Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
The Holy Dragon could not stand by and watch herself be corrupted. The Old Ones would not be content with merely devouring her primal power; they would inevitably use her as a stepping stone to strike at the Cain Will and the Cain Continent. This would be a catastrophe for Cain. Therefore, she had no choice but to abandon maintaining the Crystal Wall System. Moreover, she needed to reserve her last reserves of strength to accomplish one more crucial task. This, perhaps, was the only hope for a comeback.
Supreme Dome—
At this moment, all the gods who had awakened from their slumber were gathered in the magnificent temple of light. Among them were the Goddess of Abundance, surrounded by grains that swayed in the wind and ripened with the rain; the Moon Goddess, whose skirt was adorned with stars and whose eyes held a crescent moon; the God of Commerce and Finance, bare-chested and bedecked with coins; the Mountain Goddess, whose towering figure was like a titan, her arms composed of mountain ranges; and the God of Wind, seated on his throne of gales, wielding lightning, and so on.
All the gods were gathered here. In front of them stood Bayedell, the old man of light, clad in a white bathrobe and wearing slippers, one on the wrong foot. He was surrounded by hundreds of angels and the four Archangels, standing at the forefront of all the gods. And above their heads, the Incarnation of the Holy Dragon flickered in and out of existence. The Holy Dragon was still majestic and noble, but she was visibly weak and haggard.
“Crack, crack—”
Above the Supreme Dome, the starry sky formed by golden mirrors shattered inch by inch. Tentacles and evil eyes emerged from the cracks, peering in, emitting boundless malice. But the Holy Dragon ignored them. She looked at the gods gathered around her, her eyes lowered. Taking a deep breath, as if mustering all her strength to speak, her tone was slow and somber: “My children… I am sorry, I could not protect the Crystal Wall System any longer. The Old Ones have already taken advantage of our weakness and infiltrated the Prime Material Plane. They are now eroding my power by polluting my primal essence. The Crystal Wall System has collapsed, and the Old Ones are approaching you.”
“Holy Dragon Lord, protecting Cain is our duty as gods, and you have already done so much for us.” Bayedell, the old man of light, switched his slippers to the correct feet and shook his head solemnly, looking at the Holy Dragon with concern. He could already feel her body growing weaker, her life force subtly draining away, and the finality hidden in her words. The gods around them could see the claws of the Old Ones extending from the cracks in the Supreme Dome. They could even see giant suction cup tentacles and scarlet eyeballs sweeping past the cracks, causing their faces to turn pale and their hearts to be filled with dread. At this moment, they felt like tiny figures trapped in a glass bottle. The monsters outside were tightly gripping the bottle with their sucker-laden tentacles, squeezing harder and harder. As more cracks appeared, the bottle was on the verge of breaking. Despair spread throughout Supreme Dome. Every god here had experienced Ragnarok, and they knew how formidable an opponent the Old Ones were.
“Now, the Old Ones have gained a large number of followers by controlling Foreigners. They can perform sacrificial rituals to descend at any time on the Cain Continent. The Supreme Dome is the last line of defense for the Cain Continent. Once you fall, this continent will cease to exist.” The Holy Dragon bare her bloody wounds without reservation. The atmosphere in the hall grew even colder.
The Holy Dragon observed the expressions of the gods, but she did not blame them in the slightest. How numerous were the gods of the Cain Continent in the past? They were like stars high in the sky, each Divine Kingdom a golden star, converging into a golden sea capable of rivaling the sun and moon. However, after one invasion by the Old Ones, only about a hundred gods remained in the temple now. The rest were dead. The era when all races flourished and competed in beauty had long since passed, and many races had become mere legends amidst the continent’s repeated cataclysms. For these gods, fighting the Old Ones was like an egg trying to break a stone. The scene of the God of Death charging into the Chaos Star Sea before time rewinded, only to be devoured by countless unnamable existences and then discarded back to Cain like garbage, was still vivid in their minds. Asking them to fly into a moth-like fatal embrace, to become Cain’s final barrier against the Old Ones, was a cruel request indeed.
“Children,” the Holy Dragon mused for a moment before slowly opening her mouth, “thank you for your contributions to the Cain Continent and your support of the Cain Will through the millennia. If you wish to avoid this war, I understand and will not criticize you… This is Cain’s darkest hour. All gods willing to fight for Cain, please step forward!” Bayedell was the first to step forward. The other gods followed suit, taking a step forward without hesitation.
One goddess knelt on one knee, her divine power feeble, her voice trembling with fear, yet it held a steely resolve and a determination to face death head-on: “Holy Dragon Lord, without you, there would be no Cain, no Cain Will, and no us. You nurtured us and gave us Cain as our home. Now that Cain faces a crisis, how can we abandon our mother?” “We will never let the Old Ones ravage our world again, unless… they step over our corpses!” the God of Blessing declared, straightening his back, his tone firm, even though he was only a lesser god. “Mortals often complain about what the gods are doing when they suffer. Now is the time to show mortals the responsibility of the gods,” a god with dark-skinned complexion also stepped forward. More gods simply remained silent. They might fear the power of the Old Ones, but this did not prevent them from resolutely forming the final defensive line.
“Whoosh—”
The “glass bottle” that had been squeezed could no longer hold on and shattered with a roar. The entire Supreme Dome cracked inch by inch. The once stable rules began to become chaotic, and the golden mirrors rained down from the sky. Everything behind the Supreme Dome was completely exposed—the dark and deep universe, the endless starry sea, the wings of the Holy Dragon, which were already tattered from being gnawed by the Old Ones, yet still held up the entire Cain. It was a realm filled with countless abominations and the unnamable, hideous bodies of the Old Ones.
The gods hung in the sky, standing behind the Holy Dragon. Behind them lay the sleeping Cain Will. It was Cain. Amidst the howls of the Old Ones, on the dark side of a certain planet, a gigantic hand, blood-red and composed of thousands of howling mouths and trembling eyeballs, crossed over the struggling Holy Dragon and smashed down with unstoppable force towards where the gods stood. This strike was meant to shatter Cain. The gods were terrified. At this moment, the casually-acting old man of light scratched his backside, took a half-step forward, and raised an eyebrow: “What are you afraid of?” “Watch me slay him!” With that, he drew a holy sword from the breast of an angel beside him, shattered the void, and soared into the sky.
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