Chapter 575: Night Awakens

Chapter 575: Chapter 226: Night Awakens

“Sealed away in the ‘True World’?”

Arnold tilted his head, a smile playing on his lips, his scarlet eyes filled with icy killing intent.

“That is merely a fragment, peeled away from reality. How could it be called ‘True’? And the ‘Night’ that exists in such a world—how could it possibly count as the true ‘Night’?”

“Only now that I am awake do I understand why the world has become what it is. It wasn’t just their handiwork… but also that of the four ‘True Gods’—Tina, McCarthy, all of them…”

“If not for that foolish woman’s choice… that so-called ‘Master of True Slaughter’ you worship would have been devoured by Tina long ago!”

BANG!

Arnold slammed his foot into Agostinho. The abyssal darkness that materialized on his gleaming leather shoe was like a razor’s edge, effortlessly piercing through the viscera coated in ash and blood to emerge from his back.

A complex expression twisted his features beneath the tattered clown mask—resentment, disdain, and loathing, but above all, an endless killing intent so ferocious it seemed to warp the red nose of the mask itself.

“GACK—”

Agostinho coughed up a cloud of ash. Specks of dark red blood dribbled from the corners of his mouth to his chest, only to be devoured by the fanged maws there.

“Blasphemy! This is slander against the great ‘Master of True Slaughter’!”

“Blasphemy? Slander? Why don’t you go ask that master of yours how, in the middle of the Third Era, he knelt like a dog in Strong City, knelt before Tina, begging for her forgiveness!?”

“He… is nothing more than a piece of scum who sought to usurp the authority of the throne while the gods slumbered. And you—you’re not even fit to be called scum!”

THUMP, THUMP…

Arnold treated the Grave Digger’s bizarrely conglomerated body like a balloon, kicking it again and again, leaving one penetrating crater after another.

“No, don’t—”

Agostinho raised an arm to block the black-shod foot, but both his arm and the tombstone it was connected to were pierced and shattered by the very essence of the Night, wreathed in endless darkness.

When the tombstone shattered, a dark figure emerged. It glanced around at the surrounding sea, lost and confused, before the very next kick tore through it, leaving behind only the fading, almost joyful echo of its words.

“This… this is the ‘True World’?”

“This is wonderful… The world is still here. It didn’t…”

“I hope that one day, this world will become a better place.”

“Too bad I won’t live to see that day. Just let those demons vanish completely, along with the ‘Fragment of Illusory Reality’!”

Arnold’s expression remained unchanged, his scarlet eyes fixed on the Grave Digger. He had already surmised what had happened to the world after the Third Era.

‘Though the details might differ, the Fourth Era must have been an age filled with chaos, darkness, and despair.’

‘Those dregs who hid during the Third Era must have crawled out of the woodwork during that age, trying to carve out their own kingdoms and ascend to the throne…’

As time went on, the very essence of the Night began to coalesce. Shadows swirled about as an endless, dark aura surged from every direction—welling up from the depths of the void as if to celebrate His return—transforming the churning sea into a domain of infinite darkness.

Even the crimson moon’s glow, shining from above the storm clouds, seemed to be veiled by a dim mist—a change noticed by the countless Extraordinary who monitored the moon’s fluctuations.

“NO—”

…

…

In the central region of the Eastern Continent, amidst the mountains of the Holy Sanctuary bathed in divine radiance, Saint Jobin XV stood atop the resplendent Cathedral. His gaze pierced the bright sky, passing through the extension of the Dawn Realm’s Cloak of the World to fall upon the dim mist obscuring the red moon in the night.

“The Night? How can this be…”

‘The essence of the Night, gone for so long, has reappeared in the world?’

‘Of course. The Desecration Authority has already appeared, so the return of the Night’s essence is hardly… Hmm?’

As if guided by some unseen force, Saint Jobin XV fell to his knees. He inclined his head, listening, waiting for the sacred whisper from the great and mysterious beyond to reach his ears.

“The knell has sounded. The Night is resurgent, and the world returns to chaos… Go to the sea. Find the boy…”

“Great Dawn, I beseech you, what is the boy’s name?” Under his mask, Saint Jobin’s full lips parted slightly as he asked with devout reverence.

“Wei’en Loft, find him…”

‘Wei’en?’

‘That name?’

‘Saint Jobin repeated the name to himself a few times. He already remembered it. This was the name of the Mutated Mage, the heretic who had slaughtered over ten thousand followers of their Dawn Church.’

“I remember.”

‘But what am I to do after I find him?’

That divine voice faded, leaving only two final words, “Kill him…”

‘He thought of the Judgement Saintess, who had left the Holy Sanctuary not long ago. She… she wouldn’t defy this divine decree, would she?’

‘Saint Jobin XV’s gaze again turned to the world beyond the sky. He wondered if the boy was connected to the revival of the Night, connected enough to draw the attention of the great Dawn…’

‘What an unfortunate little fellow…’

On the Southern Continent, amidst an endless, forest-wreathed mountain range, hundreds of city-states lay scattered like stars.

Yet, the bells of the Cathedral in every city-state rang out in unison. An ethereal green light emerged from the towering trees, converging within each Cathedral and carrying with it a series of gentle voices.

“The Night is resurgent. All followers of the Earth, do not leave the continent…”

On the Western Continent, in a city-state shrouded by the red moon, an alluring figure materialized. A seductive smile played on her lips as she gazed down at the handsome men and beautiful women kneeling throughout the city, her lazy, wicked voice descending upon them.

“The Night is resurgent. Remember this…”

Meanwhile, on the Northern Continent, inside a cerulean castle carved from ice, two Skeleton Mages recorded monitoring data while observing the dim, hazy glow of the red moon.