The exclusive train of the Eternal Sect heading from the western border of Aran to the Imperial City.

Sunlight flickered through the train windows, casting shadows, as a subtle jolt transmitted high pressure. Zote's corpse was sealed in a luxurious coffin.

Less than twenty-four hours remained until the Rashomon performance. Mika wanted to sleep and gather energy for tomorrow's battle, but he couldn't fall asleep.

Before that night seven or eight years ago when he met Liszt, he never imagined he would meet Qili. Compared to her silhouette, all the dream lovers he had obsessed over seemed dim.

Considering money and status, as a founding shareholder of a behemoth in the Underworld, his current level certainly qualified him to attract a musician, even a big name at the mid-year Stargazing Festival arts performance.

But would his Underworld identity be recognized by Qili?

The radio broadcast of the Continent Martial Arts Competition kept running, with one person after another dying in the bloody fourth round. The Ghost Eye Mad Blade kept delivering victories like a god of war, absolutely qualified to vie for the top sixteen. Almost a year had passed since Swan stole the Diaz treasure, and Diaz no longer held back, preparing to clash with the Black Sail. Kai Deng, a woman, also made a great impact, bypassing all political powers to ascend to Heaven's audience.

Mika needed a more fitting adjective than 'tragic' because the remaining contestants in the fourth round were not to be underestimated, each with their own grand reputation.

Thinking about showing a stance to the Emperor tomorrow gave him pause.

Despite having been adrift at sea on the edge of life and death countless times, his mental strength barely sufficed. He had a covert meeting planned with a woman he considered the ultimate purpose of life, which was asphyxiating in an exhilarating way, enough to squeeze the life out of his brain.

How could Mika sleep? He figured he might as well not sleep, so he sat up straight, going over the scenarios in his head for what might happen tomorrow.

Marcus, well-accustomed to using magic power to perceive everything around, although physical ailments had vanished and his sight restored, remained as if decorative and unused, like the dead, yet he kept listening to the broadcast of the Continent Martial Arts Competition.

Mika, having nothing urgent to attend to, recovered from the initial shock of seeing a resurrected madman.

Honestly, these religious people, as long as you don't offend them, proved to have surprisingly high qualities, with a decent cultural level too.

"What is the experience of coming back to life like?"

Mika, being a doctor, felt a surge of curiosity. He was an Aran himself, growing up around the Eternal Sect, yet his previous insignificance kept him from peering into the world's deepest undercurrents. He never cared for so-called revelations or miracles and developed resistance against supposedly divine matters due to the empiricism new pharmacology afforded him.

The gods on the Western Continent were odd and surprisingly perverted; they never appeared when you wanted them, only showing up when the world was on the brink of demise to ask, "Do you want me to project my power? Do you like my great power?"

This analogy might not be entirely accurate but nevertheless made them seem like Outer Gods, reminiscent of R'hllor from "A Song of Ice and Fire," incomprehensible and uncommunicative. Occasionally, they might whimsically project some power, in essence, a pure mental case.

Marcus didn't respond.

"What exactly is the Dragon Lord's True Prophecy? Can you stop being cryptic?"

Mika felt utterly bewildered; this guy not only wasn't stopping him but also expressed he would leave at the second-to-last stop, allowing Mika to safely reach the event. Whatever happened afterward had nothing to do with him, adding more stress to the already high-pressure Mika, and then came the incomprehensible Daze and Red Wen warning, "Buddy, who knows what's coming for me tomorrow, can't you satisfy my curiosity a bit? Besides, it was Liszt who killed you, not me; is it necessary to be so distant?"

Marcus's eyes finally focused.

He once reached an agreement with Liszt at the Aran Imperial Capital National Museum, promising to disclose part of the truth, the secrets since the founding of the Eternal Sect, the Dragon Lord's True Prophecy, and how these Outer Heaven Visitors played an indispensable role in the once-in-nine-hundred-years calamity.

"I suppose you already know some secrets of the Eternal Church."

Marcus held a glass jar with a metal base imprisoning Carrie, indifferent to the various temptations from this Enchanting Demon.

Mika squinted, recalling the deceased adventure team leader boasting in the Boneyard, gaining some insight into the world's secrets.

Haywood also confirmed that the Demon Gods truly existed.

His own rune tattoos facilitated communication with the Calirabos Frenzied Desire Demon God's Annihilation Domain.

The Ancient Era had its Demon God faith, which perhaps persisted now only in secret sects among small circles.

Every nine hundred years, the barriers between this world and other planes weakened, and during the last Heavenly Sphere conjunction, Gureg, the continent's then most powerful nation, waged war against enemies from other planes, successfully repelling that calamity, leading to their permanent decline in national power.

Today, the West Continent Five Permanent is as follows; Aran and Lostra are at the top two; Pedan, Ji Weng, and Gureg are the bottom three. Gureg, even among the bottom three, doesn't count as battle-capable. Above the Narrow Sea lies Pedan, to the west of Narrow Sea is Lostra, and there's Ji Weng, the indefatigable little Overlord.

Though the calamity of nine hundred years ago had been quelled, its repercussions remained. Many annihilation existences that lingered in the world banded together and infiltrated the Eternal Sect, among them was Carrie. Without outside interference, these existences are undying.

The Black Dragon, residing on Iron Soul Island, Garscek, also took the chance at that time to come from Flying Dragon Ridge to the West Continent, but remained in slumber.

God knows how many such individuals are still hiding.

"That's right...I learned in the Boneyard that the Eternal Sect had an Occupation Period, but I don't know if that's the case now."

Mika's throat quivered; even pirating with Liszt wasn't as thrilling as this life-and-death brink. It really felt like a damn world-saving or world-ending scenario. Dammit, I just wanted to get with Qili, not some goddamn battle between gods and demons.

"This is true, but I can't divulge the specifics of the current situation. The current Pope is my enemy, so the Dragon Lord's divine manifestation has been minimized to avoid affecting his position. Zote was just a private vendetta; such matters won't shake the impending calamity, but this Demon can. Do you know about the events of Aran Calendar 1274? The Emperor's prestige peaked, subduing all nations of the West Continent, and sent troops to the Far East."

Marcus spoke thusly.

"I've spent so many years in Heaven Port; how could I not know?"

Mika looked at Marcus with an idiot-like stare; without the Eastern Conquest by the Emperor, there would be no Heaven Port, and consequently, none of what followed, and Liszt wouldn't be mingling in the East Sea either, nor create Black Sail, this high-end venue.

"Curious, isn't it? Before fully dominating the West Continent, commencing a full conquest. It wasn't territory he sought; it was the King's Device."

"Huh?"

Mika liked saying "Huh?" a lot.

"My resurrection wasn't a fluke. Back in Londen City, I conducted a divination and petitioned using the lives of ninety-nine criminals, and the Dragon Lord already manifested. Because of the Devil on your ship, the King's Device, and the Dragon, ultimately, there's the Black Sail Captain with the True God's Power."

Marcus was summoned by a supreme eternal entity of limitless endurance, guiding the world back on track, akin to being the Dragon Lord's substitute in the Western Continent.

"Ah!"

All Mika could say was "Ah."

"The prophet predicted this calamity would be triggered by a magician, though who it is remains unknown. The beginning of the calamity didn't start eighteen hundred years ago with the Divine Mother Sect's miracle, but it has been cycling since the Ancient Era. No warrior has ever severed the world's connection; it was but an effective time-delayed explosion, never obliterating the disaster. The clues emerged nine hundred years ago when the Gureg Royal Knight Order repelled the chaos, and now the impending disarray will be even more formidable. It might lead to a repeat of the Ancient Era civilization's collapse or even more fearsome occurrences."

Marcus spoke with a calm tone.

"Bro! Maybe you should stick to riddles; I can't handle this... I only want... a moment with Qili for heaven's sake!"

Mika's brain was wooden; world-saving woes were for someone else. Let the Emperor, the national prophets, whatever eleven high towers or Hall-level adventurers who want to slay dragons and save the world do their thing, he just wanted to connect.

But Marcus had more bombshells.

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