Edward's heart pounded rapidly, pumping blood through his veins like a furious water pump. His mind gradually filled with a singular thought—
I want to mate with those women-shaped monsters—those things covered in tree-knot-like brown-green tumours—breed with them!
His legs moved faster than his mind. They dragged him downward, straight toward the writhing horrors below.
One by one, those mouths—like barbed, inverted chrysanthemums—opened wide, lunging toward him, moments away from joining with him.
Fortunately, at the very last instant, the stabbing pain from his draining life force and the violent pulse of his spirituality jolted him awake. Using Unfettered, he tore free from the control of desire.
He swung his hand.
A colossal dragon of blue-black blazing fire roared downward into the Abyss, incinerating everything it passed, burning all into ash.
"ROAR!!!"
From the very bottom of the pitch-black chasm came an enraged howl. A towering black giant tree, thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of meters tall, suddenly erupted upward.
Its trunk was covered with countless pitch-black arms, and its bark was studded with innumerable black-and-white eyeballs streaked with blood vessels.
With its emergence, all the other "creatures" nearby withered and died instantly—
This was the Abomination Suah!
Edward understood at once and redirected his blazing dragon straight toward the giant tree.
But this time, the infernal flames failed to ignite the Sequence 1 angel. Suah uttered a series of harsh, incomprehensible syllables, and a massive black hand—far thicker than the others—grew from the trunk. Nestled in its palm was an ugly little doll, about the size of a hand.
The doll was wet, sticky, slimy—without eyes, ears, or nose. Only a single mouth-like hole exhaled gray-white mist.
All the black-and-white eyeballs on Suah's trunk focused on the doll. Without a sound, the grotesque little figure twisted, sprouting eyes, a nose, and ears—gradually becoming identical to Edward.
At the same moment, Edward felt as if his entire body had been gripped by an invisible fist. His flesh and consciousness were paralysed, unable to move. He could only watch helplessly as Suah raised a writhing branch and stabbed it into the puppet's body.
Pain surged—from spirituality to soul, from soul to flesh, from flesh straight into the brain.
This was the pollution of the Mother Tree of Desire—also the authority of Its power.
Before his eyes—
Or rather, within his consciousness, a colossal sky-piercing tree with the face of a woman manifested. Its maddened yet cold eyes stared straight at Edward, and in a language he had never heard yet instinctively understood, it said, "Have a child with me!"
Edward grinned. "Sure. On the day of the baby's birth, you can sit at the same table as the Mother Goddess of Depravity."
"???"
"Rebuke!"
The next second, the towering giant tree in his mind collapsed with a thunderous crash, and the authority of desire withdrew instantly.
BOOM!
Edward's body erupted into fragments, dissolving into a mist of starlight and Worms of Star. Hundreds of meters away, an illusory door appeared and twisted into his form again.
The power of [Fantasy] surged. Behind him, those ancient gears reappeared in phantom form.
As the gears slowly turned, Abomination Suah's movements first slowed dramatically, like being forced into slow motion—then gradually began to rewind.
Edward launched a counteroffensive.
He stepped forward, arriving before the pitch-black giant tree. The Sequence 2 [Theft] lashed out repeatedly:
—First, he stole Suah's current thoughts.
—Second, he stole the ugly puppet from its hand.
—Third, he stole Suah's thoughts again.
Naturally, Suah couldn't simply take the beating. But every time It attempted to act, It was immediately regressed again, like a glitching recording stuck in place.
Until—
In one instant, Suah's towering form suddenly shrank. The aura of corrosion and curses that constantly radiated from It weakened drastically—Its Sequence had fallen to Sequence 2 under the repeated force of regression.
Almost simultaneously, Edward unleashed the attacks he had accumulated:
Falling meteors.
Roaring black flames.
Bone-white lightning.
A deep green Killing Curse.
And space-rending fissures tearing reality apart.
The moment Suah dropped to Sequence 2, It attempted to rip open the boundary of space and escape into the Spirit World. But Edward had already entered the Spirit World ahead of time, attacking from both within and out.
Cracks split across the pitch-black tree-like body. Its arms fell away, spilling ink-like fluid. The weakened Abomination grew even frailer.
Suah was trapped between advance and retreat. Across Its shrunken "trunk," the slick black liquid writhed as countless bloodshot eyeballs rolled around. Dozens—hundreds—of arms shot outward, some sealing the sky, some burrowing into the ground, some encircling from all directions, some grasping directly at Edward.
At the same time, It let out another soul-piercing shriek, shaking Edward's very spirit and forcing him to halt all attacks.
Suah seized the opening.
Its pitch-black trunk split apart like blooming petals, revealing a mummy wrapped in yellowed bandages. It was pierced through by countless brown branches, suspended mid-air.
Its belly bulged grotesquely—certain spots protruding and sinking rhythmically, as though something inside it was being nurtured into life.
The mummy's mouth opened and closed, screaming endlessly. Though Edward could hear no actual sound, his body and soul resonated with a pain that made him share the mummy's torment bit by bit.
Suddenly, Edward remembered.
This was the "Chained God."
A deity who had once been only half a step away from advancing to Sequence 0.
Suah had just prayed to the Chained God—who was under the Mother Tree of Desire's control—and received Its response.
In the next second, the projection of the Chained God appeared.
The entire Abyssal sea boiled. The ground turned a deep, eerie red. All the Worms of Star around Edward twisted and warped—some becoming bizarre animals like pigs, horses, cows, and sheep; some turning into puppets; some transforming into mummies.
"Waaah~~!"
The dignified Chained God—once almost a Sequence 0 True God—was now manipulated by the Mother Tree of Desire like a helpless child, forced to act as a tool for Its "offspring," Suah. Like a newborn infant, It let out sharp, ear-piercing cries.
"Waaah~~!"
Edward instantly lost all sense of his own consciousness. He felt himself sinking into chaos and blind madness. The last faint shred of awareness told him to hurry and use Hearth to escape.
But a surge of unwillingness—perhaps desire—ignited violently within him, fueling a furious, irrational rage:
I finally advanced to Sequence 2! I even have "cheats"! Why the hell should I still run for my life at every danger like before?!
Just like earlier—finally on the verge of learning the truth, only to be kicked away like a disposable pawn—left with confusion, doubt, and ignorance!
A puppet whose fate is manipulated!
I'm not f*cking okay with that!
I'm not f*cking accepting that!
Edward flicked a coin with force. As it fell, he used [Madman to the Right], restoring his spirituality to peak condition. Then he invoked [Fantasy] once more.
"Lord Tyrant! A little help here!"
He threw back his head and roared.
Everything he had seen within the Tyrant's Divine Kingdom—he used [Replicate] to recreate, forcing it to descend upon the Abyss.
RUMBLE—
Silver-white serpents of lightning exploded outward, weaving a vast net of thunder that descended with annihilating might. Each bolt carried terrifying power, striking both Suah and the mummy bound in yellowed bandages.
But instead of dying, the violent lightning infuriated both the Chained God and Suah. They roared in rage and retaliated toward the storm-filled sky.
RUMBLE—
Another blast of silver lightning tore through the Abyss.
Amid the blinding glow, a semi-transparent phantom appeared—
Clad in black armour.
Standing upon surging waves.
Wreathed in roaring storms.
Draped in lightning.
Holding a trident.
Gazing down upon Suah and the projection of the Chained God with divine dominance.
In the next instant, the trident in His hand turned into silver-white lightning—and He hurled it downward.
CRACK.
At that exact moment, the Replicated scene shattered.
But the trident-lightning was real.
It struck Suah dead-on, blasting both the giant tree-form and the mummy suspended within it into pieces.
Yes—
The colossal black giant tree that had just recovered was shattered by a single bolt of lightning.
If not for the Chained God being forced to block most of the attack at the final moment, Suah would have been instantly killed.
As its physical form exploded, a shrivelled puppet covered in tree-knots and strips of bark tore through space and fled into the Spirit World—escaping desperately toward its nest in the Southern Continent, utterly terrified of divine power.
"Don't you f*cking dare run! I'm killing you today, you bastard!"
Naturally, Edward would never let It escape. He stepped forward and chased directly into the Spirit World.
———
Southern Continent
Ruins of the Highland Kingdom.
Reinette Tinekerr hovered in her wraith form not far from the Rose School of Thoughts Indulgence Faction base, her expression grave.
Earlier, she had abruptly learned that the Indulgence Faction's Abomination, Suah, had taken action—destination unknown, motive unknown.
Fearing another attack against the Temperance Faction, she immediately mobilised everyone to relocate while she rushed ahead to monitor the Indulgence Faction's territory.
If anything happened, she would at least buy the Temperance Faction time to escape.
But after Suah left, It showed no sign of targeting the Temperance Faction. Instead, It moved far away from the Southern Continent.
But Reinette still dared not relax. What if this was a deliberate trick?
Ever since the last "Misery Contest," Reinette had been thinking deeply about the Rose School of Thought. Regarding the Chairman's prophecy of the future—she decided that whether it was real or not did not matter.
If she could kill Suah outright, even if the Mother Tree of Desire still existed, it would at least buy the Temperance Faction some time.
But the Chairman had made it clear that He could not defeat the Mother Tree of Desire. This indirectly meant He did not wish to engage Suah—so how could she convince Him?
Reinette had pondered for a long time yet found no answer.
She desperately awaited the third Misery Contest—yet the Chairman had seemingly vanished from the world.
She fell into despair.
Was the fragile hope she finally grasped already shattered?
Was she destined to face that inevitable future and seek a hopeless chance to resist Suah and the Mother Tree only then?
It was…far too bitter.
Far too unfair.
BOOM!
Suddenly, the space around her trembled violently. A boundless malice surged from every direction.
Reinette's nerves tightened instantly.
This was Suah's aura.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Amid a chain of thunderous impacts, fissures opened above the Indulgence Faction's base—ripping straight into the Spirit World. Suah's horrifying aura grew stronger and stronger.
Huh?
Something was…off.
Suah's aura felt strange.
Until—
A man came riding atop a shrivelled puppet, fists crackling with lightning and fire, hammering down on Its head again and again.
The puppet wailed and shrieked in agony—pathetically.
Reinette froze completely.
That puppet being beaten to a pulp…
Was that…actually…the Abomination Suah?!
———
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