The Blood Kingdom

The Scarlet Goddess bid farewell to King Osis. She turned to the mural of the Supreme Divine Being, offered a prayer, and then made her way back to the Temple of Truth.

That day, the Trilobite Symbiote on duty glanced up and watched as the Goddess walked by.

“Lady Vivien, was that His Majesty Osis who just left?”

This Trilobite Symbiote had once served under Osis. Her way of addressing him reflected that history, as did the unique interest and hope she held for him compared to the other Trilobite Men.

The Scarlet Goddess nodded. Unable to hold back, the Trilobite Symbiote spoke up.

“It seems Osis has changed quite a bit in this reincarnation. I truly hope he finds his strength again.”

Osis had gone through many reincarnations. With each new life, his despair deepened. He felt he should never have been brought back, that he was unworthy of living in this era.

The Scarlet Goddess said, “He was once the King of Yinsai. Now, he is the King of Suinhor.”

“The bloodline of a king runs deep within him. When he believes in his own strength, when he knows he can endure any hardship, the will of his ancestors will awaken.”

In that instant, a burst of radiance flared from within the Temple of Truth. The light swirled and spread across the great hall.

It resembled sunlight breaking through the water’s surface, scattering and glimmering in all directions. The view was breathtaking.

The light shone from above, emanating from behind the divine throne.

A pendant shaped like an eye hung in front of an ancient statue.

The Scarlet Goddess Vivien paused briefly. A look of pure joy lit up her face.

“The Eye of True Knowledge has finally gathered enough Divine Blood.”

The second-generation Sage of Truth, Lan, had originally crafted this eye as a gift for Vivien. It shattered long ago. After Vivien ascended to godhood, she collected its fragments and reforged it anew.

In the temples of Suinhor, divine servants who chose to do so upon their deaths carried their Divine Blood and belongings into the Eye of True Knowledge. They transformed into ghosts, becoming part of Suinhor’s heritage and foundation.

Their memories and knowledge created a legacy. Those who managed to commune with the Eye of True Knowledge could inherit this vast wisdom.

The existence of this eye enabled Suinhor’s Wisdom Ability Users, the divine servants of its temples, to master many Divine Techniques. With this power, they could stand against the Alchemists and the Witch Spirits, who relied on the strength of Wisdom Myths.

Suinhor was the largest empire on the continent. The Scarlet Goddess had the most followers on Ruhe Beast Island.

The Scarlet Goddess Vivien had long hoped that this immense accumulation of power would lead to the rise of mythic strength.

Day by day, year after year, the foundation grew. Finally, the threshold was reached.

At last, after years of longing, the Scarlet Goddess Vivien found a glimmer of hope.

She could not stop the emotions from rising to the surface. Her lips trembled slightly, and her eyes betrayed her feelings.

Joy. Excitement. Nostalgia. Sorrow.

Each emotion flickered across her divine face, one after the other.

“How many years has it been?”

“At last… the accumulation is complete.”

From the day she descended into this era, she had waited for this moment.

For a divine being, this time might not have seemed particularly long. Yet, when one yearns too deeply, every second of waiting turns into its own kind of torment.

The Scarlet Goddess moved slowly toward the divine throne. Her hand stretched out to touch the stone statue standing there. She caressed its face with gentle care.

“Anli.”

After a long silence, the Scarlet Goddess waved her hand. A wave of power radiated outward from her, sealing everything within this space.

The great doors of the Temple of Truth slowly began to close. Everyone inside was gently pushed out by an invisible force.

With her back turned, the Scarlet Goddess spoke, her voice drifting through the narrowing gap of the closing doors.

“I must attend to something of the utmost importance. Do not disturb me during this time.”

To Vivien, nothing in this world mattered more than this.

Red Earth Territory

Crack, crack, crack!

Bodies were stacked high atop the towering pyres as soldiers hurled one corpse after another into the flames.

The crackling of bodies and firewood filled the air. The flames popped and hissed, releasing a sickening mixture of odors.

The stench of rotting flesh blended with the nauseating sweetness of burning fat and the sharp, acrid tang of charred remains. Just imagining it was enough to turn one’s stomach.

Scenes like this stretched endlessly along the front lines of the Suinhor allied forces.

Mounted on Land Dragons, soldiers rode back and forth, shouting commands and waving banners that bore the king’s emblem.

“By order of His Majesty the King, all corpses must be burned completely. They are not to be buried under any circumstances.”

“Ghouls must have their heads severed. A divine servant will perform the purification ritual afterward. Remain vigilant at all times.”

“Any soldier scratched by a ghoul or affected by dark sorcery must immediately report to the rear camp for examination by a divine servant.”

“Failure to comply will result in severe punishment.”

The allied forces swept through the ghouls of the Delanvos Territory and the Char Territory, making steady progress into the Red Earth Territory. On the surface, the campaign appeared to be a series of victories.

By this stage, the forces had achieved a strategic three-pronged encirclement of Red Earth City. They had cut it off from the sea, the south, and the east.

However, these triumphs came at a staggering cost. The casualties were immense, and every step forward had been hard-fought.

The sheer number of ghouls was overwhelming. They were everywhere, a relentless tide far beyond what anyone had predicted.

Adding to the difficulty, these ghouls were entirely different from those that had appeared before in the Royal Court of Ten Thousand Serpents at Mooneclipse City. This new breed was far more formidable in every aspect.

They had no vital points. The true core of these creatures was not within the corpse itself. Their weakness lay elsewhere.

It was the Cannibal Worms that lived inside them.

They could devour the living on the battlefield, using their victims to repair their injuries. The longer they fought, the more vigorous and powerful they became.

As their strength grew, so did their frenzy. The ghouls became more fearless, driven by an insatiable craving for the power of flesh and blood. In contrast, Osis’s soldiers were not immune to fear. They felt terror.

Third, the ghouls within the Red Earth Territory possessed a high degree of organization. They were led by multiple upper Third-Rank ghouls.

These upper-rank ghouls wielded all manner of bizarre powers and Divine Techniques. They could cast curses and even unleash plagues and pestilence. This caught the allied forces completely off guard.

The enemy was not the only source of peril. The allied forces were burdened with a cascade of internal struggles.

In the early days of the conflict, the overwhelming number of wounded and dead had been dealt with hastily. Following the old custom, the fallen were buried with little ceremony or preparation.

It was not long before these graves betrayed them. The buried corpses began to rise, transformed into ghouls. The sight of former comrades clawing their way out of the earth and infiltrating the camps sent shockwaves through the ranks.

Panic took hold, and chaos erupted. The soldiers, gripped by fear, found themselves questioning their own fates as they battled not just the enemy, but the horror that had once been their allies.

Curses and diseases emerged without end. The temple’s divine servants had been completely unprepared at first, with no idea how to respond. It was not until several Trilobite Symbiotes arrived that the situation began to improve.

And so, in the wake of this cascade of crises, a flood of new decrees followed.

From that point on, the dead were required to be cremated. The long-held tradition of carrying back remains from the march was declared forbidden.

Cemeteries along the army’s path became sites of intense scrutiny. Each burial ground had to be inspected thoroughly. Once the inspections were complete, the divine servants of the temples would perform rituals to cleanse the death miasma and lingering resentment from the graves. If purification proved impossible, the corpses were burned without hesitation.

The treatment of slain ghouls was even more meticulous. Burning alone was not sufficient. The Cannibal Worms festering within their bodies required special purification methods, and even the ashes left behind demanded careful handling to ensure no trace of corruption remained.

The emergence of ghouls had fundamentally altered the burial customs of Suinhor’s people. Over time, these changes would ripple across Ruhe Beast Island, eventually reaching the Snake People on the distant continent beyond.

Akmanmon had, through his actions, instilled a fear of death and corpses more profound than anything the people had ever known.

The sight of a cemetery or a burial mound now brought to mind unsettling images. One could almost see the monsters clawing their way out of coffins, dragging themselves up from the earth. Those ghouls, those devourers of the dead, lingered in the imagination like a dark shadow.

In the quiet of his tent, Osis rubbed his forehead, the weight of the threat pressing heavily on his mind.

“Ghouls are the kind of threat that must be contained from the very beginning.”

“Once they spread, the cost of dealing with them becomes catastrophic.”

Osis felt worn ragged by these monstrous creatures. His mind was drained, and his chest burned with a simmering anger.

The generals were no better, their curses spilling out without restraint.

“These monsters just refuse to die. You have to cut off their heads and burn them with fire.”

“Fire only works on the corpse, and some ghouls are immune to even that. Fire cannot kill those worms at all.”

“Fighting these things is like battling a swarm of venomous creatures. You kill them, and you still end up poisoned.”

“No, it’s worse than that. Touching them feels like diving into a cesspit. I never want to fight these abominations again as long as I live. It is absolutely revolting.”

A small squad stepped in from outside.

Leading them was a figure clutching a long spear. Fixed on its tip was the head of a Second-Rank ghoul. The head was still alive. It could even speak.

“Eat… eat… eat.”

“I’ll kill you all.”

“So hungry.”

The ghoul, pinned by that special spear, could do nothing but howl in agony. Any attempt to use its power was futile.

Inside the tent, the generals watched the scene unfold. Their expressions turned complicated as they took in the sight.

The Lizard People squad stood at the center of attention.

Under Anu’s leadership, they had entered the war with unmatched determination. Time and again, they targeted the commanders of the ghoul legions, launching precise strikes and securing victory on multiple occasions.

Anu was brimming with confidence. “Red Earth City is just ahead. Tomorrow, we take it.”

“Take down the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon, and this all ends.”

King Osis let out a hearty laugh, clearly invigorated.

“Exactly. Red Earth City is right there.”

“These ghouls are trapped now, with no way out.”

The mood inside the tent brightened immediately. Each of them eagerly declared to King Osis that they would lead the vanguard and be the first to charge into Red Earth City.

King Osis offered encouragement to every one of them in turn. Once the tent had emptied, however, the confidence on his face disappeared.

He lowered himself to sit cross-legged and began to study the map before him. His fingers traced the markers that represented the three-pronged assault from the sea, the south, and the east. His gaze ultimately rested on Red Earth City.

So far, everything had unfolded according to plan. The battles had been intense, and the ghouls had fought with a tenacity far beyond what anyone had expected.

Yet, to King Osis, it all felt suspiciously smooth.

The most dangerous and threatening figure of all, the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon, had never once appeared. Every preparation Osis had made now felt completely wasted.

It was like holding a hunting rifle with arms raised for so long that they had gone numb, only for the prey to never show itself.

As they drew closer to Red Earth City, and as each victory was claimed, Osis’s unease only grew. A hollow emptiness gnawed at him, one that he could not shake.

“What is going on?”

“Why has the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon, not made a single move? Is he truly just sitting there, waiting to be destroyed?”

The thought gnawed at Osis. He began to wonder whether Akmanmon was still inside Red Earth City at all.

“It cannot be. He created all these ghouls with his own hands. If we wipe them all out, the loss would be beyond imagining.”

“Would he really be willing to give all that up?” Osis muttered to himself.

He turned his thoughts to Akmanmon, the last King of Ten Thousand Serpents. The image of the puppet ruler, held up by the Dark Moon General, lingered in his mind as he sifted through intelligence reports once more.

He picked up the intelligence reports on Akmanmon once more, hoping to deduce from the man’s traits and character what kind of person he truly was.

No matter how many times he read through the documents, the records on Akmanmon remained frustratingly sparse.

No one seemed to know how he had arrived at this point, how he had become part of the Cannibal Cult, or what his true connection to Suero might be.

From beginning to end, it seemed that no one had ever truly understood what kind of being this man was.

“Just what kind of person is this?”

Osis set the documents down with a heavy sigh, his thoughts tangled and unresolved.

If they failed to capture the King of Ghouls, the destruction of every last ghoul would only address the immediate crisis. The greater threat, however, would remain, looming over them all.

They had come too far to turn back now. There was no other choice left to make.

Osis drew a deep breath and steeled his resolve. “In three days, we attack Red Earth City. We cannot wait any longer.”

Several days later, the allied forces dismantled one fortification after another, tightening their grip around Red Earth City step by step. Each advance brought fierce skirmishes with mounted scouts and an ongoing struggle for control of the skies.

The ghouls were more than riders atop corpse beasts. Some among them possessed the ability to summon rotting Wing Demons from the Abyss, adding to the chaos of the battlefield.

Even so, by this point, the ghoul legions had begun to run out of options.

One of the most striking aspects of the Suinhor City-State Alliance’s forces was their widespread use of Stone Demons. These creatures appeared in every shape and size, scattered across the battlefield in formidable numbers.

The Stone Demons were invaluable, serving as both offensive and defensive units while also functioning as builders of fortifications. Marching alongside the legions was a massive train of pack beasts, burdened with supplies of all kinds. In contrast, the Wing Demons that patrolled the skies were far fewer in number.

This approach to warfare was a hallmark of the Southern City-State Alliance. Their methods stood in sharp contrast to the strategies employed by the forces of the north.

The Southern legions placed their trust in the strength of Stone Demons. In contrast, the Northern legions relied on Wing Demons, which filled the skies in overwhelming numbers. Fire Demons were held in reserve, unleashed only in critical moments to deliver the final, devastating blow.

During sieges, however, the sheer destructive force of Fire Demons often proved excessive. In some instances, their deployment was outright prohibited.

Osis sat astride his Land Dragon, the beast’s immense bulk shifting beneath him. From his elevated position, he gazed out at the horizon, where the distant city walls stretched in a long, unbroken line.

“Set up camp here. Rest up and get ready for the siege.”

“Stone Demon squads, build the encampment and handle the patrols.”

“Alchemy Corps, take your positions. Divine servant squads, be ready and await further orders.”

“Get the alchemical machinery prepared. Set up the ritual barrier.”

“Wing Demon squads, block off the skies and keep an eye on all movement in the city.”

One order after another was issued. The allied forces moved like a great machine set into motion. After days of coordination, the cohesion among the units had steadily improved.

This growing unity reflected the tightening grip of King Osis’s command over the army. His authority was now unmistakable.

Everyone stood ready. They knew this would be the final battle.

Within the encampment, a cleared stretch of ground had been cordoned off. A group of divine servants worked diligently, assisting the Lizard Man Anu in laying out an immensely complex ritual formation.

Anu took his place at the center of the formation. With a steady breath, he activated the seed within his body, initiating the special ritual.

Light began to spin outward from the formation. The seed embedded in Anu’s body responded, sprouting tendrils that burrowed deep into his flesh.

His form started to shift and transform. A crystal emerged from his forehead, gleaming with an otherworldly brilliance. His body elongated, stretching like pulled dough, growing longer and more serpentine. From his back, a great mane of bristling hair began to sprout, and his arms reshaped themselves into two enormous feathered wings.

In the end, Anu’s transformation was complete. He had become a magnificent Feathered Serpent.

The Feathered Serpent opened its eyes. The gaze that emerged was entirely foreign, bearing no resemblance to Anu’s. It was the presence of someone else altogether.

The consciousness of the Feathered Serpent, Kurmis, had taken hold of Anu’s body. The serpent ascended into the sky, its form coiling gracefully as it looked down upon Osis.

Osis said, “Lord Kurmis, this is the final battle. The ghouls have been pushed back to their last stronghold, Red Earth City. If all goes as planned, the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon, is inside.”

“Suinhor needs your help. And I need your help,” he added.

“Your Majesty Osis, we have come this far,” Kurmis said, his tone steady. “How do you intend to deal with the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon? You should tell me the full plan now.”

Osis had kept the plan to himself, wary of the possibility of a leak.

If Akmanmon discovered even the smallest trace of what was being prepared, the chances of success would diminish drastically. The ghouls had a host of strange and dangerous methods at their disposal. In the past, they had managed to infiltrate military camps undetected and had even turned living people into ghouls without raising suspicion.

Choosing to act cautiously, Osis conveyed the details to Kurmis in private. Using his ability to communicate mind to mind, he transmitted the plan directly into Kurmis’s thoughts.

“This is the method the Scarlet Goddess shared with me. It is the only way to truly seal Akmanmon and ensure the King of Ghouls never rises again.”

“The first step is to completely destroy his body and every last Cannibal Worm, so that this current Akmanmon dies entirely. Only then will the next Akmanmon be born.”

“The second step is to seize the initiative and use Akmanmon’s skull as the ritual medium to resurrect him before anyone else can. If someone else acts first, it will be too late.”

“The skull is already in my possession, and it is the most suitable vessel for his rebirth. If the resurrections happen simultaneously, the Silver Insect will prioritize this skull and its vessel, allowing Akmanmon to revive within it and grow a new body.”

“The third step is to seal him. This method can bind him for a thousand years. After that thousand years, the process can be repeated to seal him for another thousand. As long as the cycle continues without end, he can be sealed permanently.”

Osis spoke with unreserved candor, laying bare every detail of the plan to Kurmis.

This approach, however, was unproven. Its effectiveness remained theoretical, with the ultimate success hinging entirely on the precision of its execution.

The Feathered Serpent Kurmis nodded. “I understand. So this battle must annihilate him completely, leaving this Akmanmon without the faintest spark of life. Only then will the Silver Insect create the next Akmanmon.”

Osis nodded. “That is correct. Only when he is truly and completely dead will a new Akmanmon be born.”

“The heretics of the Church of Silver and White always say that death is not the end, but a new beginning.”

“Then let us deliver that message to Akmanmon.”

“When he enters his new beginning, it will also be his final end.”

Kurmis, now fully aware of Osis’s plan, felt a newfound confidence settle within him. Any trace of hesitation disappeared.

The immense form of the Feathered Serpent propelled itself into the sky, soaring toward the far-off Red Earth City.

Whoosh!

The Feathered Serpent exhaled a single breath.

The power of the Spirit Fusion Seal Imprint merged with the winds of the sky. In an instant, it transformed into a raging storm that swept downward.

A hurricane reached from heaven to Earth and struck the city walls. The temporary barrier shrouding Red Earth City was torn apart in moments.

The ghouls and corpse beasts guarding the walls were swept into the air. The walls themselves crumbled with a thunderous roar.

At that moment, King Osis led his army through the breach. The soldiers surged forward, launching their final assault against the ghouls and the heretics of the Church of Silver and White within Red Earth City.

Stone Demons stormed ahead, followed by the relentless advance of Wing Demons. Wave after wave, their combined might overwhelmed the enemy. The Alchemy Corps pressed on, their precision and power cutting through the ghouls’ defenses like the edge of a blade.

“Wipe out these monsters!”

“These parasites, those corpse-eating worms. Wipe them out!”

“For the Goddess!”

“For justice!”

Osis had gathered nearly the full strength of the nation for this battle. Virtually every Third-Rank Ability User who could be called upon had been summoned to the front lines.

All across the battlefield, Third-Rank Ability Users could be seen summoning their Seal Spirits, readying themselves for the fight ahead.

Inside Red Earth City, Third-Rank Snake People Ability Users engaged in savage combat against upper Third-Rank ghouls.

The battles were grueling. It often took two Snake People Ability Users to contend with a single upper-rank ghoul. In some cases, even three were required to stand a chance.

One colossal stone golem after another smashed the ghouls’ massive worm-shaped Seal Spirits into pulp. The tremendous force of each blow sent tremors rippling through the Earth itself.

War in the realm of the extraordinary was both grand and devastating. The power wielded by these mighty transcendent beings was enough to destroy everything in their path.

Ordinary people and the ghoul thralls, no better than wild beasts, were reduced to nothing more than a backdrop. Amid the war between Snake People and ghouls, between Ability Users and monsters, the entire city shuddered and groaned on the verge of collapse.

King Osis marched toward the lord’s manor, accompanied by several Trilobite Symbiotes and a large contingent of divine servants.

Above them, the great Feathered Serpent coiled through the sky, its imposing presence ensuring that the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon, could not make a final escape.

When Osis finally burst into the manor, he was met with an eerie silence. Not a single living soul remained inside.

Pressing further, he stepped into a palatial bedchamber that strikingly mirrored his own royal quarters. Within the room, he discovered the former lord of the Red Earth Territory, the old patriarch of the Hunter Family.

At a glance, it was clear that the man was already dead.

A gaping hole marred the old patriarch’s skull, as though something had crawled out from within.

The other residents of the manor had suffered the same fate. Without exception, each of them bore the same gruesome wound.

Not a single living member of the Hunter Family remained. This once-powerful lineage, which had governed the Red Earth Territory since the age of Alpens, had come to its final end in this catastrophe.

They were not the central figures in this tale, nor did they hold any significant role in its unfolding events.

If this story were presented as a theatrical performance, their contribution would amount to little more than a few fleeting lines and a brief mention from the narrator.

Osis did not spare the old man’s corpse a single glance. His gaze was already sweeping across the surroundings.

A powerful force was surging within the lord’s manor. He could feel it vividly, though its source remained hidden from view.

Swish, swish, swish!

A sound echoed from deep within the darkness. Osis and everyone with him immediately turned their gaze, and even the shadow of the Feathered Serpent looming above lowered its head.

“Akmanmon?”

When the figure emerged, it revealed itself as a being that still had a tail.

This was not Akmanmon. Akmanmon had long since ascended to the rank of Apostle and taken on God’s Form.

Osis furrowed his brow, his voice steady as he called out to the figure advancing from the shadows.

“No, you are not the King of Ghouls.”

“Where is the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon?”

Light streamed in through the great doors and illuminated the figure, finally revealing his appearance in full.

It was an ancient, decrepit monster.

This was a ghoul of the old era, a relic long since abandoned by time.

The Divine Blood within him had caused a conflict and backlash he could no longer endure. His entire body was riddled with rotting holes. One side of his face had melted like a wax figure, yet it retained a smooth, crystalline appearance.

Only two fates awaited him: falling into Purgatory or becoming a piece of transcendent material.

This ghoul of the old era carried a statue of the God of Silver and White upon his back. The heavy stone idol weighed him down, forcing him to stoop at the waist.

As he shuffled forward, the ground beneath him became engulfed by a sea of Cannibal Worms. They swarmed every inch of the space in an instant, a sight so horrifying it could make one’s blood run cold.

Osis, however, could sense that this was a ritual.

The lord’s manor provided the framework. The Cannibal Worms served as the nodes, and the statue acted as the medium.

Its presence here served as a miniature version of the Pyramid Ritual. It held the power to spawn even more ghouls in the surrounding area.

The Cannibal Worms’ origin required no explanation. They had been cultivated from the corpses of everyone in the lord’s manor and the Hunter Family.

In that moment, everything became clear to Osis. He fixed his gaze on the figure standing before him.

“Who are you? Have you been maintaining this ritual all along to make us believe Akmanmon was still here?”

“Where is Akmanmon?”

The old ghoul lifted his head and turned a sinister grin toward Osis.

One side of his face had melted away, leaving only the other half capable of forming a smile. The sight was utterly horrifying.

“Ah, King Osis!”

“His Majesty the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon, instructed me to wait for you here.”

“He finds it quite puzzling. You are a divine seed, a being who already possesses eternal life and immortality.”

“Why do you fight for these mortals? What meaning could it possibly hold for someone like you?”

The figure standing before him was the Old Ghoul, once Akmanmon’s teacher of history and literature.

In earlier days, he had served as a divine servant of the Scarlet Goddess, a man of Suinhor origin.

He had been a pawn secretly placed by Suinhor within the Royal Court of Ten Thousand Serpents. His mission was to influence Akmanmon and interfere in the court’s affairs.

Now, however, the Old Ghoul had long abandoned his former allegiance. He had become a fervent believer in Akmanmon, his devotion and loyalty unshakable.

As the Old Ghoul lifted his head, Osis recognized him instantly.

“You?”

The face before him stirred a distant sense of familiarity. After a long pause, Osis finally remembered where he had seen this man before. It was many years ago, in the Temple of Fire Protection.

“A madman like him does not need anyone’s understanding,” Osis said.

“He cannot even understand himself, and yet he presumes to understand others,” he added.

The Old Ghoul let out a loud, cackling laugh. “A divine being needs no one’s understanding.”

“Nor can they be understood,” he continued, his voice rising, “for they are far too great.”

The Old Ghoul’s fervor intensified with each word he spoke. As his fanaticism swelled, his body contorted more and more, warping into a grotesque and inhuman form.

“He shall ascend to the eternal divine throne. He shall become the true God of Silver and White.”

Osis had planned to strike the Old Ghoul down, to end him swiftly. Yet, as he watched the grotesque transformation unfold, he was overcome by a strange certainty that it was no longer necessary.

“He is not here.”

“You have been abandoned by your master,” Osis said.

“I am a ghoul of the old era,” the Old Ghoul replied. “I cannot follow in the footsteps of a divine being.”

“For a lowly mortal creature like myself to have contributed even a fraction to the great Akmanmon’s ascension to the divine throne is already the greatest glory of my small and fleeting life.”

With those words, the Old Ghoul dissolved into a pool of rot. The decay writhed and shifted, eventually condensing into a single stone.

The stone came to rest beneath the feet of the statue.

Osis could not determine whether this act was one of true devotion or the consequence of Akmanmon completely brainwashing and seizing control of the Old Ghoul’s mind.

“Clean this place out. Be careful with everything,” he ordered at once.

He had not given up. His search for any trace of Akmanmon remained relentless.

High in the sky, the Feathered Serpent stirred unexpectedly.

The immense creature, its body spanning hundreds of meters as it gracefully coiled through the air, froze in place. From the serpent’s still form, a voice emerged.

“How can you be here?”

The voice was filled with shock.

The moment those words were spoken, every last drop of power was ripped from the Feathered Serpent’s body.

Anu the Lizard Man regained consciousness at that exact moment, only to find his body shrinking rapidly. The being that had bestowed its power upon him had withdrawn it entirely.

He crashed through the roof tiles of a building and plummeted into the lord’s manor below.

Fortunately, the Lizard Man’s tough, thick-skinned body protected him. He emerged from the fall remarkably unharmed.

King Osis hurried over with his men and confronted the dazed and disoriented Anu, questioning him about what had happened.

“What happened?”

“What is going on?”

As soon as Anu’s eyes fluttered open, his voice trembled with terror, the fear unmistakable on his face.

Anu’s voice trembled as he said, “Akmanmon is in the Volcano Forest. He left the Red Earth Territory long ago.”

He turned to King Osis, his expression grim. “That monster’s true target is Lord Kurmis.”

The words hit Osis like a thunderclap. A single thought flashed through his mind: “He is after the method of becoming a god.”

Akmanmon was an enemy of terrifying tenacity. Making an enemy of him without completely eliminating him would doom Suinhor to endless unrest.

Even putting that aside, a ghoul catastrophe of this magnitude occurring just a few more times would spell the end of Suinhor.

If someone like Akmanmon ever acquired the method of becoming a god, Osis shuddered to think what unspeakable horrors the future would bring.