Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

But a rough estimate revealed that this single strike had caused destruction that would impact at least three hundred years into the past and future.

“Laine! Why are you here, what have you done!”

A shout of alarm echoed when Laine’s sword struck, and the source sea boiled turbulently, while far in the present world, a streak of blue light was also approaching this place.

It was Thaesis, the Goddess of Primordial Water. When the God of the Ocean resided in the Divine Palace at the world’s edge, it was she who took charge of the Ocean God’s lineage. She had been discussing matters with her offspring, as in recent decades, the Divine King had turned a portion of the Eastern Region into a forbidden area, barring the river and lake gods from the Ocean God’s lineage from approaching. But sensing her husband’s sudden mobilization of Divine Power, the goddess rushed over immediately.

Hastily arriving, Thaesis had thought that the God of the Ocean had encountered an accident ‘there’ or had again come into conflict with the previously arrived Lord of Darkness, but to her surprise, she found only Laine, treading above the river with a dissolving black sword in his hands.

In front of him, a crack exuding an aura of dead silence cut across the river; Oceanus’s presence was no longer detectable there.

The ‘severing’ of the river was not in a physical sense, as the water still flowed through that area. But this stretch of river, nearly a hundred miles long, imparted a foreboding feeling, for it was too quiet.

The waters upstream and downstream still surged tumultuously, even more so from their master’s agony, but as soon as the waters passed through this segment, they became soundlessly calm.

The tumultuous waves were stilled, the surging tides dispelled, as if the river water once crossed an invisible ‘line’ and died, only to come back to life after flowing past another ‘line’ at the other end. Even Thaesis, the Primordial Water Goddess, could feel that though her dominion over water remained intact, she had lost all sense of this severed segment of the river.

It was as if there was a barrier between them, and with her current power, she was far from being able to break through this hindrance. To restore everything to its original state would take a century’s worth of time to erode it.

“Death,” indeed, is one of the forces in this world most adept at destruction.

Laine, as the instigator of it all, was somewhat astounded by the scene before him.

He had not expected that, in terms of sheer destructive force, this Divine Authority possessed such terrifying power. It was only because “Death” was still so far removed from the realm of greatness; otherwise, he even doubted whether the Death Dominion at the pinnacle of greatness could permanently kill a deity’s control over their symbolic objects, or transform them into something else.

For instance, a “Sun” killed by “Death” might not be destroyed, but could very likely become an entity that brings decline instead of vitality. In such a case, whether the original God of Sun would lose their Divine Authority or be forced to change was unknown.

No wonder Chaos’s “Death” was inherently so weak; this force that ends all things was essentially a challenge to the world’s order.

“But now, this place has indeed become ‘my domain’.”

Sensing the riverbed beneath his feet temporarily transformed by the force of Death, Laine turned around. He did not pay heed to the approaching Primordial Water Goddess but instead looked towards Oceanus.

A black line was also spreading across the body of the God of the Ocean, reflecting the injury caused by the symbol of Divine Authority on the Divine Body. His Divine Power was continuously pouring into the black line, only to be instantly dissipated.

Just like the riverbed under Laine’s feet, the wound would be difficult to heal for one hundred and fifty years and would continue to cause pain to its master.

Of course, with the help of his wife, this period might be shortened.

“So are you willing to tell me now, what exactly is here, and what have you encountered?”

Laine asked calmly.

“…Huff—What is this power, what have you done to me?”

However, unexpectedly, even as Oceanus was gasping for breath, he still answered evasively. It seemed that even after being struck by the sword, he was still wary.

“…It seems I have been too lenient.”

“Perhaps only in front of a god like Uranus will you understand what you ought to do.”

Laine’s expression grew cold, and the sword in his right hand began to take form again.

This was already considered beyond the present world, so theoretically, regardless of his actions, there shouldn’t be any repercussions. Unless he intended to completely dismantle the Circumterrestrial River, the rigid Laws would turn a blind eye.

And he was certain that even a hundred strikes over a mere few hundred miles of river wouldn’t hurt the river itself in any significant way.

After all, as a barrier at the edge of the present world, in terms of stability alone, the Circumterrestrial River surpassed the very earth and didn’t need to worry about being accidentally damaged.

Thus, raising the sword once more, Laine was about to strike again, but a shout stopped his actions.

“Wait, I know what’s there, and I also know that the master of the Realm of Lightlessness has already gone that way.”