The Villain Saint is my secondary account

The royal family's erratic behavior during the civil war in the capital was also due to their deep connection with the God of Light...

"But what does that prove?"

Ye Xiao asked, "Isn't it normal that the God of Light was the first to be corrupted, and that it spread to other related things from the source?"

"It was not He who was first corrupted."

The Dream God said gently, "Only gods can be corrupted. What you see is merely a manifestation of the distorted divine power of a corrupted god."

"Think about it carefully. Given your understanding of the powerful contagiousness of chaos, even a god would inevitably fall into a twisted and corrupted state if they were to be contaminated even slightly. So why don't those 'contaminated' beings spread the contamination to other beings?"

"I do not quite understand you."

"That Archbishop of Loren, though he was insane, did he ever drive the entire Loren Cathedral into the same madness as him?"

The Dream God raised a finger. "The Loren royal family carries a cursed bloodline, so why haven't their distant relatives, who are also royalty, experienced the same thing?"

"Even among people living under the same roof, the one with a deep connection to the light may go mad, but ordinary humans who do not believe in the light will not be affected at all."

"This is a terrifying chaos that can even corrupt gods. Even ordinary plagues can spread among living beings, so why doesn't the chaos from the depths of the void do the same?"

Chapter Sixty-Eight: A World Without Gods

After hearing what the Dream God said, Ye Xiao finally understood what the other party meant.

"So you're saying that the God of Chaos... can only corrupt gods?"

"That's not quite true. To be precise, only gods attract the attention of chaos."

The Dream God continued, “Chaos also has the ability to corrupt ordinary living beings, but like a discerning picker, Chaos instinctively only pursues the most abundant fruit in the whole garden, while ordinary living beings are like weeds all over the place. Although they can be eaten, it has no desire to pick them.”

"Can such a definitive conclusion really be drawn based on just a few observations...?"

"Light understands the nature of chaos better than anyone else."

The Dream God sighed softly, "The so-called chaos is essentially a combination of the negative consciousness of countless gods. Only evil thoughts derived from the level of gods can gather into such a terrifying thing."

"Those worlds that were destroyed by chaos were not entirely caused by chaos itself, but by the gods who were distorted by chaos, who personally brought destruction upon the place where they were born."

"...So becoming a god might actually be a disaster?"

Ye Xiao's lips twitched. "What ascension scam? The immortals of the upper realm feed on the geniuses of my race."

Dream God tilted his head, not understanding what Ye Xiao was talking about in the second half of his sentence.

"Ahem, in short, I think I understand."

Ye Xiao stroked his chin, "But what does this have to do with what you called the 'arrangement' of the God of Light? Whether gods are corrupted or living beings are corrupted, the end result is the same: world destruction. There's no difference, unless..."

As he spoke, Ye Xiao's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He seemed to realize something, and he opened his eyes wide, looking at the Dream God in disbelief.

The girl's long, gray-white curly hair cascaded down her chest like a cloud, cradling her round, beautiful face.

At this moment, the smile on his face finally revealed some emotions beyond gentleness—helplessness,感慨, and more, an indescribable complexity.

"It seems you've already guessed the answer."

"Impossible. It's not like I haven't met other gods before. They told me..."

"Changing chaos by implanting humanity?"

As the Dream God spoke, he gently turned his gaze to the three colossal statues still locked in fierce battle on the distant battlefield. "This is indeed His arrangement, but it is only a prerequisite for achieving the ending He desires."

"Chaos is both a name and an essence. Even if Ella Hevie ultimately controls chaos with humanity, she cannot change its essence, which is the root of her existence."

"Only by completely eliminating all the gods in the world, including herself, can the spying of Chaos be fundamentally cut off."

The Dream Goddess slowly said, "This not only requires sufficient power, but also the ability to grow into someone with such awareness, humanity, and, more importantly, to learn compassion and sacrifice."

"Even if you say this is the essence, I still can't understand... Since she has already controlled the chaos, why would she need to do all this?"

Ye Xiao frowned.

"Because the threat of chaos will never disappear. As long as gods exist in the infinite void, their evil intentions will cause chaos to grow."

"Even if Ella Heviel can control her emotions and not be affected now, if Chaos continues to grow and more evil thoughts are added, she will eventually lose control one day."

The God of Dreams gazed into the distance, where thunder and storms still raged, and Oceanus was finally grabbed by the shoulder by the Black Titan and torn in two.

The giant stone statue's body collapsed and disintegrated, and countless tentacles sprouted from the black giant's abdomen, swallowing Oceanus's remains into its abdominal cavity.

Hyperion was furious and had lost all will to fight. He rolled and crawled on the ground, only to have his ankles entangled by tentacles that came crashing down like a tidal wave.

"Didn't you know Mammon's avatar? Have you ever wondered why a god who is clearly on the side of order would recruit a demon god who was once on the side of chaos to carry out the duty of hunting down 'evil gods'?"

“Ability is only one aspect. The most important thing is that only a demon god like that would not care whether the god he kills is truly an evil god.”

"According to you, the true purpose of light is to destroy all the gods in this world, so aren't you one of them?"

Ye Xiao asked in confusion, "But you said your will is still with the God of Light, does that mean you can accept the end of your own demise?"

"If this is the right path, why can't I accept it?"

The God of Dreams spoke with remarkable composure, even as he discussed his own death. “Of course, not all gods are willing to accept such an arrangement, and therefore, most of them only know the first half of the truth.”

"The old gods are indeed powerful, but as a new generation of gods, if they can become the leaders of the new generation of gods, are they really so weak that they have no room for resistance and simply disappear from this world?"

"...Did you frame them?"

"not me."

The God of Dreams gently shook his head. "It is light."

"Only the work left by the Light was enough to cause so many powerful gods to fall without any resistance."

Ye Xiao swallowed.

He didn't want to believe it was true, but the thing was, it seemed to explain all the confusion that had been lingering in his mind until now.

“I know this sounds cruel, but this is the awareness we should have as gods.”

The Dream God said softly, "All things in the world are children of the gods. Now these children have grown up amidst storms and hardships. As parents, it is time for us to let go."

"Only a world without gods can ultimately achieve complete salvation."

Hyperion's deafening scream echoed from afar. The colossus to which his soul was attached was finally shattered in the chest by a single punch from the black titan, turning into a rain of burning black stones that fell from the sky.

"Time seems to be running out. The Holy Maiden is coming back, and I must leave as well."

The Dream God withdrew his gaze from the distance. "I heard that you and she became lovers in this life? How interesting. But perhaps this is the charm of humanity, and it also helps her to understand human nature more deeply."

"I'll tell you about the other things next time we meet."

"Wait, but how am I supposed to know where to meet you?"

Ye Xiao paused.

The girl, as soft as a cloud, then curled the corners of her lips. "Don't you already have one, an identity to join the company?"

Ye Xiao was taken aback, and the memory of the qualification he had obtained to enter the company's department through a deal with Zhou Lixun at the Strømsgod Castle Casino flashed through his mind.

That happened to be an outpost under the "Sage's" command.

Good heavens, was this even part of his plan?

Ye Xiao originally wanted to reach out and call out to the other person to chat for a few more minutes, since it wasn't up to him to decide when Ella would return.

But in the blink of an eye, the gray-haired girl vanished from his sight.

Now, only Ye Xiao remains on the desolate pile of rubble, standing alone with his hand outstretched towards the air.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Cleaning Up the Battlefield

After a night of fighting, with the last colossus falling on the desert, the long battle to defend Sandbar Fortress came to an end.

Loren's soldiers raised their weapons and shouted "Long live the Holy Maiden!" The magic cannons bombarded the area continuously, booming like celebratory cannons, causing large swathes of the duchy's army to flee in panic.

The blood moon slowly set, the dark clouds dissipated, and a faint white halo appeared in the eastern sky.

The black giant standing in the center of the battlefield melted into a vast expanse of mud, submerging the land covered with corpses, severed limbs, and damaged steel.

As dawn broke and a yellow wind blew, countless broken swords and halberds were stuck in the ground, stretching as far as the eye could see, like a vast field of reeds.

The remaining troops of the duchy withdrew far to the southwest, and Holman then recalled his troops, ordering his men not to pursue the enemy any further.

This battle was a devastating defeat for the Duchy, but the soldiers of the Loren Empire, after a night of fierce fighting, also needed rest.

The empire also suffered heavy losses in manpower. Although the exact number has not yet been tallied, it is estimated that about one-third of the 500,000 troops sent to reinforce the western frontier have been lost. The losses in resources and equipment are even more numerous.

But the cost of holding Sandbar and recapturing Strømsgodset was far less than Holman had initially estimated.

He dispatched men to survey the battlefield and personally led a team out of the ruined fortress to the giant crater of the Titan War in the west to welcome the greatest hero of this battle—their Holy Maiden.

It can be said that without Ella's assistance, the defensive line set up by the Empire's 500,000-strong army would have been no match for the Duchy, let alone achieving victory with such casualties.

The soldiers searched everywhere as they waded into the vast mud, while crows circled and cawed overhead.

Holman, riding his horse, looked around and couldn't see the saintess for a moment, but instead saw Ye Xiao, wearing a tattered black trench coat, suddenly appear in his field of vision.

“Mr. Ye, the soldiers can handle cleaning up the battlefield. You should take a rest.”

Holman then called out softly.

"It's alright, I was just worried you might not be able to find it for a while."

Ye Xiao waded through a large area of ​​mud, bent down at one spot, rolled up his sleeves, and reached his hands into the mud to fiddle with something, as if he were trying to fish it out.

A moment later, he scooped up a small lump of mud and hugged it to his chest like a ball.

"This is……?"

Holman was puzzled until he saw the mud slowly dripping from the object, revealing the face of a girl with her eyes closed.

The girl looked young and cute. Her petite figure was wrapped in Ye Xiao's arms, and she looked to be only about seven or eight years old.

Holman was momentarily stunned, not quite understanding why such a young girl would appear on the battlefield. After a brief moment of bewilderment, he exclaimed in surprise, "Uh, could this be... Her Majesty the Saintess?"

"Ah."

Ye Xiao shrugged helplessly. If Ella could walk on her own, he wouldn't have gone all the way from Shazhoubao to pull her out of the mud.

The black sun that appeared first was not Lydia's true form floating in the void, but rather a divine kingdom summoned by Ella.

The divine realm itself can be seen as a special domain that extends for several kilometers, within which Ella's power is greatly enhanced and other laws are suppressed.

With this area as the core, a large number of tentacles proliferated, which constituted the previous Black Sun.

The first fallen Titanres was swallowed by the black sun, which was essentially the same as being dragged into Ayra's divine realm.

This was the first time Ella had used this thing, and it must be said that summoning the divine kingdom had indeed made her much stronger than before.

But the price is that she is now also suffering from the backlash of the threads of fate, a very obvious feeling of being rejected by the world, to the point that her body has degenerated into the loli appearance she has now.

From Ye Xiao's perspective, holding it in his arms, it was tiny, as light as holding a ball of cotton.

……

After carrying his other half of his body back from the battlefield, Ye Xiao borrowed a horse and rode back to Shazhou Fort.

A golden kitten rode up on a big black dog and barked, "Hmph, you finally remembered to come and get me! I thought you'd forgotten about me!"

"how come."

Ye Xiao reached out and lifted the cat onto her shoulder, then let the big black dog lie down on the horse's back. "You've had a hard time this time too."

"You're going to feed me fish all day long!"

Greta rested her round head against Ye Xiao's neck, her big, bright eyes darting around as she noticed the silver-haired girl he was holding. "Huh? Is this Ella? What happened to her?"

"The thread of fate, but at first I thought she would turn into a cat or something like you, but instead she regressed into a child."

“Each deity is different; the main reason I became like this is because I recover quickly.”

Greta licked her paws, then reached down and tentatively poked Ella's cheek.

Seeing that the other party did not react, a mischievous smile immediately appeared on the kitten's chubby face. "Huh? She's passed out, so I can do whatever I want now."

"Don't mess around."

Ye Xiao's lips twitched. This little guy really isn't well-behaved even when he turns into a cat. "Don't blame me if you get punished when she wakes up."

"It's okay, she won't know if you don't tell her."

Greta jumped down onto Ye Xiao's lap and conjured an ink brush out of thin air, holding it in her little paw.