Chapter Forty-Two: One Must Save Oneself

El withdrew his gaze and stepped toward the ruins, followed closely by Artanis and Vorazun. These underwater remnants lay nestled within an oceanic canyon, their natural concealment and the relentless corrosion of endless ages ensuring they had never been discovered.

Yet El knew these ruins were merely the outer structures of the sunken city; the true R’lyeh, like the ancient evil god himself, was sealed within a demi-plane. When the seal was finally broken, Cthulhu and his city would descend upon this world.

Although El now possessed the power to break this seal, he had no intention of doing so. If people will not save themselves, who else can save them? Since the God of Darkness had officially declared war on the entire cosmos, civilizations like Midgard could no longer run or hide. The Court of the Cosmos would not be able to shelter all civilizations in the coming conflict.

This calamity was unstoppable; only through unity and shared hardship could anyone hope to survive the tide of darkness without being annihilated.

The emergence of the evil god was both a crisis and an opportunity. Faced with the sweeping tide of darkness engulfing the universe, humanity would have to choose: to stand with order and resist the darkness, or to side with chaos and oppose order. That choice was theirs alone.

As for Asgard, Odin did not wish to be betrayed by Midgard’s people while fighting against the tide of darkness, so this trial was inevitable.

Indeed, El, after understanding Amon’s schemes, decided to turn them to his own advantage, using the evil god’s appearance as a catalyst to push for the unification of Midgard. With nations on Midgard constantly at odds, a unified planetary government would be far superior to a chaotic, divided world in the coming struggle.

Moreover, El, being present on Midgard, would never allow the evil god to truly destroy humanity—it was merely a strategic intimidation.

Still, El did not intend to follow Amon’s plan entirely. He had come to these ruins to make some adjustments.

As he drew near, swathes of earth peeled away from the buildings’ surfaces, finally revealing the ruins’ true underwater form. Though they appeared rather new, El did not wish to leave such obvious anomalies. He casually channeled some power from the seal, letting the ruins radiate its force. Mysterious runes appeared on the previously smooth stone pillars.

With these runes, the entire site exuded an aura of repulsion, causing all sea creatures to instinctively avoid the area.

El withdrew his hand, satisfied with the result. Now, any who found this place would believe it had always possessed mysterious power, rather than suspecting someone had been here.

With these tasks done, El signaled his companions to follow. Since this was an expedition, their ultimate goal was the city of the evil god sealed within—R’lyeh. Artanis and Vorazun quickly regained their composure, with Vorazun even wiping sweat from her brow.

Their unease was not caused by El's power, but by the chaos and evil emanating from the seal. As high-level psionics, Vorazun, though not yet at Artanis's tenth level and still at the ninth, could easily sense the dark god’s chaotic force.

In truth, all races with psionic talent were highly sensitive to the God of Darkness. Amon and El’s laws were diametric opposites, which unfortunately led Amon to target certain races with exceptional psionic gifts, turning them into slaves of darkness—like the Shagai swarm.

Races entirely lacking psionic talent, conversely, did not attract Amon’s attention. As an ambitious dark god, Amon was calculating and would never favor a race from which he gained nothing. El’s healing methods could only help races with psionic talent; only those beings could slowly cleanse their corrupted souls.

Why, then, did humanity—a race not particularly gifted in psionics—draw Amon’s gaze time and time again? Since their emergence a million years ago, Amon had cast his attention upon them. One reason was his deep hatred for the Pantheon, and by extension, all life created by the Pantheon—though El was unaware of this. What El knew was another reason.

Humanity, as a whole, was an exceedingly balanced race, capable of practicing almost any discipline, unlike other races that specialized in one. For example, the Protoss were universally endowed with psionic talent, even newborn infants possessing it.

This mediocrity attracted Amon, who sought to become the supreme god. Corrupting humanity and turning them into his servants suited Amon perfectly, making them his second priority.

His first priority was, of course, the Protoss. Despite his hatred for the Pantheon—rooted in past-life grievances—in this existence, the one he loathed most was El, the Lord of Minds.

Amon obsessed over the idea that all the injustices he suffered were due to El’s existence. The Protoss, who claimed to be the Firstborn of the gods and received El’s special favor, were naturally the thorn in Amon’s side.

From the beginning, Amon incited the Brood Lord to destroy the Protoss, only to fail at the last moment. Later, due to the presence of the Khala, Amon could not touch any Protoss, deepening his hatred.

The Tal’darim were Amon’s proudest pawns. Though he knew they could never defeat the true Protoss, the Tal’darim had once been part of the Protoss Empire, abducted by the Brood Lord and forced to consume Terrazine. Amon loved nothing more than brother turning upon brother, civil strife—after all, the Tal’darim were mere pieces on his board, and whatever the outcome, the Protoss Empire would suffer.

Although the Protoss Empire discovered the Tal’darim, Death Fleet, and Slayn in parallel universes, they never found Slayn’s location in the real universe, and believed the Tal’darim did not exist here. This was a miscalculation, for the real universe did have Tal’darim, and Slayn as well, both hidden in darkness, never revealed.

This outcome was caused by the fact that Slayn was not a fixed planet. In Tal’darim society, the first planet tread upon by a High Lord became Slayn. The true answer lay in the abundance of Terrazine—each Slayn was crafted by Amon to evade the gaze of the Protoss Empire.