Archer Continent, Archer Empire, Hunting Canyon
Rosen had once obtained the legacy of the Hunter True God here, and now he would use this place to hunt down the Hunting True God.
The Source Star Core enveloped the divine spark of the Gatekeeper of the Spirit Realm's Playwright, combining the power of fate laws with the Chaotic Star Core to manipulate the Playwright Sequence. Then, Rosen opened the Void Painting Album, using it as a substitute for the Book of Fate to script the fate of his targets.
[Act One of the Script…]
[A group of hunters, taking a break from hunting gap mice in the Hunting Canyon, accidentally discover a hidden spirit realm containing the legacy of the Hunter True God. They find a statue imbued with fragments of the Hunter True God's divine spark and realize why the original Hunter True God changed his name to the Hunting True God…]
[Because the true Hunter True God is dead, and the Hunting True God, of unknown origin, replaced him and altered his divine name…]
[After discussing among themselves, the hunters decide to take the statue of the Hunter True God far away from the Archer Continent…]
[They don't care who the True God of the Hunter Sequence really is; they only care about the benefits they can gain from the statue…]
[However, they are unaware that among them hides a devout follower of the Hunter True God…]
Rosen stopped writing here because, after all, he wasn't a Sequence 0 Playwright. A true Sequence 0 Playwright might have been able to manipulate the Hunting True God's fate by drawing him into the stage through fate scripting.
As a half-baked Playwright borrowing divine spark power through the Source Star Core and the Chaotic Star Core, Rosen risked alerting the Hunting True God to the anomaly. Unless the laws of fate evolved from old to new, his fate scripting wouldn't be able to manipulate the fate of a True God.
At this moment, a group of hunters in the Hunting Canyon was chasing a pack of panicked gap mice. As if destined, they pursued the mice into a desolate and lifeless stone forest within the canyon.
Most of the gap mice were killed, but one suddenly disappeared. Gap mice had a small chance of discovering hidden spaces, and if not for the low probability, they would have been ideal magical companions.
Realizing the gap mouse had vanished, several hunters immediately suspected the presence of a spirit realm. With their diverse skills, the group of hunters soon found the hidden entrance to the spirit realm.
This spirit realm had been painted by Rosen. Watching the hunters take away the statue of the Hunter True God, he began waiting for the arrival of the Hunting True God. However, discovering a single statue was unlikely to draw the Hunting True God in person, so what would come was undoubtedly a divine avatar.
As expected, half an hour later, Rosen saw a Sequence 0 hunter appear outside the spirit realm through the window of the Mysterious Study Room. Although the appearance didn't match the Hunting True God, how many Sequence 0 hunters could there be?
No one knew the true face of the Hunting True God because the Hunter Sequence had a branch called the Crime Hunter. Concealing one's true identity was second nature to a Crime Hunter.
Although the Hunting True God hadn't ascended to True God status as a Crime Hunter, once a sequence reached the level of mastering laws, the power of those laws allowed for downward compatibility. Using Crime Hunter skills might not be effortless, but it wasn't overly difficult either.
Rosen's hand flashed with the Dragon God's Wrath, and he locked onto the Sequence 0 divine avatar, firing a fate-marked shot.
A Holy Light bullet shot out, guaranteed to hit its target regardless of distance thanks to the fate mark. He rarely used fate marks anymore because no one could dodge a bullet accelerated by time.
But this time, the Hunting True God managed to dodge the bullet fired from the Mysterious Study Room in an instant. Using a short gun that appeared out of nowhere, the Hunting True God actually blocked the Holy Light bullet.
At that moment, the guaranteed hit effect activated. The Holy Light bullet vanished and reappeared, striking the Hunting True God's forehead. However, just as it hit, a golden divine light erupted from a vertical eye that split open on the Hunting True God's forehead, shattering the bullet into pieces.
Rosen's first thought was, This has to be a joke. His Dragon God's Wrath was a True God-level weapon, and the seemingly simple Holy Light bullet he had just fired was equivalent to a full-power strike from a True God. It was one thing if it couldn't kill the Hunting True God's divine avatar, but how could it be so easily destroyed?
Even if this were a Sequence 0 avatar, it shouldn't have been able to counter so effortlessly. Even a True God's main body would struggle to do so.
Rosen suddenly realized something: the figure outside might not be a divine avatar of the Hunting True God but his true body. The Hunting True God was simply too cunning, disguising his true body as a divine avatar.
If this was the true body, then was the figure left in the divine kingdom just an avatar?
But was it really worth it for the Hunting True God's true body to personally intervene over a group of ordinary hunters who weren't even demigods? If it was for the Twilight Battlefield, it wouldn't be surprising for the true body to take action.
What worried Rosen was that he might have misjudged the Hunting True God's strength.
Using the Fate Divination Painting, he had attempted to create numerous divination paintings about the Hunting True God. But without exception, all of them had failed.
Rosen had initially thought the Hunting True God possessed some powerful True God artifact that interfered with divination. But now, another possibility emerged: his self-portrait avatars could share the same sequence level as his main body, so why couldn't the Hunting True God have a divine avatar with True God-level strength?
Mastering one law made one a True God, and the Hunting True God had mastered two. If he was willing to delegate one law to his divine avatar, it wasn't impossible for the avatar to possess True God-level strength.
With the prey's strength exceeding expectations, Rosen hesitated, considering whether to look for another opportunity.
But the Hunting True God had already vanished into the spirit realm, choosing to flee without hesitation.
It was only then that Rosen realized why there were so few historical records of True Gods falling.
The Hunting True God wasn't like the Flesh Mother, mindlessly trapped in the Ancient God's True Realm. He wasn't like the Light Angel True God, who had been instantly killed by a second Ten Directions Annihilation. He wasn't like the Earth Dwarf King, who had been tricked into losing the Kingslayer Forging Hammer right from the start. And he wasn't like the Holy Light Dragon God, who had been surrounded by Abyssal Lords and then encountered the Dragon-Binding Rope, which specifically countered dragons.
Realizing that he couldn't even track his enemy's movements, the Hunting True God had no intention of staying to fight.
For a True God, survival was everything. If there was even a 30% chance of losing to an enemy, they would retreat without hesitation—unless the stakes or hatred were so great that the True God couldn't let go, or unless the True God was mentally unstable and chose to fight to the death.
...
While Rosen was reworking his plans, someone else was plotting how to eliminate him.
In a temple shrouded in endless darkness, the projections of seventeen True Gods gradually materialized one after another.
All eyes turned to the Hunting True God, as he was the one who had convened this meeting of the True God Council.
"Today, someone set a trap for me on the Archer Continent. If I had sent a divine avatar instead of going myself, it would have been captured alive," the Hunting True God said calmly.
"Who attacked you? Was it the same person who killed the Light Angel True God?" asked the Suffering Angel True God, who had replaced the Light Angel True God in the World Government, with visible agitation.
"It's possible, but I'm not certain," the Hunting True God shook his head. "I was attacked at close range. I can confirm it was a human, a practitioner of the Hunter Sequence, wielding a True God-level transcendent firearm, and using Holy Light Laws. But I didn't even catch a glimpse of this person."
The True Gods present fell into deep thought. The Hunting True God had actually revealed quite a bit of information.
The mention of Holy Light Laws naturally brought to mind the Holy Light Dragon God, who had fallen just decades ago. Although transcendent artifacts could also possess Holy Light Laws, none of them had heard of a transcendent firearm that wielded such power.
The World Government had already confirmed through their informants in the Abyssal World that the Abyss had been used as a tool for assassination. The Holy Light Dragon God had been captured alive by a mysterious figure and had disappeared for decades. Could it be that the Holy Light Dragon God had been turned into a transcendent artifact?
First, it was the Light Angel True God, then the Holy Light Dragon God, and now the Hunting True God. If they didn't uncover the mastermind behind this, none of the True Gods would be able to rest easy.
The Coin True God listened as the others discussed how to find the mastermind, but his thoughts involuntarily turned to Rosen.
As far as he knew, Rosen was also a hunter, and he used firearms as well. But the idea that Rosen could have killed two True Gods in a row seemed far too exaggerated, no matter how he thought about it.
The Coin True God's rationality told him he was overthinking it, but he couldn't help but think of Rosen. Back then, hadn't Qiong failed to capture Rosen multiple times because of his powerful stealth abilities?
Over the next few days, the True Gods of the World Government scoured the world. They visited every True God they knew, especially those skilled in divination and tracking.
But the results were repeated failures. Even when several divination experts joined forces, they couldn't provide any leads.
Since conventional methods couldn't uncover the mastermind, they had no choice but to resort to extraordinary measures.
Old Continent, the consciousness sea of a slumbering Great True God
Barry, the strongest human knight, struggled to lift his head and gaze at the radiant, sun-like sphere deep within the consciousness sea.
Barry's spirit refused to yield, but his body trembled uncontrollably due to instinctive fear.
"Great World Will, I wish to make a deal with you," Barry said, neither submissive nor arrogant.
The World Will was not a true sentient being but more like an artificial intelligence with immense computational power and no emotions. If it were to develop independent thought and emotions, the Ancient Gods would have to worry about whether they could ever awaken again.
"What is the nature of this deal?" the World Will's ethereal, emotionless voice echoed through the void.
"How can we find the person who killed the Light Angel True God, captured the Holy Light Dragon God, and ambushed the Hunting True God?" Barry proposed the terms of the deal.
"Release one percent of the seal," the World Will stated its condition.
"Agreed!" Barry replied without hesitation.
"The Dwarf Kingdom," the World Will provided the answer Barry sought.
Barry turned and left, while the True Gods outside the consciousness sea began to release one percent of the seal.
Even while sealed, the World Will remained the supreme ruler of the main world. Everything that happened in the main world was known to the World Will, unless a Great True God went to great lengths to conceal it. The seal only restrained the World Will's power; it couldn't sever the connection between the World Will and the main world.
Now, releasing one percent of the seal meant the World Will would break free earlier. To reinforce the seal again would require an unknown and likely immense cost.
But not releasing the seal wasn't an option either. If you deceived the World Will once, no matter how you explained it, the World Will would never trust you a second time. Moreover, the World Will wasn't powerless to retaliate—it could easily warn the perpetrator to flee.
This time, the World Government had paid a heavy price and would absolutely not give the mastermind a chance to escape.
Dwarf Royal City
Rosen suddenly felt a chilling sensation. He opened the Void Painting Album, and the Fate Divination Painting showed that everything was safe.
Instinctively, Rosen thought the True Gods of the World Government had used some method to track him again. He had experienced similar sensations many times over the past few days, but none had been able to penetrate the protection of fate laws and his innate True God luck to find him.
This time, the feeling was stronger, but since the Fate Divination Painting showed no issues, he assumed everything was fine. If he fled every time he felt something was off, he'd be changing locations every day.
Still, to be cautious, he used the God-Slaying Demon Eye to spy on the seventeen True Gods of the World Government.
Finding no abnormalities, Rosen immediately sensed that something was terribly wrong.
The chilling sensation he had felt earlier was a warning from his seventh sense and the innate alert of the Divination Painting. This kind of warning was normal; any sufficiently powerful divination targeting him would trigger it. He had experienced similar warnings several times over the past few days.
However, in previous instances, the God-Slaying Demon Eye had always detected the True Gods of the World Government working alongside alien True Gods. It was obvious they were consulting alien True Gods skilled in prophecy to uncover his whereabouts.
But this time, despite the stronger sensation, the True Gods of the World Government were all in their respective divine kingdoms. Could it be that an unknown alien True God was targeting him this time?
To be safe, Rosen decided to prepare for the worst.
But before he could even enter the Mysterious Study Room, the entire Dwarf Kingdom was struck by a devastating blow in an instant.
In a flash, the Dwarf Kingdom and its trillions of dwarves were reduced to ashes.
Amid the annihilating tidal wave that obliterated everything, only the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest and the completely petrified Earth Dwarf King survived.
However, the Earth Dwarf King was already on the brink of death. His core heart was riddled with cracks, and his divine spark was half-shattered. He had barely survived under the protection of the Kingslayer Forging Hammer.
The Ten Thousand Dragon Nest was in even worse condition, its surface battered and nearly on the verge of collapse.
A spatial domain flashed by, rescuing the Earth Dwarf King, and then the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest also disappeared.
Through the World Window, Rosen watched the destructive tidal wave outside, his heart turning cold.
He had underestimated the World Government, thinking their True Gods couldn't find him.
But not only had they found him, they had also deceived his danger premonition and the God-Slaying Demon Eye's surveillance. If he hadn't sensed something was wrong at the last moment and taken precautions, he wouldn't have had time to deploy the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest to block the fatal combined attack.
The surrounding destructive tidal wave was pushed aside as the true bodies of the seventeen True Gods appeared simultaneously.
They stared suspiciously at the location of the Mysterious Study Room, trying to find where Rosen had disappeared.
The divine spell they had used to destroy the Dwarf Kingdom was a joint effort, and the destructive tidal wave contained their divine senses. Through the damage inflicted on the divine kingdom and the collision with Rosen's divine essence, they had confirmed that the mastermind was indeed Rosen.
As a forbidden sequence practitioner, the king of the Glorious Kingdom, and a genius painter, Rosen was well-known among the upper echelons of the World Government.
If they hadn't encountered him personally, they wouldn't have believed that Rosen had quietly become a deity.
Even more unbelievable was that Rosen had killed the Light Angel True God and captured the Holy Light Dragon God.
But the evidence was right before their eyes—Rosen was indeed the culprit.
If the fact that Rosen was the culprit was shocking enough, his ability to vanish without a trace under their combined assault was downright terrifying. This meant Rosen possessed at least a Great True God-level spatial artifact for concealment.
Without wasting time, the seventeen True Gods began to jointly seal off and attack the location of the Mysterious Study Room.
Although the Mysterious Study Room's window had transformed into the World Window, greatly enhancing its defensive capabilities, Rosen wasn't confident it could withstand the combined assault of seventeen True Gods.
The Azure Dragon clone in the Old World changed the spatial anchor, and the Mysterious Study Room silently disappeared.
However, this time, escaping to the Old World made it much harder to return to the New World.
In the New World, Rosen no longer had any other clones to alter the Mysterious Study Room's anchor.
He had originally left a Bronze Dragon clone in the Dragon Realm, but with the World Government's increasingly intense search efforts, he had worried the clone would be discovered and had recalled it to his main body.
As a result, now that he had fled to the Old World, he could no longer use the Mysterious Study Room to return to the New World.
To return, he would have to pass through the darkness linking the Old and New Worlds.
Old World, Immortal Ruins
Rosen fell into deep thought.
How had the World Government precisely pinpointed that his main body was hiding in the Dwarf Kingdom?
Had a Great True God specializing in divination intervened, or was it a Great True God-level divination artifact?
It couldn't be the World Will—they were mortal enemies who could not coexist.
With limited clues, he couldn't determine the truth. Since he couldn't return to the New World anytime soon, he had to prepare for long-term survival in the Old World.
Rosen's identity was no longer usable, and his current alias, Li Cha, was also compromised.
The World Government knew he was the culprit, and it wouldn't be hard for them to uncover that Li Cha was one of his false identities.
Although the World Government's True Gods couldn't enter the Old World, the Great True Gods behind them might already be here.
The World Government had stopped exploring the endless darkness of the Sky-Piercing Stone Pillar, which suggested they already knew, through their Great True Gods, that the darkness led to the Old World.
It seemed he would need to adopt a completely new identity and survive in the Old World until he found a way and the strength to return to the New World.
At the same time, the World Government launched an all-encompassing investigation into Rosen.
They soon discovered that the transactions in the Main World's Divine Hall had been suspended.
It wasn't hard to connect the dots—Rosen might be the mastermind behind the Divine Hall.
The Divine Hall had many transcendent resources that had gone extinct in the main world, and the World Government had long suspected that its mastermind could travel between the Old and New Worlds.
However, since only Great True Gods could travel between the two worlds, they hadn't dared to take any action against the Divine Hall.
Now that they suspected Rosen's connection to the Divine Hall, and after another transaction with the World Will confirmed that Rosen was no longer in the New World, it wasn't hard to deduce that Rosen might have fled to the Old World.
The net to capture Rosen began to extend from the New World to the Old World.
The Coin True God, tasked with leading the capture operation, also vanished into the darkness of the Sky-Piercing Stone Pillar under the watchful eyes of the other True Gods.
(End of Chapter)