The Divine Realm, the luxury above the clouds constantly reflects the pain of the divine race below the clouds. Below the clouds, the faith in the divine above can only be sought in pain. Occupying most of the resources above the clouds, the palace-like buildings composed of white giant carved stone pillars exude a strong historical charm. They stand out from the distant buildings and also maintain a distance from modern architecture. After all, this is a private place.
Inside the private palace, there has always been someone conversing loudly. The sound is so loud that servants outside the palace cover their ears and stand at a distance, while the emotional intensity of the sound keeps increasing. The growing anger in the air makes the servants tremble, as if a physical fight between the greater gods could easily involve them.
Lightning and thunder start to occur within the clouds, making the servants even more uneasy.
"Boom!" Suddenly, a figure emerges, and an angry punch shatters the unyielding stone pillar in front of the door that has stood for millions of years. Every breath of the figure seems to trigger lightning, followed by incessant rain below the clouds. The divine race below is used to the changing colors of the sky above.
"Brother! Your ideas are becoming more selfish by the day. Have you ever thought that you might lose? If we lose, it will be even more difficult for us to gain faith in The Human Realm, and rebuilding faith is definitely out of the question!"
"Hisa, who are you here to stop this war for? Is it for Nia?" Alan steps out of the palace, with his hair floating in the wind, contributing to the raging storm.
"Do you think I'm selfish like you guys? Brother, I am different from you. I still have my principles. I don't want to see innocent spirits running amok. What about you? You used your daughter as a bargaining chip, selling her to that so-called Holy Dragon. You, like me, doubt him, yet you either want to maintain your status or aim to gain control of The Divine Realm. What use is there for the current council? Augustine is just a puppet. Sarah's father has been sidelined by you and the so-called Holy Dragon. Wow~ Our Brandt family has a great reputation in The Divine Realm, we have both power and influence, almost all the divine race bows down to me. Still remember what father said when he was alive, that vanity will only turn us into demons!"
"Shut up! Is my father's era the same as now? He spent his life under the Holy Dragon, all he gained was being looked up to. In this era, being looked up to is the most foolish thing. I have no hope of rebuilding faith. Only new Magic, new technology can bring the divine race back to glory! In addition, Elena is the most fortunate."
Hisa sneers, showing no respect for his elder brother: "Ha, is Elena my daughter or your daughter? Have you not seen who she likes? And your so-called new technology has no effect without digital Magic."
"Where are you going?"
"I am your brother, not your son. Do I need to report to you wherever I go?"
Alan magically seals the palace doors, seemingly seeing through his own brother, but he does not reveal it, hoping to give Hisa a chance to come back to him.
"You stay here and see how we will assimilate The Human Realm after our victory."
"What?" Hisa initially thought that The Divine Realm's punishment for Othrie was just a warning, but who knew it was the beginning of an assimilation.
"Surprised? The Demon Realm's goal in helping Othrie is clear. Even if I don't do it for The Divine Realm, another family will. Only we have the capability."
"Let it go..." Using his magic, Hisa shatters Alan's seals and confidently walks out, looking at the completely changed Divine Realm, so different from the peaceful and serene Divine Realm of his childhood. Hisa prefers the past, but he knows that most of the divine race above the clouds prefer the current Divine Realm.
"I hate this The Divine Realm!" Hisa stood outside the palace, watching his brother inside the palace. This was the most intense argument the two brothers had in the past 13 million years, and it left the deepest scar in their hearts.
Alan let out a deep sigh, locked eyes with his brother for about two minutes, then turned back into the palace. Hisa also turned around, their silhouettes under the flashing lightning clouds looked particularly melancholic. For the first time, Hisa felt that his brother behind him was so distant, and he didn't want to repair his "Execution Gate" anymore. In this era, the gate had lost its original value, and without the presence of the fallen angels in The Divine Realm, it seemed like a prototype of The Demon Realm.
In the center of the clouds, Marutian gazed at the area under the thunderclouds. Everything seemed like ants fighting in his eyes.
"Marutian, do you think The Divine Realm will prevail?" Yu Yuanqing asked beside Marutian, having left Othrie when the defensive magic in the imperial capital was completed.
"Victory or defeat is completely irrelevant to my position... What matters is the energy exuded by the divine race, resembling that of the demon race. The countdown for The Divine Realm entering its end stage..." Marutian replied.
Yu Yuanqing took off her hat, leaned in next to Marutian, and asked, "Do you want to rule the world?"
"I understand my...," Marutian began.
"It's not about you not wanting to. You just want to destroy it, then what? After the reconstruction, you will undoubtedly be the ruler," Yu Yuanqing interjected.
"What's so great about ruling? But what about you?" Marutian hinted that after causing the destruction, Yu Yuanqing would likely be eliminated as well, so why did she still follow him.
"I don't know, I just want to see if there might be a miracle that lets me survive in the world after the reconstruction."
"Perhaps... miracles do exist." Marutian grasped Yu Yuanqing's chin, and the air between them was as passionate as fire.
"Hmm?" Marutian's ears caught a faint sound, as a tiny piece of cloud broke off under the cloud layer, unbeknownst to the divine race above and below, signifying something ominous.
Marutian waved his hand, releasing a large amount of gas from his body, spreading rapidly from the central position on the cloud layer. The colorless gas quietly seeped into the bodies of some divine race members on the cloud layer, causing their eyes to flicker oddly for a moment before everything returned to normal.
"Don't look back." Hisa reminded Snow, as there was a tracker behind them.
"What did you and Alan talk about?"
"A lot, about the past, childhood, family members. We even talked about father's memories. Turns out in my brother's eyes, our father was a foolish god." Hisa realized that the discrepancies between them in The Divine Realm over millions of years were much farther apart than he had thought. Before today, even though they both knew that differences were inevitable, they tacitly kept a distance in their hearts, until it was broken today.
"Let's descend below the cloud layer."
Snow used magic to open a hole in the cloud below their feet, and the two dropped down through the hole, arriving beneath the cloud layer.
Dark clouds covered the sky below, with the cloud layer accumulating thicker and hardly dispersing over the past few decades, depriving the ground of direct sunlight and lacking vitality.
"In recent years, most of the plants in The Divine Realm have been sustained by magic, but only about twenty to thirty percent have survived," Hisa said.
"The Divine Realm lacks the rich magic crystal resources of The Human Realm. While we do have the technology to extract a large amount of energy from a small amount of magic crystal, it is followed by a large accumulation of clouds. It is inevitable that new Magic or a rebuilding of faith is needed, but the methods employed by Ellen, following the old covenant, are regarded as the most contemptible by the divine race. However, the new covenant..."
"The new covenant is nonsense! The fact that The Divine Realm, with such a long history, still adheres to covenant laws is merely a way for those so-called council gods to leave themselves a way out. The simplicity and variability of covenant laws are too great, the constraints too small. The divine race no longer possesses the high enlightenment they had before the war between gods and demons; we are all regressing," Hisa said, looking at Xue'er with a helpless expression in her eyes.
As the two reached the clouds below, it was midnight, and there were few divine beings walking the streets, with no sign of their followers approaching.
"Hurry."
"Hisa, what do they want to do?"
"Surveillance, even intervene at critical moments. They say not to look back... It's our home's red and white sticks."
Hisa and Xue'er hurried along, with their pursuers never stopping their trailing.
"We can't shake them off. It's hard for us to gather. Let's go down to The Human Realm," Xue'er whispered to Hisa's ear, taking out two blue beads from her pocket, but accidentally dropping one.
"Don't pick it up. Let's go!"
A red stick suddenly thrust out from behind, prompting Hisa to quickly pull Xue'er behind herself, hiding them both behind a pillar.
"The 'Inter-Realm Bead' is not allowed to be traded. How do you have it?"
At that moment, the blue bead contained spatial Magic for inter-realm transport. The trilateral agreement prohibits private inter-realm transport, allowing only the gods' portal as a way to go. Additionally, these beads are expensive, with each one capable of transporting a single adult deity – a pregnant woman counts as two, a child counts as half. Entering with two children at once cannot guarantee the safety of both, whereas most gods choose the secure passage of the divine portal, a freely accessible route.
"I'm just a spare," Xue'er replied.
"They have figured out our intentions, but even if the 'Execution Gate' is out of reach, the red and white stick is definitely not my match. You go to The Human Realm first, gather at Othrie. I'll go to the gate."
"Don't do anything rash! Hisa..." Before Xue'er could react, Hisa snatched the bead from her hand, opened the passage, and pushed Xue'er through. Just before entering the passage, it seemed like Xue'er had something to say to Hisa, but it was too late. She could only bid farewell to Hisa with worried eyes.
"It's been a long time since I've practiced with the red and white stick." Hisa emerged from behind the wall...
Having turned the corner from where he was just now, Hisa walked out onto the main street. A flood surged from behind him, flooding the whole street with water. The red and white stick lay on the ground. Before taking over the "Execution Gate," Hisa, apart from the light Magic common to the divine race, excelled in water-based Magic. Dealing with the red and white stick was a bit tricky. Thus, Xue'er's decision was a necessary one. Xue'er's father was marginalized, and if Xue'er had not been with him, she would have been confined long ago. Therefore, Hisa had to choose to send Xue'er away in advance.
In the distance, Hisa could already hear the flapping of Angel's wings. His heart was somewhat undecided, but now he thought it might be a good thing to make decisions like Elena, who followed her own choices. He had told Elena so many times to follow her heart, and now he finally decided to do just that.
"Brother, you forced me."
Hisa turned and left. Suddenly, the water pipes on the street burst, filling the streets with water columns. Hisa seemed to be bidding farewell to himself, saying goodbye to his homeland.
