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The Six Calamities were enigmatic beings wielding the power to destroy civilizations. It was normal to fear them. For the longest time, he had striven to destroy them lest they become a menace to humankind in the future, but he had chosen to revive them today.

Alicia was shocked and confused to hear those words, as there was no one else who understood him more in the world.

Roel’s favorability score toward the Six Calamities was in the negatives, and he had even personally hunted some of them down himself. Furthermore, reviving the Six Calamities was a taboo from humankind’s perspective.

To this day, the Saint Mesit Theocracy’s soldiers still harbored trauma toward Shrouding Fog. The common populace also saw the Six Calamities as raging beasts that had to be curbed at all costs. Roel’s decision to revive them could risk alienating him from his allies.

Alicia looked at Roel with hesitant eyes as she asked, “Lord Brother, are you certain about this? You have brought back Tark Stronghold and concluded the incident without too many casualties, but humankind’s hostility toward the Six Calamities hasn’t changed in the least.”

“Indeed. Humankind still fears and abhors the Six Calamities,” Roel agreed.

“Won’t reviving the Six Calamities bring about… bad influences, then?”

“…I know, Alicia,” Roel replied with a resigned sigh, but there was no hesitation in his eyes. “Most in the united army see the Six Calamities in the same light as the Savior’s worshipers, and it’d be impossible to change their viewpoint in the short term, but we don’t have a choice. Many will oppose my decision, but we need power to fight the Savior right now, no matter where it’s from.”

“…” Alicia fell silent.

Reviving the Six Calamities was a poison pill for humankind. It might give humankind the strength it needed to overcome this crisis, but it would expand the Mother Goddess’ influence too.

Alicia had no idea how the Mother Goddess viewed Roel and humankind, and that was why she was worried about this. However, Roel had a different take.

The Sia Continent had remained stable largely due to the balance of power between the Savior and the Mother Goddess. Neither the Fallens nor the Six Calamities had grown too powerful at any point in time, allowing humankind to take the front stage.

However, the balance was being shattered due to the Savior’s awakening.

Since humankind was unable to deal with this situation, the natural response was to bolster the Mother Goddess’ forces to force an equilibrium.

Roel had no idea whether the Mother Goddess would turn against humankind upon awakening, and he didn’t have the luxury of considering that. The situation was clear to him. There was no future for humankind if it couldn’t hold its ground on the eastern border.

What’s the point of considering the long term when we can’t even survive the crisis before us?

“What about Carolyn and the others?” Alicia asked worriedly.

“…” Roel had no answer to that question.

Carolyn had hunted Alicia in order to weaken the Mother Goddess as much as possible, but Roel was going against her will here by reviving the Six Calamities. It was likely she would be opposed to it.

Roel figured there was a need to personally explain things to her.

“Alicia, will you be able to control the revived Six Calamities?”

“I have the highest authority over the Six Calamities. They’ll be obedient to me in Lord Mother’s absence. However, I’ll require some time to prepare for the journey to the altar.”

“All right,” Roel replied with a nod.

He took his leave to make his way toward Carolyn.

…

Carolyn Ascart, the first matriarch of the Ascart House, was not faring well.

Thanks to Paul’s intervention, she had come to a peaceful resolution with Roel and even graduated from a thousand years of singlehood, but the damage she had accrued over a thousand years in the Abyss proved to be tricky to deal with.

She had entered a state of pseudo-death in the Abyss, but that only helped her to preserve her condition as much as possible. The injuries she had sustained from her confrontations with the Savior still remained, and the damage to the holy armor had exposed her to the Savior’s madness.

To make things worse, the recent corruption of the surrounding mana hindered her recovery.

“What does that mean?” Roel turned to Paul, hoping that the latter would get to the point.

However, Carolyn, who had all kinds of magic tools hanging from her, suddenly opened her eyes and said, “He means that I’m in no condition to participate in the upcoming battle.”

“…My apologies for interrupting your rest, Lord Ancestor.”

“Not at all. I can’t possibly sleep under such circumstances,” Carolyn wryly replied.

Paul shook his head, and Roel heaved a sigh.

Carolyn Ascart was the strongest opponent Roel had fought to date. She would have been a huge asset to humankind in the battle against the Savior. It was a pity that she had escaped the Abyss too late, so the Savior’s influence on her was too severe.

She looked sane right now, but that was due to her unbelievably strong willpower suppressing the Savior’s madness. She could still exert self-control under normal circumstances, but there was a high risk of her losing herself if she went into battle.

Take her previous battle with Roel for example—she would have likely fought to her death if Paul had not appeared.

Now that the Savior’s mana had corrupted the surroundings, her condition would only worsen if she marched off to battle. She might even turn into a Fallen as a result. In other words, she was an unstable bomb that could explode on humankind if they allowed her onto the battlefield.

Just the thought that he might have to face Carolyn as a Fallen was enough to send shudders down his spine.

“My condition isn’t as bad as you make it out to be,” Carolyn said indignantly. “I can still–”

“Don’t be silly, Lord Ancestor. You should rest,” Roel interjected.

He carefully constructed his words and relayed the intent behind his visit, but to his surprise, Carolyn didn’t react strongly upon learning that he intended to revive the Six Calamities to deal with the Savior.

“Lord Ancestor, are you fine with that?” Roel asked.

“What other options do we have?” Carolyn replied in resignation, obviously unenthusiastic about the idea.

While the Mother Goddess and the Savior were nemeses, that didn’t mean that the Mother Goddess was on humankind’s side. Carolyn was willing to accept Roel’s decision because she didn’t think that they were really helping the Mother Goddess here; Roel was simply borrowing her strength to deal with an immediate crisis.

Of course, Roel wasn’t foolish enough to also voice his hopes regarding the Mother Goddess.

In any case, it was a relief he had secured Carolyn’s approval. He hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly.

“Actually, we have some conjectures regarding the recent happenings concerning the Savior,” Carolyn suddenly said.

“Conjectures?” Roel asked.

“The Savior and His Fallens are causing a huge commotion, but I don’t think He has fully awakened yet.”

Roel was taken aback by their conjecture. Carolyn and Paul proceeded to share what they had discussed.

Carolyn had already noticed that something was amiss two nights ago, when the Savior’s madness corrupted the eastern border. When she left the Abyss, she made an estimation of when the Savior would likely awaken, and her conclusion was that it would be half a year later.

“I don’t expect my estimate to be on the dot, but I am confident it would only be off the mark by at most a month or so. That was why I rushed to execute the final plan right after escaping from the Abyss,” Carolyn said.

Roel slowly frowned as doubts surfaced in his mind.

He had felt a sense of incongruity after hearing Antonio’s words, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It was only after hearing Carolyn’s conjecture that he finally understood what it was.

Isn’t the Savior’s comeback a little too lackluster?

Admittedly, any soldier on the eastern border would have refuted him, as the mana corruption and the million Fallens from the imperial capital were enough to corner the united army.

However, both the Fallens and the mana corruption, strictly speaking, did not directly come from the Savior Himself. They were just the remnants of the crisis a thousand years ago.

On top of that, Roel had met the real Savior in person and even fought Him, which was why He could confidently say that there was no need for the Savior to resort to such schemes if He had fully awakened. He could have just obliterated humankind with a wave of His hand.

Yet, the Savior hadn’t shown His face thus far, and the mana corruption had remained confined to the eastern border.

“But why is the Savior making a move when He hasn’t fully awakened?”

“I’m not sure either. It might be His way of stopping that girl from destroying more Eggs of the Beast God, or maybe, He seeks to destroy humankind before the Mother Goddess awakens. Regardless, this is an opportunity for us.”

“An opportunity for us?”

“Yes, it’s an opportunity to absorb the power inside Sia’s Scepter and complete the final plan. This is our chance to create a new god,” Carolyn said.

“!” Roel was rendered speechless.

“Our plan was foiled by the Spirit Cataclysm of the Capital, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we have failed yet. It was only temporarily halted. After all, I was still around.”

“Lord Ancestor, did you do something?”

“Most of my time in the Abyss was spent in a state of pseudo-death, but I would still awaken every hundred years to maintain Sia’s Scepter. I knew it could become an ace for humankind in the future.”

“Wait a moment; you’re saying that…”

“Yes, Sia’s Scepter was still intact when I left the Abyss. It has accumulated more than enough mana over a thousand years to birth a divine child.”

Roel’s heart skipped a beat when he heard Carolyn’s words. If Sia’s Scepter was truly still intact, it would mean they could potentially obtain a significant portion of the Savior’s power.

“But, Lord Ancestor, you previously mentioned that you were unable to absorb much of the Savior’s mana, which was why you concluded that the divine child needed to have the powers of both the Ackermanns and the Ascarts.”

“I did say that, but you might stand a chance.”

“A chance? What makes you say so?” Roel asked.

“Sia-fication,” Carolyn replied.

Roel narrowed his eyes, as he immediately understood what Carolyn was driving at.

Sia-fication was technically a power ranked above the Savior’s powers, which theoretically meant that he should be able to take in the Savior’s mana and absorb everything inside Sia’s Scepter.

“It’s just a conjecture at this point, and I don’t think things will proceed that smoothly either. Still, it’s worth a try,” Carolyn said.

“I do think your conjecture is plausible too,” Roel agreed.

“But we’ll have to move fast. Another person is after Sia’s Scepter too.”

“You’re talking about Emperor Lukas?”

“That’s right.” Carolyn and Paul exchanged gazes at this point before the former added on, “Lukas Ackermann has been missing for some time now.”