During the Tarot meeting, the "High Priestess" Cattleya and others learned about the fierce battle that took place on Blue Mountain Island last week, and only then was the transaction considered complete.
Then Emlyn the Moon looked at The Hermit: "Mr. Hermit, can we trade information about the Second Age this week?"
Last week, when trading intelligence about the authority of the "Moon," Emlyn had hoped to initiate an intelligence trade about the Second Age, but the "Hermit" did not agree at the time.
The other members all looked at "The Hermit," as they had also been eagerly anticipating this deal.
Odis thought for a moment before saying, "Okay, well, we'll only trade today, about the divine war that had a profound impact on the Second Age."
"During the Second Period, it was a very important event that determined the course of the latter half of the Second Period, influenced the Third Period, and even has an impact on the present."
Emlyn, however, was more concerned with: "How much compensation is needed?"
After a moment's thought, Odis said, "5,000 pounds."
This is because it contains information not only about Lilith, but also about several other ancient gods.
Emlyn breathed a slight sigh of relief, then immediately said, "I'll offer 1,500 pounds."
Audrey then contributed £1,500, while the other five members each contributed £400.
This time, Cattleya didn't argue with "Justice" and "The Moon" because she had just spent a lot of money.
As with previous transactions at the Tarot Club, the transaction officially began after the members agreed on how to pay their fees.
Odis smiled and said, "Before we talk about that war of the gods, let me briefly talk about the eight ancient gods."
"They are 'Giant King' Ormir, 'Elf King' Sonia Solem, and 'Vampire Progenitor' Lilith. These three ancient gods formed an alliance in the early Second Age to fight against other ancient gods."
"Angelweed, the Imaginary Dragon; Gregari, the Progenitor of the Phoenix; and Kvasithun, the King of the Alien Species, formed an alliance in the early Second Age to fight against the alliance of the Giant King and other ancient gods."
"The remaining two ancient gods, 'Demon King' Fabuti and 'Destruction Wolf' Fregra, did not join any faction."
Behind the gray fog, "The Fool" Klein thought to himself: "The Hermit actually revealed the true names of the eight ancient gods from the very beginning!"
This is extremely important information. Klein has read so many diaries and has had many experiences exploring extraordinary ruins, yet he still doesn't know the true names of all the ancient gods.
The other members also sat up straight, listening attentively to the "Hermit's" narration. They had only learned the true names of all the ancient gods today, and they hadn't expected that they had actually formed two alliances to fight against each other.
This made them immediately sense the humanistic, or rather, rational, side of the ancient gods.
Before this, their impression of the ancient gods seemed to be that they were twisted beings who only knew how to carry out bloody killings.
Cattleya eagerly anticipated that the Hermit's description of the Second Age's history would be as detailed as when he traded information about the Fourth Age.
Odis continued, "Most of the ancient gods are not in good condition. We've talked about this before. They have more than one pathway of characteristics within them."
"Those who are slightly luckier can absorb the characteristics of adjacent paths and can remain rational most of the time, but if they absorb the characteristics of ancient gods that are not adjacent paths, they are extremely brutal and are said to even cruelly kill their own children."
"For example, the characteristics of the 'Destruction Wolf' and 'Phoenix Ancestor' that these two ancient gods devoured were the characteristics of non-adjacent paths, so their condition would be relatively worse."
Emlyn quickly asked, "What about our 'progenitor'? His condition must be relatively better than that of the ancient gods, right?"
Odis said, "I'm not sure about the specifics either; I can only make guesses based on what I know."
He paused briefly and then said, "According to some later evidence, the main characteristic of the 'Progenitor of the Vampires' is the characteristic of adjacent pathways. It is said that by the middle of the Second Era, His state was the best among the Ancient Gods, and He was the most rational Ancient God."
Emlyn first breathed a sigh of relief, then looked around at the other members, as if to say: See, we vampires are different.
"I don't know much about the process of that war of the gods," Odis continued, "but we can infer the cause and process of the war of the gods from its outcome."
"Let me first tell you the result, and then I'll talk about some of the divine war processes that I've speculated about."
He paused briefly before continuing, "The result was that the 'Progenitor of the Vampires' perished together with the 'Alien King' and the 'Destruction Wolf'..."
Everyone was stunned for a moment. "The Hanged Man" Alger thought to himself: From the previous descriptions of "The Hermit", it is not difficult to guess that "The Progenitor of the Vampires" was seriously injured in this war of gods, but I did not expect that He would perish together with the other two ancient gods.
Gadriya thought to herself: No wonder the course of history in the Second Age was changed. Three of the eight ancient gods were gone all at once. The balance among the ancient gods must have been broken.
Upon hearing this, Emlyn, the "Moon," clenched his fists tightly, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets, as if he were about to explode at any moment.
"…If you don't think about it carefully, it seems like a brutal war of gods." Odis said, "But if you think about it seriously, the 'Progenitor of the Vampires' and the 'King of the Alien' belong to different factions of ancient gods, so it's not surprising that they perished together in the battle."
"But why did the 'Destruction Wolf' also perish along with it?"
"Or could I put it another way, why would the 'Destruction Wolf' get involved in the battle between the 'Vampire Progenitor' and the 'Alien King'?"
The hermit's question immediately made everyone realize that this question was the key to understanding that divine war.
Cattleya couldn't help but sigh again: "The Hermit" not only knows a lot, but his thinking logic is also very clear. I didn't notice this at all when I heard him talk about the results of the God War.
The other members had similar thoughts; they didn't notice anything amiss when they heard the description.
At the same time, because everyone didn't know much about the ancient gods and didn't know how they differed from modern gods, when the "Hermit" mentioned this, they instinctively wanted to make related connections, but found that due to the limited information they had, they didn't know where to begin.
So in the end, the other members all looked at the "hermit" again, waiting for his further explanation.
Odis paused for a moment before continuing, "Before explaining this, I need to mention another premise: during the Second Age, the ancient gods basically had no concept of extraordinary paths."
"The battles at that time were basically not for the purpose of seizing extraordinary characteristics, because the ancient gods were generally quite violent, and they would often fight each other as soon as they met, without any special reason."
"So the 'Destruction Wolf's' participation in the war may not have had a clear purpose. It's very likely that it encountered the battle between the 'Vampire Progenitor' and the 'Alien King' and thus joined the war."
He paused for a moment and then said, "I also learned from other sources that after this battle, both the 'Giant King' and the 'Elf King' accused each other of betraying the 'Vampire Progenitor'."
"So there's a real possibility that a betrayal really did occur here..."
Emlyn jumped to his feet and exclaimed, "Who, who betrayed the 'Progenitor'!"
The other members frowned slightly, as they couldn't find any connection between the two descriptions given by the "Hermit".
Odis did not answer immediately, but waited a second or two before saying, "I have not received any definite information."
You can't exactly say that Omibella betrayed Lilith, can you?
In the previous two transactions, everyone already knew that the "Goddess of Harvest" was called Omibella, who is now the "Mother Earth Goddess".
If everyone interprets this as the "Earth Mother Goddess" betraying the "Vampire Ancestor," then this misunderstanding becomes even more difficult to explain.
Emlyn the Moon was very dissatisfied with the Hermit's answer: "Such important information, and you didn't know?"
Odis didn't seem to mind Emlyn's unfriendly tone, and he still smiled and said, "However, I can help you determine a general location."
Only then did "the Moon" sit down and continue to listen attentively to "the Hermit's" story.
"After the fall of the 'Progenitor of the Vampires'," Odis said, "Lilith's follower, the 'Goddess of Beauty' Olnia, who later became the 'Blood Moon Queen', led the vampires to submit to the 'Elf King'."
Klein, Gadriya, and Alger immediately understood the meaning of "Hermit," but the other members, including "The Moon" Emlyn, did not seem to understand what it represented.
Odis continued, "It is said that the 'Goddess of Beauty' Ornia was already a Sequence 1 Archangel at that time, and she should know many inside stories of this divine war."
"Since He has pledged allegiance to the 'Elf King,' it is almost certain that it was not the 'Elf King' who betrayed the 'Vampire Ancestor.'"
Emlyn realized: "That's the 'King of Giants'!"
At this point, he suddenly turned his head and looked at "The Sun" Derrick.
Odis waved his hand helplessly and said, "Although the 'Silver Kingdom' was once loyal to the 'Giant Court,' that was back in the Second Age."
"'The Sun' is a human being, and has nothing to do with him."
Emlyn took a deep breath, barely suppressing the anger in his heart: No wonder I thought he was so hateful when I first met him, it turns out he was once an enemy of the vampires!
"Justice" Audrey then asked, "'The Hermit,' why did the 'King of Giants' betray the 'Progenitor of the Vampires'?"
Odis thought for a moment before saying, "I'm not entirely sure of the specific reason, but it's also possible that the 'Giant King' betrayed Lilith."
"Because the ancient gods basically had no morality, or rather, at that time everything was determined by power. If the 'Giant King' betrayed the 'Vampire Ancestor', He would most likely not deny it, nor would He accuse the 'Elf King' of betraying Lilith."
Audrey paused slightly, "No... not 'King of Giants,' just now you..."
Suddenly, she seemed to understand something: the Hermit never said that the Giant King betrayed the Progenitor of the Blood Clan; he only said that the Giant King and the Elf King blamed each other.
Audrey realized that the Hermit must have a deeper meaning in saying this. Could it be that someone betrayed the Progenitor of the Vampires in the name of the Giant King?
Klein, the Fool, suddenly realized something: the Hermit had already made it very clear that he was not the "King of Giants," but most likely a follower of the "King of Giants."
At that moment, it suddenly occurred to him: In a previous transaction, the "Hermit" had said that the "Earth Mother Goddess" was actually Omibella, the queen of the "Giant King," who was a "farmer" through the divine path... Could it be Her?
Just as he was thinking about this, Klein recalled what the "Hermit" had said before: before the Third Age, there was no concept of adjacent pathways. If we only consider the problem in terms of adjacent pathways, it seems like we are using modern concepts to consider ancient problems.
Cattleya had also considered this, but she knew more about the "Desecrating Slab" than Klein, so she immediately thought: Could it be that the "Goddess of Harvest" had seen the "Desecrating Slab," gained the concept of adjacent pathways, and thus betrayed them...?
But then she immediately realized: No!
Since the "Goddess of Harvest" of that time, now the "Mother Earth Goddess," has maintained the same path and has not jumped to the adjacent "Moon" path, what did He gain from this scheme?
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that His plan failed.
Cattleya took a deep breath, feeling that it was difficult to make an accurate guess about such a thing.
The other members, except for Alger the Hanged Man who had some guesses, were still confused and didn't quite understand what Odis was trying to express.
Emlyn, in particular, thought for a moment before asking, "'The Hermit,' why... why did you say it was 'King of Giants' just now, and now you say it's not Him?"
"The main problem is that I haven't received accurate information, and the existing clues don't support any logical guesses," Odis smiled. "How about this, I'll let you know as soon as I have a sufficient understanding of this matter."
For example, after the war between the three gods, including the "Earth Mother Goddess".
Emlyn had no choice but to say, "Alright then."
Odis continued, "With the concept of 'betrayal,' the course of the war of the gods becomes roughly clear. The war of the gods that took place in the Second Age should have been a fierce battle between two camps of the ancient gods."
"The reason for this speculation is that after the 'Vampire Progenitor' encountered the 'Alien King' and the 'Destruction Wolf,' the 'Giant King' and the 'Elf King' did not immediately come to the rescue."
"It is very likely that they were fighting the 'Imaginary Dragon' and the 'Phoenix Ancestor' at the time and could not get away at all."
"So I guess the situation at the time was like this: a fierce conflict broke out between the two camps of the ancient gods, with the 'Vampire Progenitor' fighting against the 'Alien King' of the opposing camp."
"At this moment, the 'Destruction Wolf' suddenly appeared, preparing to join forces with the 'Alien King' to attack the 'Vampire Ancestor'."
"Thus, after a fierce battle, the 'Progenitor of the Vampires' perished along with the other two ancient gods."
The other members nodded slowly, agreeing that the guess was reasonable.
"The key question now is, why did the 'Destruction Wolf' suddenly appear on the battlefield?" Odis continued, "Although the fact that someone betrayed the 'Vampire Progenitor' can explain the sudden appearance of the 'Destruction Wolf' to some extent."
"But why is it the 'Destruction Wolf' that appears? And not the other non-aligned ancient god, the 'Demon King'?"
The "Magician" Fors thought to himself: Could it be that the traitor "notified" the "Destruction Wolf" but not the "Demon King"?
But she also felt that the "hermit" must have had a deeper meaning in saying that.
Alger thought so too: Could it be that the "Hermit" discovered some clue through this detail?
Odis paused for a moment and then said, "To answer this question, we must first look at the final outcome of this war of the gods."
"The greatest impact of this divine war on later generations can be summarized in four aspects. The first aspect is that the 'Goddess of Misfortune' gained enough benefits and, after disappearing for a period of time, became the 'Goddess of Night'."
"Secondly, the fall of the 'Destruction Wolf' led the 'God of the Dead' to submit to the 'Phoenix Ancestor,' who later rose to become the 'Emperor of the Underworld.'"
"Thirdly, the 'Different King's' subordinate god, the 'God of Spirits,' received enough benefits to become the later ' Bound God .'"
"Fourth, the 'Demon King' is the only ancient god who has not yet fallen."
Klein, behind the gray fog, paused for a moment: the first three points were consequences of the fall of the ancient gods, but what about the fourth point? Didn't the "Hermit" just say that the "Demon King" didn't participate in the war?
Everyone realized the rather abrupt fourth point and had their own guesses, but because they had so little information, their guesses were not of much value.
Odis continued, "Let's start with the first aspect. We talked about this when we were trading information about the Antigonus family."
"At that time, not only did the 'Destruction Wolf' join the battle, but its followers also joined the battle."
"After the 'Destroyer Wolf' fell, the 'Goddess of Doom' acquired the uniqueness of the 'Dark' pathway and at least two Sequence 1 properties."
"At that time, the 'Goddess of Misfortune' was probably already a Sequence 1. Only after obtaining these characteristics and uniqueness did she have the opportunity to be promoted to a god."
Klein frowned: "Although the Hermit didn't say it explicitly, he seems to suspect that the Goddess of Night played a role in this matter?" Well, it's no wonder he's suspicious. After all, the Goddess of Night gained a lot of benefits after this divine war, so she has a certain motive.
But he had no idea what the "Goddess of the Night" had done.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
The priestess, Gadriya, summarized some information she had previously obtained: that is to say, the "Destruction Wolf" contains both the "Sleepless One" and the "Diviner" within it, the uniqueness of the two pathways, and the corresponding high-sequence characteristics! No wonder the ancient gods are so brutal and insane.
Alger felt a little regretful because he hadn't participated in the previous exchange of information about the Antigonus family. He never expected that an angel family would have connections with the "Goddess of Night."
"The second aspect was already discussed in detail when we traded information about the 'Emperor of the Underworld,' so I won't repeat it here," Odis said. "The third aspect is also quite crucial."
"However, the presence of the 'God of Spirits' is not strong, and its influence is easily overlooked."
"I recently learned from another source that the Outer Gods had a particularly strong influence on the real world during the Second and Fourth Ages."
"The 'God of Spirits' seemed to have been influenced by the 'Mother Tree of Desire' during the Second Age."
Taking advantage of the brief pause in the "Hermit's" speech, Klein immediately asked, "Is it the 'Mother Tree of Desire' that the 'Rose School' believes in?"
Odis nodded: "Yes."
This was unexpected, and suddenly it seemed that the problem of the Outer God was more complicated than imagined.
Odis continued, "'The God of Spirits,' which later became ' Bound God ,' was only at the level of 'King of Angels.' In the several eras that followed, He never obtained the remaining Sequence 1 attribute."
"Because that characteristic resides in the 'Demon King'..."
At this point, Odis smiled slightly: "That's why I mentioned the 'Demon King'."
"The main characteristics of the 'Alien King' come from the 'Prisoner' pathway, which is adjacent to the main characteristics of the 'Demon King'."
"I learned from another source that the characteristics within the 'Demon King' should be two Sequence 1 characteristics of the 'Criminal' pathway and one Sequence 1 characteristic of the 'Prisoner' pathway."
"Because of the characteristics of adjacent pathways, the state of the 'Demon King' was relatively good during the Second Age."
"Although there was no concept of 'adjacent paths' at that time, the ancient gods were attracted by the properties of adjacent paths because of the existence of the 'law of aggregation of extraordinary properties'."
"Therefore, if the 'Demon King' had been present during that divine war, He would most likely have attacked the 'Alien King' instead of besieging the 'Vampire Ancestor'."
Emlyn, the "Moon," seemed to understand: "So that 'traitor' betrayed the whereabouts of our 'Ancestor' to the 'Destruction Wolf,' not the 'Demon King'?"
"That could be said," Odis replied, "but the reason I mentioned the 'Demon King' is mainly because He must have also gained some benefits in this battle."
"At the same time, because He is more rational, unlike the 'Destroyer Wolf', who didn't have any important purpose and joined the war just because he saw other ancient gods fighting."
"Perhaps the 'Demon King' secretly observed the course of this battle and, at the right moment, gained some benefits, such as the Sequence 1 characteristic of the third 'Criminal' pathway."
At this point, Odis shrugged: "Of course, this is just my guess, and there is no evidence to prove it."
"I just think that this war of the gods has such a profound impact that every ancient god should have participated in it in their own way."
"The 'Demon King' is the only ancient god who did not experience the fall of his kingdom. However, after the Third Age, he seemed to disappear and rarely appeared in people's sight."
Audrey noticed that this was the second time the "Hermit" had mentioned "ancient gods who had not experienced the fall of their ancestors"!
She recalled the "hermit's" body language when he said similar things on two separate occasions. He seemed relaxed overall, with his hands waving casually. So she concluded that this was an important clue that the "hermit" had unintentionally revealed.
But Audrey was a little confused about what this clue meant.
"After understanding the movements of the other ancient gods at that time, the full picture of this divine war gradually became clear," Odis said. "It was a premeditated battle!"
"This can actually be seen from the fact that the ancient gods' subordinate gods also participated in the battle. If it were an encounter battle, the ancient gods' subordinate gods would not be able to participate in the battle so calmly."
He paused slightly and then said, "We don't know who the mastermind is right now, but we can see from the outcome of the battle that one of them—'Vampire Progenitor,' 'Alien King,' or 'Destruction Wolf'—must be the mastermind's target."
The magnificent hall fell silent, the kind of silence that comes from savoring the secrets one has heard.
No one expected that this war of gods would involve such a wide range of people, with all eight ancient gods possibly participating directly or indirectly.
After a silence of about four or five seconds, Alger the Hanged Man suddenly said, "Judging from the impact of the war of the gods on later generations, the Goddess of Misfortune benefited the most."
He didn't dare say "Goddess of the Night," but instead used "Goddess of Misfortune."
The other members first looked at the "Hanged Man," and then they all looked at the "Hermit."
They certainly understood the meaning of "The Hanged Man." Generally speaking, in any scheme or conspiracy, whoever benefits the most is essentially the mastermind behind it.
Among the beneficiaries of this divine war, the "Goddess of the Night" undoubtedly received the greatest benefit!
After the war of the gods, before the third era, the "Goddess of Night" was promoted to a true god, while the "God of the Dead" only became the "Emperor of the Underworld" in the fourth era.
The "God of Spirits" only became the " Bound God " during the Fourth Age, and never became a true god.
Odis thought for a moment before saying, "At present, I have not obtained any accurate clues to prove that the 'Goddess of Misfortune' is one of the planners of the divine war."
"Even if it exists, we definitely won't find it, because..."
He looked around at everyone and said, "Because this is 'secret'!"
In Odis's view, the "Goddess of Night" must have made some plans or preparations in advance for this divine war, otherwise it would have been unlikely that she could have acquired so many advanced characteristics and uniqueness so easily.
The uniqueness of the "Dark" pathway and its Sequence 1 characteristic may have been attracted by the characteristics within its body. Furthermore, the fact that it was able to acquire the uniqueness of the "Moon" pathway after the fall of the "Destruction Wolf," despite being impacted to some extent, is enough to show that it was prepared.
Therefore, Odis strongly suspected that the "Goddess of Night" must have played some role in it.
However, these "effects" are most likely to become "hidden," making them unknown to anyone.
Everyone was slightly taken aback, especially Gadriya, Klein, and the other two, who immediately thought of one of the core powers of the "Goddess of the Night," which seemed to be "secrecy."
They immediately realized that the "Hermit" meant that he also suspected the "Goddess of Night" was involved in planning the divine war, but he had not found any concrete evidence.
Klein frowned slightly at this point, but then accepted it calmly, since at that time the "Goddess of Misfortune" was just an angel, or at most an archangel.
At that time, the adjacent paths of "Darkness" were occupied by the "Phoenix Ancestor" and the "Giant King". If He wanted to become a god, He could only have a chance if He killed one of the gods.
From this perspective, the "Goddess of the Night" has sufficient motive to do something in the dark.
After a few seconds of silence in the hall, Odis continued, "I also obtained a very crucial piece of information from another source: the 'Progenitor of the Vampires' was also influenced by the Outer Gods, which is why, when He was besieged, He did not flee but chose to perish together with the enemy."
The other members were taken aback at first, and then they all thought of the same question: Right, why didn't the "progenitor of the vampires" escape back then?
As extraordinary individuals, they were well aware that, under normal circumstances, if they encountered two extraordinary individuals of the same level, they would be able to escape even if they couldn't defeat them.
Of course, this excludes extraordinary individuals like Odis and Klein, who are unlikely to let go of an extraordinary individual at Sequence 5 level.
However, there are not many extraordinary individuals like them, and very few people are so unlucky as to encounter such opponents.
At the level of gods, their methods of escape should be more advanced and diverse.
Even if the opponent is a god, it would be difficult to stop the "progenitor of the vampires" from escaping.
However, the "progenitor of the vampires" did not escape, but perished together with the two ancient gods, which does seem rather strange.
Emlyn, realizing what was happening, immediately asked, "'The Hermit,' who has influenced the 'Ancestor'? Aren't Outer Gods also deities? Why can they influence our 'Ancestor'?"
Odis made no secret of it: "It is the 'Fallen Mother Goddess'."
Everyone recalled the intelligence exchange from last week: the "Fallen Mother Goddess" was the Outer God who had transformed into the "Primordial Moon".
Klein and Cattleya then had a basic answer to the last question that "the Moon" had just asked.
Odis continued to Emlyn: "You should remember what we discussed before about the concept of 'above the gods,' which many Outer Gods have at that level."
"And the 'Fallen Mother Goddess' is one of the more powerful Outer Gods."
"As for why He can influence the 'Vampire Progenitor', combined with the information from our transaction last week, the 'Fallen Mother Goddess' seems to have similar authority to the 'Vampire Progenitor'. He should have used this as a connection to influence the 'Vampire Progenitor'."
"Furthermore, as I just mentioned, the influence of Outer Gods on the real world during the Second Age was even more severe than it is now."
Emlyn then asked, "To what extent has it been affected?"
"It is said to have been contaminated to some extent."
Emlyn took a deep breath, seemingly stunned.
The other members were also stunned, not expecting such a thing to happen!
Even the "progenitor of the vampires" was influenced by the Outer Gods!
Previously, Klein and other members felt that the Outer Gods' influence on the real world wasn't that serious.
However, as they obtained more and more secret information, it seemed that the Outer Gods could be seen in every major event in every previous era.
After a few seconds, Emlyn asked again, "Is this information reliable?"
Odis exclaimed without hesitation, "Absolutely reliable!"
Emlyn took another deep breath, his hands trembling uncontrollably: "How could this happen? How could this happen?..."
Then, somewhat alarmed, he looked at the "Hermit": "Is there any way to resolve the corruption of the 'Fallen Mother Goddess'?"
Before the "Hermit" could answer, Cattleya gave a wry smile.
Odis said, "Perhaps the gods have a way to solve this problem."
His implication was: I am not a god, I have no such way.
Odis continued, "This may be the reason why the 'Progenitor of the Vampires' did not escape, but chose to perish together with the other ancient gods."