"Can we see that tree up close?" Briva finally asked, her voice soft but trembling with fatigue.
She couldn't tear her eyes away from the distant titan of wood and light. For her, as a druid, that tree was not just a miracle. It was the purest expression of nature she had ever felt, its presence tugging at her heart like a forgotten melody suddenly remembered.
Leo shook his head slowly. "No. There's divine mana around it. Anyone below S-rank wouldn't last a minute in that environment." His expression tightened a little. "You'll have to wait a few months."
Briva exhaled, disappointed but understanding.
"I thought a god's power doesn't fade that easily," Luciana said. Her crimson eyes traced the horizon where faint golden haze still shimmered. "All the cities we purified show the same result."
"That was corrupted power," Leo replied. "This is different. This belongs to the Creator. That tree is cleansing everything around it. In time, it will absorb the divine energy leaking into the land."
Alina stood a little apart from the group, staring down at her hands. They were still streaked with dried blood, some of it her own, most of it not.
"So… will it change the Shadowlands?" she asked. Her voice was steady, but her fingers trembled faintly, the aftermath of the battle and the sudden surge in strength that had carried her through it.
"Yes," Leo said. "But only partially. For the Shadowlands to change completely, we have to kill the fragment of the Lord of the Skies that's creating these monsters."
He glanced back toward the direction they had come from. "And even after that… the main body will still remain."
"And the gate of hell inside him," Arthur added, his tone grim. The mention of it seemed to dim the air around them.
With that, they began moving. The exhaustion in their bodies was deep, settled in their bones, in every breath, but they still walked. Those still standing supported the wounded; Arlasan lifted Edgarth's unconscious body onto his back with care, adjusting his grip every few steps.
Their footsteps echoed softly across the battered earth as they traveled for hours, heading toward the nearest teleporter. The world around them felt strangely quiet now, as if the land itself was holding its breath after the cataclysm.
When they finally reached the teleportation, its familiar glow felt like a promise of safety.
A moment later, they stood within the City of Hope.
Cheers erupted as soon as they appeared. People rushed toward them, worried faces turning to relief, to joy, embracing them, thanking them. The elders explained breathlessly that the entire Shadowlands had lit up for a moment, a light strong enough to pierce the eternal gloom. Even from here, they had seen the distant glow of the giant tree rising into the sky.
And so, for the first time in days, the group let themselves slow down.
They spent the next few days resting, healing, and simply breathing, finally able to feel the weight of what they had survived.
…
Near the end of the day of the gathering, Leo entered his domain half an hour earlier than needed. He hadn't stepped into it at all since their return. Most of the time he had simply slept, truly slept, the kind of sleep that dragged him down like a stone after everything he had unleashed. And whatever time he wasn't resting, he spent quietly beside Elna, letting the chaos of the past days settle in silence.
Now, as he appeared above his domain and settled onto his throne, the familiar shift of power rippled through the white hall. Moments later, Ilandra emerged from the stairway below, drawn the instant she sensed him.
"I remember now," she said as her feet touched the gleaming floor. "Why the God of Knowledge looked into the void."
"I already know the reason." He said.
He had seen it in an instant, poured into his mind when he used Obscurae on the staff. A flood of memory that wasn't his.
"Void is a consuming force," he continued, his voice echoing softly through the vast chamber. "It devours everything in the universe. The Destroyer convinced him that you had to act before it grew stronger than it already was. The God of Knowledge took it upon himself to study the void, to find a method to destroy it. Days and nights of thought… and then he looked into it."
his eyes lowered. "That was the moment everything went wrong. I don't know what happened after that point."
Ilandra drew a slow breath. "Afterward, we tried to cleanse him. All of us. But nothing worked." Her expression tightened with old grief. "The Destroyer saw him as a teacher… we all did. When he became corrupted, the Destroyer grew desperate. He believed that if we faced the void as we were, we would fail. He said that to defeat the darkness, one god must hold all divine's power. He demanded that we give everything to him, our strength, our domains, our existence, so he could face the void alone."
Leo narrowed his eyes. "And you agreed?"
"We were ready," she admitted. "We were prepared to surrender everything. But Death stopped us."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because he discovered what the Destroyer's spell would actually do." Her voice grew quieter. "It would kill us… and every living being on this planet."
Leo exhaled slowly. "So he planned to sacrifice everyone."
"He called it necessary," Ilandra said bitterly. "He said he would create a new world afterward, a world without the void."
Leo lifted his gaze.
Above him, the great spell floated, vast, intricate, alive with light. A spell similar in purpose to what the Destroyer had sought, yet utterly different in its nature.
It required no sacrifice. No extinction. No death of the world.
He stared at it in stillness, the truth settling heavily in him.
Questions churned in Leo's mind, heavy and persistent. How was it possible? How could he create something the gods themselves failed to accomplish? Something the Destroyer believed required the death of an entire world? A spell built on the same foundation… yet without a single sacrifice?
It made no sense.
Ilandra watched him quietly, and when she spoke, it was as though she had stepped directly into his thoughts.
"To find the answer to the question in your mind, you must step into the Ethereon."
Leo frowned. "It's too soon. If I enter now, the mana in its air alone will crush me."
That knowledge, too, had been part of what Obscurae tore from the God of Knowledge's memories, raw truth, placed directly into him.
"That is correct," she said, inclining her head. Then, after a brief pause, she asked, "So what is your plan?"
"You'll find out soon enough, at the gathering."
She accepted that with a nod and turned toward the stairs. Leo rose from his throne and followed, his awareness brushing against the shifting shape of his domain. It already changed again.
And when he stepped onto the stairs, even he faltered for a moment.
The fog and pale walls of his throne hall hid the lower half of the colossal tree standing at the heart of his domain, but he could feel its presence, vast, ancient and familiar. The same divine tree born from the battlefield… now rooted directly in the center of the ten massive buildings. A wooden bridge extended from its trunk to the open yard that connected to the gathering hall.
Ilandra studied the sight. "Because I pledged myself to you, it seems a part of my domain is merging into yours."
Leo absorbed her words. If she was right, if every powerful follower strengthened him simply by growing stronger themselves, then his domain would expand endlessly, each bond amplifying his power.
Together, they walked toward the open space behind the gathering hall to see the tree clearly.
"Let's take a closer look," Leo said.
"But the gathering will start soon," Ilandra reminded.
Leo smiled faintly. "Time flows differently here. And…"
A ripple passed through the space, soft as breath "…I can be anywhere I want in my domain."
In an instant, both of them vanished and reappeared beside the tree's colossal roots.
Ilandra blinked, stunned for a heartbeat by how effortlessly he controlled his domain now. Then her attention drifted upward, her focus claimed completely by the towering tree.
The tree stood before them, immense and alive in a world that once had forgotten what color was. Its trunk rose from the white expanse like the spine of creation itself, broad and ancient, every ridge and furrow carrying the weight of centuries. The bark shimmered in hues of deep bronze and quiet gold, as if it drank the last remnants of the world's light to keep its heart beating.
Its roots sank into the whiteness, but the ground gave no resistance, there was no soil, no earth, only the suggestion of depth. The roots seemed to stretch forever downward, vanishing into the pale void like thoughts dissolving into silence. Above, the branches reached out and up, impossibly vast, weaving a canopy that flickered with faint luminescence, a constellation made not of stars but of leaves that whispered in light.
The bridge led to a great hollow near the crown, where an opening yawned like an invitation. The air around it pulsed faintly, thick with a stillness that was not empty but sacred, like breath held by the universe.
Inside, the hollow glowed with a steady, inner warmth. The walls were alive, smooth, flowing with veins of amber light that pulsed gently, carrying some quiet rhythm through the living wood. It was less a room than a heart, and standing within it, one could feel the tree's slow, patient consciousness, a presence older than memory.
With one final glance at the colossal tree, Leo nodded in satisfaction. A single thought, shifted the entire world around them, and both he and Ilandra reappeared inside the gathering hall.
They took their seats, and the moment they settled, Leo summoned his members. One heartbeat later, everyone stood within the hall.
For a few seconds, no one spoke. Every gaze drifted upward… outward… everywhere.
The domain they remembered was changed.
Around the gathering hall rose towering structures, ten massive buildings encircling the hall like silent sentinels. Far above them, the throne hall floated in the sky, suspended like a celestial palace. And in the very center, visible from here, the enormous tree stretched past the whiteness of the domain, its branches glowing faintly with divine light.
The members stared in stunned silence, too mesmerized by the transformation to notice the three new figures among them.
Marco finally tore his eyes from the surroundings and looked back at Leo with a shaky smile.
"The fact that you're all here means you won, right?"
He had paced the entire day before, so much so that his teacher threatened to throw him out.
Before Leo could answer, Marco's gaze slowly shifted, finally noticing the newcomers.
Leo raised a hand. "I'll explain everything. But before that… let our new members introduce themselves. Please take a seat."
From Leo's view, Marco was on his left, with Ilandra beside him. Across from them sat Alina first, then Liam. Arthur occupied the fourth stone chair on the right.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Briva took the empty seat between Arthur and Liam.
Elna settled beside Ilandra, and Luciana quietly claimed the last chair on the left.
Briva spoke first, voice steady. "I'm Briva, B-plus ranked druid. Nice to meet everyone."
Luciana followed. "Luciana Dracule. A3 vampire."
Then Elna, with a polite bow of her head. "I'm Elna Arryn. Nice to meet you."
Liam froze, eyes wide. "Elna Arryn? Leo's girlfriend? But… you were dead."
Leo answered before she could. His time for secrets was over. "It was the Pope's plan to keep her death, and mine, a secret. To protect you and everyone else. Our enemies are gods."
Liam blinked. "Her… and yours?"
Leo exhaled deeply. "My real name is Leo Mantine."
Marco lifted an eyebrow but stayed silent.
Liam's voice broke slightly. "Leo… how?"
"With the help of the Pope, and the Creator, I survived." Seeing Liam's stunned face, he added gently, "Are you alright?"
Liam nodded, swallowing hard. "I'm just… glad you're alive. Both of you."
Elna offered him a small, warm smile.
After a short pause, Marco and Liam formally introduced themselves to the newcomers, and once everyone was done, the gathering officially began.
Leo leaned forward slightly. "Now that introductions are over, let me begin. In the last battle, the Creator stood against the Beast God, the Void, and three S ranks, and defeated them all."
Aside from Liam and Marco, the others knew the Creator had fought in the battle, but it was still hard to believe. His power far exceeded anything they had imagined.
"But he was not at full strength," Leo continued, his tone dimming. "And that battle forced him into slumber."
The shift in the room was immediate. Worry, fear and grief, every expression changed at once.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Arthur asked, leaning forward.
Elna's gaze never left Leo. Her eyes were filled with worry.
"To save him," Leo said slowly, "I have to go somewhere dangerous. And I have to go alone."
Liam's voice came out as a whisper. "Where?"
Leo didn't hesitate. "In one week from now… I will enter the Maze of Madness."