~6 Months earlier.
The momentum of the chariots ravaged the mortal plane. It was unknown where these warriors clad in gold came from, but their momentum was stifling. It felt as though they wouldn't rest until the world came down with them, collapsing for all to bear witness to their might.
"Lady Nameless, please retreat!"
Godefray, Ancestor the Angels, called out to Madeleine. He had just seen her take toward Emperor Saerus, but he had yet to regain any sense of calm. The more of these void beasts he took down, the more the apprehension in his heart grew.
As the Ancestor of the Angels, he was in an even better position to tell the gravity of the situation in comparison to others. He knew that an enemy his Clan had been preparing for over such a long period of time couldn't possibly be dealt with so easily.
Madeleine looked back from the corpse before her. Compared to before when she was confused about who all of these people were, after regaining her memories, it was no longer a problem for her.
She nodded faintly, her every movement carrying an air of nobility.
"Follow me. We will retreat to Soul Rend Planet."
The Immortals felt uncomfortable listening to the orders of a mortal, but at the same time, they felt as though Madeleine's words were unquestionable. For a moment, it felt as though the Nameless Immortal God was standing before them. No it couldn't be accurately described in such a way. It could only be said that her majesty carried no less profundity.
It was at the moment that the mortal plane suddenly began to tremble and trillions of chariots blotted out the skies.
The Immortals who followed Dyon here paled.
Their strength alone was great. But, after coming to the mortal plane, their power was greatly suppressed. They could easily tell that every single one of the warriors charging toward them now was an Immortal God. Even though they were also suppressed, judging by what was happening now, the mortal plane was about to collapse.
If the mortal plane collapsed, they were finished
It was as though the matters of the previous timeline were playing out once again. Back then, the mortal plane had collapsed as well, taking with it the suppressive effects the Heavens had on them as Immortals.
This sounded like a good thing except when you consider the fact all of their enemies were Immortals as well. Instead of being of help, this just forced them to their graves faster.
It was simply too difficult to fathom. Even the entire Immortal Plane only had a fraction of a fraction the amount of Immortal Gods in the sky right now Was this the true strength of the Sapientia?
Madeleine looked off into the distance with a calm gaze.
"It's nothing to worry about." She said faintly.
WENG! WENG! WENG!
With her every step, a ring of white would expand outward from her feet, giving the illusion that she was walking across the surface of a lake.
How could Dyon make the same mistake twice? It seemed that everything was working out the exact same way it had in the first timeline but there was a big difference They had all regained their memories this time. So now
Madeleine knew exactly what the purpose of her Constitution's World was and where she had disappeared during her first life.
Many thought she had simply died, but things weren't so simple as this.
Dyon first heard of the Holy Goddess in his 109th life from Aritzia. Back then, the latter had said that the Holy Goddess simply disappeared
The next time he heard of the Holy Goddess, it was from Lilliana, the Holy Princess. Back then, the latter had said the Holy Goddess simply disappeared
Dyon had always assumed that this meant death, but was this true? Were things this simple?
Madeleine's Goddess' Disposition wasn't this simple at all
With Madeleine's first step, the trembling of the mortal plane had already decreased by half. By the second, it stabilized to the point that space was no less solid than the Immortal Plane. By the third, the world regained its calm and the trillions of the chariots that blotted out the skies suddenly disappeared, leaving only the few who managed to cross the final barrier remaining.
In an instant, what once was trillions of enemies vanished, leaving behind what amounted to not even a million.
The Immortals surrounding Madeleine looked toward her with astonished gazes.
Abraxus' gaze flickered, a slight appreciative light dancing in his blinded eyes as he 'looked' toward Madeleine. He was quite surprised by this turn of events. He had assumed that a battle that could only end in their deaths was coming
But, how could he had known that while his First Disciple's constitution world was the Ancient Battlefield The young woman he looked toward as his daughter-in-law's constitution world was actually The Mortal Plane itself!
How could one ever guess that the disappearance of the Holy Goddess was due to her sacrificing herself for the sake of refining the Planar World Spirit of the Mortal Plane?!
If the Madeleine who had her memories sealed knew of this, so many things would suddenly make sense to her. Why it was her cultivation speed was so fast Why it was that the 'Heavens' always seemed to challenge Dyon in just the right way Why it was she seemed capable of replicating Luna's ability to control the energies of the mortal plane!
With each passing moment, Madeleine's face grew paler, but a resolute confidence remained staunch on her delicate features.
'Nine months I have confidence that my husband can achieve victory in that time He hasn't let me down before, I don't believe that he will start now'
"Retreat." Madeleine calmly spoke, hiding her trembling hands beneath the folds of her sleeves. "There are still many that remain, and since they could reach here so quickly, they are definitely the most powerful of them.
"I can promise you all that as long as you give it your all to hold this line of defense, my husband will not disappoint you all."
Madeleine smiled lightly. In contrast to her paling visage, it was akin to a drop of sparkling crimson blood falling onto a budding white rose. It was beautiful beyond compare, yet tragic to the point of pulling the strings of one's heart.
"A Sacharro doesn't lose."
It was a simple line, yet it made the blood of the Immortals boil.
All this time, they had been on the opposing side of the Nameless Immortal God. Those who weren't his enemies tried their best to stay out of his way. Those that were thought of everything they could to hide from him.
Yet today, he had become a torch that lit their path to survival.
They didn't know why it was the Sapientia placed such heavy emphasis on the Mortal Plane, but they knew they couldn't allow them to take it. They all had instincts refined for billions of years. They all knew that if the Mortal Plane fell all the Planar Worlds would soon follow.
How ironic. The Nameless Immortal God they all hated so much had become the one man they wanted to continue to stand tall.
Their hearts flickered with a hope fueled by Dyon himself.
...
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The fighting intent in Dyon's eyes continued to blaze. It seemed that with each passing moment, it would only grow. One would think that he was on the winning end of the battle, but unlike when he fought Emytheus, this battle wasn't close at all. It could be said that from start to finish, he only continuously fell into a worse and worse disadvantage.
The weight of responsibility on his shoulders outweighed even the world itself. To him, compared to his friends, his wives, his daughter, the world wasn't worth anything.
He sometimes thought about where his life would be if he never met Madeleine. Maybe that version of Dyon wouldn't have rejected Ysabell, the Elven Ancestor. Maybe he wouldn't have things to care about other than himself and would be able to see things the way Aritzia saw them. Maybe instead of fighting this war on the losing side, he would be on the winning side.
He would probably still be at the top of the world right now, sitting on an imaginary throne, looking over all there was with an arrogance plastered to the center of his brows.
There were a lot of maybes in life, a lot of possibilities that might very well never be explored.
But Dyon was never one to dwell on the past, nor did he believe in having his fate pulled along by the thoughts of another. Never meeting Madeleine? What bullshit. If he didn't meet her on the mortal plane, he would have found her on the Immortal. If he didn't find her on the Immortal, he would have found her in his second life. If not the second, then the third. If not the third, then the fourth.
His fate was something only he grasped in his palm. No one else could control it. Not the Heavens and not the Sapientia.
His wives were waiting for him. His daughter was waiting for him. This wouldn't be the place he fell.
Aritzia's palm whistled through the air like a puff of smoke, finding its way through Dyon's defenses and puncturing through his lung.
Dyon seemed completely unfazed by the change, the butt of his scythe ripping her hand out from his body as he snaked his chain forward.
A ghastly smile curled his lip behind the curtain of blood.
'A Sacharro doesn't lose.'