Hate me, Miss Witch!

Azure Garden Royal Capital, the Duke's mansion.

Heaven and earth collapsed. This wasn't an exaggeration, but rather the harsh reality.

Five hundred tons of TNT-equivalent Explosive Clay completely blasted through the vast cavity thirty meters below the Duke's mansion.

The very core of the Azure Garden Dukedom, the symbol of the Brunestadt family, was gradually crumbling.

First, the foundations were shaken, then the walls, tiles, and eaves. These scattered, then peeled downward.

The wind carried with it a heavy, booming roar.

In just a few dozen breaths, this splendid residence, like the ancient city of Atlantis swallowed by the sea, slowly sank into the ground.

Shiayar's figure emerged on a high point that hadn't yet collapsed, silently witnessing the end of this magnificent complex of buildings.

His spiritual power spread out, penetrating layers of architectural debris, sand, and rock, then reached directly into the deepest part of the underground.

At the lowest layer of the collapsing rocky strata, several extremely faint life signs were rapidly diminishing, slowly fading into nothingness.

But, in the very instant those life signs completely vanished, a new one suddenly sprouted.

At first, this new life sign was very weak, very twisted, as if it simultaneously contained elements of many different life races.

But then, that originally feeble life sign grew robustly in seconds, rapidly expanding until it blotted out the sky.

「The next moment.」

BOOM—

A twisted, mangled colossal creature broke through the continuously collapsing rocky rubble.

And as that massive creature broke free, countless, endless dusky halos emerged, carrying an unimaginable momentum that seemed to envelop the entire world.

「Dusk fell.」

The once-gleaming starry night sky suddenly dimmed, transforming into an oppressive, congealed twilight.

The stars hid, leaving only a Crimson full moon hanging high above the curtain of twilight.

Ashen metal patterns crept over much of the moon's surface, pale white and Crimson intertwined, creating an eerie and oppressive scene.

"I'm still alive!"

"I'm still alive!"

The mangled Norton let out an earth-shattering roar, and the congealed dusky halos around him trembled with his bellowing.

No, to be precise, using "Norton" to describe the twisted lifeform before them wasn't accurate.

Because the real Norton had already died, perishing in the violent explosion within that huge underground cavity.

Even for a Peak 5-Ring expert, just one step from Titled Rank, attempting to stand at the center of the explosion and withstand a blast equivalent to five hundred tons of TNT while his spiritual power was compromised by the Sage's Blood was nothing short of a fool's dream.

Even if he had miraculously survived the explosion, what awaited Norton afterward was the Blazing Sun Church's Holy Water—instantly vaporized—and dozens of meters of collapsing, crumbling layers of rock and soil.

This was the grave Shiayar had carefully designed to entomb Norton.

Without Space-type abilities like instant teleportation, even a 6-Ring Titled Rank Beastmaster facing such a cataclysm would have little chance of survival.

This was all the more true for Norton, who had just had his Godhood Ascension Ceremony interrupted and his soul's origin circuit damaged.

So, in the brief interval before the explosion struck, Norton gave up.

He gave up the plan he had been scheming for many years, and he gave up the so-called Path of Godhood Ascension.

Norton released his In Control and suppression of the Twilight Divine Power, choosing instead to embrace the ancient god's corruption and whispers.

He offered his Demigod body, already perfectly attuned by the infusion of Twilight Divine Power, as a vessel for the awakening ancient consciousness.

Because only thus could Norton survive the cataclysm.

A grave designed to entomb a human Beastmaster could not contain the resurrected half-manifestation of a god.

Yes. The current him... No, perhaps 'It' was a more appropriate descriptor.

It was merely an ancient god walking among mortals, having partially retained Norton's consciousness and reawakened using Norton's body.

...

The twisted lifeform, with remnants of Norton's consciousness, roared deafeningly towards the dusk-covered sky, causing the iron-patterned Crimson moon to tremble.

Its mangled and ferocious flesh, intermingled with dark shadows and twisted beastly limbs, still emitted dense white smoke. The ravaged flesh was continuously burned and destroyed by the sun's brilliance, only to regenerate.

These were traces left by the vaporized Holy Water. The Holy Water of the Blazing Sun Church was harmless to ordinary people; consumed, it could even cure minor illnesses and leave one feeling invigorated.

But if it landed on evil followers or Abyss Species, it inflicted damage equivalent to directly facing the scorching might of the sun.

To allow its newly found host to survive the explosion, the ancient consciousness used the Soul Pact to devour all of Norton's Pet Beasts in an instant.

Then, it merged their flesh and blood with Norton's body, forcefully stitching together this twisted lifeform—ghastly, grotesque, yet incomparably powerful.

"Shiayar!"

"And Silvia!"

That roar was ferociously angry.

At this moment, Norton's consciousness still dominated the body. The seal set by the Legendary powerful pro was very firm; even the cataclysmic explosion moments ago hadn't completely destroyed it, merely creating a breach.