"Take its place?" Guts could not believe his ears.
"That's right. You will become the new God, the new Lord of the Abyss."
Ian pointed a finger toward the abyssal rift.
"Only then can you control causality from its very root and completely end the cycle of the Eclipse."
"To grant this world, which has been tortured for a millennium, true peace."
Guts remained silent, his gaze sweeping over his resurrected companions not far away.
Judeau was stretching his limbs with a bewildered expression, seemingly unable to believe he was still alive.
Pippin was tightly embracing Corkus, the two tower-like men weeping tears of joy.
Finally, his eyes landed on Casca.
Under the influence of Ian's mysterious power, the hollow look in her eyes—caused by her mental breakdown—had regained its light.
Everything seemed to be getting better, and he wanted to protect this beauty.
"Of course, this path is incredibly perilous."
"The Abyss is an amalgamation of all negative emotions from thousands of worlds, a massive dumping ground."
"When you sit upon that throne, endless pain, despair, and resentment will influence your will."
"You will very likely lose yourself under that impact, forgetting who you are and your original purpose."
Ian's tone turned serious.
"By then, you might become an Evil God even more terrifying than the old ones."
He handed the choice over to Guts.
Yet, faced with this choice, Guts's heart was calmer than ever before.
He looked at Casca again, then at his regained companions.
He remembered the heart-wrenching despair he had personally experienced in the illusion.
That heart, hardened like iron from enduring so much torment and betrayal, no longer held the slightest hesitation.
The peace before him was ultimately false; only by severing all of this from the root could he truly protect them.
To protect everything before him.
To ensure this world would never see a second Band of the Hawk, nor a second Eclipse, he was willing to take any risk.
Guts slowly raised his head and met Ian's gaze.
He didn't speak, only nodded.
That single nod seemed to carry the weight of his entire life.
"Very good."
Ian smiled in satisfaction.
He liked this kind of enlightened protagonist.
He extended a finger and gently tapped Guts's forehead.
A resonant hum echoed as a mark was deeply branded into the origin of Guts's soul.
"This is a coordinate, and also a key."
Ian withdrew his finger and explained, "Although the power currently inside your body is immense, it is still too chaotic."
He warned Guts that he needed enough time to settle, to integrate, and to completely fuse those five divine powers of different origins into one, turning them into something truly his own.
Especially that golden power of the Emperor, which represented humanity.
That would be the key to maintaining his sense of self and preventing him from completely losing his way amidst the endless barrage of negative energy.
"When you feel you are truly ready."
"When you can wield this power at will without suffering its backlash."
"Then use this mental mark."
"It will open the path to the Abyss for you."
"Alright, the show is over, and the cheat has been delivered."
"I'll leave you to clean up the mess of this world yourself."
"I'm off to find more amusement."
Before his voice even faded, his figure vanished without a trace.
A deafening rumble echoed.
Just as Guts was still pondering Ian's words, the earth beneath his feet roared.
The alternate dimension completely moved toward collapse, and massive spatial rifts tore through the last of the sky.
With a sweep of his magnetic field power, Guts shielded his companions.
The next second, the light of the real world poured in through the rifts.
When everyone's feet touched solid ground again, they had returned to that familiar riverbank.
The warm sunlight spilled across the earth once more.
It was as if the hellish Eclipse they just experienced was truly nothing but a nightmare.
Only Guts understood that while the battle of the Eclipse was over, the real war had just begun.
However, the world did not leave them much time to catch their breath.
With the descent of the Abyss, many deeply sinful people in the world had been transformed into Apostles.
Following the onslaught of these Apostles, the old order began to collapse.
Members of the royal families were assassinated, and power vacuums appeared across this war-torn land.
Warlords and nobles from all over bared their long-hidden fangs like sharks smelling blood.
Monsters and heretics that had lain dormant in dark corners also began to frequently appear in human towns.
The entire world plunged into chaos.
And the source of all this—the return of the Band of the Hawk—added fuel to the fire.
Those ambitious schemers who had just crawled out of the ruins of the old order, ready to carve up power, could not tolerate the existence of such a powerful and completely uncontrollable entity.
Under the instigation and provocation of those with ulterior motives, Midland, Chuder, and several other kingdoms, large and small, quickly reached an agreement.
They formed a massive coalition army, marching toward the Band of the Hawk's location under the banner of purging sin and saving the world.
Guts cared nothing for this crusade.
He originally wanted to take his companions to an uninhabited place to cultivate in peace.
But the soldiers of the coalition army swung their butcher's knives at unarmed civilians, forcing them to reveal the Band of the Hawk's whereabouts.
Village after village was swallowed by the flames of war.
Countless innocent lives passed away amidst wails of agony.
"Commander!"
"We can't retreat anymore!"
Looking at the refugees fleeing the flames of war to seek asylum, and seeing the expressions of mingled fear and hope on their faces.
Guts was moved once again, and he was forced to make a choice.
He found a reason: since this world could not give him a peaceful environment to cultivate, he would personally create one.
A simple conquest began just like that.
Guts walked to the front of the coalition army's formation alone.
Facing the united grand army that boasted a million elite soldiers, Guts threw a single punch.
Nine Hundred and Seventy Thousand Horsepower erupted without reservation.
On that day, the earth shook and the mountains trembled.
A bottomless, massive canyon appeared out of thin air on the plains, splitting the entire coalition army's formation in two.
All the soldiers who witnessed this scene completely lost their will to fight.
After that battle, no one ever dared to crusade against the Band of the Hawk again.
In an extremely short period, the banners of the Band of the Hawk were planted across the entire continent.
Amidst the support of the Band of the Hawk members and the cheers of countless citizens, Guts was crowned king.
An unprecedented Unified Human Empire was born.
The people of the world respectfully called him—the Martial God of the Earth.
However, Guts had absolutely no interest in power.
Inside the empire's council hall, Guts handed all authority over to Rickert, Corkus, and his other most trusted companions.
He himself slowly walked up to the throne forged for him, the symbol of supreme power.
"Starting today, I will enter the deepest state of closed-door cultivation."
"No matter what happens, do not disturb me."
Three years. That was the time limit he set for himself.
He had to thoroughly integrate the five divine powers within his body during these three years, completely fusing them into one while breaking through to an even higher realm.
Upon the throne, Guts slowly closed his eyes.