Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1268: Chapter 1267: Another Rift

The figure that used to be the War God Pope stands silently beneath the grand throne. He once became a vessel of divine madness, the source of spiritual pollution spreading among the Typhon upper echelons and military, inadvertently instigating the "war" between Typhon and the Cecil Clan, and indirectly leading to the Royal Family of Typhon’s purge and disbandment of the Sect of the God of War.

He was once personally captured by Emperor Rosetta Augustus and used as a "sacrifice" to guide the God of War’s premature descent into the mortal world.

There are few figures in history pivotal enough to mark a turning point, and Malm Dunite is one of them, though his role was not an honorable one.

But all these have become bygone events; for this apparition, which could either be called a ghost or a heroic spirit, all that happened in the mortal world has long lost its meaning. He is now a humble servant in this continually dissipating and disintegrating Divine Realm, guarding the last illusion left by the gods and watching over the gate of a kingdom that has already fallen apart.

"I never thought this place could still welcome visitors," Malm Dunite lifted his head, regarding these newcomers with a trace of curiosity—ancient Arcanists shimmering with energy, burly Holy Light "priests" armored in heavy gear, Otherworldly Gods arriving in projected forms... such a team was unimaginable back in the days he once knew. "What brings you here? This place is nothing but a collapsing ruin."

"We’re here to uncover the gods’ secrets," Kamel gazed calmly at the old man before him—regardless of whatever identity he once had, it no longer mattered. He merely saw the man as an ordinary source of information. Of course, throughout this, he maintained a basic caution to prevent any polluted power that this "ghost" in the Divine Realm might carry, "And you? How did you manage to retain your consciousness after your death and the fall of the gods, and linger here for so long?"

Malm Dunite was silent for a moment, then laughed, "I don’t know... perhaps simply because I wish to."

Kamel said nothing, just slightly tilted his head to glance at Myrna, who was also silent beside him, and then nodded slightly, "We’re going to continue exploring this place. Will you try to stop us?"

"No... I have no reason to stop you," Malm Dunite responded mildly, "Mortals have triumphed over the gods; this Divine Realm is your trophy, as acknowledged by my lord—the rule that you’ve won as all of humankind. Feel free to act as you wish."

Kamel relaxed slightly, though he did not think this ghostly old man had the power to stop a scouting team escorted by a godly incarnation. Yet, considering this is the Divine Realm of the War God, any strong action outside the plan could potentially trigger unforeseen changes here, so avoiding conflict was certainly the best outcome.

But just as he was about to raise his hand to order the White Knights to continue exploring other areas, Malm Dunite’s voice suddenly arose again: "There is a place I want to show you."

"A place?" Kamel appeared surprised yet somewhat wary, looking at the ghostly apparition before him. "What do you want us to see?"

"Relax, I mean no harm to you," Malm Dunite seemed to sense Kamel’s shift in mood—possibly a unique "instinct" of ghosts, his tone carried humor, "At the edge of the Divine Realm, I witnessed something that should not be present here. I thought you might find that sight interesting. It isn’t far, just quick access through here."

Kamel’s curiosity was instantly piqued. After a brief moment of hesitance and weighing his options, he chose to follow the ghost: "Lead the way."

Malm Dunite nodded and moved soundlessly towards a large door beside the throne. The scouting team followed under Kamel’s lead, with Myrna bringing up the rear, vigilantly observing for any environmental changes.

They passed through the arena’s outer wall, entering a new area through another door opposite the Pathway of Cheering. Here, numerous towering, doorless and windowless edifices stood, with iron-gray rooftops and high walls and towers adorned with swords and spears. The servants who once served the gods in this city had all dissipated; only the hollow wind whistled beneath the dim sky, raising some dust on the empty streets.

After the fall of the gods, even in this once immaculate Divine Realm, dust began to appear.

Yet, Malm Dunite merely shook his head slightly at this, without further lament—the time he spent wandering here had long wearyed any sense of wonder. He merely led the explorers through these silent palaces and streets, onward to further parts, aiming to guide the team to the realm’s edge.

As they approached the boundary of this space, Kamel noticed the environment around them quietly transforming—the dusky light of the sky had dimmed at some point, as if the night sky were gradually descending. The surrounding structures increasingly displayed signs of weathering and damage. Cracks and even breaks appeared on what were once sturdy walls and pristine roofs, and even the colossal stone-paved streets beneath their feet became increasingly rugged, with cracks scattered across the complete stone slabs.

It was as though the closer you got to the edge of the Divine Realm, the more this place displayed a state of erosion and unraveling by some force.

He couldn’t help but glance at the senior advisor in the team. The towering beauty of a "noblewoman" noticed the gaze coming from beside her, and a complex smile emerged beneath her veil as she softly said, "This is how the constant disintegration of a Divine Realm looks... It begins with the edges, where the ripples of chaos from The Deep Sea slowly wear it down. If the generational evolution of mortal thought were likened to a reef carved out over time, then the ripples of the The Deep Sea are like waves. Though the reef may seem solid, once it loses the constant ’sustenance’ of thought, it will inevitably, under ceaseless erosion by the waves, layer by layer, peel off and disintegrate.

"The dissected part returns to a chaotic state in The Deep Sea, and what you see now... is merely the initial stage of that process."

Kamel listened intently as the past deity imparted these lessons—knowledge that, in the past, directly taught to mortals would bear immense danger, as it could delve directly into the mysteries of divine workings, a reality once unreachable by human cognition. Yet today, a team composed of mere mortals has entered the Divine Realm; Kamel and the White Knights he led bear witness with their own eyes to the array of mysteries here, thus making previously taboo knowledge now accessible to mortals—an effect that bore a "symbolic" nature, forming one of the core tenets in the realm of gods.

Meanwhile, the scouting team gradually traversed beyond the realm’s outer district. As the light from the sky grew dim, so too did their surroundings become even more derelict and dilapidated.

Fully intact buildings became dwindling in number, while their surroundings filled with crumbling ruins; tall palatial structures transformed into heaps of bricks and stones. One edifice even collapsed silently before the explorers’ eyes—its silent fall bearing an air of specific eeriness.

Myrna lifted her hand, and a sphere of light ascended from her palm. The Illumination spell shed its glow, dispelling the gloom in their vicinity, yet further away, the chaotic darkness continually surged. Within that darkness seemed to roil intangible masses or shadows, layered and conglomerated like visual aberrations of dark patches amidst the deepest part of the chaos.

Kamel glanced at the chaotic darkness and suddenly felt that the scene seemed familiar. After a brief recollection, he finally realized where he had seen a similar sight — the shadow realm.

The "sky" of the shadow realm is almost identical to that chaotic darkness!!

"It seems you’ve noticed, too," the voice of the Goddess of Magic came at this moment, "The floating region of the God kingdom is referred to as ’The Deep Sea,’ and in a sense, The Deep Sea is the deepest part of the shadow realm. Unlike the distinct structure between the shadow realm and the real world, the separation from the shadow realm to The Deep Sea and then to the God kingdom is not so obvious... especially when the border of the God kingdom is shattered, this separation becomes increasingly blurred..."

"Can we travel directly to the shadow realm from here?" Kamel couldn’t help but ask, his curiosity and deduction abilities as a scholar beginning to function, "If the ’direction’ is correct, could we even reach the defied Court?"

"...Unfortunately, it’s not that simple," the Goddess of Magic laughed lightly, shaking her head and saying, "Seeing it doesn’t mean you can reach it, being able to reach it doesn’t mean it is visible, that which is both visible and reachable might not exist, and existing things might not be knowable... That is the deepest layer of the world, the birth and reflection relations of all things are not as simple as mortal knowledge understands. Even the gods cannot fully fathom the specific mysteries within, but I believe... maybe one day, you all will be able to understand it through your efforts."

Kamel pondered over the mysterious, profound, and daunting words spoken by the Goddess of Magic, and it was at this moment that Malm Dunite’s voice suddenly came from ahead, "We’ve arrived at the border of the God kingdom — the phenomenon I want to show you is just ahead."

Kamel awoke from his contemplation and looked forward as the scene of the God kingdom’s border unfolded before him!

The City of the War God has reached its end. Ahead of the scouting teams, the land seemed to have been broken by an invisible giant force, presenting a shocking and fragmented state. Beyond that menacing ruptured demarcation line, the ground had completely disappeared, with shattered building remnants rolling away from the God kingdom domain, undulating and rolling in a vast cloud sea-like swirling dust, while on this side, the end of the land had torn walls and building edges presenting a ripping-like state, the crumbled dust flowing like water through those cracks, continuously flowing down and out, falling out of the earth and into the endless cloud sea beyond the God kingdom, causing an unsettling feeling.

The Goddess of Magic raised her hand, and another light sphere soared into the air, floating above the cloud sea, the light sphere emanating a boundless glow, illuminating the entire cloud sea, allowing Kamel to see farther —

He saw countless vortices scattered across the cloud sea. At the end of the cloud sea, it boiled and rolled continuously, the junction of distant chaotic darkness and the cloud sea had a very clear boundary, constantly swallowing material escaping from the God kingdom. In the blink of an eye, they turned into fine particles, and then disappeared in the next moment.

This is the scene of the God kingdom being continuously swallowed by the ripples of The Deep Sea after death — even the strong-willed White Knights were inevitably shocked and murmured in awe when seeing this unprecedented majestic sight.

However, what Malm Dunite wanted to show Kamel and the others was not just this "consuming demarcation line," nor was it merely that rolling dust cloud sea.

This former War God Pope raised his hand and pointed to the distance, his deep and hoarse voice emanating from the depths of his Spiritual Body, "See over there? That largest vortex, what I want to show you is that thing."

Kamel’s gaze followed the Pope ghost’s hand direction, and in the next second, the two points of arcane magic at his head contracted sharply.

In the depths of the cloud sea, a colossal vortex was rolling, shattered building ruins were undulating around the vortex, and a huge dimensional rift was revealed amid the swirling dust, the origin and destination of this rift were unknown. Its curved edge showed an arc, as if accidentally exposing a small part of some grander structure. It sat at the center of that vortex, nearby floating debris being torn and swallowed the moment they approached.

And in the depths of that rift, an unusual, striking blue light shone like water waves, with a texture familiar to Kamel.

He hadn’t seen such a glow for a thousand years.

Kamel stared in that direction for a long time, then slowly reached out his hand after much deliberation. His hand crossed the fragmented boundary line of the God kingdom’s edge, and almost the moment it crossed this boundary, the feeling of magical extinction vanished — a strong magical surge came from that distant rift, the magic "radiation" it released seemed to permeate the entire cloud sea.

Kamel withdrew his hand, an understanding dawned within him.

The fragmented boundary beneath his feet was the current "ultimate limit" of the War God’s Divine Realm. Inside the boundary, the power of the God kingdom was intact, repelling magic and maintaining a "magic vacuum" within. But outside the boundary, the God kingdom’s effect of repelling magic disappeared, so the whole dust cloud sea (the "consuming transition" area between the God kingdom and The Deep Sea) was filled with magic diffused from that rift.

Kamel was not unfamiliar with it... it’s the magic of the Well of Deep Blue.

A term recently becoming a hot topic among the Empire’s top scholars popped into his mind: The Deep Blue Webway.

"Will The Deep Blue Webway appear near God kingdom areas?" Kamel suddenly turned and asked the Goddess of Magic.

"The Deep Blue Webway runs through all realms of the planet, theoretically whether it’s the shadow realm or the shadow realm, whether it’s the elemental world or the God kingdom, are all within the scope of The Deep Blue Webway," the Goddess of Magic immediately replied, but then she changed her tone, with a hint of unease, "But this... is not a normal Deep Blue Webway."

"Not a normal Deep Blue Webway? What do you mean?"

"It’s a rift, a leak point — you understand? The normal Deep Blue Webway is a stable flowing Magical Vein Flow, it contains extremely powerful energy, but like blood flow wrapped within blood vessels, it only flows within its ’trajectory,’ but this... the condition of this rift is clearly abnormal!"