Chapter 469 - The Mantis Stalks The Cicada, Unaware Of The Oriole Behind

“I am tired of defending myself. I will not be polite anymore! If I had acted earlier, I would have been able to explain. I would like to apologize to everyone. You have risked your lives descending from the divine realm to this place. The outcome of this battle has already been decided from the start. If I had explained it to all of you earlier, then this would not have happened.”

“Baldur, what are you talking about?”

Diana snorted in dissatisfaction. With a wave of her hand, a flaming meteorite fell from the sky and smashed toward Baldur’s head. Then, she stretched her fingers outward, Baldur’s body was immediately added with hundreds of gravitational forces.

As the goddess who commanded the moon, Diana controlled the moonlight and other moon attributes, such as gravity and the ability to see and summon the moon to the ground.

At the same time, Gaia also attacked. Two huge palms that were even more powerful than the mountain range grabbed Baldur. After Baldur dodged the attack, Gaia’s palm turned to the huge burning meteorite that Diana summoned.

Holding the meteorite in her hand, Gaia was like a pitcher, throwing the meteorite at an even faster speed and strength.

The falling meteorites, coupled with Gaia’s throwing, caused the clouds in the sky to be scattered. The meteorite shells whistled as they fell into the kingdom, creating many holes around the capital.

A meteorite hit a forest not far from the capital. The burning airwave had turned the forest into ashes. There was also a large lake, which was initially a famous tourist spot near the capital. After the meteorite hit it, the lake water instantly evaporated. The water mist spread in all directions. Even a few bridges connecting to the center of the lake had shattered. A meteorite also exploded on the nine huge walls surrounding the capital. The crushed stones rolled toward the capital, destroying half of the city walls. The people in the capital were wailing non-stop.

Initially, the gods were still concerned about the people in the capital. However, when they realized that Baldur was about to lose and the opportunity to obtain Watson was right in front of them, they could not care too much about that. Compared to Watson, the so-called faith was trash.

Facing the combined attack of the three gods, Baldur continuously dodged while in mid-air. However, he was unable to escape the combined skills of Gaia and Diana. The meteorite that Gaia shot out increased its speed and strength, and the earth’s power caused the size of the meteorite to fluctuate. Even though Baldur was swift, he was still hit by a huge meteorite. The sound of his bones breaking and crushed reverberated through the sky.

“He’s hit. Baldur is done for.” Diana cheered.

Her joint technique with Gaia was called the Chain Planet Catapult. She created the meteoroid, then Gaia threw it into the air and imbued it with immense power. Then, Gaia imbued it with gravity to track the enemy; no matter how fast their enemies were, they would not be able to escape it. As the number of meteoroids increased, they would hit their enemies eventually.

When Diana smiled, Gaia heaved a sigh of relief. Her body shrank to the size of an average human. She flew to Diana’s side and began to look at Ares vigilantly. Meanwhile, Ares’s eyes flashed as he stopped what he was doing.

Baldur had already been defeated. The next battle would be between the three of them.

Just as they were thinking about that, Baldur, who was about to be vaporized entirely by the huge meteorite, suddenly stretched out a hand and snapped his fingers.

With a muffled sound, the entire world had changed. Gears of different sizes appeared behind Baldur. Those gears were biting and pulling each other to form a gear world. Then, voids suddenly opened behind Baldur. The doors emitted a powerful and attractive force, attracting the meteors in the sky, including the one that hit Baldur.

Before the meteors entered the doors, they were shattered by some kind of beam shot out from the void. Then, huge warships floated out from behind the doors.

Those warships were purple and covered in an energy field. The warships were shaped like a shuttle, and there was a long cannon barrel on each side of the warship. The front part of the cannon barrel emitted beams of light. It was clear that those beams did the magic that had just shattered the meteorites.

After shattering the meteorites, the cannons began to move toward the center. They fused and turned into an even larger cannon hole. Just the scattered cannon barrels were enough to shatter the meteorites that were like stars. One could imagine how powerful the fused cannonballs were.

“All the warships are on standby. Divine Power Star Destroyer Cannons are ready. Preparing to fire in ten seconds!”

At least ten thousand warships appeared in the sky. They were several hundred meters in size and covered the entire sky. Ares and the other two gods were surrounded.

“What the hell is that?” Ares stared at the tens of thousands of warships floating above his head, disbelief written all over his face.

“Are those from the legendary third era, the Void dynasty created by humans imitating the technology of the gods?” Diana exclaimed.

“That’s right. You guessed it right.”

Baldur waved his hand in response to the gods’ questions, and the front section of warships immediately lit up. Tens of thousands of blazing rays gathered, and each ray of light had enough power to pierce through the surface. If fired simultaneously, the three gods and the capital would be destroyed, turning into a blank space.

The magma in the core of the earth would flood and submerge the earth, causing severe damage to the kingdom. As the God of Light, it seemed inappropriate for Baldur to do such a thing.

However, there was nothing wrong with him doing such a thing. Before he became one of the Holy Dragon Kingdom’s guardians, he had another identity—the prince of the third era’s Void dynasty. At that time, the third era had already reached its end, and the Void dynasty’s influence had reached its peak. They were no longer satisfied with staying in that world, so they attacked the divine realm.

In front of the gods, even the most advanced void fleet of mankind was still vulnerable to them, and the humans had lost the gods’ protection, so there was no way for them to fight against the gods. Hence, the king ordered Baldur, who was still a prince, to become the new king and lead the remaining Void dynasty’s soldiers to search for a place to live in the divine realm.

Baldur did not disappoint his father’s expectations. Not only did he find a habitable star for the Void dynasty in the divine realm, but he also cultivated the sovereign tier, allowing the power of the gods to fuse with the technology of the Void dynasty.

In the past, when he was in the Void dynasty, Baldur was called the Son of Light, and after he transformed into a god, he was called the God of Light. In the history of mankind, the third era’s Void dynasty was destroyed because they overestimated themselves and challenged the gods after they became powerful, resulting in a fault in the magic technology of human history. No one knew that the people of the Void dynasty were not destroyed. Instead, they took the initiative to leave the world and took all the technology with them.

“The reason I am called the God of Hope is not that I forced the honor on myself, but because the people of the Void dynasty gave me that title! My hope is for my people, not for the world. So for the glory of the Void dynasty, let everything dissipate under the light,” Baldur muttered to himself.

Every god had a divine kingdom, and in those divine kingdoms lived believers who provided faith to the god. To ordinary gods, those believers’ role was only to provide faith.

However, he was different. His divine kingdom was inhabited by many people from the former Void dynasty. Many of those people’s strength was close to that of gods. In addition, they possessed techniques comparable to gods, and with the support of his divine power for so many years, those people had already transformed his divine kingdom into something that could be called a weapon of war.

His people were not only believers; they were also soldiers. The two most powerful weapons he had obtained in his divine kingdom were the gears he had displayed behind his back called Gears of Machinery and Wisdom.

Tens of thousands of warships were released at that moment. Each of the warships possessed power comparable to gods. He had the help of tens of thousands of godly soldiers. Meanwhile, Ares, Gaia, and Diana were only three gods.

Three against ten thousand, they were not on the same level at all.

“Baldur, you despicable fellow! You actually hid such a powerful force in your divine kingdom, yet you never told us about it. It seems that you have never treated us as your companions. ”

Ares was shocked by the scene of tens of thousands of warships firing their cannonballs simultaneously. A miserable expression appeared on his face, and in the end, he did his best to summon all the ancient weapons from the many spatial cracks that appeared around him. Countless ancient weapons of the starlight-tier flew into the sky like locusts, turning into a group of meteors.

Unfortunately, in front of the warships, weapons of the starlight-tier were like toothpicks. When they touched the surface of the warships, they were deflected away. After that, they were drowned by the Divine Power Star Destroyer Cannons fired by the battleships. Ares turned into ashes in mid-air. Before he fell, Ares raised a middle finger toward the sky and slowly dissipated.

“Baldur, we will fight it out with you!”

Gaia and Diana looked at each other. They knew that Ares was dead, and they could not live any longer. They rushed into the sky. Gaia turned into a giant while Diana’s body also expanded, turning into a dark red star. The two gigantic bodies flew into the sky and collided with the two warships. Then, before the two goddesses could fly any higher, they were swept by the warships’ Divine Power Star Destroyer Cannons, and they exploded into pieces in mid-air.

“It’s all over.”

With the death of the three gods, a massive energy tide appeared in mid-air. Baldur watched everything with a cold expression, wiping the blood off his body and waving at a floating void warship. A beam of emerald light immediately fell upon Baldur’s body.

Baldur’s battered body, which the meteor had struck, began to heal rapidly. It was one of the void dynasty’s abilities—healing rays.

The Void dynasty had studied the void to its limits, and all functions could be transmitted across space by compressing into light rays, just like healing rays. It was a technique to compress healing spells into light rays, and it was a technique to send light into the human body.

While Baldur was being healed, Nia and Watson were quietly retreating from the battlefield.

“I did not expect Baldur to be so powerful. If you were to fight him, how much of a chance do you have of winning?”

“If it were me in the divine realm, I would have defeated him even though it would have been difficult. If it were me now, I would have no chance of winning,” Nia said quietly as she looked at the sky.

Nia was a diamond-tier elite, and there was a gap between her and the starlight tier. It proved that Baldur was really powerful.

“Master, now that the three gods have been forcibly sent back to the divine realm, Baldur’s next target is you. I will try my best to stall him for a period so you can take the opportunity to escape.”

“Escape? Where to?”

Watson smiled bitterly. “Baldur has planted a race chess piece in my body. Even if I leave now, I will be forced to go to him later. The reason I am far away from the battlefield is not to escape but to stay far away from Baldur to avoid being affected by his attacks. It is also convenient for me to collect the power of the dead gods.”

Watson opened his hand—there were three masses of pitch-black matter, squirming about. Two of the masses of black matter emitted a blood-red color, while the last one contained a thick aura.

Those were the remains of the gods after the three gods died in battle. Watson had used his ability to control the direction to draw them into his hand. Facing the scattered masses of pitch-black matter in his hand, Watson did not hesitate. He immediately activated the fusion system.

“Fusion system, activate!”

[Congratulations, Master, for fusing with the incomplete remains of the gods and obtaining the complete remains of the gods.]

Following the sound that rang in his ears, Watson placed the substance that had been fused into a golden ball of light into his mouth. The abilities of the three gods instantly appeared in his mind.

[Congratulations, Master, for obtaining the Moon Kingdom, the Earth Kingdom, and the War Kingdom. Congratulations on acquiring the abilities Throwing Chain of Planets, the Summoning of Unlimited War Weapons, and the Doubling of Giants.]

There was no need to explain the three kingdoms. The three kingdoms were the most basic powers of the three gods. After obtaining them, Watson would be able to control the moon like Diana, such as summoning stars or controlling gravity. He could also control the blood of others, like Ares, the God of War, and make them go crazy.

He had also obtained three other abilities. Among them, he had just seen the combination of Diana and Gaia’s skill with the meteorite. It was so powerful that it even injured Baldur, who had no choice but to use his full strength.

As for the Summoning of Unlimited War Weapons, it was Ares’ ability. Its effect was that Watson could replicate any weapon that he had seen before. The abilities of the replica would be the same as the real one. Furthermore, they could be repaired after being damaged. The only difference was that repairing it required a large amount of energy.

As for the Doubling of Giants spell, the move made Gaia’s body grow larger. That move could allow the body to expand countless times and also increase the body’s strength. If he needed strength, it was a practical move.

“With the addition of Agares’ abilities, I’ve obtained four divine kingdoms and four special divine skills. If it weren’t for the fact that I had a race chess piece implanted in my body, that fight would have been a great profit for me.”

Watson sighed as he extended his right hand downward. Following his actions, the Divine Power Star Destroyer Cannon, initially attacking the surface after destroying Ares and the other gods, barely turned a weak angle. It brushed past the walls of the royal city and blasted it into the ground.

A massive pit of unknown depth appeared. Boiling magma rose from within it. The magma spread along the huge pit and flowed to the side of the wall of the royal city, causing a huge burning hole in the wall. The lava was still spreading into the capital and would soon cover the entire capital. At that time, any elite who could not fly out of the capital would die.

The guards who discovered that scene sounded the alarm and relayed the news back to the capital. For a moment, many residents felt uneasy and rushed out of their houses. Some people did not even have the time to take their luggage. For a moment, everyone cursed as they fought their way out.

“Hurry up and leave. I heard that boiling lava had appeared outside the city walls. It will soon spread into the capital.”

“D*mn it, why are the gods fighting for no reason? I have several houses in the capital. If my assets are destroyed because of the lava, I will suffer a huge loss.”

Many nobles continued to curse.

In a wooden house close to the slums, not far away from those people.

The old man who had just prayed to Baldur was leading the two children outside in a panic. While running, he comforted the two children. “It’s okay. Lord Baldur just appeared. Apparently, he heard our prayers. No matter what happens outside, we’ll be fine.”

The two little boys were silent. The older one stared at the glowing statue in his grandfather’s hand and nodded in relief.

He had not believed in the god, but after the statue had lit up when he asked it to shine. That proved that Baldur had divine power. In addition, the battle that had happened—no matter who saw it, they would understand that it was a battle between gods.

“Lord Baldur will definitely protect us.”

The old man repeated those words. Just as he walked out of the slums with the two children, he was pushed aside by the crowd on the street. He did not even hold the statue in his hand properly, and it fell out. It was crushed by a few people who were in a hurry.

“My idol! You dare step on an idol? You will be punished.” The old man ran forward hurriedly and reached out to pick up the broken sculpture. The sculpture had gradually lost its light; the old man would cry if he could.

No one cared about the old man. His young grandson, who was not far away from him, watched everything with widened eyes. The boy knew that the sculpture had lost its light as it fell to the ground

In the cathedral.

“Your Eminence, the battle in the sky has ended. Just as you guessed, the God of Light, Baldur, has won.”

A priest stood behind the red-robed archbishop and looked at the five broken sculptures on the ground. His expression was complicated. Only two sculptures remained in the cathedral. One was Baldur’s sculpture, but the light emitting from the statue was fading. On the other hand, the statue of the time traveler had not lit up at all.

“I did not expect the gods to fight amongst themselves. For some reason, this year was a disaster for the priests. We priests had collectively lost our ability to sense the gods for one day. Now, the kingdom has lost five of its seven gods. The power of the priests to believe in other gods will be significantly weakened! Not only that, the faith of the believers in the kingdom will also be impacted.”

The red-robed archbishop sighed. They needed the blessings of the gods to become stronger, and they also needed the names of the gods to plunder money. If the gods disappeared, the people would no longer believe in them; who would send money to the servants who served the gods?

“I wonder if this will turn into the same situation as the Demoness Church ten years ago. Oh, right! I just sent my men to the palace to deliver the news. His Majesty should have known about this matter by now. I wonder what His Majesty said about this matter.”

“Your Eminence, our men have just gone to the palace to report. Unfortunately, His Majesty is not in the palace. According to the reports from the people in the palace, His Majesty seems to have left a long time ago.”

“Not in the palace? If His Majesty is not in the palace at such an important time, then where could he be?”

The archbishop stared blankly at the sky, his expression melancholic with a hint of uneasiness.

In the sky…

After firing a few Divine Power Star Destroyer Cannons and digging a few holes deep into the earth’s core, Baldur came before Watson under the protection of many void warships and lowered his head to take a look. He said, “Watson, it seems like you’ve already devoured the cores of the other gods. That saves me the process of helping you collect them. Don’t worry, after I’ve fused with you, I’ll use that thing in your body to repair the ground! As for now, I hope that you can cooperate with me and not resist me.”

“Do you think that if I could resist you, I would still stay here?” Watson raised his hands and smiled bitterly.

His words stunned Baldur for a moment, and then he shook his head with a smile. “Watson, you are a fascinating person. If it weren’t for the thing in your body, perhaps you could have relied on your own efforts to become a god and enter the divine realm. It’s a pity.”

As he spoke, Baldur raised his hand and placed his palm on Watson’s forehead. Watson immediately felt like he had lost control of his body. Even though his will was about to be stripped away, an inexplicable and powerful force entered his body, gradually turning his body into someone else’s.

During that process, Nia raised her hand, wanting to stop Baldur’s actions. However, Watson turned his eyes with difficulty and gave Nia a look, indicating that she should not act rashly. Even if she did not understand, Nia still obeyed Watson.

At that moment, Baldur coughed. Black blood seeped out from the corner of his mouth, causing him to hunch his body in pain. Watson also recovered his freedom and laughed. “Lord Baldur, do you think that you have already won? It might not be appropriate to say that now. I don’t know if you have heard an old saying in the Holy Dragon Kingdom—the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.”