After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

Lalumia then said she needed to make some preparations.

The best way to adopt a demon's mindset is to capture a live demon and then directly integrate one's own consciousness into the demon's thoughts—but Lalumia doesn't want to use such a dangerous method, so what she does is plan to use the fragments of the demon's corpse that are brought up as a springboard.

Although the dead demons cannot penetrate the mind of the demon mother's lair, their corpses can still serve as a springboard before they completely dissipate, allowing human consciousness to linger around the demon mother's lair.

However, the risks involved are still significant—although Lalumia can guarantee Yang Hao's safety, no one except himself knows what he might encounter in the demon's four-dimensional world...

However, since this is the child's decision.

That's settled then.

Lalumia prepared using fragments of demon corpses.

Yang Hao, who was also mentally preparing himself, noticed that besides Lalumia, there seemed to be another gaze watching him.

It's a very strange feeling.

"...Are there still crows in the forest in winter?"

Yang Hao muttered to himself as he looked at a crow perched on top of another tent outside the tent.

He thought to himself, "Surely I can't possibly be being targeted by a crow? That would be too unlucky!"

"...My child. I'm ready. Are you?"

"I'm ready too. I can start anytime."

"...Then let's wait a little longer. But I need to inform Fen and the others—this is a serious matter, not something to be taken lightly."

"I feel like if Finn hears me, I won't be able to continue..."

"But that's no excuse for your willfulness. Your life isn't just your own anymore, understand?"

Lalumia reached out and pinched Yang Hao's nose, then puffed out her cheeks and left Yang Hao's tent.

But after leaving the tent, she did not immediately go to find Finn and Elena, who were busy at work.

She looked around for a while, then walked to a secluded corner. Without any expression, she summoned a gleaming silver throwing knife from her fingertips and hurled it at the crow that had been following her.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! That's going too far!"

The crows screeched, and as time seemed to stand still, Lalumia's throwing knife vanished in mid-air.

However, Lalumia didn't care about the slight loss of divine power. What she cared about was why the World God had to come at this crucial moment.

"I thought you would come to me when I arrived—but now, my child is about to be in danger because of the demon, and you're eyeing him covetously because of his sacrifice?! Are you still a god?"

Lalumia's rebuke brought an awkward smile to the crow's face—if its beak, as black as coal, could be considered "awkward."

"I... I finally managed to find some time to come here... cough cough, [Light], you should be aware of the demons' threat, right? I fell asleep not long after creating the [Chosen One]... what could I do?"

"So, after all this time in Ysgard, have you accomplished anything?"

Does Margarita count?

"..."

Lalumia felt that the gods of this world were simply impossible to communicate with—but never mind.

The deity sighed, patted her slit nun's habit to remove the dust and wrinkles, and then chose not to dwell on the reason for the world god's [slumber] and its final outcome.

She simply asked, "What is your purpose in coming here?" But then she issued a direct warning: she would refuse any request that would harm Yang Hao.

In response, the World God could only say, in an even more awkward tone:

"Even if I have some ideas, I don't have the ability to realize them right now... I need to rest for two or three years before I have the strength again... You know this godforsaken place is not only poor in demons, but even divine power is scarce to the point of death, right? I'm like an empty swimming pool that can only drink water through a straw right now. The speed at which I regain my strength can hardly keep up with the speed at which I consume it. What can I do?"

"...Aren't you the God of the World? You're given the title of 'World,' yet you can't even restore your power?"

Lalumia was shocked by the world god's predicament, but on the other hand, she herself had once been so weak that it was unbearable to look at... It can only be said that the two gods were equally incompetent.

The World God coughed twice in embarrassment, briefly changing the subject.

"Those who believed in me centuries ago are long dead?! Never mind, I'll just say it straight—I came here to see how the guy I threw onto another continent is doing now, and it seems he's doing pretty well."

"uh-huh?"

"He was supposed to be here! But because I had a momentary lapse of judgment and wanted to open two bases, I ended up putting him in Elusia... cough cough. But by now you should know how brilliant my decision was, right? This godforsaken place has nothing, just one base. When the demons come, we'll all be wiped out!"

"...Sigh. So you really just came here to take a look?"

Lalumia didn't want to hear the World God's vain or arrogant words. She had only one question: What exactly are you doing here?

Is it really just a matter of watching?

[Light] scrutinized the crow before it with its sharp golden eyes, while the crow turned its face away and nodded:

"Yes, I just came to check on things—after all, I owe Margarita quite a bit, so..."

"...My child is already married."

"We're like family, so stop talking about 'my child, my child.' You even have the idea of ​​having a baby with him, so why don't we just face our desires directly?"

"...Now I understand why the other gods refused to speak to you until their deaths. Even the most primitive things have their limits."

Gaia, the world goddess, is an ancient and primordial deity.

Because she is so primitive, this god doesn't bother to hide her desires at all—in a way, Gaia in this world would be a complete naive person who speaks her mind and does what she wants.

But it is precisely because of this that Gaia can see what many people are thinking.

For example, Lalumia's thoughts, the ideas of that synthetic doll, and Margarita's thoughts—but despite these things being obvious, Gaia did not intend to influence their choices.

After all, everything about mortals seems very interesting to gods.

In most cases, they don't interfere with mortals' thoughts. Whether mortals regret or rejoice because of their choices, to the gods, it's all their own story.

So even now, Gaia has at most revealed Lalumia's undisguised thoughts in this stagnant space, successfully exposing Lalumia's true intentions and making him understand why none of the dead gods sought Gaia's help when other continents were invaded by demons.

For no other reason than that.

Gods are so annoying in this world.

Lalumia, with a cold face, grabbed the crow that was trying to get close to her.

Then, she said, word by word, that she had things to do—if Gaia really had nothing to do, it would be more meaningful for her to go find a branch to groom her feathers now.

"What if I told you I could protect that child so they could safely roam the demon's four-dimensional world?"

The crow's words made Lalumia stop what she was doing. She had originally intended to just throw the crow away, but now it seemed that the crow still had some use.

But... what did you say? Protect?

How dare you, a strange auntie, say to my face that you can protect my child? You're not even as strong as me now?

Lalumia laughed, gripping the raven's wing even tighter:

"I will protect him."

“You can’t protect them.” The crow struggled a few times. “You are the concept of [Light]. You can make people healthy and positive, give hope to those in dire straits, provide spiritual comfort to those so-called [Protestant] Romans, and allow the dying to enjoy their final peace before they die—but you are ultimately not a god in the spiritual realm. Your abilities in the spiritual realm are not as tangible as my feathers.”

"You mean, if I strip you of your feathers, my child will be safe?"

"No way! It's just a metaphor! And don't actually pull out a knife! It's terrifying! Are you serious?! If you dare pluck my feathers, I'll fucking send naked Margarita to his bed in the middle of the night so he can experience what it means to fly to the heavens during sex! Want to bet with me?! I won't care what happens then!"

How shameful!

Lalumia was genuinely having a headache.

It wasn't just because of the crow's noise. It wasn't just because the crow was more like a mischievous child than a god—more importantly...

For a fleeting moment.

She actually wanted to see if the crow could really deliver Miss Margarita, completely naked, to her child...

...

Ugh.

My idea was so embarrassing.

Lalumia sighed. He casually tossed the crow into the air, watching it circle several times before finally taking flight.

Lalumia then deactivated the sword of light she had summoned, perhaps as a gesture of goodwill.

"Then, what's the principle behind your assurance of my child's safety?" Lalumia asked. "Haven't you lost your power?"

"Ahem... Simple—what's the best way to hide a stone? It's definitely not in a safe, but just to throw it into a pile of stones. But there's another way. That is to simply turn that stone into something unrelated to stones."

"Then what do you mean?"

"He intends to inhabit the mind of a demon, so he needs to find a way to enter the demon's mental world, right? Your plan is to disguise his mind as the image of a demon before letting him in, but in my opinion, that's redundant."

The crow tumbled through the air, then pulled a lens from its feathers. Something especially precious in this world; in the previous era, it was called the "Crystal of the World."

"Don't disguise his image. Because there have been countless cases of demons' minds being invaded—so conversely, let him watch from afar with this lens on the [edge]. Just watch. He'll understand."

"...Why are you so confident?"

"Because in a sense, I am his mother. His previous rationality and complete lack of empathy were my doing. So how about you call me mother-in-law? No, should I call me mom? Or mother-in-law?"

"..."

For some inexplicable reason, I really had the urge to turn her into stewed crow right there on the spot.

Lalumia's lips twitched. After temporarily setting aside the unruly child who liked to act crazy, she picked up the seemingly ordinary lens. After confirming several times that there was no tampering with it, she left the stagnant space expressionlessly.

It was only after Lalumia left that Gaia, the crazed world goddess, shrugged and flew to the top of another tent.

"It seems you're doing quite well. That puts my mind at ease."

She muttered to herself.

She had initially thought that after suffering such a severe blow and unexpected treatment on another continent, Yang Hao would become exceptionally vulnerable, or even deserted by everyone, and would feel insecure or distrustful of the world around him...

She even thought Yang Hao would become a potential corruptor of the devil, and had prepared for the worst.

But now it seems—there's absolutely no need to worry about this.

That nun... she meant that the last member of the Bayern royal family in purple robes did indeed save humanity from the "variable".

Although Gaia couldn't figure out why that nun held such a significant place in Yang Hao's mind right now—at least, it was a good thing.

"Now we have a hybrid force... we have both physical and magical industrial systems, and we have a balance between magic and divine power... What's missing now to fight the demons safely?"

Gaia smacked her lips and flew into the sky.

She still has many things to think about. There's no reason for her to waste any more time here.