Chapter 78: A Despairing War

The first battle was an overwhelming defeat for the humans. Even the higher-ups in the Holy Kingdom who had foreseen the descent of a calamity in the Beast Forests. Though none of them could exactly see what it was, many of the Gods were able to guess that it must be the Beast Emperor. 

Only that monster had reached a power at which he was able to negate future sight or other similar techniques. Even if they were from a God.

As soon as many Gods foresaw how the battle would end, the Holy Kingdom amassed their troupes. Numbering over 200,000 Holy Knights. Over 150,000 of them were Rank 1 and 2 while the rest were Rank 3 and 4 Fighters. Each of them had been blessed by Ariel, the Strongest Goddess. They also had over twenty Legendary Rank Priests and Paladins. 

Though they were weakened due to the fight against the Magic Academy and Camilla, the Holy Kingdom still undoubtedly stood as the strongest amongst the four human kingdoms.

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As the armies were gathering and news of humanity's first devastating loss spread around, atop the sky of a random forest in the Holy Kingdom a bright light had descended over the land. 

It felt like a second sun was created in the sky. But slowly the light took form and it took the form of a woman. Everyone within the Kingdom knew what was happening, Goddess Ariel's Avatar had descended once more into the mortal realm. Recently she has been doing this very often.

Though if anyone saw her appearance, they would immediately turn into a believer. No matter their stance on her religion.

Ariel's golden hair flowed upward, seeming like each strand expanded into a galaxy of its own. Her white robes fluttered like flags. Ariel opened her blue eyes and gazed upon the world. Though this was only an Avatar and an imitation of her true self. She could still see what most couldn't in this mortal world. 

"So the Beast Emperor has truly awakened." She said softly while cusping her chin in worry. Immediately, all millions of her priests got a revelation and a warning. They now knew that something was coming and the Goddess had just warned them.

Ariel extended her hand and grasped the space around, creating a dark hole the size of a mountain. Out of it came blood-red tentacles of massive proportions, like they could cover the whole sky. Inside the dark hole were rows upon rows of teeth, each of them with the power to snap anything that came in contact with them. The creature itself radiated evil and a corruptive aura. As if it was the source of all the world's evil.

The Goddess Ariel, which seemed like a symbol of purity gazed upon the evil creature with an eerie calm gaze. "C'mon now, keep your end of the bargain and follow your master's orders."

Suddenly the creature writhed in pain, and it backed away, showing its true form through the hole.

The creature had an agape mouth filled with rows of teeth, its skin was slimy dark green. Its body had many holes which seemed like freshly dug injuries even though no blood was coming out of them. It had tentacles and seemed like a combination between an octopus and a grotesque humanoid figure.

[ Picture ]

Though the grotesque and monstrous creature seemed to writhe away in fear, Ariel only had a gentle look on her face. "I know of all the evil you have done. And I forgive you, the time of repentance is over, now is the time of healing."

For some reason, though, the creature was grotesque and monstrous looming. It acted as a weak child in front of Ariel, as if she was its worst nightmare. The angel-looking woman who seemed harmless and had a gentle smile on her face was scaring away the huge grotesque monster.

Due to the grotesque form of the creature no one would be able to tell what the creature might be feeling. But Ariel saw right through the monster as her blue eyes shone in a brighter light. "Now start corruption. Only then can the people find the one true God they want to believe in."

Suddenly the sky started turning darker, and the clouds started getting a tinge of gray. Evil energy moved around as if the world was getting corrupted.

…

As the gray clouds started to reach the Wayne Kingdom, Alex was at his Soul Sect Mansion, in his yard. He had his eyes closed as he manipulated thousands of Earth Golems underground, they were building many living facilities.

'How annoying!' Alex complained in his mind. Though his expression didn't seem to change at all.

This whole new event wasn't supposed to happen during the Beast War and Alex already had his work cut out for him. He didn't want even more problems to arise.

Still though, what he wanted and what was real were two different things. Reality wouldn't change for anyone, no matter how hard they wished for it. To change his reality, one had to take matters into his own hands.

Those were the thoughts that reigned in Alex's mind. So he stopped what he was doing and decided to investigate what was going on with the graying clouds that were turning darker with each passing second.

Alex's right eye shone as he looked at the darkening clouds. 

<Demigod's Eye>

[Scanning…]

This was a new special artificial eye created by the blood of a three-eyed fox. It was very useful, especially since it could catch on to things that normally one couldn't see.

[World Corruption is happening…]

That made Alex clench his teeth and tighten his fist. 

[Humans without any power will be corrupted…]

He felt his heartbeat quicken because his plans were all about to crumble away like dust.

But what bothered Alex, even more, was that he knew of no creature or ability that could do something like this. In this world, he had studied relentlessly, and even with his knowledge from his past life, nothing came to mind. He doesn't even have a clue. Though he could conclude that it wasn't a Hell's Creature, because while their powers were absolute, they had their limitations too.

This had just become an Apocalyptic Level situation. Meaning it was inevitable that most of humanity would be wiped out during this incident.

Alex's mind worked overdrive, trying to figure out a fool-proof plan for this situation. Something that would guarantee that he didn't lose his life or all that he had worked hard to build.

But while Alex was intelligent, he wasn't all-knowing, meaning that even if he came up with a thousand good plans. One unknown factor could make them obsolete. So the first thing he needed to do was find out what was causing this foul energy to spread through the Wayne Kingdom, or possibly the whole continent.

So with that all in mind, Alex decided to take on the most logical option first and make sure that he suffered no setbacks. 

A magic circle appeared in front of his mouth and he started talking. "Every homunculus, start creating the Mana Awakening Potions. That is an order that takes priority over anything else. Also, Ain, prepare over 10,000 Mana and Ki awakening stones." 

Each of his homunculi could hear his order due to the chip implanted in their brain. So he gave his orders, Alex floated up to the clouds, breathing in the fresh air and letting go of the tight leash he had on his Mana.

BOoOooOM!!!

His massive amount of Mana exploded out like a broken dam. The surroundings in the sky around him moved about as space slowly started and the laws of casualty morphed. 

Alex's Mana was a strange dark red color and if one looked deep enough they could see the screaming souls of the creatures he had killed. They all seemed to be inside his Mana. 

The Mana around him morphed and ejected itself into small balls and shot off. 

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Mana Bolts shot out and into hundreds of directions. Each of them would create a barrier around human settlements nearby to stop the spread of corruption for a time.

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A/N: In this world, everyone has their own will and goals. Alex might be doing his own thing, but the world won't stay still to fit his needs. People will keep striving to achieve their goals, and even do certain things that could ruin Alex's plans. They might not even have any ill will towards him, it's just that he was in the way.

P.S: A big thing will be revealed next chapter. Though I have given some hints about what it was along the story. So some might have already guessed what it could be.

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 Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

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