Divinity and Rationality declared a truce.
Neither could best the other, leaving them with no choice but to coexist for the time being.
It was at this moment that Lucifer and Demogor arrived.
With just a single glance, they froze.
Everyone has desires, and even gods are no exception.
Yet the person standing before them had not a shred of desire in his eyes.
He was not Ning Busan.
Rationality looked toward them and said calmly, “I am Phoenix.”
Demogor's expression turned incredibly unsightly.
Demogor asked in a cold voice, “Where is my brother?”
Rationality said nonchalantly, “He drank the Wine of Divine Fall and is sleeping in the sea of consciousness. Theoretically speaking, he will never wake up again.”
Lucifer's heart tightened as he called out, “Phoenix...”
Rationality looked at him, his gaze devoid of warmth or emotion, holding only a cold, scrutinizing stare.
Lucifer had imagined their reunion countless times, but absolutely never in a scene like this.
And absolutely not with this kind of attitude.
Lucifer's lips parted slightly. “Can you... let Ning Busan go?”
“To be precise, it is he himself who is unwilling to wake up, rather than me causing his slumber,” Rationality said.
Lucifer asked, “Can you help him?”
Rationality said, “The presence of humanity would interfere with my judgment. His slumber holds only benefits for me, and no disadvantages.”
“Therefore, I will not help him.”
Seeing Rationality about to leave, anger flashed in Demogor's eyes as he reached out directly to seize him. “Where are you going?”
“None of your business.” Rationality merely raised a hand, and Demogor was instantly restrained, unable to move.
“Is it none of my business either?” Lucifer blocked his path. “What are you trying to do?”
Rationality replied without any emotion, “Whether you know or not will be of no help to the big picture. Thus, I do not need to speak, and you do not need to know.”
He left.
Lucifer knew he was right.
Yet when those icy words fell upon Lucifer's ears, they made his entire body stiffen.
He wondered, was this truly the Phoenix he knew?
“He might be Phoenix, but he is definitely not the brother you are familiar with,” Demogor said coldly, finally breaking free from the restraint.
“We must find a way to wake Ning Busan. Where do you think Phoenix would go?”
Lucifer curled his lips slightly. “Heaven, naturally.”
...
Divine Realm.
The God of Light and Rationality stared at each other, neither speaking first.
First of all, how to address each other was a problem.
The Silver-Crowned God was the Father God of the God of Light.
The God of Light was the Father God of Phoenix.
And Rationality was both the Silver-Crowned God and Phoenix.
In other words, the person standing before the God of Light was his son, but also his father.
A genuine smile appeared on the God of Light's face. “How should I address you? Phoenix, or... Father God?”
Rationality showed no intention of reminiscing, saying calmly, “Release Hecate.”
The smile on the God of Light's lips faded.
Rationality said, “Since the fall of the Silver-Crowned God, the will of chaos has never given up on destroying this continent. Although he was also severely wounded, he is still not someone you can handle.”
“Hecate was unwilling to let you face chaos. She lied to you, claiming she was immortal and would grow stronger with each death, so you truly believed she would be fine.”
“But darkness is too close to chaos. Through her repeated deaths and rebirths, she absorbed too much negative emotion, gradually becoming eroded by chaos until she turned into the Mother of Destruction.”
“Later, she only knew destruction and could no longer fulfill her duties as the God of Darkness. Out of necessity, you had to seal her away.”
“Hecate was supposed to govern death, guiding souls into the darkness to await rebirth. After you sealed her, not only did Hell descend into chaos, but the deceased could no longer enter reincarnation, turning into walking corpses that plagued the mortal world.”
“The imbalance of light and dark gave chaos an opening. Thus, ten thousand years ago, the barrier of the Landia Continent was finally breached on a large scale, and the xenos descended. It was also at that time that the godheads entered the world to save the precarious world.”
“Louis led humanity to resist the xenos; Faelo had the Elven Clan take up arms for self-defense; the Sea God, Siren, maintained the peace of the seas; the Undead Realm gave birth to its First King, giving the deceased a home from then on; Augustus destroyed the dragon crystal, allowing the ley line core to stabilize its energy supply once more.”
“There are seven godhead fragments, but only six actually entered the world. Before his fall, the Silver-Crowned God entrusted the final fragment to your care, which contained the Silver-Crowned God's rationality.”
“I was supposed to fall from an angel into a demon, becoming the new Lord of Hell. However, you separated my soul and fused it with rationality, which is why Satan took my place as the Lord of Hell.”
“Am I correct?”
The God of Light nodded. “Entirely correct.”
As expected of the incarnation of rationality.
Rationality said, “Release Hecate. The God of Darkness must return to her seat.”
The God of Light did not move, but asked, “Do you want to save her, or completely erase her existence?”
Rationality answered, “Save her.”
A faint golden light began to shimmer at the position of the God of Light's third rib.
He broke the seal.
Rationality's words just now had stirred his long-lost memories.
He was the first creation of the Silver-Crowned God, and Hecate was the second, an existence whose flesh and blood were intertwined with his.
The Hecate of the past was a quiet shadow, an elegant end, a gentle eternal night.
Before the fall of the Silver-Crowned God, Hecate would provide him with a resting shadow, while he would wipe away the eternal chill for her.
They embraced like day and night, inseparable.
It was all because of his negligence that Hecate had become what she was now—sometimes lucid, sometimes mad.
Hecate had forgotten the beautiful past they shared, firmly believing that darkness was destined to oppose light, hating him to the bone and fighting him to the death.
The seal broke.
Hecate stared at Rationality, a twisted smile plastered on her face, her red lips uttering blasphemous words: “Father God, my child should be the owner of this body. Can you disappear?”
“No,” Rationality replied.
A flash of silver light shot out, piercing through Hecate's chest and pinning her to the ground.
The God of Light's pupils contracted, and the Dawn Holy Sword appeared in his hand.
Rationality cast a cold glance at him. “I said, I will save her.”
The God of Light's movements froze.
Rationality approached Hecate.
Another flash of silver light shot out, this time directly destroying Hecate's origin.
Only by killing her first could he save her.
Hecate's power was still the power of darkness; it was her will that had been contaminated by chaos.
To excise the chaos within Hecate, he had to rely on the power of rules and order, using her past dark will to overwrite the chaotic dark will.
Therefore, Rationality had to intervene at the moment when chaos was most active, which was the instant when Hecate had died but was not yet fully reborn.
Rationality entered Hecate's will. It was filled with quiet darkness and destructive chaos.
Rationality found the primordial darkness in the center of the chaos, then suppressed the chaos with the power of order to reshape the darkness.
Hecate was reborn once more.
Her body was no longer filled with the power of destruction and madness; she became pale and silent.
Although her original emotions gradually returned, she still remembered the atrocities she had committed as the Mother of Destruction.
She knew she could never return to her original, flawless state.
A tear slowly slid down from the corner of her eye.
Rationality said, “She will slumber for a while. Take good care of her.”
The God of Light nodded, cradling Hecate. He looked up and asked, “Father God, where should this world go from here?”
Rationality said, “I will eliminate the existence of magic and find a new fulcrum for this world.”
The God of Light asked, “What if you cannot find that fulcrum?”
Rationality said nonchalantly, “Then I will choose to abandon this world.”
The God of Light fell silent.
A wise man does not enter a losing battle. Knowing there is no chance of victory, the correct approach is to cut losses and withdraw early.
It has nothing to do with good or evil, gains or losses, life or death—only correctness.
This was Rationality.
Suddenly, Rationality's expression shifted as he murmured, “He is here.”
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