At night, the starry sky blazed with brilliance, as if even the light of the crimson moon had been obscured.
In the Hall of Stars, Hastur sat high upon the foremost seat, silently perceiving the new changes taking place within the hall.
The fourth Chain of Order hung down behind him. Above his head, the starry sky grew ever more radiant, with two additional stars lighting up.
Hastur quickly grasped these routine changes.
Beyond these, the entire Hall of Stars had begun to float, continuously ascending toward the skies, giving off the feeling of returning to the starry sky.
Only after reaching a certain height did the Hall of Stars stop. The stars that once seemed to hover above were now much closer.
This meant that, from now on, the Hall of Stars could exert greater power upon the stars.
For example, if it were now, when he first lashed out at the Son of Chaos, and the Chain of Order were to roll the power of the Hall of Stars and strike again, a single whip would probably be enough to make the Son of Chaos doubt existence itself.
Aside from this, the Hall of Stars also granted him two new abilities: Return to Position and Divine Revelation.
Return to Position was not an unfamiliar term to Hastur. From the moment he first came into contact with the Hall of Stars, he had known that he was also One Who Returns the Stars to Their Positions.
Only now did the Hall of Stars truly bestow upon him the ability of Return to Position, finally giving him the feeling that he was the true master of this place.
Previously, he had been more like someone who took advantage of the owner being away, secretly opened the door, lived here temporarily, and then invited the stars to gather.
If any of the stars secretly acted out of line, it was difficult for him to punish them. At most, he could only deal with their avatars.
But this time, he had truly become the master of this home, possessing the ability to act directly against the stars themselves.
Return to Position, its true power was to make the stars operate along predetermined trajectories according to his will.
For instance, when facing the Supernova Dominator and the Mother Tree of Desire, he could guide them to temporarily abandon their participation in the war between the Southern Continent and the Northern Continent.
When his will spread with the aid of the Hall of Stars' power, the Supernova Dominator and the Mother Tree of Desire would unknowingly be pulled by his influence, returning to the trajectories he had arranged for them.
How strong this guiding force was depended on his own level of power.
If he possessed the strength of a Great Old One, then the moment his will was transmitted, whether the Supernova Dominator and the Mother Tree of Desire were willing or not, they would have to comply with his arrangements and return to their predetermined paths.
At present, rather than a practical ability, it was more like a symbol of authority.
In the future, he, the One Who Returns the Stars to Their Positions, would be the one who guides the movement of the stars!
For the Great Old Ones who came to the Hall of Stars, this was both an opportunity and a restraint.
They came to the Hall of Stars and enjoyed the conveniences it provided.
As this connection deepened, the bonds between them and him would grow stronger, and in the end, they would be unable to escape his influence.
Perhaps this was the true reason the Hall of Stars had granted him the authority to invite the Great Old Ones to hold the Gathering from the very beginning.
Now, he was at Sequence 6, and the avatars of the Great Old Ones who came here to attend the Gathering of the Stars were also at the Sequence 6 level.
When he became stronger, those who would truly come to the Hall of Stars to participate in the Gathering would be the actual bodies of those Great Old Ones.
"There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. That saying applies just as well to the Great Old Ones," Hastur realized with sudden clarity.
On the surface, it seemed that he had not gained much from this Gathering, while the Great Old Ones had obtained many conveniences. But in reality, the greatest benefit was already firmly in his hands.
After contemplating for a long time, Hastur turned his attention to the ability of Divine Revelation.
Divine Revelation, as the name implied, was guidance that came from a god.
Since he could already guide the stars to operate along predetermined trajectories, then for those believers who devoutly worshiped the stars, he naturally also possessed the ability to manage them.
Divine Revelation, since he was the One Who Returns the Stars to Their Positions, then when necessary, he could also be the god they worshiped!
Return to Position was a lofty authority, while Divine Revelation was an ability he could already use at present.
After spending a considerable amount of time comprehending both abilities, Hastur finally lifted his gaze toward the stars suspended in the starry sky.
In addition to the original six stars, two new stars had now lit up.
Hastur did not examine which Great Old Ones the two new stars represented. Instead, he looked toward the star where the Mother Tree of Desire resided.
This time, not only could he see the location of the Mother Tree of Desire, but he could also see the Abomination Suah and several dozen other devout followers of the Mother Tree of Desire.
Only truly devout believers could manifest as points of light, shining upon the star of the Mother Tree of Desire.
Hastur drew a little closer, focusing on the point of light where the Abomination Suah was located.
At this moment, he felt that as long as he wished, he could imitate the Mother Tree of Desire and issue a divine oracle to the Abomination Suah.
This was one of the abilities of Divine Revelation!
After thinking for a moment, Hastur decided to give up on issuing a divine oracle to the Abomination Suah. That was a terrifying existence at Sequence 1, better to try with a devout believer he was more familiar with.
Mr. A!
A familiar name surfaced in Hastur's mind, and he cast his gaze toward the star where the True Creator and Adam resided.
"The True Creator really has a lot of devout believers." Looking at the densely packed points of light in the region where the True Creator was located, there were at least several hundred.
Each point of light represented a devout believer of the True Creator, this number was already quite impressive.
Earlier, the truly devout believers of the Mother Tree of Desire had not even exceeded ten, while those who believed in the True Creator were ten times that number.
Hastur moved closer and observed carefully. Among them, the brightest point of light was not the Angel of Fate, Ouroboros, but the Red Angel, Medici!
Or rather, Sauron-Einhorn-Medici.
The status formed by the fusion of three Third Epoch nobles was above that of Ouroboros, so much so that the point of light it manifested was even brighter than that or Oroboros.
It was a good opportunity to see whether Medici had escaped from confinement.
Hastur opened the point of light symbolizing Medici. Inside a spacious, dim room, there were three high-backed chairs of different styles. Originally, each chair should have been occupied by a figure.
But now, the three shadows had already merged and intertwined with each other, inseparable, like a single whole.
The current existence was no longer the proud Red Angel Medici, but an evil spirit mixed together with former mortal enemies!
Seeing this, Hastur could not help but sigh. The Blood Emperor, Alista Tudor, had truly been mad, and truly bold.
He had actually leapt fiercely from the Black Emperor pathway to the non-adjacent Sequence 0 Red Priest pathway!
What was even more outrageous was that he had succeeded, becoming a half-mad true god.
Although Adam had pushed things along behind the scenes, the Blood Emperor's own willpower and audacity were far beyond those of ordinary people.
After observing for a while, Hastur withdrew his gaze. At a time like this, seeing the Red Angel who represented war, it was clear that the confrontation between the Southern and Northern Continents would definitely not be small.
It would likely not be limited to the Southern Continent alone; the flames of war would spread to Southville County.
Hastur sighed. After only glancing at the point of light where Ouroboros was, he turned his attention to the point of light representing Mr. A.
As expected of the True Creator's devout believer, Mr. A was indeed among these points of light.
Hastur drew closer and clearly saw that Mr. A was inside a basement that resembled a temple. Before him stood a statue of the True Creator.
A statue of a gigantic, inverted giant.
At this moment, Mr. A was resting and sleeping in front of the True Creator's statue like a loyal hound.
The scene was just like Susie lying at Audrey's feet, eyes closed, resting.
Mr. A was only lacking a wagging tail to express his loyalty to the True Creator.
After observing for a while, Hastur decided to use Mr. A as the first target for testing his Divine Revelation.
With a thought, the fourth Chain of Order flew over rapidly and touched the point of light where Mr. A was, establishing a connection.
….
Before the statue of the True Creator, Mr. A was lying on the ground resting, this was his way of expressing loyalty to the Lord.
And the Lord truly favored him. His codename was Mr. A, the first among all letters, and he was also responsible for handling general affairs of the Aurora Order in Backlund.
Other believers might not encounter a divine oracle even once in several years.
Yet he had listened to divine oracles from the Lord more than once. Every conversation with the Lord was the happiest moment of his life.
Unfortunately, the Lord was rarely awake, and each time He spoke, it was very brief, leaving only key points related to the task.
No matter what, he firmly believed that he was the most favored believer of the Lord.
Lord Ouroboros did not count, He was the Lord's child.
While Mr. A was lost in thought, he suddenly sensed movement from the statue of the Lord before him.
The Lord, his one and only true god, had delivered another divine oracle!
Mr. A immediately scrambled to his feet and then knelt upright in an even more reverent posture before the statue of the True Creator.
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he said, "A devout believer listens to Your divine oracle."
He tilted his ear, preparing to listen, yet heard nothing.
After a few seconds of pause, Mr. A tore off his right index finger and stuffed the bloody finger into his mouth, chewing it up.
Gulp. His throat moved as he swallowed the chewed finger.
After waiting for a while, the divine oracle he expected still did not arrive.
Just as he was feeling puzzled, his consciousness was pulled into a dim world.
Before his eyes stretched a vast black ocean. Upon the ocean stood a great mountain, and at the mountain's peak rose a cross, a man fused with the cross in an inverted posture.
And above, in the night sky, there hung a curtain of shadows.