How could something so absurd possibly happen?

Lorna’s face twisted in shock!

But by the time all the misfortune in the world descended upon her, it was already far too late.

Her body split open!

A massive hand of flames burst forth from within her!

This was...

Bani’s hand!

Bani of War and Flame, the Moon-level position Lorna had forcibly purchased. It was precisely because of this that she had been able to digest the Moon-level seat in such a short time. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Under normal circumstances, after Lorna replaced the position and became a Moon-level being,

purchasing the Moon-level seat would not have imposed any burdensome cost on her.

But now...

Lorna’s wealth had been completely wiped out.

For a Wealth God whose assets were emptied, the price of all the credit purchases she had made earlier erupted in full!

Wealth needed to appreciate in value.

Interest-free loans were essentially giving money away for free. As a Wealth God, she naturally understood this principle.

That was why Lorna always conducted her transactions and paid costs through credit.

Her wealth, meanwhile, appreciated every single second.

If she used her existing assets to buy something, that portion of wealth would instantly lose all future appreciation gains over a long period...

This was something Lorna, as a merchant, could never tolerate.

No matter how rich one was, profits had to be maximized.

Therefore...

At this moment,

Lorna, unable to pay the cost, saw every single debt explode at once!

The Moon-level being who should have already been dead tore open her body. Since she could not pay with money, she was forced to pay with her life force instead.

And thus...

Bani of War and Flame had killed his way back from the Netherworld!

BOOM!

The flaming fist ripped out from Lorna’s body!

Lorna’s eyes stared blankly toward the sky.

Could it be... that Izparut was right?

Izparut had rejected her proposal and shown no intention of opposing Yakartikto, even when Lorna offered extremely generous compensation.

So this operation had proceeded without Izparut’s involvement.

Before her life faded completely, Lorna couldn’t help but entertain one final thought...

If she had truly managed to buy Izparut’s help,

would her fate have turned out differently?

And... Aegimira.

You bastard, didn’t you claim to have absolute certainty?

How did it come to this?

...

Snap—

Yug closed the book in his hands.

«Chaos»

All the intelligence on Yakartikto, on Kanzaki Rei, the matters concerning the Corruption Source Nest, and information about Lorna, Bani, and the others.

It had all been provided by Yug.

Aegimira had obtained a great deal of information from him and devised a plan that could be called flawless.

Kanzaki Rei, as the Corruption Source Nest, was something the world could not tolerate, and Aegimira held something the Corruption Source Nest desired.

As long as the Corruption Source Nest awakened,

they could negotiate with it and work together to deal with Yakartikto.

Lorna could directly purchase large quantities of Yakartikto’s luck,

rendering his luck nearly useless.

Meanwhile, Aegimira herself could transform luck into another tangible form of chaotic matter.

Under their pincer attack,

Yakartikto’s luck would have had nowhere to be used.

Lorna’s own luck, however, would continue to pile higher and higher.

A Yakartikto stripped of his luck would be nothing more than an ordinary person with relatively strong base stats.

And Lorna buying his luck in bulk would even grant her increasing discounts—the more she bought, the more gifts she received.

In the end, Lorna might even surpass Yakartikto in luck because of it,

becoming a different kind of Luck God.

At the same time, this was the reward Aegimira had promised her.

Not only becoming Moon-level, but also gaining luck comparable to Yakartikto’s.

There could be no better outcome.

But unfortunately...

Yug walked slowly along the corridor of knowledge, his gaze observing everything unfolding in the present world.

For Aegimira, this had been the best possible choice for eliminating Yakartikto.

It was just a pity.

Their luck had been far too terrible.

Aegimira had known Loti wanted to awaken the Corruption Source Nest and had chosen this moment to strike, aiming to eliminate it and disrupt Loti and Yakartikto’s plans.

They never expected that the Corruption Source Nest would have its primary consciousness seized by that boy whose life experience spanned less than a hundred years through the self-awakening of a talent.

Lorna had been killed by misfortune.

And because of their contract, Aegimira’s life force was rapidly draining away as well.

"No..."

"It shouldn’t be like this!"

"Corruption! Have you forgotten who you are?! Are you willing to abandon your supreme status of hundreds of millions of years just to become a lowly mortal?!"

"Don’t forget your roots! Right now, you are the one being possessed!"

"You are not human! Think clearly!"

The boundless chaos wrapped around Kanzaki Rei.

At this moment, Kanzaki Rei felt as though he stood in infinite space. Countless voices urgently whispered temptations into his mind.

These chaotic forces were isolated outside his body.

His own divine kingdom was indeed inferior to a Moon-level perfect divine kingdom, but shrinking it close around himself to resist the influence of the opponent’s divine kingdom was still possible.

"Perhaps... perhaps the vast majority of my essence truly is the Corruption Source Nest."

"But at least right now, I am me, and I want to be human."

"This is my answer."

"Aegimira."

Ding!

"You should die..."

Aegimira’s remaining lifespan had decreased madly along with Lorna’s death.

Bang!

Kanzaki Rei hurled the war spear with ferocious force!

The spear pierced through the chaos. All the surrounding chaos parted like dispersing clouds, avoiding the spear’s thrust!

However...

「Crimson Path—Path Three: Cause of Fate」

It must hit.

The effect came first, then the cause of the throw.

This strike directly penetrated Aegimira’s fundamentally nonexistent origin, turning something fictional into reality.

...

Aegimira’s entire chaos trembled violently!

"No... I shouldn’t die like this."

"Yug."

"You..."

"Plotted against me!"

"No... If that’s how it is... then I’ll make this pot of water even more chaotic!"

Rumble—

Aegimira’s chaos collapsed like a bursting dam. In an instant, rolling waves of chaos spread toward the entire world...

Every substance covered by the chaos underwent chaotic transformation.

The earth, seawater, soil, clouds, wind, air, gems, mineral veins...

Every kind of matter transformed into another randomly chaotic substance.

This transformation continued without end.

Everything became hazy and unpredictable.

This was absolute disorder.

And in such unpredictable chaos, the greatest beneficiary would inevitably be Yakartikto.

This was also why Aegimira had needed to eliminate him.

Yakartikto was its natural enemy.

BOOM—

Aegimira’s life faded away, but its dying body completely covered the world, turning the vast majority of the planet’s regions into a vast sea of chaos.

Two Moon-level beings had died.

The Corruption Source Nest had also been temporarily resealed within Kanzaki Rei’s consciousness once more.

Yet this victory could hardly be called a victory at all.

The birth and subjugation of the Corruption Source Nest, the descent of three Moon-level beings—the price paid was nearly the entire world being buried alongside them.

Within the chaos, however, light and darkness still radiated color.

Yug’s other hand closed another book.

In another timeline, Nehelkato looked up and saw the Corruption Source Nest manifesting high in the skies of the world...

In a field of pure white destruction, the girl still coldly overlooked the mortal realm.

There were many participants in the game, and no shortage of observers.

It was just unknown who the oriole waiting after the snipe-and-clam battle would be to clean up the aftermath.

But at least one thing was certain: this was no longer a situation in which mortals could interfere.