The reason why the world Gaia entered the Age of Doom was not easily recognizable from surface-level events.
The reason why Asher was able to perceive that the mortal world was nearing its end lay in the signs that emerged during its development, and especially due to his title as God of Doom and his unique nature of embodying the end.
Sensing the doom of a world had become like a sixth sense to him, as if he could smell or even see the aura of doom that enveloped Gaia.
In Gaia's case, there were several distinct signs that, beyond Asher's sixth sense, pointed to the truth.
One example was the downfall of the dwarven race.
This might not seem entirely catastrophic for a world in itself, but it was the extinction of one of the three intelligent races of the world, and thereby it already disrupted its balance.
The same applied to the enslavement of the elves. The situation of the elven race was nearly equivalent to the end of their kind, or at least resembled a degradation to mere unintelligent livestock.
However, the greatest sign was something entirely different.
It was the power the dwarves had found in their mountain—a power that had driven them mad. This force hadn't even existed until recently and was not created by Asher, at least not directly.
This malicious force, which the dwarves had acquired and which had corrupted them, marking their end, had arisen by itself, through Asher's very nature as the God of Doom, which influenced his entire creation.
The essence of doom would inevitably affect each of his creations, especially his mortal worlds—whether he willed it or not—and eventually destroy them.
It was the inevitable fate that came with doom.
But that was not all, for his nature of doom should have made it impossible to build an entire inhabited and flourishing galaxy.
However, Asher had managed to influence and control the effects of his nature under certain conditions.
He could, for example, prevent a world from succumbing to its end by leaving it completely untouched by his aura and letting it develop on its own.
Another possibility was to create a system in which he deliberately distributed the doom and balanced it.
Simply put: if Asher owned multiple worlds, he could accelerate the expiry of some, while halting or significantly delaying the doom of others.
At the moment, however, this was not possible, since apart from Gaia, he only possessed Earth, which he left completely unaffected by his power, thus allowing it to persist indefinitely and not be weighed on the cosmic scales.
Therefore, Gaia's downfall was not much of a surprise to Asher and had merely been a matter of time.
I had already expected this... But it came much faster than anticipated. It is disheartening to see a world I created, a world inhabited, descending into ruin.
Asher watched Gaia from his throne with slight resignation, his eyes reflecting sorrow and discontent.
He sat there quietly for a while, simply observing the mortal world.
"It is unfortunate, but inevitable. Besides, it is now time for the start of the World Tree Project..."
Finally, Asher left his throne room and appeared—in his divine form, clad in white garments and shrouded in divine light that concealed his face—in the emptiness of space, outside of Gaia.
It was time to put his plans into action and take the next step in the process of creating his galaxy.
Since Asher had known from the beginning about the nature of doom, he had anticipated the world's end and incorporated it into his plans, devising ways to balance this trait and use it for the development of his galaxy.
The World Tree Project was to lay the foundation for the further evolution and large-scale population of his galaxy, and it would begin with the fall of the mortal world Gaia.
After a moment, Asher opened the World Shop and navigated to a previously saved item.
The item bore the name: "Seed of the World Tree."
With a simple click, he acquired the seed and let it appear in his hand. The seed didn't appear particularly striking and was no larger than a peanut in his palm.
After briefly admiring and seemingly inspecting it with his perception, he aimed his hand toward Gaia, causing the seed to leave his palm on its own and shoot toward the planet like a tiny meteor.
As soon as the tiny seed reached Gaia's orbit, it suddenly dissolved into stardust, which spread across the atmosphere and vanished.
Thus, the seed had successfully integrated into the planet.
The "Seed of the World Tree" might have looked small, but in his true form as a Creator God, Asher stood hundreds of kilometers tall—so even if the seed seemed no larger than a peanut in his hand, it was actually almost bigger than Earth's moon.
Hence, an object of such size, if it were to strike Gaia, would cause massive destruction.
However, this seed was of spiritual nature, and the process of planting it into Gaia resembled the integration of mortal energies, thus rendering it invisible to mortals.
As a result, entering the atmosphere and reaching the planet caused no damage, since the seed itself was immaterial and was absorbed by the atmosphere.
With a dark gaze, Asher looked down upon the mortal world.
"So it begins... the Last Judgment!"
Mortal World, Gaia.
The sky was covered by a dense, ominous cloud layer; whether it was day or night was hard to determine, and the sun and moon had not been seen for days.
A strange mood ruled across the entire world, as if something was about to happen.
A few people seemed to sense something, but most continued their daily lives as usual. The nobles enjoyed their wealth, knights fought on battlefields, and commoners did their best to get by.
While the world carried on with its daily affairs under the heavy atmosphere—elves oppressed, dwarves struggling for survival, and the few remaining believers of the Church of Salvation praying for deliverance—a storm unlike any before began to brew. One more overwhelming and despairing than even the attacks of monster waves, the war of the races, or the monster king Ananta.
Duu-Duu! Duu-Dun!
Finally, in the afternoon, across the entire world—the great continent of the mortal realm Gaia—loud, echoing trumpet blasts resounded, causing the earth to tremble slightly.
They were the trumpets that heralded the beginning of the end.
A blood-red moon rose in the middle of the day, like a sun rising over the world, shining even through the gloomy, gray cloud cover in the sky above the world.
The earth began to split open, chasms appeared everywhere, and a bright, dark light shone from the depths of the cloud cover.
The light resembled sunrays at the end of a deep, dark tunnel and transformed the cloud layer into a gateway to another world.
With their gleaming white wings and magnificent golden halos, the angels of the Celestial Heaven emerged from the blinding light in the clouds, led by the highest-ranking angels—the Archangels.
At the same time, from the depths of the torn earth and burning chasms, the cruel and terrifying demons of the Endless War Hell rose, led by the highest-ranking demons—the two Demon Princes and other noble demons of the Endless War Hell.
It was the beginning of the Last Judgment, as described in Earth's Bible—a battle between good and evil, now applied to the world of Gaia as punishment for the sins of the mortals.
Asher had decided to adopt the concept of the Last Judgment, as it was known from the Bible, into his own world system and to make use of it more frequently—but more on that later.
After the sudden and tyrannical appearance of both divine and infernal forces, a strange silence settled over the world, as if every living being were holding its breath in anxious anticipation.
No one moved, no one lifted a finger. The angels hovered in the sky with noble and indifferent expressions, while the demons on the ground grinned from the torn and flaming chasms, licking their lips in anticipation of the upcoming spectacle.
Strangely, no one made the first move. It was merely a staring contest between the two armies, with the mortals caught in between, as if they had been thrown into the frontlines of an unimaginable war.
It was as if they were waiting for something—but what?
The mortals who witnessed this—whether humans, elves, or dwarves—remained completely stunned and tense, nervously waiting for something to happen.
The few remnants of the Church believed God had abandoned them. Others cursed the sinners who had dragged the world into ruin. Still others feared for their lives.
Finally, something happened. The sky, quite literally, broke open—and a radiant, glowing figure appeared.
The towering, majestic form of the Creator God Asher, cloaked in blinding divine light and robed in white garments, appeared through the cracked sky and the rupture in the atmosphere. Behind him, three pairs of majestic wings could be seen.
His loud and imposing voice echoed in the minds of all living creatures of Gaia:
"It is a sad day for this world. I gave you life, a place to live, food and knowledge... yes, even the chance to grow stronger, to gain power, and to transcend mortality."
He paused for a moment—a dramatic silence—before continuing his awe-inspiring speech, as every mortal listened with bated breath.
"And yet, it has come to this. Even faith was not enough for you, and you destroyed it in your endless greed and your lust for power, wealth, and status!"
"Therefore, this day has come. And as hard as it is for me to watch this world perish, I hereby declare the Day of Judgment. But be assured—I do not hold it against you. After all, I created you with all your virtues and your vices, your goodness and your flaws. And so, after you have paid for your sins, you shall return to my embrace, and you shall be forgiven!"
At the end of his speech, a massive pillar of radiant light rose from the earth and completely engulfed the blurred figure of the Creator God.
After a moment, the pillar dissolved again and revealed a shattered sky—like a cracked mirror—but the god had vanished. Only his voice echoed like the voice of a phantom throughout the world:
"May the Last Judgment... begin!"
For a moment, absolute silence returned to the world, as all living beings held their breath and drowned in despair.
But then it began—the auras of angels and demons erupted, and they hurled themselves at one another mercilessly, with catastrophic force.
The clash between angels and demons destroyed everything in between. They began slaughtering everything nearby—humans, angels, or demons.
"Attack! Cleanse the unbelievers and destroy these filthy demons!" shouted an angel.
"Come on! Devour this vermin and tear those flying chickens apart!" a bloodthirsty demon replied.
A massacre began on Gaia, the likes of which had never been seen before.
Demons killed humans, angels killed humans, and angels and demons fought each other—it became a chaotic nightmare of blood, screams of pain, despair, and laughter.
It didn't take long before the world was soaked in blood and lakes of crimson formed.
The battle between angels and demons created a bloodbath made from the blood of the five races—humans, elves, dwarves, angels, and demons.
Humans tried in vain, with immense effort, to defend themselves against their attackers. But it was a difficult—if not impossible—task, for under the might of the two heavenly races, they perished like cattle.
Since the deaths of the three Saints of the Church of Salvation, the dwarf king, and the elf king, there were no more Awakened among the mortals above D-rank. Thus, they stood no chance against the high-ranking angels and demons.
While the Awakened mortals were barely stronger than ordinary humans, the average members of both heavenly races were at least A-rank or Epic rank—not to mention their leaders.
The Archangels were all at the Transcendent rank, while some of the demons were even nearing Legendary rank—all considered the highest of beings.
The fact that angels and demons fought each other during the Last Judgment stemmed from the settings Asher had chosen during their creation.
He had decided that both races should deeply despise each other and be complete opposites to stimulate their development and push their growth.
Besides, it didn't matter if they died during the Last Judgment, as dead angels and demons would be reincarnated in Heaven or Hell respectively.
As long as they appeared in a mortal world, they received a temporary physical body, composed of either light energy or demonic power.
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