"Most of the Evil Gods here have their own Divine Kingdoms. They are also long-lived, and each one has nurtured their own Divine Artifact."

As she spoke, Abigail looked at the Holy Crown and Holy Sword in her hands.

"My Holy Crown Weapon is leagues behind their Divine Artifacts."

She couldn’t help but shake her head.

"Indeed. Divine Artifacts are not easy to nurture."

Zorn also sighed with emotion.

As a Caster, Zorn’s own Sequence was already powerful enough.

Ordinary Extraordinary Weapons had a mediocre buffing effect on him. In fact, Zorn using the Black Mist as a casting medium was even more potent than a typical Extraordinary Weapon.

But upon reaching the Holy Crown, Legendary, and Divine Tiers, things were completely different.

A Holy Crown-level Weapon would provide Zorn with a considerable boost.

A Legendary Weapon would be even more effective.

And as for a Divine Artifact, it goes without saying that it’s a tremendous aid for powerful Divine Spirits.

For a Demigod, it would be a massive boost to their offensive power.

If the weapon in Abigail’s hands just now had been a Divine Artifact, she might not have been injured and forced to make a miserable retreat.

If her Divine Artifact was powerful enough,

she might have even been able to counter-attack for a while, or perhaps even repel her opponent.

Unfortunately, the difficulty of creating a Legendary Weapon was already extremely high.

And the difficulty of creating a Divine Artifact was even greater.

Without tens of thousands of years of nurturing, you couldn’t even form the embryo of a Divine Artifact.

However, this time, if they could take down the numerous Evil Gods here, annihilate their Divine Kingdoms, and seize their Divine Artifacts, then newly-ascended Divine Spirits like Zorn and Abigail might just get the chance to forge Divine Artifacts of their own.

For powerful Divine Spirits, a Divine Artifact was a resource they absolutely had to obtain.

Every powerful Divine Spirit needed to possess their own mighty Divine Artifact.

Compared to others, Zorn possessed a special method for nurturing a Divine Artifact.

After all, Zorn’s Divine Kingdom was now completely submerged in the depths of the Cosmic Demon Pool.

As long as Zorn obtained a newly forged Divine Artifact, he could use the Cosmic Demon Pool to rapidly nurture it.

Just as Zorn was letting Abigail rest and recover,

his gaze suddenly shot toward the Divine Kingdom Passage.

"Hm? Looks like someone’s here!"

Abigail also raised her slender eyebrows, her bright eyes gazing into the distance.

"Is that Sigmund?"

"I can sense an extremely dense cosmic aura from that direction."

"And Lord Ossirion has come out as well. It must be Sigmund."

"Let’s go over too."

"Okay!"

...

「A few hours later.」

Inside the Stone Hall beneath the Tree of the Magic Ring in the Black Star Divine Kingdom.

A small banquet that doubled as a welcome ceremony was already underway.

Inside the Stone Hall, everyone was engaged in lively discussion.

Some were discussing the construction progress of the Divine Kingdom.

Some were discussing the Evil God World and Evil God Divine Kingdoms outside.

And others were discussing the results of their cultivation during this period.

This was also a Divine Kingdom, so the effects of cultivating here were quite good.

After the gathered gods had enjoyed some food,

Ossirion, seated at the head of the hall, swept his gaze over the assembly.

"Everyone!"

His voice boomed.

Everyone looked over in unison.

"Today, His Highness Sigmund has arrived."

"Which means... we can now begin the next phase of our operation."

The hearts of the assembled gods tensed, and the atmosphere in the Stone Hall grew solemn.

The gods had come to this crumbling Evil Divine Kingdom for one reason: war.

They were to establish a stable Divine Kingdom Fortress to serve as their rear base.

Then, using it as a war fortress, they would launch an attack on the Jade Realm.

"Zorn!"

Ossirion’s heavy gaze fell upon Zorn.

"Your Magic Net reconnaissance methods are quite impressive. Tell us what you’ve gathered during this time."

During this period, Zorn had been continuously extending his Cosmic Time Magic Net.

The area radiated by the Cosmic Magic Net was already vast.

And Zorn had gained a very clear understanding of the situation here.

"Esteemed Divine Spirits."

"Currently, in this cluster of Evil God Divine Kingdoms, there is one Divine Kingdom belonging to a Middle Rank Evil God."

"Five Divine Kingdoms belonging to Lower Rank Evil Gods."

"And seven Evil God Worlds belonging to Lower Rank Evil Gods."

"Furthermore, there are over a hundred Worlds that have been completely imprisoned by the Evil Gods through methods like Faith and the Tree of the Evil God’s Magic Ring."

"These Evil Gods have been entrenched in this region of space for an extremely long time."

"As a result, almost all of them have harvested resources from the Star Realm Plateau below and forged their own Divine Artifacts."

When they heard that the Evil Gods here had all forged Divine Artifacts,

many of the newly ascended Lower Rank Gods showed a flicker of excitement.

After all, as newly ascended Lower Rank Gods who were previously at the Holy Crown Level, it had been fundamentally impossible for them to obtain a Divine Artifact.

But here, if those long-lived Evil Gods had Divine Artifacts in their possession, once they were completely annihilated, they too would have a chance to obtain a Divine Artifact.

Although an Evil God’s Divine Artifact wouldn’t be compatible with them,

the Calamity Court Realm had plenty of Divine Forgers.

They didn’t have the materials to forge a Divine Artifact from scratch, but they were quite hopeful they could gather the supplementary materials needed to take an existing artifact, melt it down, and reforge it.

As he explained, Zorn’s own mind was stirring.

’Over a hundred worlds tainted by Evil Gods, and more than ten Evil God Worlds and Divine Kingdoms. Once all of these worlds are wiped out... my Level will reach 20 or higher, and I’ll become a "Legendary Demigod." War is the catalyst for growth. This could be my path to advancement.’

After receiving Zorn’s detailed reconnaissance report,

Ossirion nodded with great satisfaction.

"Everyone has seen it for themselves over this past period."

"With Zorn’s support, Abigail has been able to pass freely through the barriers of the Divine Kingdoms."

"She can attack, fight, and retreat with ease."

"She even managed to retreat calmly from the Surprise Attack by those two Lower Rank Evil Gods."

"Zorn’s Cosmic Magic Net has been tested and proven in actual combat."

With that, Ossirion looked at Sigmund.

"Your Highness Sigmund, what are your thoughts?"

Sigmund pondered for a moment before looking back at Zorn, his voice rough as he spoke.

"Your Excellency Zorn, I wonder if I might test this Cosmic Magic Net myself?"

Zorn nodded slightly.

"Of course, no problem at all."

This Sigmund was Level 20, the very limit for a Lower Rank God.

He had a massive, 12-meter-tall frame, with disheveled hair and an aura like a raging Little Cosmic.

The most crucial part was his special Sequence: Cosmos·Originator.

Others would find it difficult to perceive, but Zorn, with his dense Cosmic Root Source and his Observer ability, had been able to detect this information from a distance.

Cosmos·Originator was capable of deeply interfering with and destroying the very framework and source of cosmic bodies like Planes, Worlds, and Divine Kingdoms.

Zorn anchored a thread of time to Sigmund.

Sigmund felt it carefully for a moment.

His half-closed eyes rippled with a strange halo of light.

A moment later, he suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Excellent, excellent!"

"Your Excellency Zorn, this cosmic network of yours is quite incredible."

"Just now, I followed this cosmic network and released an Ancient God Curse upon the Evil God World furthest from us."

"The power barely diminished at all."

"Your Excellency Zorn, if we join forces like this, we’ll be able to deal a devastating blow to the enemy!"

With Sigmund’s declaration,

the gods present slowly relaxed.

The current war plan was centered on Zorn’s cosmic network, using it to invade the enemy’s Evil God Worlds and Evil God Divine Kingdoms.

Abigail would act as the tip of the spear, confronting the Lower Rank Gods.

Then, Sigmund would inflict a certain amount of damage to that world’s Tree of the Magic Ring and its World-Source, suppressing the Lower Rank Evil God and even potentially eliminating them completely.

All three of them were crucial.

Now that Sigmund himself had confirmed there were no issues,

the hope of clearing out the many surrounding Evil God Worlds was great indeed.

By completing the cleansing of so many Divine Kingdoms and Worlds,

they—the Lower Rank Gods, Middle Rank Gods, and even Ossirion—would all reap bounteous rewards.

Ossirion, upon his high seat in the Stone Hall, was now also extremely pleased.

"Since the three main pillars of our assault on these Evil God Worlds have now assembled,"

"then it is time for us to begin the war to cleanse the Evil God Divine Kingdoms."

With that, Lord Ossirion’s gaze swept over the three of them.

"Sigmund has just arrived, and Abigail is still injured, so let’s rest and reorganize for half a month."

"After half a month, we will officially begin the divine war."

"Everyone..."

Ossirion’s gaze swept across the entire hall.

"When the time comes, all of you must also launch attacks on the various Divine Kingdoms to pin down the Evil Gods as much as possible and create the perfect opportunity for these three."

"Yes, Lord Ossirion!"

The gods responded in unison.