Volume 5, Chapter 0.9 – Prologue – Part III

Within a villa in Hualong Nation.

“Zzzzt crack crack~”

Accompanied by a surge of electric current and spatial distortion, a spatial teleportation gate quietly opened under the embrace of platinum-colored holy light.

Immediately after, a white-robed man appeared in the villa’s living room, carrying a white-haired woman in his arms.

These two figures were none other than two Ancestors of House Solrog: Astral, the leader, and Isabelle, the Second Ancestor.

However, after arriving in the villa room, Astral—this peerless expert who had just faced the Terran Malevolence head-on—directly released Isabelle, covered his recently healed abdomen, and sat on the sofa in considerable exhaustion, with breathing sounds slowly emanating from the shadows beneath his hood.

“Lord Astral! Are you alright?”

Isabelle, who had just recovered from the rapid teleportation, immediately knelt on the sofa and carefully reached out to remove the hood from Astral’s face, seemingly wanting to check the True Ancestor’s condition.

Although she had previously been nearly destroyed soul and all by Bai Lianyue’s sword, she had ultimately been saved through Astral’s efforts.

Due to Astral’s life force infusion, Isabelle’s current condition was even better than Astral’s.

…

However, just as Isabelle reached out, Astral instantly raised his hand and firmly grasped Isabelle’s wrist.

“Don’t. It will frighten you.”

“Lord Astral…”

Upon hearing this, the white-haired woman trembled all over and asked with extreme concern and unease:

“Is your body… still alright now?”

As the second core of House Solrog, Isabelle naturally knew about the True Ancestor’s physical condition.

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To reach the Divine Graced Realm, their House Solrog had placed bets in different directions. Compared to Duan’s idea of using elven secret arts to collect resentment and create evil gods, Astral himself had been continuously training in seclusion and modifying his body to adapt to the Heart of the World, ultimately using the power within the Heart of the World to help break through to the Divine Graced Realm.

This period was the crucial moment for Astral’s seclusion training and body adjustment.

Originally, the adjustment was estimated to take another year.

But due to Nether Palace’s emergency call for help, Lord Astral had to emerge from seclusion early. Early emergence was obviously not beneficial to his body.

“Is the… medicine backlash severe?”

“Emerging early… doesn’t have too great an impact on me.”

The white-robed man shook his head, giving a denial.

“The main issue is still the influence of the Heart of the World.”

While speaking, Astral slowly extended his hand, revealing his right arm that was gradually being eroded by golden cracks.

“After all, I’m not The Lord. Even after adjusting for so many years, my compatibility with the Heart of the World is still insufficient. The Heart of the World’s energy inherently resists me. And I, to deal with the Terran Malevolence, forcibly mobilized both the Heart of the World’s power and the power of resentment. As a result, the backlash is now quite severe, not to mention I took a direct sword strike at the end. Hehehehe.”

Shaking his head, Astral said with a bitter smile.

The bitter smile carried a hint of self-mockery. As the words left his mouth, several more cracks appeared on Astral’s arm.

Obviously, forcibly absorbing the Heart of the World and directly confronting the Terran Malevolence had completely overloaded his body.

“Lord Astral! Please wait! I’ll call Hume over immediately!”

“No need. He can’t treat this condition.”

The white-robed man directly spoke, stopping Isabelle’s idea.

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“Next, I must continue my seclusion to complete the fusion with the ‘Heart of the World.’ Don’t let anyone disturb me. During this period, House Solrog will continue to be led by you.”

Sand-colored pupils under the hood narrowed slightly as unquestionable authoritative words quietly entered Isabelle’s ears.

Hearing this, Isabelle restrained her worried expression and stood respectfully and seriously beside the sofa.

“I understand, Lord Astral.”

“Mm. I leave it to you.”

After briefly giving instructions, Astral slowly closed his eyes.

Obviously, Astral still gave sufficient trust to Isabelle, this companion who had followed him the longest.

In the next moment, accompanied by a surge of platinum-colored light, Astral, embraced by golden light, quickly disappeared from his original position, leaving Isabelle standing alone silently in the room.

Gazing at the empty sofa, this Second Ancestor of Solrog slowly closed her eyes.

At this moment, Isabelle’s mood was quite excited.

Although the True Ancestor’s condition looked poor, he had absorbed the Heart of the World yet only suffered this degree of backlash. This indicated that Lord Astral’s body had sufficient adaptability to the Heart of the World. Current instability didn’t matter—as long as Lord Astral continued his seclusion to fuse and absorb that power, he would definitely be able to control the Heart of the World!

At that time, Lord Astral would officially step into the Divine Graced Realm.

“I wish you all the best, Lord Astral.”

…

Just as Isabelle was feeling emotional, the room door quietly opened.

A female Executioner suddenly pushed open the door. Obviously, she had also sensed the spatial fluctuations within the room.

“Lord Isabelle! You’ve returned!”

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After taking in Isabelle’s blood-stained appearance, this Executioner couldn’t help but tremble all over.

“Lord Isabelle? This is…”

“This… don’t worry about it.”

Glancing at her tattered clothing and the wounds on her body that still hadn’t completely healed, Isabelle said indifferently.

“Nether Palace… did the Terran Malevolence lose control?”

“Mm.”

Isabelle nodded noncommittally.

“Rather than losing control, it’s more accurate to say Duan fell into a trap. The Terran Malevolence was never controlled by us—she was just pretending, wanting to lure us over for a complete wipeout. Duan, Genovis, and Visarion are all dead, and Nether Palace no longer exists.”

“How could this happen?”

“It doesn’t matter. House Solrog’s foundation remains intact, and Lord True Ancestor has successfully recovered the Heart of the World.”

Seemingly hearing the unease in her subordinate’s tone, Isabelle reassured her.

“You don’t need to worry too much. Although Nether Palace has fallen, that monster Terran Malevolence can’t come over. Lord Astral has closed the spatial tunnel.”

While speaking, Isabelle silently walked to a nearby window and forcefully pulled open the curtains.

Instantly, moonlight shot into the room.

Gazing toward the beautiful mountains, forests, and rivers below, as well as the vast and beautiful metropolis in the distance, Isabelle playfully raised the corners of her mouth.

“No matter how powerful evil gods are, they cannot break through world barriers to cross over. Once Lord Astral breaks through to the Divine Graced Realm, we’ll eventually return to reclaim everything that’s ours.”

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Isabelle was quite confident about this.

If Lord Astral could successfully control The Lord’s relic, then even when directly confronting evil gods, Lord Astral would definitely be able to secure victory.

However, compared to Isabelle’s confidence, the expression of the Executioner behind her became increasingly subtle, with cold sweat even dripping from her forehead.

“Hm?”

Isabelle quickly noticed the abnormality in her subordinate’s expression and asked with confusion:

“What’s wrong, Luna?”

“Lord Isabelle… didn’t you mention before that… the Terran Malevolence has an Ancient Fae form?”

“That’s correct. What about it?”

“Uh.”

Swallowing saliva, the Executioner named Luna didn’t answer directly but silently took out her phone, activated the room’s projector, and projected a live news broadcast.

“Lord Isabelle, this… this shouldn’t be Gaia Lobir, right?”

“Hm?”

Frowning, Isabelle looked toward the side with slight confusion. After seeing the face of that elf girl captured in the news broadcast, Isabelle’s recently calmed heart instantly trembled, her pupils contracted, and goosebumps rose all over her body.

“Lord… are you fucking kidding me?!”

That monster?!

Had followed them here?!!