The Abyssal Shadow Realm, located on the 15th layer of the Abyss, was a plane ruled by the Monarch of the Dark Moon.
The Monarch of the Dark Moon was not a pureblooded abyssal demon but a hybrid of an Abyssal Shadowfiend and a Dark Elf. Though not a true god, he had mastered the Law of the Dark Moon. Becoming a true god was not impossible for him—he simply refused to do so because he was dissatisfied with the Law of the Dark Moon.
If it wasn't the Law of Darkness, then at the very least, it had to be the Law of Shadows or the Law of Shadowy Darkness to meet his standards.
However, these laws already had owners, and the Monarch of the Dark Moon could only bide his time, seeking opportunities to wrest them from their holders.
Having already reached the pinnacle of divinity but unable to grasp the key laws necessary for godhood, the Monarch of the Dark Moon spent most of his time wandering outside his domain, rarely paying attention to the Abyssal Shadow Realm.
After Rosen secretly infiltrated the Abyssal Shadow Realm, the first thing he did was quietly capture abyssal demons. Any demon stronger than a demigod was secretly corrupted by his Dark Sun Heavenly Eye, turning them into Dark Sun Thralls.
By the time the Monarch of the Dark Moon's clone noticed something was wrong and his main body rushed back, it was already too late.
What had started as a corruption targeted at abyssal demons had spread to all corners of the Abyssal Shadow Realm.
The Abyssal Shadow Realm was part of the Abyssal World—it was impossible to simply take it away.
Years ago, Rosen had disguised himself as Eugene, impersonating a Demon Lord of the 21st Abyssal Layer. Even then, the most he could do was plunder it, not strip the entire layer away.
Now, though far stronger than before and easily capable of destroying the 15th Abyssal Layer, he still couldn't take it away.
But while Rosen couldn't do it, the Will of the Abyss could.
His Dark Sun Heavenly Eye continued corrupting the 15th Abyssal Layer, forcing the Will of the Abyss to either abandon it or allow the corruption to keep growing.
Even if the 15th Abyssal Layer were sealed, preventing the Dark Sun's corruption from spreading outward, the Abyss would still lose a layer, rendering the entire Abyssal World incomplete.
An incomplete Abyss would be insufficient to fully awaken the Ancient God Sequence slumbering behind it.
Thus, the only option for the Will of the Abyss was to sever the 15th Abyssal Layer and cast it away, then use the remnants of the Little World Tree to reconstruct a replacement layer.
The moment the 15th Abyssal Layer was expelled from the Abyss, Rosen would seize the opportunity to take it for himself.
At first, the Monarch of the Dark Moon attempted to save himself.
However, after countless failed attempts to purge the terrifying corruption, he was forced to seek aid from familiar Demon Lords.
Even the Abyssal Vice Lord, Anatole, was powerless against it and had no choice but to awaken the slumbering Will of the World.
Yet the solution given to the Monarch of the Dark Moon was simple—he was to be exiled from the Abyss along with the 15th layer.
With 98 Demon Lords working together, the 15th Abyssal Layer was easily severed.
It was then heavily sealed and flung through space, teleported directly toward the sun of the main world.
Clearly, the Will of the Abyss understood the Dark Sun and knew that sunlight could counteract its corruption.
However, the very moment the 15th Abyssal Layer appeared within the inner layer of the new world's sun, a Dark Sun Slime—which had long been lurking there and had fully mastered the Law of the Sun—opened its maw and swallowed the entire layer into its Dark Sun Dimension.
Only then did the Will of the Abyss, which had been watching the 15th Abyssal Layer closely, realize the true intention of the mastermind behind all this.
At first, it assumed that some unforeseen event in the Old World had caused this or that someone was merely testing it using the Dark Sun's power.
Never did it expect that the true goal was to steal the 15th Abyssal Layer itself. No matter how hard it tried to analyze the situation, it could not deduce who was behind it all.
Losing a single abyssal layer was insignificant. But the Will of the Abyss was unwilling to suffer this humiliation.
If it was one abyssal layer this time, how many would be stolen next?
Yet, despite exhausting all its means, it could not uncover the mastermind.
With no other choice, the Will of the Abyss had Anatole instruct all Demon Lords to raise their vigilance. At the same time, the Abyssal World pinned the blame on the Angel Race, refusing to give them any chance to explain. Seizing this opportunity, it directly ignited a war.
At this moment, the Calamity Apostle had already begun refining the entire Abyssal Shadow Realm.
In Dark Moon City, within the Abyssal Shadow Realm, the Monarch of the Dark Moon stood at a high vantage point, overlooking the city.
All the abyssal demons had already been corrupted into monstrous creatures.
He had no way to stop it. Worse yet, due to his divine essence and godhood being fused with the 15th Abyssal Layer, he was temporarily unable to separate himself from it. As a result, he was banished alongside it by the Will of the Abyss.
His only chance at survival was to escape when the sun incinerated the Abyssal Shadow Realm.
But to his surprise, the Abyssal Shadow Realm was swallowed whole by an unknown existence.
At that moment, the Monarch of the Dark Moon fully understood the fate that awaited him.
Without a sound, a gate appeared in the void before him.
Striding forward, the Monarch of the Dark Moon stepped through—only to find himself in the legendary Arena of the Gods.
Standing opposite him was a Sequence 1 Abyssal Shadowfiend, waiting.
And in the stands, a familiar figure sat in silence.
It was Rosen, King of the Glorious Kingdom, a man publicly wanted by the World Government.
The records stated that Rosen was only a little over a thousand years old, but seeing him here—having stolen the Arena of the Gods, forced the Will of the Abyss to abandon the Abyssal Shadow Realm, and trapped him in this desperate situation—was nearly unbelievable.
"You and my pet, the Calamity Apostle, can only have one survivor."
Rosen sat in the stands, his voice cold.
Both the Monarch of the Dark Moon and the Calamity Apostle immediately began sizing each other up, searching for weaknesses.
The moment the battle started, the Arena of the Gods automatically generated an environment resembling the Abyssal Shadow Realm.
The Monarch of the Dark Moon unleashed his domain, projecting multiple black moons into the void. Behind them, sunlight shimmered, casting their shadows across the battlefield. These shadows twisted and came to life, transforming into Abyssal Shadowfiends that lunged at the Calamity Apostle.
The Calamity Apostle activated his Disaster Demon Eye, using his Authority over Catastrophes to summon meteors, sending them crashing into the moons.
At the same time, he activated Dark Body, merging into the darkness, and used Shadow Dominion to wrest control of the shadows from the Monarch of the Dark Moon.
Then, he branded the Monarch of the Dark Moon with the Disaster Curse Seal and the Man-Made Calamity Seal.
The Disaster Curse Seal caused spatial collapse, unleashing a void storm.
The Man-Made Calamity Seal instantly infected the Monarch of the Dark Moon with a terrifying supernatural plague.
The Calamity Apostle fled through the shadows, while the Abyssal Shadowfiends formed by the Dark Moon Projections relentlessly hunted him down.
The battle raged for only a short while before the Monarch of the Dark Moon gained the upper hand.
A Peak Deity facing a Peak Sequence 1—the Calamity Apostle was ultimately outmatched.
Yet Rosen made no move to intervene.
He only needed one survivor.
Though the Calamity Apostle was his creation, Rosen had no emotional attachment to him. To him, the Calamity Apostle was merely a tool. Whether the Calamity Apostle killed the Monarch of the Dark Moon or vice versa, whoever survived would become the new Calamity Apostle.
If the battle continued, the Monarch of the Dark Moon would soon slay the Calamity Apostle.
After all, a Peak Deity wielding the Law of the Dark Moon could never lose to a demigod with Authority over Disasters and Shadows.
As expected, the Monarch of the Dark Moon quickly pushed the Calamity Apostle to the brink of death.
Although the calamities and plagues inflicted by the Calamity Apostle had dealt significant damage to the Monarch of the Dark Moon, they were merely superficial wounds, far from fatal.
Just as the Calamity Apostle was about to be completely obliterated, he was finally forced to use his most fundamental ability—Possession.
Besides their mastery over darkness and shadows, the Abyssal Shadowfiends' core ability was Possession and Seizure.
The Monarch of the Dark Moon possessed half Abyssal Shadowfiend blood, so he had also mastered Possession and Seizure. However, due to his impure lineage, even though he was a Peak Sequence 0 Deity, his ability in this aspect was inferior to the Calamity Apostle.
Thus, when the Calamity Apostle flickered through the shadows, drawing ever closer, the Monarch of the Dark Moon silently switched places with one of his Dark Moon Projections.
Seeing the Calamity Apostle lunge at a projection, the Monarch of the Dark Moon felt a momentary sense of relief.
But in that instant, the Calamity Apostle suddenly appeared within his body, initiating Possession and Seizure.
After years of merging the Miracle Artifact—Disaster Demon Eye—into himself, the Calamity Apostle had long fused the power of the Abyssal Shadowfiends with the Disaster Apostle Sequence. The moment the Man-Made Calamity Seal had landed on the Monarch of the Dark Moon, it had already become a medium for his Possession and Seizure.
However, the Calamity Apostle did not immediately use it to take over his body. Instead, he waited for a better opportunity.
He wanted the Monarch of the Dark Moon to experience a moment of absolute certainty in his victory, allowing a brief lapse in vigilance—even the smallest opening could determine life or death.
At the level of souls and divine essence, the Monarch of the Dark Moon and the Calamity Apostle began their most primal clash.
In terms of quality, the Calamity Apostle was utterly outmatched. However, he had the pureblood Abyssal Demon's Possession ability and the Disaster Demon Eye, which constantly generated the Source of Disaster Laws. By consuming this source, he could temporarily command the power of Disaster Laws.
This offset his disadvantage in law mastery, and his bloodline's innate strength helped narrow the gap in soul and divine essence.
Yet, this still wasn't enough for the Calamity Apostle to succeed in Possession and Seizure. He was soon forced into retreat, withdrawing his soul and divine essence into the Disaster Demon Eye, using the Miracle Artifact's power to continuously weaken the Monarch of the Dark Moon.
At first, the Monarch of the Dark Moon could suppress the Disaster Demon Eye with ease.
But as time passed, he began to sense something was wrong.
The Calamity Apostle relied on the eye-shaped Miracle Artifact, holding his ground. Though he was at a disadvantage, he had an endless supply of faith energy replenishing his consumption. In contrast, the Monarch of the Dark Moon had lost his continuous supply of faith since all the Abyssal Demons in the Abyssal Shadow Realm had been corrupted into monsters.
If this battle dragged on into a war of attrition, the one to lose in the end… would be him.
"This is unfair! Most of my power is fused into the Abyssal Shadow Realm!"
Unable to endure it any longer, the Monarch of the Dark Moon questioned Rosen in the stands.
"A Sequence 0 and a Sequence 1 in a deathmatch, both with their own advantages—where is the unfairness?"
Rosen countered indifferently.
The Monarch of the Dark Moon could only grit his teeth and unleash everything, attempting to crush the Calamity Apostle. However, though the Disaster Demon Eye was only a Sequence 1 Miracle Artifact, as long as its Source of Disaster Laws wasn't depleted, it could resist divine attacks for an extended period.
Thus, the stalemate lasted for decades.
Gradually, the Calamity Apostle began to gain the upper hand.
Decades passed once more.
The Monarch of the Dark Moon's divine power grew weaker and weaker, and the Calamity Apostle seized the opportunity to forcefully initiate Possession and Seizure.
Finally, after centuries of struggle, the Calamity Apostle succeeded—completely devouring the Monarch of the Dark Moon.
Since the Arena of the Gods was located near the Little World Tree, the outside world had only experienced a few months while centuries had passed within.
During these few months, Rosen had allowed a vast number of Abyssal Shadowfiends to wipe out and exterminate the Dark Sun's followers within the Abyssal Shadow Realm. Now, all that remained was for the Calamity Apostle to seize control of the Abyssal Shadow Realm and ignite his divine flame, condense his godhood, and raise his divine kingdom.
Having successfully completed his Possession and Seizure, the Calamity Apostle swiftly eradicated all remnants of the Monarch of the Dark Moon within the Abyssal Shadow Realm.
At this moment, Rosen exchanged the Monarch of the Dark Moon's mastery over the Dark Moon Laws, integrating them into the Calamity Apostle's Extraordinary Essence.
Under accelerated time, after centuries of transformation, the Calamity Apostle successfully ascended to godhood.
[Calamity Apostle: Disaster Shadowfiend]
[Rank: Sequence 0]
[Sequence: Hero, Disaster Apostle]
[Divine Kingdom: Disaster Shadow Realm]
[Laws: Dark Moon Laws, Disaster Authority]
[Godhood: Calamity Godhood (126)]
[Innate Abilities: Disaster Demon Eye, Dark Divine Body, Shadow Mastery, Possession]
[Skills: Calamity Decree, Calamity Seal, Calamity Incarnation, Void Shadow Realm…]
After successfully advancing to Sequence 0, the Scourge Apostle shed the limitations of the Abyssal Shadow Fiend bloodline. Instead, he completely fused his extraordinary bloodline with the power of calamity. With the help of Rosen's compatibility, plundering, and evolution abilities, he ultimately transformed into a new lifeform—Calamity Shadow Fiend.
Individually, the Scourge Apostle wasn't particularly strong. Among taboo deities, he was definitely on the weaker side.
However, as a hero conferred through Rosen's divine domain, he had the ability to command all Abyssal Shadow Fiends. Once he converted all of them into Calamity Shadow Fiends and fully grasped the laws of calamity, his future growth potential wouldn't be inferior to any taboo deity.
Seeing the Scourge Apostle ascend to godhood, Rosen's other pets couldn't sit still.
Fala immediately took the Golden Divine Bull and temporarily left, preparing to return to the Blood Clan and use their power to ascend to godhood.
Illusion Elf Amy took the Dark Sun Slime to the Mech Tribe, intending to capture a mechanical deity alive and use it as a stepping stone to godhood.
Even the usually lazy Void Pufferfish couldn't stay idle anymore, quietly venturing into the depths of the void in search of opportunities.
In the end, only the little dragon girl gave up on ascending to godhood.
As a Miracle Fairy Dragon, her strength was limited by the Fairy Dragon Pearl. Unlike Amy, who was an unrestricted miracle lifeform, advancing to Sequence 1 had already consumed an unimaginable amount of resources. To go further on her own was nearly impossible.
However, Rosen wouldn't abandon her, because her unique miracle trait—Fantasy Armament—was extremely precious.
It could amplify any miracle artifact to match her own sequence level.
In a way, her ability to enhance miracle artifacts was even stronger than the Miracle Sequence itself.
Owning her was equivalent to having all miracle artifacts automatically strengthened to Sequence 1.
Thus, among all his pets, the little dragon girl's cultivation value was second only to the Miracle Golem and Dark Sun Slime. Even the Golden Divine Bull, despite being a miracle lifeform, had far less potential than her.
The only issue was that Rosen's strength had increased too quickly, making it difficult for her to keep up.
In the past, Rosen had neither the means nor the time to help her break free from the limitations of the Fairy Dragon Pearl and rapidly improve her strength.
But now things were different. His clones and other pets had all stabilized their power growth. He finally had enough time to use Hunter's Map to hunt true gods, forcibly stacking the power of multiple deities to push the little dragon girl to godhood—even true godhood.
So the first target Rosen set his sights on was the Elemental True God slumbering within the Sea of Elements.
The second target was the Void Worm, a true god-level entity dwelling in the void.
The third was the Nightmare Spider, an evil god of wisdom.
As long as he eliminated these three true gods, he could use the Hunter's Map to exchange their laws and abilities, forcibly pushing the little dragon girl to godhood. If she could grasp the Eternal Compatibility Origin, even reaching Great True God status wouldn't be an impossible dream.
Normally, among Rosen's pets, only the Dark Sun Slime and Miracle Golem had the qualifications to wield Eternal Origin.
Even the Golden Divine Bull lacked the aptitude to control such a power.
However, due to her Fantasy Armament trait, the little dragon girl might just be able to wield the Eternal Compatibility Origin. After all, the essence of Fantasy Armament was a weakened form of Compatibility Origin, which allowed her to amplify lower-sequence miracle artifacts.
That said, hunting these three true gods wouldn't be easy.
Even the Elemental True God, supposedly the weakest among them, gave Rosen a headache just from the information gathered by the All-Knowing Eye.
The Sea of Elements was a vast convergence of elemental energy. In the past, the Extraordinary System of Elements had once dominated the world, marking the golden age of mages. Back then, the omnipresent Elemental Tides granted elemental magic devastating power.
However, after the Elemental System was abandoned, the Elemental Tides completely vanished from the world.
The remaining elemental energy withdrew into the Sea of Elements, and the once unrivaled Elemental True God refused to abandon the path of elemental law. Instead, he entered an almost eternal slumber within the Sea of Elements.
He wasn't insane—his goal was to completely master the Sea of Elements.
At the twilight of the Elemental Era, the Sea of Elements had successfully transformed into a Great True God-level Miracle Artifact.
The Elemental True God had merged completely with it. To kill him, one had to destroy the Sea of Elements itself.
Even Rosen wasn't fully confident in doing so, so he planned to rely on external forces.
As long as he revealed a treasure within the Sea of Elements tempting enough to draw Great True Gods, they would surely attack the realm. Once several Great True Gods joined forces to assault the Sea of Elements, even if the Elemental True God awakened, he would have no way out.
Rosen only needed to land the finishing blow to fulfill the Hunter's Map requirements.
(End of Chapter)