Chapter 381 - 2: A World on the Verge of Destruction

The world was about to end.

Eleven hundred years ago, after observing the transformative cycle of the Four Great Elements and their gradual decline, the Great Scholar Borel made a prophecy. He declared that the world would be plunged into an abyss of destruction within two hundred years, all because the Elements were destined to stagnate completely.

However, for the first ten years after the prophecy emerged, the world paid it no mind. Borel was a Great Scholar acknowledged by the Four Great Kingdoms, wielding power that was Near God. Had he prophesied the destruction of a single kingdom, no one would have thought it strange. They might even have believed him unconditionally.

After all, as a Near-God Powerhouse, Borel’s strength was great enough that he could single-handedly topple a kingdom. If his prophecy proved false and he, furious from the humiliation, decided to fulfill it himself—well, that wouldn’t have been surprising at all.

But for even a Powerhouse like Borel to spout nonsense about the world’s end—how could the other Powerhouses, let alone the Divine Church, possibly remain silent?

And yet, that was exactly what happened. While the other Powerhouses and factions remained silent, many who paid close attention discovered that the activity of the Elements throughout the world was, in fact, steadily declining.

The sun in the sky grew dim, and the soil on the ground lost its fertility. The Gales still blew, but the Spiritual Energy within them had vanished. Deep beneath the seas, the surging ocean currents slowly came to a halt.

Observations from multiple Races and numerous instances all confirmed every point of the prophecy. Filled with terror, everyone tried to deny the absurd truth, but a fact is a fact precisely because it cannot be denied.

In just twenty short years, Borel’s prophecy transformed from laughable nonsense into an ironclad fact.

Even the Great Scholar Borel himself would have rather been scorned and ridiculed than believe it was true... But the end was truly coming. Everyone frantically built safe houses in remote regions and excavated shelters deep underground.

No one, regardless of who they were, knew exactly how the end would come, but they all put forth one last effort, hoping to somehow survive when it arrived.

But the end did not arrive on schedule as the prophecy had foretold.

Because before the world was destroyed, the Spiritual Qi—or as it was also called, the Demon Tide—was completely severed.

For scholars, Mages, and Professionals of all kinds, like Warriors and Knights, the end of the Demon Tide meant they could no longer cast any powerful Magic. They were forced to rely on their physical bodies and a few crude Magic Techniques to fight; some couldn’t even survive. Yet for the world itself, the end of the Demon Tide unexpectedly slowed the abnormal stagnation of the Four Great Elements.

It was like a small boat being pushed by a current toward the edge of a cliff. Once the current stopped, the boat could no longer move forward. Its situation was still dire, but the threat of imminent destruction had receded.

And so, the world was not destroyed after two hundred years.

In fact, eleven hundred years have passed, and it still exists.

But how to put it... The most terrifying part is not the instant the bullet kills you. It is the time spent waiting for your enemy to pull the trigger—that period when the condemned does not wish to die, yet knows their fate is sealed.

For everyone living in this world, these past eleven hundred years have been exactly that. They are living in a world that has already been condemned, its death sentence proven and passed.

This was the true apocalypse: a long, painful, and unbearable time, yet one that was all too real—like death by a thousand cuts.

However, to speak of the world’s destruction, one must first speak of the world’s birth.

The philosopher Tebominidu once said that the essence of all things originates from water—Earth is the Gathering of water, wind is its dispersal, and Flame is its sublimation. All things are rooted in the womb of water, everything a transformation of its form, born from the depths of the sea.

Another philosopher, Simmilidonik, said that all things originate from wind. The acceleration of wind is Flame, its deceleration is water, and its stagnation is Earth. The origin of all things lies in the speed of the wind; everything is part of the atmosphere’s movement, born from high in the sky.

The hypothesis that all things originate from Flame is even older than the other two, hailing from an unknown sage several Eras ago. After a Flame burns, ash becomes Earth, the rising heat becomes wind, and the cooling condensation becomes water. All things stem from the changing forms of Flame; all of existence is rooted in its burning.

Having discussed three, it would be awkward to leave out the last of the Four Great Elements. The Earth Element, too, has a more recent creation hypothesis: All things are nurtured from the Earth. The grinding of Earth creates fire, like the magma deep underground. The movement of Earth creates wind, like the air currents stirred by shifting matter. And the flow of Earth becomes water. Each of these claims is supported by its own corresponding and rigorous logical explanation.

But regardless of the theory, the Four Great Elements were the true foundation of the world. The sky, the sun, the stars, and the moon—everything originated from the power of the Elements.

But now, that foundation of Elements has crumbled.

Water has dried and frozen into ice. Wind has ceased to flow. Earth is no longer fertile. Flame has lost its heat.

In a world growing ever more silent and dark, countless Monsters born of the Dark and the Undead have emerged to roam the wasteland. The once-prosperous Four Great Kingdoms crumbled long ago over the past thousand years. The vast majority of the world has been reduced to desolate ruins. On the surface, only the Shelter Cities, protected by enormous Barrier Arrays, remain. Within them, people can still grow crops and sustain life, making these cities the last bastion for the remnants of Order.