The shadowy Monster Girls fought against the heroes of the past. Their battle echoed throughout the Sinking Dark Forest, shattering the quietude which permeated the landscape. As they crashed, rings of colours bloomed atop the sky, forming an inescapable maze.
Staring at the scene of the myth, the living believers and Monster Girls stopped their battle and retreated rapidly. The impression of the world-ending calamity firmly grasped their minds. Urgency and dread overpowered their rationality, filling their hearts with panic. They quickly rushed back to their hideouts, the believers away from the Sinking Dark Forest, the Monster Girls towards it.
Unlike the other Monster Girls, Flamira led Serinda and Artium against the current. She forced herself forwards, away from the Labyrinth of Love, away from that powerful Monster Girl, away from Gulia and Lilith.
To make full use of the chaos, she did not stop to give Serinda and Artium any explanation, though they too would not ask for one.
They followed Flamira, watching her back. Their speed could have been faster, but, knowing that Flamira had not yet recovered, they slowed down. They did not wish for her to overexert herself again.
"Sister Flamira, how did you know about the battle in the sky?" Serinda said. "Are you related to it?"
"I wouldn’t be in this situation if I had that kind of influence." Flamira slowed down, panting. "What I anticipated isn't the battle above, but the Monster Girl who locked onto us earlier. This is beyond my imagination."
"It feels like a scene from the myth," Artium said. "Do you really have nothing to do with it?"
Flamira glanced at Artium, who cheekily smiled back.
I can't tell you that I'm a Foreign Existence, that I'm related to the battle in the sky, and that I'm going to fight against not just the Divine, but also Lilith and Gulia, can I?
"Of course not. Don't try to paint me as a Goddess. I'm just a weak Slime Girl."
"Then, where are we going? Though everything is chaotic, the Crusade is regrouping at the edge of the forest. It won't be easy to sneak out." Serinda blinked. Her black eyes shone in black light. "I can't divine anything concrete, but I know our chance of success is minimal."
"We'll be staying in a familiar place," Flamira said. "Not too far from here, there is a cave, a cave whose owner has already passed away. We'll rest there."
And hopefully, I'll dream about you. Flamira smiled, but she did not say that out loud. She continued running towards the cave.
...
Gulia held her napkin and wiped her mouth gently. Her bloody lips reflected the glaring sunlight which enveloped the surrounding. Whenever the light touched her, its intensity would fade, devoured by the unseen, unknown power. Even the Authority of the Ancient Sun God could not overpower Gulia.
"Your Authority has become much harder to digest," Gulia said. "If it were like before, I would have already eaten a third of you."
Sun gritted his teeth but said nothing. The ever-burning flames around him flickered in and out of existence, growing dimmer as they resisted Gulia's all-devouring power. Just like the dimming sun, Ancient Sun God's aura grew weak, his orange cloak tattered, his red hair messy.
Beside him stood the trembling Knowledge. His weary hands gripped the torn book. His neat cloak split into multiple slices, dancing along with the powerful gales around him.
"We've learnt a lot from you, Gulia," Knowledge said. "Those who are stagnant will be washed away by the flow of time."
"Is that why you imprisoned us? To make us stagnant, to grind us with time?"
"Time alone cannot grind you down, but it is a seed that will germinate into something remarkable." Knowledge opened the torn book, pinched a page, and tore it apart. "It took me almost a hundred years to fill in the pages, but now, I'm wasting it again."
In his hand, the page glimmered. The golden light enveloped the sky and compressed around Gulia. Countless symbols and words manifested on the page. They detailed a hazy event of the battle between three Ancient Gods and a Foreign Existence.
Clouds parted. Sky fell. A new mountain range emerged from the Sinking Dark Forest as the collateral damage from the battle above the sky.
"The appetizer is over?" Gulia said. "Opening with a Page of Truth, you're much more eager than before. Is it because I've gotten so weak that you fancy your chance?"
Knowledge gripped another page and tore it apart. He threw it in the air, watching it turn into ashes, and glanced beside him. Unlike the two Ancient Gods, the Ancient Goddess of Seven Virtues remained relatively tidy. She rested her hands on her chest and closed her eyes. Her expression shifted from graceful to indifferent.
"Gulia, you are the personification of gluttony. Temperance will restrain you," Seven Face said. "Though I lost half of my body to you back then, it wasn't for nothing."
"Indeed. You've gained a tiny part of my essence, and you've used it well." Gulia glanced at the Goddess of Redemption and the Nightly Goddess. "I'm curious, Seven Face. Why did you bring those two?"
Redemption tensed, her eyes darting between Seven Face and Gulia. Still, she could not leave, for she had already picked her side. She moved even closer to Seven Face, her hands holding a tiny chest Seven Face gifted her.
Seven Face kept quiet and stared at Gulia. She did not reveal any majestic power or influence. Her subtlety lay in the foundation of the living, thoughts, will, and emotions. Her presence permeated the world, granting everything endless Temperance, fighting back the unending hunger which threatened to devour the sun and knowledge.
Gulia pointed below her. Mount Purple Cloud trembled. Along with the Sinking Dark Forest, it gradually sank, not into the depth of the world but the depth of the void.
"Time is precious, Knowledge. If you don't hurry, I will get bored and leave. Will you be able to keep me?" Gulia shifted her attention elsewhere. A golden hero froze and dispersed. "I didn't leave because you brought me a buffet, but if you keep delaying the main course, my patience will wear off."
Gulia pointed at a few heroes. Around them, invisible mouths formed and bit down, crushing their bodies. They exploded in a flash of radiance. Their golden light mixed with the bloody saliva, then disappeared, devoured by Gulia.
The battle in the sky quietened as tens of heroes fell. Even the shadowy Monster Girls halted their fights. They tilted their heads and turned towards Gulia, observing her slim figure. Even after eating tens of human-size feasts, her size did not change at all. She was still slender, charming, and hungry.
While Gulia was digesting the holy power, Knowledge grabbed five more pages and shredded them. He crumbled the remains and threw them upwards. Under the strong gales, the pieces scattered in every direction, turning into light particles, filling the sky with bright stars.
As the Pages of Truth disintegrated, the wall of purification shattered. An endless stream of Faith gushed into the Sinking Dark Forest. Its blinding, purifying radiance flooded the corrupted forest and seared everything evil. The Monster Girls who failed to reach their hideouts fell to their knees. Their bodies quivered and split apart, purified and burned to ashes.
Even the shadowy Monster Girls in the sky had trouble keeping themselves unharmed. Their flickering silhouettes grew weak as the black Corruption Power inside them fought the purifying light. Still, most of the light didn't hit the ground or the shadowy Monster Girls.
The most brilliant light shot towards Gulia. It contained more than half of the total power of the formation. Like the shooting star which contained all the wishes of the world, it headed towards the source of all disasters, the Foreign Existence.
The Ancient Sun God closed his eyes and reopened them. His pupils morphed into balls of flame, which radiated endless heat thousands of times hotter than before. With a gesture, he distorted the sky and pulled down the sun. As it headed towards Gulia, its size magnified, pressing against her insignificant figure.
Gulia opened her mouth and bit onto the sun. Around her, the scattered Pages of Truth twirled. Countless symbols on their surfaces rearranged into tens of scenarios, each conjuring impossible amounts of disasters and coincidences that inevitably resulted in her death.
Dark clouds merged into a thunderstorm and shot gigantic lightning towards Gulia. The fabric of reality shattered below her and dragged her into the all-assimilating void. Every spell she cast failed, every thought disrupted, every opportunity hindered.
Even her emotions got controlled. Seven Face clasped her hands into a prayer gesture, lowered her head, and chanted in an inaudible voice. Her expression morphed from indifferent, to smiling, to laughing, cycling through seven expressions, each representing one of the seven virtues.
Each virtue controlled each aspect of desires. Seven Face prayed. Her Divine Flame flickered. Threads of emotions connected her with Gulia, sharing sins and virtues. Temperance suppressed the power of gluttony while six other virtues infected Gulia with virtues, turning her into a Saintess, one of purity, goodness, and faith.
"Gulia, the reason I brought those two with me is for this moment," Seven Face said. "Redemption, the Authority you embodied is the perfect match for this plan."
Sun and Knowledge turned to Redemption, who shuddered and took a step back. She didn't know any of this, but she could not retreat now. Clenching her teeth, she flew to Seven Face's side and touched the space between her brows.
An intricate, incomprehensible symbol rose. It wiggled and expanded into a flower of black and white, which swapped places, permeated and separated, converged and diverted, won and lost. They cycled around and into and out of each other, forming a delicate balance of life and death, change and stasis, good and evil.
The Authority of Redemption floated out of the Goddess of Redemption. Her holiness dulled, her presence fleeting. Behind her, the Nightly Goddess came near and touched her. The power of the calming night gushed into her, stabilising her condition.
The moment they chose to follow Seven Face, the two Goddesses only had each other to rely on.
"A beautiful Authority, one with the potential to ascend beyond the dream of the myth, to become an everlasting presence," Seven Face said. "Redemption, Night, I swear upon my Authority that, for as long as I remained, you two will not fall."
Redemption took a deep breath and pushed her fingers forwards. The Authority of Redemption flew to Gulia, who remained unmoving, unable to struggle.
"The three of us might not be able to annihilate you, but we don’t need to," Seven Face said. "Gulia, even if you are a Foreign Existence, you can still be the force of balance that brings peace to this world, the guardian of this world."
Gulia sluggishly raised her head. The sun above her crushed her body, but she remained standing, though trembling. The all-assimilating void seized her legs, swallowing her tattered clothes. The Seven Virtues clutched her heart and soul, faking her emotions, changing her thoughts.
Still, she did not give up.
"It's time . . . to change . . . the name of this forest," she said. "It's not . . . Sinking Dark Forest anymore . . . . It's now . . . Sunken."
The forest sank. Mount Purple Cloud collapsed, and the barrier between the Abyssal Plane and the Main Material Plane shattered. Red mists and ghostly screams flooded the Main Material Plane. A gigantic hole exposed the hellish landscape of spikes and volcanic mountain ranges, where the Demons and Demonic Beasts rested.
They looked upwards, towards the paradise of the Pure Races, and shrieked. Their joyous screams echoed from the depth of darkness into the world of light.
Mount Purple Cloud sure was a red herring. It seemed like an important future destination this whole time!