Rise of The Anti God

Meanwhile, everybody on the island had jubilant reactions upon seeing Damien return. It probably meant that his mission was successful.

But he had a serious and glazed look on his face as he descended down near the main camp where Elor and the other powerful figures were present.

Reva, Yuria, and Lily also came out with happy smiles as they rushed toward him. But they slowed down as they could sense that his mind was elsewhere, thinking about something serious.

"Damien! I suppose everything went well? Come in and let's talk," Elor gestured with a smile as Damien entered the camp with a glazed expression.

Marvin and Irene were busy setting up marks on the map of the continent, discussing which all zones were heavily guarded and dangerous.

And on the side, there was an old man with a wizened look, wearing casual robes. If he stepped outside, people would instantly recognize him as one of the most notable figures on the continent since he was none other than Leon Xeton, said to be the greatest living alchemist on the continent till Alchemist Azrael showed up.

Still, Damien wouldn't fully agree with that statement since Leon Xeton still had more experience and probably had deep knowledge on some topics.

However, most people would wonder what Leon Xeton was doing on an island full of terrorists and might assume that he was being held here as a hostage or against his own will to exploit him.

But they have no idea that it was the Forsaken who rescued him from the Xeton Empire. Ruthren had thrown him into the dungeons the moment Reva ran away. It was only natural that Ruthren knew about Leon Xeton's allegiances since he always knew what Reva and the Forsaken were up to through Yohr.

Damien was at first surprised Ruthren didn't kill Leon, but then he thought that maybe he had some use for him.

It was only when he gatecrashed the Great Hall ball was he able to buy enough time for Irene and the others to silently rescue Leon Xeton.

With Ruthren away from his empire, things would only be easier, and they did succeed in rescuing Leon, and here he was now in a better state.

When they rescued him, Leon was looking all frail and pale after being imprisoned for months without any food and water, especially with his cultivation sealed and occasional torture. Still, he didn't break and stood strong, not willing to give Reva up.

The Forsaken people were moved by his loyalty towards their young leader. Thus they didn't have any prejudice or hatred towards him just because he had Xetonian blood. They knew some Xetonians believed their cause though very few due to the public's view about them.

"Damien, what happened?" Reva asked with wrinkled brows, wondering what he learned or experienced to look so serious.

Irene and the others also noticed the look on Damien's face and were worried if things didn't go as they planned, "Damien, what's wrong? Was the mission unsuccessful?"

Irene wouldn't be really disappointed if the mission was unsuccessful since it was already a tall order to assassinate the backers of Daugmir in broad daylight. Worst case, things won't get much worse since Daugmir was not in power now.

Marvin and Leon also shifted their gazes towards Damien.

"No…the mission was successful. It couldn't have gone any better," Damien said in a low voice, making the others feel a bit relaxed. Still seeing his long face, they didn't relax completely yet.

Damien continued, "But…I learned something…that might be a problem. I learned it from Olivia herself. Tristen was able to make her cough up whatever she was hiding."

Lily's eyes shone as she said in a relieved tone, "That's good. Now we will at least know what she and Ruthren were planning together."

Yuria didn't say anything since she felt that there might be a bigger problem here.

"But that's the problem. I don't know if this is true, but the reason Ruthren wants to open the gates is that he claims that the Rising Sun Continent is on the verge of destruction," Damien said with knitted brows.

"Verge of destruction? That doesn't make sense," Leon said with a shake of his head.

"Yeah. By destruction, what does it mean exactly? It's not like anybody can destroy the continent," Marvin said, feeling that the whole thing sounded flimsy.

Damien shook his head, "No…it's not that our continent will get destroyed by external factors. But due to natural causes. And by destruction, I meant the land is dying. The ethereal atmosphere is getting thin as time passes. It may not look bad right now but based on what Ruthren said, things will take a sudden quick turn. The main reason is that this continent has been separated from the outside world for far too long. It is no different than restricting blood flow to one of our limbs, and we know what happens if we restrict it for far too long."

"It dies…" Reva said, her expression calm, though her eyes had a grave look.

Elor and Irene glanced at each other before Elor said with furrowed brows, "We might have found it hard to notice since we all have our minds distracted and also because, as you said, no sudden changes in the ethereal energy around us. But…maybe this is why cultivators of the past were always more powerful than the current generation. This pattern does indeed follow the further we go back into history, especially during his respected self Anton Vahn's time."

Irene added, "And probably why none of us for the past thousands of years had ever been able to go past the Profound Ethereal Realm. It is like we are getting restricted from cultivating to the next realm, not because of our own potential but because the ethereal energy in our surroundings isn't rich enough to help us cultivate to the next level."

"Oh no…Does that mean we are all going to die?" Lily asked as she pressed her lips together in worry.