Chapter 1652: Two Worlds Remaining
"Unfair! It’s not fair! Not fair!"
The bizarre silence shattered as Archbishop Kysar’s voice rang out, trembling with a mix of fury and aggrieved sobs.
"What did you do?" Maximilien demanded. Envy and deep regret flickered in his eyes. Envy, because Orion had claimed the divine heart fragment. Regret, because he hadn’t realized the Four Gods’ realm hid treasures of this magnitude. Had he known, he never would have betrayed the Cult of Four—or at least, he would have unearthed the divine heart for himself before abandoning the realm.
"What did you do to the World Tree?" Kendry pressed. The Cult of Four had sacrificed the most in this clash, yet they were walking away empty-handed.
"Why would the World Tree hand the fragment to you?" Eryx, the final Archbishop of the Cult of Four, echoed. Had Orion not been exuding an absolutely suffocating aura, Eryx likely would have already lunged to steal it back.
"Don’t ask me. I have no idea!" Orion’s tone was light, almost celebratory. "Would you believe me if I said it was a happy accident?"
This final twist had been a massive stroke of blind luck. He suspected it had something to do with the ancient Titan heart beating in his chest, but he certainly wasn’t going to share that little secret.
"Why? Why you? Why not me?!" Archbishop Kysar’s hysterical shrieks echoed around them. He directed the first two questions at Orion, and the last at the World Tree’s roots.
Orion ignored him entirely, and the mindless roots naturally offered no reply.
Someone else, however, provided an answer.
"You mindless cur. If you lack the discipline to control your own temper, how did you even survive long enough to reach this level of power?" The Lifeless Dreadgod scoffed. "Was it purely the favor of the Four Gods? Strip them away, and you’re nothing but worthless trash."
That last statement wasn’t a question; it was a cold, hard fact. The Lifeless Dreadgod had zero respect for Kysar and his ilk—frauds who had taken shortcuts through divine patronage to artificially inflate their strength.
"What do you know?" Moriphara asked, stepping forward with a newly manifested phantom will. With the Progenitor Insect phantom destroyed, she had to intervene personally lest any other mythical treasures appear.
Besides, the Progenitor Insect phantom wasn’t truly dead. All she needed was another grand sacrifice on The Swarming Continent, and the beast would return—likely stronger than before.
"You, me, and them—we are all outsiders here," The Lifeless Dreadgod said, pointing at Moriphara, himself, and the Cult of Four. "But him? He is different. Orion has always been the favored son of the Titanion Realm. Had we never arrived, he would already be the unquestioned master of this world."
He pointed a skeletal finger at Orion.
"Our invasion served only to force the realm’s ascension, which inadvertently cemented his absolute authority here." The Lifeless Dreadgod swept his gaze across the others, watching them reassess Orion after witnessing the Will of the Realm publicly shower him in favor. "When I call you a pack of ignorant fools, shut up and accept it."
Securing his own divine heart fragment had fortified The Lifeless Dreadgod’s confidence, inflating his arrogance to new heights.
"His overwhelming strength triggered the awakening of the Will of the Realm, causing the World Tree to sprout its four primary branches. Do you still not grasp why?" He clicked his tongue. "It’s because we invaders do not hold the reins here. The Will of the Realm does."
The Lifeless Dreadgod narrowed his eyes as he spoke, his emotions a tangled mess. On one hand, a robust Will of the Realm meant the Titanion Realm harbored greater Hope, which translated into more Authority for him down the line—elevating his status among apex predators. On the other hand, it was a bitter pill to swallow. It meant that the joint invasion by his forces, the Cult of Four, and the swarm had ultimately failed. Even combined, they hadn’t managed to wrest true dominance away from Orion.
"In the end, we simply lack the strength," The Lifeless Dreadgod muttered, his tone dripping with frustration. "If even one of us were a true sixth stage powerhouse, things would have played out very differently." He didn’t bother keeping his voice down; everyone heard him clearly.
Orion chuckled, shrugging off the tension. He took a single step, instantly reappearing upon his throne amidst the World Tree’s branches.
In truth, the power dynamics of the Titanion Realm had irrevocably shifted. By claiming the divine heart fragments, Orion and The Lifeless Dreadgod now stood at the pinnacle. The swarm and the Cult of Four had been relegated to the second tier.
"Lest you forget, the Cult of Four still holds two more worlds exactly like this one," Orion noted from his throne, tossing them a bone to defuse the mounting hostility.
"Two more..." The words were a balm to Archbishop Kysar and the others. Their foul moods lifted marginally as their minds spun with new schemes.
Only The Lifeless Dreadgod remained entirely unconvinced, his eyes half-closed in deep thought. Two more worlds... More like two massive death traps waiting to spring.
The Four Gods were ruthlessly cunning deities. They wouldn’t just leave their divine legacies out in the open to be plundered so effortlessly. Judging them by his own twisted standards, The Lifeless Dreadgod knew those entities wouldn’t allow their grand designs to be dismantled without consequence. Just because they hadn’t triggered a trap here didn’t mean the path ahead was clear.
I need to tread carefully. I can’t blindly step into a snare. If a move must be made, I’ll let the useless fodder from the Cult of Four test the waters first.
He cast a covert glance at Kysar’s group before letting his gaze settle on Orion. With today’s harvest, Orion’s power was bound to skyrocket. For the first time, Orion had truly earned The Lifeless Dreadgod’s recognition. He was finally worthy of sitting at the same table and sharing the spoils—both now and in the future.
"Gentlemen, our immediate priority is to assist the World Tree’s roots in devouring this realm before any unforeseen complications arise," The Lifeless Dreadgod announced, snapping everyone out of their reveries. "Hold nothing back. Use everything at your disposal. Consuming this realm entirely is our only objective right now."
