Chapter 896 Drawing the Sword (5400)

The Eastern Front total war lasted for seventeen years.

Seventeen years ago, the countries of Atlantis sent a delegation to Fenrir Sea on the continent of Ylothar. They were received by the lord of Blackwater Port, who introduced them to the central alliance. The oracle revealed that the countries of Atlantis were demons, and the alliance slaughtered the delegation and unilaterally declared war. The Central Seventh Army marched on the Fenrir Sea coast, and the Eastern Front total war began.

In the first year of the war, the Seventh Army suffered repeated defeats, and seven large port cities along the coast fell. The alliance urgently mobilized the surrounding Twenty-fifth, Thirty-third, and Ninth Armies to suppress the enemy, maintaining the battle line around the Fenrir Sea.

In the third year of the war, the eleven elite legions originally stationed on the Western Front were transferred to the Eastern Theater, which quickly reversed the situation, offsetting the suppression brought about by the technological advantages of the Atlantis side. They even recovered three of the seven large cities that had been occupied.

However, because the eleven elite legions were not local armies, the large number of allied troops stationed in the area put a heavy burden on many cities and villages in the east. In addition, the legion generals condoned their soldiers looting local areas to raise military expenses, which caused great resentment among the civilians in the eastern region. In contrast to the Atlantis army's almost non-violent actions during the invasion, the once-solid faith began to gradually waver.

"Bandits aren't as vicious as the army!"

This was a common saying among the residents of cities and villages in the Eastern Theater.

In the fifth year of the war, an elite assassination squad from Atlantis killed the Supreme Commander of the Federal Eastern Theater, the child of the Mountain and Frost God, the demigod Titan Tanor, at the Kullen Mountains gorge. A landslide occurred in the Kullen Mountains, and the main peak completely collapsed, burying most of the elite soldiers of the Alliance Third Army, all of whom were seasoned veterans who had fought in the light and dark battlefields for decades.

In that battle, the only survivors were the Atlantis assassination squad. Contrary to everyone's expectations, the assassination squad consisted of only ten people, and all ten were equipped with giant battle armor exceeding twenty meters in height.

The first generation Melody Armor was entirely equipped with 'pipe organs'. Their movements resembled a mobile temple church, with rising steam and spiritual particles erupting like a volcanic eruption, bringing forth incredibly passionate melodies, inspiring comrades, and destroying enemies.

This was the first time in history that a fully-formed giant Melody Armor legion had appeared. Vast steam was converted into melodies capable of shaking the heavens and earth within the military pipe organs on the armor's back. Miracle Singers could unleash the power of an entire orchestra with their own strength.

The pattern of the war was changed. With the gradual popularization of Melody Armor equipped with military giant instruments, the armies of Cenosstia were invincible. Legions were systematically annihilated, and elite Melody Armor pilots were called 'Saintly Judgemental Musicians'. Their power was comparable to the divine punishment of true gods.

Curiously, the Gods of Light remained silent about this. They not only did not send down divine punishment, but did not even issue divine instructions.

The unspeakable silence shook the upper echelons of the Light Alliance. They didn't know what to do for a while, and with the opening of another war zone, local taxes could no longer satisfy their extravagant enjoyment.

The Light Alliance's military expenses were running out, and the Holy Maiden requested that various families and the upper echelons of the alliance raise funds to collect 200,000 gold coins for military expenses.

Scattered rebel armies and villages refusing to pay taxes began to appear internally in various regions.

In the sixth year of the war, facing the powerful battle armor legions, the Light Alliance was naturally not foolish. They gathered more than fifty demigod heroes to intercept the battle armor forces, seized the wreckage of the Melody Armor, and the Light Alliance launched a massive reverse engineering project, and began to develop their own battle armor.

In the seventh year of the war, many cities and villages in the Eastern Theater voluntarily surrendered to Atlantis. Since then, the Fenrir Sea has become Atlantis's inland sea.

The countries of Atlantis began to chant the Great Anthem 'Nostradamus's Light'. Vast temporal and spatial changes hid Torch Port in subspace, becoming a shipyard that unilaterally served the countries of Atlantis. Unless the Light Alliance went to the Atlantis continent and removed the nine semi-permanent miracle repeater facilities chanting 'Nostradamus's Light', they would never be able to break through the subspace barrier of Torch Port.

In the ninth year of the war, the Dark Nations intended to invade the alliance's undefended west, but were stopped by an oracle. Messages of turmoil and suspicion spread throughout the heavens and earth, and no one could understand why the gods would do this.

In particular, the lobbyists and spies sent by the countries of Atlantis had been lobbying the Dark Nations to send troops to invade the Light Alliance, but to no avail.

In the second half of the year, the Alliance's first generation of Melody Armor appeared. Its performance was 25% better than the first generation of Atlantis armor, but the second generation of Atlantis armor was also developed.

This time, the instruments that could be carried were not only pipe organs, but also instruments such as pianos and saxophones.

The appearance of the battle armor orchestra made the already extremely difficult situation of the alliance even worse. However, after the alliance lost the guidance of the oracle, it instead burst out with extremely vigorous sparks of progress. Various giant fortresses equipped with new instruments blocked the Atlantis Allied Forces from continuing to move south.

At the same time, sensing the crisis of life and death, a major purge occurred within the upper echelons of the alliance. Most of the old leadership was overthrown, and the wealth seized from their homes was enough to support the entire alliance's military expenses and research and development expenses for more than fifty years.

Taking the Minister of Culture of the Alliance as an example, his deposits in the Alliance capital alone exceeded 17 million gold coins, and the available living gold in the family's ancestral home exceeded 3.5 billion gold coins. The wealth of one family could support the re-equipment of 75 legions.

The new leadership claimed that the gods did not send down divine instructions to stop them, and their ascension was tacitly approved by the gods. The old leadership that was overthrown was equally afraid of this possibility, and the transfer of power was smooth.

The countries of Atlantis could not break through the giant fortresses, and the war between the two sides entered a strategic stalemate.

In the fourteenth year of the war, the Light Alliance withdrew all the remaining legions from the Western Theater. This behemoth completely abandoned its defense against its ancient enemy, the Dark Nations, and used all its power to fight against the countries of Atlantis.

For a time, a legion of over a thousand Oracle Knights swept across the East Sea. In a short period of time, the countries of Atlantis lost all coastal cities except those around Torch Port. They could only engage in harassment warfare at sea with high-speed fleets.

Torch Port, located in subspace, became the only anchor point.

In the sixteenth year of the war, five apostles and five hundred Immortal Knights from the Atlantis Central Sacred Tree Temple came to Torch Port and retook all the coastal cities.

In the seventeenth year, the Atlantis people transplanted the branches of the sacred tree, Ji Wang, into the Fenrir Inner Sea.

In the seventeenth year, the Second Prophet, the Nameless Legislator, and the second newly born Candle Sun, the Covenantor Yalan, came to Torch Port.

In the seventeenth year, the Dark Nations were instructed by an oracle to send troops to aid the Light Alliance, arousing collective incomprehension and panic among the upper echelons and the people of both sides.

In the seventeenth year, conflicts arose between the Dark Nations' army and the local residents of the Light Alliance. Taxes were further increased, and contradictions accumulated over millions of years erupted, and the Light and Dark Allied Forces broke out into civil war.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Atlantis Allied Forces took thirty-seven fortresses in a row, completely occupying the eastern peninsula of the continent, and established the Fenrir Republic Autonomous Region.

In the seventeenth year of the war, the Eastern Front total war ended.

In the seventeenth year of the war, the Ylothar World War broke out.

The gods had been silent all along.

The reason for the silence was simple.

Under the increasingly fierce offensive of the Candle Sun, they had no time or power to send down divine instructions to fight against the fierce attacks of the Atlantis faction.

But strangely, in the absence of the leadership of the gods, the Light Alliance and the Dark Nations instead burst out with a different kind of vitality—although they were enemies with the countries of Atlantis, the Atlantis side also had to admit that the enemy did indeed have extremely deep foundations and the inheritance of musical movements.

Putting aside prejudices and facing the crisis of survival, the reforms and changes led by the new leadership of the Light Alliance were extremely gratifying. All kinds of new battle armor, as well as all kinds of brand new musical movements, magic, poetic miracles, and even all kinds of civil miracle facilities appeared one after another.

It's hard to say whether this was a long-awaited breakthrough or whether everything already had a prototype, but the gods forbade its use.

The Dark Nations originally wanted to take the opportunity to attack the alliance, but were defeated by the alliance's rapid technological progress—in the seventeenth year of the war, the Dark Nations had become the weakest party.

"You have already lost."

Above the sky.

The chaotic space-time gap.

The inner side of the world, the root of the universe.

Two continuously flowing rivers of light, 'past' and 'future', reflected each other with the stars in the sky, illuminating the opposing sides.

In the tide of the past, the voice of the Divine Dragon shook the long river of time, causing the flickering sky, the scorching sun of the sky, and the dark brilliance of the lonely night to lose their color: "Without you, all things and beings will inevitably move towards the path of innovation—even if they cannot perceive their essence for a while, they will eventually implement my way."

"Implement 'correctness'!"

The voice of the Candle Sun was like a death knell, ringing in the heads of all the gods, making their faces look ugly and full of sorrow.

Because what the Candle Sun said was indeed the truth.

Without the gods' suppression, deliberate guidance, causing the Light and Dark sides to fight, consume, and suppress the playing of melodies... after such a long time, the continent of Ylothar should have entered the next era long ago.

But for their own continued stability, for 'eternity', they had to suppress all changes.

Progress was naturally one of them.

That was also why a rather awkward paradox appeared.

Because the war with the Candle Sun stretched across the past and future, the divine realm and the mortal world, the gods and mortals.

If they wanted the 'forces' representing the gods to win, they had to 'progress', otherwise they would not be able to defeat the countries of Atlantis, which themselves represented 'innovation'.

In other words, in a situation where the gods could not take action and directly send down divine punishment, the forces of the gods would inevitably lose if they did not progress.

If they wanted to win, they had to innovate.

And if the forces of the gods innovated... even if they were still under the command of the gods for a while, in the end, would they be fulfilling the path of innovation, or would they be musical notes belonging to the gods?

The result was obvious.

If the forces of the gods lost, it meant that innovation had won.

And if the forces of the gods wanted to win, they had to innovate—that was still innovation winning.

Innovation never loses, it even wins big!

This was the end of the chain of cause and effect, the final trend that had already been determined—the power of the Candle Sun was radiating to the entire musical movement universe, and the gods were powerless to stop it, and were instead retreating steadily.

Cause and effect.

Very simple words.

There is a cause, there is an effect. Because one plus one equals two, because you owe money, you have to pay it back.

Cause and effect are not absolute answers. One plus one may not necessarily equal two, and you may not need to pay back the money you owe, but you need to face the backlash of mathematical laws and the attacks of debt collectors.

This was the simplest explanation of cause and effect, and the retaliation of cause and effect.

Even if the gods had the power to change the entire great universe, if they wanted to reverse the trend in which the Candle Sun had the advantage, they could not casually erase it, otherwise, the Creation Grand Movement might be fine, but they themselves would be knocked off their divine thrones.

As the Divine Dragon chanted, history was shaking and the musical movement was changing.

However, facing this almost hopeless situation, the gods did not give up.

[Do you think you're going to win for sure? Candle Sun!]

The power of Deus traced back through time, arriving before the epoch. The divine power of the Father of the Heavens turned into thunder, splitting the Candle Sun's power. He angrily rebuked: [Wait, cause and effect are not only determined by cause, but also by effect!]

[Everything now is not important at all... as long as the future can be determined, the present and the past are just temporary pains]

"Oh?"

The Divine Dragon in the form of a dragon coiled itself into a ball. It quickly figured out what kind of plan the Gods of the Musical Movement wanted to take, and then curiously said: "You want to bring out the future—a never-before-proven melody, and let everything start again?"

"Let's not talk about how you circumvent cause and effect. Can't you see that there is a gap in hard power between you and me? You lost before, do you think you can win in the future?"

The Candle Sun was overjoyed. This was like a tribal chief saying he was going to solo mid with a God-ranked player. Even if the God-ranked player's strength declined because he was using unfamiliar mouse and keyboard, no matter how much the chief tried, he could not win after the God-ranked player adapted.

[Of course]

But the tone of the gods was extremely certain, and Deus's tone even carried a smile: [We have said many times, you do not understand the Great Universe of Musical Movements]

[As long as I destroy everything in the 'present'... then no matter how great the changes you bring in the past, the future will eventually turn into an empty wasteland]

Saying this, the words of the King of the Gods carried the ultimate indifference and carelessness: [And on the wasteland, without the interference of other musical notes, we gods can instead gather the most powerful power... the separation of the six great epochs, the glory of the Eternal Goddess has also been stripped away by us]

[By that time, in that 'ended' future, the past and the future will be merged into one, and the gods of the Four Epochs will join forces. How can you defeat the collection of almost the entire Great Universe of Musical Movements, we gods?!]

It was actually a very simple principle.

No matter how brilliant civilizations were created in the Overture Epoch or the Resonance Epoch, on the continents of Ylothar and Atlantis, and how great cultures were created.

As long as, in the present, in the 'Agitation Epoch', the King of Gods descended a 'Cataclysmic Disaster', perhaps a meteor that destroyed the entire ecosystem, or a volcanic eruption that lasted for hundreds of years, or a torrential rain, an extreme cold...

The Great Flood, the Great Explosion, the Great Collision, the Great Wither...

All civilizations would cease to exist.

Naturally, the 'future' would also become a blank sheet of paper, allowing them, the natives, to smear it as they pleased.

In the final analysis, the Candle Sun was just an outsider player. He was powerful, but he could only play in the map created by these Gods of the Musical Movement. In the previous few epochs, the Candle Sun had watched it, and while the historical direction was fixed, it also prevented the Gods of the Musical Movement from changing it.

But the second half of the Agitation Epoch, plus the entire Fourth Epoch, Su Zhou had not watched, so the possibilities of history had not been determined—in this way, Su Zhou's power could be exerted more freely, but similarly, the gods could also change it at will.

They could even create a 'ending' that could allow them to join forces and even usurp part of the Eternal Authority!

Faced with the gods' scheme, the Candle Sun was silent.

The gods thought that they had indeed troubled this great enemy from outside the realm, and they all showed relaxed smiles.

But then, the Divine Dragon spoke and asked incomprehensibly: "So, you don't care at all about how many people will die... You don't have any reluctance about destroying an entire epoch, right?"

This was not a question worth answering. Everyone felt that the Candle Sun's question was inexplicable, and even suspected of being a hypocrite.

[If it weren't for you, none of these people would die]

The Goddess of the Night, Noel, sneered. She said in a gentle but cruel tone: [Just like those envoys from Atlantis, if it weren't for you, Candle Sun, inciting them to betray us, they wouldn't have died, wouldn't have been disabled, and wouldn't have suffered!]

[It is your existence that has broken the balance of everything... It is you who have brought all this suffering. We are just resisting you, so how is this our fault?]

The Candle Sun took a deep breath.

His breath was even a little trembling.

This almost fearful reaction even made the gods feel inexplicable.

[Are you afraid?]

The King of Time and Space showed an incomprehensible expression. He shook his head, as if lamenting the Candle Sun's inexplicability: [If you're afraid, then leave quickly. We won't pursue your crime of interfering with our world... Why bother? We originally had no conflict. As for Yalan and Eve, after our plan is over, how about you take their true spirits away?]

[We don't care about these small matters]

The gods really didn't want to fight with such a great enemy as the Candle Sun... This Primal Candle Sun was not an ordinary Harmony God King at all. His power showed a 'correct' essence, which could only be resisted and could not be denied.

Even they, even the gods, were only fighting with the Candle Sun because they had to, because the Candle Sun wanted to be their enemy. If possible, why not be friends with the Candle Sun?

If they could avoid a fight, they would.

But obviously.

The Candle Sun took a breath, not out of fear.

Or rather... not the fear they imagined.

"Yes."

The Candle Sun in the form of a dragon sighed and looked up at the world and starry sky of the multiverse: "I am afraid."

"I am more afraid than anyone else."

At the long tail of the Divine Dragon, a fiery halo lit up, and the dazzling golden-red divine light flowed, and the power of annihilation was gradually changing, turning into a long blade of sharp tail, erupting with a terrifying divine power that was enough to burn the universe and destroy time and space.

Time and space, cause and effect, life and death, and even the existence of existence and non-existence, the nothingness of whether or not, began to separate due to this too bright and fiery blade light.

Past, future, and present, the intervals of the three worlds were separated into different 'lines of death', which seemed to be traces born to be cut off.

Inconceivable power, the vast waves beyond the imagination of Harmony were erupting and gathering, and finally condensed into a sharp crystal on the blade that was enough to shatter everything.

Closing his eyes and then opening them again, Su Zhou stared at the surprised and uncertain gods in front of him.

He sighed: "I am afraid when I think that in the multiverse, you gods, you powerful existences, are actually the most numerous and the most normal."

"Thinking that you evil guys are the norm in the multiverse, and that your hateful 'indifference' is the most common mentality of the strong."

"I am afraid, so afraid that I can't control myself."

"So I can only make up my mind."

"Draw the sword."