Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 121 The Collapse of the Old Era
On either side of the chessboard, a hand shrouded in darkness casually tosses a chess piece in its palm. Before it, black and white pieces are locked in a fierce battle, with all sides clashing together on the chaotic chessboard.

Knights, soldiers, castles, bishops... none were spared, all were plunged into a massive conflict.

"What a chaotic situation..."

A deep voice laughed, but the laughter was icy cold.

As he spoke, the dark hand reached out to the chessboard, picking up a silent black pawn wielding a weapon. In front of the black pawn was a white bishop pawn dressed in a long robe. The silent soldier stepped forward without uttering a word, and his spear shot out like a dragon. The white bishop in front of him didn't even have time to put up any resistance before the spear pierced through his body.

……

In the human world, somewhere.

"Burn her! Burn her! Burn her!"

Under the dim sky, a young woman was bound to an altar made of firewood, while below the altar stood a large, excited crowd and a solemn-looking preacher.

The thinly dressed woman shivered in the cold wind. The bright red bloodstains on her clothes had long since dried and turned dark brown. On her bare arms and ankles, there were clearly visible wounds of varying ages.

“Witch Lilita, in the name of the servant of the Almighty Father, I ask you one more time: are you willing to confess to the many sins you have committed, such as spreading plagues, using black magic, and cursing humanity? If so, the Almighty Father may forgive you and purify your body with fire.”

The preacher, dressed in a long robe, spoke expressionlessly in front of the woman.

But faced with the preacher's words, the already scarred woman gritted her teeth and spoke with difficulty.

“In the name of God the Father, I have not done anything evil.”

The preacher frowned and said only one sentence.

“Those who do not repent will not receive God’s grace; only eternal death awaits them.”

As he spoke, a soldier next to the preacher threw down the torch he was holding.

In an instant, the firewood, which had been covered with flammable material, burst into flames and quickly spread to the woman's body.

The woman gritted her teeth, trying her best not to make a sound, but in the end she could not bear the pain of being burned alive. A shrill scream came from the depths of the bonfire, which had become a raging fire. Gradually, the sound weakened and stopped, and then there was no sound at all.

Before the towering flames, the preacher coldly surveyed the flickering fire.

"Stupid woman."

What's the most important thing in this world? Nothing beats money.

Forgiveness? Purification? It's all a joke.
Some of these were just empty words, nothing more. Anyway, this "witch" was going to be burned at the stake, since she was spreading herbs and helping the poor people suffering from the plague, which interfered with their business of making money with holy water.

Those who obstruct others' wealth are demons and devils; those who help them get rich are angels and saints—it's such a simple truth.

Anyone who tries to stop him from getting the gold coins, no matter who they are, will only face death, even if it were the Heavenly Father himself. Moreover, this foolish woman is not only blocking him, but also messing up the missionaries in several regions. There are even some important figures behind her. Isn't it perfectly normal for her to die?

A smile played on his lips, but the preacher continued to speak devoutly.

May God forgive your sins... Amen.

……

Looking down at the chessboard in front of him, the owner of the hand shrouded in darkness seemed to have witnessed the scene firsthand, speaking casually.

“How foolish it is for a sincere saint to lack power, for mercy to be weakness, for love to bring only disaster, and for failure to be inevitable.”

"That's not the case."

Opposite the owner of the hand, the god shrouded in light calmly spoke, his gaze not fixed on the burning flames, but on several young children among the adults watching this scene. These were all children taken in by the woman before her death.

Among the young children, dressed in tattered clothes, some were only seven or eight years old, and some were even just two or three. Some of the children trembled, terrified by witnessing death and the deaths of familiar loved ones before their very eyes; others clenched their fists tightly, their eyes almost spitting fire, and if not for someone holding them back, they would have already charged at the preacher in front of them; but some appeared unusually silent, a silence that was chilling.

"What did you see?"

"God said."

Meanwhile, the darkness on the opposite side of the chessboard rested its hand on its forehead and glanced over.

“Closeness, sympathy, pity, kindness, innocent love… but it is precisely because of this that I have also seen anger, hatred, resentment, and all sorts of unpredictable darkness.”

"They will be able to become the guardians of my teachings, my warriors, the sword to cleanse evil," God said noncommittally.

The pupils slanted, looking at the god before it; the dark creature, whose face was indistinct, grinned.

"Why would God choose a warrior who is filled with resentment and cruelty?"

“Those who fight against darkness must have their hearts filled with darkness. Things that are too pure will be tainted in an instant. The chaotic and complicated nature of humanity is more able to resist the temptation of darkness, just like the guardian angels that you have tempted.”

God said calmly.

Hearing God's words, the dark creature's cold pupils remained unmoved. The guardian angels God spoke of referred to the fall of the angels thousands of years ago.

Angels are messengers of God, devout and pure. But thousands of years ago, when humanity had just begun to multiply on Earth, the guardian angels who guided human knowledge, those sons of God, fell in love with human women.

Angels themselves do not have physical bodies. When angels are in heaven, they are illusory spirits. Only when angels enter hell or earth do they need to have a physical body that can be seen by humans. After having a physical body, angels are also burdened by the physical body and have desires.

The guardian angel, driven by desire, eventually fell in love with a human woman, and through mating with her, gave birth to giants of immense strength who had a penchant for cannibalism.

Giants ravaged the land, bringing humanity to the brink of extinction. Enraged, the King of Angels annihilated the giants and brought all the guardian angels back to Heaven, imprisoning them in a place on Mars, the fifth heaven.

Even so, the impact was still incredibly profound. Those guardian angels secretly imparted knowledge of astrology, magic, alchemy, prophecy, and so on to humankind. This knowledge eventually spread across the land, proving impossible to eradicate, and was ultimately collectively referred to by humankind as black magic.

This event directly led to the subsequent war in which the serpent people in the sea took the opportunity to try to invade the land. The magnificent war between humans and monsters lasted for hundreds of years, and countless heroes emerged. If it weren't for the secret help of angels, humans would not have been able to drive those serpent people with steampunk-style technology off the land.

Although this matter has come to an end, insightful people have already foreseen the potential dangers facing humanity. After all, during the centuries of war, there has been too much interaction between humans and snake people, and no one can say for sure how much snake people blood is mixed into the human population now.

Werewolves who can transform into wolves on the night of a full moon, vampires who crave blood, and all sorts of other strange creatures are things that have been conceived over the past few hundred years. These unusual beings, which are usually unremarkable, hide among humans, quietly lying in wait for the dark ages when the sea serpent people will return to the earth once again.

The numerous trials of demons and executions by burning at the stake were all created to eliminate those who were different from the demons.

That is why, since that time, God has rarely sent angels down to earth.

"Can the chaotic and disordered nature of humanity really resist temptation? Omniscient and omnipotent God, why don't you go and see what the future holds for those children? But I think there's no need for that anymore. Noah has already been born, and this chaotic and turbulent old era no longer needs to exist. Humans mixed with the blood of the serpent people have gradually lost their qualification to be the main characters on the chessboard. Humans who have become monsters are no longer human. It's time to welcome the arrival of a new era."

"However, O all-knowing and all-powerful God, I hereby declare to you that even though a new era has begun, humanity is already completely inseparable from my bloodline, and the final victory will ultimately belong to me."

Amidst unrestrained laughter, darkness vanished into the Crystal Heaven Palace, while on the opposite side of the chessboard, the god silently surveyed the board before him.

The words of darkness still echoed within the palace, while God remained silent.

"Yeah……"

As God spoke quietly, he picked up a white piece in his hand, and in front of it was the very black piece that had killed the White Bishop.

A light touch.

The black pawn falls, and the white pawn moves down.

If people do not turn away from God, then God will not abandon them.

……

More than a decade later, in a luxurious palace, a warrior clad in full armor stands silently, holding a blood-stained sword. The ground around him lies littered with the corpses of armored guards, and before him sits a bloated, trembling king leaning against his throne.

“No…don’t kill me!!!”

The king screamed in terror, his voice like that of a pig waiting to be slaughtered. He instinctively rubbed against the cold throne behind him, trying his best to appear inconspicuous, but the armored warriors were unmoved and strode forward.

The sword was already raised high, its cold, sharp light flashing...

The long sword fell.

"Crack!"

Amidst the blood flowing everywhere, the king's pupils gradually grew cold and solidified, while the silent warrior who had done all this turned and left without a trace of regret. Behind him, a raging fire burned fiercely, transforming the entire palace into a sea of ​​flames even more intense and scorching than the fire of more than a decade ago, as if it were a sacred flame purifying the sins of the world.

Thus, all those who had participated in the burning at the stake more than a decade ago, and who had plotted to kill his innocent first love in his childhood, had all been killed on his god-blessed path of revenge... without exception.

(End of this chapter)