New Kirk.

Ruined buildings floated through the air.

Under the pull of the giant vortex, structures were still rearranging themselves in chaotic combinations, though the process seemed close to completion.

Amid the rubble.

A heavily injured Derek and Guy lay sprawled across the debris, exhausted beyond words.

Facing the overwhelming superiority of the Divine Wasteland World invaders, neither of them had any strength left to keep fighting.

Guy weakly muttered, "Can’t move anymore."

"The gap’s way too big," Derek said.

Guy added, "Not just unwinnable. We’re completely screwed."

Arkenfall only had the two of them capable of fusing into an SS Rank fighter.

Meanwhile, practically every invader emerging from the giant vortex possessed S Rank disaster level strength.

There were plenty of SS Rank ones too.

How were they supposed to fight that?

Derek looked toward the edge of New Kirk and sighed in relief.

"Whatever’s going on, at least that barrier’s keeping them trapped inside New Kirk. They can’t threaten the rest of the world."

It was the only silver lining they had.

Seriously wounded.

The two gradually lost consciousness.

Then suddenly.

An invisible wave swept across the battlefield.

Their injuries healed instantly.

Dead players revived one after another, all staring around in complete confusion.

"By decree of the Lord Gods, cease fighting immediately."

An envoy of the six Lord Gods descended into New Kirk.

The moment the command was spoken.

Every invading character was forcibly halted by the decree.

All Earth players and civilians killed during the battle were restored to life.

This was Divine Wasteland World’s gesture of goodwill toward Earth.

"Lord Gods?"

The invading characters looked puzzled.

"Why stop fighting?"

The new world was unbelievably weak.

Why not conquer it while they had the chance?

The envoy’s gaze swept toward Earth’s S Rank players.

"Everyone, how about we talk this through peacefully?"

The six Lord Gods did not dare provoke Caelum.

So the only option left was to show goodwill toward Earth.

To halt the invasion and hostility entirely.

Since the giant vortex could not be closed, coexistence would have to suffice.

The S Rank players of New Kirk nearly went crazy with relief.

They had thought the world was doomed, yet somehow things had turned around.

Through them, Earth’s governments quickly established a coexistence agreement with the envoy of the Lord Gods.

Just like that.

Earth’s extinction crisis was resolved.

Not just ordinary people.

Even the players who fought in New Kirk were utterly confused.

They had never seen anything like this before.

The other side clearly held absolute dominance.

Earth had practically no ability to resist.

Yet the invaders voluntarily proposed peace talks.

It made no sense at all.

Still.

Although the crisis had been resolved, the New Kirk barrier and giant vortex spacetime passage genuinely could not be removed.

The situation had no choice but to remain as it was.

As a result, New Kirk became the most unique city on Earth.

Following the coexistence agreement.

Under the binding decrees of the six Lord Gods, no being from Divine Wasteland World could harm humans inside New Kirk.

Likewise, humans were forbidden from harming Divine Wasteland World lifeforms.

For the first time ever, New Kirk became a city where humans and invading characters peacefully coexisted.

Even invaders from other game worlds benefited from the agreement.

Of course.

Only within New Kirk.

Several days later.

The restructuring of New Kirk finally finished.

Its buildings had been completely reorganized by the power of the giant vortex and merged with structures descending from Divine Wasteland World.

As the final building settled into place.

The reconstruction came to an end.

Looking around, every structure in the city was now bizarrely fused together at impossible angles.

The entire place looked like a pile of random toy blocks smashed together.

Combined with the wildly different architectural styles of Divine Wasteland World, the city had become strangely surreal and abstract.

No human architect could ever have designed something this ridiculous.

Fluffball lay against the window, staring down at the bottomless abyss beneath the apartment building in genuine amazement.

"Whoa."

During New Kirk’s reconstruction, Caelum’s apartment complex had fused onto the exterior wall of a hospital.

Meaning the entire underside of the apartment now hung suspended in empty air.

It looked absolutely insane.

A lot of residents packed up and fled overnight.

Some even left New Kirk entirely.

After all, the streets were now packed with bizarre beings from Divine Wasteland World.

The city looked like demons and monsters running wild.

People with weaker nerves immediately bailed.

People with stronger nerves had already started partying with the weird creatures at bars.

The decrees prevented them from harming humans anyway.

Most of the time, things were perfectly safe.

As for invaders from other game worlds, they were trying their best to adapt to life in New Kirk.

Unlike the Divine Wasteland natives, they lacked the protection of the decrees and had to stay cautious.

Still, compared to before, their situation had improved dramatically.

They could finally walk openly through the streets without fearing Shieldbearers hunting them down for exposed identities.

Now.

As long as they did not actively harm humans, Shieldbearers would not casually attack invading characters.

Caelum sighed.

"New Kirk property prices are about to skyrocket."

As the point where Divine Wasteland World and reality intersected, New Kirk held enormous opportunities.

Without question, every inch of land here would soon become outrageously valuable.

"Property prices?"

Fluffball’s eyes lit up.

Caelum didn’t need money.

It definitely did.

Maybe it could cash in by speculating on New Kirk real estate.

There was definitely huge profit to be made.

But where would the startup capital come from?

Fluffball fell deep into thought.

Knock knock knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

Caelum opened it to find a Divine Wasteland native with an eagle head, human body, and a perfectly tailored black business suit.

The guy even carried a briefcase.

Fluffball stared in disbelief.

The eagle headed man pulled out a contract from the briefcase and smiled professionally.

"Sir, would you like to purchase a personal safety insurance plan? We offer packages at all price ranges and coverage types..."

Bang.

Caelum shut the door immediately.

"Sir, New Kirk is currently filled with dangers. I strongly recommend purchasing personal insurance. Of course, if you’re not interested in insurance, may I ask if this apartment belongs to you? Are you interested in selling? I have many clients eager to purchase property in New Kirk. I can absolutely offer you an excellent price. Please think it over, sir!"

Two seconds later.

The insurance salesman from Divine Wasteland World got kicked into the distance by Caelum.

Finally, peace and quiet returned.

Caelum opened his game terminal.

After days of searching, he had finally found a game that might suit him.

At the very least, its upper limit should not be low.

"Watch the house."

"Okay."

Fluffball nodded obediently.

Caelum swiped through the interface and selected the game.

<Game: Path of Ascension>

<Enter Game>

A flash of white light.

Caelum vanished from the apartment and entered the game world.

After finishing a Special Series game, he could only choose from Ordinary Series titles next.

Eternal Immortal Cultivation seemed decent enough.

It was a traditional cultivation game.

Like the previous games, it belonged to the large scale open world category.

No main story.

No quests.

Everything depended entirely on luck and personal freedom.