Below the city walls.

An extreme silence enveloped the place, everyone bowed their heads, mourning for their Archbishop.

To be fair, Horus was by no means a waste; even when the Bright Light was overshadowed by the Black Fog, he reached his limits and showed the strength expected after receiving the legacy of the King of Bright Light.

But he was the Archbishop of Trolian.

He was supposed to be one of Trolian’s strongest pillars, capable of easily altering the course of a war, meant to be the core of most strong individuals. His eagerness to become his imagined self made him overly restless. If given enough time to settle, he might have achieved that standard.

But facts don’t accommodate "ifs."

At this moment, Rod was overwhelmed with complex emotions. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Throughout his life, the Archbishop lived under such shadows. In his final moments, he handed everything over, considered all possibilities, squeezed out his value as much as possible, preserved human strength, and played a crucial role in the human-demon war.

Horus was not a waste.

He was a hero.

Rod put away his ashes and placed them in the Eternal Square of dreams.

Yet, the Eternal Square showed no reaction.

The Book of Knowledge said: "These ashes have exhausted everything, even thinner than the ashes of the Red War God, with almost no traces of spirit or power remnants. The Eternal Square can’t erect a statue from ashes like these; I doubt even the Eternal Dream can create his Eternal Statue."

Rod, however, remained indifferent, calmly saying: "Just leave it here. A complete Eternal Square has a chance to raise a ’special’ Eternal Statue. I believe someday, Horus’ statue will stand here. After I kill the Black Fog, I will use its body as a humble sacrifice, offered before the spirits of the deceased."

The Book of Knowledge flipped through its pages, remaining silent.

The master’s statement wasn’t incorrect; a complete Eternal Square indeed has a small chance to raise a special Eternal Statue. It hardly requires any conditions, but such chances are too low, too low for even the Eternal Dream to achieve.

As for "killing" the Black Fog, that is even more elusive a fantasy.

Throughout millions of years, countless great powers have never achieved it, and the Book of Knowledge doesn’t expect this generation’s Master of Dreams to do so. It merely hopes that the master can keep the flames alive forever, ensuring humanity and dreams aren’t extinguished.

Afterward, the doll returned to the Dream Realm, giving Rod a brief report on the "Human Alliance’s" battle situation.

It had to be said that under its command, Trolian’s warriors exerted far beyond their usual combat power, killing countless human-demon derivatives throughout the entire battle, laying an indispensable foundation for their victory.

The Book of Knowledge chuckled: "This is the so-called ’Above the Sky’ Aphro, once a commander of the Human Alliance, able to make a hundred people exert the strength of a thousand."

In response to the Book of Knowledge’s praise, the doll remained calm: "These are just some basic combat methods. They allow humans to unite more efficiently, engaging stronger enemies. Currently, Trolian’s warriors are quite different from the former Human Alliance."

Rod pondered momentarily, asking: "Even so, why don’t you train them?"

The doll replied faintly: "My memory is not complete. Although I’ve recalled much through meditation recently, there are still many gaps. Most importantly, my soul lacks crucial parts, and my weapon is missing the Radiant Sword."

Rod slightly frowned: "Isn’t your weapon spear-like?"

"The Radiant Sword is a Sword Spear."

The Book of Knowledge also shouted: "I’m missing something too! My soul is missing a part, the most essential part, making me not like the Book of Knowledge at all, more like the Book of Stupidity!"

Rod looked at it skeptically, as the Book of Knowledge always blamed its foolish parts on the soul lacking, and knowledge missing—although there is indeed an issue in that regard, Rod suspected it might inherently be a fool.

"I understand, I will quickly locate the next Dream Fragment."

Following that, Asa also returned to the Dream Realm, appearing downcast and unhappy.

"I didn’t find any filth or excrement, this trip was fruitless with no gain."

Rod frowned: "Isn’t there corrupted humanity? The souls of human-demons contain endless corrupted humanity."

Asa shook his head: "Corrupted humanity is the condensation of the eerie, requiring endless ’sedimentation’ to produce pollution. After terminating extreme pure humanity, corrupted humanity can no longer spawn such terror. Simply put, non-extreme corrupted humanity is useless to me."

He sat back down on his old spot, resuming the digestion of devoured evil thoughts.

Rod glanced at the human-demon souls sealed in the Soul Altar.

Indeed, human-demons possessed 25 portions of Root Origin, with 1 portion corresponding to 1 portion of Divine Source Material, and their souls contained a full 25 portions of Divine Source Material. Just these two harvests alone suffice to be called invincible.

Moreover, they have 25,000 of Divinity and 25,000 of Nightmare Fuel. With so many resources, what could possibly hinder their growth?

Nonetheless, utilizing these resources isn’t simple. He must first find the other half of the Giant Divine Sword and then figure out a way to locate the Source Material of the ’Eye of Divine’ and the ’Glutton.’ Only then could his soul bear the twenty-first Star.