[496] Battle on the Brink!

The atmosphere in the room grew heavy and tense.

August looked at Giada Kukulcan with surprise. He resembled Cain? Did that mean Cain, too, sought to erase the world's mysteries?

"You want to control the Holy Annihilation?"

"Holy Annihilation? I have no interest in that trinket."

"Hm?"

Giada Kukulcan frowned slightly at August's words.

Without the Holy Annihilation, how did he plan to purge the world's mysteries?

From the start, Cain had created the Holy Annihilation to "erase" things that shouldn't exist.

Itogami Island itself was built to fully unlock the Holy Annihilation—constructed atop a dragon vein, an artificial island that shouldn't exist.

Only here could Cain, cursed by the earth as the Sinful God, potentially revive and truly activate the Holy Annihilation.

Through the dragon vein, its power would spread to every corner of the world.

Then, the true "Judgment" would descend, and all demons would become history.

"Giada, I'm not Cain. My methods are far more thorough. It's precisely because this world's tier is so high that it breeds mysteries and gives rise to the 'supernatural.'"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if this world's tier is lowered, its 'mysteries' will fade on their own."

"Lower the world's tier?"

Giada Kukulcan couldn't comprehend it. Their perspectives differed—her position and vision shaped what she could see.

"You don't understand?"

"No, I don't follow."

"Let me put it this way: the world isn't singular. You know that, right?"

"Of course. Cain himself wasn't from this world."

Giada Kukulcan was well aware of other worlds—she'd experienced them firsthand, even traveled to them.

The Sinful God Cain, originally human, was the progenitor of demons. Cursed and banished from the earth, he sparked the "Holy Annihilation" in ancient times, corrupting the divine into demons and slaughtering the ancient human "Heavenly Division."

Once, neither gods nor demons existed in the human world.

These mysterious entities were outsiders.

"If we categorize worlds by tiers, there'd be ranks—high, medium, low. High-tier worlds have mysteries potent enough to birth progenitor-level beings. Progenitors are the ceiling of high-tier worlds."

"Hm?"

"Medium-tier worlds have weaker mysteries. The strongest beings they produce might only reach elder-tier, or perhaps old-era nobles."

"You're saying—"

"In low-tier worlds, there'd be no 'mysteries.' Anything beyond ordinary human limits wouldn't exist."

"You want to downgrade this world into a so-called 'low-tier world'?"

"Exactly."

Giada Kukulcan's gaze turned odd as she looked at August.

She grasped what he meant, but found it hard to believe. Could human effort really achieve such a feat?

Downgrading a world was like turning a progenitor into a lowly vampire.

How could that succeed? Even altering the world's laws was impossible—yet August aimed to downgrade it entirely.

"You don't believe me?"

"It's hard to wrap my head around."

"Well, whether you believe it or not doesn't matter. I don't need to explain further or convince you."

"Heh."

Giada Kukulcan gave a faint smile, unsure of the source of August's confidence.

But her instincts told her this man was cut from the same cloth as Cain—a monstrous genius. He might actually wield such an unimaginable power.

August's trump card was, of course, the World Tree Sapling.

Currently at 98% growth, it needed just 2% more to pass the sprouting phase and enter the sapling stage.

Once it reached that point, the World Tree Sapling would undergo a transformative leap.

It wouldn't just nurture "spirits"—in its next stage, it would devour a world's origin at a vastly accelerated rate.

That was for the future, though. For now, August's task was to defeat the three progenitors and establish his Night Empire.

The reason was simple: system missions.

Four tasks, each offering nine high-tier draws. Completing them all would yield thirty-six draws.

With that many chances, even with the worst luck, August was bound to get something good.

And right now, a progenitor stood before him.

Giada Kukulcan noticed the shift in August's gaze—like a hunter eyeing prey. It made her laugh.

It had been ages since she'd encountered something like this.

"You want to destroy our Night Empires and eliminate all progenitors. That includes me, doesn't it?"

"Exactly. Since you've come to my doorstep, I'll have to play host."

"Interesting. Very interesting."

Boom!

Boom!

Two overwhelming auras erupted—Giada Kukulcan, the Third Progenitor, and August, the Demon King of Five Sins.

Their combined pressure blanketed half of Itogami Island.

Every demon, human, and living being on the island trembled.

"Ready to fight?"

Giada Kukulcan smiled at August, crooking a finger in invitation, signaling him to make the first move.

As the senior, she felt obliged to act the part.

"Not here. This is where I'll build my Night Empire. Breaking it would be a hassle."

"Then where? The sea?"

"Yeah, a bit farther out."

"Fair enough."

As a progenitor, Giada Kukulcan had no fear. In her millennia of existence, she'd never met an opponent who posed a threat. August was no different in her mind.

He was mysterious, privy to many secrets, but she didn't believe he could defeat her.

Snap!

Giada snapped her fingers.

A ripple of spatial energy flared, and in an instant, they appeared above an open ocean.

This was her familiar's ability—spatial mastery, enabling instant teleportation, even with others in tow.

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