Chapter 633: Aftermath

Unbeknownst to the Granger family and everyone in the Sanctuary Fortress, at this moment, about two hundred and twenty kilometers away, nearly eighty-eight demon war groups were lurking. Their leaders were all legendary-level demons, and every eleven legions were commanded by a demigod-level demon lord.

The leader of this massive demon army was a powerful snake demon with a serpent head, human body, and eight arms.

This marquis-level demon lord stood at a height of three hundred meters, looking down with his golden vertical pupils at the several sanctuary fortresses surrounding Melbourne in the distance. He had stood there for a long time, and after the black cracks in the sky gradually dissipated, he let out an unwilling snort.

"All troops, attack! We are diverting to Cardinia!"

This was a city east of Melbourne, with a population of about 1.3 million, and it was very close to the demon legion's current position.

But his decision shocked a middle-aged woman in a black robe with her face covered: "Cardinia? This is not what we agreed, Lord Samson. We helped you come to Australia for the Church of Fate and the sanctuary fortresses they built! You are breaking the contract—"

"But if we follow our agreement, my legion and I will be completely annihilated under the walls of those fortresses!"

The demon marquis turned his huge snake eyes toward the middle-aged woman with dissatisfaction: "Your god made a false prophecy! The Great Cataclysm did not happen. That Lord of Fate prevented this disaster that could have affected half the world. And now his power is still strong! Even stronger than before!"

He pointed with his finger toward the west: "And his power in the mortal world is already unmatched. Each fortress over there has forty legends and four demigods! I also know that inside, they are now united in purpose! All the hidden agents you placed in those fortresses have failed, haven't they? What about the promised internal strife? The walls are not damaged, nor have they collapsed! You failed to fulfill the agreement. You tricked us into the material plane, but may send us back to the Abyss empty-handed. Great Samson may become the laughingstock of all demons!"

"We are in the process of activating a backup plan."

The middle-aged woman, though stared at by the fierce snake eyes, managed to remain calm: "Lord Samson, your legion is not the only demon legion that has entered the material plane. If you cannot swallow it alone, you can try to join forces."

"No! Don't you understand yet? I no longer want to provoke that Lord of Fate, nor make enemies with such a powerful pantheon. Adding the power of the Church of Fate, they have at least over five thousand legends and over five hundred demigods on this continent. This strength is close to a complete angelic legion. What's terrifying is that that god and his angels can move freely in the material plane!"

"They can crush us before I withdraw from the material plane! I doubt many of my kin would be foolish enough to cooperate with you again. I was so stupid! Look, Melbourne, Canberra—these cities were like brides stripped naked, allowing me to do as I pleased. Even without your help and without bringing so many legions, I could have obtained wealth, blood, souls, and everything I desired. But now, because of your deception and the pitiful supplies you provided, I have gained nothing!"

The demon marquis named Samson grew angrier as he spoke: "My legion and I now have no choice but to go to Cardinia, a small city of less than 1.5 million people. And it has already been plundered by those demon brats who went ahead! I hope there are still some leftovers, and that they are disorganized and haven't captured the churches and the manors of the great families—"

At this point, a strange gleam suddenly flickered in Samson's vertical pupils: "Church? Speaking of which, your church is only fifty-seven kilometers away! The goddess of love, beauty, and Venus—your goddess and her followers should be very rich, right?"

This remark made the middle-aged woman in black robes change color: "Whatever you intend to do, stop your blasphemous thoughts! You dare not provoke the Lord of Fate, yet you dare to offend Olympus—"

But before she could finish, one of Samson's scimitars plunged into her abdomen. The demon marquis's snake eyes showed a cold, mocking smile.

"But at least your god cannot kill me in the material plane, can he?"

※※※※

At the same time, at the Murdoch Manor on the outskirts of Melbourne, a fierce battle between demons and humans was intensifying.

Countless red projectiles sprayed in all directions, and the manor's heavy artillery continued to fire, emitting deafening roars. But these tens of thousands of bullets could not stop the approaching black tide. The distant demon legion was driving countless dark creatures and an equally endless number of low-level demons to attack the manor in waves.

The owner here, the Murdoch family, was also a family with a powerful private army. Their military force in Australia alone amounted to eight divisions—even in America, this would be a top-tier power just below the highest echelons.

But at this moment, these eight divisions of armed forces and the defensive fortifications embedded with mythic-level magic arrays were not enough to ensure the manor's safety.

Those demon lords and demon princes, though known for their cunning, would also lead from the front when they saw an opportunity.

These legendary, demigod, and even weak-god-level powerful beings, under the cover of their soldiers, continuously attacked the manor's outer walls. Their onslaught had already created several huge gaps in the fifty-meter-high, fortress-like walls.

The manor lacked sufficient strength to confront them and could only rely on mythic-level magic arrays and some powerful fortress artillery to drive them back.

Ten years ago, a top-tier family in the light world typically had one or two demigods and ten to twenty legends as standing forces. In certain emergencies, they could use connections to summon five or six demigods as reinforcements.

Now, although various factions had increased their private military forces, the number of demigods and legends in this world was still limited. The Murdoch family's strength in this regard had not only not increased but had lost two legendary experts who had originally served them.

In this era, the only things they could rely on were the magic-powered armor produced by major arms conglomerates and the biological armor of the Rising Sun Corporation.

However, due to production issues, the various equipment produced by the 'Rising Sun-Light Demon' alliance had always been supplied only to the armies of various countries and their private forces.

The World News Group and the Murdoch family could only purchase these products at high prices from the black market, and their stock was still limited.

Fortunately, they had additional forces as support, allowing them to hold the manor.

"Father, the Fifth Army Group has refused our request for reinforcements. Lieutenant General Yvonne said they cannot spare any more forces. That damned bastard, has he forgotten who promoted him? How many benefits has he taken from us over the years?"

In a secret church on the manor, Jameson Murdoch, the fifty-year-old vice president of the World News Group, walked angrily behind his father, the world-renowned media tycoon Cassius Murdoch: "Director Della told me that without reinforcements, we can hold out for at most another half hour. Their forces are increasing; more demons are joining. So he hopes we will use the teleportation array to take refuge in America as soon as possible. Bishop Knight also said we must evacuate; he cannot let the goddess's warriors and priests all perish in this hopeless battle."

"America? That is not a good choice. It means we abandon everything here."

In front of the female statue in the church, the white-haired old man was expressionless: "We will lose everything."

His son Jameson fell silent. He knew this was their foundation. Losing the family's fortress industries in the dark world, their private army, and numerous magic professionals would surely lead to the World News Group being carved up by powerful families coveting them—but that was better than everyone dying.

"Then I'll try to think of something else. Maybe we can ask the Marine Corps for help. I know they have three brigades at the nearby Campberland Naval Base. Lieutenant General Bernard—"

"Don't bother. It won't work, Jameson!"

The old man shook his head, a bitter smile on his face: "Don't you understand yet? That Lord of Fate has already won."

Jameson was stunned, then frowned: "You mean?"

"Since He has won, no matter how good our relationship with Lieutenant General Bernard and Lieutenant General Yvonne is, it's useless. The Australian military and government from now on can only follow the will of the Lord of Fate. So, what we should do now—"

The old man's gaze was obscure, but he spoke without hesitation: "Contact Eliza Targaryen and say we are willing to accept capital injection from the Rising Sun Corporation or the Wiltonshire Group. My bottom line is seven percent."

As he said this, blood spurted from his mouth. Golden flames burned inside him—the backlash of the gods.

"Accept capital injection from the Wiltonshire family?"

Jameson immediately understood his father's intention, and his eyes showed terror: "But what about Bishop Knight and his subordinates? They are the main force fighting the demonic disaster."

"We will deal with them. Offer them as a tribute to prove our loyalty."

The old man was still coughing blood, but as he suppressed the punishing flames within, he spoke firmly: "Go ahead and contact that chosen lady, my child! As long as we are willing to pay enough wealth, the attack on us will stop."

Jameson's pupils contracted as a thought struck him: "Is the demon legion outside orchestrated by that so-called Lord of Fate? How dare He do that? Colluding with evil demons?"

"Who allowed you to address His Majesty Wiltonshire like that? From today, He is the god we believe in and worship."

Cassius Murdoch scolded his son sternly, his voice cold: "Only we are allowed to use demons to attack His church, but He cannot use the same method to retaliate? This method is indeed dirty, but it proves that my god is powerful, wise, inviolable, and hard to defeat! Jameson, that goddess and the lords in Britain can no longer protect the Murdoch family. We need a new umbrella, and there is no second choice. I only regret that I waited too long and did not join His camp earlier."

Amid his scolding, Jameson's expression calmed, and he nodded thoughtfully: "You are right, Father. It is time for the Murdoch family to change. Since that goddess can no longer help us, then—"

He looked ahead at the center of the secret church and saw that the ivory statue of the goddess was now covered with countless cracks.

※※※※

Seven hours later, the Moon Rabbit had recovered some energy. Though not yet at full strength, it no longer hindered her observation of the battle at the depths of the world's origin.

As an existence that had pushed the authority of the earth almost to the threshold of the Truth Gate, she was undoubtedly qualified to watch this epic battle.

However, the war among the eight god-kings at the origin was more confined to the spiritual level. Using their truth-level authorities as a foundation, they extended their divine consciousness into the world's core, attempting to leave their marks there.

Many operations were beyond the Moon Rabbit's understanding, and some opened her eyes wide. Their utilization of the power of laws had reached the pinnacle—distorting laws, changing laws, and making laws.

Making laws, causing the power of laws to briefly follow their will—this was likely the secret of the so-called 'Supreme God.'

In the origin, only Gaia was close to this level. Below her, the Lord of Light, Ahura, Odin, and Zeus were slightly inferior.

Nyx and the 'Glorious Mother' Isis were in the third tier.

As for the 'Goddess of Freedom' Eris, she had not even touched the threshold. She was more 'watching' than 'participating' in the battle. She was just close enough to observe the exchanges among the god-kings up close, at most providing some assistance to Nyx. These two god-kings could be considered as one force.

As it stood, although Gaia and the Lord of Light were jointly targeted by the other five, their 'share' in the world's origin remained the largest, with Odin and Ahura next.

The latter two had invested the most: one brought a complete 'World of Beasts,' and the other integrated the 'source cores' of two medium-sized worlds into the origin.

Their spiritual imprints were clearly indelible deep within the origin; now they were merely vying for more authority.

Zeus, slightly inferior to them, had also invested considerably—two star beasts each nine hundred and fifty kilometers long.

The Moon Rabbit had learned from Li Mochen that so-called 'star beasts' were creatures living in the starry domain, born in the primordial era of this starry world, and were the prototypes of all 'divine beasts' in the worlds.

They had little intelligence, feeding on the ubiquitous star power in the outer domain and various free-floating substances, then using special organs in their bodies to refine and expel impurities. Thus, their bodies were usually extremely pure compressed aggregates of primordial matter and star power.

In theory, the corpses of these star beasts were the best materials for artifact forging. However, because the internal forces were too mixed, even the most skilled artifact masters could not refine and separate them, so they were virtually useless to all immortals and gods.

But for the myriad worlds, the corpses of star beasts were highly nourishing. The primordial matter went without saying, and 'star power' was essentially the law power emanating from the myriad worlds, or 'stars.'

In fact, if the corpses of these star beasts were not absorbed and devoured by other worlds, they would likely evolve into world source cores and generate worlds on their own.

As for Nyx, although she had only one star beast, its quality and age were clearly higher than Zeus's two. With the help of the Goddess of Freedom, her competitiveness was also extraordinary.

As for Gaia and the Lord of Light, the latter had the unreserved help of the 'Mother' Isis; the former had the assistance of Zeus, although this Olympian god-king was clearly 'slacking off' in helping Gaia, even intentionally or unintentionally hindering and undermining her. Nevertheless, Gaia barely maintained her dominant position deep within the origin.

However, three days later, the situation changed. All sides in the origin began to 'call in friends,' and some sub-god-king and quasi-god-king level experts joined in.

For example, Poseidon, an existence with divine rank 19 who had elevated the authority of the sea to the truth level; and Thor, who possessed nearly truth-level authority over lightning. Although they could not participate in the deepest battle of the origin, they could provide assistance from the periphery.

The Moon Rabbit's expression grew increasingly serious and solemn. Her only impression now was that these so-called 'god-kings' were indeed extremely powerful—far beyond the limits of her previous imagination!

"I thought I was already very powerful, able to stand firm in this world. But now—Oh my god! Any one of these people could crush me. They make me feel insignificant."

The Moon Rabbit rubbed her forehead in frustration: "Although I know it's not a good idea for you to get involved now, I feel that just watching like this is also very bad. Unfortunately—"

This was because she had already seen the benefits that the authority of the world's origin would bring to several god-kings. For instance, Odin's mastery of the truths 'War,' 'Battle,' 'Slaughter,' and 'Death' would increase his power by at least twenty percent, and he could even possess some of the divine authority of a God above Gods, directly rewriting the laws.

For a god-king of Odin's level, this twenty percent increase in power was enough to grant him the power of life and death over those below god-king level.

How would they be able to contend with these powerful beings in the future?

"Since I don't have that ability, why talk about regret?"

Li Mochen's expression was very calm, and there was even a hint of sneering in his gaze fixed on the depths of the origin: "Not participating doesn't mean I won't gain anything. Just watch—"

He had already stood up from where he was: "Continue watching here. I still have a few matters to attend to."