Under the joint witness of the Seven Gods, She naturally would not become an oathbreaker and step beyond the gates of Her divine kingdom.
But that did not mean the God of Combat could remain safely inside His divine kingdom.
Tonight's situation was the God of Combat's own choice. It was His own insatiable greed that had led Him to choose to seize the Death pathway's Uniqueness.
He had indeed nearly succeeded, but in the end, He could not compare to the God of Death who had offered devout faith to The Stars.
It was difficult to imagine just how much power the faith of a True God could exert.
But one thing was certain: tonight, the God of Combat would fall.
Nearby, Azik stared somewhat blankly. He had heard of the existence known as The Stars before. Back then, Backlund had even launched a massive search for believers of The Stars.
He had originally thought The Stars were merely a new identity, an alternate persona adopted by some True God.
He had never expected the power of The Stars to actually be capable of shaking the God of Combat's divine kingdom.
"Just who exactly are the Stars?" Azik couldn't help asking the Evernight Goddess beside him.
"I don't know."
"Even you haven't managed to uncover His origins?"
"Tonight is a good opportunity."
Azik asked no further questions. His gaze turned toward the God of Combat, who was currently being held back by Gregrace. He feared that tonight, the God of Combat would face a calamity.
While the divine kingdoms of the Eternal Blazing Sun and the God of Combat were being continuously bombarded, the God of Knowledge and Wisdom continued to stand guard outside the Evernight Goddess's divine kingdom.
Compared to the God of Combat's divine kingdom being attacked, ensuring that the Evernight Goddess did not leave Her divine kingdom at this moment was far more important.
The moment the Evernight Goddess broke Her oath, there was an extremely high chance that the God of Combat would fall tonight.
The collapse of His divine kingdom had an enormous impact, but it was not yet enough to cause His fall.
Inside the God of Combat's divine kingdom, the God of Combat, who was struggling to deal with the situation, finally allowed the Earth Mother to enter His divine kingdom and help Him defend it.
A dark-brown wooden staff plunged into the God of Combat's divine kingdom. Countless symbols of wheat ears, flowers, and springs began flashing continuously. At the same time, countless enormous green plants broke through the ground, completely covering the God of Combat's divine kingdom from every direction and isolating it entirely from the outside world.
At this moment, among the Seven Gods, only two True Gods remained relatively free: the Lord of Storms and the God of Steam and Machinery.
Because the Lord of Storms had descended some time ago and fought the High-Dimensional Overseer at Bansy Harbor, the gates of His divine kingdom had long since been closed, and He rarely concerned Himself with outside affairs.
That left only the God of Steam and Machinery with the spare capacity to act.
According to the Seven Gods' previous agreement, it was now His turn to test the true depths of the Stars.
Despite His reluctance, the God of Steam and Machinery still chose to act.
Scrolls resembling projected images gathered together into a torrent of eras, surging toward the Hall of Stars across the expanse of starry sky!
Some of the scrolls depicted the primitive lives of ancient humans before they had mastered technology. Some recorded how generation after generation of ordinary people had gradually learned to wield Beyonder powers through constant experimentation. Others depicted warships and cannons following the rise of technology, as well as volumes upon volumes of historical records carrying countless stores of knowledge and wisdom...
These contents gave the seemingly thin and light scrolls an entirely different kind of weight.
It was the weight of civilization.
At the same time, a pillar of light invisible to most Beyonders descended from the skies, violently crashing toward the dazzling Hall of Stars!
This light had no physical form. It seemed to be an information torrent formed by countless streams of complicated and chaotic information woven together!
The Hidden Sage!
He was cooperating with the God of Steam and Machinery!
Bernadette had already successfully advanced to Sequence 2 and was destined to become His enemy.
Originally, due to His wariness of the Stars, the Hidden Sage had not deliberately sought trouble with Bernadette.
Now that the Seven Gods had joined forces to set up this arrangement, this was the perfect opportunity for Him to act.
The joint attack of the God of Steam and Machinery and the Hidden Sage caused many existences to turn their attention toward them.
When the torrent of eras carrying the history of civilization surged into that expanse of starry sky, it was completely dissolved without even producing the slightest splash.
Compared to the vast ages of the entire starry sky, human history was so brief that it amounted to less than a drop in the ocean. It was like a tiny droplet falling into the sea, creating less disturbance than even an occasional wave.
The Hidden Sage's information torrent was similarly intercepted by the starry sky.
Instead, it illuminated star after star, causing the starry sky to shine with even greater brilliance.
That expanse of starry sky seemed like a dividing line separating two entirely different worlds.
The Hall of Stars was on the other side, while They were on this side.
Although the hearts of the God of Steam and Machinery and the Hidden Sage tightened, They continued wielding Their authorities, constantly probing the power of the Stars.
At that moment, a vast black ocean surged forth and stretched across the space before the starry sky. The enormous figure of a hanged man appeared faintly within it, bringing with it corruption, shadows, darkness, and filth as it helped block the Hidden Sage.
"True Creator!" the Hidden Sage roared furiously.
As He spoke, the enormous phantom of the hanged man hurled a massive black mountain through the air, smashing it down toward the Hidden Sage!
The Hidden Sage had no choice but to abandon His attack on the Stars and begin dealing with the True Creator's intervention.
At this moment, tentacles extending from the darkness, carrying the aura of calamity and destruction, also joined the battlefield.
Those tentacles resembled enormous pythons the size of mountains, each with an eye growing at its tip. Some eyes were open while others were closed.
Anything swept by their gazes turned into grayish-white stone, while any part touched by the tentacles began twisting and sprouting limbs and heads, transforming into witches of varying sizes, all of them exceptionally beautiful.
It was the Primordial Demoness, who had been secretly watching for a long time. The moment She acted, She trapped the God of Combat, who had been attempting to escape!
The mass of golden-yellow flames that had been brewing within Gregrace's crown for a long time completely engulfed the temporarily trapped God of Combat!
The situation reversed once again in an instant.
Originally, tonight had been a killing trap in which the God of Combat cooperated with the Evernight Goddess to target Gregrace. Yet now, the God of Combat had instead become the prey of Gregrace and the Primordial Demoness!
"Primordial Demoness!"
Badheil, the God of Combat, let out an enraged roar. The decaying armor covering His body was melted away by the phoenix flames, leaving His flesh bathed in terrifying flames that were both scorching hot and filled with the aura of death. Even His soul and consciousness were being mercilessly roasted!
Several dark tentacles viciously lashed His arms and face, now deprived of the protection of His decaying armor.
His flesh began peeling and splitting apart, transforming into beautiful and alluring witches. The witches then threw themselves toward the other untouched parts of His body.
It looked as though they intended to transform Badheil, the God of Combat, from the mightiest of giants into a collection of charming and enchanting witches.
Badheil was furious yet helpless. In the end, He could only watch as Gregrace's wings, blazing with golden-yellow flames, swept across His neck and severed His head.
Faced with this sudden development, Azik, who had been watching the battle from relatively close range, hurriedly averted his gaze, his heart trembling.
The scale of tonight's divine war was simply too terrifying. It had practically turned into a complete mess!
First came the confrontation between Gregrace, the Evernight Goddess, and the God of Combat.
Then the Stars appeared, and Their appearance drew the attacks of the God of Steam and Machinery and the Hidden Sage.
Somehow, the True Creator also joined the battlefield, and He even stood on the side of the Stars. Finally, the Primordial Demoness was drawn in as well.
Eight God-level Sequence 0 existences had already participated!
Fortunately, this was taking place inside the Evernight Goddess's world of darkness. Had it happened on the surface, the entire Southern Continent would already have been shattered into pieces and sunk into the depths of the sea.
And this was only the battlefield that could be seen. In the distant starry sky, fierce battles also seemed to be erupting one after another.
The faintly transmitted auras and fluctuations alone were enough to send chills down one's spine.
A divine war of this scale made Azik feel as though he had suddenly returned to the fiercest battlefield of the War of the Four Emperors.
Gods bled, corpses covered the land, and everything was filled with blood and flesh, chaos and death.
Azik no longer dared to raise his head and gaze at the starry sky, lest he see something he should not and bring destruction upon himself.
He merely turned his head slightly toward the Evernight Goddess, who was still holding the golden ornament.
"You failed tonight."
At that moment, the expression in the Evernight Goddess's eyes seemed to become much more lively.
She merely glanced toward the direction of the God of Combat's divine kingdom, then released Her hand, allowing the ancient golden ornament to return to Azik's forehead.
"My promise remains valid. From this moment onward, you are free."
After saying this, the Evernight Goddess looked toward the murderous Gregrace and Primordial Demoness in the distance. She did not remain any longer. She dispersed this world of darkness and withdrew from the area.
Naturally, Azik did not dare linger either. He chose to return to the royal palace of the East Balam Empire and wait for Gregrace's return.
As the darkness receded, the light of the Stars grew even more dazzling.
The God of Steam and Machinery and the Hidden Sage no longer dared to continue fighting. They hurriedly withdrew from the area and left the battlefield.
The True Creator also chose not to pursue Them. The enormous phantom of the hanged man merged into the black ocean and departed.
The eye behind the curtain of shadows glanced at the Hall of Stars across the expanse of starry sky, then followed the black ocean into the distance.
"Whether or not you are Salinger, the alliance we signed back then remains valid."
The Primordial Demoness's voice came from an unknown space.
Gregrace merely nodded calmly.
"The alliance of those days is already far too ancient, but I will help you once."
The Primordial Demoness said nothing more. The dark tentacles covered in eyes merged into the darkness and vanished.
Along with them disappeared the hundreds upon thousands of beautiful witches of all shapes and sizes.
Gregrace looked around at the now much quieter battlefield, then raised Her head and gazed at the Hall of Stars, silently perched above an expanse of starry sky.
Tonight, only the light of The Stars continued to shine.