CH672 Twilight Adjudicator II

***

"What?" Alex was genuinely stunned.

Fortunately, the BattleBane Guild Master did not leave him hanging for long and quickly continued his explanation.

"After reaching apotheosis under the War Deity’s tutelage and supervision, the new deity somehow discovered that it was possible to steal and absorb the godhood of other deities for oneself," the armoured man said.

Alex’s eyes flashed as he recalled that the War Deity had used an item or artefact to guide and elevate this so-called new deity.

"The new deity then devised a plan to weaken the old gods. They manipulated the leadership of the old deities’ Temples into betraying their patrons, and through them, They created a trap that forced the old deities into open conflict with one another—weakening them enough for Them to seize their godhood one after another.

"It is suspected that the new deity had already placed a divine restriction upon the final battlefield of the old deities beforehand. Their intention was to trap them all in one decisive sweep when they were at their weakest. However, the old deities did not fall so easily. The more astute ones amongst them destroyed the artefact itself, using the resulting explosion to break free from the restriction."

"Who suspected this?" Alex asked with a frown.

"The Twilight Adjudicators," the BattleBane Guild Master replied.

"Then who exactly are these Twilight Adjudicators?" Alex asked again, this time with visible exasperation.

The BattleBane Guild Master finally realised his mistake.

"I apologise. It has been quite some time since I last spoke at length with someone outside the BattleBane. I may have become somewhat too talkative... and rather scattered," he admitted.

"Please bear with me. I am approaching the heart of your question."

"Alright," Alex replied with a nod.

The BattleBane Guild Master continued, "After the deities escaped the confinement, the new deity knew They could not pursue all of them anymore. So, They gathered Their most elite soldiers and sent them out to hunt down the two weakest surviving deities—both to salvage Their failed plan and to ensure that no one else benefited at Their expense.

"Using what little divine power They had left after maintaining the divine restriction—and while still suffering the backlash from its destruction—the new deity personally moved to ambush the Popes of those two deities.

"They killed them before they could complete their own planned assassinations, allowing the two deities to escape death at the hands of their clergy... only to fall instead into the grasp of Their own elite force—Their chosen hunters."

"Though weakened to the extreme, a deity was still a deity. As long as They still had believers, They were incredibly difficult to kill. However, empowered by a portion of the new deity’s divine energy, Their handpicked elite soldiers succeeded in slaying these two weakened deities, leaving behind two more battlefields of utter devastation. Thus, the new deity was able to claim two additional godheads for Themself.

"However, before They could fully capitalise on that victory, the newly ascended generation of deities uncovered Their treacherous intentions. They banded together and forced Them to halt Their ambitions.

"Realising that the opportunity had passed, the new deity abandoned Their plans to target the other newly ascended gods—plans They had intended to carry out while they were still vulnerable, digesting their newly acquired godhood.

"While the new Pantheon gradually settled into the current balance of power, the paladins and priests who had done most of the work—especially those who had directly served the new deity—were all condemned to death on charges of blasphemy against the divine.

"The Pantheon, including the new deity, united to issue worldwide execution orders against them," the BattleBane Guild Master revealed.

Alex’s lips twitched slightly.

Honestly, to say he was completely surprised would have been a lie.

Discarding or sacrificing useful assets once they had outlived their purpose—or using them as scapegoats to conceal one’s own uglier actions—was hardly uncommon among nobility, aristocrats, and the powerful of any world.

Whether in Pangea or here in Verdantis, such behaviour was nothing new.

Never mind the ancient kingdoms and empires of his previous life—even the so-called modern nations that existed at the time of his transmigration were no different. They had merely wrapped the practice in a more elegant title— plausible deniability.

Since these new deities had once been among the world’s most powerful political and military figures before their apotheosis, Alex could hardly be surprised that their methods remained the same.

’In fact, that would explain why the history promoted by the current temples feels so... progressive for a Navi religion. It is because these records were drafted by deities who were essentially politicians before becoming deities,’ Alex thought.

’Leave it to politicians to craft the perfect narrative—one that satisfies the masses while quietly enriching themselves. Deity or not, some things never change.’

’The worst part of it all—whether among the aristocracy or the divine—was that both would always dress it up as righteousness,’ Alex thought, shaking his head inwardly.

Meanwhile, the BattleBane Guild Master continued.

"These paladins and priests were the most elite forces the new generation Pantheon had under their command when they usurped the throne from the old deities. In particular, those who served the new deity had been directly infused with Their divine power, allowing them to kill the two weakened deities as they did.

"And on top of that, when those two old deities fell, these warriors inherited fragments of their divinity as well—gaining a portion of the powers left behind by the gods they had slain."

"When these paladins and priests realised they had been abandoned, and that the new generation of deities they had helped raise to power had left them with no path to survival, they chose the only option left to them.

"They resisted."

"There were a total of three hundred paladins and priests who chose rebellion—each one a high-ranking elite among elites. They fought across every corner of the plane for years, breaking through fatal encirclements time and time again, surviving countless great and minor battles alike.

"It is said that the pursuit of those three hundred became a great war in itself—one that may well have rivalled the great divine wars of the old era. Only after every last one of them had fallen could the new pantheon finally establish the era of order that exists today... and even then, the price was immense.

"Before these betrayed paladins and priests were finally put down, as many as five Combat Sages and higher had fallen to them, along with an uncountable number of Combat Saints—so many that no proper tally could ever be made."

His voice grew heavier.

"Because of the fallen divine power they carried into every battle, these three hundred warriors—those who ushered in the greatest era of divine rebellion—came to be known as the Twilight Adjudicators."

’As expected,’ Alex thought to himself. ’If the Navi erased this history, then the only ones who would still remember it... would be those standing on the other side of it.’

His eyes flashed sharply.

’Then that must mean...’

"These Twilight Adjudicators brought terror and judgement upon the forces of the new Pantheon. They became a thorn buried so deeply in their side that it could never truly be removed. And even in death... that did not change.

"Even after all three hundred Twilight Adjudicators were finally brought down, their hatred for the new Pantheon did not fade. Instead, in their final moments, each of them protected the very source of their power—the fragments of fallen divinity they carried—and allowed them to condense into seeds.

"After some time, those seeds spread across the entire plane, passing down their battle of vengeance and hatred to future generations through ritual, inheritance, and fate itself.

"Even now, more than five centuries later, people still occasionally awaken the power of the Twilight Adjudicators, inheriting not only their strength, but also their mission—the greatest heresy in the eyes of the new deities.

"Some choose to fully embrace this mission, becoming infamous heretics hunted across the plane. Others preserve it in secret, quietly passing the legacy down while conserving their strength and waiting for the right moment to strike."

The BattleBane Guild Master’s voice grew colder.

"The new Pantheon eventually became aware of this. Fearing the devastation that a new generation of Twilight Adjudicators might bring to the order they had built, the deities united once more and, at great cost, cast a divine curse upon all who inherit the power of the Twilight Adjudicators.

"Should an inheritor lose their will or fortitude for even a single moment, they would be consumed by that very power—driven into madness and forced to slaughter all around them."

"I see..." Alex muttered. "The deities likely hoped to use that curse to ensure that the next generation of Twilight Adjudicators would be destroyed by the hands of their own comrades, while also painting them as unstable deviants who could never be trusted."

"You are correct," the BattleBane Guild Master affirmed. "Such is the twisted nature of the deities."

"Then am I also correct in assuming that the BattleBane Mercenary Guild is, in truth, a gathering of inheritors of the Twilight Adjudicators’ power?" Alex asked.

"You are," the BattleBane Guild Master replied with a slow nod.

"We are, indeed... Twilight Adjudicators."

***