“I...”
Hestia was speechless, her eyes trembling incessantly as she felt her power draining away.
This was not just a decline in physical strength, but rather something fundamental and essential to her very being was being extracted.
Hestia stared blankly at the screen.
Her servants were falling one after another.
Their bodies collapsed to the ground like stiff logs, while the black monsters covering them surged forward like a tide.
The countless screens before her eyes flickered out one by one.
This meant that all her connections with her servants had been severed; they could no longer serve as her eyes and ears.
‘How could immortality be so easy? I never expected to be devoured by these unknown Outer God bugs.’
In fact, since she had already prepared herself for death, this was to be expected.
Even if one became a deity and attained godhood, it did not mean they would live forever.
The concept of death existed for deities as well.
The death of a deity meant the loss of their Divine Status and their fall, which simultaneously meant the death of their servants.
Therefore, to kill her—who possessed a Transcendent Divine Status—on her home planet, all her servants scattered across the outside world had to be eliminated first, and that was exactly what the Great Devourer was doing.
“Goddess, please, even to the very end...”
“Please do not abandon us.”
In the screens, the voices of those who collapsed on the ground, offering their final prayers, echoed continuously in her ears.
What truly loyal servants they were.
For until their very last moment, they harbored no resentment toward her, only lamenting the grief and unwilling despair in their hearts.
Most of them came from the home planet and the upper territories. This meant they had lived for thousands of years, serving as Hestia's servants and believers of the Goddess of Light Association for generations since birth.
For them, the option of betraying Hestia simply did not exist.
Since they had been with her in the beginning, they would surely be with her in the end.
“This is only natural.”
She clenched her trembling fists, forcing herself to mutter.
It wasn't as if they were the only ones who would die, anyway.
Their deaths would soon translate into her own death, rebounding upon her.
In reality, the servants were not truly dead, but had merely fallen into a delicate and elaborate state of suspended animation. However, this biological “death” was enough to temporarily sever the connection between the deity and her servants.
And Hestia was still unaware of this fact.
She had not expected that such a powerful state of suspended animation could exist, let alone that they would ultimately succeed in pulling it off.
[Goddess of Light: Thanks to you all turning a blind eye, they were able to breed even more rampantly. Truly remarkable. Enjoy your food and drink, and live well, you miserable bastards.]
Hestia took off her mask and opened the Divine Net forum one last time to foretell her own end.
In her view, what was happening now was just an ordinary war with an Outer God, and the other deities who responded with such complacency appeared utterly detestable in her eyes.
[Goddess of Wisdom: Can't you hold on just a little bit longer?]
[Goddess of Mist: Hestia, escape first! You can always reclaim your territories and servants later!]
[God of Mercenaries: How foolish. You could have just compromised slightly, yet you chose to remain arrogant to the very end, ultimately walking toward your own demise.]
The reactions were varied.
Those who had some acquaintance with Hestia tried to persuade her, while others openly mocked and ridiculed her.
[Sacred Blood Angel: Is it really an Outer God? Based on what you said, the behavior occurring in the lands occupied by those monsters is a bit strange.]
Even in this situation, there were still some deities who wanted to extract information from her until the very end.
Hestia instantly recalled the opponent who had tried to speak with her through the mouth of a Lictor.
‘Indeed, they are certainly somewhat different from ordinary Outer Gods. What on earth is that fellow? Could it be a new type of Outer God?’
To be honest, she felt deeply perplexed.
She had always firmly believed that Lin Miao was an Outer God because he made choices that ordinary deities would not, or simply could not, make.
But all information regarding Outer Gods was, in the final analysis, merely a synthesis of what the deities had personally experienced and recorded on the deity forum over the long ages.
In other words, perfectly defining an Outer God was impossible.
Even if an Outer God with completely different tendencies from all other Outer Gods suddenly appeared at this moment, it could not serve as a basis to refute existing knowledge.
Therefore, for the time being, she regarded Lin Miao and his servants as an Outer God force of unknown origin. In any case, rebels who did not abide by order were no different from Outer Gods.
[Goddess of Light: Whatever. Do as you please.]
A tightness gripped her chest, and she forcibly suppressed those doubts and questions.
She did not want to benefit those deities in the Divine Net at this final moment.
【Home planet is under attack】
【Mid-to-High-Tier Deity, Grade I → Mid-Tier Deity, Grade V】
From then on, Hestia stood alone on the terrace of the Palace of Sacred Radiance, staring blankly as the sky of her home planet, Arcadia, was gradually torn apart.
The moment her home planet began to be torn apart, the decline of her Divine Status became uncontrollable.
◆◆◆
“The Goddess's power is still active. We must not deploy key units yet.”
Inside the Chronos, which still lingered outside the atmosphere, Celia watched the scene of additional forces continuously warping in.
To fight Hestia, they had to completely strip away the deity's power first.
Until the Queen or Legion Commander-grade units could barely protect themselves, they would hold their positions.
Instead, a massive force continued to launch forced assaults toward the ground.
Ignoring the shredded air defense network, they landed on the ground and immediately deployed nests, attempting to erode and contaminate the home planet of Arcadia.
“Look, Your Grace! They aren't dead! They're still alive!”
“What on earth is going on? What are those monsters up to?!”
At that moment, the Great Devourer's actions were finally exposed.
Those who rescued the survivors who had collapsed from the sleep toxin discovered that they had not drawn their last breath.
They were not breathing, and their hearts had stopped. The supply of blood and oxygen was replaced by Cordyceps formed by the spores inside their bodies.
Thanks to this, a trace of faint warmth still remained. This absurd situation plunged the already chaotic home planet into an even greater panic.
“The monsters have stolen even death from us.”
“We can't even die; we can only be bound here!”
Soon after, an even more severe panic spread.
The malice of the monsters, controlling even their ability to resolutely seek death, caused the home planet to collapse even faster.
“Generally speaking, for a demigod-grade servant to reach a level where they can contend with a deity, the deity's Divine Status must fall below Low-Tier, Grade III.”
Thus, that moment finally arrived.
No sooner had Lin Miao, who had been staring at the screen, finished speaking than those who leapt out from the Chronos descending from space majestically spread their wings and began flying toward the Goddess's Sky Island—the Palace of Sacred Radiance.
The beautiful, colossal, pure white palace, with its back to the setting sun, had once been the symbol of the order.
But the sounds of glory and nobility that once echoed from there had ceased. Now, only the sound of those demons clad in black exoskeletons flapping their wings as they flew toward the palace to desecrate it remained.
【Kerrigan, go kill her.】
Elise, obeying Lin Miao's will, ordered her sister and Queen, Kerrigan, to capture the Goddess.
Under the current circumstances, only Kerrigan could achieve this.
Even if a deity had fallen and lost their Divine Status, they would still retain a final shred of residual power.
To clash head-on with such a deity, we must send at least a demigod-grade individual who has received direct divine protection.
“I could have waited until the very end, yet you pleaded so insistently.”
Lin Miao looked at Kerrigan with a bitter smile.
The black crown atop Kerrigan's head shimmered. She had strongly insisted on fighting the Goddess, who still had a final shred of residual power.
Lin Miao sharing his Divine Status with the Queens' crowns was precisely the symbol that temporarily elevated Kerrigan's status to that of a demigod.
“So, are you the executor painstakingly raised by your master?”
Hestia had arrived early at the massive garden, which was large enough to accommodate several large sports fields, to personally greet Kerrigan.
Kerrigan landed gracefully on the ground, retracted her wings, drew her swords, and grinned.
Hestia saw through Kerrigan's competitiveness. Her eyes were dyed in pure white light, and holy power crackled around her like massive bolts of lightning.
Although the Goddess was far removed from combat, in the distant past, she had personally become the overlord of a world, ultimately transcending the limits of existence.
Even if her power had declined at this moment, and even if her remaining territory was now only the size of a single city, she was still an existence far more powerful than a wet-behind-the-ears novice like Kerrigan.
“Your master will have to find a new toy!”
Hestia's bursting power instantly transformed into a massive storm, sweeping through the area.
The howling wind turned into blades, and lightning shot out like spears, blowing everything away.
Even considering the Transcendent Divine Status contained within it, the power was terrifying.
Only Kerrigan, going all out, managed to barely hold her ground, while all the other units that had come with her were instantly shredded, scattering as minced meat.
‘So this is the power of a god.’
Kerrigan crossed her twin swords, adopting a defensive stance, her foot talons sinking deeply into the cracked ground like nails as she felt the protection of Lin Miao's divine protection within the crown atop her head shielding her body.
Whether it was the Goddess's power or the power required to withstand it, both were realms far out of reach for Kerrigan.
Therefore, to dare covet such power was truly a delightful and magnificent thing.
Beneath her gradually cracking, shattered mask, Kerrigan actually smiled.
Combat and slaughter—that was precisely Kerrigan's origin.
“You...”
Hestia's eyes widened.
Hestia had originally thought Kerrigan was merely a weapon or monster acting solely on the will of an Outer God, but the intense obsession and desire radiating from her was by no means to be underestimated.
Kerrigan leaped off the ground, rushing forward wrapped in blue-black energy. Slash after slash rained down relentlessly toward Hestia, cutting through the earth and the howling winds.
“You are different from the other monsters. What on earth are you? Are you a Queen? The daughter of the Outer God? Or your father's loyal vanguard?”
Hestia caught a slash larger than her own body with her hand, crushing it as she gritted her teeth.
With Kerrigan swinging swords that had reached the pinnacle right before her eyes, her eyes narrowed.
Still, she was quite pleased to receive recognition of her relationship with Lin Miao from the mouth of an existence like the Goddess.
“Yes, break through it.”
Unknowingly, Lin Miao grew excited, cheering Kerrigan on.
Kerrigan wielded her dazzling swords with her four arms. Her strength had long since become incredibly formidable through countless experiences and her outstanding learning capability.
The beastkin swordsmanship she had learned on Terra cleaved through the Goddess's holy power; the paladin sword techniques she had learned from fighting the Goddess of Light Association cut through the Goddess's defenses.
The earth split apart, and cracks appeared even in the massive palace.
“Cough...”
The Palace of Sacred Radiance finally rumbled, collapsing in pieces toward the ground. Hestia swayed along with it, ultimately unable to withstand her internal injuries and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Kerrigan was in a similar state, but she seemed to completely disregard her battered body and pain, instead stepping forward upon the collapsing ground.
In an instant, the countless paths they had traversed flashed rapidly through Kerrigan's mind and the shared hive mind.
From fighting armed enemies with the mandibles on her head to gradually evolving, preying on technology and civilizations, all the way until now.
This was not just Kerrigan's advancement alone.
Though brief, the history recorded by the colony as a whole without missing a single moment, the paths they had trodden, and all the accumulated achievements had culminated in this very moment.
“You...”
Having paid the price of losing everything in her hands, Hestia felt a powerful sense of oppression emanating from Kerrigan at that moment.
This colony, massive enough to prey upon a high civilization, had itself become a formidable will capable of suppressing even a deity with a long and ancient lineage.
“Caught you.”
The final move unleashed from Kerrigan's fingertips was not swordsmanship.
What ultimately pierced through Hestia's power and impaled her body was a spear formed from her transformed exoskeleton.
A spear technique created by a young girl whom Hestia had failed to look after in time, reassembled in Kerrigan's own style, pierced straight through Hestia's body.
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