HPxLOTM: A Wizard's Path to Divinity-Chapter 718: Yours, Yours, All Yours

Backlund.

Unaware that the situation on the battlefield had been completely reversed with the conclusion of the divine war, the people of Loen were still struggling merely to survive from one meal to the next. A few days earlier, they had at least been able to purchase cheap grain sold by the great banker, Count Hall, but over the past couple of days, grain had become harder and harder to obtain. With no other options, they could only come to the churches’ relief houses to try their luck.

At that moment, accompanied by the rumbling of wheels, cart after cart of grain was suddenly delivered under the church’s arrangements. Very soon, the supervising cleric loudly announced:

"The war has ended. In the coming days, prices in Backlund will quickly return to normal. Before that, the Church will distribute supplies free of charge."

The starving poor immediately erupted into cheers. They repeatedly chanted phrases of "Praise the Goddess," and some even knelt to the ground, kissing the wheels of the carts in reverence.

Lilith leaned against a corner wall, calmly observing everything before her.

At that moment, accompanied by heavy footsteps, a handsome red-haired man whose clothes were stained with vivid crimson blood walked over.

"Hey, isn’t this Miss Lilith?" he said with a grin. "I heard you lost two Conqueror Beyonder characteristics. Is that true?"

Lilith glanced at him.

"Oh."

"Tsk. What a coincidence—I also got my hands on Salinger’s Blood Banner."

"Oh."

"If you don’t do something soon, I’ll be advancing to Red Priest, you know."

"Mm."

"Yo, what’s this? Are you scared now? Chickened out?" he mocked. "Every time you saw me before, you looked so smug and pleased with yourself. What’s wrong now—nothing to say?"

Lilith replied calmly, "Are you talking about yourself?"

Medici chuckled.

"So what if I am? With three Beyonder characteristics and the Uniqueness in hand, shouldn’t I show off a little? Shouldn’t I put on an act in front of you?" He sighed exaggeratedly. "What a pity, really. You plotted for so long, and yet I just lay back and picked up the biggest bargain."

"Oh, you weren’t planning to set your sights on Cheek, were you?" Medici continued lazily. "Too bad. Once I advance to Red Priest, I’ll kill Her at the first opportunity, then directly fuse with the City of Calamity. As for you—just obediently remain an angel for the rest of your life."

Lilith remained unmoved, merely looking at him indifferently.

"Tsk."

Medici clicked his tongue. Showing off and provoking without getting any response at all quickly bored him. After a moment’s thought, he said, "How about this—I’ll give you another chance. Let’s play rock–paper–scissors again to decide the outcome?"

"No need," Lilith replied flatly. "The Red Priest is yours. Cheek is yours. The City of Calamity is yours. The Calamity of Destruction is yours. The world is yours. The universe is yours."

"All of it is yours."

"...."

Medici raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, leaning against the wall beside Lilith.

"What’s wrong with you?"

Lilith said calmly, "You wouldn’t happen to still not know what the situation in the Astral World is right now, would you?"

"What?" Medici grinned. "You mean the divine war between the Evernight and Badheil? Given what I know about Evernight, the unlucky one will definitely be Badheil in the end, but...what does that have to do with me?"

"Not them," Lilith shook her head.

"Do you know that Cheek tore open a rift in the barrier of Her divine kingdom?"

The smile on Medici’s face vanished.

"What?"

"Do you know that the Mother Goddess of Depravity nearly used Mr. Door’s return ritual to breach the barrier just now?"

"???"

"Do you know that after Adam finally repaired the barrier using the first Blasphemy Slate, Badheil’s dying sword strike tore the barrier completely apart?"

"!!!"

"And do you know..." Lilith paused for several seconds, "...that the invasion of the Outer Deities has already become a fact—irreversible and unstoppable?"

The series of questions left Medici stunned. The three heads within him all failed to process it at once. After confirming again and again that Lilith was not joking, it took him a long while before he muttered blankly,

"You mean...I just got my three Conqueror characteristics and the Uniqueness, and the apocalypse is already here?"

"Damn it!!!"

Medici paced back and forth, cursing as he went. But very quickly, he sensed that something was off. He turned his head and stared straight at Lilith.

"Wait a second—why do you look not worried at all?"

Lilith fell silent for a moment. Then a brilliant smile suddenly bloomed across her face.

"Because Edward is there."

Medici froze, wearing the classic ’huh?’ meme expression.

"???"

Then, unable to help himself, he pointed at her in a full husky-pointing-at-people pose.

"You—this..."

———

The curtain of the Astral World was burning.

The Primordial Demoness’s divine kingdom shook violently under the aftershocks unleashed by the God of Combat’s fall.

That resolute final strike before the God of Combat’s death had cleaved a shocking crimson fissure across the firmament, like a hideous, bleeding wound torn open in the heavens.

The Outer Deities, like beasts lying in wait, hovered beyond the rift. Twisted, viscous tentacles probed inward bit by bit, inch by inch, into this world they had coveted for tens of millions of years. Once the barrier was completely torn open, it would mean the apocalypse had truly arrived.

Edward watched the silhouettes of those colossal, writhing Outer Deities beyond the rift, each resembling a distorted mountain range. His scalp went numb as countless metaphorical alpacas stampeded through his mind.

Wasn’t this development way too sudden?!

How the hell were they supposed to fight this?

Grisha Adam might be able to barely exert half a Pillar’s strength by relying on the Chaos Sea. The Evernight Goddess could be considered half a Great Old One as well. But the rest of the gods—facing Outer Deities whose average level was that of Great Old Ones—what were they supposed to use to fight?

At that moment, Roselle arrived beside Edward. Arms folded, he looked perfectly calm.

"You’re here. Good timing—let’s watch the end of the world together."

"..."

Edward glanced at him. "You’re really not in a hurry at all, are you?"

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Roselle’s mouth.

"Sure, leaving one’s homeland is hard. But when it really comes to that, I’ll just take Bernie, Matilda, and Bornova and stroll off to another planet. Oh—by then, we can even be neighbours."

Edward’s brows knitted tightly together. He couldn’t possibly be as "optimistic" as Roselle. No matter where he ran, once the Oldest One awakened, he would be finished regardless.

"Oh, right," Roselle added, nodding his chin toward Grisha Adam. "Just now, when the God of Combat died, He drank a potion concocted from an Imagined Beyonder characteristic and advanced to Sequence 0."

"What?"

"I mean, you got completely played by Adam," Roselle said with a curl of his lips. "You thought all that earlier manoeuvring of yours settled Adam and allowed the True Creator to regain clarity and take over consciousness—but that was all an act. From beginning to end, He was always Adam."

"Huh?" Roselle suddenly raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You don’t seem shocked at all?"

Edward froze for a moment, then looked up at the rift in the sky and let out a sigh.

"At a time like this, does it even matter who was acting?" He paused for a few seconds. "Besides, I don’t think Adam was acting alone...I think that after the True Creator took over, He realised that maybe—just maybe—Adam was doing a better job than Himself, so He voluntarily handed back control."

"But...whatever. Let’s get through what’s in front of us first."

Roselle asked, "And how do we do that?"

"By risking our lives."

Edward gently stroked the Uniqueness sigil that had reappeared on the back of his hand.

"In a moment, help me with one thing—keep an eye on Cheek for me."

Roselle rubbed his forehead.

"Alright. No idea what you’re planning, kid, but we’ll treat a dead horse like a living one."

At this moment, Grisha Adam finished consuming the potion and truly ascended to dual-pathway Sequence 0. Lowering his gaze, He saw Edward and transmitted His voice with a gentle tone:

"You should have stayed in the Chaos Sea."

Edward spread his hands helplessly.

"It’s not that I didn’t want to. It was Cheek. With the status of the Mirrored Original Creator, She can also resist the pollution of the three Sefirot. I fought with everything I had and still couldn’t beat Her—so I had no choice but to flee here."

Grisha Adam looked at him deeply, then shifted His gaze away.

The cross hanging on His chest suddenly transformed into a black liquid radiating golden light. It spiralled around Him several times before drilling into His forehead.

In an instant, His aura surged explosively. His pale-golden eyes turned completely golden.

He had preliminarily gained control of the Chaos Sea, then, relying on Imagination, manifested the remaining false symbols and authorities, allowing Himself to temporarily reach a level beyond Sequence—a state possessing half a Pillar’s strength.

At this point, the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Wisdom and Knowledge could no longer afford to remain wary of Adam. One after another, They revealed Their Mythical Creature forms.

The Eternal Blazing Sun burned with roaring golden flames.

The Lord of Storms was wreathed in violent winds, torrential rain, and thunder.

The God of Wisdom and Knowledge held a book shimmering with mysterious runes, fully unleashing His authority against the Outer Deities.

Yet very soon, these gods—who had stood supreme for thousands of years—felt deeply their own insignificance and powerlessness.

The sensation was eerily similar to when they had not yet become gods, standing before the Ancient Sun God—a vast, unbridgeable gap, utterly impossible to contend with.

This was a battle that was completely unequal in strength.

All they could do was buy as much time as possible—time for Grisha Adam to attempt repairing the barrier once more.

Before long, a gigantic humanoid demonic wolf appeared, clad in a gown of starry brilliance and bearing six arms. In her hand, she held a scythe that radiated chilling cold.

She extended one arm, and the black "bracelet" coiled around her wrist instantly transformed into a black liquid "thread." Like an arrow loosed from a bow, it shot out and easily pierced both sides of the rift in the barrier.

Afterwards, the "thread" rapidly shuttled back and forth between the two sides, truly sewing the rift together like cloth.

The Evernight Goddess gripped the other end of the "thread," pulling with all her strength, little by little, tightening the gap. Unfortunately, it was soon torn open again from outside the barrier by the Outer Deities. Even a Sefirot as powerful as the River of Eternal Darkness could not withstand the tearing of Great Old Ones for long—it was on the verge of collapsing.

Grisha Adam took out yet another gray-white stone slab and threw it forward, once again blocking the rift.

This was the second Blasphemy Slate, born from the death of the Ancient Sun God.

Though it was inferior in status to the first, it could, thanks to Grisha Adam’s unique relationship with it, produce an effect greater than one plus one. Combined with the "thread-and-sew" method executed by the Goddess of Night using the River of Eternal Darkness, the rift in the barrier was—astonishingly—sewn shut once more.

———

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