While Rhode’s group faced the ‘aftermath’ of the explosion incident, the rulers of various countries on Earth were caught in a chaotic mess.
Thomas and the rest returned home safely and reported their findings quickly. It was imaginable how astounded the higher-ups were when they witnessed Thomas’s research report. What Thomas elaborated in his report was basically the same as Rhode had expected. Thomas mentioned the hypothesis of advanced civilizations on Earth before humans appeared. Not only that, but he also linked up the existing legends and myths that were widely spread on Earth and claimed that 65 million years ago, the heirs of these advanced civilizations had fallen in a defeat against certain evil forces and had no choice but to destroy all of Earth. Most of them were also sealed in ice and only a small number of them survived and showed up in forms such as ‘deities’, ‘angels’, and ‘gods’ known to people. This was also why ancient civilizations had different legends and yet, similar characters were involved. Not only that, but Thomas also warned that the creatures they fought against earlier were starting to revive in number and a careless mistake would repeat the same tragedy that happened to Earth from 65 million years ago.
This caused an uproar among the higher-ups instantly. Even though modern technologies were so advanced that humans could be sent to the moon to build bases, there still wasn’t a way to migrate Earthlings on a large-scale yet. Besides, modern humans hadn’t fallen from grace to be willing to die alongside the dinosaurs yet. Therefore, all countries began researching and looking for ways to discover the so-called ‘disasters’, in order to prevent the same catastrophe from happening again like 65 million years ago.
However, that had nothing to do with Rhode anymore. As long as he transmigrated the entire Dragon Soul Continent to this plane of existence, he could borrow the strength of Order to subdue Chaos entirely. Chaos would then self-destruct and that would be enough for him.
But now, Rhode had his own matters to attend to.
Deep, gloomy clouds enfolded the sky. The gentle wind brought along a refreshing scent of the soil. Rhode lifted his head and sauntered along the tree-lined avenue filled with rows of graves on both sides. Despite that, he didn’t slow down his place. He arrived at a fork and entered the depths of the cemetery where he reached one of the graves shortly after. He gazed at a black tombstone, pondered in silence, and let out a long sigh. Then, the corners of his mouth perked up into a forced smile.
“Life sure is fascinating. The last time I came here was before my graduation… Back then, I was thinking of finding a decent job. I didn’t have high expectations. As long as the job covered my insurance, gave me a stable income to have savings for a mortgage, and allowed me to find and marry a woman, all would be great. And now…” Rhode looked up at the sky and extended his hand. “… A year has gone by and I’ve become the ruler of a continent. The number of women around me is reaching double-digits and some aren’t even humans. Haha, I wonder what reactions Mom and Dad would have if they knew about this in heaven.”
“Aren’t they here?”
The younger sister’s troubled voice sounded in his head. Rhode shrugged in response.
“Nope, this is only an empty grave. Their plane crashed into the sea and their corpses couldn’t be found and recovered from the ocean. So all I could do was to build an empty grave… In fact, I don’t see anything wrong with this since people need spiritual sustenance. Rather than being a person who adopts an artistic style by speaking to the ocean or sky, I would rather speak to a tombstone since their names and pictures are on it. At least I’m sure of who I’m speaking to and not to some random and unknown presences.”
Rhode said, dwindling his expression and lifting up the incense stick. He bowed solemnly and said: “Mom, Dad, your son is here to see you… yes… I’ve graduated from university and now… I can be considered to have found a job. It is rather stable and should be able to last forever if no accidents happen. The income is also decent. Even though I’m not considered a millionaire with this job, it is enough for me to get on with life. Although the job gets a little dangerous at times, please be assured that everything will be fine. As for accommodations, I have a few of them with mortgages fully paid. They are huge and located in comfortable environments without any pollution. As for your daughters-in-law, there are a lot of them, so I will find another day to properly introduce them to both of you. Everything is great, so please don’t worry about me.”
Rhode bowed solemnly and inserted the incense stick into the incense burner. He took two steps back and gazed at the tombstone. At that moment, he heard the chuckles of his younger sister.
“Big Brother, your way of reporting to Mom and Dad sure is interesting…”
“Well, I’m not telling lies either.”
“True…”
The younger sister let out a soft sigh. Then, he heard her voice again. Even though he couldn’t see her at all, he clearly felt her emotions.
“I’m thankful to Mom and Dad too. As a Creator Dragon, I’ve never indulged in such emotions. We were born in the gap between Order and Chaos and upheld the will of Order. But to us, this is our first time experiencing affections of a family. Perhaps this was the reason why they weren’t willing to leave Earth… After all, there isn’t much purpose for them to return after losing their power. Same goes for me…”
Upon hearing her words, Rhode felt astonished. This was his first time learning that the five Creator Dragons had no parents, but were born in the gap between Order and Chaos instead. In other words, after their souls were reincarnated to Earth, this was their first time indulging in affections within a family. In that case, it was understandable why the other Creator Dragons had no intention of leaving this place and returning to the Dragon Soul Continent with him. After all, this was their home now, while they were considered to have abandoned their original identities after handing the Dragon Soul Continent over to Rhode. Their only wish now was to live in the identities of ordinary humans and other matters were out of their consideration. After all, as time passed, the followers of the Creator Dragons were basically dead and the ones who remained were mostly unrelated apprentices. Apart from increasing their troubles and memories, there were no other meanings. Not everyone could survive the attack of Chaos like the ‘seven’ deity wardens. However, Arthur and the rest weren’t standing idly by either. Previously, they contacted Rhode and assured him that they would activate their powers to search for Chaos worshipers who lurked in this world and annihilate them all. Rhode left this task to Arthur and the rest since even if they weren’t able to resolve this matter by then, there would still be a lot of time after the Dragon Soul Continent transmigrated to this solar system.
The younger sister stopped speaking, while Rhode also became silent. In an instant, the cemetery was sitting in an odd tranquility. There was nothing else apart from the gentle wind and light drizzle. Raindrops landed on the tree leaves, ground, and pond, performing a symphony with nature as its theme. Rhode stood in the rain quietly. After a few moments, he turned around and headed back where he came from.
He had done what he should, at least for now.
And for the next thing… he could only handle it after heading back.
***
Gales howled.
The land was no longer as peaceful as yesterday. The massive force that razed across the surface had as though flipped the ground around, where even the strong roots of tall, ancient trees were pulled up from the soil. The surroundings turned incomparably dark. The impetuous force became a shape of threat, bringing suffocating coldness and fear to the entire space.
Marlene held a staff in hand, hovering in midair quietly and gazing at the army that had enveloped half the horizon. They were mainly air troops and apart from gargoyles, incubi, and soul griffins, the most eye-catching presence was an angel with pitch-black wings who stood at the very front. He was tall and burly, clutching a sword and clad in full, pitch-black armor. He gazed ahead and didn’t speak a word as though he were the dominator of the sky.
“His Majesty the Dark Dragon actually sent out a legendary general into battle. It seems like he has decided to break our agreement, huh?”
Meanwhile, there wasn’t an equally frightening display of forces behind Marlene. Not only were there no battle angels around, but the magic warships were also nowhere to be seen. Orchid Heart and her army also weren’t on the battlefield. The only ones behind Marlene were Alice, who held a heavy book in her hands and leaned slantingly as though she were sitting back on a sofa, and Cassidy, who had a heavy sword diagonally on her back, crossed her arms, and gazed ahead in elegance and disdain. There were only three of them against an army of hundreds of thousands of troops. But even so, they weren’t scared or anxious at all. It could also be said that… they were somewhat overly carefree.
“…”
Charlie didn’t respond to Marlene. Among the four legendary generals, this fallen angel was known for being a man of few words and took more actions than he the words spoke. Facing Marlene’s question, he wasn’t mindful at all. He also didn’t care about what Ion was trying to do. As long as it was Ion’s order, he knew he had to fulfill it.
And that was enough.
Therefore, he didn’t say a word. He raised the sword in his hand and pointed at the three young ladies. His mission now was only to attack.
“What a boring fella.”
However, Charlie’s actions didn’t give any pressure to the trio at all. Cassidy crossed her arms and lifted her chin proudly, sizing up the fallen angel with eyes glinting in disdain and contempt.
“Absolutely disgraceful, how dare you point your sword at me? And that annoying reptile actually broke his agreement with our lord! Hmph, he is nothing more than a vessel, so how dare he act so brazenly!” Cassidy grunted, reaching her hand to grip and unsheathe the large sword behind her. “Since that reptile is unwilling to keep promises, we shall educate him with the proper etiquette on how to treat the deity wardens with respect!”
Shing———!
Charlie didn’t say a word. But the instant Cassidy finished her sentence, he flourished his sword and along with this move, the darkness enveloping the horizon began to roll. At the next moment, tens of thousands of undead creatures expanded their wings and pounced ahead!
Soul griffins flew across the sky in blazing blue flames like an ocean wave crashing forward from the horizon. Right behind them were death knights riding on incubi, erupting in scarlet flames that resembled a rippling blood river. Gargoyles were mixed among them, making terrifying screeches and pouncing on the enemies ahead with razor-sharp claws. But this seemingly hair-raising scene wasn’t even considered a threat to the three young ladies.
“Asking for death!”
Scanning the undead army that enfolded the entire sky, Cassidy snickered. At the next moment, she clutched the large sword and swung it forward with might!
Along with this attack, the sky and Earth reversed suddenly. At a glance above, the boundless land had flipped over and replaced the sky, where the trees were seemingly growing from the sky upside down. Facing this phenomenon, it was a pity that the undead creatures fluttering in the air weren’t teleported to the surface along with the sky. Therefore, it was imaginable how terrified they felt. They were simply flying across the sky, only to suddenly realize that the sky turned into solid ground that imprisoned them entirely.
“Brainless idiots.”
Looking at the undead creatures who were trapped in the earth, Cassidy snorted. She withdrew the sword through the trajectory it took and in a flash, the sky and earth returned to their original state. At the same time, Alice swept a glance at the undead creatures that were devoured by the land and extended her hand to hold the heavy book before her.
“———!”
Without the slightest sound, the earth suddenly grew exuberant. The wreckage like broken, shattered trees returned to their original, perfect state. The green grass and lush forest once again became the main melody of this world. As for the undead creatures that were imprisoned within the earth, they vanished entirely.
Within three minutes, the high and mighty undead army was annihilated. This was the six deity wardens’—no, seven deity wardens’ true power.
“If you back off now, we can turn a blind eye to it. This is your last chance.”
Marlene looked at Cassidy and Alice, who had withdrawn the sword and closed the book respectively, before shifting her gaze to the empty space ahead. Apart from Charlie, there was no one else.
“…”
If it were Garcia or Balende, they would have nodded in agreement regardless of their ‘reputation’. This response wasn’t too surprising since the deity wardens were a totally different level above the legendary generals. Besides, after the passing of so many years, the strength of the legendary generals was getting worse with each generation. If it was their first generation of legendary generals who took on the deity wardens, they wouldn’t be crushed so badly despite being unable to win. But now… judging from the plight of the Blood Countess Ashvril, it was apparent that she was basically considered to make up for the shortfall in the number of legendary generals…
But it was a pity that they were facing the Angel of Sorrow, Charlie, and nothing had more importance than battles in his eyes. Therefore, upon hearing Marlene’s words, not only did he not retreat, but he also flourished his sword, before flitting across the air in a swift black radiance, aiming straight at her!
“Sigh, that’s it then.”
Marlene sighed upon witnessing his action and raised her staff. Along with this movement, the staff in her hand trembled and spun on its own like a machine. One by one, various colorful magical rituals appeared behind her. The undulating magical brilliance flickered and coalesced into an energy-filled light beam. At the next moment, the omnipresent light beam erupted, shrouding Charlie entirely.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A string of explosions reverberated. But shortly after, Charlie emerged from the dark radiance and raised his sword high, his pitch-black wings emanating a black, ink-like brilliance as though a black hole devouring Marlene’s magical assaults. Looking at this scene, Marlene twitched her brow slightly. She lifted the staff and swung it forward quickly.
Clang!
The pitch-black blade collided with her staff heavily. Charlie and Marlene trembled upon impact at the same time. However, Charlie continued his aggression, striking ahead continuously. At that moment, a colorful brilliance emanated from Marlene and a solid barrier appeared in front of her to stop Charlie’s attack. Marlene brandished the staff at him abruptly.
Almost simultaneously, Charlie sensed the presence of a mighty danger. He decisively abandoned his attack and retreated swiftly.
Swish!
An illusory light beam brushed against Charlie. Shortly after, the ground rumbled and the light beam ripped through the land with its roaring airwaves and the colors of the sky gradually turned dull. In a loud explosion, a mountain hundreds of meters behind Charlie shattered into bits and collapsed entirely.
Charlie flew off to draw a distance away from Marlene quickly.
But at that moment, a fanatical smile emerged on his expressionless face.
“Such a formidable power… Great, I shall have a feel for it!”
