Chapter 27: Investment 27— The End of Era Nova and the Beginning of the Era of Darkness

Elliot and the rest of the Four Seasons were in utter shock. It was such a brutal sight. The farmer’s headless body fell to the ground, blood pouring out from the neck and dyeing the soil crimson red.

"What the hell?" Edith covered her mouth in shock and disgust at the dreadful sight before her.

"This is severely fucked up. I won’t lie," Taumus shook his head.

"I wish we could have done something to prevent this," Seria sobbed.

"Why did you stop me?" Elliot slapped Yuki’s hand away.

"Why did you fucking stop me?" He completely lost his cool.

"Listen, Elliot. We couldn’t have stopped it even if we wanted to. Remember, we can’t interact with the memories just like they can’t interact with us," Yuki knew all too well where he was coming from and tried to reason with him.

"Ahhh." Elliot let out a defeated sigh.

"I am super sorry about that, Lord Yuki." He bowed his head slightly.

"Don’t worry about it." Yuki rubbed the back of his head.

From the crack, a horse leg stepped forward. What seemed to resemble a Minotaur. Only this beast wasn’t a guardian of any labyrinth; it was created solely for destruction and chaos. Its skin and hair were blacker than the night sky.

Its purple eyes scanned the premises for its next prey. After it came other horrid creatures which were later known as invaders. They were the foot army of the Dark God, Helix.

They laid waste to the village, killing all of its residents whether child or adult; they didn’t discriminate. All of them were brutally hunted and then slaughtered.

"Please, please spare my child."

A terrified woman wrapped her baby tightly in her arms, shivering and begging the invader not to hurt her child.

As if it understood what she said, it broke her limbs first, then picked her baby up by the leg and made her watch as it gobbled her child whole.

The woman screamed in despair. A grin crept across its horse-like face, clearly enjoying the sound of her cries. Not too long after, she was next.

What was once a medium-sized crack expanded into a large rift. From it came more forces of darkness. After they were done with the village, they spread their terror to the surrounding villages.

Humans chose to fret in ignorance. At the time, they felt that no one could stop them. The very epitome of pride. As the saying goes: Pride comes before the fall.

At the time, all the humans were united as one nation under the rule of individuals that dubbed themselves the World Council.

The scenery shifted to a room where multiple members of the World Council were seated, discussing the next step to take over reports they got from the eastern states.

"I think we should deploy some capable B and C-rank adventurers to handle the situation," the greedy councillor mentioned.

"But the threat level for these creatures has been confirmed to be S-rank and above. Not to mention the rift that keeps widening with each passing day," the smart councillor stated.

"But we can’t risk sending our strongest warriors on a fool’s errand," the rude councillor barked.

"You call saving the lives of our people a fool’s errand?" the smart councillor asked.

"Well... Eh..." The rude councillor was speechless.

"That’s enough from you all." The head councillor’s voice boomed.

"Our priority is keeping the capital safe. We will send lower-ranked adventurers to handle the situation in the east," the head councillor stated, only taking into account his own interests.

"But sir—"

"Do you intend to overrule my decision?" The head councillor shut up the smart councillor.

"No sir." He bowed his head.

Elliot, the four vassals, and the Seasons watched from above.

"That guy in the glasses is the only one making sense." Seria rolled her eyes in disparity.

"They are all a bunch of greedy bastards," Drakan clenched his teeth.

"I thought it wasn’t your first time seeing this," Elliot asked.

"Well, it’s hard to explain, but it’s also our first time here," Caldiya replied.

Giving the looks on their faces, it was as if they were hiding something.

The World Council continued to ignore the threat and kept on sending weak adventurers and mediocre knights to the frontline. They all kept getting killed while the invaders were bolstering their forces.

In a short amount of time, all the eastern states were set ablaze. By the time the World Council decided to handle the invaders properly, it was already too late.

The rift became a large hole, and from it fleets of invaders flew into Hale. The worst came when the Dark Emissaries stepped foot into their world.

The moment the first Dark Emissary stepped foot out of the rift, the entire landscape of the western states corroded. It became inhabitable, and the people came down with all sorts of different illnesses and diseases.

Even Hale’s strongest were no match for them. After the western states fell, the south followed, then the north, and soon only the capital remained.

That’s when the last of the gods that managed to escape after the failed subjugation of the Dark God Helix descended from the sky.

The scenery changed to a mountain surrounded by landscapes that were blazing in flames with thick fumes of dark smoke in the air.

He was Skion, the Sky Father and last god standing. The other gods sacrificed their lives to weaken Helix so when he came into Hale, he was greatly weakened. If not, he would consume everything just like the other worlds before.

"Whoa! It’s the master," Caldiya beamed with excitement.

"It’s been a while since I last saw his face." Tears of joy flowed down Yuki’s eyes.

"I still remember the feeling I had when I first saw him." Kalehan smiled.

"My blood is boiling in a good way," Drakan exclaimed.

He performed a ritual on Moran Mountain Peak to summon four individuals, each from a different world.

"Where the fuck am I? The last thing I remember is that some large ugly beast tried to eat me alive." Past Yuki rubbed the back of his head as he emerged from a portal.

"My... My sisters, family. Where are they?" Past Caldiya turned her head around, trying to ascertain where she was.

"I was just running away from that beast that showed up in the mines. So where is this?" Past Kalehan’s eyes scanned through the mountain range.

"Is this Valhalla? Did I die in the battle against that ferocious monster?" Past Drakan held a spear in hand, wondering whether he was in the afterlife for heroes.

"Worry not, friends. You are all in a safe place." The Sky Father removed his hood. He resembled Elliot to some extent, only that he had blue eyes and white hair.

"It is my deepest regret to inform you that your worlds have been corroded by the darkness and very soon, this world will be too." His sympathetic voice carried.