Chapter 1344: Fate’s Decision

The Deity of Gods.

The demon race’s most esteemed creation after their upgrade — nearly a century in the making, countless resources consumed to force a single miracle into existence. It was understood as a leap in the race’s mastery over magic, and as the only weapon capable of actually destroying the Sky-sea Realm.

The moment the words left Hackzord’s mouth, the Presiding Holy See went silent.

It was a strange silence, brief but dense. Hackzord felt the urge to take it back — felt it as a physical pull in his chest — and held himself still against it.

He had to take responsibility for what came next if he said nothing.

“I believe we have discussed this before.” The King’s voice rose into the silence, flat and final. “You know what the Deity of Gods means to the race.”

“Our hope of defeating the Sky-sea Realm.” Hackzord nodded. “But that is all it is.”

“All it is?” Blood Conqueror came off his seat. “Without the Red Mist restriction, we can use the Deity of Gods to strike the Sky-sea Realm directly — even deployed on the Eastern Front it would relieve the defensive line substantially. The lives of tens of millions of our people hang on this weapon, and you say all it is?”

“First his brilliant subordinate calls for the entire race to throw itself against the lowlifes, and now the Sky Lord wants to send the Deity of Gods to deal with them personally.” Mask let out a cold laugh and swept his hollow gaze around the seated figures. “What does everyone think?”

“I cannot agree to it.” Resentful Heart’s voice was brief.

The others followed. Only Silent Disaster said nothing.

Hackzord had expected this. He had known it would look this way before he opened his mouth, which was exactly why this had to be a Holy See meeting rather than a private word with the King. If there was no consensus here, nothing he did afterward would hold. The grand lords’ quarrels and delays — their habit of prevaricating through crisis — would bleed away whatever pressure the Western Front had bought them, until there was none left.

He needed to make them understand. Not convince them, precisely. Make them see.

The humans now looked, in every way that mattered, as the demons had looked after their first Battle of Divine Will.

After absorbing the legacy, the race had grown in ways that had seemed impossible before. Magical technologies erupted one after another — a great revolution every few decades, the rate of advancement surging, Junior Demons becoming scarcer as the higher forms spread. The Symbiotic Demons brought even the magicless into battle. The magic stone went from rare to common. All of it had shown in the Second Battle of Divine Will: even with the Sky-sea Realm receiving an equally significant upgrade, the demons had still driven the humans out of the Land of Dawn in under thirty years.

Now fate had shifted.

And the humans were changing faster than the demons had. According to surrendered nobles, Graycastle ten years ago had been unremarkable — a kingdom like the others, with a king and princes worth nothing particular. The current King of Graycastle had been one of four undistinguished princes. And now this.

Any hesitation, any delay, only let the enemy continue.

“The Western Front is already lost.” Hackzord took a breath. He could see the expressions forming on Blood Conqueror and Mask even before they appeared. He pushed through. “Our race still controls two of the human kingdoms, but we no longer have the strength to press forward — the stalemate means we cannot acquire the legacy shard in any reasonable time. That is not different from failure.”

“What?” Mask’s voice cracked with disbelief. “You have over a hundred thousand troops. Symbiotic Demons besides. You are telling me you can’t defeat these lowlifes in territory drowning in our own Mist?”

“Are you lying to the King?” Blood Conqueror’s jaws opened wide. “Not long ago you reported everything was progressing on the Western Front — that we had successfully entered their land! And now you stand here and tell me you cannot hold a region already saturated in Red Mist? This is absurd!”

“Ursrook warned me,” Hackzord said, “and I dismissed it the same way you are dismissing me now.” His voice was even, deliberate. “It is very difficult to convey what is happening on the Western Front in words. If you want to understand it, use your own eyes.”

He lowered his head toward the King.

Offering the King access to his memories — this was something he had never wanted to do. But after today, there was no pulling back. And the things that might offend — the small, unavoidable thoughts — the King was unlikely to hold against him. Not now.

Every eye on the Birth Tower opened at once.

Cold flooded into him. Hackzord forced his consciousness open, held the single thought — I am loyal to the King, I am loyal to the King — and let the dark current move through him.

The iron birds wheeling in the sky. The burning rain falling from above. The enormous fireballs rolling across the earth. God’s Stone arrows fired at distances no demon had trained for. Scene after scene, unrolling as though experienced rather than recalled — the near-miss of the ambush, the moment when he had not been entirely certain he would survive.

The cold released him.

He looked at the other grand lords. Their faces had changed. Not dramatically — they were too accustomed to composure for that — but the set of their expressions was different now. They had just been inside those memories. They had felt the whisper-thin margin between that version of events and the one where Hackzord did not walk away.

Even the Mist rolling beneath them seemed agitated.

No words could do what that had done. No report, however detailed, could match the immersive fact of almost dying. And what had done it was not Transcendents, not magical apparatus — it was a group of magicless people piloting strange iron objects, with a handful of witches in cooperation.

“Was that really…” Mask’s disbelief was unguarded for a moment. “I felt no magic. None.”

“That is precisely their advantage.” Hackzord recognized the moment. “The strength of the humans can no longer be measured by their witches alone. Every magicless human must be counted. And once they have these weapons, the power of their magicless is approaching that of Primal Demons. They can threaten Junior Demons. High-order upgraded demons are not safe from them either.”

“So what is your point?”

“My point is a single question.” Hackzord let his gaze move across each seated figure. “Even with the Deity of Gods, is anyone here certain we can attack and capture the Sky-sea Realm within ten years?”

No one answered. Because the answer was no, and everyone in the Holy See was capable of reaching it.

The Deity of Gods was a necessary means for the counterattack. It was not the only condition for victory. As an upgraded race, no one knew what power the Sky-sea Realm would release when fighting on its own ground. The entire established strategy had rested on the assumption that the humans would be absorbed first — that the race would reach a new level from the legacy shard, and then turn against the Sky-sea Realm with both the Deity of Gods and the legacy as foundations.

The Western Front had already made the first half of that plan impossible.

“I am not asking you to assign the blame to someone else — assign it to me if you prefer. The defeat of the Western Front is certain. It cannot be changed.” Hackzord raised his voice, not in anger but in insistence. “If we do not change course, in ten years we will struggle to fight the Sky-sea Realm. We may not be able to defeat the humans. The race dies under attacks from two directions simultaneously. Tell me — what is the Deity of Gods worth then?”

“That is your personal judgment,” Blood Conqueror said through his teeth.

“It isn’t only mine.”

“You’re going to cite Ursrook again?”

“No.” Hackzord paused. “The Nightmare Lord.”

He had made the decision before he entered the Holy See. The small deception was in service of the race’s survival — once he was past this point, there was no retracing the step. “I don’t know what Valkries found in the Realm of Mind that drew her away from the front. But before her final dive, she told me directly that she had come to align with Silent Disaster’s speculation: that the humans may have received some form of legacy.”

Blood Conqueror froze.

The lopsided balance of the Holy See shifted.

Chapter 1344 - Fate’s Decision

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations The Deity of Gods was the demon race’s most esteemed masterpiece after they upgraded. It took nearly a hundred years and expended countless materials to realize this miracle. It was regarded as a leap in the race’s control over magic and the only mean capable of destroying the Sky-sea Realm. As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a short and eerie silence inside the Presiding Holy See. There was a moment when Hackzord wanted to retract his words, but when he thought about the possible outcome of the the battle, he fought against the urge. He had to take up responsibility for the continuation of his race. A moment later, the King’s monotonous voice rose once more. “I remember that we have already discussed this the last time.You should know what the Deity of Gods means to our race.” “Our hope of defeating the Sky-sea Realm.” The Sky Lord nodded. “But that’s all it is.” “What do you mean ‘that’s all it is’?” Blood Conqueror finally couldn’t hold back and roared in a low voice. “After the restriction on the Red Mist is removed, we could altogether rely on the Deity of Gods to attack the Sky-sea Realm. Even if we use it on the Eastern Front, it can still substantially lessen the pressure on the defense line! And this involves the lives and deaths of tens of millions of our people and millions of soldiers, yet you say ‘that’s all it is’?” “First your genius subordinate asks for the entire race to confront the lowlifes with our full force, and now, you want to send the Deity of Gods to deal with those lowlifes. The both of you really do think alike.” Mask laughed coldly, he looked around the figures sitting around in the Presiding Holy See. “What does everyone think?” “… I’m sorry I can’t agree to it,” Resentful Heart said succinctly. The other grand lords also expressed their disapproval. Only Silent Disaster did not utter a single word. Hackzord had a hunch long ago that such a situation would occur. He knew that this matter was far too important, so much so that he could not inform the King about it one-on-one. This was the reason why he was determined to convene this Holy See meeting. If they could not come to a consensus here, then anything he did afterwards would be pointless. The humans now bore a extreme resemblance to them after the first Battle of Divine Will. After absorbing the legacy, their race attained an unimaginable advancement. All kinds of magical technologies emerged, and almost every few decades, a great revolution would take place. The rate of upgrading surged, making the Junior Demons scarce. The development of Symbiotic demons caused magicless demons like Inferior Demons to also become soldiers. It was also at that time that their usage of the magic stone was popularized. These achievements were also reflected in the Second Battle of Divine Will— even if the Sky-sea Realm also received an upgrade no less superior than theirs, they still took only less than thirty years to drive out the humans out of the Land of Dawn. Now fate seemed to standing on the side of humans. And they were changing faster than the demon race had—According to the nobles who had surrendered, Graycastle was not much different from the other kingdoms ten years ago, and the current King of Graycastle as well as the four princes of the Wimbledon family were nothing worth mentioning either. Thus, any hesitation or procrastination would only let the opponent become even stronger. He must make everyone aware of this. “The Western Front battle is already lost.” Hackzord took a deep breath; he could completely imagine what expressions Blood Conqueror and Mask would make, but for the future of their race, he had already thrown his concern over personal gains and losses away. “Although our race still has two of the humans’ Kingdoms, we do not have any more power to keep going on—the stalemate means that it would be very difficult for us to acquire the legacy shard in a short amount of time, this is not different from failure.” “What did you say?” Mask said in shock. “You have a troop of over a hundred thousand, not to mention many Symbiotic Demons! How could you lose to those lowlifes?” “Are you deceiving the King?” Blood Conqueror opened his gaping jaws wide at the Sky Lord. “Not long ago you said that the everything was going well on the Western Front, and that our race has already successfully stepped into their land! Now you are telling me that you can’t defeat the lowlifes in a region that is covered in Red Mist? This is ridiculous!” “Ursrook had onced warned me but I didn’t pay enough attention to it. It’s exactly how you are now treating my warning in the same way as I had,” Hackzord said slowly. “After all, it is very difficult to describe everything that is happening on the Western Front. If you want to know, use your own eyes.” Hackzord bowed his head to the King. Letting the King read his memory was something that he never wanted in the past. But after taking this step, he no longer had a choice—as for those insignificant words that may have been unwillingly offensive, the King was unlikely to take it to heart. All the eyes on the Birth Tower opened at once. A chilly feeling instantly surged into his mind, Hackzord forced himself to open up his consciousness, silently thinking ‘I am definitely loyal to the King’ and allowed the dark current to flow through his entire body! The iron birds soaring in the sky, the fiery rain falling from the sky, the enormous blazing balls of fire, as well as the God’s Stone arrows being shot over huge distance… These scenes emerged one by one, as if reliving the experiences of the war with the humans. After the chilly feeling disappeared, all the facial expressions of the grand lords became unpleasant. Hackzord knew that they too had just experienced what it was like to be ambushed by the humans, and be just a whisker from death. Even the tumbling sea of Mist under his feet became agitated. Although Ursrook had reported about the changes in the humans’ weapons, no words could compare to an immersive experience. There were no Transcendents or magical apparatus other than a group of magicless people piloting strange iron objects as well as the cooperation of a few witches. Yet, they threatened the life of a grand lord. “Was that really.. .something that the lowlifes created?” Mask said in disbelief, “I didn’t feel the presence of any magic at all—” “In fact, that is precisely their outstanding point.” Hackzord knew that his only chance had come. “The strength of the humans can no longer be measured by their scarce number of witches; all the magicless ones should also be counted. Also, after they had all these things, the originally weak magicless humans’ power is not much different from Primal Demons, they can even threaten Junior Demons and high-order upgraded demons.” “So? What’s your point?” “I want to ask everyone, even if we use the Deity of Gods, are you certain that we can attack and capture the Sky-sea Realm within ten years? The answer was unquestionably no. The Deity of Gods was only a necessary mean for the counterattack, but not the only condition for victory. As an upgraded race like them, nobody knew how much power the Sky-sea Realm would release on their own territory. The original strategy was to stick to defending the Blackstone region while swallowing the legacy shard of the humans, so that after the race reached a new level, they would destroy the Sky-sea Realm in one go with the Deity of Gods. “I don’t mind if you blame it all on me, but the defeat of the Western Front is already certain. This is an unavoidable fact!” Hackzord raised his voice a notch. “If we don’t change, I’m afraid in ten years we won’t be able to fight back against the Sky-sea Realm. We might not even be able to defeat the humans! The final result would be the complete extinction of our race under the attack from both sides. Could the Deity of Gods be more important than this!” “This is just your personal judgement,” Blood Conqueror said through gritted his teeth. “Of course it isn’t.” “Are you going to mention Ursook again?” “No,” said the Sky Lord with a pause, “I meant the Nightmare Lord.” Since he had already set his heart to it, and the tiny deception was all for his loyalty towards his race, it was impossible to turn back at that moment. “I don’t know what clues Valkries found in the Realm of Mind that would lead her to venture away from front-line warfare, but before her final dive into the Realm of Mind, Valkries told me herself that she had become more inclined to Silent Disaster’s speculation—humans might have already received some sort of legacy.” Blood Conqueror froze in his seat. The lopsided situation in the Holy See was perturbed.