There was no doubt that the very moment Twin Moon and their Ancient Spirit Monastery sought to forge an alliance with the Lizard Man, the Dog-headed Man and the Green Dwarf had also united.

Their eyes, already red-hot from harsh reality, regarded each other, devoid of any further hesitation and brimming with ferocity.

As the leading giant elephant bellowed, petals of Hell Lithops scattered, fluttering in the Abyss-laden wind. Hordes of Giant Beasts assembled and surged towards them.

The war had begun.

Without need for any spoken encouragement or direction, all the Giant Beasts had already thrown themselves into the fray, heedless of the bloodthirsty thorns and poison mists, plunging into the slaughter.

Just as Huai Shi finished warming up, ready to leap down from the city walls, he suddenly heard a whisper from the King.

"You must stay."

The hollow, hoarse voice echoed in his ears, causing Huai Shi to startle. Then he heard the King's words: "Take your comrades and come to my palace."

"You have another important duty to fulfill."

Huai Shi hesitated for a moment, then suddenly lifted his paw, pressing down on Jonathan's tail tip. He yanked the Crystal Lizard, who was about to throw himself into the battlefield, causing him to stumble.

"Come with me."

Huai Shi shot him a look, slowly backed away, and quietly withdrew from the battlefield under the guidance of the sacrificers, heading straight for the Palace City.

In the decaying Imperial Palace, the stone doors of the great hall had already been flung open.

The dusty curtains that once hung had been torn down, exposing the King's throne and the holy altar for all to see. But unlike before, no one except the King dared to linger in the great hall.

Countless crimson Flesh Flowers had grown from the crevices in the stone. Their split flesh undulated and entwined, filling every gap.

If one looked long enough, it seemed as if numerous vague faces emerged, overlapped, and merged within them, issuing mournful cries in their fleeting existence.

These illusory mournful cries, layered together, became a solemn and monstrous hymn.

In several massive bronze furnaces, Sacred Oil burned fiercely, its flames emitting the rich fragrance of God's blood. Supreme authority was thus bluntly evoked, forcefully repressing the deformities from the Abyss and allowing the hunched, emaciated King to maintain a semblance of human form.

But it was merely... a human form, and nothing more.

As the Sacred Oil burned and the incense candles were lit, it was as if the King had returned to his youth. His consciousness broke free from senility, and his features became dignified and majestic.

Beneath his robes, however, his limbs writhed unceasingly as violent metamorphoses erupted in waves, for the relentless erosion had already dragged him deep into the Abyss. Only a fine line remained.

Behind him, on the altar, the once withered and ugly Divine Body now appeared radiant and lustrous.

Like an artifact carved from crystal glass.

Thin threads of crimson blood coursed through it, weaving into ever-changing pupils that glanced around at will, their gaze almost eternally indifferent and aloof.

It was as if God had been reborn.

But indeed, a rebirth of sorts had occurred. However minor, an ineffable, terrifying bestiality was quietly stirring, overlooking all that was on the verge of destruction.

Stopping outside the hall, Huai Shi observed the King's face. "I can't shake the feeling you're up to something," he said. "Or is it just my imagination?"

"Perhaps," the King replied, a smirk playing on his lips. "But that's not your concern, is it?"

On the throne, the King looked at him with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. His convulsing, deformed fingers twined around the Scepter at his knees, occasionally writhing like the tentacles of some deep-sea creature.

It emitted an eerie aura.

"Not to brag, but in this neck of the woods, I'm probably one of the best fighters, right?" Huai Shi picked at his teeth with his claw. "So at such a critical moment, why call me back from the battlefield? Are you hoping I'll sing your praises?"

"You all have another mission and merely need to wait patiently... If I said that, you certainly wouldn't buy it, would you?"

The King regarded Huai Shi, speaking calmly, "To put it simply, I need you to protect me... to protect this Kingdom, as you can see."

"Isn't the work of the Dainei Guards a bit too leisurely?" Huai Shi asked. "I'm afraid I'm not cut out for it."

"Don't worry. Soon, it will be busier here than outside," the King replied. His gaze swept past them to the silent city beyond the palace doors—his last piece of territory. He murmured softly, "Soon, all of this will be immersed in destruction..."

BOOM!

Along with the King's whisper, a deafening roar suddenly erupted from the silent Capital City. Vast fissures tore open the earth, swallowing towering, overlapping buildings, and the continuous collapses raised a tumult of noise.

From these suddenly gaping fissures, ferocious Giant Beasts emerged. Their appearance instantly caused horrific casualties in the densely populated city.

The sounds of chanting, groaning, and even desperate cries stopped abruptly. In the deathly silence, only the roars of the Giant Beasts remained.

The sudden attack instantly devastated the Royal City.

Then, an earth-shattering BOOM came from the direction of the city walls.

An enormously bloated bull-like Giant Beast charged, covered by many other beasts. With a sound like the wind, it slammed into the multiple thick gates.

The city wall shook but remained unscathed.

Immediately after, however, a terrifying explosion burst from the giant bull's suddenly swelling body. Under the Scholars' modifications, all its fat had been transformed into a Bio-Explosive Drug tens of thousands of times more volatile than nitroglycerin.

At that moment, as the giant bull self-detonated, the Lizard Man Kingdom's last defense crumbled with a thunderous roar.

The battlefront collapsed.

Realizing that enemies were attacking their home base from behind, all the Giant Beasts on the wall turned back, rushing to fight the invaders within the Capital City to the death.

Huai Shi was dumbfounded. He looked back in shock, utterly disbelieving.

"You foresaw all of this?"

The King did not speak. He only lowered his eyes, staring at the silk scroll delivered by the Ancient Spirit Monastery.

It was less a letter of alliance and more an unprecedented plea and entreaty.

Long before this, the other three factions—aside from the Lizard Man and the Ancient Spirit Monastery—had already formed an Alliance, orchestrated by certain schemers.

The primary catalyst for this was a certain Husky, still clueless, who hadn't realized the immense sense of crisis his very existence posed to the others.

The first and foremost enemy of this Alliance was the last city-state of the Lizard Man.

Together, the three factions aimed to eradicate this BUG along with their foe, and following that, it would be the turn of the vulnerable Ancient Spirit Monastery.

With no other option, the Ancient Spirit Monastery chose to reveal this secret to the Lizard Man in exchange for a temporary Alliance.

Otherwise, once the Lizard Men were extinguished, their own fate would be blatantly sealed.

Yet, even with an Alliance formed, it was two against three. The odds of victory remained heavily skewed against them.

They only hoped to make a final stand before being overwhelmed, even if it meant mutual destruction.

Pressed by impending Doomsday, even such desperate decisions seemed to become rational.

At this moment, a Kingdom that had lasted for three eras emitted its final death throes amidst the uproar.

Countless Lizard Men scrambled frantically between the buildings, only to be mercilessly trampled into paste. Even the mere aftershocks of destruction were enough to annihilate these 'ants'.

It was a cataclysm of extinction.

Watching the tragic scenes in the distant city, Huai Shi couldn't help but want to act, but then he heard the King's indifferent voice.

"Don't interfere."

Amidst the countless Flesh Flowers, the mutated King said indifferently, "A little impatience spoils great plans... Great Spirits, that is not your mission."

Huai Shi, still in the hall, turned back to stare at that impassive face.

He was completely uncomprehending.

"Aren't they all your subjects?" he asked softly. "Don't you feel any heartache?"

Even the most deranged tyrant should know where their power truly comes from, right? Whether a wise sovereign or a foolish despot, the moment one becomes a Ruler, they should instinctively realize the very foundation upon which their royal power rests. Whether to maintain their own power, or out of compassion and righteous anger for their own kind. Why would anyone make such a choice?

Cries, wails, and final prayers drifted from afar.

Yet the King remained disdainful.

It was as if he didn't perceive any of it.

Merely indifferent.

Overlooking everything, watching his subjects drown in blood and fire.

Finally, he looked at Huai Shi, questioning calmly and coldly.

"Must I weep, beat my chest, and then make some grand, blood-sworn oath for you to take me seriously?" He calmly averted his gaze. "This Kingdom doesn't need such a performance, nor does this world... As Envoys of God, don't you Great Spirits understand such a simple truth?"

Huai Shi was silent for a long while, then suddenly asked, "You didn't deliberately let them in, did you?"

The King remained silent.

Huai Shi didn't press further.

He could hear the roars of Giant Beasts fighting in the distance.

Continuous Roaring Outbursts sounded as defeated Giant Beasts fell to the ground. They were soon covered and devoured by Flesh Flowers that suddenly sprouted from the earth, reducing them to heaps of Skeletons.

That was the King's hand.

That was the King's hand—the limbs that had become one with the land after being imprisoned by his own throne for so long. A grotesque monster formed by the union of the King and his Kingdom.

A grotesque monster that everyone had overlooked or failed to take seriously.

No, perhaps... this was now the most terrifying opponent in the eternal war, wasn't it?

The rampaging, grotesque flesh and writhing Flesh Flowers even spread beyond the shattered city walls, pouring into the battlefield within the earth's crevices. They gluttonously devoured every living thing they touched—be it thorn or flower—all becoming sustenance for the King.

His enemies had breached the walls that sealed him, releasing him from his cage.

They had fallen into his trap even before he needed to hunt them down.

Along with the faint wails of countless faces, the solemn hymn resounded once more beneath the Sky Dome. Each Flesh Flower revealed a sorrowful and desperate face, its gaze lifted to the sky. Petals of flesh opened and closed, some chanting devoutly, some screaming fiercely, others wailing in despair or numbly praying...

It was growing.

On the throne, the King finally raised his Scepter towards his Kingdom.

And so, countless beams of blood-red light descended from the sky.

The power extracted from death and slaughter was unreservedly bestowed upon every Great Spirit of the Lizard Men. After being transformed by the Divine Body, stripped of all mutations and Abyssal infection, this power became the purified Force of Evolution.

In an instant, they underwent another Metamorphosis.

Huai Shi was the first to be affected.

Power dozens of times more concentrated than that given to the others surged into his body, violently catalyzing his evolution and causing him to howl towards the heavens.

His howl was like thunder.