Many a bard's tale still circulates an unconfird legend:
It is said that betrayers, when on the brink of death, rapidly witness their entire lives flash before their eyes.
And all these illusions ultimately transform into a beam of light.
A beam of light that allows a soul in the Styx River to gaze upon the Divine Realm.
This, in turn, plunges those with no chance to ascend to the Divine Realm into even deeper despair.
So say it is the gods' punishnt for the betrayer, while others claim it is a hellish trick by devils to distort Soul Shells and wring more sacred energy from them.
Regardless, at this mont, the dying nekver—whether it was a deathbed hallucination or his recently studied foresight magic taking effect through his dissolving life force—seed to genuinely glimpse the Elf Divine Realm.
He saw a corner of the Afando Kingdom, where a tragedy was unfolding:
The once lush and majestic Afando Kingdom lay in ruins and desolation. Everywhere, the Heroic Spirits of Elves, not yet having had the chance to reincarnate, lay collapsed on the ground.
Even many Elf deities he recognized at a glance were half-dead, resembling...
Moths struggling helplessly in a spider's web...
In that instant, nekver understood.
So, the Spider Queen Rose's revenge against Corellon, the chief Elf deity, and all the Elf gods had already begun...
It was only after Tiamat and Pafila had formally declared war on the War God's Divine Realm, from which Rose benefited by returning to her powerful deity status, that this long-planned invasion of the Divine Realm truly intensified.
Furthermore, the dragons' continuous slaughter of Elf believers in their quest for vengeance over the years had gradually weakened the Afando Kingdom and the Elf deities, until Rose seized the opportunity of their vulnerability to invade.
It turned out their deities had never ceased their infighting. Not for a single mont. In such a state, what chance of victory did they have?
At that mont, realizing this and as if foreseeing a fragnt of the future, nekver felt such profound disappointnt and despair.
And then, amidst this great resentnt and despair, he died.
「At the sa ti.」
In the Elves' Afando Kingdom.
"You've won, Arlosh," Corellon, the Elf chief god, said, attempting a display of deep affection that was, in reality, an ingratiating plea as he tried to persuade her.
"Stop now. You've already made and our people suffer enough punishnt and pay a sufficient price. If you continue, we're dood to mutual destruction, and the gods of the Pantheon are watching, waiting to take advantage of us. That's surely not what you want to see, is it, Arlosh..."
"Corellon, after all these years, you still don't understand ..." Rose revealed a delighted yet vengeful smile.
"Do you think I truly care about these victories and defeats, about these trivial gains and losses? Do you truly believe... the price you've paid is enough?"
Corellon's expression suddenly grew uneasy. After Rose's reminder, he seed to finally 'rember' sothing. Taking a deep breath and looking into Rose's eyes, he said, "About Moravi... that child... I'm sorry... It really wasn't my idea."
Rose stared fiercely into her ex-husband's eyes as if she had heard a joke and countered, "So, climbing into that whore Angreis's bed wasn't your idea either, was it?"
Corellon was imdiately speechless.
Looking at his familiar, long-unseen helplessness, Rose felt even more amused by the absurdity of it all. "Corellon, after all these years, even as the god of all Elf deities, you still haven't learned what responsibility and accountability an. You interpret every word I say as an accusation or dissatisfaction, and then you try to shirk responsibility."
"Corellon, you truly are... an utter coward..."
"You!" Labeled a coward by Rose, Corellon's face cycled through shades of livid and pale; it was quite a sight.
He instinctively wanted to defend himself, but the dire situation made him dare not utter any bold words.
He believed he understood Rose, knew just how insane his ex-wife could be.
He then saw Rose shake her head. Scanning the Elf deities behind her, she continued, "Actually, your inability to control your lower half... I wasn't that concerned about it. At worst, we could have just gone our separate ways, and indeed, I've been doing so for a long ti."
The Elf deities upon whom Rose's gaze fell all guiltily averted their eyes. The suddenly enlightened Corellon felt the crown on his head shine with an even more verdant, mocking light.
Then he saw Rose, as if recalling a deeply etched, painful mory, begin to laugh hysterically. After a mont, as if she had laughed her fill, she shook her head and sighed, "Corellon, you shouldn't have—you absolutely, positively shouldn't have—listened to that whore Angreis's slander and plotted against our child...
"Our... poor child..."
Hearing this sigh, seemingly filled with maternal love, Corellon felt only terror.
Standing behind Rose, Erystre and Velan both looked away with complex expressions.
One mournful, one jealous.
For this elder brother, of whom they had only childhood mories.
The Elf firstborn, who was born with inherent wisdom.
They only felt... he... was truly a pathetic creature.
Did Rose really love their eldest son that much? At least in their eyes, as children of these two gods, they didn't think so. To them, their nearly perfect elder brother, Moravi, was nothing more than a stepping-stone and a puppet for their mother, Rose, in her bid to grasp the supre power of the Elves. Just like they themselves were being manipulated by strings. No, their plight was even more tragic than that of re puppets.
And Corellon feared this perfection, feared the covetousness emanating from Rose. Theoretically immortal, he feared that one day his own child would usurp him.
Thus, he had tacitly approved Angreis's plan to replace the heir.
And now, the ti had co to pay the price.
Facing this seemingly inevitable despair and fear.
THUD.
Corellon knelt, then, like a beaten cur, crawled towards Rose, his face a mask of sycophancy as he looked up, begging for rcy.
"Arlosh... I was wrong!
"Forgive !
"Co back to my side, Arlosh!
"If you really love children that much, we... we can have another one...
"No, many more!
"We'll have a child as outstanding as Moravi, until you're satisfied. Huh?"
Looking at Corellon groveling so shalessly, Rose's lips curled into a cruelly teasing smirk. She then extended a spider leg, placing it before him.
Corellon realized her intention.
But, in a desperate bid to survive, he could only tremble as he stuck out his tongue to lick Rose's monstrous, hairy spider leg.
After all, her current monstrous appearance was the result of a punishnt he had inflicted upon her long ago.
At this mont, Rose finally unleashed the resentnt and elation suppressed for thirty thousand years, laughing maniacally as she gazed with extre malice at the now ashen-faced Angreis.
So of the Elf gods who had already chosen sides quietly moved closer to the Spider Queen.
Unwilling to be captured, Angreis split into three, attempting to flee. Ultimately, trapped by Rose's overwhelming and ticulously layered sches, she found no way out. One of her three forms, her incarnation as Sahani, the Moon Goddess, then acted as she had thirty thousand years ago when leading the Elves from their holand: she opened a Teleportation Gate to Ferodiel.
But thirty thousand years ago, her departure was resolute.
Now, it was an act of utter despair.
However, as she opened this gate of doom, she saw not a trace of fear in Rose's eyes.
Only elation and mockery.
It was then that Angreis finally, despairingly, understood.
Even this desperate, mutually destructive act was sothing Rose had manipulated her into doing. After all, within the entire Elf pantheon, only she held the 'key' to return to their holand. And Rose, already driven to madness by the loss of her eldest son... why would she fear descending further into insanity?
But by the ti she realized this, it was too late.
"NO!!!"
Thousands of black hands clawed at her body, her face, engulfing her and dragging her through the portal.
A tumultuous wind began to spread towards the new world.
Amidst the Elves' despairing wails, only Rose, stroking Corellon's head—trembling uncontrollably with fear—looked up and opened her arms to the dark gateway.
"Co, my child...
"Moravi.
"I'm here to welco you.
"Join with , your mother...
"Let us beco one..."
...
「anwhile, in another tiline.」
David, in the Dragon Royal Court, inexplicably shuddered. He instinctively darted out of his lair, only to feel the north wind grow even more piercing.
And in the skies above the distant Supre Glacier to the north, black clouds silently lood, pressing down.
Feeling an unexplained irritation, David instantly understood, and then he cursed inwardly.
Damn it, those Elves who never got the chance to unleash The Slaying King Star! Taking advantage of our decisive battle with the Giants... they've gone and unleashed their ultimate gambit?!
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