Read Novel Full Chapter 1626: Roots of Treason
Chapter 1626: Roots of Treason
At the city gates, Earthshaker and Ol’ Two-Horns watched the army depart.
"Old Chieftain, I’m torn," Ol’ Two-Horns muttered. "I used to be firmly in the Third Prince’s camp. I thought Pallas was the perfect fit for the next Giant King."
"And now?"
"Now, I’m second-guessing. The Fourth Prince... he had the same fire My lord did back in the day. Plus, rumor has it he carved his way out of hostile alien territory. He’s been baptized in blood and war. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind him sitting on the throne."
Ol’ Two-Horns scratched his head, his limited brain capacity struggling to figure out which royal to back.
Smack! Earthshaker backhanded the back of Ol’ Two-Horns’s head, leaving his ears ringing and his skull throbbing.
"You thick-skulled idiot, what the hell are you stressing about?" Earthshaker scoffed. "A grunt like you thinks he has the right to pick a side? You’ve got to be kidding me!"
Politics was way above Ol’ Two-Horns’s pay grade.
"Listen to me," Earthshaker continued. "Smart men hedge their bets. Whoever wins or loses, it’s none of our damn business. Figuring out who takes the throne isn’t our headache. That’s a problem for the great My lord!"
At the mention of the title, Earthshaker pounded his chest, his customary salute to Orion.
"Send word to Monar Bastion. Tell my brother Hoofsmash to dispatch three thousand elite bloodline warriors to Prince Pallas. Hmm... I hear Princess Elara has returned to Stoneheart City as well. Send the exact same number to her."
High upon the thrones of the World Tree.
While the entire Stoneheart Horde was busy purging their territories of instability, Orion slowly opened his eyes. His gaze locked onto the World Tree branch belonging to Archbishop Kysar.
"Heh... the Cult of Four moves faster than I thought."
"Indeed," drawled the careless voice of The Lifeless Dreadgod as his own branch materialized from the void.
The Insect Queen Moriphara’s branch manifested next. Silent, she glanced between Orion and The Lifeless Dreadgod before fixing her cold eyes on Archbishop Kysar.
"Gentlemen, for the sake of the Titanion Realm, and for ourselves, I require your assistance," Archbishop Kysar requested flatly.
It was a formal request, but barely. To the four of them, anything that benefited the Titanion Realm was mandatory. Whether Kysar asked or not, they would—and must—intervene.
Before the others could question him, a phantom projection of The Dais of Judgment appeared in Archbishop Kysar’s hand. The World Tree branch beneath his throne began to shudder. It trembled violently, as if attempting to drag something impossibly heavy. Yet, the pulling force clearly wasn’t enough.
"What are you waiting for?" Archbishop Kysar’s voice was grave, his entire body shaking under a crushing, unbearable pressure.
Orion, The Lifeless Dreadgod, and Moriphara exchanged a look. Their decision was instantaneous.
Their three respective branches shuddered in sync. Channeling the Authority of their domains, Orion, The Lifeless Dreadgod, and Moriphara funneled the world energy of the Titan continent, The Lifeless Expanse, and The Swarming Continent through the World Tree’s root network. The combined power surged directly into the branch anchoring the Continent of the Pantheon.
Bolstered by their support, Archbishop Kysar’s tremors ceased.
"Supreme Will of the Realm!" Kysar chanted. "I offer the great world under my control as a sacrifice! Manifest your roots and help us cleanse all foreign filth!"
This was expected. Orion and the others had intervened because they sensed Kysar attempting to drag an entire world into the Titanion Realm. A merger of this magnitude was purely beneficial to all of them; the stronger and more advanced the Titanion Realm became, the more potent their own Authority would grow.
Archbishop Kysar’s prayer drew the attention of the World Tree’s consciousness.
Sensing the offering, the World Tree manifested three impossibly thick roots.
The sight made everyone’s hearts skip a beat.
"This... what is this? Kysar, you old bastard, have you lost your mind?"
The Lifeless Dreadgod was the first to react. As an ancient being, he understood far more about the mechanics of the cosmos than Orion or Moriphara.
"Three great worlds?" Orion was equally stunned.
Behind Archbishop Kysar, three colossal vortexes tore open. Beyond each vortex lay a world no smaller than the Continent of the Pantheon.
Like starving dragons, the World Tree roots plunged through the vortexes into the worlds beyond, ravenously feeding on them while dragging them closer. Orion, The Lifeless Dreadgod, and Moriphara could feel it: the worlds beyond the vortexes weren’t resisting. The only resistance came from the native World Trees of those three realms, frantically struggling to break free from their masters’ control in a desperate bid for survival.
"What is he trying to do?" Moriphara voiced the question once she suppressed her shock. Orion was thinking the exact same thing.
"Hahaha! They’re committing heresy! They want eternal life! They want to ascend to the Divine Mantle!" The Lifeless Dreadgod’s shock shifted to elation, culminating in hysterical, maniacal laughter. "Kysar, you’ve finally seen the Four Gods for what they truly are. If you want to live, you have to fight them! Hahaha! This is rich!"
Archbishop Kysar had roped in the other three Archbishops of the Cult of Four to merge their remaining three mortal worlds into the Titanion Realm. It was a stunt The Lifeless Dreadgod hadn’t even dared to imagine.
Even Orion found the spectacle utterly insane. It was escalating too fast. It was spiraling out of control.
"Kysar, I’m throwing my full weight behind this! Kehehe!"
True to his word, an even more massive surge of world energy erupted from The Lifeless Dreadgod’s roots, reinforcing the main World Tree roots.
Orion’s eyes gleamed. He immediately cranked up his own output of world energy. This time, however, Orion bypassed Archbishop Kysar’s branch entirely, funneling his energy directly into the grasping roots of the World Tree. Moriphara wasn’t slow on the uptake either. Following their lead, she poured her energy straight into the roots as well.
Archbishop Kysar shot the three of them a dark look and scoffed. His little scheme had been seen through, but he couldn’t afford to care right now. He was giving everything he had to tow the three worlds; there was no room for distraction.
Safely devouring three massive worlds was going to be a long, grueling process. So long, in fact, that Orion, The Lifeless Dreadgod, Archbishop Kysar, and Moriphara would be entirely stranded in The Primordial Realm, utterly oblivious to the escalating wars tearing across the continents of the Titanion Realm below.