A year later.

Trouble had arrived.

The world politics were in shambles.

Angels and Demons of the world fought a holy war. Even their Supreme Ranks were said to be fighting.

It was indeed true. Out of nowhere, Lucifer charged right at the Heavenly Court a few weeks ago. To curb the damages, they took to fighting in desolate areas and their powerful auras could be felt throughout the Angel Continent.

A portion of Demons were defending against Human attackers while the major portion waged war on the Angels.

Humans thought the Devil invasions had something to do with the Demons, so they sent a powerful group their way.

The portion they sent out was small and their major fighting force was back at home, fighting against the Devils who were openly running rampant.

The Devils did not attack mortals this time around, which was a relief. But why did they not attack them, the answer to this question was a painful one to know.

The Devils had no need to use cheap tactics of killing mortals. They could easily handle immortals of any and every clan in the Human Continent.

Such a realization threw them further in chaos.

Measures were being taken to tackle the Devils again. The situation still wasn't hopeless as not many had died.

Next onto the Elven Continent: the situation had become obvious.

Beastkins had openly turned into two factions. One was an alliance with Goblins, Orcs, and Trolls while the other was an alliance with the Elves.

The culmination of these four races proved to be lethal to the Elves and the Beastkin faction allied with them. By no means were these guys weak.

The war was still at the early stage between them, but was actively moving towards the middle phases where they would need to give their all and fight.

In the Neutral Continent, the World Adventurer's Association was given the first blow from the Free Adventurer's Association.

A SSS class dungeon was snatched away right in front of their eyes. Those who dared to use their authority of being a high rank in the World Adventurer's Association were immediately killed.

The association did not stand back. It sent out a major assassination mission, but through the black market, and had a few important people from the Free Adventurer's Association killed.

This escalated their conflict, and in a bit more time, should result in both suffering through mutual destruction.

The Witches and the Dragons were at war, something nobody could even dream would happen.

Dragons were peaceful if not provoked. Witches kept to their business and maintained neutrality with everybody.

The situation this time around was a bit tricky. Some Witches had attacked the Dragons, which Dagassi's side showed to the world.

The Witch Court did not respond to this video, which was really surprising.

Dagassi issued a warning and asked them to apologize and send compensation for the damages, then he'll drop the matter, but there was once again no response.

Eventually, the Dragons crossed the Treant Ocean and invaded the Witch territory.

It was a 'poke and see' strategy at first, but the Witches had started being aggressive, so the Dragons went all out too.

Due to the Witches being involved in a war, people around the world suffered through major inconveniences.

The Internet had somehow become slow, some regions were barely accessible, and it was as if technology was slowly diminishing from the world.

People didn't realize until now how big of a role the Witches played in the world's technological advancement.

Playing online games wasn't possible. Streaming of videos had been restricted. Many could not even video call their significant others.

Things were a mess.

The only thing that actually worked well was the Dark Web.

It gained a lot of popularity and was being secretly used by many people.

Naturally, Scelestus, the rulers of the underworld, profited from it.

Just like them, there was another organization making big profits. It was close to Scelestus' level.

This was the World Merchant Association.

No matter what the situation, people would never stop buying and selling goods.

During war times, ration, shelter, migration, and so on were common. On the surface, the WMA provided that with nominal fees, but behind the scenes, something amazing was cooking up.

The WMA had secretly opened up a gambling market.

Real time war situations were constantly shown in these gambling markets and people could place their bets on a lot many things like:

Who would kill who? Who would sleep with who? Who would die first? Who would become the next Patriarch of the xyz clan, and so on.

These were the common bets.

The major bets were something a lot of people were baffled about.

It involved betting on who would emerge on top among the fighting parties.

These parties were the major races of the world currently involved in war with each other.

As of now, the hottest gamble was on the Werewolf King. It was about whether he would survive or get his race annihilated.

News about the same was coming out on screens every minute and a lot of magic stones were being thrown by people into this.

The second hottest was the Angels and Demons conflict. It was always a delight to look at the virtuous vs sinful factions fighting.

Half the people had bet on Angels while the other half did so on Demons.

Then there were the Elves, Beastkins, Witches, Dragons, and so on.

Lastly, there were the Vampires.

Many placed their bet on commoners after they wiped out one- third of the nobles, but things had backfired since then.

Under Duchess Rivera, the nobles fiercely fought and killed many that were causing an uprising.

The tides were changing, but an anomaly occurred.

A dark metallic gate that seemed to have been brought straight from hell appeared in the sky.

From within, an eerie, malicious, and giant ghostly hand emerged out.

People were creeped out by it, and before they could look into this matter, a purple streak of light sent the hand back within the gate, making it close and disappear.

However, before disappearing, the hand took the purple streak of light with it.

Lith suddenly got up from his seat. "What? Who went in there?"

He was about to go down the rooftop to inquire, but a black portal opened up right above his head. Within it, tendrils bearing the might of a thousand Emperor Ranks put pressure on the surroundings and moved towards Lith.

His scalp tingled from the feeling of danger and he frowned.

The halo above his had thickened and turned into an abyssal dark color. This meant his negative karma was beyond graspable measures.

The tendrils were coming to absorb a being like him with such a negative energy to support their own cultivation.

He was at risk even at home.

The tendrils seeped closer to the castle, but a barrier stopped it. A sizzling sound was heard as they touched it, and with that the tendrils hastily retreated.

'Home sure is safe. But I need to be more careful. I shouldn't take on karma I can't handle. This world war was necessary, and even if I hadn't directly involved myself in everything, the cause and effect would still get the negative karma to me.'

'In any case, this has to fasten up and finish. I have a lot more things to do.'

Lith walked down the rooftop and saw his mother sitting in a courtyard filled with white lillies. Qingyue was by her side, serving her tea.

Looking at Qingyue made Lith wonder about Luna. Her consolidation still hadn't finished. It would take a few more months it seems.

Lilith smiled and waved at Lith as she noticed him, calling him over to her.

Lith went over and unlike usual, instead of giving her a kiss and sitting down on a chair, he sat right on the table in front of her.

Audaciously, Lith took the teacup his mother was holding in her hands and drank from it. Her rosy saliva could be tasted from the cup's edge.

Lilith chuckled in amusement while Qingyue thought, 'His Highness is probably the only person that can get away with such mischief.'

That was true. The Vampire Prince was spoiled to a degree even the mothers of cannon fodder young masters couldn't fathom.

They all would puke blood knowing the level of things a mother had at her disposal to spoil her child! And maybe even beg the Dao Progenitor to teach them the Dao of Mamahood.

Jokes apart, Lilith looked at Lith with a smile. "You resemble a fallen angel more than a vampire."

She was hinting at the dark halo on his head. All that was missing were a pair of feathered black wings.

Lith gave the teacup back to her and said, "I sure do." He then changed topic and asked, "Right, since you're here, does that mean it was Lucy that went up there?"

Lilith nodded her head. She took a sip of tea, and put down the cup to answer, but found her lips sealed.

Lith had pressed his against her moist, fragrant lips out of nowhere. He kissed her for a few seconds, then broke it and gulped something.

Lilith smiled and shook her head. "Stop stealing mama's tea."

Lith squinted his eyes and stared at her. "Actually, I would. But there's something strange about this tea."

The corner of Lilith's lips curved up. 'Quick to find out, as always.'

Lith licked his lips and continued with a questioning gaze, "Why does it have a familiar sweet taste? You don't taste this kind of sweet anywhere, mom."

Lilith took a sip of her tea again. "Hmm I wonder why too~"

Instead of asking her again, Lith turned to look at Qingyue. Her face slightly reddened and she tried to avert her gaze.

Lith's lips twitched. He walked towards Qingyue and without saying anything, moved his hand under her skirt, suddenly touching something squishy, velvety, and moist.

As he inserted two fingers inside the moistness, Qungyue's face reddened further, but she tried to maintain a professional look.

Lith took his fingers out and looked at them. They had a transparent sticky liquid on it that was fragrant and sweet.

"Did you"

"Yes." Lilith answered instantly.

"Why?"

Lilith smirked. "Didn't you like the taste? Qingyue told me everything. So I mixed it in with your tea."

Lith was dumbfounded by this. Shaking his head and smiling, he asked, "With my tea, you say? But weren't you the one drinking it? Are you perhaps liking it too?"

Lilith chuckled softly. "Do you think mama can't notice you coming over to her? I swiftly made Qingyue sweeten the tea before you appeared. Originally, I wasn't going to drink this and offer it to you, but surprise, surprise, you took it yourself, fufufu."

'What level of 4-D chess is this? How did she know of so many things, damn. I need to increase my cultivation if I want to pull pranks like this. Tch, too bad the wait is quite long'

Shaking his head, Lith licked his fingers covered in Qingyue's juices and began talking with his mother on a few important matters.

Qingyue chimed in from time to time and said a few things.

"So, the first most important thing is to remove this halo. I believe it should be gone if people are back from the dead?"

Lilith chuckled softly at this. "Do you think it'll go away just by that?"

Her gaze then turned sharp.

"My dear, you underestimate the karmic powers."