Prologue 3

"Now. I've bought us plenty of times when I ended Naena and her … friends. However, It will not take long before their powerful allies, allies who are even more powerful, even as powerful as I, to come to us soon." Vroalagg reveals.

"What can I do to help, master?" Rellandus asks eagerly.

Vroalagg looks at Rellandus meaningfully. He knows that his disciple is very loyal to him and calls his territory home.

That trait would be fine in any battle, but not this one. Rellandus's loyalty will be Rellandus's downfall.

"You are too weak to help." He shakes his head in response to his disciple's question.

Rellandus understands.

Even though his power multiplied today, he knows that he is too weak to involve himself against the fight of God Kings.

"Then, please excuse me. I will help the others to flee." He can only offer.

"No. Stay." Vroalagg refuses.

"Your seniors are already handling that." He explains.

"That's a relief." Rellandus nods.

"But what else can I do?" His new power not making him feel any less helpless.

"Once the rest are ready, I will start the evacuation." Vroalagg looks to the distance.

"You won't stay here to hold the enemies off, wouldn't you, master?" Rellandus asks nervously.

"I'm not insane. We'll flee together." Vroalagg scoffs.

"Beyond the Territories. The endless realms. Such vast expanse and there much to be explored."

"But master. Everything is lifeless outside God King territories. Don't you have allies?" Rellandus finds his master's plan crazy.

"In other wars, those friends would be my allies. But not this time." Vroalagg shakes his head.

"I will have to use my own life until we've found a living domain." He smiles in assurance.

"How…" Rellandus is speechless. "That's still sacrificing yourself, master."

"That's true." Vroalagg admits.

"But master. If you're gone, who will protect us all? How can I become a God King without your guidance?" Rellandus argues.

"Becoming a God King does not require guidance. Every God King discourages it in fact."

"what?" Rellandus is shocked by the revelation.

"That's the truth. Every God King achieved their powers by following their own unique paths." Vroalagg reveals.

"But…" Rellandus is about to argue, but Vroalagg cuts him off.

"Yes. I can see that you have already started your path. And while our paths share a few similar aspects, sharing my wisdom with you with those aspects might misguide you, making you lose your way from your path."

"I see." Rellandus accepts the explanation, trusting his master.

"How long before we're ready to depart?" He asks instead.

He knows that becoming a God King is still far, and he might not even achieve it. He does not even know if he can become an Exalted God. With the current state of matters, he does not even know if he can shed off his Celestial shell and ascend to Godhood.

He has more pressing matters at hand, like ensuring his survival.

"Oh. You won't be departing with us." Vroalagg holds Rellandus's shoulder.

"Pardon me?" Rellandus is taken aback.

"I've taken a glimpse of the future, and I see nothing but darkness in the God King Territories." Vroalagg looks at the sky in defeat.

"No matter which path the cultivators of the Territories take, it will all end in darkness, swallowed by the Void, indistinguishable from any part of the Endless Realms."

"…" Rellandus processes the weight of his master's prediction.

"But the Territories itself is vast. It will take me billions of chaos cycles to explore the entirety of it… All that… will disappear?" He cannot help but ask, finding such thing happening to something so inconceivably vast, so inconceivable.

He has not even lived a chaos cycle yet, and therefore has not ventured much outside of Vroalagg's Territory. Even if he spent his life exploring Vroalagg's Territory, he would not have explored even a fraction of it. And Even if he decides to spend the rest of his life exploring, it will probably take him millions of the lifetime he lived, to cover Vroalagg's Territory.

If Vroalagg's Territory is already that vast, he could barely imagine the size of the God King Territories' entirety.

"Precisely." Vroalagg nods.

Rellandus wants to question what makes Vroalagg so certain, but he is too young, too inexperienced to question his master's vast wisdom.

He then realizes something else.

"That's… that's why you chose to leave the Territories." He utters.

"Yes." Vroalagg confirms.

"The Territories may all go dark, but I hope to find the light for our people in the vast endless realms."

"So why am I staying?" Rellandus asks.

This is the first time in a long time that he feels apprehensive of his master.

"You're not staying either." Vroalagg shakes his head as he removes his hand off of Rellandus.

He uncasts his spear and with his two hands, performs various gestures with his fingers.

The next moment, a purple-colored portal appears beside him and Rellandus.

"Where does it lead to? And I've never seen a portal of this color." Rellandus asks as he takes a closer look at the edges of the portal.

"Something I've accidentally made in the distant past, something I never replicated." Vroalagg says as he looks at the portal, as if he can see what is beyond it.

Rellandus sees hope return in Vroalagg's eyes.

"This… is why I dare to gamble exploring the endless realms." Vroalagg continues.

"I do not know what lies beyond it. I've sacrificed countless of our people to explore it. Exalted Celestials like you, Loose Gods, True Gods, people of varying powers. Ultimately, none returned."

Rellandus stares at Vroalagg in disbelief.

"They were willing participants. They have all felt that they had nothing else to live for." Vroalagg smirks.

"Anyway. None of those who explored it even contacted me, so I do not know of their fates. While those who ventured beyond this portal never returned, a God King like me might be powerful to survive."

"May the void guide them." Rellandus utters, but he feels that most if not all of those who went in to explore are now dead.

"Yeah…" Vroalagg takes a moment to thank those who sacrificed themselves for nothing.

Rellandus suddenly realizes something.

"No matter how distant one can be, while they are still in the Territories, one can still send a message to you, right?" He asks.

"That's right. Just like what you suspect, I think that this portal leads somewhere outside the Territories." Vroalagg confirms.

"You intend to flee with our people using this?" Rellandus asks.

"Yes. But you will have to leave first." Vroalagg reveals.

Rellandus suspected the order, but he is still stunned.

"I know, it is frightening…" Vroalagg snaps his fingers and the orb he made out of Naena's God King energy appears above his palm once again.

"… But unlike the ones who entered before you, you have this." He passes the orb to Rellandus.

"God King energy…" Rellandus basks in the warmth of the orb.

"But I'm only an Exalted Celestial, master." He feels that he is too weak however.

Cultivators more powerful than he never returned. He is also clueless about what to do with a God King's energy.

"You are indeed too weak. And you do not have the knowledge to use a God King energy to your desire. So, I've… tinkered with it to passively sustain your body and your life." Vroalagg explains.

"I see…" Rellandus in understanding.

"So. Would you like to start anew?" Vroalagg gestures Rellandus to the portal. Rellandus contemplates.

He trusts his master's judgement about the future of the Territories. He has lived a long life, but he has not even lived a single Chaos cycle, so he does not know how long it will take him to become a God King if he is lucky.

Even if he chooses to stay, and settles down in another God King's territory, war is coming and he will have to fight. Even if he somehow survives until the end of the war, he will still face his demise in the rubbles of the lifeless and dark God King Territories.

Exploring the unknown however, with a God King energy to aid him, he will do something that most people of The Territories will never do, or even dare to do.

Having this adventure gives him the opportunity to achieve things that are more powerful than he, like High Gods, or even God Kings, will never have the chance to achieve; find life beyond the Territories, at the far reaches of the Endless Realms.

"You have to decide now." Vroalagg pulls him out of his thought. He looks at his master and sees excitement in the man's eyes.

"Now?" Rellandus hesitates as he looks at the lifeless bodies of Mecento and Carain. He made a promise to Carain and he figures that Mecento too, left unsettled things behind.

"Yes. Now. For the first time in a million cycles, I never felt this amount of life beyond the portal. The previous times this happened, the signs of life only lasted a few breaths, which makes me think that the other side is ever moving." Vroalagg urges Rellandus.

"Go. Whatever promise you made to these two, I will settle them on your behalf."

Rellandus takes a deep breath. "I guess this is farewell, master." He gets down on one knee and lowers head.

"It is. I just wished it never came to this, so I can watch you grow further." Vroalagg returns a bitter smile.

"It's been an honor serving you, and being guided by you, master." Rellandus says as he looks up at his master's face.

"You do not have to feel grateful, Rellandus…" Vroalagg nods.

"Go." He urges Rellandus, feeling something in the portal flutter.

Rellandus gets up to his feet, feeling the urgency in Vroalagg's command.

"May we meet again, master." He says one more time before jumping in the portal without hesitation.

As soon the portal swallows the last of Rellandus's figure, Vroalagg deactivates the portal.

He looks up at the sky and sighs.

"The almighty Void… Others may find me insane for speaking to you. Unlike them, I know, that you are always there, watching, listening. So please, hear my wish. Please give my Rellandus a chance. I know you're indifferent, but you have seen Rellandus. If there is anyone alive who deserves your pity and action, then that is him."

*whoooshh*

A gentle breeze of wind blows by.

"Haaaa…" He can only sigh. Just as he expected, the Void is indeed different, not even receiving a sign of acknowledging his wishes from it.

He looks one more time at the place where Rellandus left, before leaving.

He has a realm's worth of lives to save.