Chapter 1860 — Chapter 1860 No mercy

The Crystal realm was a vast land. When Lex first arrived in the Crystal realm, it was approximately the same size as the entire solar system. Starting from the sun in the center, to far beyond the limits of even Pluto, the solar system had so much space that a million lifetimes would not be enough for Lex to traverse all of it if he did so normally.

Since then, the Crystal realm had grown in size by about 30 - 40% in total, though the exact growth could not be easily estimated.

But Lex already had a record of teleporting a distance much, much greater than a mere star system, so for him to teleport anywhere within the Crystal realm was not a problem at all.

So, from within the temple, Lex teleported over to a place that, from the birth of the Crystal realm, had never been witnessed by any being other than a monster.

It was the absolute depths of the realm, where not even a flicker of light had ever been witnessed, and thus was home to the strongest and oldest monsters.

Even now, with the ongoing war, the few monsters that remained here all had formidable strength, and received Lex's acknowledgment. Of course, compared to Lex or Vinei, the monsters were a tier below, but they couldn't be blamed for that.

The monsters had been instructed not to block or interfere with Lex, but that hardly mattered for even within this ocean of darkness, they were entirely unable to detect him at all.

Once he was done appreciating them, Lex went to the exact spot where Vinei had meditated in silence for endless years, for that spot had a deep connection between Vinei and the realm itself.

Now, according to their agreement, at this point, Lex would go kill Belail, after which they would execute their second plan. He was still going to do that, but maybe it was his time on stage at the dance off, but Lex suddenly found that he had developed a flair for some theatrics. It was one thing for the universe to watch his tribulations because of the phenomenon they caused, but it was another thing for everyone to stop and stare in awe because of something he did on purpose.

"Who knew that when I made you, I'd be using you like this?" Lex said to the little black bead as he summoned it, and dissolved it into the surrounding darkness, suddenly able to influence the karma of the entire realm.

Doing something like this was quite dangerous as well as exhausting, and was totally unnecessary. However, life could not be all work and no play. It was about the journey, not the destination. He had to stop and smell the rose, and so on and so forth.

After reciting a bunch of weak excuses to explain his newly acquired fascination for being dramatic, Lex closed his eyes and began.

Despite how expansive the Crystal realm was, a large portion of it was now uninhabited, destroyed lands that had suffered from the consequences of war. The Kraven, with their uncontrollable need to suck out all the energy from everything around them and their centuries of war, hadn't done as much damage to the realm as the Hellions had achieved in the short time since their arrival. Then again, the Hellions were better trained, better equipped, better backed, and weren't being treated as cannon fodder, so such a result was also understandable.

But the realm could not completely be destroyed, for while some of the races of the realm had been convinced to work for the Hellions, they had not become slaves to them either. Regardless of their intentions, the Hellions had to keep up appearances, so large swathes of habitable land were unmarred by war, as well as the terraforming of the realm. The resources, the cities, the habitats, the rich biodiversity of the realm, they were all saved in those few areas.

For the rest bore witness to what could only be called a Realm War. No corner of the realm remained safe from the influence of war, in one way or another, and it was apparent that c conclusion would be soon forthcoming.

The Crystal race, which never expected to be attacked, was ultimately betrayed. They had been ordered by their higher ups in the Primordial Garden to avoid the war, and so they had, but the Hellions were greedy for the resources that the Crystal race had monopolised. But whatever one can say about the Crystal race, arrogant, pompous, self centered, but one could not call them weak. It was not without reason that the realm was named after them.

In the end, the human race, the Trelops, Sol and Frio birds, and the Crystal race became the only ones who still fought against the Hellions.

While the Hellions fought Firin and Aizel under Lex's shield, unable to escape through any means, the Trelops and Humans fought on various battlefronts across the realm with varying levels of success.

Meanwhile, back in their cities filled with refugee camps, children trained, adults forged swords, and everyone thought of survival.

It was amidst the bleak atmosphere that covered the entire realm that a shift occurred. A soundless, black bolt of lightning streaked across the entire sky, radiating an aura so ridiculously powerful that the whole realm seemed to pause, only to look up.

Whether the light of Sol birds filled the sky, or the gentle yet frigid illumination of the Frio birds shone across the horizon, or whether the sky was covered by darkness, what remained true was that it was the sky that held the gaze of all.

No one understood what had happened, which was not a good thing because of how wildly the laws of the realm had been fluctuating just moments earlier. The darkness of the realm seemed like it would evaporate out of existence just a while ago, and right as it seemed to stabilize, arrived the black lightning bolt. One second. Two, and then three. One by one the seconds passed by without anything further happening, yet no one moved. The realm itself seemed to hold its breath as they waited for something to happen. When the tenth second passed, something finally did.

In truth, the time delay wasn't because Lex was trying to be dramatic, but because he ran into an unexpected issue while carrying out his plan via karma, and it took him ten whole seconds to figure out a solution. Given that it was his first time doing something like this, it was understandable.

A dark silhouette of a man, encased in a holy, purifying light, appeared in the sky, looking down at the whole realm, and everyone in it. Well, technically, the silhouette appeared only where darkness existed, or had once existed, but in practice that was the whole realm.

His power, unquestionable and yet holy and divine, was but a result of Lex channeling Domination and some of his Divine energy into the threads of Karma, yet the observers did not know that. Not even the strongest Earth Immortals in the realm could conceive that such a power had come from another Earth Immortal, so they imagined something greater - something terrifying.

Imaginations ran wild, but no one did anything yet, waiting to see what the figure did.

The figure spoke, not in English, nor in the language of the realm. He spoke in a language that all souls could directly understand, not just in words, but in the true meaning of what was spoken.

"When the Crystal realm falters, its guardians grown blind,

When enemies from beyond descend to sunder its light, When the children of the land forsake home for subservience and greed,

Then the skies shall rend, bringing a rain of lightning and fire,

Then from the heavens he will descend, the glorious savior, Then the fires of war will wane, and he will be a savior no more, but justice!"

Like a prophecy, the words were etched into the memory of all living beings, from mortal to immortal alike. The figure in the sky faded, and the pervading aura of Domination began to dissipate, but no one seemed to notice. All of them were entranced by the words, absorbed in them, trying to understand them.

Was this some kind of divination or augury? Who was the one who had delivered it, then? What was their purpose?

While the whole realm pondered over the mysterious words, Lex wiped the sweat off his brow. He had originally planned for a much greater spectacle as his intro, but it seemed broadcasting his aura and power across an entire realm the size of the solar system was a little taxing. Who could have guessed? But, this was good enough. Lex tightened up his tie, checked his cuffs, before standing up and fixing his suit jacket. Then, he teleported away.

While the whole realm was still recovering from the revelation of the prophecy,

Lex's figure appeared at the border of the largest Kraven city in the Crystal realm, his presence completely unhidden and blatant for all to see. Of course, Lex had not displayed his Domination just yet.

He was simply grinning as he looked at the entire city, though his smile was strained. Originally he was going to make a big speech, but as he looked at the tainted, corrupted, foul karma radiating from every inch of the city, the stench of sin practically a real, genuine smell, it was a little hard to maintain a jovial attitude.

"Who are you? Identify yourself?" a Kraven roared as it flew up towards him, its slimy body ready to spray him with their poisonous ooze.

"Me?" Lex said, his smile slowly slipping into a stern expression. "You can call me the Glorious Savior."

Before the Kraven could respond to Lex's statement, or even consider his words that reverberated through the night sky, the roaring flames of Golden Inferno incinerated the Kraven, and then fell upon the city.

A race such as this... did not deserve any mercy.