The Fall

"Turn around immediately and head to the Teleportation Hall. Also, send word to Allen Manor that something has come up and I won't be returning for now." "Understood, High Priest." Karen drew out that golden page. There were no words written upon it, only a series of pressed fingerprints—meaning that Mr. Hoffen on the other end had intended to send him a message, but after hesitating, he had ultimately stayed his hand. "Grandfather, where are you right now?" He received a reply on the golden page very quickly, and it was exceedingly brief: "The crypt." Karen instructed, "Notify the Teleportation Hall to arrange a transit from York to the Church of the Burrow." "Understood, High Priest." Karen's carriage arrived at the Teleportation Hall. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Little Kanna standing alongside Augie. Little Kanna had been granted a special holiday by Karen, who had even pulled strings with the Whip-Wielder to borrow Augie so she would have someone to play with. Right now, Little Kanna was cradling an oversized tub of ice cream several times larger than her face with both hands. Beside her, Augie wore an expression taut with anxiety. "Hehe, you're here!" Little Kanna opened the carriage door and hopped inside. "Something happened back at Big Dumb Dragon's hometown. Her mother lit the dragon altar and is sending out distress signals to all dragons." A similar scene had played out back when Daan led the knight order to purge the dragon lineage within the Church of the Burrow. Naturally, no faction had dared to respond back then. Karen looked at Little Kanna and asked, "What, were you planning to go with her to the crypt earlier?" "I was just seeing her off. I wouldn't run off on my own! You'd scold me, and then you'd secretly tell on me to Sister Purr so she'd pile on more homework. "Besides, we can't go right now anyway. The transit over there was cut off, so Augie can't get back either." Karen was not surprised by this. If a divine battle on that scale had broken out, it was only natural for the teleportation formations established by the Church of Order to be destroyed or disrupted beyond use. However, the subterranean world was home to many different races and settlements; there was never just one transit point. "Muri, inform the hall master to calibrate the coordinates as swiftly as possible, prioritizing the dragon settlement." "Understood, High Priest." Standing outside the carriage, Augie was deeply touched upon hearing Karen's words. Karen glanced at her. "Get in." "Thank you, High Priest." Augie climbed into the carriage, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes as she sniffled softly, unable to help herself. As Karen's status and position steadily rose, the way those around him perceived his actions underwent a drastic shift. When they had first met, Augie could casually pick Karen up and fly off without caring whether this human would freeze to death. Now, it was a superior bestowing grace, enough to warm the heart of an ice dragon. In truth, she had misunderstood his intentions. Karen's order to prioritize the dragon settlement was not out of some burning urgency to help Augie save her mother, but rather because the summons received from the dragon altar meant that while the dragon settlement was under siege, its structure was still intact. Resonance with it would make pinpointing the coordinates and teleporting across much faster. The entire Teleportation Hall was closed to all other business as every formation master busied themselves helping the Acting High Priest establish a new transit node. Before long, they established resonance with the dragons, and the coordinate calibration was complete. Just before departing, Muri asked, "High Priest, should we mobilize a force to accompany you for protection?" "My grandfather is already there." The teleportation activated. * * * *Boom!* The moment the carriage rolled out of the teleportation circle, a violent tremor shook the surroundings. Outside the carriage, a group of aged dragons knelt on the ground, kowtowing as they pleaded for asylum from the Church of Order. Karen stepped out of the carriage holding Little Kanna's hand, walked past the prostrate dragon elders, and made his way outside the transit structure. This spot was one of the vantage points overlooking the dragon settlement. Outside, three massive bone bats were assailing the dragon enclave, while Augie's mother led the adult dragons to meet them in battle. The fight was going terribly. Although there were only three attackers—and one of them was not even actively fighting—they still completely suppressed the dragons. Augie's mother was covered in wounds, and on the ground lay an innumerable pile of dragon corpses. The bone bat that refrained from fighting circled above the dragon carcasses, absorbing the bloody sustenance. Below, the dragon bodies continuously decomposed, turning into white bones before disintegrating into bone dust. This was not an assault so much as a harvest. The two giant bats tasked with fighting were deliberately pacing their slaughter to match the feeding rate of the third, ensuring that whatever was consumed was freshly killed to preserve its quality. The reason the dragons here had lasted this long was not due to any brilliant leadership from Augie's mother, but purely because the "buyer" had exacting standards for the freshness of her food. Karen's attention, however, was not on what lay before him. He sensed that deep within the same subterranean expanse, far in the distance, two terrifying powers were locked in continuous collision. One of them had to be his grandfather. His grandfather was fighting for Order—and for his grandson—to hold back the awakening of the God of the Crypt. Little Kanna's focus mirrored Karen's completely. She truly had no sense of kinship with fellow dragons, nor did she harbor any sense of duty toward reviving the dragon race. If one were being honest, she might find it easier to empathize with pet cats and dogs. Looking down, Little Kanna took a huge bite of her ice cream and remarked in awe, "Whoa, Great-grandfather is so amazing." Karen nodded. "He is." Within his own body had resided first the hunger addiction, followed by the family inheritance system his grandfather had bestowed upon him. To say he had entered the church circles with a silver spoon in his mouth was no exaggeration. Diss, on the other hand, had started from an Inquisitor household. Within the Church of Order, Inquisitors were practically the lowest tier, amounting to very little. Thus, Diss had forged his own legend relying entirely on his own ability. He had become the first, and only, true ascending god of this era. Standing nearby, Augie had been waiting for Karen's order to strike, repeatedly feigning a charge only to pull back, trying to draw Karen's attention. "Go on." Karen was not Foden; he had no interest in testing Augie's loyalty to Order. "Yes, High Priest." Augie leapt down, transforming into a dragon. Nowadays, the dragon race could scarcely nurture full-fledged specimens of their kind on their own, whereas someone like Augie, who had been sent to the Church of Order from a young age, had access to the finest resources. In fact, in many dragon settlements, Augie's current strength would place her at the very pinnacle. There was no helping it; the dragon race's overall foundation was small to begin with, and it remained fractured. *Roar!* A draconic roar rang out, and frost swept across everything in sight. Karen clearly sensed a difference in Augie this time. The shade of her dragon scales had deepened, and her aura had become far more restrained, carrying a faint, noble regal air. As for her strength, it had leaped an entire tier above Karen's estimations. Her entry into the fray not only shielded her mother and the other dragons, but she also took on two bats single-handedly without yielding an inch. Karen looked down at Little Kanna, who was still holding her ice cream. Little Kanna looked up at Karen with an innocent gaze, offering a bashful, sheepish smile. "Um... did I get any on my face?" She dared to lie to Karen, but she never dared to keep it up for long. After taking another large bite of ice cream, she mumbled, "I saw that Big Dumb Dragon was too stupid, so I gave her a little something." Evidently, that "something" was related to the heritage of the Rebel Dragon God. To any other dragon, this was nothing short of divine guidance from the Dragon God Himself, helping her break through her original constraints and achieve a new leap in her life tier. "Aren't you generous?" Karen reached out and patted Little Kanna's head. Little Kanna said, "Should I... go help out then?" "Go on." "Hold this for me!" Little Kanna handed the ice cream to Karen. Once he took it, she leapt down as well. The next instant, dazzling holy light shone forth, scattering divine radiance. This light undeniably brought immense hope to the remaining dragons in the settlement. Many dragons roared toward the sky, and even those grievously wounded hissed as they tried to rejoin the fight. *Boom!* *Boom!* The entry of two powerful dragons completely shifted the battlefield's momentum, forcing the third bat to join the fight as well, though it still could not reverse the tide. Augie was venting her fury, while Little Kanna was merely playing around. Karen, however, was unwilling to linger for too long. He took a step forward. "Big Dumb Dragon, hurry! Karen's about to get mad!" Augie breathed out frost, freezing the movement radius of the three bats. Little Kanna swayed her dragon body slightly, gesturing with her front claws in front of her chest. *Hum!* A terrifying seal forged of white bone descended, encasing the three giant bats. It was... a bone dragon version of the Cage of Order. Karen's figure appeared atop the cage, his ordinary human body seeming as tiny as a fly perched upon a massive truck. *Clang! Clang! Clang!* The three bats slammed frantically against the bars, desperate to break free. Karen reached his hand downward. Rust-flecked chains of Order surged out from beneath his feet, instantly wrapping around the entire bone cage before snaking further inward to bind the three bats' bodies. "Order... Purify." These three bats were not undead creatures native to the crypt. They were puppets, and their origin... the pockmarked indentations on the cavernous ceiling above explained everything. Once the controlling seals were erased, the three bats reverted into ordinary skeletal remains. "Augie, stay behind and guard the teleportation formation." Karen continued walking forward. Kanna flew over to catch him on her back, while Karen dropped the ice cream in his hand down through a crevice in her bone plating. A gust of wind formed within the bone dragon, drawing the ice cream inside. Ever since she was small, she had never been one to waste food. The bone dragon's flight was swift. Flying at full speed, numerous scales sprouted across her draconic frame—the hallmark of wind-attribute dragons. The Rebel Dragon God had personally instructed Little Kanna in her cultivation path—well, mostly in how to skin and butcher dragons of various attributes to supplement herself. While living, adult, fully grown dragons were difficult to find nowadays, the Church of Order possessed vast assets and had collected numerous ancient dragon remains. Karen's current status also allowed Little Kanna to enjoy treatment far surpassing Augie's, granting her ample opportunities for practical application. "Does it look good? Does it look pretty?" Little Kanna could not resist flaunting her wind-attribute scales to Karen. "Yes, it looks good." In truth, Karen still preferred her clean, unadorned white. Recalling the utterly garish and flamboyant appearance of the Rebel Dragon God he had seen above Wien last time, Karen finally understood why the divine histories recorded that the Rebel Dragon God had an excellent relationship with the God of Order, yet not a single mural had ever been left behind depicting the God of Order riding upon the dragon's back. Some said it was because the Rebel Dragon God refused to be beneath any god, which was indeed a valid reason. Yet it was equally possible that the God of Order simply could not bear having a multicolored, glowing mount. As they approached the perimeter of the divine battle, venturing any further would expose them to the leaking shockwaves. Yet this time, even with the Eye of Order, Karen struggled to clearly see the two combatants. In previous divine battles—whether in the Garden of Life, the ice plains, or above Wien—the returning deities had never truly breached the membrane of Order to descend. Though the fighting had been fierce, it felt like watching a movie on a screen, leaving onlookers somewhat detached. Right now, however, one was a newly ascended god and the other a hidden god; neither existed behind the membrane of Order. This was a genuine, full-scale battle of gods! Karen grabbed a dragon horn and said to Little Kanna, "Follow my directions." "Got it!" Under Karen's guidance, Little Kanna flew onward. The ground below looked as though it had been plowed over and over again, and the cavernous ceiling was riddled with too many craters to count. A clash between two genuine chief-god level beings could easily wipe out all living creatures on a continent, even if neither side intended it. This was precisely why so many religious factions of the past had been obsessed with constructing mini-worlds. In an era of widespread divine warfare, humanity itself could easily become an endangered species; seeds had to be preserved in advance. All historical records prior to the Eternal Era were fragmented and incomplete, largely because the wars between gods and demons had never allowed any structured civilization to endure for long. This was also why later generations credited the God of Eternal with "dispelling ignorance." At last, Karen saw them. His grandfather's figure had always been towering in his heart. This time, no figurative language was needed, for his grandfather was truly as tall as the crypt world itself. Across countless ages spanning two eras, the myriad races living here had their own conception of "heaven and earth." Yet now, in the eyes of true chief-god tier entities, this space barely offered enough room to stretch their limbs, falling far short of their true limits. The divine body of the God of the Crypt was terribly battered. She had likely recalled many of the puppets she had sent out to harvest blood and flesh, but once Diss had ascended to godhood, how could he possibly permit her to replenish herself unhindered? As a result, the power she had expended to gather sustenance failed to cover her deficit, leaving her already weakened state even more wretched. "This isn't fair! You should have let me recover before accepting your challenge!" The deity's indignant cry reverberated through the cavernous expanse. She had struggled and resisted fiercely. If she had been facing a god like Ranydal, she would not have been afraid; no matter how weakened she was, she would have had dozens of ways to deal with him. Yet she was facing Diss. A being personally acknowledged by the God of Order as possessing the qualifications to become a branch god of Order. The Scythe of War pierced the God of the Crypt's divine frame once more, but though she retreated in fury, it was not enough to truly kill her. Her opponent was clearly weak, and Diss held every advantage, yet he could not quite sever her life and bring about her fall. "Hoffen, I am not yet familiar with how gods fight. Teach me." Carried on Diss's person, Old Hoffen remained silent for a full minute before retorting, "If I knew how to fight and had written it into my notes, He wouldn't have been speared to death by Tyrannus in one strike!" During that battle above Wien, the other chief gods had at least managed to exchange a few blows. Only their own God of Principles had been spotted while hiding and instantly obliterated. It had happened so fast that Old Hoffen, present at the scene, had not even had time to summon up proper grief. Meanwhile, the clearly outmatched God of the Crypt continued to take blows while searching for an opportunity to flee. Diss knew he could not let her escape. She had to be slain here; otherwise, once a chief god regained her strength, she would become a catastrophic menace. "Then there is only that method left." Diss raised the scythe, sliced open his own palm, and traced the blade down his wrist, cutting along his arm all the way to his chest. Pure golden divine blood gushed forth, falling onto the earth like the reappearance of a golden sea. When Augurev had sought to bestow his inheritance upon Diss, Diss had refused outright. That could not be considered a mistake; Diss's unwavering confidence had been the very anchor that brought him this far. Yet the harsh reality was that as the first ascending god of this era, he had no predecessors and no teachers. The Inmeles family's greatest talent—the ability to learn—became utterly useless once one stood at the absolute pinnacle. Therefore, Diss could only resort to the most primitive method to bury this weakened chief god. The Scythe of War was hurled out, pinning the fleeing God of the Crypt once again. At the same time, patterns formed of golden blood washed over her. The next instant, the divine blood ignited! "No, no, no! Diss, have you lost your mind?! Are you mad?! You've only just ascended, and you're already burning yourself?!" *"Aaaagh!"* The God of the Crypt let out a shriek countless times more agonizing than before. She was unwilling to accept this, deeply unwilling! She had been the earliest to foresee the changes of this era and the earliest to conceal herself from Order's expulsion, making her the cleverest survivor of the divine catastrophe. Yet just as she prepared to awaken at the most opportune moment, she had crossed paths with an unbelievable native of this era—one who had ascended on the spot to completely overwhelm her, demonstrating with absolute force that before raw power, all schemes and calculations were rendered grotesque and absurd. In the distance, Karen's eyes widened. A scene reminiscent of the branch gods of Order was playing out before him once more—only this time, it was his grandfather. Little Kanna's dragon maw dropped open as well, sensing what was to come. She cried out, "Karen, hurry, stop Great-grandfather!" Karen's body trembled. He could easily fly forward right now to intervene, yet he remained rooted firmly atop the bone dragon, motionless. The luminaries of the First Knight Order had sacrificed themselves the moment they awakened. Delon had volunteered for conscription, and Tangli had chosen to accompany him. The chariot of Order had long been set in motion and could not be halted. From the God Himself to His branch lords, one after another, generation after generation, all had cast themselves as bargaining chips into the sea of fire to melt away. This was a war destined to be paved with countless figures clad in black robes. He had neither the right nor the qualification to demand that anyone be spared—himself included. A terrifying divine fire illuminated the entire subterranean world. The sky over the primary burning zone was scorched into a massive void, unleashing an endless backwash of cosmic currents. This world was broken now; a third of its expanse would no longer support life. At last, the flames died down. The towering divine silhouette vanished along with them. It was over. Little Kanna murmured, "Is Great-grandfather... gone?" Karen clutched the dragon horn with his left hand, his gaze hollow as he stared downward, searching with everything he had for that familiar figure. Yet there was nothing. And just at that juncture, before the numbness could recede and before grief could rise— A voice came from behind Karen. *"Cough, cough..."* Karen turned his head to see Diss standing behind him, his face pale. Old Hoffen's voice chimed in: "Agh, why did you show up so early? I wanted to see him bawling his eyes out. It would've been so entertaining!" Diss replied, "That's why you're not his real grandfather." Old Hoffen: "..."