The War Begins

Tekla let out an almost imperceptible sigh. Neither Yegr nor Amanthar could reclaim their lost divine essence from Mystryl as easily as Shar and Sarenrae; if Shar and Sarenrae had an eighty percent chance of becoming Old Gods, Yegr's chances were likely less than seventy.

As for Amanthar, who had just returned, his chances were even lower. Although he had regained the full divinity of the Solar Deity and the power of Lathander, this only secured his position as a deity of great power. He was far inferior to Shar and Sarenrae, and even Yegr, who had been playing the role of the underdog, surpassed him, with only a fifty percent chance.

However, with the Law's assistance, undeterred by any loss, all four deities had a high likelihood of ascending successfully!

The Law had gone all in; Io's slow slicing had pushed the Law to its limits! The souls of the faithful belonged to the gods, not the Law, and Io's shift of authority had caused the Law immense pain.

An ultimatum had been issued: if Tekla continued to refuse to open the cycle of reincarnation, the Law would clear the field.

Without much deliberation, Tekla's divine realm reverberated, and under the guidance of the Law, she headed towards the essence of the Nine Hells.

The cycle of reincarnation was crucial to the domain of death, and the primal forces of death began to favor Tekla, distancing itself from the decaying Yegr.

Bottomless voids swallowed the demons, and this irresistible attraction even affected the supplicants. In the divine realms of the gods, where pure souls enjoyed eternal bliss, they flocked to the Hells like moths to a flame. Except for Asgard, protected by Corellon, both the good and evil factions' once bustling realms fell silent.

Tekla arranged destinations for these souls according to the rule of retribution; the virtuous were reborn into noble families or granted extraordinary talents, while the wicked were reincarnated as goblins and merfolk.

The imbalanced essence began to flow, and the languishing Law quickly recovered. At this moment, Tekla also began her ascent to Old Godhood, seizing the surging world's primal forces and taking the initiative.

Tekla's active seizure of the death domain's authority had a significant impact on the original god of death; the flames in Yegr's eyes dimmed, and he seemed on the verge of defeat.

The Law fluctuated, and under Tekla's silent threat, it unwillingly granted her more authority. Tekla was not one to be modest; as a primordial deity not weaker than the Old Gods, and with prior experience, she smoothly became the second Old God.

With the Law paving the way, the four deities succeeded one after another, and a powerful pressure swept across the Material Plane, awakening Io from his slumber.

Five Old Gods appeared in succession, and the Law, with its power surging, could no longer hide from Io.

Tekla retreated to the Hells the moment Io awoke, shutting the door to watch the drama unfold.

The New Gods, confident with the Law's backing, charged forward recklessly and were kicked back by Io. Fortunately, the Law was reliable, mobilizing the four Elemental Primes to block Io.

The Elemental Primes, akin to world consciousnesses, could rapidly regenerate no matter how many times they died, as long as their respective elemental planes existed.

With the Elemental Primes and Old Gods joining forces, and the Law supporting them from behind, they held their ground against Io. The loyal guardian deity of Io, Helm, charged out but was killed by a combined strike of the four Elemental Primes.

Helm's fall was not in vain; he bought precious time for Io!

A fierce glint flashed in Io's eyes as he wielded the Tablet of Fate, dispersing the Law.

Without the Law's support, the gods were immediately at a disadvantage. Shar and Sarenrae exchanged glances, embraced each other, and merged the original light and darkness into one, unleashing a chaotic torrent that repelled Io.

With the addition of the Elemental Primes, the volatile energy shattered Io's body!

The splattered divine blood coagulated and cooled into round golden orbs.

Yegr's deathly power, like a persistent parasite, suppressed the healing of his wounds with its icy divine energy, and the remaining divine blood lost its immortal golden luster, dimming.

Io waved his hand, and a golden ring locked onto Yegr, who had taken advantage of the situation, and the burst of divine power instantly killed the Death Recorder! Although Yegr was quickly reborn in the depths of his essence, he was powerless to intervene in the battle for a while.

Tekla straightened up slightly; Io was about to get serious!

A hidden wristwatch on Tekla's wrist trembled slightly, and as expected, she received a mission from Io.

"Ho, there's even a group broadcast function? All reincarnators above nine stars have been notified!"

Tekla blocked the mission notification and turned her gaze to a group of suddenly appearing reincarnators.

These reincarnators were at least of great god power level; they had fought countless battles to reach this point. Not to mention someone like Shanna, who was like a mere ornament, even Torm, who wielded the domain of war, might only be on par with any one of them. If they encountered those with stronger auras, the God of War might even be defeated.

With this strong support, Io quickly turned the tide.

The reincarnators' various methods made the deities of Faerûn, who were new to dealing with them, flustered and overwhelmed. These mercenaries of Io would not care about the damage they caused to the world; all sorts of strange weapons emerged endlessly. Tekla even saw a reincarnator secretly drop a familiar spiral glass tube.

A group of tiny demons seemed to be sleeping in the green liquid! Before Tekla could look away, the Plague Domain she had obtained from Talos became as excited as if it had seen a stimulant.

"This is getting out of hand!"

Tekla cursed loudly, opened a teleportation portal, and caught the tube before it hit the ground.

"You'd be more suited to playing with a necromantic plague than a zombie virus! What can zombies do? They're not even fit to be cannon fodder!"

Tekla was apprehensive, "How exactly does the Lord of Death calculate his kills? Does he count those gods who fell due to the death of their followers as his victories?"

The reincarnator who had thrown the T-virus seemed somewhat surprised and was then swallowed by a suddenly appearing deep void.

Tekla did not want to clean up the mess after winning the battle; using biological weapons was touching the bottom line! If a modified version of a biohazard crisis were to unfold in the Faerûn world, all her painstaking schemes against Io would be in vain. It would be much easier to cultivate a world of her own.

The reincarnators indeed helped Io repel the Elemental Primes and Old Gods, but Tekla did not believe they would fight to the death for Io against the Old Gods.

For a team of powerful deities to take action, Io must have paid a price! After all, there was no clear hierarchical relationship between them; if the situation turned bad or a crisis arose that warranted their stay, the reincarnators would not mind walking away.

The reincarnator swallowed by the black hole wanted to leave the world of Faerûn the moment they sensed danger but were intercepted by Tekla with authority second only to the Creator God.

The unlucky reincarnator was sensible enough to surrender immediately upon realizing the power of the Lord of Death was blocked.

Tekla temporarily set aside dealing with him, knocked him out with a palm, and pinned him deep in the Hells with the Eternal Spear before turning her attention back to the battlefield.

The sudden appearance of the black hole made the reincarnators more vigilant, and their actions slowed down. The pressured Elemental Primes finally got a chance to catch their breath, leaped out of the battle circle, and together opened a passage to the elemental planes. The Elemental Lords swarmed out, instantly suppressing the slacking reincarnators.

On the other side, Io fought evenly against three without falling behind. Wherever the Tablet of Fate went, the Old Gods retreated, always leaving a gap in their encirclement.

The gods watched from the sidelines; Shyrk, who had been trying to pick up the spoils, was taken away by the battle's aftermath, and Bane and Bhaal, who had just returned, dared not act rashly.

The gods of the good faction remained silent; Io had oppressed them for too long. The Plague of the Saints had caused unprecedented dissatisfaction among the gods towards Io! If it weren't for fearing Io's immense power, the gods would have joined the fray against the sudden appearance of the reincarnators.

Even so, many gods still descended under the guise of protecting the Material Plane, seemingly casually eliminating the reincarnators' lingering threats.

Another Old God, Corellon, was busy putting on a show, leading his subordinates to block the wrathful gods' realms, preventing Talos from interfering.

Tekla followed suit; her avatar in the Abyss led the Messiah to block the Abyssal Lords. Seizing the opportunity while Io and the Old Gods were preoccupied, she launched a full-scale offensive against the Abyss! The Hells moved towards the Abyss proactively, like a cone piercing into it; under Tekla's all-out effort, the Abyssal Lords were no stronger than insects.

Without the protection of the Abyssal consciousness, the reincarnation void devoured demons at full capacity, and the Hells also swallowed the cleansed Abyssal planes, supporting the Law while expanding itself.

The two sides were at a stalemate; Io and the reincarnators, who held the upper hand, could not gain an absolute advantage; the suppressed Law faction, although in a mess, was not without the ability to fight back.

But this was not a sustainable solution. Io gritted his teeth, and the golden ring turned again, bringing down another group of reincarnators.

The trembling wristwatch made Tekla sigh in relief; Io was now putting everything on the line! Io was not yet the master of the world of Faerûn, and for every reincarnator who became aware of the world's existence, Io would have one more potential rival!

Before this, all the reincarnators who came to the world of Faerûn were below the level of intermediate gods, and Io had ways to control them. According to what Lin Su had said, they had to sign an agreement not to disclose any information before entering the world of Faerûn! With the guarantees of multiple Creator Gods, the location of the world of Faerûn would not be known to any being capable of competing with Io, and the pressure on him was almost negligible.

Seeing that the Law was considering retreating, Tekla acted even faster, grinding down a large number of demons with the reincarnation rules, continuously replenishing the Law with primal forces.

The Old Gods were invigorated, and even the weakened Yegr rallied and joined the battle.

The Eternal Spear shimmered with golden light; the reincarnator caught by Tekla was killed before he could wake up.

Turning the spear around, the crisis that felt like a dagger at the back locked onto another reincarnator. The man holding a huge shield to block the explosive energy flow changed his expression and immediately disengaged from the battle circle, giving a low warning. His teammates also quickly regrouped, and the leading woman flipped her wrist to take out a scroll, ready to flee at any moment.

Tekla naturally would not miss such an opportunity; the dark void appeared, darting towards the tense reincarnators.

The woman did not hesitate; she tore the scroll and decisively initiated a forced disengagement from this world.

Among the first group of reincarnators, there were not a few smart people. Seeing this team willing to risk the penalty of the mission to force a disengagement, they immediately became alert.

Tekla put down the Eternal Spear, which was entwined with golden light, and thought of a way to disrupt the reincarnators.

Outside the Crystal Sphere, Tekla's true form stretched out her arms to embrace the world of Faerûn, sparing no effort to temporarily sever the connection between the reincarnators and the Chief Gods.

The reincarnators suddenly found fluctuations on the invisible interface of their wristwatches; this was an unprecedented phenomenon! A sense of crisis lingered in the hearts of the reincarnators, becoming a bomb ready to explode at any time!

When one lone wolf tried to disengage but received no response, the reincarnators immediately fell into chaos. Several reincarnators with forced disengagement scrolls immediately tore them open and returned, while the remaining reincarnators turned their weapons on Io, who had issued the mission.

Io had no choice but to call upon the power of the Creator Gods to break through Tekla's blockade while fighting against the Law and the Old Gods.

Tekla smiled slyly and lifted the blockade just before the white light arrived; the reincarnators had not yet had time to breathe a sigh of relief when the just-repaired connection was severed again.

How could Io not guess that it was another reincarnator with the same authority as himself causing trouble? His eyes narrowed, and he used the Tablet of Fate regardless of the cost to shatter the body of Amanthar, the Solar Deity.

The golden ring representing the authority of the Chief God's space was placed on Sarenrae, who rushed to save someone, and the figure of the Moon Goddess disappeared instantly, leaving this world for an infinitely distant unknown place.

Shar and Yegr's faces changed drastically; Amanthar's return to his essence was almost complete, but Sarenrae was completely gone from this world, and even the aura left in his essence was rapidly fading!

It should be noted that Sarenrae's Old God status was only useful within the world of Faerûn; without the Law's permission, he could not leave the world. But the authority of multiple Creator Gods broke through the Law's obstruction and took Sarenrae to an unknown place. Without the support of the Law, Sarenrae would lose his Old God status and become a deity of great power! Not to mention returning, it would be difficult for him to even preserve himself.

This was not good; whether it was a fluke or not, Io had completely deprived the Law faction of an Old God's combat power!

The revolving golden ring sped towards Shar, who turned into an invisible darkness and merged into the night, and the ring turned towards Yegr.

With the precedent of Sarenrae being moved away, how could Yegr dare to let the mysterious golden ring approach him! His black cloak flew out, deliberately colliding with the golden ring!

His disguise did not fool Io; the golden ring was like lightning, about to hit Yegr!