two churches. Siberain, as a Child of God, possessed memory fragments of a god from the previous era. His command ability was therefore superior, his caliber infinitesimally close to that of the commander of the First Knight Order of Order.
The God of Netherflame was also roaring in anger. Clearly, while the other two chief gods were already feasting upon their grand banquet, her lagging behind risked having her food plundered.
Consequently, the fusion of magma and hurricane accelerated further. Sparks continuously drifted through the wind barrier; whichever priest they touched would immediately catch fire.
The vast legion seemed to be playing a game of Russian roulette. A suffocating atmosphere permeated the ranks, but for now, they were holding out.
This finally earned an acknowledgment from Diknuo: "The Storm Legion is fighting reasonably well..."
Yet before he could finish his sentence, a small blue magical beast resembling an owl appeared above Siberain's command platform.
As it flew, a blue cyclone materialized.
Siberain drew a golden scroll from his robes, sliced his palm open, and soaked the scroll completely in his blood.
The scroll activated, drawing down the cyclone from above and engulfing the command platform.
Siberain spread his arms, and a dharma body rose behind him—not his own likeness, but that of a branch deity of Storm, Walf.
Walf's phantom spoke: "Great God of Netherflame, I rejoice at your return and offer this tribute. For the sake of your friendship with my Lord, please grant me passage."
From the endless magma came a reply: "Deal."
A colossal magma arm blasted toward the boundary of the ice plain, punching out a network of fractures. Though the cracks were already mending, though they were far from enough to permit a deity's passage, and though they couldn't even support an ordinary teleportation array, Siberain—who possessed extraordinary means yet was merely an inheritor—took the opportunity to lead the high-ranking members of the Storm Church around him through the tiny gap using the cyclone as a vessel, braving extreme danger to punch their way out.
Though their survival remained unknown, they had ultimately left the ice plain.
And the Storm Legion, which had been holding up admirably under the god's oppressive might, collapsed into ruin after a brief, dead silence.
After all, what army could maintain its will to fight after watching its commanders flee en masse before their very eyes?
The God of Netherflame finally received the same feast as the other two, using scorching magma to melt and absorb all the priests below.
All three chief gods were feeding.
Karen leaned down and whispered into the High Priest's ear, "That Child of God is truly shameless."
The High Priest waved his hand dismissively. "Not just Children of God; in the last era, I saw plenty of shameless gods too."
"Hearing you say that rather shatters my illusions about gods."
"From a distance, there is an air of mystery and haziness. Once you stand face-to-face, they are nothing special. Look at the three of them now—don't they look like three ravenous dogs?"
"Indeed. They are chewing quite greedily."
"That is only because they are trapped here and cannot escape. My Lord's barrier was spread across the entire ice plain by Milogar. Otherwise, if they had truly descended into the world, each of them could have enjoyed the living beings of an entire continent."
"High Priest, if we let them continue feeding, could an unexpected accident occur?"
"No. Let them eat a while longer; it's best if they finish everything cleanly. At the same time, it buys more time on that other side. The recent disturbance in the Garden of Life has made certain deeply concealed figures unable to sit still. They need a beating."
"Why didn't the God of Order seal them out back then as well?"
"Some hid too early, foreseeing the turn of the era in advance and concealing themselves too deeply. Others left behind abundant contingencies, refusing to hesitate even to lower their godheads just to preserve their true selves and await an opportunity. In this world, how many things can truly be perfect? Still, they cannot stir up any meaningful waves. What was once a rat cannot become a lion after a single era. The first batch of chief gods, we shall handle. The deities returning in the mid-stage, the church will handle. The most difficult to deal with, the most powerful, will be the era overlords returning in the final batch. Alas, by then, none of us will be around."
The High Priest reached out and grasped Karen's wrist.
"Your burden is very heavy."
...
*"Woof, woof, woof!"*
"Stupid dog, what is it, meow?"
Kevin barked frantically toward one direction, then lowered his head, signaling for Purr to climb onto his back. Immediately afterward, he sprang forward and vanished from the spot.
Inside the study, Old Hoffen spoke: "The Crypt."
Diss nodded, picked up the book, and likewise vanished into thin air.
The Church of Order had thoughtfully arranged a teleportation network here. Naturally, it was not within Roga City itself, but in the neighboring city. Still, that distance was nothing—covered in the blink of an eye. Moreover, this teleportation array was linked to the entire Church of Order's transit network, granted the highest clearance.
Carrying Purr, Kevin arrived at the Crypt. Before long, Diss also stepped out of the formation.
What had once been the most prosperous central city of the Crypt had now become a massive, sunken cavern. Countless residents who had lived there had been sucked into it, serving as the first round of sacrificial offerings for the Crypt.
However, Diss found that he seemed to have arrived late.
Suspended above the Crypt were five tombstones. These tombstones had originally stood in the Sacred Temple, but had recently been temporarily relocated to the Administrative Temple to help anchor the residence for the "lost High Priest."
The Temple Guard Captain was here as well. He raised his head, looked at the arriving Diss, and said, "You're here."
Diss did not look at the captain, his gaze falling instead upon the five ancient tombstones.
The last time he had gone to the Sacred Temple for vengeance, these tombstones had issued a warning, but had not awakened, choosing to look on indifferently.
Now, aged voices emanated one after another from within the tombstones:
"Inmeles kid, you can leave. You don't need to worry about this place."
"If she dares to emerge to echo the ice plain, we will crawl out of our graves as well."
"The transition of eras has not yet completed. Even if she comes out, she is no chief god!"
"Heh heh, we can drag her down with us!"
Diss was quite familiar with the central tombstone, for it was before that very stone that he had extracted the Oracle's heart back then. The voice from this tombstone was crisp and even somewhat casual:
"Young man, don't rush. Let us old folks die first."
Chapter 923