Chapter 631: Salvation

In Australia, at the Sanctuary Fortress in East Melbourne, the atmosphere was as silent as death. Everyone who witnessed this scene through the magical projection felt their breath tighten, as if an ancient, unchanging ice had been stuffed into their chests. It nearly froze their thoughts and chilled their hearts to the core.

"Is that the Lord of Radiance and Noah's Ark?"

"Is this the fourteenth-level seismic wave? The great catastrophe prophesied to destroy half of humanity? My God—"

"No! No! This isn't real! It can't be, that's the Lord of Radiance!"

"How can it not be? This is the collision of two worlds."

"I think the experts and physicists on TV must be wrong! This is definitely more than a magnitude nine earthquake. This world will be destroyed, it will!"

"It's over, my home, all of Melbourne is doomed! Haha, this country is finished, we're all finished, poor wretches about to fall into hell as prophesied."

"No! Our Lord still stands! He will save us, surely!"

"Ridiculous, at a time like this, you still believe the nonsense of those priests? I admit our God is merciful and compassionate toward the world. But as you can see, this image reminds me of a mantis standing in front of a wheel."

Just as despair took hold of everyone, the previously arrogant and sinister voice sounded again in their ears.

"See? Your so-called god is like an ant before the great catastrophe. This world will surely be destroyed! And my Lord will rebuild on this hellish scorched earth—"

The man suddenly let out a scream, presumably found by the armed forces of the Church of Fate, and then fell silent.

But the magical projection in the sky did not disappear; everyone in the fortress could still see the scene tens of thousands of kilometers away through the image.

Layer after layer of water shields were shattering, more than fifty layers annihilated in the blink of an eye.

The figure standing behind the ninety-nine layers of water shields, bathed in divine radiance, was steadily retreating. Ahead of Him, new layers of water shields were forming, and the Earth Angel beneath Him raised massive stone walls at an equally rapid pace.

But their casting speed could not keep up with the rate at which the water shields and stone walls were destroyed. In an instant, only nineteen layers of water shields remained before the Lord of Fate, looking incredibly thin in the huge magical projection.

Worse still, the figure's surroundings began to catch fire, the temperature around Him seemed to soar sharply, even turning the entire nearby space a fiery red—anyone with basic physics knowledge knew that was radiant energy. The powerful radiation from the nuclear fusion triggered by the collision of the two worlds began to impact the surroundings in the form of gamma rays.

This scene made the people in the fortress gasp again. They saw the figure in the divine radiance seemingly disintegrating. The shockwave that was destroying the world, after penetrating the ninety-nine layers of water shields, remained overwhelmingly strong, gradually reducing the divine body of the Lord of Fate to dust and particles.

Just as everyone was nurturing that despairing yet unsurprising thought, the figure in the divine radiance suddenly flickered and appeared behind the young woman standing on the dry seabed in the image.

In His hand, a pitch-black giant shield had appeared at some point. It not only protected Him from harm but also sheltered Li Mochen, who had flashed behind Him.

"Look, that must be the Earth Angel the church has been promoting lately!"

"Looks impressive? Can it hold?"

"Don't dream! Haven't you seen the stone layers around her have already vaporized?"

"Look, they're melting! It's over, we're finished—"

At that moment, in the Free Divine Kingdom between the Astral Plane and the Material World, a goddess in white raised her eyebrows slightly.

"Power of the Earth, that is the power of Typhon! How surprising, he has already killed Typhon!"

Then she looked at the goddess in black beside her with a slightly strange gaze: "You really can hold back, Mother."

"You mean the Dark Essence? But I don't think I could seize Typhon's essence under the watchful eyes of the gods, and you, my daughter, would also stop me, right? So the time is not yet."

The Night Goddess Nyx's expression was calm, her voice serene: "Compared to the essence in his hands, we have more important things to do now, my dear daughter. Do you think I would miss this opportunity?"

The goddess in white heard this and curled her lips meaningfully. She saw the greed and fervor in her mother's eyes, and of course did not miss the murderous intent and anger revealed by the Night Goddess, even though Nyx's emotions were exposed for less than 0.0001 seconds.

"More important things? Indeed! I heard that Gaia once seized part of the authority of the World Source during the Great Flood?"

At this moment, the Free Goddess's eyes were extremely deep, containing undisguised inquiry, even threat.

"So may I ask, Mother, if you would be gracious enough to tell me how she did it? I guess you might need an ally soon, and reduce an enemy."

Nyx laughed after hearing this, a laugh full of arrogance and recklessness: "The problem is, even if I tell you this secret today, you won't have time to prepare, Eris! You are still young, no need to rush to touch the Source. So watch, you will learn from experience. Of course, you can also try to stop me. As your mother, I can forgive this disobedience."

Eris's face instantly turned cold and stern, making this divine realm called Freedom as cold as a frozen land.

Nyx didn't care; she pointed downward with her finger: "Compared to the World Source you can't yet rely on, I think you should worry more about the one down there. That guy might actually be able to withstand the impact of that beast world."

"Might?"

Eris looked at the image reflected in the lake below. Even through this mundane magical reflection, she could detect the auras of the gods who were already drooling, holding knives and forks, waiting to feast on the 'Lord of Fate.'

Among them, of course, was Eris herself.

"But what does that have to do with me, Mother Nyx? Even if he succeeds and takes away the faith of America, as long as this world still has freedom and strife, your daughter Eris will remain one of the most powerful gods in this world."

Her tone was casual, as if she truly didn't care about the scene in the South Pacific.

"But dear Mother, can you seize those Dark Essences from the even more powerful Lord of Fate? I'm suddenly looking forward to seeing him stop this so-called 'Great Catastrophe.' Though unlikely, the scene of you fighting him in the future will surely be interesting."

Nyx shook her head: "Among all my daughters, Eris, you are indeed the least lovable. Can't wait to turn on me, can you?"

She had already felt the hostility of this divine realm toward her. From that moment, the divine power and flesh of Nyx's body began to slip from her control, rushing toward 'Freedom.'

But then the figure turned into nothingness, and the entire Free Divine Kingdom turned into darkness.

"But I also want to know, how would you make my incarnate darkness, my nothingness, freer and more contentious? Eris?"

Eris said nothing, but her brows furrowed tightly.

"Why not wait a little longer? You shouldn't be so impatient. The struggle for the Source is not as simple as you think. Odin and Zeus are more powerful than you imagine. Though they were excluded by Gaia and the Lord of Radiance, these two are themselves only a hair's breadth away from being gods above gods. Even I need your help to establish a foothold in the World Source—"

At that moment, the Night Goddess Nyx let out a surprised exclamation. She looked at the lake again, and her expression gradually turned serious and grave.

"Eris, it seems he might actually succeed. Look closely, I'm serious this time! That might be—a Pseudo-Truth!"

Eris was distracted again, then she froze slightly, and her gaze turned cold and sharp. Nyx rubbed her forehead with her fingers, looking somewhat troubled: "This is troublesome. It might mean that this world's chessboard will indeed gain another player who can contend with us."

※※※※

In the South Pacific, the Moon Goddess Rabbit exhausted all her mana in less than 0.3 seconds. Though she stood on the earth, with a steady stream of power flowing into her from the ground, the replenishment could not keep up with the consumption.

Moreover, even with the Typhon Shield and the enhanced ultimate 'Earth' and advanced 'Guardian' authorities, she could only reduce the oncoming impact to level twelve.

Yet that was still a force her body could not withstand. The Moon Goddess Rabbit felt herself burning, melting, shattering. Her flesh and internal organs were disintegrating inch by inch under the vibration.

Fortunately, an instant later, her physical injuries were fully healed, and her mana was restored to ninety percent. The Moon Goddess Rabbit knew this was Li Mochen's 'Life' and 'Vitality' authorities. Her eyes flashed with shock and amazement.

This was 'Life' at the Pseudo-Truth level, and 'Vitality' also at the Pseudo-Truth level!

The Moon Goddess Rabbit's spirits soared, and she poured all her power into the 'Typhon Shield' in her hand, causing more stone layers to rise before them and more earth elements to stand guard.

In the next five seconds, her body was destroyed no fewer than seven times, but each time she recovered from the brink of death, her strength always maintained at its peak.

At this moment, new 'water shields' were constantly forming before them, and the previously evaporated damping oil and seawater 'returned' to their original forms.

Thousands of kilometers away, the magic tower array—sixty-four magic towers, ten archmages, twelve demigod mages, and forty-two legends—was channeling power through Li Mochen's divine body to cast the spell 'Material Restoration,' restoring vaporized and annihilated matter, keeping the damping oil Li Mochen could use at a certain quantity.

The mana pools of those magic towers were also supplying Li Mochen's consumption, compensating for his lack of mana.

The faith power gathered from 1.9 billion believers, and the Fate and Time source power covering most of the world, were exhausted within Li Mochen's body in less than nine seconds.

If not for the support of these sixty-four magic towers and thousands of mana pools, the Sea Goddess's full effort to mobilize seawater, and the Magic Goddess Diana's all-out mobilization of the pure magical energy stored in the Weave, Li Mochen would have been unable to continue.

"So that's it! It's a Pseudo-Truth—"

In the American Underworld, Angela sighed, then unhesitatingly merged herself with the 'Fantasy Fortress' magic tower and uttered a spell.

"Supreme Art, Fantasy Guardian!"

The same spell, but its effect was vastly different from the battle in Pittsburgh a year ago. Now she possessed ultimate 'Dream' and ultimate 'Guardian,' and used the data network to connect the fantasy power of countless people in America.

A seemingly thin white light barrier appeared around Li Mochen and the Moon Goddess Rabbit, yet it lasted a full two seconds under the world-destroying energy impact.

When Angela in the Underworld finally couldn't hold on, coughing blood, and ended the Supreme Art, Li Mochen and the Moon Goddess Rabbit had both recovered to their peak state in that short time.

Ahead of them, the 'Oil-Water Divine Shields,' which had been reduced to only nine, had been restored to twenty-five!

Then, another spherical mechanical creation was sent above their heads. Along with it came Anthony's laughter.

"See, Andre? This is the surprise I promised you."

The mechanical creation quickly unfolded, forming a spherical force field shield within a hundred meters. Though it couldn't fully resist the shockwave, it greatly reduced the pressure on Li Mochen and the Moon Goddess Rabbit.

Surprisingly, this strange machine, which after unfolding resembled a sunflower with dense 'scales' on its surface, did not quickly break down under the shockwave and gamma rays. Instead, it began to absorb the energy here. As the 'scales' flipped layer by layer, this device, the size of a three-story office building, maintained its function continuously.

This allowed the 'Oil-Water Divine Shields' in front of Li Mochen to increase to forty-five after five seconds.

"Is it holding?"

"Can it really succeed?"

"My merciful God! I hope this is true—"

"There's still a long way to go, but I want to say that no matter what happens, I will never regret choosing the 'Lord of Fate' as my faith."

"See? Our God is suffering for us, for us mortals."

At the Sanctuary Fortress in East Melbourne, Dandy Granger felt his scalp tingle, then couldn't help but show joy in his eyes. Hope and warmth grew in his chest, melting and driving away the ice that had filled his body.

Beside him, Mrs. Granger had already knelt down, hands clasped in prayer.

"Great Lord of Fate, may You forever rule destiny! And may our Earth Angel stand guard before You for all eternity."

There were many like her; countless men and women began to prostrate themselves, reciting the scriptures of the Church of Fate. Among them were Dandy Granger and his daughter, praying with utmost piety for their God and their 'Earth Angel' Christine.

The heretical believers seemed to sense the situation was unfavorable and voluntarily ended the magical projection in the sky. But by then, no one cared; the entire five hundred thousand people in the Sanctuary Fortress were too preoccupied. Even those who did not believe in the Lord of Fate followed the crowd, kneeling in prayer.

"I knew it, our God never lets us down."

At the edge of the fortress, Adam Wyltenstein's face was flushed with excitement. He waved his hands, his spirits at a peak: "Look, Isabel! These devout lambs. With them, the Wyltenstein divine court will never fall!"

"Humans are prone to forgetfulness, brother!"

Isabel Wyltenstein was also delighted, her excitement no less than Adam's.

"But it doesn't matter. As long as His Majesty can take another step forward, the thoughts of these people will become insignificant."

※※※※

The Moon Goddess Rabbit felt her divine power suddenly become abundant. The divine power converted from her own divine spark was so plentiful she could hardly believe it. She soon realized that this was likely the power of faith and vows. For some reason, a large number of people had suddenly recognized her as the Earth Angel and were praying to her devoutly.

Then her main god, Li Mochen, also channeled more divine power to her.

This lifted the Moon Goddess Rabbit's spirits to their peak.

It can be stopped! Her master didn't deceive her; they really could stop it! At least reduce the shockwave level to the threshold of thirteen.

Realizing this, the Moon Goddess Rabbit became even more focused. She almost eliminated all distractions and completely disregarded her own life and death. Though her mental strength had been severely depleted in less than twenty seconds of resistance, she tirelessly mobilized her divine power and used her 'Earth' and 'Guardian' divine authorities to the fullest, forming more stone shields before them and gathering more earth elements around them.

In this process, the Moon Goddess Rabbit's eyes gradually changed, becoming deep, distant, and unfathomably empty. Her spirit and will, in this extreme concentration, gradually connected with a place containing all mysteries, and her whole being completely merged with the shattered world ravaged by immense force.

Li Mochen, who was at the rear, could not help but reveal a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Unity of Heaven and Man! The little rabbit he had raised with his own hands had actually entered the state of 'Unity of Heaven and Man' at this moment, and it was a profound level that delved deep into the world's roots.

Then Li Mochen understood the reason, knowing it was mostly due to the 'Blood of Typhon.'

Although the Moon Rabbit had devoured all of Typhon's blood, it had not inherited much of Typhon's power. Even from the previous 'Skadi,' the Moon Rabbit had only gained a little benefit from this former Winter Goddess.

This was both because the Moon Rabbit's own foundation was insufficient, its 'Chaotian Hou' bloodline not pure enough, and because this world still exerted a repulsive force against the Moon Rabbit.

But today, the prayers of Li Mochen's believers acted like a stable anchor, firmly binding and locking the Moon Rabbit to this world.

And the girl's pure, extreme belief in protecting him drove her spirit into a mysterious and profound state. Under the influence of some force, she established an indistinct yet unbreakable connection with the nature of this world and the rapidly evolving world roots amidst the collisions and shocks—the so-called 'unity of will with Heaven.' This state also fully activated the remnants of Typhon's essence blood.

Li Mochen had not expected his 'Earth Angel' to encounter such an opportunity. Without any hesitation, he smiled slightly and gently tapped the back of the Moon Rabbit's head with his finger.

'By the name of the Lord of Fate, I command! My Earth Angel shall unite will with Heaven and comprehend the truth of the Earth.'

The million strands of merit on the 'Divine Fortune Purple Gold Tower' instantly blazed fiercely.

Li Mochen used a form of wish-making without a specific goal, aiming to help the Moon Rabbit maintain this state of Unity of Heaven and Man until the Moon Rabbit could no longer sustain it or the merit on the tower was completely consumed.

Li Mochen was not at all afraid of the loss of merit now. Probably because even a reduction of the impact force by 100 TNT equivalent would change the fate of many people and creatures, so when the first water shield shattered, a hundred thousand strands of merit gathered on the tower.

Finally, the influx of merit grew larger and more ferocious. In less than a few tens of seconds, the merit on the 'Divine Fortune Purple Gold Tower' had exceeded 270 million strands, successfully condensing a fourth purple qi of merit.

But this was far from the end. The colorful spiritual light swirling around the 'Divine Fortune Purple Gold Tower' had now expanded to nearly a hundred million strands.

So even if the Moon Rabbit remained in this state of 'Unity of Heaven and Man' for another one or two hours, Li Mochen could bear it.

The Moon Rabbit, however, noticed nothing unusual. She only felt that her condition was getting better and better, her use of divine power becoming more and more effortless, and the power of the earth under her control began to obey her will like an arm directing a finger.

Yet this scene, along with the oil-water shields that had increased to fifty-seven, plunged the gods of the heavens surrounding this place into a dead silence.

'Today, I am fortunate to witness the birth of an Archangel.'

On Mount Olympus, Hera, the Queen of the Gods sitting beside Zeus, could not help but exhale a long breath of turbid air, closing her eyes with complex emotions: 'The impact force is already decreasing, Zeus! This great catastrophe will fall short of its name. You said I could at least split three hundred million believers from his followers.'

The majority of the Lord of Fate's believers were women. At this moment when the war of the gods was imminent, what god was more worthy of mortal faith than her, the protector of marriage, fertility, and women?

Although they had conquered many worlds in the outer realms, her total number of believers now was only about a billion, scattered across various worlds without a system.

Zeus then looked at Athena, who was sitting on the steps below: 'Give me an explanation, will you, my dear daughter?'

All the gods in this supreme temple turned their gaze toward Athena.

'That is damping oil invented in the modern world, with excellent cushioning and shock-absorbing properties.'

Athena explained calmly: 'In simple terms, it combines oleic acid molecules with water molecules to increase the interfacial tension of seawater, and uses the cushioning properties of damping oil and seawater to resist the shockwaves and radiation energy generated by the collision of worlds. In twenty-seven seconds, he completed a total of 3,220 such water shields. Theoretically, it can indeed reduce the seismic waves to below magnitude 12. As you can see, only a small portion of the massive energy generated by the collision of the two worlds is now transmitted to the ground.'

'You should have warned the Father!'

Ares glared at Athena angrily: 'You knew what trick he was going to play, didn't you? You should have let the Father stop him.'

'But I didn't think he could succeed.'

Athena shook her head, looking somewhat helpless and slightly ashamed: 'I didn't think he could maintain continuous spellcasting under those conditions. I guess you thought the same, Father, didn't you? Otherwise, when only nine water shields remained, you could have struck and killed him or prevented him from continuing.'

Zeus on the throne was momentarily speechless. He indeed had had the opportunity to stop him. As Athena said, from beginning to end, he had not believed that the Lord of Fate could prevent this great catastrophe.

'If I weren't certain that Mother Gaia and the Lord of Light hold great authority in the roots, I would now suspect that he might be the chosen one of this world.'

Apollo, the Sun God, said thoughtfully: 'Don't you think his luck is simply too good? There is almost nothing he cannot accomplish; heaven and earth seem to obey his will. That can no longer be explained by 'talent,' though I admit his talent indeed surpasses all people or gods throughout history.'

Hearing this, Zeus's expression shifted slightly, and he cast a gaze mixed with strangeness and suspicion toward the figure in the South Pacific still diligently gathering layers of water shields.

'It's still not too late, Father!'

Ares struggled to suppress his anger and calm his anxiety.

He had an inexplicable premonition that if they failed to stop the Lord of Fate today, this Bright World might have no place for Him.

'You can kill Him or stop Him from continuing. You have the power to do so, Father!'

Hera's eyes also flashed with a cold, sharp light: 'Ares is right; we must stop him. Although the situation is not as expected, it is better than doing nothing. That Earth Angel's state is very wrong. I feel the roots of the world are connecting with her. This woman's power is approaching that of Mother Rhea; Typhon's blood is reviving within her. Her authority over the earth is growing stronger and stronger. Are you going to sit by and watch a major god with divine rank 18, or even touching upon truth, emerge under the Lord of Fate?'

Zeus's right hand clenched tightly. The 'Thunderfire Spear' at his side trembled incessantly, as if it could be hurled forth at any moment.

But in the end, he released his hand and looked to the other side: 'It's too late. I have no time to deal with his affairs anymore.'

He had sensed that Odin, taking advantage of the moment of the worlds' collision, had extended his divine power into the roots of this world. This meant that the struggle for the roots had begun.

The first to act was the Black Goddess Nyx, who directly sent something deep into the roots.

It was the corpse of a colossal star beast. From its aura alone, Zeus recognized it as a star beast approaching divine rank 21. Its size was immense, a full thousand kilometers long, meaning this star beast was likely born at the dawn of this world's creation.

Its corpse could have evolved into a complete world, but now Nyx had unhesitatingly sent it into the depths of the roots.

Yet what surprised Zeus even more was Ahura Mazda. This earlier Light God's method was no different from Nyx's, but what he sent into the roots were the cores of two medium-sized worlds!

Zeus truly had no leisure to be distracted. He knew that if he delayed any longer, he might completely lose the opportunity to enter the world's roots.

Even if he only thought with his heels, he knew that both the colossal star beast's corpse and the two world cores must have been tampered with by Nyx and Ahura. As the roots of the Bright World absorbed and devoured the star beast and cores, the power of these two would also seep into the roots.

Zeus could not stop them. All he could do was follow suit! And during this time, he had no spare energy to attend to anything else.

Ares also realized this. He turned around in extreme resentment, staring at the figure in the image within the hall. Then he summoned a war spear imbued with the power of slaughter and destruction in his hand and hurled it furiously toward Li Mochen's direction.

At that moment, a flash of lightning also flickered in Hera's eyes, causing flames to burn and lightning to coil around Ares's war spear.

She had a covenant with Zeus, allowing her to share in his authority and power.

At this time, Zeus naturally had no leisure to lend her his power.

But as the Queen of the Gods and the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, Hera's power was equally formidable. Even in the Greek era, she was Zeus's most relied-upon pillar of authority.

And after four thousand years, Hera had elevated the authority of 'Thunder' and 'Fire' she controlled to a level infinitely close to Zeus's.

That was pseudo-truth-level power, enough to kill any being below the King of Gods.

'Boom!'

The spear tore through space, ignoring the order of time. The moment Ares threw it, it was already near Li Mochen.

But before the spear could break through the outer spatial barrier of the Bright World, the Goddess of Magic appeared in front of the spear. She made no extra defensive moves, merely condensing a layer of white light wall before her.

It was identical to Angela's 'Fantasy Guardian,' without any difference.

As the Goddess of Magic, she could theoretically use and reproduce any magic in this world. And in terms of defensive capability, Angela's supreme spell 'Fantasy Guardian' was undoubtedly top-tier.

Although this Queen of the Underworld was very young, her unique talent and skill had pushed the power of fantasy to its extreme.

It took the spear a full five seconds to break through this seemingly thin white light wall. Just as it was about to strike further into Diana's divine body, a sword light containing immensely powerful fate and time laws flew across the sky, forcibly knocking the war spear away.

Diana's brows lifted slightly, and then she sighed softly.

Ultimate time, ultimate fate—indeed, they were higher-level laws. Even at the ultimate level, they could contend with pseudo-truth-level thunder and fire.

But since the Lord of Fate had spare energy to attend to other matters, that meant—

Diana turned her head back and, as expected, saw that before the Lord of Fate, there were already ninety-nine water shields, all restored to their original number in this period. The impact force and heat generated from the collision of the two worlds had also dissipated to their final stages.

Notably, six sword lights were suspended beside Li Mochen. They had spawned a complex magical array, expanding to a full ten kilometers, exuding the majesty of a sovereign, with countless swords moving within the array, guarding Li Mochen and the Moon Rabbit at the very center.

Clearly, Ares was not the only one who had attacked Li Mochen just now. But these attacks were all, without exception, neutralized and repelled by Li Mochen and the still-special-state Earth Angel Christine.