Chapter 1005
Ares the Nation-Destroyer (Seeking monthly passes at the beginning of the month!)
“Yes, the Shadow Heavenly Envoy does have a faint connection with Helchin.”
Seeing Arsen still somewhat confused, Ayvas began to tell him the story of the Shadow Heavenly Envoy:
“The Shadow Heavenly Envoy is a very young Heavenly Envoy. Before becoming one, she was a priestess in the Supreme Heaven. As a privilege of her giant race, she was directly brought up from the Origin River by the Supreme Heaven after her death and became one of the Supreme Heaven’s one hundred thousand apostles.
“As a giant, she could not comprehend the principle of revenge. Therefore, she could not understand why Helchin would slaughter giants, nor why giants would slaughter humans and elves. She believed that revenge would lead to meaningless conflict, and that would only make everyone unhappy. She disagreed with human revenge, and she disagreed with giant revenge, because conflict would trigger evolution, and to achieve eternal rule, all conflict needed to be eliminated.
“So, she tried to intercede for the elves before the Supreme Heaven—but obviously, the Supreme Heaven was displeased. He then forcibly humiliated the Shadow Heavenly Envoy in front of all the apostles, stripped her of all her ‘Power,’ expelled her from his kingdom, and ordered the apostles to hunt her down.
“It was then that the Shadow Heavenly Envoy understood what ‘revenge’ was. The Shadow Realm was not created by her; it was called the Shadow World back then… It was the core of all shadow powers, inhabited by many extremely dangerous natives such as the ‘Demon Pig,’ the ‘Hundred-Headed Serpent,’ the ‘Shadow Hunter Beast,’ and the ‘Shadow Demon.’ She hid within it to evade pursuit, and accidentally obtained the authority of betrayal and revenge within the shadow domain…”
The former Pope spoke of secrets that made Arsen’s heart pound and made him wish he could cover his ears, with not a hint of carelessness.
— This was all content from the *High-Tier Divine Art*.
In fact, the entire *High-Tier Divine Art* was basically the background stories and dark histories of the Pillar Gods, Heavenly Envoys, and apostles.
Having this item in hand allowed one to know what others taboo, thus avoiding unintentionally stepping on landmines when interacting with them. For example, Ayvas definitely could not summon Helchin in front of the Shadow Heavenly Envoy; that would likely bring up some unpleasant memories.
However, even the contents recorded in the *High-Tier Divine Art* were not necessarily 100% true—for instance, it recorded a history stating that “The Shadow Heavenly Envoy instigated the fall of the Supreme Heaven—and completed the ‘Ritual of Betrayal and Revenge’ with the fall of a Pillar God, thus ascending to the position of Shadow Heavenly Envoy.” Yet, according to Ayvas’s knowledge, the mastermind behind the fall of the Supreme Heaven should have been the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
To be precise, it was the result of a joint plan by two Pillar Gods, the Great Philosopher and the Hourglass, along with various Heavenly Envoys like the Ring Heavenly Envoy and the Shadow Heavenly Envoy. The Shadow Heavenly Envoy was actually the least significant part of it… It was less of a plan and more of going with the flow.
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However, the Supreme Heaven’s atrocities back then did have an impact—after occupying the Shadow Realm as her Heavenly Envoy domain, the Shadow Heavenly Envoy realized she had gained power and began to act as she pleased, just like the Supreme Heaven, fulfilling her pre-death fantasies. Her habit of collecting various souls also began at that time.
But the Shadow Heavenly Envoy was not a particularly vicious person, after all. Even though she had completely indulged her desires and become a tyrant who did as she pleased—compared to the deranged Blood Heavenly Envoy, she was still considered rational and gentle.
Moreover, even after becoming a Heavenly Envoy, fully understanding revenge and betrayal, and personally carrying out revenge and betrayal against her creator, father god, and monarch, she did not abandon her original intention—she still believed that revenge was not worth advocating, and it should only be used as a “last resort.” Therefore, after completing her revenge, she was not happy.
That was why she was determined to occupy the authority of betrayal and revenge, and to guard the Shadow Realm to nurture her warriors, just to prevent them from falling into the hands of more evil gods. Although those warriors were her lovers, they were also her protectors.
For this reason, the Shadow Heavenly Envoy never granted power to betrayers… although she sometimes secretly helped some truly unfortunate revengers who called upon her divine name, at least allowing them to persevere until their revenge was complete.
Revengers and betrayers had a high probability of coming to the Shadow Realm—as long as they were not branded with the Mark of Sin.
Although she abandoned most of them due to their appearance, those revengers who had been helped would often express their gratitude to the Shadow Heavenly Envoy after their death.
Besides preying on mortals who strayed into the Shadow Realm, these monsters also hunted these wandering souls of revengers. Therefore, the warriors of the Shadow Realm would usually escort those souls into the castle. However, for outsiders like them, there was no one to entertain them.
That was why Ayvas had wanted to summon Morgan earlier.
Among the acquaintances he had in the Shadow Realm, Viviane had reincarnated, Lancelot was not completely dead yet, so he could not be summoned. Merlin would never dare to come to the Shadow Realm. The only one who could respond to his summons immediately was probably Morgan.
However, it was no longer necessary.
A battle of this scale had already caused quite a stir. Someone should be coming to check the situation soon.
Ayvas was telling Arsen these forbidden knowledge too, so that he wouldn’t say the wrong thing later. Since they had arrived here, they would most likely be meeting the Shadow Heavenly Envoy.
As Ayvas had predicted—
The Shadow Realm had no distinction between day and night. It was only after they quieted down and after seventeen brief lightning strikes that illuminated the heavens and earth, that the sound of running like a herd of beasts could be heard in the distance.
A total of more than sixty handsome and strong male warriors were seen charging from afar in a commotion. They were of various races: humans, elves, half-elves, werewolves, dragons, giants… as well as snake people, harpies, and lizardmen, and some beast-bodied races that Ayvas did not recognize.
Except for the Child of the Moon, goblins, and dwarves, almost all the mainstream races of the Material Realm could be seen among them.
—There were even trolls!
Despite their different races, and even their past opposition to each other—the relationship between these dead men seemed very good. After all, they were all dead. Regardless of their stance in life, they were all equal in death.
Ayvas watched their hurried steps and felt a sense of excitement, like brothers heading out to play online games together.
…Wait, there’s an acquaintance too.
Ayvas’s eyes lit up, and he immediately spotted a familiar figure among them.
It was Lancelot!
Although Arsen might not be able to tell, for Ayvas, who had special vision in his right eye, it was too easy to distinguish between the souls of the living and the dead—Lancelot was the only living person among the crowd, as conspicuous as a person wearing white clothes among a group wearing black.
He had also seen Ayvas and his eyes immediately widened in surprise. However, he was still a “trainee” here, so he did not greet Ayvas.
The one leading them was a giant with long red hair. Considering the generally barbaric and ugly appearance of male giants, his features were surprisingly handsome, even possessing a trace of the Supreme Heaven in his appearance.
It was immediately clear that this was a direct descendant giant of the Supreme Heaven, likely from the royal court.
Upon seeing Ayvas—or more accurately, upon seeing the antlers on Ayvas’s head—the giant’s expression immediately became solemn.
“Greetings to the Ever-Burning Candle, Child of the Candlemaster.”
The giant spoke calmly, his voice peaceful.
Ayvas looked at his back—he saw a spear burning with flames on his back, and suddenly seemed to understand: “Your Excellency, are you… ‘Ares the Nation-Destroyer’?”
“Indeed.”
Ares nodded, his voice clear and devoid of any trace of rage. “But there’s no need to mention the title ‘Nation-Destroyer’… I am just Ares now.”
— Ayvas almost lost his composure.
Because he was the brother of “Enyo,” who had been consumed by Ayvas!
It was said that after the fall of the Supreme Heaven, three of the most powerful apostles under him met their end—the “Tyrant” was ambushed by the Silver Crown Dragon’s knight order, and killed and resurrected repeatedly; the “Raksha” had been subdued by the Heavenly Candlemaster Envoy and became the guardian apostle “Heavenly Raksha,” and was recently sent back to the Dream Realm by the Fallen Heavenly Envoy with a single punch; the last one was the brother of Enyo the City Breaker, Ares the Nation-Destroyer.
He was captivated by the Shadow Heavenly Envoy’s beauty and willingly became a fanatical follower of the Shadow Heavenly Envoy.
Calling him a simp would not be fitting—because he truly did “lick.” To this day, he remains the Shadow Heavenly Envoy’s most loyal guard and her most beloved lover.
He was also the most discerning among the Shadow Heavenly Envoy’s warriors. After all, they had both served under the Supreme Heaven in the past; they were former colleagues… At that time, his position was much higher than the Shadow Heavenly Envoy’s.
Clearly, Ares did not know that Ayvas had consumed Enyo’s essence.
He merely looked at the three Shadow Hunter Beasts, who were “Bound by Sin,” and then warily at the Night Demon Viness, frowning with great caution: “This is… the power of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy? Such a powerful demon should not exist after the fall of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy…”
“She’s mine.”
Ayvas said indifferently, “I gave her the fragments of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy. Is there a problem?”
“—No. After all, you are the Child of the Candlemaster. It is understandable that you could tame great demons.”
Ares the Nation-Destroyer immediately responded in agreement, and praised: “We thought it was a Shadow Hunter Beast, but we didn’t expect there to be three. Without your help, many of us would have died by their hands… Even if we were resurrected by Her Majesty the Queen, without regaining our shadows, we would merely be cripples.”
He had clearly become much more suave than when he was under the Supreme Heaven.
“That’s why I didn’t kill them immediately,”
Ayvas said gently, “Check inside. See if there’s anyone you know, or any of Her Majesty the Queen’s guests. Take their shadows back.”
If he had killed these three Phantom Demons, he would have gained a large amount of free experience—if it were in the past, he would have eagerly killed them.
Ayvas had not gained experience for a long time, mainly because his enemies would often have their souls shattered for various reasons. For example, his foster father James, whose soul had completely become nourishment for the Sin Thorns, or the Fallen Heavenly Envoy who returned nourishment to heaven and earth after death.
However, Ayvas no longer relied on the system as much.
With the rise of the Tide of Transcendence, his own growth rate had begun to accelerate. The system panel was more for visually confirming what he had gained and where he had become stronger… Of course, there was another reason: he always worried that the system originated from the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s power, and that relying on it too much might not be a good thing.
Although he had long realized from various details that the system seemed not to be created by the Ring Heavenly Envoy… it was best to be cautious before its origin was completely understood.
In any case, Ayvas had already begun to try to ascend using his own power two months ago. After self-separation, self-purification, and self-fusion, Ayvas’s soul had undergone a form of “distillation,” and his progress was not slow.
However, he did not act for another reason—the “shadows” eaten by the Shadow Hunter Beasts could actually be separated out again. After all, they were essentially fragments of souls. But if they were directly killed, those shadows would likely become Ayvas’s nourishment.
Ayvas felt it was unnecessary.
Even if he were to kill them, he would do so after returning the souls. It was a good way to owe them a favor.
With so many warriors rushing over this time, it was likely that the souls of their acquaintances had been taken.
He did not quite believe their claim that sixty people could not defeat three Shadow Hunter Beasts. Although these creatures were indeed powerful—even without divinity or intelligence, with innate abilities such as being able to teleport infinitely in the blind spots of any intelligent life’s vision, being permanently invisible, undetectable, with sneak attacks almost always succeeding, and losing the will to fight after being attacked once—they were gods at bullying noobs and in one-on-one fights.
—Even a Lower Realm Heavenly Envoy pulled down by the Ouroboros Ring would feel considerable pressure fighting them one-on-one.
But they were only strong in one-on-one combat. As long as there were more opponents, they would usually flee. As long as they could protect each other’s “backs,” these creatures were not difficult to kill.
Although they were Phantom Demons, they ultimately had no divinity. They were just beasts—these unintelligent, highly aggressive monstrous Phantom Demons were basically the souls left behind after the death of species created by the Beast Lord back then; they only possessed savage bestiality.
And precisely because the Path of Love inherited from the Beast Path, these monster souls would generally wander near domains that were compatible with the Path of Love. If they went to the Banquet Heavenly Envoy’s territory, they would be captured and eaten by dragons at the first opportunity, so they mostly ended up near the Blood Heavenly Envoy and the Shadow Heavenly Envoy.
These sixty well-trained warriors of the Shadow Realm, if they cooperated well, might not even suffer any casualties in defeating the three Shadow Hunter Beasts. The only problem was that if they ran, they wouldn’t be able to catch them.
So too many people wouldn’t work—too many people might scare them away, and then the “dreams” that were taken away could not be recovered.
Sixty was probably the limit that wouldn’t immediately scare them away. Conversely, at this number… the Shadow Hunter Beasts felt they could handle it, with their apparent combat strength roughly balanced, so they wouldn’t run.
This was also why Ares became solemn.
—From this perspective, the Night Demon had effectively instantly killed all of them. As a guard of the Heavenly Envoy, he had to take such power seriously.
And this Night Demon maintained the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s power so easily… Did this mean she was the next Fallen Heavenly Envoy?
“Take me to see Her Majesty the Queen.”
Ayvas smiled and patted the Shadow Hunter Beasts, “Consider this a meeting gift.”
