Chapter 242: Chapter 57 [Suffering]_2

“Speaking of which, this was the inspiration you gave me.”

Caressing the only dragon egg he had managed to snatch, Erebus severed his own left hand.

This hand, infected by the power of the Flesh-Mother Tree, was perfectly suited to mold a Dragon Mother. Of course, he had to first erase the consciousness that would be born within it, lest he end up benefiting someone else.

“And then there’s that one I never used to take seriously… the Nine Hells, was it?”

Although the other was technically his junior, he had become a senior in the path of world-creation, so Erebus naturally paid attention to his actions.

It seemed that the other had created beings called Demons, and so the Lord of Darkness would naturally not fall behind.

…

Whoosh——

The waters of the Circumterrestrial River flowed ceaselessly, the severed section of the river not affecting the overall current. Laine returned to the edge of Chaos World in no time at all.

The familiar laws and sense of ease washed over him. Compared to the oppressive atmosphere in the Nine Realms, this place felt a bit more comfortable.

In the Land of Mist, the power of great beings was insignificant in the face of the complete power of a world; the skirmish between the three entities didn’t even shatter the ground of Niflheim. If Laine had confronted the Flesh-Mother Tree here, it’s likely that one look would have assimilated beings beneath the East Sea Spirit into part of the other and then ground them into dust without mercy by Laine.

Of course, the laws of the present world would probably follow suit, enforcing sanctions on these two “violent transgressors.”

“It could also be seen as protecting its own ‘spoils of war,’ after all, if they were to be damaged, Chaos would have to expend energy to repair the broken interfaces,” he mused.

Standing above the long river, Laine looked into the distance at the Nine Realms dragged by chains of order, noticing that their trajectories were gradually separating.

The Land of Mist had the most chains and was the most dense, as there was still a ‘big bomb’ inside of it. Several fragments had been peeled off from it, likely parts that the Mother Tree had not assimilated.

Looking at the direction, it was being pulled towards the bottom of all worlds. Although it was unclear if it could still be seen in the present world, Niflheim would likely keep company with Tartarus.

From then on, the symbol of the world’s Chaos aspect could potentially become twofold, but this was under the premise that the Flesh-Mother Tree was completely transformed by Chaos, and the duration of this process was something Laine was not quite sure of.

Aside from the Land of Mist, Vanaheim was drifting towards the southeastern seas, near an island by the mainland. Once it was fully digested by the world, it would likely open its own entrance there.

The value of such a realm of magic was undeniable; even if many spells and rituals lost their effectiveness due to changes in the world, often in the field of esoteric studies, inspiration is more important than experience.

The achievements of the Vanir spanning tens of thousands of years could bring unimaginable enlightenment.

The kingdom of the Titans, Jotunheim, was sent flying toward the extreme north of the world, where the desolate icy plains were as uninhabited as the homeland of the frost giants; the Land of the Dead, Helheim, drifted towards the Underworld. In the future, it might become a second home for the wraiths, distinct from a new breed of undead under the Nether Moon.

One was born out of Magic Power, and the other purely out of the force of Death, with the latter, obviously, hating Life even more.

Svartalfheim, the Dark realm, ‘expanded’ some distance between the earth and the Underworld.

When the Underworld was fragmented away, the territories controlled by the two earth deities were bound to clash. But now, they were separated. Countless voids and cavities emerged, turning the land into a ‘free’ space to contest, like the seas, an unclaimed ‘land.’

As for Muspelheim, one of the original realms born alongside the Land of Mist, it too drifted towards the world’s bottom. Unlike its ‘old friend,’ the realm of Fire plunged directly into Tartarus. Through his unique avatar, Laine could even anticipate that this realm would likely be dismembered.

Given that the Abyss was also beginning to generate biomass and define interfaces under the influence of the Nine Hells, Muspelheim was destined to become the nutrients for this process. The newly born Abyss would be affected by this too, spawning some unique beings, as well as layers filled with flames and lava.

Naturally, the Nine Hells could also take a share of this bounty; perhaps from now on, fire would become another tool for demons, just like Darkness.

Finally, Midgard, the Mortal Realm of the Nine Realms, and Alfheim, home of the Light Elves, continued to orbit around Chaos World, seemingly unsure of where they belonged.

However, being without a destination didn’t mean they weren’t transformed; they were, like other interfaces, the same in terms of matter and energy, but the underlying rules that made them were slowly changing.

In this process, the original rules of the Nine Realms were also partly integrated into Chaos World; in the coming days, many Source Powers would experience rises to various extents.

“For some, this might not be such good news,” he reflected.

Casting a glance at the starry sky, Laine thought of a goddess who had been in hiding for a hundred years.

For Laine, an increase in Origin was just that—an increase; Chaos was not going to share his power anyway. But for others, it could be different.

For example, the Realm of Alfheim, filled with Light, would greatly enhance the domain of [Light]. Unless something unexpected happened, Theia, the Mother of Light, could well reach greatness in this era. But Laine believed that before that day came, another God of Light would be born in the world.