The Epic Tale of Chaos vs Order

Chapter 2032: Azazel’s final offer

Of course, hope without a plan was useless. Cain knew that better than anyone. The moment the thought of Rylanor’s survival gave him a spark of resolve, his mind sharpened like a blade. If he wanted to save his son, Amon, and all those who had been captured, then he needed more than determination. He needed a path through the storm.

His first thought was simple: summon Leonidas, Bael, and the rest of the Archdeities to the council and begin strategizing. Yet before he could act, he froze. His eyes narrowed, and a cold sharpness rose within him as a name crossed his mind.

Divine Sea.

The betrayal still seared through him like a brand.

Cain’s strength had always rested not only on raw power but on his uncanny ability to read others—their emotions, their intentions, their hidden motives, and give them what they want and more. It was how he had gathered so many under the Scarlet Banner, even those whose loyalty to the path itself was shallow, self-serving. He had seen through them, weighed them, and bent them to his cause. And he had trusted that the Flow—the universal resonance that guided his insight—could never be deceived.

Hide from it, yes. Mask intentions with silence, yes. But to show something false? To display loyalty that never existed? That had never happened.

Until Divine Sea.

Her betrayal had not only cost him Amon and the captured deities—it had shattered the foundation of certainty he relied on. If Azazel had shown her how to deceive the Flow, then what guarantee did he have that others were really loyal to him?

The thought burned through his mind like poison. ”If she managed to betray me, how can I trust the others?”

But the moment the idea surfaced, his will surged and crushed it. Blind trust was foolish, yes. But blind paranoia was worse. If he cast suspicion on everyone, the Scarlet Kingdom would collapse before the enemy ever struck.

Cain forced himself to breathe deeply. His mind churned, replaying every interaction he had ever shared with Divine Sea. The more he examined, the more it failed to add up.

”If she had been a traitor from the start, then how had I managed to take Azazel by surprise so many times?”

She had known about the teleportation network of the Scarlet Intercontinental Formation, yet the True Depravita had been caught off guard. She had also been aware of the secret expansion of the formation toward Starfall Haven, and still Azazel had known nothing.

None of it made sense.

It was as if something inside Divine Sea had suddenly switched—turning her from trusted ally into ruthless enemy without warning. Cain clenched his jaw. He was missing a piece of the puzzle, something vital.

Before he could push further into his analysis, a tremor of psychic force rippled across the sky. Cain’s gaze snapped upward. A stream of power shimmered just beyond the boundaries of the Scarlet Crown, taking the form of a grey sphere.

”Azazel.” Cain could feel the signature instantly. It was not a strike, but something potentially just as dangerous. ”A message.”

Cain vanished from the Scarlet Crown in the blink of an eye, reappearing high in the sky above. Leonidas and the other ArchDeities soon joined him, their battered figures hovering like wounded titans. Below, the warriors and citizens of the Scarlet Kingdom lifted their eyes, tense and silent, wondering what horror the Imperium of Time had chosen to unleash.

The sphere of psychic energy shimmered and shifted. It warped into an image, projecting across the firmament for all to see.

And the Scarlet Kingdom frowned as one.

The vision revealed Azazel himself, standing tall with Legion at his side. Around them gathered Divine Sea, Gilgamesh, Juda, Calypse, Heronimo, and Polo—all at full strength, their auras radiant and terrifying. Cain’s vitality and Ao’s support had already healed him astonishingly fast, but the fact that his enemies could appear unmarred, radiant, and organized was shocking enough.

Yet that was not what made the forces of the Scarlet King grow solemn.

Three new figures floated behind Azazel’s host—each one unmistakably an Archdeity.

Cain’s fists clenched in silence. He had expected it sooner or later. The World War had reached its critical stage. Hidden powers that had watched from the shadows, waiting for the tide to favor one side, had finally stepped forward. And they had chosen the Imperium of Time.

It was devastating news. The Scarlet Kingdom’s Archdeities were still grievously wounded, struggling to mend their broken forms. Meanwhile, Azazel’s side stood whole, reinforced, and emboldened. Even the projection of their strength was enough to cast a suffocating pall over the Scarlet Crown.

Then Azazel’s eyes glowed, his cold gaze cutting across the image as though he could pierce Cain directly.

”Scarlet King,” Azazel’s voice rolled across the sky, calm yet sharp as steel. ”Surrender yourself to me, and I will release your son, Amon, and every soul captured alive. I give you my word they will not suffer. Your people will be granted the dignity of exile, allowed to reach a place where none shall harm them.”

For a moment, the words carried dignity, pride, and even an air of honesty. But then Azazel’s expression shifted. His aura turned cold, like iron drawn from the forge, merciless and final.

”If you refuse,” he continued, his voice like the toll of a death knell, ”I will kill them all. I will erase their souls and their egos from existence. And when I am finished, I will come for you. I will come for every man, woman, and child who has followed the Scarlet Path. I will not hesitate. I will not show mercy. I will kill them all.”

The certainty in his tone was terrifying. This was no boast, no bluff. It was a vow born from the very core of his will.

Azazel’s voice rang one final time, echoing across the Everstrife Empyrean World like a decree of doom.

”You have one month. Come to our headquarters in the BestHeaven Continent. If you do not, the entire world will see as I kill your son—and every fool who ever trusted you.”