Marybelle’s choice failed. They weren’t able to support the channel connected to the Dragon Soul Continent while being attacked by Chaos. But this time, Marybelle once again proved how meticulous and prepared she was. Upon detecting failure, she activated the spell that she had prepared for a long time to disintegrate the Door of Akasha entirely. The impact was so powerful that it engulfed the entire planet without any warning.
“We need to destroy the remains of Chaos. The best way to do that is to turn everything into nothingness.”
The shock waves of the explosion expanded over the next few days, enfolding the entire world within it. The force of death swept across the land, sending everything to their graves. But to Marybelle, this wasn’t enough yet. For caution’s sake, she headed to the moon herself and buried the five Akasha Slates under the moon’s surface in separate locations as there were no life forms. Even though the fusion of Order and Chaos on Earth brought a crisis upon them, it also gave them an opportunity—a place without Order and Chaos—a place of nothingness. In this case, it would be tougher for Chaos to lay hands on the slates. Be it Order or Chaos, they had their own meaning of existence. But nothingness—as long as there was nothing, there would be no distinction between Order and Chaos.
“We’ve done everything we could. We failed, but we won’t let Chaos get away with it.”
The scenery changed once again.
First to appear around Rhode was the palace he was in. But unlike the calmness and serenity of the past, the palace was faced with fierce ambushes and assaults. Not only that, but Rhode was also astounded to realize that the defensive shield meant to protect the palace had vanished completely!
Clashes between protectors of the palace and Chaos Creatures took place all over the palace. Rhode didn’t know how the Chaos Creatures managed to sneak into the palace, but it was apparent to him that neither side was doing well. The sky was still masked by dark clouds. The storm earlier turned into a snowstorm. At a glance, a white snowfield had covered over the stretch of land and there was nothing else apart from it. At that moment, fierce battles continued inside the palace.
“Argh!”
One of the knights flew across the air and crashed into the wall heavily before Rhode. However, he didn’t give up. He gnashed his teeth, rolled away from the Chaos Creature’s attack, and raised his sword. In a flash of the blade, the Chaos Creature collapsed to the ground, screeching in agony. Pitch-black, putrid blood spurted out from its body, flowing all over the floor. The knight didn’t even glance at his spoils of war. He turned around, raised his sword, and brandished at another enemy that pounced on him.
This was the scene that Rhode and the others had witnessed. But compared to that scene from the sealed ice, this time it was more shocking. Both sides were fighting for survival. No one wished to lose and die. Rhode had to admit that Marybelle was really smart and vicious. She used the explosion of the Door of Akasha to destroy all lives on Earth, taking the initiative in this fight from Chaos, which relied on life forms. After all, in this plane of existence, the fusion of Order and Chaos had equally weakened the strength of Chaos. In terms of the situation, there wasn’t much to choose from between the two sides.
But, what about Marybelle?
At this thought, Rhode lifted his head and gazed at the tall pyramid in the center of the plaza. Then, he spotted her quickly.
The young lady raised the key to the Door of Akasha high up in her hand as it emanated dazzling and colorful radiances. On the other hand, the Chaos Creatures were launching attacks on the pyramid frantically. Even though Rhode didn’t know what they were up to, he could understand just by looking at this scene. It was highly likely that the Chaos Creatures were targeting the key in Marybelle’s hand. And now that the Door of Akasha had disintegrated and Marybelle continued to activate the key, it only meant one thing: she lured the Chaos Creatures here on purpose.
What is she trying to do?
Even though Rhode wasn’t aware of what exactly was going on, he quickly discovered that the Chaos Creatures were acting abnormally. Their eyes were dull and lifeless as though they were being enchanted by something. Just as Rhode decided to check the situation out, Marybelle flipped her wrist around, put away the Akashic Key, and raised the magic wand high up in the air!
Along with this action, Rhode witnessed several streaks of white radiance flare up all of a sudden. The Chaos Creatures that were in the midst of battle seemed to realize the change in situation. The glints in their eyes brightened. They lifted their heads and bellowed as though something weren’t right. Rhode looked up and saw a dazzling defensive barrier had enfolded the entire region. Marybelle clutched the magic wand and tapped it forward gently. At that moment, Rhode witnessed the Chaos Creatures on the periphery of the palace turning around and attempting to escape. But it was a pity that it was too late for them.
The entire plaza became incomparably bright. At a glance, runes had occupied the sky above it densely. An ice-cold aura erupted and in an instant, Rhode witnessed an omnipresent blue brilliance that forced him to close his eyes. And when he opened his eyes again, everything had changed.
Hard, biting-cold ice enfolded everything, which wasn’t too different from what Rhode and the rest had seen. But there was something different about it…
“Ahhhhhhh!”
As soon as the ice sealed off everything, a deep, painful growl sounded. Rhode spotted a burst of black mist exuding from the Chaos Creatures trapped in the ice layer which gradually coalesced into shape. However, it seemed like Marybelle was waiting for this moment. She tapped the air with her magic wand. A round, gorgeous, and intricate magical ritual the size of the entire plaza appeared all of a sudden.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Agios of Chaos.”
“… Presence Deity Warden… Marybelle!”
Upon hearing Marybelle’s calm voice, the enormous mass of black mist howled. Its voice was filled with matchless rage. But facing the wrath of the black mist, Marybelle seemed unusually calm. She gazed quietly at it, narrowing her eyes.
“I knew it was you. Ever since the undead creatures rebelled, I have been thinking who amongst Chaos is capable of doing it. But I didn’t expect it to be you who escaped from the Door of Akasha. But that’s fine. Since you’re here, I shall take Her Majesty’s place in capturing you!”
“Don’t even think about it, damn deity warden. You can’t…!”
The black mist struggled after hearing her remarks. But this time, before it finished its sentence, Marybelle tapped the magic wand forward and the enormous magical ritual descended abruptly. Just like that, the magical ritual suppressed the black mist, causing it to vanish entirely.
After releasing the magical ritual and ensuring the black mist was gone, Marybelle wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead, lifted her head, and gazed at the sky.
“This is the end…”
The young lady muttered under her breath and the palace trembled as fissures emerged across the land. The enormous structure fell into the underground abyss. At the same time, a gigantic ice column appeared from underneath her feet, sealing her inside in the blink of an eye. Shortly after, everything sank into the endless, dark abyss…
Everything ended.
The white mist once again took over the place of the darkness. This time, Marybelle stood in front of Rhode.
“I suppose you know everything that happened to us now.”
“Yes.”
Upon hearing Marybelle’s words, Rhode nodded in response. Then, he puckered his brows and asked dubiously.
“But what’s with that Chaos Creature at the end? Did you seal it within the palace? Why didn’t you eliminate it instead? With your powers as the Presence Deity Warden, don’t you have the strength to defeat it?”
“Agios of Chaos is a tough one to deal, compared to the rest of Chaos. If I were in the Dragon Soul Continent, I would have a hundred methods to eliminate it. But it is a pity that I can’t do it here. Heir of the Void Dragon, Chaos and Order are merged as one in this world and the enemies have already merged into Chaos of this world. Therefore, if I wish to eliminate it, it would mean that the Order of this world will also be destroyed by me. At least from what I sense, the strength of Order is slightly stronger than Chaos in this world. As long as the presence of Order is maintained, we can subdue the power of Chaos. But if I destroy the Order of this world, Chaos will most likely regain control and threaten the Dragon Soul Continent… I will never allow that to happen.”
“In that case…”
“I’ve sealed it up using my body as the core. I know why you’re here, heir of the Void Dragon. I sense the energy waves of the Door of Akasha from you. Even though I don’t know how you did it, there is no doubt that you’ve done it. But I regret to tell you that you can’t awaken my original self. Besides, I will not let it happen, nor hand the Akashic Key to you.”
After hearing her words, Rhode twitched his brows. But he quickly understood what she meant. This was the main reason why Marybelle disintegrated the Door of Akasha after the mission failed. And now, if Rhode tried to awaken Marybelle, it meant that the Chaos Creature that she sealed would also revive alongside her. In this case where Marybelle couldn’t possibly eliminate it, Rhode would only be repeating the entire process even if he retrieved the Akashic Key and opened up the channel. Besides, the situation would turn out even more complicated than before since there were no humans on Earth back then…
“What should we do…?”
“I will not be awakened unless you defeat Agios of Chaos.”
Along with this sentence, Marybelle’s presence became fuzzy and the dense white mist began to disperse. Shortly after, Rhode suddenly found himself back where he came from as Lydia, Erin, and the others surrounded and gazed at him curiously.
“Your Majesty Rhode, what exactly happened?”
Upon hearing Lydia’s question, Rhode gazed at the people around him and let out a sigh.
“It’s a long story…”
Even though he said that, he made use of time and swiftly narrated the entire situation to them. After hearing his explanations, not only were Lydia and Erin bewildered, but Mini Bubble Gum and Canary were also dumbfounded. After all, they were born on Earth and understood its history to a certain extent.
“Alright, Leader. Now we finally know who’s the main culprit behind the dinosaurs’ extinction. Even though it doesn’t sound logical, it is much better than the theory of a meteorite crashing onto Earth. But no matter what the truth is, it doesn’t affect me anyways. But I still have to thank her. If it weren’t for her, perhaps humans may not have evolved to this stage.”
After hearing Rhode’s words, Mini Bubble Gum shrugged.
“What should we do next? Didn’t that deity warden say we can’t awaken her unless we defeat that ‘Agios of Chaos’ fella? If we can’t awaken her, we won’t get the Akashic Key. Without the key, we can’t return to the Dragon Soul Continent. It seems like our only way is to defeat that Chaos Creature?”
At that moment, Canary knitted her brows and sounded her opinion.
“But… Rhode also said that Order and Chaos in this world are merged. If we cause Order to crumple after eliminating the Chaos Creature, nothing good would come out of it, surely. Perhaps Chaos might turn out even stronger than Order when that happens and we will have a harder time dealing with this issue. Besides, it may also affect Earth… but before that, we have a more important question. Will we be able to eliminate it using our power?”
“That’s no problem at all.”
After some serious considerations about the strength of that Chaos Creature, Rhode nodded confidently. At least from what he witnessed, that Chaos Creature seemed to be most adept at infiltrating and manipulating undead creatures. Fortunately, Rhode didn’t have many undead creatures on his side. Even though Rhode’s strength was weakened, he was still at the peak of level 85. Moreover, as a Spirit Swordsman, he had a ton of holy sword cards in his arsenal. Apart from Shira who might possibly be manipulated by the Chaos Creature and couldn’t be used in battle, there shouldn’t be much problems with summoning the rest. Furthermore, with Mini Bubble Gum and Canary around, as well as the coordination of Lydia and Erin, there shouldn’t be too many issues. Even if it had the mighty strength of a lord, this was the only path they could take.
It would naturally be great news if they succeeded as not only would he gain another deity warden, but he would also receive a group of elites. According to Marybelle, the people sealed in the ice layer were still alive. They were all elite troops of the Void Dragon’s subordinate! If Rhode could bring them back, he could definitely strengthen the Void Territory in every aspect.
But how should they go about eliminating that Chaos Creature and avoid causing damage to Order and Earth?
Ordinary methods wouldn’t cut it. After all, Rhode hadn’t reached the height of the Void Dragon and the collapse of Order might lead to a chain reaction. That was why the best way was to separate their fusion, but that apparently wasn’t too possible. If not, Marybelle would have already done it. The other way was to send it to another space once again. However… If Rhode’s group was capable of doing that, they wouldn’t need the Door of Akasha in order to return home.
Just what exactly should we do?
While Rhode pondered hard, his younger sister who kept silent all this while suddenly spoke.
“Big Brother, I have a solution that can perhaps resolve this problem.”
“Oh?”
This piqued Rhode’s curiosity.
“What solution?”
“In fact, it isn’t that complicated. Even though you’ve left your dragon essence in the Dragon Soul Continent, you’re still the Void Dragon who holds the authority to open up space, after all. What we need to do isn’t to open up a new space, but grant independent authority to a space. Through this method, we can build a brand new space that has nothing to do with this world and toss it in entirely. But… you may need to make some sacrifices for it to work, Big Brother.”
“No worries. How should we go about doing it?”
“Simple.”
This time, his younger sister chuckled.
“Big Brother, you have a venue card, right?”
