Trailed by Pai-Relix and Quinn — Lila, unfortunately, didn’t want to tag along due to her relative lack of strength — Gemini headed towards the continent centre. The remnants of the Demon God’s divinity within him were urging him there, guiding him forward.

His instincts were telling him that the key to controlling the black dome lay there, along with a true inheritance…or at least, whatever the Demon God could scourge up as an inheritance, anyway. The World’s Blight probably never considered the possibility of falling in battle, or else his abrupt awakening might not even have happened.

Leaving behind the mountain range that was his Divine Kingdom, Gemini led the way forward. Far beneath his little group was a seemingly-endless expanse of lush green fields, one that extended outwards from his Divine Kingdom.

The continent centre was south of where the Ars tribe used to live in.

“The Ars tribe…” Gemini shook his head. “The end of Ars now feels like something that happened decades ago, but it actually wasn’t that long.”

“I have heard about your story, Lord,” said Pai-Relix. “Given the sheer number of events that you experienced over the past few years, it is quite natural. The past is not as distant as it might seem, at times.”

“Is that so?” Gemini mused on those thoughts for a moment. “Maybe I’m just subconsciously turning recent events into memories of the past. Or is it because I find five years to be quite…long? Compared to the likes of you and Pur-Sandai, I am like a toddler.”

“If you’re a toddler,” said Quinn, “what is Aria then?”

“Good point.”

It was probably a difference in time scale. Gemini knew that Demigods usually spent entire decades in mediation. While normal people used days and months, they used years and decades. In fact, his participation in the Second Extermination now felt like a distant nightmare; whatever memories he had left were close to fragmenting.

The lush fields continued to expand in his vision, something that Gemini knew was almost certainly due to the presence of his Divine Kingdom. Before he plopped it down there, there weren’t any seas of grass and flowers; it was just a land of brown soil.

From what he knew, such sights were only visible around the living areas of each demon tribe, in the form of food-providing farms. With the Demon God’s awakening, however, the area around the continent centre had also become fertile ground.

That was where all the food needed to feed the demons northwards were coming from.

“Lord,” said Pai-Relix, “this is where most of our food comes from.”

“Yes. The fact that the harvests are still so bountiful, despite the Demon God’s passing, shows that a significant amount of his power remains in the continent centre. However, unlike the fields that sprung up around my Divine Kingdom, the fields here are full of food crops.”

Gemini could see the distinct boundary that divided the ocean of wild grass and weeds from the neat, well-tended swathes of farmland. This was probably something that the Demon God had ordered before he fell into madness, and as they drew closer, he could see scores of demons working the fields.

“It would seem that the Demon God didn’t induce insanity within those farmers,” Quinn observed quietly. “Hmm. Could it be that the Demon God headed northwards in his final lucid moments?”

“Possible,” Pai-Relix replied. “If he didn’t, these farmers would have gone insane too, like the rest of us. Either that, or he chose to protect them from himself somehow.”

“Maybe it’s the influence of whatever he left behind here.” Gemini narrowed his eyes. The Demon God’s divinity was now roiling around in his body, melding with the Human God’s own with renewed fervour. “If it could preserve the fertility of these fields, I don’t see why it can’t protect these farmers from going insane. I’m now almost certain that this black dome’s origin and means of control is inside.”

“What do you intend to do with it?” Pai-Relix asked. “Shut it off?”

“I’ll research it first,” said Gemini. “I don’t dare to shut if off just yet. I haven’t gotten used to my incredible strength so far — if I shut this dome off, it’s possible that some Paragons might take the chance to sneak into the Wildlands. I’ve managed to reduce casualties taken on both sides to a minimum; shutting off this final defence would screw with my plans through and through.”

“Yes, Lord.”

Gemini could discern a hint of approval in her words. Clearly, the Demigod approved of his choice, which was reassuring. Considering that she was one of the most experienced and oldest Demigods in the Wildlands, her approval meant a lot to him…even if he was the Demon Sovereign.

“Quinn,” said Gemini, “record the number of people working the fields here. After that, once the peace treaty’s concluded, we can send some of the Novitiates over here. Maybe the Savants and the Scholars too. We’ve spent too much time at war. It’s time for peace.”

“Done, Gemini.”

“Thank you.”

The lush fields never seemed to end, but Gemini could sense his destination growing ever-stronger. He could feel the gazes of the innumerable farmers tending the fields, as well as sense the artificial towns that popped up once in a while, created by the Demon God himself.

His heartbeat began to quicken as a huge monolith of utter darkness appeared in the horizon. A black pillar towered into the skies, the same black pillar Gemini had seen so many years ago, when the Demon God fully awakened back then.

Back then, he had assumed it to be like the Divine Ladder, the one in Empyria, but now that he was up close, Gemini could only think that the him back there was an idiot.

This tower of darkness eclipsed anything Gemini had ever seen. The new Ark City, the Locomotives of the North…even the Divine Ladder itself.

“Impossible.” Gemini murmured. “How…did we not see this? Was it hidden from view? Or…”

He held his head. “No. Everyone just ignored this. It slipped through our awareness at some point in time. How?”

Gemini glanced at the others, who were equally shaken by the enormous tower, and found some solace in how he wasn’t alone in his shock.