The atmosphere in the main hall, which had just been filled with laughter, applause, and joy, abruptly turned into an overwhelming sea of panic.
The simultaneous collapse of Kazien, Alvin, Allen, and Arken upon the wedding altar seemed to stop the hearts of everyone present.
Duke Elgard and Duchess Larina, who were seated in the very front row, immediately sprang from their seats. The Duchess's face instantly drained of color.
Ignoring her trailing, luxurious gown, she dashed forward toward the altar, followed closely by her husband. On the other side, Elisa also sprinted with an expression of sheer panic, screaming Alvin and Arken's names.
However, before the trembling hands of the parents could even touch the unconscious bodies of the four youths, a divine-scale anomaly occurred.
The air inside the hall suddenly grew incredibly heavy, exuding a pressure that made one hold their breath, yet it felt profoundly soothing to the soul. A blindingly bright golden light, pulsing with dense fluctuations of holy energy, abruptly descended from above and bathed the entire altar area, halting Duke Elgard, Duchess Larina, and Elisa in their steps.
"None of you... need to panic."
A woman's voice echoed, slicing through the air. The voice was not loud, yet it resonated with absolute authority, vibrating against eardrums and penetrating far beyond the hall to greet all the citizens gathered in the mansion's courtyard and across the city.
From the center of that blinding holy light, an entity whose beauty defied mortal comprehension slowly descended. The woman possessed long hair as fine as shimmering threads of golden silk. However, what commanded the most attention were the six silver wings spreading majestically from her back, radiating a luminescent holy light.
She was the supreme entity, the Creator of the Universe. Goddess Nirfelia had descended upon the world. Flanking her on the left and right, two angelic figures hovered in silent attendance.
King Nalvon, Prince Felix, Duke Elgard, Duchess Larina, Elisa, and the entire Altavis family widened their eyes. They were all far too familiar with the shape of those magnificent six silver wings. They were the exact same heavenly wings Kazien had displayed in the past.
Without a second of hesitation, King Nalvon, Duke Elgard, and all their families immediately dropped to their knees upon the floor, bowing their heads to offer their utmost reverence.
Witnessing the King and the Duke, the two most powerful men in the entire Garveon Kingdom, kneeling without resistance, all the invited guests who were previously engulfed in confusion instantly dropped to the floor, kneeling in sheer terror and profound awe.
"O Goddess Nirfelia..." Duke Elgard spoke, breaking the silence, his voice trembled with deep reverence. "It is an infinite honor for all of us here... to be able to witness Your majestic figure descending directly among us. For what reason have You suddenly come to this world?"
Hearing the Duke's declaration of the entity's identity, everyone in the hall gasped violently. Even the two high priests, who had just bestowed the wedding blessing upon Kazien and his three spouses, were now weeping profusely while kissing the floor, never having imagined that the Goddess they had worshipped all this time would manifest right before their very eyes.
"I have not come to ruin this day of happiness." Goddess Nirfelia answered straightforwardly, her gentle, compassionate eyes gazing at the bodies of Kazien, Alvin, Allen, and Arken sleeping peacefully upon the altar. "I merely wish to inform you that I have just sent the souls of Kazien Altavis and his three spouses to the divine realm!"
That absolute declaration answered the Altavis family's confusion as to why the four youths had fainted without cause.
"The four of them must train there under my direct supervision." the Goddess continued, her voice now turning much more serious, carrying a chilling aura. "They must hone their power to be able to defeat Lunarias... the figure who will bring destruction to this world!"
The word 'destruction' slipping directly from the Goddess's lips instantly sent a shudder of terror down the spines of everyone who knew nothing of the impending doom.
"I can hear and read all your hearts." Goddess Nirfelia said softly, her gaze sweeping over all the mortals kneeling before her. "Even at a time like this, there are a few of you here who doubt me and doubt the catastrophe I just spoke of."
The atmosphere in the wedding hall became overwhelmingly silent. People held their breath, remaining stiffly bowed without a single one daring to raise their face to look directly at the Goddess, terrified of divine wrath.
"If your mortal minds are wondering who Lunarias is..." Goddess Nirfelia spoke, breaking the suffocating silence, her voice now radiating the sorrow of a wounded mother. "...he is the Evil God. The bringer of absolute destruction. In the past, he was my firstborn son, whom I created myself from shards of my bone and drops of my blood."
A history of creation, never recorded in any scripture, began to be directly unveiled by the Goddess.
"In the beginning, he lived peacefully alongside me in the divine realm." the Goddess continued her tale. "But as the eons passed, he developed a highly twisted hobby. He enjoyed creating various terrifying living creatures that always ended up spiraling out of control. That hobby of his nearly destroyed the entire fabric of the divine realm. To save my other creations, I had no choice but to bestow a very severe punishment upon him."
Goddess Nirfelia let out a long sigh, an exhalation that made the wind inside the hall rustle mournfully.
"However, rather than realizing his wrongdoings, my son instead became an evil entity while undergoing his sentence. Darkness stripped away his sanity, and he harbored a deep-seated grudge against me and against all beings inhabiting the divine realm." she continued Her story. "To prevent him from annihilating the universe, I was ultimately forced to make the decision to imprison and seal him in a dimension of nothingness."
The Goddess's gaze sharpened, projecting a warning of the inevitable calamity.
"However, a seal for a god-tier entity can never be eternal. The seal currently imprisoning him is growing ever weaker. It will not hold out much longer... and will continue to tremble against the pressure from within, before finally shattering completely and setting him free once again."
The shocking fact regarding the existence of the Evil God that had just been articulated by the Creator succeeded in sending tremors through everyone in the hall. An invisible horror crept quickly, as if freezing the blood in their veins.
The invited guests, who were none other than commoners and nobles who had never brushed against cosmic-scale danger, could now only fall into a frozen silence. The terror of an absolute destruction that would one day annihilate the world they stood upon rendered them speechless. The atmosphere of the magnificent party instantly turned into an oppressive, terrifying quiet.
Seeing despair begin to spread in the eyes of her mortal creations, Goddess Nirfelia raised her voice once more.
"I will answer the questions that are now raging within all of your minds!" Goddess Nirfelia stated firmly, her elegant voice piercing through their fear. "As the Creator, I am bound by the laws of balance. I cannot directly step in and interfere further with what transpires in this mortal world! It is precisely because of my limitations that I need and ask this youth from the Altavis bloodline to hone his power in order to defeat Lunarias."
Goddess Nirfelia then shifted her gaze. Her gentle eyes looked directly at Duke Elgard, as if she had already read the barrage of questions caught in his throat. The Goddess allowed the man to speak without interrupting him.
"O great Goddess Nirfelia..." Duke Elgard spoke, his voice trembling yet demanding clarity as a father. "If that threat is on the scale of a god, then why must my son be the one to bear such a heavy burden? Why must Kazien be the one to fight that Evil God, the bringer of destruction?"