Divine Kingship

Chapter 652 Purgatory on Earth
In the past, the worshippers of the Scourge Apostles, namely the evil Scourge Order members, attempted to welcome the arrival of the Scourge Apostles.

Unfortunately, it wasn't very successful for unknown reasons.

Perhaps back then, the world was already gradually being influenced by the gods.

At that time, after resolving the final disaster, Rand obtained two hand bones that were originally intended to accommodate the arrival of the Scourge Apostles.

These two hand bones had been left in Rand's territory as power sources for the Obsidian Tower, and now, they finally had a use.

The Cataclysm Apostle that Rand is facing now is not its true form; this world cannot contain such a massive power.

Even now, the soul of this avatar of the Cataclysm is only a part of the Cataclysm's true form.

The souls of gods are equally profound.

According to Lysa, if a true apostle of natural disasters had descended upon this place, it would not be as rational as it is now.

Of course, these are not the point.

The key point is the hand bone in Rand's hand, which is of higher quality than the current incarnation of the Cataclysm, and is better able to contain the power and soul of the Cataclysm itself.

And these extra hand bones will divide the complete avatar of the Cataclysm.

It can at least throw them into chaos for a certain period of time.

And that's enough.

There are only two conditions for sacrifice: one is that it is restricted to some extent, and the other is that it must be a living creature.

The apostles of natural disasters possess souls and will inevitably be classified as living beings.

And restrictions—such chaos certainly qualifies as restrictions.

Rand had already prepared an altar for it. The only pity was that Rand could only kill its avatar. Such damage was still a blow to the Apostle of the Cataclysm itself, but it could not be completely destroyed.

Sacrifice is the essential operating force of this world, the channel through which the gods connect with the main world, and Rand is already thoroughly familiar with the use of this power.

The sacrificial ceremony was completed in an instant.

Rand took it to the Mother Goddess's divine realm.

This familiar, wriggling land of Rand.

The avatar of the Cataclysm had calmed down by this point. Although he did not understand why Rand wanted to sacrifice with him to nourish the divine kingdom of blood, he guessed that there was some way to leave.

"Very powerful. Few throughout history have been able to destroy the avatar of a god. However, I hope you won't be too disappointed. Destroying me won't bring any turning point to your war." The Apostle of Calamity said indifferently.

Rand didn't say anything sarcastic this time, because it was indeed the truth. He could kill the avatar of the Scourge and injure its true form, but as long as he couldn't completely kill the Scourge, the undead on earth who hated the living would not lose their supply of death power.

There is also the plague that possesses divine power; even if this plague were to destroy the Apostles of the Cataclysm, it might not be directly eliminated.

Soon, the flesh and blood on the ground began to writhe and devour the skeleton that was the incarnation of the Cataclysmic Apostle.

Rand vanished from this living divine realm before the very eyes of the Scourge Apostle's incarnation.

Then return.

"Is it over?" Lysa looked at Rand, who was naked and whose side effects from the [Eternal Barrier] had disappeared.

“It looks like it’s over,” Rand said, “but it doesn’t seem like much has changed.”

On the wasteland, countless undead still thronged together, surging towards the living.

The elven forces have also arrived in the distance to assist humanity in fighting the undead.

In theory, after Rand destroys the avatars of the Scourge, the undead army will lose its command, and tactics such as crossing the land and then raiding the rear of the second line of defense should be difficult to repeat.

Unless some kind of Highlord of the Undead takes over command of the Undead or something.

But apart from that, it seems like not much has really changed.

Perhaps because the Calamity Apostle had previously drawn upon its power to fight against Rand and Lysa, it had depleted a significant portion of the overall strength, but the battle situation seemed to have remained largely unchanged.

At most, we no longer need to worry about when divine incarnations and elite main forces will appear. However, whether we can win the war remains to be seen.

"But we did win, so let's be happy," Lysa said, offering a rare word of comfort.

Rand nodded. It seemed that the knights of the First Knights Order of the Moon Phase Kingdom were lucky. They only lost about one-fifth of their men due to the aftermath of the battle and the giant skeletal dragon summoned by the avatar of the Cataclysm.

This is still a significant casualty ratio, but considering the nature of the enemy, the casualties are actually quite low.

All I can say is praise for the great Ms. Lysa.

"We have won!" Rand announced.

"Good! Good!" cheered the knights of the First Knight Order of the Moon Phase Kingdom.

They may not have known they were involved in the war that destroyed the incarnation of the god, but they were well aware of the power of such an enemy.

Such a victory was hard-won.

"Collect the remains and belongings of our comrades. If you can't take them with you, burn them. Don't let them become ghosts. Then we'll go back to prepare and rest. The war isn't over yet."

"Yes!" came the unanimous reply to Rand.

"Let's go back." Rand and Lysa boarded the Dragonblood Eagle.

Rand's massive power armor artifact was once again pulled off the ground by ropes.

When Rand returned to the city, he saw Quiro, whose face was contorted in pain, and Tanl, who had gone from a strong man to a gaunt one.

High-ranking officials and kings from some countries are also here; many of them have completely lost their people and territory.

These people eagerly followed Rand to the conference room in the Ratman City: "Your Majesty Rand, is there any result?"

Rand said, "We destroyed the core of the undead, which will throw their command into chaos, but the war will not end there."

Everyone's expectations were immediately dashed.

What they hoped for was the destruction of the enemy. Although undead without a commander would be much easier to deal with, such an easy situation would still be very difficult for the living forces to deal with now.

The high-ranking officials and kings of various countries have all left.

Rand then took over Tanl's job: "In any case, take a break. If all else fails, Ayesha should have some special hypnotic drugs."

Tanl nodded.

His Majesty Rand has won another victory, but the war must continue.

However, Tanl relaxed a bit.

The bells rang again outside. Because they had lost their commander, the undead had become even more ferocious, and the defensive pressure would likely increase in the short term.

Rand began reviewing the battle reports from this period in the palace hall.

He hadn't been away for too long, so there wasn't too much work piling up. Of course, he was still exhausted. The time he spent working continuously, plus the time he spent fighting on the battlefield and battling the incarnation of God, added up to much longer than Tan'er's.

It's just that his body has a strong ability to recover, so there are no physical changes.

On the third night of their work, Rand received devastating news: Fenris had been killed in battle. Karin and Berlan were still fighting the elite undead, who were more numerous and tougher than expected.

Fenris has been confirmed dead.

Luca's fate is unknown; he is being transported to the Ratman City to await treatment from Rand.

This saddened Rand, and Tanl had been sitting facing the wall with a gloomy expression for a long time.

Fenris was also an elder of the Sanctuary, and Rand had relied on this general for a long time.

Fenris also participated in the compilation of the three compulsory textbooks on war studies.

Rand attended Fenris's wedding to offer his congratulations.

Before I knew it, an old comrade-in-arms had vanished.

This made it hard for Rand to believe that it was real.

On the fifth day after returning to the Skaven City, Rand received even worse news.

The struggle began before death had even departed.

To be honest, Rand always thought the struggle had come to an end, and that only the struggles ordained by the god of struggle could be considered sacrifices for Him.

But now it seems that this is not the case.

The death of the god of death caused the power of death to pour down from the sky in a chaotic manner.

In this main world filled with struggles between life and death, the intensity of the struggle has reached a level where the god of struggle could personally descend.

The arrival of the strongest beings in this world requires a specific environment.

Just as fish need to live in water, what is normal air that mortals can easily breathe may be the void that gods cannot descend upon.

Grand Duke Vladimir, a demigod vampire, requires sufficient blood sacrifice and the aura of purgatory, and the Scourge Apostles must have arrived only after the plague had brought enough death.

At this moment, this world filled with struggle could indeed attract the God of Struggle to descend, or at least his incarnation could be brought forth.

So, the reason Ryza has been able to exist in this world might be because the natural order has always existed, and Rand's actions have been promoting the development of the natural order.

However, Rand has no time to think about this problem right now.

The incarnation of the Cataclysmic Apostle has already exhausted almost all of Rand's trump cards, and now that the God of War has descended, how will he deal with it?

Many deformed monsters belonging to the God of Struggle have now appeared outside. Some undead and ratmen have also begun to be affected, giving birth to some ferocious organs.

The wild beasts, small animals, and monsters of the wilderness also began to change, attacking human defenses, cities, and villages.

The main world is already showing signs of becoming a living hell.

Rand quickly informed the leaders of various nations in the Skaven City, Quiro, and other generals.

Everyone stared at the news in disbelief, many looking at it repeatedly, some even looking at Rand's face, hoping he was joking.

A calamity apostle and a skeleton god have thrown this world into chaos. Although a significant part of the reason is that people did not heed Rand's advice, they have at least witnessed the threat posed by the evil gods.

And now they're being told that another evil god has descended upon the land.

What an exaggerated situation!

Even some high-ranking nobles, unable to bear such a terrible future, wept bitterly without any semblance of decorum.

And Rand had no better solution to this.

This was also unexpected by Rand.

How should we deal with this struggle?
Should we fight one struggle against another?

Wouldn't that in turn strengthen the power of the God of War?

But can peace defeat struggle?
How can this be?

This is simply an unsolvable problem.

“I need to think of a solution. Everyone, leave. Let me have some peace and quiet. Lysa, stay here,” Rand said.

These national leaders were very "obedient" and all left.

Although humans, elves, dwarves, and the like are still considered independent nations.

But in a sense, Rand played the role of leader and commander of all the survivors in this disaster.

Especially after Rand did anticipate the undead's surprise attack and personally led a team to eliminate the undead's "core".

No one questioned the matter of resolving the "core" of the undead. Several kings from different countries came to watch the battle. They saw the terrifying, desolate projection of the divine kingdom, and the bone rain and green tide that chased out of the projection.

Honestly, if such a terrifying opponent appeared on the defensive line or in any important city, it would be a nightmare.

It can only be said that if humanity hadn't had Rand, they would have suffered a crushing defeat long ago and would have been forced to flee north to eke out a living.

This gave Rand, without him even realizing it, the greatest say.

At this point, it might be feasible for Rand to form any kind of empire or alliance.

Unfortunately, we must now prioritize countermeasures against the God of Struggle.

Rand's first approach was to ask the enigmatic Lady Lysa, "Do you have any guesses about this situation?"

"Rand asked."

Lysa shook her head: "Theoretically, the power of the God of Struggle should be rejected by the death of the Apostles of Calamity. I don't know how He managed to descend under such circumstances, and even control and transform a portion of the undead."

"It's too late for an investigation. Are there any emergency measures?"

Lysa shook her head again: "My power in this main world was almost exhausted when I was dealing with the avatar of the Cataclysmic Apostle. If I want to accumulate power to the point of being able to fight against the avatar of the god, it will take at least seventy or eighty years."

"Then we..."

"In the worst-case scenario, you can escape. Whether it's some large ruins, the Underdark, or even some of the more temperate areas of Purgatory, you can barely survive there."

"What if we retaliate?"

"Then all I can do is prevent the fighting power from becoming food for the God of Struggle. There's not much else I can do to help. And with our current strength, it's unlikely that we can defeat the God of Struggle."

“It seems there’s no way to help,” Rand said helplessly.

“Not necessarily.” Lysa looked at Rand again.

"So you have some extreme, divine method?" Rand asked.

Lysa shook her head, walked up to Rand, knelt on one knee, and looked up at Rand: "Your Majesty Rand, we are willing to entrust everything to you, whether it be commoners, soldiers, nobles, royalty, humans, elves, dwarves, monsters, or even myself. Do you have any strategies? We are willing to carry out any possible plan."

Lysa's golden, dazzling eyes, beneath her beautiful, long eyelashes, gazed at Rand: "Your Majesty Rand, if you are unwilling to run away, then try to create a miracle."

(End of this chapter)