Little Tyrant Doesn't Want to Meet with a Bad End

The Collector had driven him into a corner several times in the past; Roel had never forgotten him at any point in time, which was why he was unsurprised by the other party’s appearance.

Lukas, however, was utterly shocked, as this was a situation that should have never happened.

“How can this be? How are you still alive?” Lukas stared at the Collector, unable to comprehend how the latter had survived.

The Collector was in a soul form, intangible but most definitely alive.

The Collector replied with a smile, “Death is not a concept that applies to me. The brand on your body has been my hiding spot since a thousand years ago, though this is the first time I am exploiting it.”

“What?” Perhaps due to the loosening of the brand, there was a hint of shock in Lukas’ voice.

“Do you finally get it now? Your so-called Fallen Brand was just a means for me to control you. Humans love to believe what they wish for to be true, such as the possibility of attaining power without having to pay a price for it,” the Collector snorted in derision.

He shook his head in mockery before continuing on, “You sought to attain the Savior’s power without turning into a Fallen. You Ackermanns always think you are the exception, but you never ponder why that’s the case. Shall I answer your question? There’s no reason for you to become a Fallen, for you are His host.”

“His host? Wait, you are…” Lukas widened his eyes in disbelief.

“Have you finally guessed it?” the Collector sneered.

Roel immediately figured out where this conversation was going, and he unleashed all of his powers without holding anything back.

The Ackermanns’ so-called Fallen Brand was said to be a special spell developed a thousand years ago, but Roel thought it was weird from the moment he first heard about it, as it violated the core principle of this world.

The Savior’s power was a tremendous power second only to Sia’s own, but the Ackermanns were able to control it at the cost of their emotions. This was a small price to pay, compared to how other Fallens risked losing their sanity and descending into depravity.

Roel’s hunch proved to be right, for the Fallen Brand was a sham from the start. It was a bait exploiting the Ackermanns’ desire for power.

Through nesting inside generations of Ackermanns, the Collector was able to remotely control the human world. On top of that, the Fallen Brand opened the possibility for the Ackermanns to absorb the immense power in Sia’s Scepter, and such was the ambition that drove Lukas here.

This scheme was likely hatched during the Spirit Cataclysm of the Capital a thousand years ago.

And now, the golden question: who could have orchestrated such an elaborate scheme over the span of a thousand years, from the Spirit Cataclysm of the Capital down to the Fallen Brand?

The answer was simple: it was the Collector—or rather, his other identity, the Savior.

As this realization sank in, the Collector’s blurred appearance slowly sharpened in clarity, revealing a familiar face Roel had once seen in the Witness State.

Roel let loose a furious roar. Grandar gathered his strength in his almighty fist and charged at the Savior, but before his fist could land, a powerful burst of mana suddenly gushed out from the Abyss.

A deep and resonant howl tinged with madness echoed from beneath. It was the first roar in many years from the monster sealed beneath. At this very moment, time stopped.

Grandar’s fist froze in place, and Roel found himself unable to move either.

A deluge of black mana gushed out and rushed at Roel. Its sheer force shattered the frozen time, and Roel and Grandar quickly employed defensive maneuvers, barely managing to stabilize themselves amidst the rapid tide.

Meanwhile, Lukas’ body was enveloped by a black fog.

The Savior looked at Roel and asked with a smile, “It looks like you have finally grasped the situation, but you should have one last doubt. Aren’t you curious to know what my true goal is?”

“…” Roel didn’t answer, but he did have such a question in mind.

He figured that the Collector was probably one of the Savior’s powerless soul fragments, and he understood that Lukas—or rather, the Ackermanns—had been thoroughly deceived by Him. However, he struggled to make sense of the Savior’s rationale for doing this.

The doomsday prophecy had already stated that it was only a matter of time before the Savior broke free of His seal and returned to the world. All the Savior had to do was to bide His time and wait. There was no need for Him to go to the trouble of deceiving the Ackermanns.

Perplexed, Roel looked at the Savior with a frown.

The Savior revealed a gleeful smile as He went on, “I’ll enlighten you. My goal is liberation. As long as My soul exists, I’ll never be free from the Black Moon’s influence. I needed a scapegoat, someone with an identical soul to mine. After a thousand years of hard work and generations of refinement, I have finally achieved it.”

“!” Roel widened his eyes in shock.

The Savior had deceived the Ackermanns for a thousand years in order to gradually reshape their soul via the Fallen Brand, so as to create a soul similar enough to become His scapegoat.

“After a thousand years of waiting, my efforts finally bear fruit. Through him, I shall achieve true freedom,” the Savior said.

Without any hesitation, He plunged His arm into Lukas’ body and ripped out the latter’s dull soul. Under His spell, Lukas’ struggling soul began emanating a peculiar aura that caused the Black Moon’s power of judgment to converge on him.

“NO!” Lukas cried in agony, as madness and depravity painted his soul black.

At the same time, the Savior’s eyes glowed with incomparable vitality. With a wave of His hand, He tossed Lukas’ soul into the Abyss, and the deluge of black mana followed the latter down.

Lukas’ soul exploded.

The destruction of Lukas’ soul deceived the Black Moon into thinking it had accomplished its mission, and its power receded from the world. The madness and depravity that had tortured the Savior for countless years finally dissipated.

“As I expected! I’ll be taking this body, then.”

The Savior laughed frenziedly as He dove into Lukas’ body, and the body reshaped into His likeness. At the same time, Sia’s Scepter emanated a brilliant light in His grasp.

Roel’s face turned pale.

The Savior’s mana began to transform from darkness to light, from coldness to warmth. He was taking back His greatest authority—the sun. After countless years, the existence who embodied the sun finally returned to the Sia Continent.

With that, the seal imposed on the Savior finally lost all effectiveness. Blazing heat immediately engulfed the surroundings, and unimaginable energy gushed out of the Abyss.

The warring humans and Fallens froze in place. They could sense an alarming amount of mana rattling the imperial capital, and it eventually culminated in an unimaginable explosion.

The Capital Cathedral imploded from below and disintegrated into ashes. Tremendous heat waves rose in the wake of its destruction, and it could be seen even from a thousand miles away.

The united army gathered on the plains was astounded. The soldiers fighting in the vicinity of the Capital Cathedral quickly retreated under Lilian and the other Origin Level 1 transcendents’ protection.

This was already a catastrophe, but it wasn’t the end of it yet.

The heat waves didn’t dissipate with time; instead, they intensified into a huge pillar of light that pierced through the night sky. A man wielding Sia’s Scepter ascended to the sky along with the pillar of light. Along with his appearance, a speck of light appeared on the eastern horizon.

The sun was rising even though it was still night time.

All of the soldiers in the plains were dumbfounded. Antonio and the others despaired.

In the Sia Continent, the only ones with the power to reverse day and night were the Savior and the Mother Goddess. The phenomenon before their eyes could only mean that the Savior had fully awakened from his slumber.

Amidst the explosion, a humongous World Serpent charged out from the ground and spat a white-haired man out. Roel raised his head and solemnly stared at the man basking in the warmth of the morning rays.

The Savior had awakened, not as an insane and barbaric monster, but as the supreme god who ruled all of the races countless years ago. Even humankind’s hope, Sia’s Scepter, had fallen into His grasp.

This land was going to turn into his new Land of Genesis, and no one could stop him.

Roel tightly clenched his fists as he felt the overwhelming amount of mana the Savior wielded at his fingertip. It was not a force he could oppose at all.

“What beautiful scenery… but I should first deal with more important matters at hand,” the Savior murmured as He glanced at Roel with a warm smile. “The Kingmaker Clan, remnants of the past. You have been a hindrance for far too long. It’s over. It’s time for you to disappear.”

“Is it? I don’t think so,” a cool voice suddenly echoed.

A surge of mana converged in front of Roel, and the white-haired Witch Queen manifested into the real world.