“Naturally, I have my own plans.” Garen did not explain. The truth was he never wanted most of the Divine Persona, he just wanted to obtain a wisp of the Death divinity. Just a wisp of divinity, and his Willpower Processor would be able to make that into a complete Divine Persona. That was why his needs did not conflict with Ann and the others, who were fighting, at all.

At the most, he would ask for a few Divine Crystals. Those were made by condensing pure Divine Power, and that just happened to be what he needed right now.

“Okay, it just so happens that we need an overwhelming victory to settle the score over here as well. The way the Sun God killed the King of Enzo gave us quite the blow…” said the Deception Demon Master with a cold laugh. “I hear that they’re raising some Child of Radiance, hehe. They’re gathering all of their divine authority and power into one Incarnation in the hopes of fighting against our rapid approach.”

“The Child of Radiance, the Child of Hell, they’re all just their means of fighting back,” said Garen offhandedly. “Alright, then, I’ll go contact the other Demon Masters and True Souls. Of course, if you could contact some other helpers as well, it would be better if we had more assurance of safety.”

“Mm.” The Deception Demon Master’s attitude toward Garen had changed as well. Although Garen was still very weak, he was already a God in every way and form. He was, in essence, the same as level as her, so her manner of speed was much more equal now.

The Water Mirror vanished, and the Deception Demon Master touched her chin.

“I wonder how this guy leveled up. It’s not been that long since we last met, and he’s already on his way to becoming a God?”

“I’ve been a Demigod for so many years, and yet I still lack that most crucial step,” said Kunder with a sigh, walking out of the darkness. “After deciding on a Divine Domain, you’d still need to accumulate worship power, gathering it up to light up the sacred fire before you can build your own Divine Kingdom. He’s already halfway through that…”

“Yeah… Although it’s not complete by any means, he already has worship power. Now all he has to do is withstand the killer pursuit of any Gods whose Divine Domain overlaps with his, and he’ll be able to light up his sacred fire steadily, forming his very own Divine God. He has to use the energy provided by the illumination of the sacred fire to support the operations of his Divine Kingdom. This’s an inevitable process.”

The Deception Demon Master’s expression was one of admiration.

“The Divine Soul System of this world is just a shortcut that speeds up the strengthening speed by gathering the power of all creatures. It’s much, much faster than how we had to bust our backs and gather every ounce of power ourselves from the bottom up. In just a moment, he’s finished walking the path we took several millennia to cross.”

“But there’s a huge flaw as well, taking a shortcut means paying a price.” Kunder shook his head.

“That’s right…” The Deception Demon Master did not say any more. “A price…”

***********************

The Earth Demon Palace

There were countless black smoke figures floating everywhere, crowding in every inch of the ancient and evil grand hall. They danced, baring their fangs and claws like evil ghosts and demons, some notes of an eerie and cruel music slowly spreading from the Void in accompaniment with the dance of the black smoke figures.

Above the grand hall, a man with a strong body and a scorpion head sat crookedly on a tall and large throne. He tapped the armrest lightly in time with the music, seemingly rather engrossed in it.

After Garen powered up, this was the nearest Demon Master’s Demon Palace — the Earth Demon Palace.

Its owner was a powerful Demon Master from the Void, the Scorpion-Headed Human, Jirhas. He was in charge of the cleanliness and security of this area, and operated under the name of the Distortion Demon Master.

“What an impressive song and dance.” Garen clapped his hands lightly, sitting at the VIP seat on Jirhas’ right. Although he had no idea what was so attractive about this ghostly song and dance number, he still knew how to say a few praises to fulfill the most basic manners.

“Does Her Highness Ann have such performances at her place as well?” Jirhas asked with a laugh, looking at Garen sideways.

“Naturally, my master has no such thing. Perhaps only your place would have such a unique song and dance, Demon Master Jir,” said Garen respectfully.

“Of course.” Jir nodded. “I understand what you mean, we have always communicated and cared about Her Highness Ann to a certain degree. Since she’s one of the few powerful existences in this world with the same needs and interests as us, we’ve always placed much importance in Her Highness Ann’s potential.”

He stretched out his hand, and a black wine glass appeared, floating above his palm. He sipped some wine from it lightly.

“Regarding this matter, it’s a rare moment when we all share a common goal and interest, so cooperation would not be a problem. However…”

He paused.

“However, what?” Garen’s expression did not change as he waited for Jirhas to continue.

“However, Her Highness Ann still belongs to a different camp, after all. My master’s always wary of outsiders to a certain extent.” The Scorpion-Headed Man gave an eerie smile. “If the one we’re working with is you, however, perhaps that will put our hearts at more ease…”

They had done their research on Garen’s roots, he was a textbook example of a Void being with a proper background and a bright future ahead. Each trace of the Secret Techniques on his body was an extremely pure example of a Void Demon Lord’s foundations. Besides, his progress speed was much faster than most Demon Lords, he had only taken a few years to go from a middle-level Demon Lord to almost becoming a God. After all, the God level was a peak-level existence, just like Demon Masters and True Souls. At this point, he was basically at the pinnacle of two worlds now.

The only difference in strength now was the comparison within the same level.

Garen frowned slightly and did not continue that thought.

The Scorpion-Headed Man, Jir, did not seem particularly bothered.

“As long as you’re willing, we can make all the proper arrangements. You just have to coordinate with us from the inside, and it won’t be that hard at all to take down the entire Dragons of Disaster party.”

Garen understood what he was getting at now. They were actually dissatisfied with Ann and were looking for another being that they could support as her replacement.

“Sorry, I…”

“There’s no rush. Take your time and think it over. Her Highness just rendezvoused with us recently, but we were very disappointed in her performance. She’s already lost the necessary will to push forward. Instead, she actually said that she wanted to retire to another plane once she was free of the seal…” Jir shook his head, his expression slightly taunting.

“She actually wants to retire in the middle of an era as great as this?”

Garen’s heart gave a jolt. Clearly, the situation right now was that the Void Creatures were unhappy with Ann’s pacifist attitude. For all he knew, they were already secretly supporting another existence, hoping to replace her.

Now, they wanted him to cooperate with them, probably to increase their chances of success and reduce the degree of uncertainty.

He did not doubt the power of the Void at all. The Distortion Demon Master was a peak-level Demon Master that could fight even Fehra head-on, so in this world, the Demon Master was considered as powerful as the strongest powerhouses among those with the truly powerful Divine Power.

“No need to worry, our Mother Stream Alliance has a few Gods as well, their Divine Personas were all formed by killing and devouring middle-level Divine Souls in the middle of the wars. They’re powerful enough, but without a Dragon of Disaster, there’s no way to lead this group. Her Highness Ann can mobilize many Dragons of Disaster and have them fight in a group, so she’s a partner that we really need to work with,” consoled Jir.

“No matter what, this raid is a compulsory chance for our camp to fight back, so we hope you can participate in it.” Garen stayed silent for a while and then stood up.

“As for my Master’s matters, I hope you guys can continue observing for a while longer. Perhaps you will notice some other changes.”

“I’ll join the raid, but as for changes… Here’s to hoping.” Jir waved his hand nonchalantly. “In that case, goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” Garen’s figure disappeared abruptly.

Jir was not worried that Garen would tell Ann at all. From what he could see, Garen and Ann were not all that close, and besides, Ann probably had an idea about what they were thinking to some extent. It did not matter whether she knew or not, now that Ann was being repelled by the Gods, even if she wanted to hide and avoid them, where could she run to?

**************

Garen’s figure appeared on some black plains. There was not a blade of grass growing anywhere around him, but instead, there were black stone shards everywhere, evenly spread out on the ground.

This was the teleportation point marker he had left here in advance. It was less a thousand kilometers away from the clan he was returning to.

The sky was covered in dark clouds, as though it was going to rain soon. Occasionally, he could hear the rumbling of thunder coming from the clouds.

After he received that information from the Demon Master Jir, Garen’s feelings were rather complicated as well. It seemed that there was a huge rift and conflict between Ann and the Void.

He was stuck in the middle and it made things very awkward for him.

He wanted to reduce and resolve this problem, but it was slightly frustrating. He could not change Ann’s decisions, and the will of the representative from the Mother Stream Alliance was also unacceptably strong.

“In the end, my power still isn’t enough!” Garen frowned slightly. Ann saved his life before, so no matter what, he could not let the Mother Stream Alliance use him to take her down. On the other hand, he would definitely offend the incomparably powerful Mother Stream Alliance. In that case, be it himself or Ann, they would probably face an even more troublesome ending if they went against the Demon Masters from the Mother Stream Alliance, resulting in the Demon Masters’ embarrassment turning to fury.

“How do I find a middle point…” For a moment, Garen was frustrated as well.

Whoosh…

Suddenly, a mysterious cold breeze blew past him. Garen vaguely sensed something strange.

All of a sudden, the alarm bells in his heart went off, and he immediately moved, disappearing from the spot and reappearing somewhere nearby, several hundred meters away.

Barroom!!

The place he was just standing at had abruptly turned into a sea of ice crystals. The surface of the plains within several dozen meters had completely frozen over.

A large White Dragon, more than twenty meters long, rose gradually from the surface of the ice. It was as though he had crawled out of a deep well, his claws digging into the ground and forcefully pulling out the lower half of his body.

The dragon scales all over this White Dragon’s body glowed with a hint of platinum, and he had a crystal-clear diamond-shaped crystal embedded into his brow. On his head, he wore a platinum crown, and it was as though the stars and the clouds were constantly reflected, rippling in his gaze. It was a scene as beautiful as the Milky Way.

Roar!!

The White Dragon roared madly at Garen’s direction, an immense and powerful energy force spreading around.

“Garen! You killed the Elders, resisted against Her Highness Tiamat’s Incarnation, and killed your innocent relatives from the White Dragon Mountain. Today, all of your crimes will be completely judged and concluded right here!!”

“White Dragon King, rather than staying in the Abyss, you actually dare to run out here in pursuit of me?” Garen’s expression was dark. “Aren’t you afraid of dying outside, resulting in the White Dragon Mountain losing even a land for them to rest?”

“With your powers?” The White Dragon King laughed wildly. “Upon mine body, God descends!!”

He spread open his wings, and his entire body abruptly emitted an intense white light.

‘Warning, warning, you have entered the vicinity of a Holy Aura. Beginning identification of Tiamat’s Holy Aura, Divine Creatures cannot be identified, identification failed… Vitality Identification passed, removes effect of the Holy Aura.’

A large amount of information instantly came from his Willpower Neuroprocessor.

Garen frowned. This time, Tiamat had clearly descended here using her own Incarnation. Even with his divinity and Divine Persona, his Divine Power was still weak, and it actually could not make him immune to the effects. Thankfully his Vitality was too powerful, the slaughtering over the past period of time had accumulated and resulted in up to 260 points in his terrifying Vitality stat. Almost no creature in this world could surpass him now. It was the perfect chance to see how much more powerful he was after condensing his Divine Persona!

“The last time I was completely suppressed by you, but let’s see who suppresses whom this time.” Garen’s expression did not change as he pounced forward, his entire body instantly ballooning into a giant White Dragon.

The three pairs of wings on his back unfurled slowly, the countless green eyes covering every inch of his six wings opening with an aura of unbelievable evil. As though to accompany those eerie compound eyes, an overwhelming and decaying aura began to permeate through the air.

Boom!!

The White Dragon King abruptly sprayed five-colored Dragon Breath out of his mouth, crashing hard into Garen’s body as the latter was shooting through the air toward him.