Chapter 1233
The War Temporarily Ends
Chapter 1233 The War Temporarily Ends
Beneath the shattered heavens of Elysium, Moradin stood alone on the remaining land of Amoria, gripping his warhammer.
His teammates didn't follow up when the fight started, leaving only the clown-like Moradin standing at the front, hammer in hand. His beard trembled slightly, and his furnace-like eyes were fixed on Blackrock Fortress, his grip on the hammer tightening.
"Hugh Abraham, are you really going to take things this far? You drove Lu-Cthulhu back to Elysium, burned Talishid and the Gaddin Celestials to ashes, forced my allies to retreat in front of the gods, and now you want to leave me here to humiliate me. Do you really think the Lord of the Dwarven pantheon has no last bit of courage left?"
Xia Xiu sat down again on the psychic throne.
He didn't even adopt the proper posture one would expect before a battle; he simply turned lazily to the side, leaning casually against the armrest of the throne, his right hand supporting his cheek, as if watching a clown who had finally been pushed to the center of the stage.
Within the main light screen, Moradin's anger, his disheveled state, and his forced dignity as the ruler of the pantheon were all magnified clearly.
Xia Xiu looked at him, and he had been amused for what felt like the umpteenth time today. The actions of these gods of faith from all the heavens and the myriad worlds were always so laughable.
"Moradin, you've been jumping around for so long, forming cliques, sacrificing territories and people, and asking for outside help. In the end, you've ruined your allies' homelands and killed so many gods who could have stayed out of the fray. Now you're talking to me about courage? Isn't that a bit ridiculous?"
"To be honest, I've disliked you for a long time."
Xia Xiu leaned forward slightly, his smile deepening.
"Even if you drop your hammer, kneel before me and bark like a dog, try to make me happy, and tear out every page of your dwarven pantheon's Book of Hatred about me, I still won't let you go."
"It's too late, Moradin."
Upon hearing this, Moradin completely broke down.
The Forge Kingdom behind him suddenly shone brightly, and the divinity of forging fire, magma, mountains, and dwarven faith all pressed into his divine hammer. He was like an erupting underground volcano, so angry that even his voice became hoarse.
"Hugh Abraham, you've gone too far!!!"
Seeing his expression, Xia Xiu's smile faded.
"Finally, I've stopped pretending."
He raised his hand, his fingertips gently landing on the main control orb of the Psionic Throne.
"Then let's start fighting."
The next instant, the firepower system of [Ophim Fortress] switched completely.
On the outer layer of the Black Celestial Fortress, rings of macro-cannon arrays lit up one after another along the spine. Heavy railguns rose from under the side armor, split cannon silos opened, and close-in weapon arrays lit up like countless tiny stars. But what fell even before the cannon muzzles was the suddenly changed gravitational field around the Black Stone Fortress.
The ground beneath Moradin's feet suddenly sank.
Just as he was about to swing his hammer and leap, he found that the surrounding space was being held down by an invisible giant hand. A huge gravitational pull pressed down from above and from all directions at the same time, forcibly pinning his divine body, the projection of his divine kingdom, and the dwarven army behind him to the shattered surface of Amoria.
Moradin roared and smashed his hammer into the ground.
Flames from the furnace shot up from the cracked earth, trying to break free from the gravitational pull, but the first salvo from the [Ophim Fortress] had already landed.
boom--!
A black and gold main cannon beam descended from the sky and slammed directly into the furnace shield wall erected by Moradin.
The shield wall caved in instantly, the forged fire runes crumbled in pieces, Moradin's feet sank deep into the ground, his beard and robes were whipped backward by the shockwave, and he was forced to take a half step back by the force of the blast.
Xia Xiu continued his verbal sparring: "Moradin, is this all your anger is? Put in any more effort and I won't feel a thing."
"Hugh Abraham—!!!!!!!!!"
On the battlefield, the mournful and furious roar of the dwarven pantheon lord echoed throughout the empty Elysium.
……
……
Half an hour later.
The fourth level of the Seven Hills Paradise, also known as the Silver-Gold Paradise, is Solania.
The sky here is perpetually shimmering with a cool, silvery glow, while the land is composed of magnificent canyons, rushing rivers, and layered hills. Monasteries of minor divine power are scattered among the mountains, like platinum rivets embedded in the mountain range, maintaining the solemnity and order of Paradise Mountain.
Deep within Solania, the dwarven mansion of the divine kingdom of [Elekino] stretches down the hillside into the earth.
That is the divine kingdom of Moradin, the father of the dwarves, a sacred place that only dwarves and dwarf worshippers can enter. Its legendary stonework, forging, workshops, and underground halls are masterpieces that far surpass any kingdom in the material world.
At its deepest point lies the furnace of the soul.
The furnace never goes out, and when the fire is lit, the entire city of [Elekino] vibrates, and the deep whistling of forging echoes through the underground corridors, pillars, vaults, and the master craftsman's hall.
The dwarven priests believed that Moradin was there to train the dwarven souls and forge their weapons and destiny.
This sacred furnace, which had been ignited by the faith of countless dwarves throughout the heavens and myriad worlds, was suddenly severed from its root as if by an unseen hand. The golden-red flames inside the furnace first shrank inward and then turned into a dark ash.
The entire [Ilequino] shook.
The deep hum of forging disappeared, and the hammering in the Divine Craftsman's Hall came to an abrupt halt. The dwarven spirits who were forging the sacred artifacts stood frozen in place, their hammers falling onto the anvils, but no longer eliciting the slightest echo of divine fire.
"The fire in the furnace... has gone out."
A younger divine craftsman nearby suddenly grabbed a hammer and slammed it heavily onto the anvil, trying to rekindle the forging fire bestowed by Moradin, just as he had done countless times before.
But the anvil only produced a dry, muffled sound; there were no sparks, no divine runes, no furnace echo... nothing at all.
The master craftsman's face gradually paled, and his hand holding the hammer handle began to tremble.
"Impossible! The Soul Furnace won't go out, the Father's fire won't go out! Something must be broken. We must have failed to reconnect the furnace vein. Try again, open all the runes in the main hall!"
A dwarf priest staggered to the furnace, pressed his hands against the cooled furnace walls, his palms turning blue from the cold iron, yet he still desperately poured prayers into it.
"Moradin above, respond to us, even if it is just a spark, even if it is just a hammer blow, tell us that you are still in the furnace, tell us that Eligino has not lost its father!"
There was still no response; only the last bit of ashes in the furnace collapsed.
Then came the sound of the kingdom of God collapsing.
The tunnels buried deep in the mountains began to crack, the stone statues on both sides of the Dwarven Ancestral Spirit Corridor lowered their heads, the magma in the Furnace River solidified into black stones, and large chunks of divine rock fell from the dome of the main hall dedicated to Moradin, crashing down in front of the empty throne.
Moradin has fallen.
This fact, without any divine pronouncement, spread throughout the entire dwarven kingdom the instant the Soul Forge was extinguished.
Bellenne Truesilver stood in front of the furnace.
The Dwarf Mother stared blankly at the now-cooled hearth, still clutching an unfinished divine silver ring in her hand—the crown that she and Moradin were supposed to complete together to bless the next Dwarf Holy King.
But now, the divine fire on the crown has gone out.
The color drained from her face little by little, and then a golden-red tear slid down from the corner of her eye, landing on the now-cooled stove with a very soft sound.
"Moradin..."
Her voice was initially very soft, then suddenly ripped apart.
"How could you leave us here! How could you let the furnace go out in front of us!"
The wail echoed outwards from the underground halls of Elekino, as thousands of dwarven supplicants emerged from the halls. They looked up at the unlit dome, their faces first blank, then gradually turning into unbearable grief.
The next moment, wailing echoed throughout the entire dwarf kingdom.
The mountains of Elekino trembled, the runes of the dwarven kingdom went out, and the forging authority left by Moradin, like a temple with its main beam removed, began to collapse inch by inch from its deepest part.
The shockwaves from this death quickly spread throughout Paradise Mountain.
The Seven Fierce Generals have been alerted.
Moradin was one of the Seven Martyrs, and his fall was enough to set the order of Paradise Mountain ablaze with the highest level of alert. In the first layer, the silver sea of Lunia surged with waves; in the second layer, the golden hills of Mercuria resounded with bells; in the third layer, the pearly canopy of Vinia descended with swathes of holy light; and in the fourth layer, all the monasteries of Solania began to chant prayers incessantly…
The Yakong God Clan stopped their patrol, and at the same time, many ancient beings of Paradise Mountain looked in the direction of the collapse of the Dwarf God Kingdom.
In the end, even the slumbering leader of the Seven Martyrs, Zafkiel, was forced to awaken.
His will descended slowly from the higher peaks of Paradise Mountain, the ancient holy light that transcended layers of order, swept across the silver sky of Solania, across the collapsed underground halls of Eligino, across the cooled Soul Forge, and across Belenne Truesilver, kneeling before the forge, shedding tears of blood.
Zafkiel's will did not remain in Solania.
He continued to extend outward, crossing the crystal walls of Paradise Mountain, passing through the shattered etheric layer, traversing the multiverse space that had just been ravaged by war, and finally heading towards Elysium.
He saw it.
The shattered Elysium, the collapsed Amoria, the extinguished divine kingdom, the reversed River of Poseidon, and the massive celestial fortress suspended outside the gap in the crystal wall.
Only a small part of Blackrock Fortress was visible. Its black crystalline spine resembled a war mountain range hanging upside down at the boundary of the worlds. The macro cannon array remained on standby, the Void Shield was slowly repairing, and the golden-white Holy Throne circuit flowed quietly along the surface of the fortress.
Deeper still, Zafkiel saw the black sun.
A black sun, slumbering deep within the core of Blackrock Fortress, is quiet, intense, and dangerous, seemingly emitting a light capable of both illuminating and devouring all realms.
This is the pitch-black sun that is trying to devour all the heavens and myriad worlds...
The moment Zafkiel's will touched that spot, the black sun seemed to sense his gaze.
The next instant, a terrifying light shone back from the depths of the sun.
The light was like a holy sword burned black, pointing directly at Zafkiel's observation itself across layers of space and dimensions.
boom--
Higher up on Paradise Mountain, Zafkiel opened his eyes, his will withdrawing.
After a brief silence, the leader of the Seven Martyrs Society slowly spoke, his voice resounding throughout the heavenly mountains and reaching the ears of all the awakened members of the Seven Martyrs Society.
"Moradin has fallen."
"The Elysium has been severely damaged, the Anti-Heaven Alliance has been exposed, and the Fourth Swordholder of Heaven has pushed the war to the throne of the pantheon of the gods."
His voice grew even heavier as he spoke.
"This war is inevitable. Notify all legions of Seven Hills Paradise, the monasteries, the Avian God Legion, the Holy Knights, the Inquisition, and the allies of the gods to enter a state of war preparedness. Paradise Mountain must be ready to face a... all-out war that is destined to sweep across all the heavens and myriad worlds."
……
……
Above the Elysium, Zafkiel's spying gaze gradually faded.
Xia Xiu also withdrew his own attack, and then his gaze fell on the ravaged land of Amonia.
There, Moradin knelt amidst the ruins.
This former dwarven pantheon now only has half a body left. His lower body had been completely destroyed by the annihilation strike of the Blackrock Fortress's main cannon, [Witch's Eye]. There was no flesh or blood flowing from the broken end, only a black-gold crack left after the divine core was burned through, as if someone had directly erased half of his existence from his divine essence with a branding iron.
His warhammer also broke, with a round hole punched through the head. The divine fire inside was extinguished, leaving only a few wisps of dark red embers that would occasionally flicker before quickly collapsing back into the ashes.
Just half an hour ago, Moradin, like Don Quixote charging at windmills, launched an attack on the massive celestial war fortress.
But the outcome was already predetermined from the beginning. He was facing an enemy that he could not defeat at all, even if he turned into light.
During the battle, he also attempted to borrow from Chaos. He sacrificed the remaining workshops of the divine kingdom and burned the last prayers of the dwarven legion, trying to obtain enough external power from the depths of the ether in the name of the pantheon lord to turn the tide.
Unfortunately, it was no use.
His sacrifice of the "Burial Fire Garden" domain, which was blessed by the loan, had absolutely no effect.
Xia Xiu simply poured a great spiritual energy into the [Witch's Eye], and the main cannon lit up from the depths of the main spine of Blackrock Fortress, like a celestial pupil that had truly opened.
With a single shot, the [Burial Courtyard] melted instantly, and this was only at 10% power, before even the Supreme Program was loaded.
Despite giving everything, Moradin ultimately failed to get Lord Abraham to use his full strength.
On the Psionic Throne, Xia Xiu looked at the clown dwarf kneeling on the ground, his tone becoming slightly gentler.
"Your strength is quite good among the gods I have encountered, so you should be proud."
These words sounded like both comfort and sarcasm.
Moradin raised his head, his split lips moved, and his voice sounded like iron filings scraped from a cooling furnace.
“Hugh…Abraham…you…you will regret this…I will be waiting for you in hell…”
Xia Xiu rested his chin on his hand and chuckled softly.
"I have too many things to deal with every day, so I don't usually have time for feelings of regret."
Moradin stared intently at him: "The gods... will remember this day... will remember heaven... will remember you..."
Xia Xiu nodded, his tone so serious it was almost perfunctory.
"That's good. It's more useful to remember me than to remember you. At least when they look back on history, they'll know who bears the main responsibility for how the Anti-Heavenly Kingdom Alliance's first battle turned out this way."
Moradin's face twisted, but he no longer had the strength to roar. This inexplicable chaotic battle, which was of no apparent significance to all the worlds, would indeed be remembered.
The first layer of Elysium, Amorilia, was completely destroyed, and the remaining three layers were devastated by the backflow of the River of Poseidon; Talishid sacrificed himself and the [World Bubble] of the Gaddin Clan, using the Sword of Exile to drive [Lucthus] and the Chaos Demon Rift back into the Aether; Moradin, the lord of the dwarven pantheon, was subsequently defeated head-on by Blackrock Fortress... well, you could say he was simply crushed like a speed bump.
In addition, many powerful pantheon lords exhausted their reserves, many medium-level gods fell to the level of gods, more than ten weak gods perished, and even more weak gods died in the aftershocks of the battlefield.
And all of this started with that old rascal Moradin's sudden inspiration. If he hadn't pulled some off-field aid, he wouldn't have ended up looking so clownish.
Xia Xiu watched as Moradin gradually dissipated and said to him:
"Moradin, you've really put on a spectacular show for me, it was truly delightful."
He finally revealed his assessment of Moradin: "I will probably never forget a clown like you."
As the words fell, Moradin's last upper body turned to ashes. Before he dissipated, his eyes widened at Xia Xiu's evaluation, and his mouth moved as if he wanted to say something, but unfortunately, he could no longer utter a word.
The words he wanted to say before he died will never be known to anyone.
After the grand performance ended, Xia Xiu stretched and said to Eden:
"Eden, record the results of the battle."
[Battle Results in Progress]
[Target confirmed: Moradin, Lord of the Dwarven Pantheon.]
[Status: Defeated!]
[The first phase of the Anti-Kingdom Alliance's high-level combat force reduction is complete.]
[The Elysium War Zone enters a post-war vacuum period—]
The stars have been banished—
Xia Xiu listened to these reports and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
“Send a briefing to the resolution assembly. The stars have now been banished back to the ether. The Anti-Kingdom Alliance has provoked for the first time and has received a response.”
The so-called Anti-Kingdom Alliance's first war started in a haphazard manner and ended just as haphazardly.
Regardless of the outcome, the war between Heaven and all the myriad realms has temporarily come to an end. At least for now, no pantheon wants to immediately start a second war with Heaven.