Right before Yeon-woo returned to reality, the last of the Crawling Chaos’ vestiges flashed through Yeon-woo’s mind as he digested the otherworld god’s holy power.

『Just a little…just a little more would’ve been enough!』

『To think he was asleep here…』

『But I finally know.』

『That was it.』

『This human…so amusing…!』

Without his ego, the Crawling Chaos’ mind was a mess. He was feeling disjointed emotions of regret, understanding, reluctance, and delight at the same time. As soon as the Dragon Heart balanced the holy power with magic power, the Crawling Chaos disappeared with these final words: 『If the opportunity arises, I might be able to see something even more amusing. Hahaha…!』

* * *

The battle at the holy territory was reaching its end.

Our. God.

Chaos. Has. Disappeared.

How.

The otherworld gods, who could barely withstand the Ghost Giants, released shocked vestiges. They had been holding their ground because they believed the Crawling Chaos would save them and defeat their enemies. It didn’t matter to them that the giants had been resurrected since the giants were only the Crawling Chaos’ toys. The otherworld gods believed that the giants’ fate wouldn’t change, but this belief came crashing down around them.

Furthermore, this was Yeon-woo’s holy territory, where “death” and “fight” dominated. When the energy that Crawling Chaos had been funneling to them disappeared, the strength of the otherworld gods plunged. At that moment, black-red lightning rained down from the sky.

Boom! The lightning passed through a monstrous, amphibious-looking creature and landed on the ground, dividing into dozens of bolts that spread out like a spiderweb.

Ah. Ah. Ah.

No.

This. Can’t. Be.

The bolts swept away the otherworld gods, and they released their last vestiges before vanishing. Valdebich took care of the last ones before looking up to see Yeon-woo slowly descending. He roared, 『Our god has returned!』

Their god was victorious, and the Crawling Chaos was dead! The Ghost Giants all raised their weapons and cheered.

『Follow our god!』

Then, they changed direction and ran towards the traitors, who putting up their last struggle. It was time to end the war.

* * *

『How? Oh dear…!』

『The Crawling Chaos has been defeated…? Even if ### has resurrected giants and can summon a Death Dragon, this is…!』

After realizing that resistance would be futile, the traitors all tossed their weapons to the ground and knelt. The battle had gone in favor of Yeon-woo’s side, and they weren’t even in a position to negotiate. In the end, they had no choice but to surrender unconditionally and accept being tied up by the black chains that appeared from emptiness.

They were aware that they were being bound with divine iron, the material that bound all holy power and demonic energy. They risked being sealed or torn apart like Gabriel, and they could only hope for mercy from Yeon-woo.

It was hard to imagine that Yeon-woo would even have mercy, but they couldn’t do anything else because they feared him so much. He’d even won a fight against the Crawling Chaos.

The heavenly world still didn’t know much about the otherworld. It was an outer space that hadn’t been fully investigated, and they found it difficult to study it because creation and order hadn’t reached it yet.

However, one thing was certain: the otherworld gods were always looking for opportunities to enter inner space. The Crawling Chaos was their vanguard, which meant that his powers and abilities had to be formidable. Only the superior gods, creator gods, or ancient gods who were asleep from the Heavenly Demon Disease could stop the Crawling Chaos, and the rest had to rely on major societies like Asgard, Olympus, or the Jie Sect.

However, Yeon-woo had defeated the Crawling Chaos, and just possessing the legend of this victory alone meant that Yeon-woo had already surpassed them. No one looked down on him for being a mortal anymore. Instead, they felt terror growing inside of them. If Yeon-woo could achieve so much growth as a mortal, how strong would he become after he exuviated and transcended?

Would he be the next Allforone and follow the path of that impossibly strong being?

『Kalatus…and even Valdebich…!』

『The last dragon king and the last giant king have returned? What is going on?』

They were speechless when they saw the kings of the extinct species standing in front of them, and they could only tremble in fear. Yeon-woo looked at each of them wordlessly. Sometimes, silence was more frightening than a hundred words.

The way the traitors trembled without being able to meet Yeon-woo’s cold golden eyes was ridiculous and almost comical, especially considering how they reassured themselves by thinking they were transcendents and immortal beings. However, he couldn’t just leave them be. Now that the fighting was over, he had to tie up loose ends, and there were many things he needed to take care of.

There was nothing more he wanted than to use the traitors as energy sources, just as he had with the others. ‘But there’s no need to make more enemies.’ A lot of beings had already died here, so he didn’t need to put himself into a corner by making more enemies. Besides, there were neutral and friendly eyes watching him, like Fenrir and Agares. Yeon-woo wanted to use this chance to divide the heavenly world.

『There’s going to be trouble between the societies who’ve lost their members and societies who took your side, right? If you take prisoners like this, the hostility between the societies will get worse. How sly. You’ve impressed even a demon like me.』 Agares giggled as he spoke knowingly, using his power so only Yeon-woo could hear. His voice was so sweet that Yeon-woo would have been entranced if he weren’t paying attention.

As Agares said, the divisions in the heavenly world would likely grow worse after this event. The heavenly world would be split in two: those who were on Yeon-woo’s side, and those who weren’t. To complicate matters further, there would be smaller factions within each side. The societies whose members were Yeon-woo’s hostages would be more hesitant to fight him, and even among his allies, there would be disagreements over how much they had to help him.

The heavenly world’s plans to fight Allforone as a united front and the extremes they’d gone to by immobilizing the Bureau had derailed before they’d started because of one mortal.

『The door to L’Infernal is always open. If you want, we’ll even give you a position. How about it?』 Agares chuckled, delighted that a mere mortal was trying to shake up the heavenly world.

However, Yeon-woo just scoffed and didn’t give him an answer. Of course, he wanted to fight against Allforone. Yeon-woo’s wish to bring down Allforone was as desperate that of the heavenly world, if not greater. But the battle against Allforone was his; he couldn’t let others take Allforone for themselves.

What was more, once the heavenly world descended into the lower world, he’d have fewer opportunities to grow stronger. He needed to find a way to buy more time and prevent it. He wasn’t doing this simply to toy with the heavenly world. “Seal.”

Clatter. At Yeon-woo’s command, the chains binding the traitors returned to emptiness, taking the hostages with them. Fear was apparent on their faces as they saw emptiness widening, but it was better than being terminated, and so they obeyed.

After the traitors had been sealed off, Yeon-woo turned to the rest of the envoys, who looked around warily, and his subordinates, who were prepared to act as soon as he gave the order.

Krakrakra! Just then, a breath of condensed hellfire descended on Yeon-woo’s head with a pure killing intent. It was the fire that had burned the otherworld gods, but before it even reached Yeon-woo, Valdebich jumped forward and swung his sword, sweeping the fire away.

『Summer Queen! What is the meaning of this?!』 Valdebich was now dozens of meters in height. When he frowned, an intense magic power storm rose up, shaking the air. Above him, the Summer Queen was angrily flying in circles around them, flapping her massive red wings.

「Move, halfling. I have no interest in your or your master.」

『What?』It was a word that Valdebich hated, but of course, the arrogant Summer Queen didn’t care.

「I have business with the traitor of our race who’s standing next to you and your master.」 The Summer Queen was glaring directly at Kalatus, her face wrinkled in fury.

「It seems like I must go.」 Kalatus smiled dryly, lifting his gigantic body and turning to Yeon-woo. 「You must have many questions, but would you mind waiting a little longer? I’ll return after speaking with that child.」

Yeon-woo nodded, and Kalatus thanked him before flapping his wings and launching into the sky.

「Let’s go somewhere else, child. This isn’t an appropriate place to have a discussion.」

「This is an appropriate place for your grave!」

Kalatus spoke to her with pity, but the Summer Queen spewed another Breath without listening. Kalatus avoided it easily and quickly left in order not to injure anyone else. The Summer Queen furiously chased after him.

Yeon-woo watched them disappear before he turned back to the envoys. “Then let’s settle our debts, too.”

[Metatron of adjusts his glasses and awaits your decision.]

[Baal of watches you.]