In the pitch-black Abyss

“Ann, everything's been properly arranged,” said a blonde-haired woman dressed in red softly, floating in front of Ann.

“Are all the fifteen nodes we set up in the north complete?” Ann's back was facing the woman as she played with a dagger with a black handle that glowed with a faint silver light. An indiscernible red light flashed across the dagger occasionally.

“It's complete. Each of the fifteen nodes will be guarded by a DemiG.o.d,” the woman replied hurriedly.

Ann turned around, frowning.

“It's too bad that you're the only one under my wing that I can use, Mura and the others left too soon… They couldn't even wait for my reappearance.”

“Even with your mighty abilities, milady, there's no way you could have saved them. That's the inevitability of time…” The woman's expression had a hint of melancholy as well.

Ann was the leader of the strongest Dragons of Disaster, the Three Monarchs, so she would naturally have extremely powerful forces under her command. At first, she had five Dragons of Disaster with the power of Lower G.o.ds as her generals, but now this woman was the only one left. The incomparably powerful and glorious sect from back then was now reduced to slightly over twenty DemiG.o.d-level powerhouses. As for those below DemiG.o.d-level, they were practically negligible.

“I've contacted some people, it all depends on how the general situation goes. Even if I don't have many people, I still need to make my move. This is the best time right now,” said Ann calmly.

“The time?”

“One week from now…” Ann raised her head and looked at a certain direction. Her gaze seemed to penetrate countless barriers, finding a powerful being hiding in the darkness. “He can't escape…”

Garen woke from his immersion.

He glanced at the time, and the timekeeper in his Willpower Neuroprocessor told him that it had been more than ten days since he began his immersion.

Without knowing it, he had noticed that black circle of light that grew ever more complicated and sophisticated at the back of his mind. It was something like a ring of light, and inside it, there was a large amount of data and many runes, flowing, moving, and computing. The carving of most of the patterns and runes around the ring of light had been completed, but there was still a small section that had yet to be done.

“A Decay Divine Persona, is it?” Garen reached his senses toward the thing his Willpower Neuroprocessor had created using that wisp of Divinity. He had never seen a Divine Persona before, but that did not mean he could not find out what ring of light actually was.

He used more than twenty years and most of the computing power in his Neuroprocessor, and now that he had finally gotten this thing as a result, it had to be related to a Divine Persona somehow.

“A Divine Persona is the final product of Divinity lit up with sacred fire, and it can use the Divine Domain to convert Divine Power. It requires the input of everything, the soul and the Willpower. Right now, I'm still a single independent unit, so I clearly don't count as a Divine Persona. In that case, what is this thing?” Garen observed the black circle of light behind him, somewhat confused.

This thing was emitting many black silk threads, absorbing a special something that felt like Soul Energy from the Void surrounding him, as though they were so many tree roots.

The thing that was being absorbed came with hints of terror, fear, hatred, antagonism and other similar emotions. Clearly, this was the power of fear and respect unique to Dragons of Disaster.

“What do I represent?”

Garen frowned slightly.

“What do those who treat me as their enemy see me as?”

As soon as that question rose from his heart, it was as though he could instantly hear a great many different voices.

“Cold Winter Dragon, I curse you! May you be confined and tortured forever in the bottomless Abyss.”

“The Lord of h.e.l.l will someday tear off your skin and flesh, drying them out the gates of h.e.l.l!!”

“I will get my revenge! Someday, I'll kill you!!”

“Cold Winter Dragon, I want your life in exchange for my son's!!!”

Countless voices surged up from the bottom of his heart.

Garen watched these voices quietly. It was strange, to be hated by so many survivors. It was his first time feeling something like this.

Other than that, there was also the power of wors.h.i.+p from those who feared him. These beliefs were much simpler, mostly they just involved praying that he would not appear and spread the Wintry Death.

“Looks like this thing truly is a semi-completed product. It's just that I've yet to properly decide what I represent.” Garen understood now.

Ann represented time and shadow, so her Divine Persona will convert all the power of fear and wors.h.i.+p into Divine Power of time and shadow, or rather, the power of Disaster.

“The Divinity and Divine Persona I have constructed are based mainly on Decay, so I'll temporarily set my position as Decay for now.” Garen mused over it for a while, and directly decided on this rarer Divine Doman.

‘Confirming the Divine Domain… Initial determination — Decay. Includes rotting, wasting away, and can extend to aging and death as a result of the pa.s.sage of time.'

The Willpower Neuroprocessor instantly gave him a response.

The instant he decided on his Divine Domain, Garen abruptly felt his body shudder. The ring of black light behind his back began to tremor abruptly, rapidly finis.h.i.+ng up the remaining incomplete patterns and runes. Within a few dozen seconds, the whole circle was utterly complete.

Once the ring was complete, it looked just like a wheel of burning flames wrapped around a large ring. Many dots of black light spread and scattered from the edges of the ring. It looked eerie and creepy.

Mysteriously, Garen could vaguely feel a powerful gaze staring at him from across the endless distance.

That gaze was icy cold and emotionless, and carried with it the aura of death. Even the faraway distance could not hinder its penetrating stare.

“The G.o.d of Death… Did the overlap in our Divine Domains result in a conflict over the wors.h.i.+p power?” Garen's heart gave a jolt. He knew that the Divine Domain he had settled on probably overlapped with that of the G.o.d of Death, and in that case, there would surely be a divine battle to fight over that Divine Domain.

“I just only determined my Divine Domain and I haven't acc.u.mulated enough Divine Power yet. Looks like I'd better stay out of the way for now…” An intense wariness rose in Garen's heart.

The G.o.d of Death was a true Higher G.o.d, in name and in power, and was one of the more formidable presences even among the Divine Systems. Going head-on against him would not end well at all.

When that thought occurred to him, the ring of black flames behind him automatically hid itself, but he could still feel those many root-like black threads connecting him to those lives and souls that feared or hated him. They were still providing him with an endless supply of that immense wors.h.i.+p power.

And this power of wors.h.i.+p was also flowing like a stream into his Divine Persona, before it was converted into wisps of energy like black threads, merging into his Soul Ring structure.

‘Now condensing tragedy power, please select: One, store and increase your Divine Persona. Two: use immediately to power up yourself.' A message came from the Willpower Neuroprocessor.

Garen glanced at his current level.

‘Divine Persona: 1.' It was standard, weak Divine Power.

“I can even use it to strengthen myself directly?” He had not expected it to have this ability. Usually, Divine Power was mainly used for consumption, as well as to acc.u.mulate and increase the level of one's Divine Persona. The stronger the Divine Persona level, the more Divine Arts one would be able to use to respond to one's wors.h.i.+ppers, and the more power and authority one would have.

Garen carefully looked through his current status.

‘Garen — Strength 260, Agility 260, Vitality 260, Intelligence 260. Potential 12829%. Soul Limit 000.

8 Soul Rings: Five Colorless, Red, Orange, Red.

Level 10 Draconic Aura. Level 10 Arcane Art.

‘Potential Quality — Divine Creature, Void Pursuer'

Void Original Opus — 70%. Hind leg — Evil Soldier, wings — Seven Lives, tail — Demonic Book.

Overall comments — G.o.d of Decay: Divine Persona 1. t.i.tle — Winter Sigh.'

“My Soul Limit has turned to 0?” Garen was slightly taken aback and then overjoyed.

He sensed his current condition carefully, and felt as though the converted Decay Divine Power had directly turned into a thin membrane that covered the surface of his body. This membrane was even growing ever stronger as more Divine Power was converted.

“This should be the so-called Divine Power s.h.i.+eld, looks like most G.o.ds rely on their Divine Power as a protective force field. To them, Divine Power was more like a layer of natural armor, armor that could withstand attack. It only needed to consume a certain amount of their Divine Power.

Garen quickly came to a mental conclusion.

“As for the strengthening and leveling up of the G.o.ds' own true bodies, almost no books mention it at all. I couldn't even find any mention of G.o.ds powering up their own bodies and 神體 Divine Bodies in Ann's books. Mostly, they just a.s.similated and evolved gradually alongside their Divine Power, until they finally become one with their Divine Power, their bodies turning into the incarnation of their ocean of Divine Power.”

“On the other hand, True Soul Demon Masters simply use all their power to strengthen their own bodies. Looks like the two options the Willpower Neuroprocessor gave me act as the boundary line between True Souls and G.o.ds…”

Garen's heart instantly became clear.

“If I choose to acc.u.mulate, the Divine Power will automatically turn into a Divine Power s.h.i.+eld, that's the G.o.d Route. If I choose to strengthen, then that's the True Soul Route.”

Naturally, there was no hesitation at all here.

Garen went straight for strengthening. Although the G.o.ds were strong, they were also extremely limited by their own wors.h.i.+p power. It was fine when they had plenty of wors.h.i.+p power, but if ever that was reduced, their Divine Persona's level would drop, and they would be affected instead. On the other hand, the True Souls just used all their power to strengthen their own Elements. There was no chance of outside interference.

It was clear at a glance, which one was better.

This was also the crucial reason why the G.o.ds in this world grew weaker as they fought more wars, because the regular civilians and wors.h.i.+ppers were being ma.s.sacred in large numbers. This was the source of their Divine Power.

‘Select Strengthening.'

As soon as Garen decided on an answer.

Instantly, that thin layer of Divine Power began to be slowly absorbed by Garen's Instinct.

Garen's current body had the terrifying Devouring Instinct of the h.e.l.lfrost Peac.o.c.k Queen, so unless he purposely held back from devouring something, any energy that got too close to him would all be absorbed and devoured by that Instinct.

“The G.o.ds don't have a Soul Limit, probably as a result of the unique nature of their souls. I have the characteristics of both a G.o.d and a True Soul, so I might probably be an extreme minority in this world…” Garen guessed.

From now on, he was also a G.o.d with a little Divine Power, albeit an extremely weak one.

But without the restriction of a Soul Limit, he could practically increase his own attributes endlessly.

He gave his Semi-Divine Weapon, the Despair Skull, a quick glance and made some rough calculations. He still had a couple thousand Potential Points left.

Without a shred of hesitation, he activated the Devouring Instinct directly, beginning to absorb the Potential Points inside freely. At the same time, his Willpower Neuroprocessor automatically converted them into Intelligence.

That was right, he did not increase any other attribute first, but went straight for Intelligence, the one that he had increased first earlier.

Without the attribute limit, he immediately increased his Intelligence first, as it was the most crucial to his Willpower Neuroprocessor.

His Intelligence decided how fast his Willpower Neuroprocessor could a.n.a.lyze divinity, and it also decided the speed of his Divine Power conversion via his Divine Persona.

Divine Power had to be acc.u.mulated across time, from the creatures who wors.h.i.+pped him, so it could only be gathered through plundering. Soon enough, he was going to join Ann's raid operation, so Garen was already planning to make the biggest preparation in antic.i.p.ation of this operation.

“Now, it's about time I got started on Ann's matters.” Garen organized the information he had about the True Soul Demon Masters.

He got up and instantly vanished from the spot.

“A raid?” The Deception Demon Master looked at Garen in the Water Mirror lazily. She was lying on her side in a black palace, surrounded by pools of blood, corpses, and skeletons everywhere. It was clear that she was slaughtering some G.o.d's temple.

“The G.o.d of Time and Shadow, that fellow's not easy to deal with…” The Deception Demon Master frowned. “The point is, what do I get in return?”

“Ann just wants the Time Divine Persona, and we can split the remaining Divine Personas, according to how much power we contribute,” Garen explained. The first one he went to was the Deception Demon Master, because she was the closest to him, after all.

“You just entered the G.o.d level and already you dare to partic.i.p.ate in a raid of this level? Casavon's Divine Kingdom is no joke, y'know? After that Divine Kingdom was increased, a ton of Holy Spirits reached DemiG.o.d Level, they could crush you just by piling on top of you,” said the Deception Demon Master, confused.