"Did something happen in the abyss?"
Ethan’s question brought the dazed Nightmare back to reality. He didn’t know why Night looked so distressed, but he guessed that the members of the Elder Council must have had an important reason to risk so much by infiltrating the Empire’s capital.
Nightmare collected herself; Ethan’s words did remind her of something.
She admitted that there might be a misunderstanding between her and Lindong, but that didn’t change her purpose for returning to the Empire.
Leaving Rowena aside for now, Lindong must return to the abyss.
Whether the student understood her intentions or not, it was the teacher’s responsibility. The benefits Lindong would gain through the foundation of the Evil God would be immeasurable.
However, plans have changed, and she had to consider Ethan’s opinion.
After pondering for a moment, the Nightmare Witch said, "Have you heard about the Evil God Festival?"
By rights, as a follower of Bazatous opposed to the Empire’s camp, she shouldn’t reveal such confidential information to an outsider, but she couldn’t care about that now.
Ethan shook his head.
Even though Lindong had heard of it, she didn’t speak; after all, her understanding of the Evil God Festival was limited. She only remembered that the Elder Council had previously asked her and Rowena to return to the abyss before the festival arrived.
There was no specific time, as if they were waiting for a random event.
Lindong never took it to heart; she never considered Nightmare as her home. Their relationship was mutually exploitative.
Moreover, there was no real friendship among the Evil God’s Followers. As they would say, everything was a guidance from the Father. If the Father gave an order, they would not hesitate to offer their closest relations as sacrifices to the Evil God— to them, becoming a sacrifice was an honor. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on NovelHub(.)net
"The turmoil on the Western Continent has intensified the infighting among Sincaro’s followers. Once Flor falls, the Evil God Festival will arrive."
This is Lindong’s best chance; before setting off, the Nightmare had already devised a corresponding plan for her student.
"Once the festival begins, three candidates will appear, and the ultimate winner will emerge among the three inheritors. Lindong, you are the most promising one."
"In terms you Empire people can understand, they correspond to the three major Evil Gods."
Nightmare didn’t like the term "Evil God." Just like they called Bazatous "Father," the followers of the other two Old Gods used specific titles to praise and shelter their deities, each side interpreting the Old Gods’ powers differently.
Disease and plague were Bazatous’s domains, but in the abyss, He represented mutation and evolution.
Stronger flesh, nearly eternal life— those who passed the Father’s test would receive these gifts.
But she couldn’t disclose more to Ethan, this Empire person.
"I can understand these three inheritors as candidates for divine selection."
Ethan seemed thoughtful; it seemed that their old friend Old Ba was doing well in the abyss and was recognized as one of the three major Old Gods. The other narrative likely worships the Demon King Sincaro, whom the Lofic Consortium venerates, whose domain, considering His relationship with the God of Trickery Kadela, should be deception and trickery.
What Rowena said when confronting the fake Kadela wasn’t a lie; all these conjectures were confirmed by Old An.
Regarding the Demon King Sincaro, their old friend, Old An only used four words to describe Him.
— a big piece of crap.
Alright, Ethan admitted it was his fault that he led Old Ai and Old An astray, as many descriptive terms had been learned by others in the team.
Old An felt these terms were good, exquisite, and full of spite.
Whenever Sincaro was mentioned, Old An’s aggressiveness would increase by several levels.
Though He hadn’t gotten along with many of His peers back in the day, that was typically because of personality and amusement; only Sincaro was unanimously recognized as the number one war criminal by all, and it was His "toy" that suggested the plan to seal the Old Gods, which those humans surprisingly managed to achieve.
It was like Sincaro, being a member of the community, one day brought back a bomb and blew the community to pieces.
Playing house was a project they all loved, but this community scourge made it so no one could participate.
Old An also mentioned that if Ethan ever met Sincaro in person, he must give Him a hard punch and say it was from Old An.
"Candidates of divine selection?"
There was a flicker of a different color in Nightmare’s eyes as she looked at Ethan more seriously.
This term was precise, unlike the terminology Empire nobles would use.
To make it easier for Ethan to understand, she tried to use terms that would make sense to Empire people, yet Ethan’s words and deeds resembled someone who had lived in the abyss for decades.
This young man was no simpleton.
Nightmare nearly instantly realized that when discussing such important matters concerning the Evil God’s Followers, there wasn’t a trace of panic on his face.
If this news were released during the reign of Henry III, it could easily incite a holy war.
In fact, towards the end of Henry III’s reign, he had wanted to rally the power of the Papacy and the Holy Hall to exterminate the followers of the abyss, initiating a total of four grand crusades.
Countless knights and priests perished, and these deceased souls instead became the best sacrifices for the Evil God, making the existence of the abyss unshakeable.
Even until the end of Henry III and Pope Turzan’s lives, the grand crusades failed to achieve any substantive results.