Chapter 25

Since the creation of the world by the goddess Axi, when the goddess of order Asteria and the goddess of chaos Cynthia created the first generation of beings, the struggle between order and chaos has been the eternal theme of this world.

The two goddesses, who were almost evenly matched, fought until they both entered an eternal slumber. Their remaining creations continued their endless war. The golden race and the sulfur race fought to near extinction, and then the silver race, represented by the moon elves, and the mercury race, represented by the giants, continued their battle of souls.

This war, which began at the time of creation, has no end.

When order prevails over chaos, it is the relatively stable Order Era. If chaos has the upper hand, it is the chaotic and disorderly Chaos Era. Each shift represents the rise and fall of countless races.

The future seven hells are more or less related to this eternal war, and in some cases, they are a direct continuation of it.

The second-generation goddesses fell into a deep sleep after the war, and some even say they have died. As for Asteria's subordinate, the god of light, who created the holy light, he became the core of the third-generation order deities.

Of course, like every power-grabbing ruler, he quickly made the short-lived mortal races praise the greatness of the holy light, forgetting the glory and miracles of the previous rulers.

On the side of chaos, sorry, due to their nature that highly values freedom and violence, they have yet to decide who will be their leader... but their absolute strength is always a bit higher than that of the order camp. After all, in the chaos camp, where the weak are preyed upon by the strong, the weak cannot survive.

Moreover, when the first-generation order beings, the angelic civilization, had long become a historical term, and the remaining angels became servants of the new gods, the first-generation chaotic beings, the demons, still revel in the bottomless abyss, occasionally raiding the surface.

Furthermore, while the order camp has seven main deities, the chaos camp has thirteen main deities. If they were to unite, it would probably only happen if the goddess of chaos, Cynthia, reappeared.

Well, this is the fundamental setting of Axi's hell. In that game, the two camps, order and chaos, each player must choose one before they are born into the world. This choice, unless the account is deleted and restarted, is destined to be unchangeable.

The opposition and war between the two sides have continued to this day, with each side having its victories. However, most of the time, the order camp has the upper hand.

Well, the reason is clear to everyone. Since it's the primitive and brutal jungle rule, you can't always be stronger than me, so why should you be in power instead of me? Well, the result is internal strife and mutual sabotage, and in the end, it seems powerful, but when it comes to a real fight, they all end up destroyed.

The sulfur race and the golden race are exceptionally powerful. Even the weakest adult individuals are at the golden stage, and their respective kings are no less powerful than the true gods. Due to their characteristics and rich combat experience, the same-level chaotic beings are always a bit stronger than the order beings.

But even so, the war remains on the same level. Over 90% of the sulfur and golden races have fallen in countless wars. After that, the chromatic dragons and metallic dragons, seeing the threat of racial extinction, secretly came together to form today's dragon race, leaving this eternal "Holy War."

Under the insistence of the deities on both sides, to continue the war... the high elves created the wood elves, moon elves, night elves, and silver elves, the titans created the fire giants and cloud giants, and even the angels created the first-generation human highland clan. These races, with adult individuals at least at the silver stage, are called the silver races.

Thus, when one side had new blood and the other side had fewer and fewer fighters, the balance of the war tilted.

The sulfur race, not skilled in creation, had its own methods.

The demons, in exchange for strength, longevity, and knowledge, successfully converted the first-generation human highland clan to the chaos camp. They are now known as the residents of the abyssal hell—devils.

Of course, after the fact, the devils and demons engaged in endless bloodshed over the title of supreme evil, making them deeply regret their initial choice. However, at the time, it greatly strengthened the chaos camp.

The demons, tasting the sweetness of success, subsequently managed to bring the fallen angels, red dragons, black dragons, fire giants, and trolls into their camp. Thus, these new races formed the so-called mercury race, becoming the mortal enemies of the silver race.

The initial betrayal of the highland clan, the first-generation humans, directly led to the cleansing of the first-generation humans by the order deities, and the possibility of the second-generation, or current, humans being born.

This generation of humans was designed purely as cannon fodder.

Compared to past races, they are individually very weak and have a short lifespan. The creators wanted beings that, even if they betrayed, would not cause much loss.

But unexpectedly, it was this weak race that changed the course of the war.

Naturally weak? This instead gave them the drive to pursue power, research weapons, and magic. They learned martial arts from the orcs, forging from the dwarves and giants, and magic from the elves.

Short lifespan? This instead made them cherish their time, with boundless curiosity and action. Their footsteps have spread across heaven, hell, and other dimensions.

Moreover, the more powerful a race, the more difficult it is for them to reproduce. The weak humans, however, have a terrifying reproductive ability.

With a sufficient basic population, the potential of humans would not lack geniuses capable of facing the gods and demons head-on.

After countless wars, even after the age of the trolls ended, the current surface world is still a human-dominated society, which is the most obvious proof.

The powerful beings of the chaos camp are not just for show. They still cannot create, but they can twist and revise the existing rules of the world. Thus, the ancient human kings, who had been dead for many years, emerged from their graves. What drives them is no longer blood and strength, but endless death power.

He is the first undead, and now the oldest death god, Aye.

Thus, for a considerable period, the undead became a war tool in the hands of demons and evil gods, with the dead mercilessly wielding their blades against their still-living kin.

It must be said that the inherently bloodthirsty undead, eager to fill their emptiness with the souls of the living, fearless of death, and in endless numbers, are very convenient and effective war tools.

No one wants their race to be just cannon fodder and tools. The death god Aye, in secret, bestowed the wisdom of the devils upon his race. Although only the silver-stage undead could勉强 learn to think, it was enough to create the earliest undead lords. Under these lords were countless subjects, warriors who fought for themselves, fearless of life and death.

Since they are not afraid of death, why should they accept enslavement?

Well, then, the inevitable mass betrayal of the entire race followed.

Now, as evidenced by the Empire of Syro, the undead have become an independent race. Even human mages, fearing death, often convert to the undying to achieve longevity, giving birth to the core of the undead race—the liches.

Order and chaos, never ceasing their war, even the dead cannot escape. The souls of those who believe in the order deities go to the heavenly realm of the gods, where the strong have the chance to become divine servants and continue their battles. The souls of the faithless, evil gods' followers, and evildoers, on the other hand, follow the River Styx to the bottomless abyss and hell, where they may transform into devils or demons and climb back to the surface.

The dimensional battlefield between the bottomless abyss and heaven, the eternal war between the order and chaos camps, is always a relentless meat grinder.

For the players, this is not just past history but also the main storyline of the future.

From the moment you choose your race and enter this world, this endless war and calamity will accompany you.

The first two calamities in Axi's seven great calamities are still problems that can be solved within the human realm. At that time, a silver-stage being on the surface could serve as the main force. However, by the time of the third calamity, the undead plague, and the fourth, the return of the demons, the gold-stage beings of the gold races were directly involved, and the gold-stage mortals were merely high-level cannon fodder.

The fifth and sixth calamities are not mentioned here, but the seventh, the final calamity, involves the revival of the two supreme goddesses, reenacting the ancient myths. At that time, the semi-divine realm I once reached would only be a slightly higher-level cannon fodder.

At that time, the gods would directly engage in battle in the mortal world, and the continent of Axi would crack and split, with dimensional gates opening one after another. Powerful extraplanar races would turn this world into a true hell.

As for whether there is an eighth calamity, when the world is divided into over 3,000 pieces, it no longer matters...

No wonder the prophets are all mad. Knowing that apocalyptic future, how could I be content...

Perhaps, from the moment I learned of the future calamities, I had already gone mad, madly pursuing power, madly killing, and using my golden finger system to madly enhance myself. Of course, I also committed countless sins.

According to the principle that the guilty must be punished, the first one to be tied to the stake would probably be me.

But even so, I have no intention of arguing. I admit my crimes, but I do not regret them. Moreover... I seem to have found a way to prevent all this and made many preparations.

And now, the time I have patiently waited for has probably arrived. The system's prompt for the main storyline, the first calamity "Whisper of the Demons," has already begun, and it has already arrived.

The start of the main storyline, in the original "history," also represents the players entering to change the world.

Just as the exceptionally realistic advertisement says, "A real world is waiting, and the future is in your hands," the seven great calamities are mostly related to those short-sighted and foolish players.

The ones who broke the seal of the bottomless abyss and brought the demons back to the mortal world were a group of player mercenaries hired for gold and equipment. The trigger for the world's bone disaster was a high-level player's invasion.

Irresponsible visitors from other worlds, fighting for gold and equipment, treating the natives as playthings and sources of value, turned the near-certain calamity into a living hell for all.

Of course, those who fought, even sacrificed their lives, for this world, repeatedly dying and eventually disappearing, were also visitors from other worlds.

This time, in this real world, there are no players who can grasp the future. The only one who can is me, this incomplete skeletal guardian.

"We swear to reverse cause and effect, change fate, and let all beings survive the calamity."

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Alright, I've said a lot of nonsense. I guess you're tired of the setting and background. Let's get to the point.

I have repeatedly thought about how to survive these calamities and, at least, pause this endless eternal war.

"Is it the holy light?"

The holy light, which holds the faith of over 30% of the world, became one of my experimental targets.

The foolish god of light indeed achieved his goal of becoming the strongest deity, but now, due to the overwhelming influx of faith, he has been assimilated by it, losing his personality and becoming a concept-like existence.

Hard to understand? It's like an old PC that downloaded the entire internet at once, causing its CPU to explode, motherboard to burn, and input-output systems to fail, leaving only the hard drive spinning.

The god of holy light is that burned-out computer. He can only instinctively maintain the most basic cycle, and his owner has been offline. Conversely, the concept he represents has become even stronger due to the lack of a controller.

Similarly, concept deities like the "great" mother earth and the "wise" goddess of magic are indeed incredibly powerful, but they provide no self-concept and have no way to interfere with the mortal world.

"Only the order beings who believe in the light have the right to use the holy light."

This doctrine of the holy light sounds grand, but it is actually a mechanical way of processing requests. It specifies two prerequisites for using the power of the holy light: being an order being and believing in the light.

Well, I have already proven through experiments that this is nonsense. A human body with a demon can also use it, as long as it is brainwashed