Gospel of Blood-Chapter 663 : The Mythic Era

Elven Era, Year 1487.

The Sun God Helios attempted to ascend to the Supreme, provoking the wrath of Creation. The gods fell, and the elven continent shattered under apocalyptic divine punishment. Among all the gods, only the Moon Goddess Artemis and the Ocean God Oceanus survived.

At the same time, the residual power left behind by that terrifying “Wrath of Annihilation” formed a chaotic and dreadful magical storm over the Western Continent.

According to Oceanus’s estimates, this storm would shroud the skies above the shattered Western Continent for at least two thousand years.

The gods perished, the elven pantheon collapsed, and from that moment on… there were no longer the Moon Goddess Artemis and the Ocean God Helios of the elven pantheon—only the Moon God Artemis and the Sea King Oceanus remained.

With the collapse of the elven pantheon, the Myria Old Gods who had once submitted to the elven gods also defected en masse, declaring their independence.

However, the elves’ many years of cultivation on the Myria Continent were not without effect. Some Old Gods, whose faith had shifted, still remained loyal to the elves, and some newly ascended gods—raised with elven support—continued to uphold elven rule.

The two sides soon clashed across the Myria Continent. Continental war reignited, with signs of escalating intensity.

Meanwhile, the magical storm created by Charlotte’s devastating strike against the Origin further caused the world’s magic power concentration to surge dramatically. The Origin’s renewed slumber also loosened the power of the laws, and the legends of the Myria Continent began to sense—dimly—that the gate leading to the divine throne had loosened slightly.

At the same time, upon the shattered Western Continent—

The Moon Goddess Artemis gathered the remaining elven forces and led the survivors willing to follow her away from the ruined Western Continent, embarking on a journey to the Eastern Continent.

Thus began the great migration historically known as the Elves’ Eastward Crossing.

This vast migration lasted for about ten years.

Over those ten years, surviving elves responded one after another to the Moon Goddess’s call, leaving their homelands to seek a new home.

As for those elves unwilling to depart, the Moon Goddess Artemis settled them upon the many islands formed after the Western Continent’s destruction, erecting protective divine statues to shield them from potential Origin corruption and lingering divine power.

However, not long after the Moon Goddess led most elves eastward, those who chose to remain toppled the Moon Goddess’s statues and raised new statues of the Origin.

Upon arriving in Myria, Artemis merely cast a long, deep look toward the west—and never looked back.

In the decades that followed, warfare across the Myria Continent grew ever more intense.

With the elven gods no longer exerting their suppression, the balance of power on the continent reversed dramatically. The defected Old Gods advanced with unstoppable momentum, driving elven forces into repeated retreats.

Had it not been for the lingering restraints left behind by the elven gods—still able to counter divine power to some extent—the elves might have long since been driven into the sea.

This situation finally began to change after Artemis set foot upon the continent…

As one of the most powerful true gods in the world, the Moon Goddess was among the few capable of standing against many alone on the Myria plane.

Moreover, although the elven gods had fallen, their divine artifacts remained—and all were gathered by Artemis.

After the great catastrophe, the magic power in the air became unprecedentedly dense and active. Even mortals, under certain conditions, could wield portions of artifact power. After Artemis distributed these artifacts to the Legendaries, soon… the first god slain by mortals appeared.

The phenomenon of a divine-fall nearly covered a small portion of the continent, and the achievement of mortals slaying a god filled the elves with exhilaration.

Before long, the scales—tilted by the fall of the elven pantheon—returned to balance. Relying on the Moon Goddess’s protection and the power of artifacts, the elves regained the ability to contend with the Myria Old Gods.

In the northwest of the Myria Continent, Artemis moved earth and stone and condensed magic, opening up a vast island where elves lacking sufficient strength were resettled.

This island would, over the coming millennia, serve as the elves’ safe haven and forward base in Myria—avoiding continental wars and sheltering elves who had yet to grow.

At the same time, the elves named this island—personally opened by the Moon Goddess—Luna Island.

However, with the destruction of the Western Continent and the decline of the elven pantheon, the era of elven glory ultimately came to an end.

The struggle against the Origin had finally earned the mark of Its loathing. Although, through their bloodline connection with Charlotte, elves still possessed extraordinary magical talent, the alienation of laws brought by Origin hatred made it difficult for Legendary-rank elves to step into the mythic rank again.

The Origin was, after all, the source of the extraordinary.

Only if Charlotte were to sacrifice all her power as the Origin once did—or if she were to completely defeat the Origin and formally become the world’s sole ruler—would the power of the laws favor them once more.

But for now, while Myria’s magic power remained an extension of Origin power, and while their very birth was part of the extraordinary, the gate to apotheosis… could be said to be almost closed to the elves.

For the other intelligent races of the world, however, the rising magic power concentration and the activation of the laws, combined with the presence of divine artifacts that drastically narrowed the gap between mortals and gods, meant that godslaying was no longer legend—and apotheosis was no longer fantasy.

Thus, new gods arose, and the era later known as the Mythic Age… began.

…

Artemis stood in the sky.

She gazed down upon the magnificent rivers and mountains of the Myria Continent, a trace of complexity in her silver eyes.

Points of light shimmered in her hand—the soul origins of the elven gods that Charlotte had retrieved in time.

Yet Artemis did not scatter these soul origins to allow them to reincarnate. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The power of the elven myths had already been devoured by the Origin. Though their soul origins were preserved, they had nonetheless been marked by the Origin.

Even if they reincarnated successfully and returned, there was no guarantee they would not once again be targeted, eroded, and contaminated by Origin power.

Unless…

Artemis’s expression grew solemn as she looked at her other hand.

In that hand, crimson light flickered, revealing a faintly discernible, illusory book.

It was the Gospel of Blood entrusted to her by Charlotte.

“Not yet…”

Artemis murmured.

She put away the gods’ soul origins and the illusory book, and her figure dissipated, returning to the divine temple she had built on Luna Island.

Leading the elves eastward, personally opening a great island, and establishing restraints capable of holding even myths at bay for a short time—these feats had consumed no small amount of power, even for her. She needed rest.

Returning to her temple, she sat upon her divine throne, closed her eyes, and—while absorbing faith and magic power to restore her strength—quietly waited for the moment to come.