"The Taotie were wiped out..."
"Shi Hao is dead?"
Karthus accepted the fact that all of his subordinates had been wiped out with complete calm in his eyes.
"Yes, my god Karthus, the enemy was too powerful. We were no match for him at all..."
The Taotie strategist who had survived the extermination of the Taotie knelt in front of Karthus with terror written across his face. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and his bloodshot eyes twitched with fear. Just recalling what had happened was enough to make him tremble at the embodiment of destruction burned into his memory.
"I understand. There is no need to be nervous."
Karthus walked over to the elderly Taotie and gently stroked his head.
"My god, I knew you would help us, I..."
Feeling the cool, soothing touch on his forehead from the great god he worshiped, the old Taotie relaxed slightly. But before he could finish speaking, he felt a tremendous force split open his skull in an instant.
"Dark-plane suppression in progress..."
"Suppression successful. Beginning analysis of the suppressed subject's memories..."
"Analysis successful..."
"Linking projection..."
As a string of hoarse electronic voices echoed out, scene after scene from the Taotie's own memories appeared in a virtual projection before Karthus.
In the footage, the tall, handsome, imposing Jovian carved his way forward as easily as if he were chopping melons, slicing countless Taotie into pieces. The Styx civilization's warships, the Taotie's vicious soldiers, even Shi Hao, the Taotie king Karthus had somewhat valued, a useful piece on the board in his eyes, had all been defeated by Jovian with absurd ease.
"Karthus? He's not even qualified to smell my pet's fart!"
Then Karthus watched the unforgettable scene of Jovian summoning Renekton to kill Shi Hao, and heard that exact sentence delivered straight into his mind.
"So this is Earth's native god?"
"I've never heard of Earth having a god like this."
"If he can subdue Renekton that easily, then maybe he's already upgraded himself into a fourth-generation divine body..."
"Interesting. Other than me and that flock of angels, what civilization in the known universe could possibly possess the technology and resources needed to upgrade a fourth-generation divine body?"
Karthus remained expressionless as he thought through everything in front of him.
Even if Jovian was powerful, even if he really possessed the kind of technology required for a fourth-generation divine body, Karthus still felt no concern. To him, all divine bodies were meaningless before the Void he studied, before the Ultimate Fear.
And yet, just as Karthus was thinking, the tall figure standing inside the Taotie warship in the projection suddenly broke free of the scene.
The native god of Earth, the insignificant figure Karthus had dismissed, slowly lifted his head. His eyes seemed to pass through time itself and lock directly onto Karthus, who had only just begun to relax, and then he gave him a strange smile.
"Hm?!"
For the first time, Karthus's still, unfathomable heart was thrown into chaos by that man's gaze. Panic appeared on his face for the first time, and he cut off the projection on his own.
"Haa..."
As the image went dark, Karthus finally let out a breath.
"What was that?"
"I can't understand it..."
"Its essence is similar to the great Void. He is absolutely not something as simple as Earth's native god..."
"It seems I have to move faster, use every second I have to bring the Ultimate Fear down upon this universe. And the moment the Void descends, I will assimilate it and surpass everything!"
Karthus believed his path of evolution was the only true path to transcendence in this world. In the more than ten billion years since the birth of the universe, there had been far too many failures, including Zilean.
But he, Karthus, would be the one and only being to transcend.
"What are you staring at, Karthus?"
"A eunuch peeping around like that, seriously?"
In the dark of night, Jovian suddenly opened his eyes while lying in bed with Yan in his arms. He quietly raised his middle finger toward the sky. He really could not be bothered with Karthus, that pathetic eunuch who lusted after Morgana and still never got what he wanted even by the time he died. Karthus was just that lame.
Jovian tightened his arms around Yan and breathed in the fresh, intoxicating fragrance on the beautiful angel beside him, sweeter than flowers, before drifting back to sleep.
"Queen Kayle, can you hear my voice?"
Beside him, Yan was doing everything she could to establish communication with the Queen of the Gods, who was countless light-years away in the Angel Nebula.
"I can hear you, Yan."
After Yan tried again and again to contact the outside world, Jovian finally got a little annoyed and gave up on sealing off the surrounding space, allowing Yan's signal to pass through cleanly.
"Your Majesty, I'm currently on Earth. A few troublesome matters have me tied up, so I can't return..."
"You..."
Yan tried to explain her current situation in the gentlest, most tactful way she could.
"There is no need to say more. The moment you reconnected to me, I already understood the entire situation."
"Because of that, I only want to ask you one question."
Sacred Kayle sat in the Angel Hall with one leg crossed over the other, her eyes distant as her consciousness connected with Yan across countless light-years.
"What question?"
Yan tensed instinctively. She had a feeling Sacred Kayle's question was going to be a difficult one, the kind that even she might not be able to handle.
"How is your chosen man? Is he really worthy of your devotion, the kind of person you can entrust your life to and protect for the rest of it?"
Sacred Kayle's question was blunt and direct. At her level, she could not be bothered hiding behind coyness or euphemisms when it came to love. If the feelings were real and the match was right, then don't let it slip away, go for it.
"He's very powerful, even stronger than the Power of the Galaxy. And mentally, he's hard to read. Whenever I'm with him, I always feel like I've gone back seven thousand years, back to when I was still weak, while he... feels like an immortal god."
Yan thought for a moment, then told Sacred Kayle the first and strongest impression Jovian had left on her.
"An immortal god, hahahaha..."
"I never expected that native god of Earth would earn such a high evaluation from my Left Wing Guard. Now I'm curious about your chosen man too. I'd really like to meet him."
"Well then, in that case, I'll scrap the plan and head to Earth ahead of schedule. While I'm at it, I can take a look at that farcical Super Seminary on Earth, and also help you judge whether this future man of yours is truly worthy of being protected by you."
Sacred Kayle fussed over Yan's future like a mother worrying over her daughter.
"Your Majesty, you intend to come to Earth ahead of schedule?!"
"I think there may be no need for you to come so quickly. Everything can proceed according to the original plan..."
Yan suddenly panicked. It felt like she had just bragged to her mother about her boyfriend, only for her mother to immediately decide to come inspect him in person.
"My mind is made up!"
Sacred Kayle was not the kind of person to overturn one of her own decisions because of Yan's opinion. She was the Queen of the Gods, overbearing to the extreme, and once she decided something, she never took it back. If she said she would go to Earth early, then she would go.
"This is getting bad..."
Yan rubbed her forehead lightly, anxiety showing in her expression. She could already picture what would happen when Jovian and Kayle met, first an exchange of insults, then an all-out fight.
If Jovian lost, then that would still be manageable. She would beg Kayle to spare him, and then make Jovian pay back tenfold everything he had done to her.
But if even Sacred Kayle, the Queen of the Gods of the known universe, were to lose...
Well...
Honestly, she had a hard time imagining Queen Kayle tied around someone's waist and beaten like a parade drum. The image was too ridiculous. She did not even dare think about it.
"Haa..."
Yan let out a long sigh. Some things had no point overthinking, even if she did it alone. Whatever was coming would come, and there was no dodging it. Instead of suffering here by herself, she might as well get some sleep.
Having figured that much out, Yan stopped thinking. She closed her eyes tightly, lay beside Jovian, and drifted off.
And the moment Yan closed her eyes, Jovian, who should have been asleep, suddenly opened his.
"So, in other words, that old broad Kayle is coming to Earth?"
Jovian clearly had not expected Kayle to descend on Earth so soon. His brow twitched slightly, but he relaxed almost immediately. Whatever came, came. Whatever tried to flood in, he would block it. No matter who showed up, there was no reason for him to worry.
This happened during the period after Jovian had destroyed the Taotie's main force, buying time in which they would be unable to launch another war.
On that day, the warriors of Super Seminary had lined up on the deck of the Juxia, ready for another day of training.
Then the anomaly came.
Thunder seemed to roar across the sky without end.
The white clouds churned like boiling water, surging and rolling as endless energy poured down from above like a magnificent bridge.
A beautiful angel with long, flawless legs sat upon a colossal sacred throne and descended from the heavens, escorted by more than a dozen guardian angels, until she came to a stop above the heads of the black-armored soldiers.
"This..."
Feeling the terrifying pressure from above, the black-armored soldiers all looked up at the beautiful angels in shock, bracing themselves warily.
"Let me have a look."
The peerless queen lounging on her sacred throne swept her gaze over the warship below, analyzing each of the black-armored soldiers on the deck.
"Heh. I wondered what kind of hidden dragons and crouching tigers Earth might have. But it's just a bunch of kids? Heh..."
In a single glance, Kayle saw through every one of the black-armored soldiers on the deck. Put simply, she now understood them better than they understood themselves.
"Kids?!"
"I feel like those angels up there don't respect us at all!"
Garen had gotten a little cocky lately. Hearing Kayle's low murmur from above, he frowned, his face full of displeasure.
"To be fair, these angels really do know how to make an entrance."
"But that said, they're all gorgeous. Seriously, any one of them is a real goddess. Heh heh."
Xin Zhao looked the angels over with a critical eye. In that short amount of time, he had practically started picking favorites.
"Tch."
The angels' perception was sharp. They heard every word Xin Zhao and the others said with perfect clarity.
Under normal circumstances, they would have made these males learn exactly what a guardian angel was. But for now, they still had to follow Queen Kayle's orders.
"Angels! May I ask why you have suddenly descended?"
General Du Couteau hurried out from the cabin and called loudly to the angels.
"General Du Couteau?!"
"I was still a little unclear before..."
"But the moment I saw you, I understood everything."
"And because of that, I no longer intend to communicate with you. I'm certain it would be completely pointless."
Kayle gave General Du Couteau a glance and instantly reached her conclusion. Even if she kept talking with the people here, she would never get the result she wanted, so she gave up on communication entirely.
"Damn it..."
The moment General Du Couteau heard that Kayle was flatly refusing to communicate with him, he felt completely helpless.
"Commander Du Couteau, I request permission to go up there and speak with them, those high-and-mighty angels!"
Garen was starting to lose patience. He turned toward General Du Couteau and made his request.
"All right! I'm leaving it to you!"
After a moment of thought, General Du Couteau realized that aside from letting Garen, who carried angelic power within him, speak with Kayle, the great Queen of the Gods and Queen of the Angels, no one on their side was really qualified.
"Hah!"
After receiving permission, Garen spread the black wings behind his back and shot into the sky toward the angels.
"Uh, you, Kayle or whatever, I'm here to talk to you!"
Garen seemed to deliberately avoid using Sacred Kayle's proper title. He had clearly flown up there intending to show off his own power in front of the angels, in front of Kayle herself.
"Hm?"
"You're the Power of the Galaxy? Just this little runt? Hahaha..."
When Kayle saw Garen, she lightly covered her lips with the back of her left hand and laughed.
"No wonder you couldn't hold on to your wife. How embarrassing."
Kayle shook her head, openly disappointed in the Power of the Galaxy, Garen.
"I, what do you mean couldn't hold on to my wife? Don't talk nonsense!"
Garen froze on the spot. He looked up at Kayle, then down at Katarina, and a flush spread across his weathered face.
"Look at you, embarrassing yourself."
"The wife I'm talking about isn't that human you keep sneaking glances at."
"I mean someone who could truly stay by your side for a thousand years, ten thousand years, someone who could become immortal with you."
"A pity. You missed your chance."
Kayle shook her head. In her eyes, Garen was a complete disappointment.
"What?!"
Garen had clearly never thought about that before. Once again, Kayle's words left him stunned.
"You don't understand? Then don't bother."
"Open your eyes wide and look carefully. See what a god is supposed to look like!"
Kayle still valued the angelic power inside Garen, so she offered him that reminder.
"What a god is supposed to look like?"
Unfortunately, Garen was still too slow to grasp what she meant.
Boom!
Just as Garen stood there confused, a massive portal suddenly appeared above everyone's heads.
The purple gateway radiated an overbearing power strong enough to twist space and time.
Then...
A man and a woman stepped out of it.
The woman was a holy angel whose sacred aura was no less impressive than Sacred Kayle's, while the man was a powerfully built war god clad in golden armor. There was no need to fight him at all. Just seeing him from a distance was enough to make one feel the endless power inside that god of war.
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