The Lost Crown of Wisdom

The slaughter stretched from day to night until the warm seawater turned icy cold, until the pure blue sea was stained crimson, and until corpses floated everywhere, both above and below the water's surface.

Nearly twenty thousand monsters were killed, leaving only a few thousand remaining.

Fear gripped the monsters.

They gathered their last strength to find a weak point in the encirclement and broke through.

Instinctively, they fled in the direction they had come, towards that dark and frigid oceanic trench.

Yesael, flush with victory, gave chase. He laughed triumphantly as he summoned his warriors and followers, just as he once rallied the valiant men of the God-Descended City to set out for the land of their origin.

"Pursue them!"

"Drive them back to the demonic abyss. The sinful people belong in eternal darkness, never to see the light of day again."

While the power of the other high priests could at most move a stone the size of a head, Yesael could not only levitate his own body but also ride the wind and soar through the sky.

Yesael controlled his body to fly high above, dashing at the forefront of the army.

Below, the seven Fusion Monsters parted the waves as they surged forward, followed by tens of thousands of Yinsai Kingdom soldiers chasing his silhouette.

He felt exhilarated, driving the sinful people until they had nowhere to go, neither in the heavens above nor in the depths below.

Recklessly exploiting the power of his own bloodline and the Sun Cup, he reached the unfathomable edge of the oceanic trench.

Yet he failed to notice the changes occurring in the Sun Cup that had symbiotically merged with him.

The battlefield extended to the deep sea abyss, stretching the frontline to its limit. Yesael, determined to prevent a large number of sinful people from escaping into the abyss, charged to the very front.

He gradually separated from the main force, accompanied only by a few royal guards and a starfish-like Fusion Monster.

However, his unrivaled and overwhelming strength filled him with fearlessness.

Not far away on the seabed loomed a bottomless trench. Yesael walked on the water's surface, charging into the monster crowd alone, allowing more than a dozen monsters to surround and attack him.

With a wave of his hand, he stirred up giant waves, knocking seven or eight monsters away.

In mid-air, these monsters shattered into a mess of flesh.

A sinful person over two meters tall charged straight at Yesael. It leaped from the water's surface, extending its arms to stab at him.

The monster opened its terrifying mouthparts but couldn't make a single sound.

Yet one could feel its fury. Witnessing so many of its kin die before its eyes, even the dullest of them felt an incomparable sense of desolation.

However, no matter how enraged they were, it couldn't change the vast difference in strength between them and the King.

Yesael reached out his hand and grasped the creature in the void.

It was like pinching an insect.

The King of Yinsai, adorned with his crown, carefully observed his foe. For a body to grow to this extent, it must be a direct descendant of their bloodline.

The thought that such a monster once shared the same blood as himself made Yesael nauseous.

"So hideous."

"Descendants of patricidal sons."

He clenched his fingers.

The monster burst in the sky, its entrails splattering into the sea.

This scene was witnessed by the tens of thousands of Yinsai Kingdom soldiers rushing over from afar. At this moment, Yesael was the embodiment of divinity.

"My King!"

"King of Wisdom!"

"The God-given power is unstoppable. Slay all these sinful people!"

The nearby royal guards surfaced and cheered.

This didn't feel like a war but more like a feast.

Or rather, a performance dedicated to the gods.

The Sun Cup on Yesael's shoulder grew increasingly radiant, releasing a golden light that truly resembled the sun.

He activated the Sun Cup on his shoulder and released the divine technique Realm of Illusion from above the water's surface.

One after another, the monsters lost their way and floated up from the seabed to the surface, where Yesael struck them down on the spot. They even began to kill each other.

Yesael strolled on the water, effortlessly slaying these sinful people, his footsteps smooth and graceful, as if he were dancing.

He felt like the protagonist, presenting the most beautiful performance to the gods.

Using the power bestowed upon him by God, he punished the sinners.

"Ense!"

"Boon!"

"You two blasphemers against God, traitorous patricidal sons!"

"Do you see? This is the might of God."

"This is God's punishment for you, divine retribution for your sin of patricide."

The more he used his power, the stronger the Sun Cup's influence became.

This bizarre flower, called the God's Cup, had never encountered someone with such powerful mythical bloodlines who unleashed their power towards it so unreservedly.

Unknowingly, the Sun Cup on his shoulder grew larger and larger.

Finally, it suddenly moved on its own, letting out a hideous screech.

"Hiss!"

Yesael, who had been freely wielding his power, abruptly stopped in his tracks, his expression frozen in an instant.

He suddenly lost control of his power and his body, stumbling from the sea surface and plunging into the ocean.

"What's happening?"

Yesael was utterly horrified. His eyes darted sideways to his shoulder.

The once beautiful Sun Cup suddenly split open, transforming into a terrifying maw with fangs that lunged towards Yesael's head.

Yesael watched helplessly, unable to do anything.

Its target was not to kill him but to devour the Crown of Wisdom on his head, that supreme Divine Artifact possessing vast mythical power and the authority of the King of Wisdom.

Panic seized Yesael.

He roared in his heart but couldn't make a sound.

He wanted to summon the Fusion Monsters on the distant sea surface, but he couldn't even release his wisdom authority.

"No!"

Suddenly, a tremendous force struck his back.

"Bang."

It was the sound of a blade piercing through bone armor.

At this moment, an enraged monster shot out from under the water and attacked Yesael.

The sharp spike pierced and tore through Yesael's neck, separating his head from his body, sending it flying into the distance like a ball.

The descendants of the patricidal son dealt a fatal blow to Yesael, as if the hatred and resentment of their ancestor Ense still lingered in their bones and blood, erupting at this very instant.

As the world spun around him:

"How could this be?"

Never had Yesael imagined he would meet such an end.

He suddenly recalled Ense's words. Even if banished to the abyss, Ense vowed to return, kill Yesael, and seize the throne that rightfully belonged to him.

"Could this also be fate?"

With a splash, his vision was engulfed by seawater, and his consciousness gradually sank into darkness.

He could no longer hear any sound; the entire world fell silent.

In a daze, he suddenly saw a tall, warm figure appear before him.

The figure stood backlit in the temple, his long shadow stretching across the stone slabs.

"Oh, Yesael!"

"Only the divine is eternal."

"No matter how much we gain, we will eventually decay and lose it all."

Wild joy surged in Yesael's heart, and his spirit instantly became invigorated, like the last ray of light at sunset.

"Father!"

"You've come for me? Have you come to take me back to God's kingdom?"

Yesael heaved a long sigh of relief, as if a lifelong burden had been lifted from his heart.

"Ah!"

"I knew God would forgive us."

He wanted to reach out his hand to grasp his father's, to follow him back to the divine halls. However, at this moment, he suddenly realized that only his head remained.

Everything vanished like a dream, along with his consciousness.

Yesael, the second-generation King of Wisdom, was dead.

In the bubbling seawater, the crown on his head automatically detached from him and plummeted towards the eternally dark and frigid bottomless oceanic trench.

One thousand meters.

Five thousand meters.

Ten thousand meters.

Until it reached the bottomless abyss that even Fusion Monsters struggled to attain.

The wisdom kingship belonging to the Trilobite Men.

Was lost.