Chapter 1268 — Another Rift
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
That figure who had once been the God of War's Pope stood quietly beneath the magnificent throne. He had once been the vessel for a deity's madness, the source of the mental contamination that spread among Typhon's upper strata and its armies; with his own hands he had helped bring about that ill-fated "war" between Typhon and Cecil, and had indirectly caused the God of War's church to be purged and dismantled by the Typhonian royal house.
He had also been personally captured by Luoyan Augustus, used as the "sacrifice" to guide the God of War into descending upon the mortal world ahead of time.
Few are the figures who can become turning points in the pages of history; Malm Dunite was one of them, though the role he played at that turning point was far from honorable.
But all of that had long since receded into the past. To this phantom—who could no longer be called either ghost or heroic spirit—everything that had once happened in the mortal world had lost its meaning. He was merely an insignificant servant in this ever-dissolving, ever-crumbling divine realm, keeping watch over the last illusion the deity had left behind, keeping watch over the already collapsed and disintegrating gates of this kingdom.
"I never thought this place would still receive visitors," Malm Dunite raised his head, studying the people before him with a trace of curiosity—an ancient arcanist whose whole body brimmed with radiant energy, a burly Holy Light "priest" clad in heavy armor, an alien god descended here in the form of a projected avatar... Such a company would have been unimaginable in the years he knew. "What have you come here to do? This is nothing but a ruin in endless collapse."
"We've come to seek the secrets of the deity," Kamael Pingxi said, gazing at the old man before him—whatever identity this old man might once have held no longer mattered; he treated him simply as an ordinary source of intelligence, though he maintained a basic caution all the while, lest this "ghost" wandering the divine realm carry some contaminating power. "And you? How is it that after your own death and the deity's fall, you still retain your consciousness—and have lingered here for so long?"
Malm Dunite was silent for a moment, then laughed. "I don't know... Perhaps because I wished it so."
Kamael said nothing, only turned his head slightly to glance at Milmina beside him, who was likewise silent, then gave a small nod. "We intend to keep exploring this place. Do you mean to stop us?"
"No... there is no longer any need for me to stop you," Malm Dunite said faintly. "Mortals have overcome a deity; this divine realm is your spoils of war. Such is the rule acknowledged by my Lord—move freely. This was won by all of humanity."
Kamael relaxed slightly. He did not believe this old man turned ghost had the power to stop an expeditionary team escorted by a deity's avatar, but this was, after all, the God of War's divine realm; any drastic action outside the plan could trigger unpredictable changes here, so avoiding conflict was naturally the best outcome.
But just as he raised his hand to order the White Knights to continue exploring other areas, Malm Dunite's voice suddenly rang out again: "There is one place I would like to show you."
"A place?" Kamael looked at the ghostly apparition before him with some surprise and some wariness. "What do you want us to see?"
"Relax. I mean you no harm," Malm Dunite said, seeming to sense the shift in Kamael's mood—perhaps some intuition unique to ghosts; there was a smile in his tone. "At the edge of the divine realm, I saw some things that should not be here. I believe the sight may interest you. It isn't far—pass through here and we'll be there quickly."
Curiosity stirred at once in Kamael's heart. After a brief hesitation and weighing of options, he chose to follow the ghost. "Lead the way."