Wolven felt that Zerina was strongly at fault for his loss. Not only had he lost this battle, but his failure had been witnessed by many Deities who had observed the fight via spells; That he had failed to emerge victorious after using a spell of the Third Heaven would not only negatively affect The Third Heaven’s image but would also affect his standing. It was certain that there would be a spread of rumors which would ultimately lead to him being sought out by his leaders.

“We are not done here yet…” Avrin's voice echoed out softly from the surrounding. Wolven's movements came to a halt. It wasn't that he wanted to stop, but his movements had been sealed by an invisible force.

His eyes darted around trying to find what was holding him in place. Feeling a tightness around his body, he glanced upwards and panicked.

“I..it's you!!” above Wolven, a Rift, imposing the aura of an abyssal maw appeared. This Rift was, in fact, Avrin, and despite him not having a great appearance, he gave off a very dangerous feeling.

“How do you plan to make amends?” Avrin’s voice once again echoed outwards softly but with a subtly increasing sense of dominance. As a result of the changes, his body was undergoing his control over space and gravity had skyrocketed so much that he could seal this Ancient Deity’s movements.

“Make amends…? Release me, or you will be hunted down for the remainder of your pitiful life!!” Wolven spat out with anger, but one could tell by his tone that he was also very nervous.

The vortex-like Rift suddenly seemed to tremble as it started emitting a purple light.

“Unfortunately for you, that’s the wrong answer.” Wolven’s body suddenly began to shake and tremble as if he were being crushed, and he felt his mana starting to be drained directly from his body.

“Y-you bastard!!! Don't think you’ve won yet!” mana surged, As Wolven activated his runic magic defenses, an intricate runic circle suddenly appeared that covered the length of the battleground, the light of this magic had shined across a large portion of the planet beneath them. Hoping to ensnare the rift, he directed the runes towards Avrin as the rest of his mana was rapidly drained by both the rune spell and the rift which was still draining at his mana.

“T-this is…” Zerina was shocked as she saw something she never thought she would see. “-Impossible!! To use such a dangerous sealing spell, is he mad?! Won’t the repercussions be too heavy on him? Also, won’t the planet actually be destroyed this time?-”

Snapping out of her daze, she shook her head and looked at her comrades and the other deities around in the area. Looking at them, everyone started to realize how intense this situation had become. However, from the looks of things, the spectators can only hope that this Evil God had been weakened after his amazing feat and can only hope that Wolven’s spell would not need to go into maximum effect.

“-This is bad. To contain the situation, we must smite this Dark Deity quickly!-” Just as she thought of that, Wolven called her out of her thoughts.

-

“What are you doing, you fools?!! Assist me this instant!!!” As he said that, Wolven seemed to be suffering through great pains as his veins bulged underneath his skin with his body while seemingly changing colors.

“Kuh. Do you not comprehend the situation? This monster has used some strange spell and caused himself to self-implode....!! I am not the only one at stake here!!” Although merely guessing or rather making up convincing lies, Wovlen still tried to gain assistance to control the spell and supply more mana.

This was also his last chance to both condemn Avrin and salvage his reputation. Given the current situation, Avrin really could easily be mistaken for a newborn calamity. So Wolven hoped that the other deities would aid him out of fear of the catastrophic aftermath of allowing the rift to expand or explode so close to the planet.

“-Even if it is only Divine Mana, they should be able to help. At worse, I can just let the spell drain them dry and then sacrifice their life force for extra power.-”

“We understand, High Sorcerer!” Elorin was the first to move towards Wolven and help with the spell. “-As expected of Lord Wolven, we can finally repay this bastard for what he did to our glorious Consortium.-”

However, Zerina knew what this particular spell was truly capable of and grew wary of the possible outcomes. Although she hesitated, knowing her duties to the Consortium and feeling the attention of her subordinates, she knew that only troubles would await her if she waited for too long, especially considering that Elorin had already started to move. They only waited for her commands as a sign of respect to her.

“Understood!” Resolving herself quickly, Zerina answered Wolven’s summons and signaled her commands for the others to follow. “We hear and obey, Lord Sorcerer!!” In the next moment, all of the members of the Consortium quickly moved to encircle Avrin.

Although she had left after him, both Zerina and Elorin arrived nearly at the same time as they went into positions near Wolven. Runic circles then appeared under their feet as they connected to the spell and started channeling mana through their Divine Staves. The others following closely behind landed on the landmass and repeated the same actions as the spell seemingly stabilized and got more powerful in exchange for the rapid drain of the Deities’ Divine Mana.

“Hahahahahahhaha!! Devil Spawn, curse your fate for daring to go against the power of the Consortium!!” After Wolven had finished saying this, every participant started glowing as a blindingly pure white light, and Avrin felt a rapid increase in suppression as a runic circle overlapped his rift form. He even felt layers of invisible runes that were disguised by their blinding light from the casters. The surrounding “skies” were already turning a reddish color as well.

“Now, face the wrath of my ancient spell! Saint Scripture:

Light Circle Runes!!” Spreading his arms, Wolven shouted and released a black runic circle in front of himself. Spinning and create a mana vortex once again, a mana twister seemed to form as it counters against Avrin with five swords of black light appearing at five different locations on the runic circle overlapping Avrin. The other members of the Consortium grew brighter as they started grimacing but still continued the spell.

“-This spell…… Something is not…..Wait.-” Thinking this, Avrin Feeling a sudden surge of green matter in his heart, he felt an odd energy flow into him in the form of a nearly invisible hue of green light coming from Tya’shara. The area as to where this energy came from was first exactly above the region, which Arvin's Shaded Moon was within, before attracting small streams from other regions across the planet’s surface.

As for the Green Matter, he could feel that this energy contained the feelings of many inhabitants and, although he could barely understand it, also thoughts of the Spectral Ants. Everyone was currently afraid as the world seemed to be crashing in on them, making them randomly pray and hope for some salvation. Among all these tens of thousands of hopeful prayers, he felt Calomia and Ilisia, wanting him to come and help them and wishing he were there to keep them safe.

This new intake of green energy caused that green sliver within his dark heart to rapidly throb and grow as if it were delighted by it. These thoughts and feelings were not tied to the people he knew alone; he felt a countless multitude of prayers and hopeful thoughts for mercy or survival from those across the viewed surface that had ridden along with the Hope that came into him.

He felt their fears and worries. Not all of them were warriors, soldiers, or clergy. There were also ordinary people, families, men, women, children, elderly, all wanting to survive or protect their loved ones.

However, at the same time, he could feel the desperation of others their desires and also their passion. Although they may have misidentified him or blindly grouped him with others, none of that mattered. The only thing that matters was how he once again could hear the call of their cries of hope.

As he grew increasingly concerned, Avrin froze as his Dark Heart began to resonate and stir up each of his Green Matter variant in response to the prayers of hope. His rift form started rapidly devouring the surrounding mana to stabilize his body, and he felt as though his consciousness was both splitting and expanding, filling him with both pain and euphoria.

However, he ignored all this as more concern started piling up. He recalled both Calomia and Ilisia. At the same time, he realized something very important after finally having more self-awareness: Both the last spell and this one had their effects aimed with the Tya’shara behind him, but it doesn’t look like…. No, he is sure that the planet and everyone on it will become collateral damage if he doesn’t end things quickly.

Suddenly, Avrin’s mana absorption spiked to whole new levels, making the spell more unstable and all the deities both surprised and worried. Despite this, to the surprise of everyone, the focus of the suction force was being directed onto Wolven which made him grimace in pain. “-I see….. You-” Avrin suddenly thought.

The runic circle started rearranging itself into a new runic formation of ten circular symbols, and despite not understanding it, everyone could instinctively feel both terror and the power from this profound arrangement. The circles started emitting five different colors from within themselves. Each color was shining with a strong light.

The sight was both enchanting and also mysterious, as a strong mana could be felt from it. Could see this mana of the [Saint Scripture Spell] being rapidly absorbed more quickly as the lights were spreading farther and farther with each spatial ripple. The ripples even started to sound similar to a divine cacophony when listening to the mana waves.

Eventually, dark streaks started to appear and swirl around above Tya’shara causing those mortals on the planet to think the world was ending. These dark streaks had begun increasing numbers, with blue sparks of light floating from the ground before soon disappearing. “Huh? Something is not right.” One of the observing deities, who was secretly hesitating but preparing to intervene, suddenly stopped all thoughts of intervening due to this spectacle. All of the observers were feeling more and more apprehension and confusion at all these consecutive events.

However, everyone’s common sense was continuing to be challenged again these deities were beings of abundant power and strength able to turn mountains into rubble and split continents, but faced with this event, they were all quite fearful, to them this was a great unknown. In their awe and fear, they could only witness the runic circles gradually catching on fire the rift formed avrin had begun increasing in size as space around the edges of this rift was twisting with hairline cracks forming as if space wasn't able to handle the compact strength and mass of dark matter.

“Wolven ... It seems that an old bastard is panicking.” As the flames on the runic circles started to darken and then were absorbed into the vortex of the illusory projection, Avrin spoke. His voice resonated and showed traces of annoyance as Avrin’s particles became more and more excited. The [Light Circle Rune] spell seemed to have lost nearly half of its power and was struggling against the vortex in a deadlock.

“What!!.” Suffering recoil, Wolven coughed a bit of blood in his surprise, and he knew he was fast approaching his limits. “Shit, I’ve no choice.” He spoke absentmindedly.

Feeling how dire the situation is becoming, Wolven started preparing himself to sacrifice everyone here in the last ditch effort. “-In the end, no matter what, the spell is affecting his soul despite his struggles. I won’t die. If necessary, even this planet…-”

During these thoughts, all of the other participating casters started glowing a crimson red. Their staves were showing cracks, and their divine auras were thinning out.

“I’ve seen enough. You dare use my planet as a disposable battlefield?!!” A voice with a monstrous presence could be heard all around. This had made everyone tremble with everything seemingly stopping for a moment. Not a single sound could be heard almost as if existence itself was silenced for that moment.

Avrin's form shuddered and twisted when this voice reached him, but he also realized that this form of his was still exhausting as well as hard to maintain.

“-I…canot keep this form longer than four minutes…but that voice...-” Not daring to go against the owner of this voice who had spoken, Avrin could tell that whoever this Deity was, he was incredibly powerful.

The rift suddenly condensed in on itself as the phantasmic projection started fading away. The Type 15 Rift particles were reshaping and reorganizing themselves before returning to a dormant state, allowing Avrin to again take a physical form similar to his usual appearance, except he radiated now more enigmatic presence that held a terrifying power, more so than ever before. However, at the same time, his presence was so thin to the point of mistaking him as an illusion if not some undead. Even the turbulent mana and dark matter seemed to further quiet down into mysterious silence.

Thanks to his advancement, beating Wolven in this state was much easier than ever before. However, the Phantom Pulse engulfing Wolven soon vanished. His body shook for a moment, and ignoring the voice from before; he shot forth across the space again in retreat.

“You won't see the last of me!!! I will bring-” Not being able to speak further, a hand seemed to shoot out of nowhere, tightly gripping onto Wolven's neck.

“Not only has he seen the last of you, this planet and everyone on it has as well, Third Alliance. You have violated this system’s Accord.” Wolven reached up to grab the hands that suddenly shot to him clutching his throat as he coughed and struggled, feeling both suffocation and pain among his body. The individual who was vice gripping his neck was by no means normal in any way.

The creature, despite having a similar body and appearance to that of a human, was twice the size of any normal man. Possessing imposing bulging muscles and armor, the strangest feature was not this creature’s physique but his head which just so happened to be that of a bull’s, making this man a minotaur no matter how one put it.

“...you’re....the...” Wolven was astounded.

“Is that....” Zerina had a strong idea of who this man was. Judging by his words, it would take a fool not to know that he was, in fact, the Planet Lord of Tya’shara. The fact that shocked her the most was this Planet Lord’s strength.

Although she has never personally met one before, it is common knowledge that Planet Lords were rare beings. Most large planets with an abundance of mana would be populated. However, it is theorized that when individuals die, their souls would move on but not before leaving small portions of their energy that would later be absorbed by the planet, allowing the planet to gain a small will of its own over the many eons.

The planet's next action would be to assign a Planet Lord. The requirement for one to be a Planet Lord varies from planet to planet, and the process was still unknown even to this day. For example, a planet that has seen the only war over many millennia may even choose an individual who lusts for blood and carnage.

Another planet may choose someone who seeks justice and peace. Planet Lords were not a unique trait of the fifth universe, but certainly, they were the most abundant in the Magic Universe instead. Many have both feared and admired them for their several of their positive attributes. For instance, the planet would be connected to them, allowing them to reinforce their vitality and even channel the powers of their planet. Planet Lords can also be said to serve as guardians of their worlds, becoming forces of nature themselves.

As such, whether understanding mysteries to create spells or surpassing the threshold to developing new powerful skills, they were all considered geniuses or masters in their own rights, having enough power to create ‘miracles’ themselves. Offending a Planet Lord was like a mouse provoking a tiger. They would all generally have high connections and status even if aloof or illusive.

“Unhand me!! Do you know who I am?!!“ Wolven felt infuriated as he finally managed to cough out some words. On the other hand, the Planet Lord did not care much and simply squeezed tighter, making Wolven’s face turn pale as he gasped.

“I don't care who you are!! This planet is under my control!! I've seen you Consortium clowns cause enough trouble here....Who even fucking gave you the right to force such a dangerous battle to this beautiful planet?!!” Releasing a torrent of Battle Aura and mana, the Minotaur Planet Lord shouted with clear fury and indignation. His eyes blazed with unrestricted rage.

Wolven could only pale further as he had to suffer such oppressive might directly. His subordinates not faring much better, the whole Consortium seemed to be on their last legs deprived of their mana, and Wolven could only groan with the grip on his neck closing tighter and releasing a few popping sounds. HIs mana was already nearly depleted, leaving him at the Minotaur’s mercy…

However, just when it seemed like hope was lost, the Minotaur’s grip stopped tightening and was instead loosened a bit. Groaning with reluctance, the Minotaur then declared. “Giving some respect to your leaders, I will let you go, but!!... as of now, your Consortium, as well as any other member of the Third Heaven, as a result of this banned from Tya’shara! Now, get lost and take your lackeys with you before I lose my temper!”

The Planet Lord threw Wolven away as if he was a sack of potatoes and then cast a glance towards the Deities that were watching from a distance. His voice thundered outward towards them. “Those of the Artificer Consortium aligned with the Third Heaven, I don't want to see you around my planet again. Now, PISS OFF!!!”

The Consortium Deities felt their bodies trembling with fear. They all knew that someone who could catch Wolven easily was definitely a force to be reckoned with, especially a Planet Lord, so all they could only give bitter looks as they fled downwards.

Wolven rubbed his sore neck for a moment and then clenched both his teeth and fists, glancing at the Planet Lord as well as Avrin…and saw a smirk plastered on Avrin’s face. “-You damned bastards...-” He could only keep his thoughts to himself as he also fled downwards, flying through the sky towards the Consortium headquarters.

None of them would dare to go against the Planet Lord's words, so they swallowed their pride and fled using the teleportation rune. Zerina glanced at Avrin, seeing his thoughtful look as he watched them all return to the planet.

“-Hmm…-” She was now both curious and cautious in who Avrin was. He was some random unknown deity, a nobody in her eyes at first, that appeared out of the blue but still managed to have gotten them removed from the planet. She knew the leaders of her side would not sit idly by and endure this disgrace, but she also knew they wouldn't act so efficiently under the watch of the various powers. Not to mention, although Wolven is not considered adamant amongst the top echelons, he still managed to perform uncanny feats, and until further information is gathered, they would probably avoid offending whoever this Deity had supporting him.

One by one, the members of the Consortium used the teleportation portal created from the runic arrays. Not only were the Deities leaving, but they were also taking with them the promising talents they had scouted. This was one of the main reasons for the Consortium’s establishment on this planet along with the fact that they would receive decent profits from the sales and then send back a good portion to the main branch.

This event had taken a couple of minutes, but during that time, Avrin was not free from the Planet Lord either. “You, come with me…” The Minotaur Planet Lord called out to Avrin before shooting back towards the other side of the planet, like a high-speed rocket. The other Deities did not dare intervene considering how powerful the people involved were, especially with the Planet Lord who dealt with Wolven quickly. So they all scattered, filled with questions that wouldn't be answered on their minds.

Avrin had decided to follow the Planet Lord. He was incredibly strong, and even going full force, Avrin wasn't sure if he would be able to handle him. Possibly with Sarcanus, he might be able to manage, but he wouldn't underestimate this man so easily.

The other side of the planet was not without its own beauty, covered with lush lakes and rivers with open grassy plains. Along with hills and mountains that stretched as far as the eye could see, you can even see regions of snow covering these mountains making them seem almost like glaciers.

In the distance, both the Planet Lord and Avrin loudly speeding through the air over the utopian landscape, a simple wooden house could be seen on one of these mountain tops. Avrin thought maybe the Minotaur would lead him to a large city nearby, but it seemed that this wooden shack was the place.

Landing on the snowy top, Avrin's boots sunk a few inches into the snow. The snowflakes and the pure white sky seemed to silently drift through the air with the windy breeze blowing through the landscape. Avrin glanced down to see a long stretched fjord with a frozen lake through it, and he could see several creatures going about their daily lives, swimming through the cold waters and some eating other smaller wildlife but paid no attention to them. “What are you standing around for? Come in…” The minotaur spoke, his voice deep and carried a strong force behind it.

Taking a closer look at this individual, Avrin’s eyes narrowed as he had felt something weird about his body. “-Although I can guess some of these other energies, what is this? Huh, a symbol?-” Avrin’s heart skipped a beat. He could sense a very strange energy he hadn't felt or noticed before. This was definitely not mana or Qi, but this new energy seemed hidden and mysterious. In fact, he could only detect it, because this man’s body has significantly incorporated this energy.

Avrin followed him inside, seeing up close how the shack seems far from normal. It was quite large as the doorframe was high, almost like a gate, allowing this creature to enter and leave without trouble.

The interior was definitely nothing fancy. It only had a simple table with several seats, a beast skin carpet, a staircase leading downwards, and several shelves stuffed with several jars of dried meat and herbs. The scent somehow seemed strangely satisfying, almost making Avrin's stomach rumble with hunger despite him never caring for food.

This mysterious Minotaur walked over to the shelf on the far left of the shack, pulling out a big beast skin enfolded jug enwrapped by a small rope around it. He then walked over to the table after fetching two large cups and had placed the jar down onto the table, making it shake.

Avrin wondered what was up with this entire scene. This man was no doubt very powerful, possibly right at the end of his time as an Ancient Deity and ready to move onto the next level, but why would a highly renowned Planet Lord be living in such conditions, secluded in a remote region similar to a poor hermit?

The minotaur pulled a large seat back, one apparently made for his large frame and sat down before effortlessly picking the jar up and pouring a transparent blue liquid into his cup.

Avrin remained standing but not out of fear. He took several steps towards the table and pulled his own seat back before sitting down on it. The minotaur's eyes had not moved until his cup was filled to the brim, and then, he began to pour a cup for Avrin.

“On this planet, I have a few simple to follow rules for Deities. The first rule is to not affect any society of any large region too much, especially by descending among the mortals and recklessly screwing around. The second is to never battle each other to the point where this planet is affected. The Third is to never kill mortals without reason. However, most importantly, the fourth rule… is never to piss me off.” He exhaled, blowing out a steam-like breath.

“And yet…. you and those Consortium worms broke all of my rules without even batting an eye!” The minotaur shouted as he casually slid the filled cup towards Avrin, causing some to spill carelessly onto the table. Avrin merely sat calmly even when faced against the almost indiscernible but destructive waves of mana and Battle Aura exploding from this Planet Lord.

He only chose to open his hand and catch the cup as it slid along. He then glanced at it and gave a soft smile. “You make it seem as if I caused all the unwanted trouble. Forgive me, Old One, if I speak out of turn, but none of this was intentional nor preplanned. The ones from the Consortium were the first to step out of line and go too far.”

Avrin spoke carefully. Although not entirely blameless, he also had no reason to hide anything as this was a simple truth. However, his words were not sufficient as the Minotaur gazed at Avrin with skeptical yet contemplating ice blue eyes.

“I can't deny that those Consortium bastards have been stirring up trouble for some time now, but you, some random Deity, suddenly show up out of nowhere and start to suddenly establish a business selling weird Sigil weapons, which I might say is also the Consortium's expertise? Not only that, although on a small scale, you were selling them at such low prices, way below market price…It seems as if your intention was to get them to provoke you first…”

Avrin remained silent for a moment after hearing the Minotaur’s words. He had indeed chosen to make Sigil Weapons and compete with the Consortium in its area of expertise, but more so, he was fascinated by how this creature knew of it. Avrin didn't know what a Planet Lord was yet, but he did know this individual was strong and should not be taken lightly.

“The way I see it, Sigil items are an easy method to make a profit. I didn't know that only the Consortium was allowed to make such objects…” Avrin's words insinuated why were they the only ones authorized to make Sigil Weapons and who decided that.

The Planet Lord grumbled. He didn't like such problematic arguments and wasn't one to take sides lightly. He looked at Avrin carefully with narrowed eyes.

“I'll let you off with a warning this time because you're new here and are not solely to blame. But, be careful. I won't hesitate to kick you off this planet the next time you cause such trouble. I know of everything that happens on my planet from when you’re eating to when you’re even stepping on a flower… I don't care what you sell, but don't cause trouble and repeat the sins those Consortium bastards did.”

Hearing his warning, Avrin nodded in compliance. If it was simply a warning, he could live with that. Avrin had a few questions for this man, but he felt that he probably wouldn't get any decent answers from him. The Minotaur seemed annoyed of the entire issue, but in the end, a problem for Avrin had been taken care of.

“I understand. I’ll be sure not to cause anymore trouble…” Avrin spoke in a somewhat sincere tone. He just wanted to make some money and grow a little.

The minotaur nodded with a pleased look. “Now then, the second round of business… all establishments run by a Deity are supposed to alert me…I know of your business, but not of what alliance or which backer you have behind you… I understand if you want to keep it secret. If that's the case, then feel free to leave this planet… over here, I need to know who I'm dealing with…”

The Planet Lord didn't hold back in his question, bringing Avrin here truthfully for this reason as well as determining what gave Avrin the confidence to mess with the Consortium.

“In contrary to your belief, I am not part of any alliance despite my resources and strength,” Avrin answered bluntly. He raised the cup to his lips and sipped some of the blue liquid, finding out the liquid was alcoholic. The alcohol was quite strong and sour, almost as if it was a strong acid, and Avrin couldn't help but think twice before managing to swallow it.

“No backer?... That's strange. A lone deity capable of fighting an Ancient Deity, quite a rare sight… huh?” The minotaur Planet Lord suddenly raised his head as he frowned. “You can leave now… I have some business to attend to. Heed my warnings, or else I will send you on your way with my fists...”

Avrin stood up before turning around and Divine Stepping away. He didn't care all that much about this situation. In fact, it was all the better for him. “My greatest obstacle thus far has been removed. Without their headquarters supporting them, those Consortium branches are sure to be eaten up or fade away. Now is the time to expand.”

Avrin pondered a bit. “-Sigh, hiding was a mistake. It seems having a Deity backing up an establishment brings many benefits, but I’ll need to cement my status within this region then slowly siphon Spectrals from Seleria to here and spread them about. Once that's settled, I can slowly solidify Shaded Moon’s power and can move up to higher places. I could even sell my wares to merchants.-”

Avrin who had Divine Stepped outside of Shaded Moon suddenly stopped his tracks as his face darkened.

“Third Heaven, huh… My troubles with you have surely only just begun, but don't think that I will be carefree… Once I gather enough power, I will be able to settle matters one way or another…” He then gave a subtle laugh.

However, anyone who heard this laughter would feel a deep sense of fear and worry before having all their hair stand on its ends. A strange sense of mischievousness and maliciousness was definitely embodied inside that small smile and laugh. “But, first thing’s first.”