### Chapter: 427
The Celestials.
These beings flourished after being created by a god who resided in the Divine Realm.
Through various processes, they became one of many races in that realm.
Their innate powers put humans to shame.
The Divine Realm is richer in resources than the Middle Realm.
From birth, they soak in the divine energies permeating the Divine Realm, allowing them to reach mastery at an average level compared to humans.
Some among them have even polished their skills to the level of Grand Master.
To humans, this is downright shocking.
However, this is merely the standard for Celestials.
In the end, before the gods, they were still nothing more than mere mortals.
Gods are naturally occurring entities.
From their moment of creation, they are imbued with divine essence.
The vast differences between humans and Celestials are reflected in the similarly immense divide between gods and Celestials.
Perhaps it’s a given.
After all, Celestials are a race birthed by gods.
There’s no way the creator god would have designed the Celestials to surpass the gods themselves.
But that creator god had vanished long ago due to various circumstances.
No god exists in the Divine Realm to protect the Celestials.
Most gods possess an arrogance that borders on egotism, showing no compassion.
Thus, the masterless Celestials were thoroughly exploited by the gods.
It’s no wonder they’re called the slaves of the gods.
And thus, some Celestials grew dissatisfied with such an unfair life.
They didn’t wish to continue living as mere tools for the gods.
Therefore, some Celestials banded together to form a collective to escape the gods.
That group became known as GaiSha.
And now, amid all this, one of GaiSha’s members, Lizis, found herself witnessing an absurd scene.
With her striking white hair and golden eyes, she displayed her white-winged ears, looking dazed.
What caught her attention was a scene where the lofty gods kneeled before a man, being reprimanded.
‘What in the world is happening here?’
Lizi raised her head to gaze at the man scolding the gods.
Upon entering, he had gray hair, but now it glowed in dark blue hues.
Though the energy emanating from him resonated similarly to that of gods, it felt different at its core.
‘He doesn’t seem to be a god, though.’
She recalled the suffocating pressure she felt when he had first appeared.
At that moment, she had thought a mid-tier god had entered, leaving her aghast.
Having lost her younger sibling to the gods clutching GaiSha, she had rushed into the yellow plains banquet hall in a rage.
But she found herself cornered by an unexpectedly large number of low-tier gods.
Then this newcomer arrived, suddenly trapping the low-tier gods in the banquet hall and defeating them one by one.
While some of the low-tier gods fought back, he made an example of them by erasing them altogether.
Seeing that, all the rest ceased their rebellions and obeyed him.
They realized that defying him would lead to nothing but annihilation.
For gods, annihilation is their greatest fear.
To completely vanish and not exist within the cycle of reincarnation is an endless nightmare.
Of course, most gods don’t easily meet annihilation.
That’s why Lizi was so full of questions.
‘Who the heck is this guy?’
What could allow him to eliminate gods with such ease?
Moreover, the more he eradicated the gods, the stronger he seemed to grow.
‘Looks wise, he resembles the humans of the Middle Realm.’
She could not understand at all.
“So, in the end, you don’t know anything, huh?”
In the meantime, the man clicked his tongue, having captured all the gods’ responses.
He aimed to uncover who was responsible for opening the Lower Gate.
However, none of the gods present had any clue regarding that.
They merely waited for the moment they were told the Lower Gate would open based on whatever idle chatter gods exchanged.
To gather the necessary information, he would need to go search for the higher gods of the Lower Gate.
But it was likely they wouldn’t know either.
Involvement of such magnitude was reserved for upper-tier gods.
To climb the lacking communication chain amongst the gods to reach an upper-tier one would undoubtedly take decades.
That was far too long for him to achieve his goals.
“Ugh, useless beings.”
He frowned and lifted his hand toward the low-tier gods.
Seeing this, the low-tier gods turned pale.
They all sensed he was up to something disastrous.
“Wait! If you take me out, the mid-tier god who’s coming won’t let you go!”
At that moment, one low-tier god shouted.
He was none other than a low-tier god from the ranks of the Five Great Gods—Partes.
Kraush tilted his head upon hearing that.
“Well then, that makes it all the more reason to absorb you.”
“What?”
“If I’ve got you like this, you really think a mid-tier god will stand idly by? Suffering a blow to their pride with their underlings being in this state? They’ll be furious!”
The low-tier god bit his lip.
He predicted what Kraush believed would happen to them.
Kraush was entirely aware that he would eventually clash with the mid-tier god Partes.
So it made sense to absorb the low-tier gods in preparation for that encounter.
“I-I can negotiate!”
“No need for negotiations.”
Kraush casually cracked his neck.
“In any case, I planned to knock him out and extract information regardless.”
Kraush had already reached a conclusion.
At that point, it didn’t matter what the low-tier gods said; he had no intention of letting them off the hook.
These were not ordinary gods—they were the ones who sought to invade the Middle Realm.
No matter who had ordered them, they had aimed to create chaos in the Middle Realm.
Kraush needed to set a solid precedent to prevent any similar incidents from happening in the future.
If gods intend to intervene in the Middle Realm, they will receive punishment.
“So.”
Kraush aimed his hand at them.
“Quit yapping and surrender.”
As Kraush reached out, the low-tier gods began to froth in panic and tried to flee.
However, they were already too firmly ensnared by Kraush to escape.
“Hold on!”
In that split second, Lizis intervened, raising her hand to catch Kraush’s attention.
Kraush turned toward Lizis.
As their eyes met, she flinched, feeling suffocated by the divine power emanating from him.
Despite not being a god, how can he possess such divine essence?
What kind of being is he?
Nevertheless, Kraush had business solely with the low-tier gods.
He held no particular malice toward the Celestials.
Thus, Lizis was free to observe the congregation of captured low-tier gods.
Yet Lizis understood this was all reliant on Kraush’s whim.
She realized that the closer one got to such divine beings, the more they tended to lack emotions.
Countless instances where Celestials were killed simply because a god felt like it.
But Lizis couldn’t watch the annihilation of all the low-tier gods unfold before her eyes.
Pointing at the lower god from Partes, she spoke, desperately suppressing her fear.
“Can I just ask one thing? The god who caused my sister’s death is among you, isn’t he? Please!”
Lizi bent low, her plea filled with the utmost respect.
Kraush briefly examined her before shrugging, unimpressed.
“Go for it.”
And surprisingly, he granted her request without much fuss.
Lizi’s face brightened.
He turns out to be unexpectedly merciful.
She hurried over to Gius.
Yet Gius’s face scrunched up in disdain.
How dare this rebellious Celestial think to question him?
“Low-tier god, Gius.”
“I won’t answer anything from a slave.”
Gius snorted dismissively, ignoring Lizis.
However, the upper hand lay entirely with Lizis, not him.
“If you want to keep your life, best answer carefully.”
“What?”
“AGHHHHH!”
At that moment, a scream echoed through the area.
A low-tier god fleeing on the ground was snatched away by Kraush’s Black Hood and had all of his divine essence stripped from him.
He turned into a pile of ashes and vanished completely.
Gius’s face turned pale, realizing Lizis’s intent.
He finally grasped what Lizis was getting at.
Kraush had granted Lizis permission to ask questions.
This meant Gius’s life now hinged on Lizis’s inquiry.
“How dare a slave!?”
“Just cut the nonsense.”
Lizi drew her sword, aiming it at Gius’s neck.
Seeing the blade, Gius’s expression hardened.
The sword he wielded was forged from the remnants of a fallen god.
While no other weapon wielded by Celestials could damage the gods, this one alone could inflict severe wounds.
This is why all members of GaiSha carried such weapons with them.
The higher the quality of the fallen god used as raw material, the better the sword’s performance would be.
The one Lizis had brought from within GaiSha was made from the remains of a mid-tier god.
This was more than enough to injure a low-tier god significantly.
“Speak clearly if you want to keep your neck intact. Who was the god that attacked Enima Village?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Cut the crap. I already know it’s a god from Partes.”
“I told you, I don’t know!”
Gius roared out in defiance.
Seeing this, Lizis’s eyes contorted with fury.
Without hesitation, she thrust the divine sword into Gius’s chest.
“AGGHHHHHH!”
Gius screamed in agony as the sword penetrated him.
Although he wasn’t annihilated, he felt the agony coursing through his body.
“Speak! You must know which god from Partes visited the Yellow Plains!”
“Cough, GAHH!”
Lizi, consumed by her rage, relentlessly stabbed Gius with the divine sword.
Gius could only withstand the suffering, swallowing his screams in silence.
“Tell me, tell me! Who?”
Tears fell from Lizi’s eyes.
It was her only sibling.
Her little brother, raised with utmost care by her alone, had been erased from this world in an instant.
She couldn’t contain her rage any longer.
“Hey.”
At that moment, Lizis raised her head to hear Kraush’s voice.
He had finished cleaning up all the other low-tier gods.
“I think it’s time to wrap this up.”
“Uh-yes, I’m sorry.”
In the end, Gius never opened his mouth.
Perhaps he truly didn’t know anything.
Suppressing her anger, Lizis stepped back.
Kraush, casting a gaze upon everything, reached out with his hand before Gius.
“That.”
At that moment, Kraush pointed towards Lizis’s divine sword.
When Lizis looked at him quizzically, Kraush revealed his own divine sword.
“If you can add that effect to mine, I can help you find your target.”
As those words reached her ears, Lizis’s eyes began to widen in realization.
This was her chance.
Out of nowhere, an opportunity had landed in Lizis’s lap.
“Yes, yes! I’ll do it! I promise!”
Hearing this, Kraush nodded.
Then he swiftly gripped Gius’s neck, who was sprawled out, unconscious.
“We just need to strip everything out of this guy.”
Kraush bore an ominous grin.
He was the expert in extracting information!
