The green light of the underground cavern flickered. Everett lay flat on his stomach on the cold, black glass floor of Tartarus. The pool of dark red blood around him was growing larger. His eyes were closed. His breathing was so shallow that his chest barely moved. Above his head, the giant blue System bar hovered in the air. [HP: 1%]The massive army of players stood in absolute silence. They stared at the fallen man. They had watched him slaughter the elite guards. They had watched him break the chains of the twelve ancient gods. They had watched him do the impossible. But now, he was down. The great hero had finally run out of strength. From the dark shadows at the back of the cavern, the Pilgrim slowly walked forward. The old man in the brown cloak looked at the dead bodies of the elite vanguard. He looked at the broken pieces of Jax's armor. The Pilgrim’s human face was pale, but a cold, cruel smile slowly crept onto his lips. "He is finished," the Pilgrim’s voice echoed

Everett stood in the center of the cavern. He did not look like a tired, broken soldier anymore. He looked like a king who had forged his own crown out of pain and blood. He radiated a calm, overwhelming, absolute authority. The massive crowd of players dropped to their knees. Every single one of them. A hundred thousand people bowed their heads to the floor. They did not bow out of fear. They bowed out of pure, overwhelming reverence. Silas stared at his friend. A massive, proud smile broke across his face. "You beautiful, stubborn bastard," Silas whispered, lowering his knives. Lyra covered her mouth, crying tears of absolute joy. Her heart soared. He had survived. At the back of the cavern, the Pilgrim was shaking violently. The old man looked at his silver ring, the Identity Token. The bright white light of his administrator privilege was sputtering and dying. Because Everett was now classified as The Undying Martyr, the Pilgrim’s reality-editing powers could no longer touch

"Come on," Lyra said, gently pulling his arm. "Silas needs you in the command center. He is having trouble with the new recruits."Everett nodded. He turned to the crowd. He raised his hand. "Go back to your homes," Everett commanded them loudly. "Help your neighbors. Share your food. The wall is safe for today."The crowd bowed one last time, and then they slowly began to disperse, happy to obey their Living God. Everett and Lyra walked away from the wall. They walked down the beautiful, wide streets of Apex City. The city looked very different now. It was no longer a shiny paradise for the rich. It was a massive, busy Safe Zone. When the System patch removed the Divine Aegis, the whole world had gone mad. Greedy players and violent guilds were hunting the ancient spirits and gods for their Mythic cores and permanent stat boosts. Everett had sent out a global message: Apex City is a sanctuary. Any hunted god, and any peaceful citizen, may find safety here. Anyone who hunts inside

The city of Zenith used to be beautiful. It was a place of shining factories and tall glass towers. But today, the city looked like a nightmare. The sky above Zenith was dark and angry. The clouds twisted in thick, black circles. The air smelled like burning metal and sick, sweet perfume. In the very center of the city, standing on a high balcony, was the Pilgrim. The old man wore his simple, plain brown cloak. His hood was pulled back. His gray hair blew gently in the cold wind. He looked down at the massive, ruined city. He did not look angry. He looked disappointed. Like a teacher watching his students fail a very simple test. "I tried to give them a quiet sleep," the Pilgrim whispered to himself. "I tried to delete the world peacefully. I wanted to turn off the lights and let them rest in the dark."The Pilgrim adjusted his wire glasses. His cold gray eyes stared out at the horizon. "But Everett refused," the Pilgrim said softly. "The anomaly made them too loud. He made them

Jax did not order his men to bring up battering rams. He did not order them to shoot lasers. Jax simply raised his empty hand and pointed at the heavy wooden gates of the village. Behind Jax, the giant Faith Amplifier machines hummed loudly. WUM-WUM-WUM.The crying peasants chained to the bottom were shocked with electricity, forcing them to output more corrupted belief. The air around the village gates suddenly warped. The red light twisted the fabric of reality. The heavy wooden gates did not break. They did not catch on fire. They simply melted. The solid wood turned into a thick, black, dripping liquid. It splashed onto the dirt like melted candle wax. The heavy iron bars turned to dust and blew away in the wind. The villagers on the walls screamed in absolute horror. Their minds could not understand what they were seeing. The enemy did not use weapons. The enemy used their corrupted faith to literally melt reality. "Liberate them," Jax commanded. The Zealots rushed forwa