66 Chapter 65: Please, Be Gentle
The organization known as Twilight of the Gods, which had existed in this world for no less than five thousand years, was primarily divided into two factions.
The Birth faction held conservative views, hoping to gain the favor of the gods, preparing suitable vessels as containers, and praying for the gods to descend and walk among mortals.
The Godmaking faction believed that before the end of the world approached, humanity needed to grasp enough power to save itself. Therefore, seizing the divine essence and ascending as demigods was their sole purpose.
The disintegration and corruption of the Goddess of Abundance offered them a golden opportunity.
When the consciousness and divine essence of the goddess descended into the world, the first object to fuse with was Novala, who served as the vessel.
However, due to the corruption of the Goddess of Abundance, the divine essence was contaminated and needed to be purified, removing the pollution and delirium.
Therefore, when Novala's consciousness was invaded and the divine essence had not yet fused, they killed her along with the tainted divine consciousness, seizing the divine essence.
Such an opportunity might not come again for many years to come.
Therefore, for today's plan, the black-robed figure and his forces behind him had prepared painstakingly for decades.
Everything, all for the sake of reaping the fruits of victory on this day.
But now, everything was ruined.
The black-robed figure, Count Violet, and the countless followers of the Goddess of Abundance present were all staring in horror at the scene unfolding before them.
The handsome and refined young man swiftly scooped up the floating divine figure in mid-air and unabashedly swallowed it!
"Stop!!!"
The mysterious figure in the black robe flashed and instantly appeared in front of Char, trying to stop his actions, but it was too late.
The divine figure, containing a portion of divine authority like a scorching sun, disappeared into Char's mouth.
"Get lost."
Char sneered and, taking advantage of the lingering effects of multiple buffs on his body, casually threw a punch, unleashing a raging shockwave that swept through the entire underground cave, forcing the sorcerer to retreat.
The sorcerer's magic couldn't kill Char, but once he got up close as a newly promoted Totem Knight, even a sorcerer would have a headache.
The black-robed figure instantly retreated to the entrance of the cave, wearing a rather unpleasant expression as he observed the scene before him.
"My, my Lady...!"
Beside him, many devout followers stared blankly at Char, slowly kneeling down on the ground, sobbing.
Their faith, unexpectedly devoured by a rough and barbaric knight!
Feeling the foreign presence within him, Char took a deep breath, feeling a great thrill.
Perhaps this was the most exhilarating thing he had done since his reincarnation.
Fortunately, the consciousness of the bountiful goddess had already fallen into corruption and had been defined as an antagonist by the system.
So, after devouring the divine figure, even if he exploded and died or something, Char was mentally prepared.
Afterward, the divine figure and consciousness would be cleared away by the system, just like the black mist.
"Ugh..."
At this moment, Novala, who had fallen into a stupor halfway through the ceremony, seemed to have been awakened by the commotion around her, and she groggily opened her eyes.
She subconsciously glanced at the young knight floating in mid-air and thought she was dreaming. She wanted to reach out and rub her eyes, but she found her body surrounded by vines.
So Novala softly said, "Mr. Cain, why are you here?"
"Could it be that I'm dreaming? Can you, can you pinch my face to see if it hurts?"
Novala was clearly still somewhat disoriented, apologizing sheepishly.
Char reached out and pinched the soft and smooth face of Lady Violet. "You're not dreaming. Sleep well, and when you wake up, everything will be over."
"Goodnight... Mr. Cain..."
Upon hearing that, Lady Violet nodded and slowly closed her eyes.
It seemed that she had not fully recovered from the recent mental contamination.
Char smiled and then turned his head to look at the members of the Twilight of the Gods who were unsure of how to deal with the current situation.
"You..."
Just as he was about to speak, a strong surge of divine power began to emanate from within Char's body.
An ancient and mysterious aura gradually awakened, as if possessing the vast power to encompass all things and nurture all life in the world.
Clearly, after devouring the divine essence, Char's body underwent an unimaginable transformation.
The fallen consciousness of the bountiful goddess was slowly recovering within him!
"Urgh..."
Char suddenly fell from the sky, clutching his abdomen in intense pain.
Through his black armor, a small sun-like radiant object bloomed in his stomach, pulsating intensely like a heart.
The divine essence and authority that belonged to the gods began to fuse with Char's body!
Accompanied by his agonizing screams, vine-like tree patterns appeared on Char's body, accompanied by the eerie and frenzied aura of the bountiful mother tree, descending with a loud boom!
Wild roots and tendrils ran amok, shattering the earth and causing intense tremors throughout the capital city.
As the authority gradually merged, Char, tainted by the power of the malevolent god, vaguely felt that he seemed to be sharing some of the abilities of the bountiful goddess.
However, in his state of losing sanity, he had no time to ponder. Then, as if to release the immense power within his body, he swung his hand forcefully towards the people outside the cave.
With cries of agony and sharp spikes and tendrils, the area was instantly engulfed.
In just an instant, over a hundred members of the Twilight of the Gods were drained of their life force, turning into lifeless corpses, crumbling into dust.
"What is...?!"
The figure in the black robe took a deep breath, supporting the shoulders of Count Violet, and disappeared in an instant.
The current situation was no longer suitable for staying.
In the last moment before leaving the scene, the figure in the black robe faintly saw another face on Char's face, switching back and forth.
It was the gentle and mature countenance of a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Novala.
Meanwhile, Char continued to resist the power of the divine essence and the contamination of the malevolent god contained within it.
At the same time, a hint of doubt arose within him.
Why haven't I exploded yet?
Char's thought was to hurry up and die, so that everything would come to an end.
However, it seemed that the divine essence and its consciousness had a different idea.
He even vaguely felt that the fusion with the divine essence was gradually becoming natural.
At the same time, another voice echoed in his mind.
"Who are you?"
"..."
Char had no intention of answering.
He let out a long howl, shaking the cave almost to the point of collapse. However, countless roots shot up into the sky, holding the rocks in mid-air, preventing the bountiful mother tree from being submerged.
Comparatively, being killed by the curse of the witch was even more painful and despairing.
However, the sensation of being tainted by the fallen bountiful aura was uncomfortable.
The bountiful goddess symbolized fertility and reproduction.
But after being corrupted, the symbolic meaning was distorted to some extent.
So now, Char not only had to endure the pain brought by the corruption but also had to suppress a constant impulse raging within his body.
It was called the urge of desire.
Yes, in this critical moment, Char shamefully moaned.
"..."
Suddenly, Char, pale-faced, furrowed his brows deeply.
Amidst the contamination of the divine essence, he sensed a familiar aura.
It was... the black mist!
"Damn it! Why is it a human male?"
Before Char could think further, the voice became clearer and clearer.
He could vaguely distinguish some resemblance to Novala, but it seemed colder.
Sensing the true condition of the current host body, the newly awakened consciousness of the bountiful goddess let out a scream.
As the vessel for the descent of the goddess, the most basic requirement was to choose a curvaceous, beautiful-faced virgin who symbolized the benevolence of the earth mother and the purity of the goddess. Otherwise, it would be considered disrespectful.
But Char fulfilled none of those requirements, no matter which aspect.
Therefore, the newly descended goddess of abundance became angry, as expected.
What made her even angrier was that the current host, after having its consciousness invaded, not only did not grant full access to this body's capabilities but also resisted with a stubborn attitude.
"Where are the followers of abundance?!"
The consciousness of the goddess of abundance kept screaming.
It seemed that after being contaminated, whose rationality was not very high.
Makes sense.
If the other party sat down calmly and wanted to have a conversation, Char would doubt whether this person had been contaminated at all.
"Stop yelling, Miss Abundance... for now, let's call you that," Char said with some difficulty. "Since you have descended, then stay in this vessel for now, shall we?"
Clearly, I'm the one who has been possessed. I should be the one feeling aggrieved.
Char thought to himself.
Now he wasn't in a hurry to die because he sensed something interesting.
For example, why would the corrupted aura of the abundant mother tree be the black mist that he was most familiar with?
However, at this moment, the corrupted goddess of abundance couldn't listen to Char's words at all.
She attempted to forcefully control Char, launching a siege on his consciousness with her spiritual power.
"Insect, die for me!"
A female creature, enveloped in eerie black mist and tendrils, vaguely humanoid in form, released an intangible mental shockwave towards Char.
"Hong..."
Char's soul instantly became weak.
But with a pale complexion and strange green patterns covering his body, Char just sighed lightly, ignoring the fresh blood gushing out of his seven orifices.
"That's enough."
"What did you say?!"
The goddess of abundance angrily unleashed her strangling power once again.
"I said... that's enough," Char coughed up blood lightly, his body somewhat broken and damaged after devouring the divine essence. "If this continues, I sense some unfavorable circumstances."
"Haven't you noticed yet?"
Sensing a certain change coming from his body, Char said in a low voice.
"Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die—!!!"
Accompanying a powerful force capable of easily crushing Char's soul, the goddess of abundance was about to completely erase his consciousness!
"Ah."
Char sighed, not resisting or evading.
And in the split second before that power was about to cause harm...
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
"Boom—"
Three powerful forces with different auras, accompanied by three beams of different colors, burst forth from Char's body!
The blood moon mark surrounded by nine patterns on his chest instantly emitted a cold radiance. A faint blue vertical pupil slowly condensed on his forehead. At the same time, an immensely intense black mist emanated from behind Char!
These were imprints left behind by three supreme beings with divine status.
Adriel, the god of knowledge, magic, and elements.
Beatrice, the goddess of moonlight and beauty.
And... Agnes, the Lord of boundless black mist.
Regardless of which one, they were all immensely powerful beings, not inferior to the goddess of abundance. At this moment, they simultaneously erupted from within Char!
Clearly, Char, marked by these three deities, whether favored by them or not, would not be allowed to die at the hands of an entity of the same level without reason.
It was the divine power of the goddess of abundance that triggered these three forces.
The once overwhelmingly powerful consciousness of the fallen goddess of abundance was instantly suppressed by the combined strength of the three deities. With a scream of despair, she trembled like a frightened little girl cornered against a wall.
"It's... it's actually them?" The voice of the goddess of abundance was filled with intense disbelief. "Who exactly are you?!"
"N-No, you can't treat me like this!"
Clearly, as a fallen and fragmented consciousness, the goddess of abundance could not simultaneously contend against the three deities of the same status.
"Damn it, damn it!"
"If you force me like this..."
Accompanied by an extremely unstable fluctuation, the consciousness of the goddess of abundance became somewhat shaky.
Just before being crushed by the three forces, she raised her hand and pointed.
Accompanied by devout prayers and the tolling of bells, in Char's gaze, a golden giant gate slowly opened in the void.
This... was the divine realm of the goddess of abundance!
"Hahahaha!!!"
The fallen consciousness of the goddess of abundance laughed maniacally, controlling Char's body, grabbing the sleeping Novala, and falling into the world beyond the gate.
"Boom!"
Then, the gate slowly closed and disappeared from its original location.
.....
Nidro, standing in mid-air, had sweat dripping down his forehead at some point.
It was cold sweat caused by extreme fear.
After a short while, another figure appeared beside him.
"What was that just now?!" Mevis asked with a mix of astonishment and uncertainty.
Nidro, the Grand Magistrate, glanced at her, fell silent for a moment, and then smiled bitterly. "There were three... No, including the presence of the goddess of abundance, there were four."
"If I'm not mistaken, in addition to the gods of wisdom and moonlight, there is also an incredibly evil curse. Even sensing it from this distance drove me close to losing my sanity."
"Four... deities?"
Mevis pondered the implications of that statement, her heart pounding. She felt a sense of things spiraling out of control.
The organization known as the Twilight of the Gods had always seemed mysterious to her, so mysterious that traces of their existence seemed to be found in every country on this continent.
But when she tried to investigate further, she found that no information could be obtained.
Yet, after the recent events, Mevis had an unprecedented feeling that the organization she was a part of had encountered a formidable challenge.
Those were three deities!
Mighty and exalted deities!
"You must be connected to the mastermind behind this incident, right?"
Nidro gazed at the collapsing and dissipating silhouette of the towering tree that had been stationed in the northwest area of the capital, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he didn't know why the incident had ended, it was evident that everything was related to the arrangements of several deities.
"Don't make baseless assumptions," Mevis took a deep breath, regaining her usual composure. She glanced at him but remained silent.
....
"Is it over?"
After leading the Knights of Judgment to the scene in a hurry, Rod suddenly realized that the ancient and powerful divine aura that had shrouded the sky had dissipated at some point.
He stood still, trying to sense the situation around him, but in the end, he gained nothing.
Apart from the lingering presence of some exhilarating and proliferating aura in the air, there was nothing else.
...
When Novala woke up again, she found herself lying on a grassy field, her clothes in disarray.
She gently touched her dizzy forehead and slowly stood up.
"Where am I...?"
Novala raised her head and looked around, discovering that she was in a fantastical world filled with lush greenery.
There were all sorts of gigantic plants everywhere, turning the small flowers and grasses from the outside world into towering trees here.
At the same time, countless dreamlike magical lights floated in the air, and occasionally, little fairies with transparent wings would flit through the forest, accompanied by tinkling laughter.
"Ah, Mister Char!"
Just then, Novala finally noticed Char, who was sitting on the ground, trembling and holding his head.
His body was covered in blood, his skin reddened, and he was as hot as a burning crab.
Upon hearing Novala's call, Char looked at her with a grim expression.
"Don't... come closer..."
He pressed his body against the ground, biting his own wrist forcefully, blood splattering as if he was suppressing a strong impulse.
"What... what happened to you?"
Novala's voice trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes as she saw Char in such a state.
"He is not in great danger; he has just been contaminated by an aura of abundance."
A voice, almost identical to Novala's, came from nearby.
Novala looked up and saw a beautiful figure sitting quietly on a leaf of a giant red flower beside her.
The figure was dressed in a long gown woven from petals and green leaves, with bare white feet and a lowered head.
"Let me introduce myself. I am the goddess of abundance, Selina," the fragmented consciousness of the goddess of abundance spoke softly. "Thanks to this human boy, I have been freed from the contamination."
With Selina's explanation, Novala gradually understood what had happened.
After returning to the divine realm, the goddess of abundance with higher authority seized the fleeting opportunity and separated the power of pure divinity from Char's consciousness, which had been completely invaded by pollution but before the divine nature fully merged.
Only the pollution and the taint remained in Char's body.
Originating from the distorted symbol of the goddess of abundance, an infinite and overwhelming impulse and desire engulfed his entire being.
And he was desperately suppressing those desires.
This was the kind of power that deities feared the most, because their strength was too great. Even the slightest contamination of their minds would lead to unimaginable transformations.
The original goddess of abundance had disintegrated due to this, leaving only this remaining fragment of her consciousness that could return to the divine realm.
Strangely enough, when the corrupting black mist encountered Char, it rushed toward him as if it had encountered an acquaintance.
This greatly relieved the pressure on the goddess of abundance, allowing her to take subsequent actions.
"So, what should we do with Mister Char?"
Novala shed tears and tried to reach out to support Char, but his skin's high temperature made her retract her hand.
"He won't die so easily," Selina said slowly. "As the chosen vessel of three supreme beings, he carries the mission of salvation."
"This is a prophecy I left in the 'Revelations' many years ago, and it seems that its fulfillment is approaching."
Seemingly reminiscing about past events, Selina gently descended from the tree leaf.
"You also have your own mission."
Just as Novala reached out to touch Char but was repelled by the heat on his skin, Selina spoke again.
"My mission?"
Novala looked up at Selina, puzzled.
"You will become one with him, the closest person who shares life and death, and together you will save countless lives. These are the exact words of the prophecy."
"Do you want to know how to interpret this sentence?"
Novala remained silent for a moment, then nodded gently.
"As the representative of the will of the goddess in the mortal world, the embodiment with the tree-shaped mark, you lean more towards the image of a gentle and peaceful Earth Mother. Selina smiled with a hint of ambiguity, "And as the vessel, what you truly need to do is to contain certain things."
"Obviously, they have completely misunderstood the concept of this 'vessel' and mistakenly believed that it exists to carry my consciousness."
"Actually, that's not the case."
Selina paused for a moment, then revealed the truth to Novala's stunned gaze.
"Your task is to conceive the offspring of that young man, to give birth to a descendant blessed by the gods, and become his partner."
"That is the truth of the matter that was not mentioned in the 'Revelation'."
Novala was stunned.
"G-give birth?"
She looked dazedly at the consciousness of the goddess of plenty, then at Char who was desperately resisting his desires, and repeated.
"Yes, this is the initial and only mission for your existence in this world."
From Selina's mouth, cold and cruel words slowly emerged.
Upon hearing this, Novala lowered her head slowly.
An indescribable and inexplicable emotion welled up within her.
So, this is the meaning of my existence.
Her body trembled slightly.
After a long, long time, she lowered her head and said softly, "By doing this, can I save Mr. Char?"
"Yes," Selina said.
But in reality, it was a lie.
If nothing unexpected happened, the irresistible erosion of will that even the gods couldn't resist would turn Char into a hideous monster driven solely by his desires until his ultimate demise.
But for her plan, the goddess of plenty chose to conceal the truth.
At the moment when Char, as a mortal, devoured the divinity, his fate was already sealed.
"I will do it."
Without hesitation, Novala nodded calmly.
Then, she walked slowly towards Char, who was curled up on the ground.
"Don't... stop..."
Char gasped for breath, his eyes bloodshot, on the verge of being overwhelmed by various wicked desires.
"Mr. Cain, be good, be a good boy." At this moment, tenderness flickered in Novala's eyes, like an elder sister gently guiding Char, "Don't be afraid, it won't be uncomfortable in a little while."
But in the depths of her eyes, there flashed a pain that no one could perceive.
A pain that only she, as the vessel, could experience.
Even if the other person was Mr. Cain whom she wanted to get close to.
Seeing this, Charclenched his teeth, supported himself with his hands on the ground, and slowly stood up.
"Stop... stop..."
His body twitched slightly, and the intense desire reminded him at every moment to quickly pounce on the stunning lady in front of him.
But his remaining sanity told him that he couldn't do that.
"Listen to me, listen to me..."
"I... I didn't save you for any complicated reason..."
At this moment, a hint of clarity returned to Char's eyes.
He looked at Novala, who seemed somewhat surprised, and tried his best to smile gently.
"You... You have always wanted to obtain freedom, right...?"
"You... you wanted to know the meaning of your existence in this world...?"
"You wanted to truly have the power to make your own choices...?"
"Novala, you are not just a vessel..."
"You... are an individual with an independent personality, with... your own life, a long future..."
"From now on, no one can force you... force you to do things you don't want to do. This... this is my promise to you."
"Even if it's a god... they can't."
Char used his last bit of sanity to speak intermittently.
A teardrop rolled down the side of Novala's face.
She cried.
But she also smiled.
A smile that was exceptionally beautiful and captivating.
Gazing at the young man before her who had stirred up indescribable feelings within her, Novala kicked off her high heels and slowly approached Char, then gently held him.
"Please... please be gentle."
