Chapter 227 — Catastrophe

Liora raised her head and looked outside. Her eyes seemed to penetrate the walls of the room and even the sky itself, making her able to take a glimpse outside of this world.

For a moment, faint excitement flashed within her eyes, and she had the urge to rush out. But only a second later, she shook her head and forced herself to calm down.

"I first have to deal with some things in this world. Then, I can leave without a worry."

"It will not take long. I believe that they will also be waiting for me..."

Liora’s whispered voice echoed in the dark room.

The moment she finished speaking, her figure vanished. There was no afterimage left behind, nor any remaining signs of her having ever been here.

It was as if the very concept of her existence had been erased.

Only the faint World Origin remained in the room, shaking violently as if it were celebrating her departure.

--

For the people of this world, the past year had been the most chaotic one in their lives.

First, there was the riot and subsequent invasion of the beasts, then came the Day of Divine Punishment, and now came the Day of the Apocalypse.

As people recalled what occurred less than an hour ago, they couldn’t help but shudder.

The elements rioted, the earth broke apart, and even the sky itself shattered.

In the cognition of ordinary people and even Knights, this was nothing but the sign of the end.

And in fact, they were not wrong.

Over the past hour, the world had become increasingly less stable, and the riots had resulted in the death of millions of creatures.

Most of them were beasts, but there were also many humans among them.

"Why? Why Gods? You’ve already punished those damn sinners! Why are you punishing us, too?"

"Gods! What Gods?! They are Demons! Devils! They want to kill us all!"

"Uhm, should I still go to work today?"

Many questions and doubts could be heard.

Many people begged the Gods for mercy, others cursed them loudly, while a few were still confused about what had happened and had yet to react.

But no matter what, the destruction continued.

People watched powerlessly as the elements raged and began devouring the world little by little, slowly yet surely.

The space shattered, the earth crumbled, and people died, mortals and Knights alike.

For a moment, nobody doubted that the continent would be destroyed.

In their opinion, the Gods had decided to bring down divine punishment and completely obliterate this world and every living creature in it.

Watching this scene from the sky, Liora’s eyes couldn’t help but reveal some fluctuations.

Seeing it in person was different from seeing it in images after all. It was quite a novel experience, to say the least.

"Watching a world die would have benefited me greatly if my will had not been strengthened before.", Liora sighed and shook her head:

"Unfortunately, it is too late."

The moment her words fell, time in the world of Knights seemed to have stopped abruptly.

The blank stares of the people, the raging elements, and even the crumbling space.

For a second, everything came to a halt.

Liora watched this happen without a change in her expression.

After she took those sights in, she casually raised her hand.

In response, a distant, faraway place that seemed to exist in different dimensions responded to her summons.

Countless gray substances suddenly fell from the sky and scattered throughout the world. Under her control, they descended onto the raging elements.

The moment these gray substances touched them, the nearly endless elements vanished.

They were not extinguished, but simply erased from existence, as if they had never been there.

This was the power of Nothingness, the power to corrupt everything into world and force it to return it to nothingness.

In the past, Liora had only been able to use it to launch some basic soul attacks.

But with her transformation and advancement, her control over it had increased greatly.

She could now wield it to launch physical attacks, letting its power corrupt her enemies.

As the elements disappeared, part of the impending catastrophe also vanished with them.

However, Liora knew that it was not over just yet.

Looking at the crumbling space, she raised her hand one more time.

Immediately, the demonic energy flowed out of her body and spread throughout the world.

It transformed into invisible hands that reached out and "grabbed" the space before working to smooth it out.

The fractures in the space disappeared one by one, healing and returning to normal. Before long, the last crack had recovered, signaling the end of another part of the catastrophe.

With their disappearance, the cataclysmic event that had threatened the continent seemed to be over.

However, Liora did not show any happiness or satisfaction.

She knew that these two things were not the real source of the catastrophe, but merely its side effects.

The real reason why this world was breaking apart was the depleted World Origin, as well as...

"The lack of a Will of the World...", Liora whispered as she raised her head and stared at the sky.

She could sense that with Eleanor’s death, the already injured Will of the World had grown even weaker.

It had now fallen into slumber, unable to exert any of its power and authority over this world.

Otherwise, even if the World Origin declined, the world would remain alive as long as its origin was not exhausted.

"It’s like a human having an infection in one of their hands. As long as they are ruthless, they can cut it and survive to see another day. But if they are unconscious, the infection will spread to the rest of their body and eventually kill them."

This aptly described the current situation.

This world did not have the consciousness to "cut off" its affected parts.

Knowing this, Liora chose to take action.

Since the Will of the World could not do it, she would do it in its stead.

As for the fact that doing so would benefit her?

This was merely a coincidence. Or at the very least, this was what Liora would claim.

While enjoying the sense of acting as a "savior", Liora’s gaze shifted towards the Ancient Beast Wilderness.

Immediately, her hand moved one more time.