Falling into the Abyss of Despair

It was the same island, with corpses of Trilobite Men tied to irregular stone stakes. Their bone armor was broken and decayed, exposing dried-up organs, like bizarre dried jerky.

Tito, battered and bruised, was carried to the shore by two Abyss Kingdom soldiers from the Sal Domain.

Tito lay on the ground, limp and motionless, his body covered in wounds.

He kept muttering words that the People of the Abyss couldn't hear clearly or understand.

"It's okay... It's okay."

"This is all the guidance of fate."

"I won't die. I will find the God-Given Land and go to the temple of God to have an audience with the great Yinsai."

"Because..."

"Everything is... predestined."

He even began reciting the Redlichia Covenant, as only in this way could he forget the pain of his injuries and the fact that he had lost his eyes.

"God said!"

"Because of loneliness, God created Redlichia, the King of Wisdom. And because of Redlichia's loneliness, God created the Trilobite Men."

"Thus, the race began, and from this moment, the kingdom was established."

"God said..."

"God said..."

The two People of the Abyss touched their tentacles together, going through Tito's backpack, trying to find something valuable.

The precious sword bestowed by the Queen of the Star Luo Kingdom had already been taken by the Sal Domain lord. The stone tablets engraved with the "Yinsai Epic" had also been removed. All that remained were some blank bone tablets and seemingly useless junk.

"What is this thing?" One of the People of the Abyss picked up a corroded, pitted cup, holding it up to his eyes for a long time before raising it to his companion, asking.

"What a bunch of junk." The companion waved his hand dismissively, knocking the cup to the ground.

"Clang!"

The Divine Cup was discarded on the ground.

Tito heard that crisp sound and suddenly seemed to be stimulated by something.

It was clearly the sound of the Divine Cup hitting the ground. Although he couldn't see, he was very familiar with it.

Tito lunged towards the sound, disregarding everything, but was firmly held back by the two soldiers.

"Give it back to me!"

"Give it back to me!"

The monster soldiers pulled Tito up and then tied him to a stone stake. This was the usual method of the Abyss Kingdom when they captured Trilobite Men, tying them to stakes and leaving them to die in the scorching sun.

"Give it back to me~"

The soldier waved his hand, slamming Tito's head heavily against the stake. Finally, he quieted down.

Only after tightly binding Tito did the soldiers leave.

As the sky gradually darkened, Tito felt that no one was paying attention to him anymore and began to move.

Based on the direction he had heard the sound earlier, Tito knew they hadn't taken the Divine Cup.

Moreover, this divine object lay right at his feet.

He moved his bound knees, bending sideways, trying to touch the Divine Cup.

Fumbling in the darkness, he suddenly heard a faint clinking sound.

"Found it!"

He was overjoyed. He forcefully pulled his feet back, intending to place it in front of him for prayer.

With this Divine Artifact, he still had hope. Perhaps he could communicate with its will or even use it to plead with God.

However, as he pulled back, his feet trembled slightly, and the Divine Cup, which wasn't securely hooked, suddenly slipped off his toes.

It crashed onto the rocks.

Clattering and clanging, it slid all the way down towards the sea.

"Splash!"

The Divine Cup fell into the seawater with a splash, the faint sound like a death knell.

Tito froze for a moment, and then his body began to tremble violently. He furiously tried to break free from the ropes binding him, wanting to rush down and retrieve the Divine Cup.

"Ah!"

"Aaaaah~"

He let out an anguished roar, his whole body shaking, but he couldn't break free.

Although he couldn't see, he could feel the Divine Cup drifting away bit by bit with the waves, gradually moving away from him.

That feeling was as if he had been abandoned.

Only he didn't know if it was fate that had abandoned him.

Or God.

He wanted to scream, but his voice grew smaller and smaller until he was just convulsing like hiccups.

"Heh~"

"Heh~ heh~"

"Ugh ugh ugh... heh heh~"

He felt like a ridiculous clown being toyed with by fate, utterly powerless.

When true terror and despair descended, he was so fragile.

Blood-stained tears flowed from his eyes. Tito had never felt such despair.

Even when he left his hometown to travel across the four kingdoms, even when he faced all kinds of difficulties and dangers, even when he faced the mockery of thousands.

Even when he lost his eyes.

He still held his head high.

But at this moment, he had lost the Divine Artifact left to him by Polo, the Messenger of God.

He had lost his way.

And lost the key to entering the realm of God.

Three days tied up on the Island of the Dead.

Tito felt like the blood in his body was about to run dry. The scorching sun beating down on him seemed to evaporate the last bit of moisture and blood from his body.

There was no predestined fate. He wasn't some chosen one. He was just an ordinary mortal.

In fact, he discovered that he wasn't as resolute as he had told his father when he set out.

He had said he wouldn't regret it.

But now he regretted it.

"Hahahaha!"

"Tito."

"You are too arrogant and conceited. You don't know yourself at all."

"Who are the ones able to ascend to the temple of God? They are the two generations of Kings of Wisdom, the first king Redlichia and the great Yesael."

"They are Shelly, the Mother of Life, and Polo, the Messenger of God."

"Those who seek the God-Given Land, which one of them doesn't possess a noble bloodline and identity? Which one of them isn't a heroic figure who created an era and was recorded in history?"

"Who do you think you are?"

"Something even King Yesael couldn't accomplish, how could someone like you possibly do it?"

He asked himself questions and then answered them.

"Is it really the guidance of fate? Where is the guidance of fate?"

"Tito, you know these are false words used by mortals to justify themselves, yet you speak them so sanctimoniously."

"People are all deceiving themselves."

"All of this... isn't it your own choice?"

Suddenly, he pleaded with God.

"God!"

"If you can truly hear my plea, please save me."

"Save me."

No one answered him. Only death awaited him.

On the verge of death, for some reason, another sentence from the Redlichia Covenant suddenly came to his mind.

A sentence he had recited countless times but never truly understood.

"Redlichia."

"I am the God who created you!"

"And you."

"Are their king."

Just as Tito fell completely silent, awaiting his end.

An elderly Person of the Abyss, his body so withered that it had begun to shrink, landed on the island. He wore a stone helmet that concealed his face.

In the net pouch at his waist was none other than the Divine Cup that had fallen into the sea.