Chapter 282: Humanity's Side: He, the Primordial Emperor!!!
In the arena, both humans and gods were once again stunned.
Buddha's thousand hands suddenly thrust into the live broadcast screens above the arena.
These screens showed the battle between the divine legions guarding the Central Heavenly Realm and the Primordial God legions. After the hands pierced through, the screens switched, revealing Titans, giants, and others from the Primordial God side—not those on the battlefield, but those in their rear.
These were the people in their rear who were also watching the battle or the arena through the screens. It was as if Buddha had forcibly linked their feed to this side.
They could see here, and here could see them—both sides were as if video-calling each other.
And the unbelievable part was that Buddha's thousand hands reached directly through the images and snatched away a portion of those people!
These individuals were similarly killed, their souls torn apart and devoured!
Just how absurdly powerful had Buddha become?
But no matter what, this was Buddha—the Buddha who belonged to the gods present, their leader.
The stronger he became, the more exhilarated the gods grew!!!
On the human side, the atmosphere had instead become quite somber, to the point where everyone believed their side was certain to lose.
"C-can we really win this time?"
One of the visitors from a parallel world—Irina Shidou—let out a voice trembling uncontrollably from her lips.
Though her words seemed like a question, her expression and tone clearly betrayed another thought—that humanity was bound to lose.
"This... is simply unwinnable, isn't it?"
Le Fay, the girl possessing the bloodline of King Arthur, also murmured in confusion.
Though it appeared to be the same kind of question, her demeanor and reaction made it clear that she was inwardly convinced this match was impossible to win.
The other three remained silent, but judging from their eyes, expressions, and subtle body language, they held no expectations for this confrontation either.
"Brunhilde, who is it this time? Can we win?"
"Of course!"
Anyone else could show weakness, but Brunhilde must not reveal any sign of wavering.
Thus, she gave a definitive reply to her youngest sister's question.
She too had just been so terrified by the unprecedented pressure that her mind felt as if it had rusted over, nearly incapable of thought.
She refused to believe that guy didn't have some hidden card up his sleeve!
Since his target was also a Primordial God, he must possess power surpassing that of a god.
So, in what form would he make his appearance?
"Serafall, who do you think it will be on the human side?"
Rossweisse couldn't help but ask.
"If we're talking about the most likely candidate, it should be that Emperor."
"Then, the representative for humanity shall now make their entrance!"
The host Heimdall quickly regained his composure, snapping out of the terrifying aura that had nearly crushed him.
With his announcement, the entire colosseum—both humans and gods who had been stunned into a daze by Buddha's overwhelming presence—gradually returned to their senses.
The gods were curious: faced with such a formidable Buddha, what kind of existence could humanity possibly produce?
It must be another human king!
But what kind of human king would it be?
Suddenly, a few gods recalled Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu who had appeared in the first match. With the power to defeat Thor, and according to historical records and Heimdall's explanations, wasn't he actually a subordinate of that primordial emperor?
There were even claims that if not for the gods' interference, this emperor could have unified the entire world?
Then why did the empire he established shatter so quickly after such a short existence?
It seemed like the Hegemon-King of Western Chu's rebellion had caused its collapse, but it appeared to have been the emperor's own command.
No one could understand why he would destroy his own empire.
"As the saying goes, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide! In the eastern nations, human history constantly repeats this cycle!"
Heimdall began narrating like a storyteller.
"After the War of the Gods, the eastern world was unified once more, giving birth to a new nation—[Zhou]! Huh? Wait, this... hold on!!!"
At this point, host Heimdall suddenly became flustered.
The reason for his confusion was that his mind was simultaneously receiving the truth from the Akashic System.
Only now did he understand the true purpose behind the eastern Immortal Realm's War of the Gods.
Taking a deep breath—
"The birth of Zhou—the gods at the time must have believed this nation would be something special, a country jointly governed by immortals, gods, and humans!"
Back then, all other pantheons thought so, because the eastern immortals and gods had interfered so extensively.
"However, this was wrong! The true purpose of that great war was merely a cover. Because the eastern immortals and gods had discovered a new world, they used this war to select outstanding humans to migrate with them to the new world!"
These words instantly silenced the entire colosseum.
"Wait"
"The eastern Immortal Realm migrated to a new world?"
"This is ridiculous!"
"But doesn't it seem strange? For three thousand years, there's been almost no communication"
The gods were thrown into chaos, while the humans looked bewildered.
"Three thousand years ago, the eastern immortals and gods had already left this world! They only left behind some of the humans under their jurisdiction, leaving them to fend for themselves!"
Heimdall continued.
"Seriously?"
"So the human territories under their jurisdiction have been without any supervision for three thousand years?"
"Now that you mention it, it is strange—this region has experienced unusually frequent wars over these three millennia, each conflict unprecedented in scale"
"But wait, during the final vote, weren't there eastern immortals and gods present? Though communication was nearly severed, eastern immortals and gods definitely still exist"
"So does that mean not all of them left?"
Let's see what Heimdall has to say.
"Zhou, having lost the protection of immortals and gods, finally met its demise. The entire nation split into numerous feudal states, leading to centuries of continuous warfare. So, what would become of the future of Eastern humanity without divine guardianship? Without the guidance of gods, destruction was inevitable, right? But then he appeared!!"
Here, Heimdall emphasized the word "he" with particular force.
"He ended centuries of war!"
"He unified the divided feudal states!"
"He reunited the world under one rule!"
"He proclaimed himself the First Emperor!!!"
The word "emperor" was drawn out with intense emphasis!
The moment his voice faded—
Boom—!
The entire Central Celestial Realm suddenly shook violently, as if another world had collided with it.