Chapter 418: When the Stars Fell
The gods had returned.
They had returned from the place to which Pegira had once exiled them.
They did not even think of taking a look at the present world. Instead, they went straight toward the World’.
Carrying with them desire, anger, hatred, and wariness, the entire world twisted along with their will.
Of course, among all these emotions, the strongest were naturally hunger and greed.
After the Progenitor Gods, these gods had all ascended through faith. Forgotten as they were, they should have died long ago.
Yet no new existences had replaced their names.
Thus, they clung desperately to that faint thread of connection with the world and barely survived.
Moreover, the methods left behind from when Pegira had once used them as energy to sustain the Eternal Empire instead became the very sustenance that allowed them to endure until now.
They emerged from every corner of the world, following the targets granted to them by the Original Sins, continuously charging toward the World’.
There lay the final life of the entire world.
One could say that place was the world itself, and to seize it was equivalent to seizing the whole world as it existed now.
Perhaps, by relying on the phenomena artificially created by Pegira, they could become existences that surpassed even the Progenitor Gods?
They hungered for sustenance, and in that very instant, they greedily yearned for power.
Under the erosion of time, this had already become their instinct.
No matter what, the first thing they had to do was enter the World’.
They did not believe that entering the World’ and completing their plans before that existence emerged would pose any real difficulty.
And even if there truly were difficulties, they had no choice but to act.
They were already close.
They had seen that spherical World’.
Joy surged from their wills. They sensed no trace of Pegira’s will, felt no presence of Aivas Edros, nor perceived the power of that existence.
“The world has returned to our hands!”
This thought inexplicably arose within them.
Or rather, it had already become an established fact.
Then they saw it.
Upon the surface of the World’, a gigantic tree stump slowly emerged, and the World’ itself was wrapped tightly within its densely intertwined roots.
Before they could finish analyzing this suddenly appearing stump, it abruptly erupted with countless streams of light that shot straight toward them.
Perhaps the streams of light were too fast, or perhaps their hunger had dulled them.
In merely an instant, dozens of gods were swept away by the light, dragged back, and bound beneath thick roots.
Gods had no fixed form.
Their essence was nothing more than undying will, and the shapes they manifested were merely reflections of their mental images.
Ordinary beings might have been unable to perceive them due to the vast disparity in existence.
But gods could see gods.
They could see those captured gods struggling madly.
Yet they could not break free.
Those roots were like the very world upon which they depended for survival.
“No! That is the Holy Spear! The Holy Spear that connects to the root of the world!”
For a brief moment, a god discerned the true nature of those roots.
“Is Pegira not dead?!”
A god screamed in terror.
“No, he is dead! Completely dead! He will never return!”
Fear rippled through another god’s will.
“Is the Holy Spear his contingency? Was it left specifically for us?”
A god began to speculate.
“No. That man never possessed such wisdom. It must be that existence. He, too, can see the future.”
A god who maintained rationality spoke, his will firm.
“The Original Sins were never to be trusted!”
A god roared in fury.
Then he was devoured by Wrath.
“You idiots! I do not care what methods you use. You must enter the world! Outside the world, the Holy Spear is hunting you. Inside the world, gods already exist, and we can exist there as well!”
The voice cursed in rage.
“The Holy Spear can only target those outside the world. It will not strike the World’ itself. That frail World’ cannot withstand even a single blow from the Holy Spear.”
“And if you refuse to enter, then you become our enemies!”
Gluttony spoke these words.
His voice and will were saturated with hunger, as though he wished to devour the gods before him.
He truly was starving.
Unlike the other Original Sins, who could still suckle nourishment from the world, he was trapped beneath Corleon’s gaze, frequently attacked and constantly worn down.
Thus, his hunger was extreme.
The gods erupted in fury, shouting in unison:
“Progenitor! Your children beg for your return! Reclaim the world that rightfully belongs to you!”
They called out to the Progenitor Gods.
The Original Sins were special.
As long as life existed within the world, Original Sin existed as well.
Even the Primordial Gods possessed Original Sin.
That was precisely why, during the war between Pegira and the Primordial Gods, the power of the Original Sins had made the Primordial Gods deeply wary.
Moreover, when Pegira and Aivas Edros had once fought, their mouths had been particularly foul.
The moment a trace of emotional fluctuation appeared within the Primordial Gods, Original Sin could amplify it infinitely, ultimately inflicting severe damage.
If the Original Sins could do this even to Primordial Gods, then these lesser gods stood no chance.
Their wills would be polluted, reshaped into new existences that replaced their divine names.
In essence, that was annihilation.
They did not wish to die.
They called upon the Progenitor Gods.
Only the Progenitor Gods could contend against Original Sin.
Yet the Progenitor Gods did not answer.
They could only feel the Progenitor Gods’ gaze resting upon this place.
Despair took hold.
Anger followed.
They understood that the Progenitor Gods were using them to test the waters, to gauge how powerful the Holy Spear truly was.
But what choice did they have?
They could not resist.
They were too weak.
If they disobeyed the Original Sins, they would be erased—either by the Original Sins themselves, or by the silently observing Progenitor Gods.
If they obeyed and rushed into the world, at worst they would merely be bound beneath the roots.
It was only the extraction of power.
When Pegira’s Eternal Empire still existed, they had endured this before.
And afterward, they had still broken free and regained their freedom.
Thus, after weighing their options, they charged one after another into the world.
From the dawn of creation until now, how many gods had existed?
Just as Pegira’s Eternal Empire had used gods as eternal energy, even if the number of gods did not equal the number of World’, at least one or two out of every ten Worlds’ certainly existed.
Such a vast number of gods poured continuously into the world.
The tree stump unleashed countless streams of light, ceaselessly striking them down and binding them.
Within the world, upon the land itself, countless lives needed only to look up to witness the magnificent golden streams of light—
as if the stars themselves were falling.