Light's Dawn of Azeroth

Chapter 703, Section 71: The Holy Light's Expedition Has Never Ended; Past Peace Was Only a Temporary Ceasefire.
Diakum was not keen to get involved in Azshara's series of actions.

On the one hand, although the queen has indeed tempered her personality somewhat during her millennia of repentance, old habits die hard. If Diakum interferes too much in the queen's private affairs and incurs Azshara's displeasure, he will likely suffer the same fate as Manonos the Destroyer during the War of the Ancients.

Although Queen Azshara is probably no match for him right now, there's no need to push things into an adversarial state if they can be partners.

On the other hand, Revendreth's series of actions are different from Diakum's previous actions in Bastion and Ardenweald. Those two places were really just "side quests" that you just passed through and did casually.

But Revendrez's schedule is Diakum's "main mission," and he must complete it with 100% enthusiasm and motivation.

Even the fate of Emperor Denathrius seemed less important in the face of this event.

Therefore, for the next few days, Diakum rested and recuperated in the floating city of the Broker, and only came out to move around when the Veil Market approached Revendres.

The floating city of the Soza Corporation is bustling with activity now.

At the invitation of Boss Solia, almost all the broker scholars from all the broker consortia active in the Shadowlands who were interested in the knowledge and mysteries of the Firstborn were invited to this Veil Market.

Centered around the Twin Realms Walkers, they formed an organization called the "Secret Text Society," which specializes in studying the knowledge of the Firstborn.

During their previous journey in Kercia, the Twin Walkers and Rafaam collected some Firstborn ciphers in that mysterious broken kingdom, but this knowledge was extremely obscure and difficult to understand, requiring the Broker Scholars to do their utmost to decipher it.

However, after Azshara joined them as a "Master of Honor," the speed of deciphering the ciphertext increased dramatically.

It's not that the necromancers lacked ability, but rather that Azshara brought them an unconventional approach to solving the problem. The Queen believed that since the Eternals were shaped by the Firstborn, by working backward from the Eternals' power, they would surely find clues about the Firstborn's power.

The most remarkable thing is that Azshara has collected enough samples of the Eternal Power during her stay in the Shadowlands.

She even possessed a physical sample of the chain of control, which was the warden's "life-bound magical artifact."

Under Azshara's guidance, the necromancers first deciphered the changes in the Domination Rune and the Necromancer Rune. Then, starting from the runes of these powers, they reversed the process to decipher the Firstborn Cipher, and actually found some patterns in their combinations.

As Diakum stated, the Firstborn Cipher is a "self-encrypting" script, which possesses the power of the Firstborn itself. Therefore, one must be extremely careful when trying to decipher it, as a mistake in its combination could trigger a horrific event.

Just yesterday, a psychic's misplaced combination turned it into a strange "stone".

The worst part is that the creature's consciousness was trapped inside and screamed in agony. Even Azshara herself couldn't restore it, forcing the other necromancers to carefully piece together the ciphertext while searching for a way to break it.

Finally, it was Diakum, who had been strolling over to watch this morning, who couldn't stand it anymore.

He used a unique combination of ciphers to restore the spirit to its energy form.

"You can't just try to combine ciphertexts here! It's too risky."

The vigilant solemnly addressed the spiritual scholars:
"The Firstborn Cipher requires special equipment to decipher and combine without affecting or distorting reality. Before entering Zaremotis, you should do some theoretical work first, and don't try complex combinations right away."

If even one character is wrong, the entire Veil Market will explode.

I'm not trying to scare you.
The Firstborn Ciphers are the foundation upon which the Creators shaped reality, and the knowledge contained within these runes is far too advanced for us mortals.

They are the origin of the Force, containing all the changes in power up to this point.

"But I'm more curious about your combination just now!"

Azshara stared intently at Diakum from the side, and the Queen whispered:

“That’s a five-level encryption! Diakum, but we haven’t even figured out two-level encryption yet. You shouldn’t have that kind of skill. So, aren’t you going to share your secret with your queen?”

"I can only say that once you reach Zaremotis, you will understand the mystery of the cipher."

Diakum shook his head and said:
"These ciphers are used to shape reality, which means that you will never be able to decipher their mysteries unless you step outside the reality that they form the basis of."

But now is not the time to reveal all this. Revendres is arriving soon, and I must go down there. Please remain in the Veiled Market and await our final showdown with Emperor Denathrius.”

"But you will only begin your final battle with him once the 'King's Mourning' is delivered to Denathrius."

Azshara did not press Diakum about the secret he was not going to tell.

She frowned slightly and said:

"We haven't heard from the material world for a long time, do you think? I mean, even if our advance in the Shadowlands goes smoothly, by the time we return to the material world, Azeroth..."

"Please have some faith in your people, Your Majesty."

Diakum casually remarked:
"The demons have sent the Fallen Titans in an attempt to conquer your homeland, but they are clearly overestimating themselves. Azeroth is more resilient than you think."

"Sigh, when will I, as a king, have the confidence you have?"

Azshara snorted, then put away her new grimoire containing the Firstborn's cipher, tossed her long, moon-white hair, and said:
"I'll go down with you."

"No need!"

Dick shook his head and said:
“I am enough on my own. If you come down with me, it will only expose my presence. You have walked in Revendres before, and I think that land has already recorded your presence. Emperor Denathrius’s control over Revendres is something that no other Eternal can compare to.”

"But if I don't go down, with your pathetic spellcasting ability, how can you conceal your presence from being detected by the perceptive Venthyr?"

Azshara said:

"Besides, we've been meeting for several days now. Aren't you curious about where my 'sin monument' is?"

"Hmm, your monument to sins, yes, I'm really curious how big your monument to sins is, and where you hid it?"

Dick's interest was piqued as well.

Azshara smiled without saying a word, but there was a hint of bitterness in her smile.

A few minutes later, the brokers responsible for navigating the Veil Market reported to Boss Solia a piece of news that left her speechless.

"What did you say?"

While admiring the esoteric knowledge deciphered by the "Cryptotext Society" to learn how to use the Firstborn Relics in her hands, Soria asked in astonishment:
"What do you mean by 'a continent' blocking our route? That doesn't make sense! The Veiled Market has been captured by the Broker Black Market in Revendres more than once or twice. There are no obstacles in our path!"

"Did you take the wrong flight path?"

"No, boss."

The broker sailor was also completely bewildered.

it says:

“I swear we didn’t go the wrong way, but the ‘floating island’ that’s faintly visible in that area is really huge, like a floating mountain range, blocking the way ahead. We have to go around it.”

"What the hell?"

Sorry for the bad luck, So Lia rushed out of her temporary residence, ran to the Veil Market's flight platform, grabbed the specially made psionic telescope, and looked ahead.

Hey!
It was a huge, blood-black floating island.

Its area is at least a quarter the size of Revendreth, which, in the tradition of the Shadowlands, could indeed be called a "land".

But where did this weird thing come from?

Also, why does this island's color look so familiar? Where have I seen it before? "That island's charging at us! Boss, watch out!"

Several spirit mediums keenly sensed that the floating island continent blocking their path was moving; it seemed to be being pulled by some force and was approaching the Veil Market.

This floating city is already quite large, but compared to the island that is approaching through the interdimensional storm, it is still like a tiny insect. It might shatter the entire Veil Marketplace at the moment of impact.

Chaos erupted on the entire flight platform, and Soria even pulled out her Firstborn Relic, intending to smash it to pieces.

But just as the tycoon of the Soza Corporation raised the artifact controller, it was pressed down by a large hand beside him.

Diakum shook his head at her, indicating that the big boss didn't need to be nervous.

Queen Azshara strolled forward, and under the watchful eyes of the surrounding spirits and the astonished Vy Nari, their queen reached the edge of the flying platform, tilted her head back, and let her long hair flutter in the winds of the interdimensional space.

Under her gaze, the rapidly approaching floating island finally came to a stop just a few dozen meters away from the floating city.

Everyone has their own sins, it's just that some people's sins are a tiny, insignificant amount.

Azshara whispered something, then turned to Diakum against the grand backdrop of the black and red island continent floating in the interdimensional realm:
"Holy Light Saint, would you like to come and admire the view from my 'Monument of Sin'?"

"This"

Diakum looked at the terrifying floating island continent. Although he had been mentally prepared, he still couldn't help but complain:
"Isn't this too exaggerated?"

"It's alright, not as high as Mount Hyjal."

Azshara was surprisingly in a good mood; she even had the energy to joke around.

But Diakum simply shook his head. If Azshara's monument to sins was truly as exaggerated as Mount Hyjal, then he should hurry up and get Emperor Denathrius out of Revendreth, and the throne of the King of Sin should be given to him.

"Does this magnificent monument to sin have a name?"

Diakum asked a question.

Azshara nodded and said:
“It’s called ‘Pride’! But Diakum, have you ever thought about what your monument of sins should be called?”

"I won't have that thing."

Dick shook his head and said:
“I may be guilty, but Denathius is not qualified to judge me.”

------

The Brokerage Consortium has a black market in Revendres.

This kind of industry, which you can tell is from the shadows just by its name, is something that only Revendreth would openly accept and assist in operating. Brokers would put things that are hot commodities in both the material world and the Shadowlands for sale here.

Black Market Mistress Ta Zera was a shrewd and audacious broker, so when Diakum and Azshara arrived at the Black Market in the broker's transport, the first thing they saw was the Black Market Mistress inspecting the month's goods.

She was holding a summoning talisman in her hand.

“A lord of the abyss is sealed inside.”

Azshara whispered:

"I really can't imagine what kind of buyer would consider something like this a treasure?"

"Probably a warmonger from Maldraxxus."

Under Azshara's spell, disguised as a black-haired, black-clad Venthyr, Diakum held a blue midnight rose in his hand and casually said:

"The Theater of Mourning in Maldraxxus will always need such ruthless 'gladiators.' Pit Lords are merely low-class there, fit only to be appetizers for those Death Marquises. I've heard that brokers can even obtain Shadowfiends, or even Entropy Demons."
That's really bold.

"So, this land of death is actually more lively and vibrant than we imagined."

Azshara, disguising herself as an elegant Venthyr noblewoman, carrying a black parasol and clutching a handkerchief, said to Diakum:
"I don't actually dislike this place. Once the threat of the Maw is eliminated, the Shadowlands are indeed a place worth exploring for a long time. However, the world's expedition will not end so easily."

Do you remember why I came here?

Dick nodded and said:

"You're trying to reclaim the stolen life of the world, but judging from your expression, it doesn't seem to be going well?"

"Yes, Denathius converted many world life forms into anima and cast them into the Maw."

Azshara said coldly:

"This means that some of the endless Abyssal Oathbringers under Zovar's command are monsters shaped from the life force of their homeland. They must all be exterminated and transformed back into the life force of the world through anima conversion."

My journey is far from over; this is just halftime.

The vigilant did not comment on this.

He and Azshara didn't linger in the black market for long. Riding the midnight bats favored by the local Wenthyrs, they flew towards the northwest region of Revendreth.

It was an area so different from the somber tone of the rest of Revendreth. The perpetually gloomy sky seemed to be torn apart by a blade forged of light, allowing golden rays to pour down from the heavens and eternally "illuminate" almost a third of Revendreth's area.

It was a wasteland!
A ruin cast in light, a desert that Wenshire fears most.

The inhabitants here are mind vampires, and they truly possess a range of racial traits unique to vampires. Their most prominent characteristics include a love of the protection of the night and a fear of the scorching sun.

Therefore, it is obvious at a glance that this gray wasteland is definitely the most terrifying "execution ground" in Wenthyr's eyes.

Legend has it that those who lose in the court struggles of Revendreth are banished to this area to be exposed to the sun and turned into wretched ashes ghouls.

In this ashes wasteland littered with shimmering crystal shards, one can even see the completely destroyed Venthyr Palace and the Black Forest, long since withered and dead from the intense heat.

"Didn't you ever question the origins of this Ash Wasteland when you were staying in Revendres?"

Diakum gazed at the desert, and amidst the flight of the great bats, he asked:

"I suspect the truth here cannot be hidden from your wisdom."

“I spent most of my time in Revendreth hiding there, Diakum. It was the only place where the Emperor’s spies were not present. My monument to sin was also 'carved' there.”

Azshara said:

"To complete that monument of sin, I even went so far as to kidnap a 'duke' and force his mud servants to work tirelessly until it was fully formed. From that elegant Duke of Wenshire, I also heard the story of the Ash Wastes."

Is this supposedly the result of an ancient 'Naru invasion'?

"The result? No, it's far from the result!"

Dick corrected him calmly:

"As you just said, this expedition of the Holy Light has never ended, and the peaceful years that Emperor Denathrius has enjoyed are just a halftime break."

Now that I've arrived here, it's time to let the Holy Light's 'Crusader of Retribution' continue.

(End of this chapter)