Chapter 480: Leaving the Base
Aiden slowly spoke, his voice so calm that Egretta felt a small flash of joy in her heart.
But in the next moment-
The corner of Aiden’s mouth curved into an extremely cold smile.
"But for this great plan of yours..."
"How many people have you killed?"
It was a simple question.
Yet every word felt like a heavy hammer smashing into Egretta’s chest.
The violent energy tides around them seemed to freeze at that moment.
The fanatical smile on Egretta’s face suddenly stiffened.
For the first time, a trace of panic and hesitation appeared in her deep eyes, eyes that were usually as calm as an ancient pond.
How many people had they killed?
To collect the aura of the Heavenly Demon, to create test subjects, to keep the Dawn Formation running...
The Reclassers and ordinary people who had died in the western and northern regions of the Great Shaw Empire, and even all over the world, numbered far more than ten million.
Those innocent people who had been forced to receive the aura of the Heavenly Demon, who had screamed in pain inside the culture tanks, were nothing more than the smallest expendable pieces in this massive plan.
Egretta’s breathing stopped for a brief moment.
As a Greater God, she had long seen mortals as ants. But under Aiden’s double pupils, which seemed able to see through the soul, something deep inside her felt as if it had been pierced.
That hesitation lasted only for a moment.
Egretta took a deep breath. The panic in her eyes was quickly replaced by coldness and firm resolve.
"Those who achieve great things cannot worry about small sacrifices."
She quickly regained her calm. Her voice was even colder than before.
"We did pay a price. We did make some people sacrifice themselves."
"But compared with the whole Earth being wiped out in the Great Destruction, that price is nothing."
"If we do not use their lives to open the way, then in the future, everyone will die!"
Egretta stared coldly at Aiden, trying to use the weight of a greater cause to push down the unease in her heart.
Aiden only let out a scoff.
He leaned forward slightly. The terrifying Law of Space gathered under his feet and formed a blooming black lotus in the void.
"Sacrificing others to fulfill your so-called greatness... how noble. It makes me sick."
"And besides..."
Aiden looked straight at Egretta, and the killing intent in his voice surged.
"What makes you so sure your plan is right?"
"What if, the moment that path opens, what comes is not ascension, but total destruction?"
"What gives you the right to make that choice for the billions of lives on Earth?"
Faced with Aiden’s questions, Egretta did not get angry.
Instead, for the first time, a deep and unreadable smile appeared on her face.
That smile carried a confidence that looked down on everything, along with absolute madness.
"Because..."
Egretta lowered her head slightly. Her voice was low and mysterious, as if she were reading an unchangeable divine decree.
"Our leader once crossed that barrier."
"He saw the higher universe with his own eyes."
"Saw the higher universe..."
Aiden’s double pupils slowly turned, reflecting Egretta’s fanatical and cold face.
The waves of the Law of Space in the air rose and fell like the tide, but Aiden did not release them.
Egretta looked at him. Then she suddenly gave a self-mocking laugh and shook her head.
"Today is not the day for us to fight to the death, Aiden."
"Realm of the Vanquished Divine, release."
She pressed her withered hands together, then suddenly pushed them outward.
Crack!
The gray barrier that covered the entire underground altar and blocked the senses of the gods was instantly filled with spiderweb-like cracks.
Then it shattered with a loud crash.
Violent frost divine power and the aura of thunder poured into the space like a broken dam.
Bella’s powerful God-King Rank will locked onto this place at once.
Egretta’s figure began to turn faint and unreal, like a wisp of smoke about to fade away.
"Aiden, the next time we speak, wait until you are strong enough to meet our leader."
"What you know now is still far from enough."
Before her words had fully faded, her body had completely merged into the void, leaving no trace of spatial movement behind.
She left with complete ease.
Aiden stood quietly where he was. He did not try to stop her.
Boom!
A huge ice crystal spear tore through the ceiling, carrying a freezing wave that seemed able to destroy the world. It crashed down in the center of the altar.
As the icy mist cleared, Bella’s beautiful figure appeared. Her lovely face was filled with seriousness.
She looked around, then finally fixed her eyes on Aiden.
"You let her go?"
There was clear shock in Bella’s voice.
With Aiden’s current control over the Law of Space, and his strange and powerful strength, if he had really wanted to keep Egretta there, she would never have left so easily.
Aiden slowly put away the space blade in his hand. The light in his double pupils faded.
"For now, yes."
He turned and looked down at the countless culture tanks below the altar, all flashing with a dark red glow.
"Why?"
Bella pressed him, her brows tightly furrowed. "If you don’t pull out the roots, Dawn Society will only become a greater threat."
"Because the relationship between Dawn Society and the Heavenly Demon is far more complicated than we thought."
Aiden’s voice was low and calm.
"They are not simple allies."
"Dawn Society is using the Heavenly Demon’s strength to tear open the barrier. And the Heavenly Demon is also using Dawn Society to break free."
"This is a deadlock where both sides are plotting against each other."
Aiden walked to the edge of the altar and looked down over the entire underground base.
"If we destroy Dawn Society completely right now, the Heavenly Demon will lose the only strength holding it in check."
"When that happens, the seven pillars of the Heavenly Demon will go out of control even faster, and in a way we cannot predict."
"Before we have absolute certainty, keeping Dawn Society alive to restrain the Heavenly Demon is the best choice."
After hearing this, a strange look flashed in Bella’s beautiful eyes.
She had not expected Aiden to stay so calm and think so strategically in front of such an arrogant enemy.
This was not compromise.
This was a game being played with the entire Earth and the Abyss as the board.
"What about these things?"
Bella pointed at the culture tanks below, which were giving off an evil aura.
"Of course..."
Aiden’s eyes turned cold.
"We destroy them all."
A flash of killing intent passed through Aiden’s eyes.
He slowly raised his right hand, then clenched his fingers hard.
"Space Collapse!"
Buzz-!
The huge underground base shook violently in that instant.
Countless black cracks in space appeared out of nowhere. They were like the open mouths of giant beasts, madly swallowing everything around them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thousands of culture tanks were crushed into pieces under the pressure of the Law of Space.
The dark red energy inside them, which had not yet finished transforming, was torn apart by the chaotic space currents.
The ritual to mass-produce Dawn Warriors was completely stopped.
In the deepest core area, several hundred Reclassers who had not yet been fully corrupted were wrapped in a soft force of space and slowly floated into the air.
Among them were three familiar faces.
They were former residents of Celestial Imperial City who had been purified before, only to disappear under strange circumstances.
Aiden looked at them and gave a soft sigh.
"Take them back to Celestial Imperial City and purify them with the formation."
"The ritual was stopped in time. The aura of the Heavenly Demon has not fully rooted itself in their bodies yet. They can still be saved."
As Aiden finished speaking, the violent space storm completely leveled Dawn Society’s western underground base.
The place that had once been used to mass-produce Heavenly Demon warriors vanished under a single strike from a god.
...
Several days later.
Celestial Imperial City stood beneath a flowing golden barrier, sacred and grand.
Aiden brought the several hundred rescued Reclassers with him and slowly landed in front of the city gate.
The priests in the city had already made their preparations. They immediately began to purify the survivors and settle them down.
Jade walked quickly to Aiden’s side, holding her long sword in her arms.
Her expression was serious, and she seemed to want to say something but held back.
"What is it?"
Aiden turned his head slightly and asked in a calm voice.
Jade took a deep breath, moved closer to Aiden, and lowered her voice.
"My lord, while our people were tracking Egretta’s aura, they found something unusual."
"Speak."
"After Egretta left the western base, she didn’t hide her trail. Instead, she went straight in one direction..."
Jade’s voice grew tense.
"That direction is Earth’s eastern region."
"If I remember correctly, that is also the direction of Bella’s Divine Domain."
"The eastern region... Bella’s Divine Domain..." Aiden repeated Jade’s words. A deep ripple passed through his double pupils.
"Guard Celestial Imperial City. Gather the purified Reclassers and take no action for now."
Aiden’s voice was calm, but it carried an authority that could not be questioned.
"Yes, my lord!" Jade bowed and withdrew.
Aiden turned around and took one step forward. The void rippled like water, and his figure vanished on the spot.
When he appeared again, he was already in the most central and quietest place in Celestial Imperial City-the Tower of Laws.
This was a forbidden place where gods entered seclusion. Pure lines of law flowed all around him, like star paths crossing through the night sky.
Aiden sat down with his legs crossed and slowly closed his eyes.
In his mind, countless complicated clues began to spin wildly like a passing lantern show.
The final words left behind by Yves, the first legendary ruler of the Great Shaw Empire, after a thousand years of planning.
Deep inside the Abyss of Demon Sealing, the unwilling and strange roar of the "Demon of Pride" as it was suppressed.
The almost fanatical logic Egretta, the executive elder of Dawn Society, had spoken of before leaving-"ascension" and the "revival of the Heavenly Demon."
And also the black Miko resentment that had faded from Kelsey’s body, along with the strange dreams she often mentioned.
These pieces seemed completely unrelated.
But at this moment, Aiden used his divine-tier mind to force them together.
"Resistance... sealing... destruction..."
Aiden silently repeated these words in his mind.