Jurgen was dead.
Up until the moment it ended, he had still been caught up in his family's power struggles, fighting his own children over the estate.
He died by Herder's hand instead.
Before his consciousness winked out, one thought crystallized with perfect clarity.
An ant cannot overturn an elephant.
It will only be crushed.
*How sad,* he thought. *I still had so many things left to do.*
Then the thought was gone.
Herder sealed both the emperor and Marianne inside a sphere and set off toward the heart of the Heavens — the Eaton Industrial Zone.
Anthun had been driven off not long ago, yet the creature had crept back.
Apparently it had returned more frantically than ever to drain the electricity stored here. During that last battle it had nearly replenished itself, only to lose most of what it had gathered when the divine light struck it down. It had no choice but to return and feed again.
"Well? Have you caught the emperor of the Heavens?"
Kahn had finished routing the last pockets of resistance and now jogged up to meet Herder as she moved toward Eaton.
Herder glanced at the sky painted in flame. "Were you trying to kill everyone?"
"No. I just taught them a lesson."
Kahn had limited himself to demolishing buildings — though certain sections of the Heavens had admittedly been reduced to ash in the process. As for killing — he didn't dare.
The cultivation method Herder had given him had brought him before God, and God's instruction was clear: *do not kill casually.* How could he slaughter the people of the Heavens at will? They were God's people. Even if they did not belong to God yet, they certainly would be someday.
They spotted Anthun before long — the massive tortoise, smoking and smoldering.
Kahn tilted his head. "You or me?"
"Go ahead. I need to open the portal back to the Demon Realm."
"Fine."
Herder raised her staff and began coordinating the Demon Realm's spatial coordinates.
Kahn, meanwhile, turned himself into a human cannonball and shot straight at Anthun.
*Boom.*
The black volcano shuddered violently. Every creature across that entire mountain range was annihilated by the impact — and Anthun, as the primary body, bore the worst of it.
A howl of agony rang out.
The Almighty Matega vomited a mouthful of purple blood and dropped to one knee, watching through the dense smoke as the terrifying figure stepped into view.
"Ka — Kahn — why are you attacking me?!"
He had long since merged his consciousness with Anthun's. When Matega spoke now, it was Anthun's voice coming out of his mouth.
"I don't waste words on trash."
A single punch launched the Almighty Matega skyward. His body dissolved into bubbles within the violet light.
Kahn snorted and turned his attention to the black volcano itself.
Magma began to flow.
A beating heart came into view.
---
Tens of seconds later, Kahn tucked Anthun's core under his arm and vanished alongside Herder.
Elsewhere, in the territory of the Khaxu faction.
The combined force of the two apostles' generals, plus the might of Anthun's heart — together they had reshaped the entire landscape. Countless lives had been reduced to ash in the fires.
"Where is Prey?"
"Just wait. They'll hand over whatever doesn't belong to them."
Herder's lips barely moved as she watched the distant ruins.
As expected, a few minutes later a group of people wreathed in flame came stumbling toward her, carrying Prey's egg.
"Please — don't kill us—"
"We've brought Prey, we've brought it to you—"
Herder took the apostle's egg. Her lip curled in contempt.
"I have no use for garbage like you." She turned the egg over in her hand. "This is Prey? Ha. This is Isis."
The moment she turned away, every person standing behind her — every soul infected by Isis's power — erupted into black flame.
And deep within the Demon Realm, Prey himself had no idea.
The last battle against his own dark half had been brutal beyond measure. The wounds had sent him into a long, deep sleep. He was still recuperating, still adrift in darkness —
— until a familiar presence entered the edges of his perception.
Blue eyes snapped open.
"You? And why have you brought *that*?"
Prey's gaze was sharp as ever. He locked onto the egg in Herder's hand immediately. That dark energy — he recognized it. His own darkness, extracted and separated. He hadn't expected Herder to find it.
"Old friend." It was Kahn who spoke, unhurried. "We've come to ask something simple. Doesn't it make sense for you to serve as an offering to God?"
Prey stared at him.
Then his expression shifted to fury.
His wounds had nearly healed. In his prime, he had fought Kahn for seven days and seven nights. And now this man looked at him with such casual dismissal?
How could Prey not be furious?
He launched himself like blue lightning.
What he didn't expect was that Kahn was faster.
The moment Prey moved, a heavy fist drove straight into his still-tender abdomen.
*Boom.*
Prey was knocked clean off his feet and sent tumbling.
He stared up at Kahn in disbelief, unable to understand why the man's power had grown so dramatically.
"Surprised?" Kahn's smile was faint. "This is the power given by God. The one who truly created this world — the ultimate existence."
He stepped forward again.
Three consecutive blows.
Prey's proud head lowered.
Even now, the enormous avian skull could not understand where he had gone wrong.
"Already unconscious? Our progress isn't bad, then." Herder's tone was light. "Ready to head back?"
"Are all the sacrifices in place? Are we ready?"
"Not yet — a little more. Tebols will be close within a week. We still need to collect something from inside."
Herder's voice faded as they moved away.
Prey lost consciousness entirely.
When he woke again, he found himself bound to a pillar by some strange device. Beside him sat the egg — the dark half that had been torn from him. And nearby, a massive, still-beating heart.
He recognized that presence instantly. Anthun's heart.
Herder and Kahn had been hunting apostles all along, gathering them as offerings to some unknown god.
There was nothing he could do about it.
*Clack. Clack. Clack.*
Footsteps.
Kahn appeared before him.
"You're awake. Your constitution is impressive, I'll admit — only three days unconscious under my power. A man who once fought me for seven days deserves that much."
"Hmph." Prey's voice was cold. "I never imagined the mightiest apostle would end up someone's dog."
He expected anger. Instead Kahn chuckled, quiet and unhurried.
"That's because you haven't seen God. He is truth itself. Even a glimpse of his silhouette — just his back — is enough to make every living thing kneel in worship."
Prey watched Kahn's expression — the devotion there, open and unguarded.
A chill moved through him.
This man had lost his mind. There was no god. The so-called divine were nothing but powerful figures invented by humans and by the weak — myths dressed up as truth.
But there was clearly no point saying any of it to Kahn now.
*Prey thought, with a quiet, hopeless sorrow.*