Chapter 1806: It's a trap
Chapter 1806: It’s a trap
“What!? Who dares to attack my pawns?!”
The Lord of Ages roared, fury flooding his skeletal frame as divine power surged through his form. He had little personal interest in the lives of those who dwelled within his domain—most of them were merely tools, pawns, or minor cultivators clinging to his protection. But an attack on any of his vassals was a direct affront to his authority—and that was something he would not tolerate under any circumstance.
Instantly, his perception—faster than the speed of light—flashed through the layers of space, reaching the skies above the recently destroyed Divine Kingdom. What he saw left a cold stillness in his soul.
The heart of the Divine Kingdom had been obliterated. Red flames and scorching winds ravaged what remained of the once-grand construct. The core crystal that maintained the spatial stability of the realm was shattered, its fragments raining down like molten hail. Pinokio, the Prima Deity in charge, was nowhere to be found. And more disturbingly, every single inhabitant of the Divine Kingdom had perished.
But that was no accident.
This wasn’t collateral damage from some battle gone wrong. This was extermination—swift, intentional, and efficient.
The Lord of Ages’ eyes narrowed as he examined the spiritual signatures of the dead. He quickly realized the truth. Pinokio had not ruled over living people but rather soul-bound puppets. All of them had been artificial constructs, created from stolen souls and bound into puppet bodies—a twisted domain of mimicry and control.
The Lord of Ages had always found Pinokio’s methods distasteful, but he hadn’t cared enough to intervene. After all, for the ArchDeity, mortal lives were meaningless, no different than ants. Now, however, it was clear that someone had taken it upon themselves to end the puppet master’s reign for good.
Still, a dilemma stirred in the ancient ArchDeity’s mind.
“Was this attack directed at me, or was this just a personal vendetta against Pinokio?” He didn’t have time to ponder for long.
Suddenly, a low tremor coursed through the fractured Divine Kingdom—and the next instant, the entire dimension erupted in an explosion of cataclysmic force.
“BOOOOOOOOOOM!”
The blast sent waves of destruction in every direction, distorting space and leaving nothing but void in its wake.
The Lord of Ages clenched his fists, fury boiling in his veins.
“His True Name was destroyed…” he muttered grimly. “Pinokio is truly dead.”
That fact alone made his eyes darken. Pinokio may have been weak, but he possessed numerous trump cards and defensive formations. For him to be so quickly and decisively erased meant that the attacker had to be extremely powerful—likely a Peak Prima Deity, if not more.
Even more worrying: whoever did it had vanished before he could even trace them.
“Could this have been targeted at me after all? No—unlikely. Who would be mad enough to declare war on me alone?”
Still, the Lord of Ages wasn’t one to take risks lightly. He immediately began probing deeper, analyzing every lingering fragment of energy in the area, trying to identify the culprit.
That’s when he felt it—again.
His pupils dilated. His breath froze.
Another Divine Kingdom in his domain was under attack.
“No…” he whispered. “Not again!”
Without hesitation, he exploded from the heart of his Eternal Kingdom. His divine energy scorched the sky as he tore through dimensions at a blinding pace, his arrival warping the very fabric of space and time. His perception spread like a net, scouring every inch of his vast domain.
Despite his speed, the Divine Kingdoms under attack were on the outer edge of his influence, too far for immediate intervention.
He was almost there when—
“BOOOOOOOM!”
The second Divine Kingdom exploded, echoing the fate of the first. Its crystal core shattered, its structure ripped apart, due to the destruction of its creator’s True Name.
The Lord of Ages roared a sound that tore through realms and sent shockwaves through the sky. His aura blazed like a dying star. Never before had he been so enraged.
And then he heard it.
“THUMP!”
“THUMP!”
“THUMP!”
The sound of a heartbeat—deep, thunderous, and fast. With the power to make the sky tremble.
It was the kind of heartbeat that gods feared.
The Lord of Ages zeroed in on the source, and his divine senses focused on a single figure hovering amidst the destruction, cloaked in black metallic skin. Flames wrapped around his form like a crown, lightning surged from the wings on his back, and in his massive hand, he held a gigantic dark sword exuding pure annihilation.
Of course, the Lord of Ages recognized this person immediately after all just a few years ago he had attempted to kill him.
“You!” the Lord of Ages thundered. “Impossible! You’re supposed to be with Tiamat’s army near the Enlightened One’s domain!”
For a moment, the ArchDeity’s mind reeled. “Did that bastard lie to me? He stated clearly that Cain and the army were far away!”
He shook those thoughts from his head. None of it mattered now.
Cain was here. And he was about to strike again.
“Lay down your weapon, or be destroyed!” the Lord of Ages commanded, his voice thundering across the heavens like a divine edict.
Cain didn’t even blink. He offered no reply.
Instead, his lips curved into a cold smile as he raised his sword, which pulsed with dark light.
“World Shattering Sword – First Stance: Shardbreak Horizon!”
Sky Devourer howled as Cain slashed downward. The blade moved like a bolt of cosmic judgment, crashing into the Divine Kingdom’s Crystal Wall—and shattering it as if it were glass.
The destruction didn’t stop there. From the sword burst a dragon-shaped arc of energy, forged of pure destruction, that roared forward, piercing into the heart of the Divine Kingdom.
The blast reached the Prima Deity who ruled it before he could react. He was sent flying into the sky, his Divine Kingdom collapsing around him.
But Cain wasn’t done.
In an instant, he flashed through space and appeared before the wounded Prima Deity. His eyes glowed with brutal intensity as he grabbed the man’s chest with his massive hand and summoned the Scarlet Throne.
“Insignificant ant.”
The Lord of Ages roared, his voice thundering across the realm, laced with all the fury and divine wrath his ancient heart could muster. Black chains, thick and endless, burst from his skeletal frame, each one humming with apocalyptic force. As they surged forward, they distorted the very fabric of reality, ready to strike Cain down with an unrelenting, absolute killing might.
Cain’s eyes narrowed as he watched the incoming onslaught. The sheer power behind those chains was immense—far beyond what he could handle head-on. Yet, there was no fear in his gaze. Instead, his lips curved into a small, knowing smile.
That smile made the Lord of Ages pause. Something was wrong. Deep within his ancient instincts, alarm bells rang. He looked at Cain again—then, almost involuntarily, his gaze was pulled upward.
And that’s when he saw it.
Falling from the sky was a massive energy cannon, forged from five elemental forces. Each of them was infused with a complete Oniric Truth, giving the weapon the power to shatter a cosmos. It radiated destruction, harmony, and divinity all at once, collapsing the sky as it descended.
“Damn it!” the Lord of Ages roared, fury giving way to a sudden, frantic desperation.
He was forced to halt his attack on Cain mid-strike. The backlash of stopping his own technique tore through his body, causing internal ruptures and destabilizing his soul flame. Gritting his teeth, he summoned every ounce of his remaining strength and conjured a cocoon of chains around himself—layer after layer of divine metal, thick enough to resist stars being crushed inside them.
And then the cannon struck.
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”
The world screamed as the explosion ignited. Light burst in every direction, yet none could pierce the depth of the colossal crater that formed where the energy cannon landed. Space cracked and twisted. The fabric of reality was shredded. Entire layers of the realm were obliterated as shockwaves spread for hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
Cain watched it all unfold with a heavy breath. Even he, for all his resilience, felt the need to brace himself against the fallout. The sheer magnitude of the attack was beyond devastating—it was apocalyptic. The earth trembled beneath his feet, and the sky groaned above him.
And then, from the heavens, she descended.
A beautiful woman with long, flowing white hair appeared from the torn sky. Her presence silenced the destruction. Behind her shimmered the phantom of a five-headed dragon, each head pulsing with a different elemental force. Her mere existence warped reality, causing time and space to bend in reverence.
Tiamat had arrived.
The Dragon Empress glanced at Cain briefly and offered him a single, approving nod. There was no need for words—everything had gone according to plan. This was not a rescue. This was the climax of a trap that had been set from the very beginning.
Her eyes turned toward the canyon of ruin below, where the Lord of Ages was buried.
Then, without hesitation, she dived in—spearheading straight into the heart of the shattered land.
Her target had never been the Enlightened One.
From the beginning, the true goal of the Eternal War was the Lord of Ages, and now, the Dragon Empress herself was going in for the kill.