Chapter 262 - Another Wager

Within the unknown space, both Light and Life each plucked a strand from their respective Divine Jurisdictions and handed them to Death.

The God King of Death accepted the strands with a satisfied smile. Just as Life and Light sought a strand of his Divine Jurisdiction, he also desired theirs. Infusing Light with a trace of Death would grant powers like Smite or Smother, while infusing Life with a trace of Death could yield Reincarnation or Resurrection. Each option held tremendous potential.

Even if he couldn't use them for himself, he knew he could sell these strands to other God Kings in exchange for a Divine Jurisdiction of equal value. The Divine Jurisdictions of Life and Light were incredibly rare and prized, so Death was confident many God Kings would eagerly bid if he put them up for auction.

“Thank you for your generosity.” Death chuckled, carefully securing the strands.

Light remained dissatisfied and proposed another gamble. “You schemed with Darkness. I will not concede so easily. I want to set up a new wager.”

To prevent his Divine Jurisdiction from spiraling out of control, Light had no choice but to accept the previous wager's outcome. Still, the dissatisfaction lingered in his heart. His anger was not aimed at Death but at being outmaneuvered by his nemesis, Darkness. He could not accept that.

Life nodded in agreement. “Death, let us have another wager.”

Elina was Light's direct descendant, so Life had given her only a modest blessing. This time, he sought the strongest champion to grant the mightiest blessing—one powerful enough to reclaim what he had lost.

Death hesitated. He understood the dangers of continuing the wager. He preferred to quit when the odds were against him. His Divine Jurisdiction was Death, not Gambling. He had already won once, securing two strands of Divine Jurisdictions. It was a substantial gain, so there was no need to risk more.

Just as Death prepared to refuse, a ball of darkness drifted beside him and took shape as a shadowy figure. Light noticed immediately and snarled. It was his nemesis, the God King of Darkness.

“Death, continue to wager with them,” Darkness urged.

Death turned to him, puzzled. He needed a reason to proceed.

Darkness gave a slow nod. “For certain reasons, my Divine Kingdom will soon be at war with the Light Divine Kingdom. I want to weaken Light as much as possible before that happens.”

Life frowned. Although he and Death often disagreed, their battles took place on the controlled stage of wargames, where talented youths represented them. The outcomes helped determine who was right and revealed gifted individuals, making the contests mutually beneficial.

The enmity between Darkness and Light, however, ran far deeper. It threatened to erupt into an actual war. If things escalated, one of the God Kings could fall.

Death studied Darkness's firm resolve and sighed. “Fine. I will listen. Let's place another wager.”

Death took out the two strands of Divine Jurisdiction he had just won and placed them on the table as his wager. Darkness slowly drew a strand of his own Divine Jurisdiction, slightly thicker, to place as his bet.

Life and Light exchanged a look. They had pledged to share every hardship, so each laid down a strand of their respective Divine Jurisdiction without hesitation. The four God Kings then swore to uphold the fairness of the wager. No other God King would be allowed to interfere. Once the oath had been made, they moved on to selecting their champions.

Thanks to Death's Protection, Han Wu's territory had expanded steadily and now covered 32,000 square kilometers. He held the second-largest territory among all the representatives in Death's faction.

Death did not choose the representative with the largest territory because he believed Han Wu was his lucky star who had clinched victory in the end. Darkness agreed and placed his bet on Han Wu as well.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Life swept his gaze across the chessboard, scanning each white territory before settling on the representative controlling the largest one. That territory spanned 54,000 square kilometers and was the largest on the entire board. The representative was Huang Shengjun, the second-year valedictorian at Imperial College.

Light also noticed Huang Shengjun and frowned. He hesitated to choose him because his core race was the goblins. Such an inferior race clashed with his blessing.

Only after examining Huang Shengjun's Divine Talent and Divine Powers did Light realize his error. He had to admit that Huang Shengjun was remarkably gifted. Ultimately, both Life and Light agreed to make Huang Shengjun their champion.

...

Han Wu was still focused on gathering resources, unaware that he had been chosen as a champion. Because of Death's Protection, any opposing faction whose territory touched his would automatically dispatch troops to invade.

The Dark Locustman Lord Towers weren't just decorative. After slaughtering tens of thousands of fodder units, the towers stationed along the border of his territory had reached a fearsome level of strength.

Each tower now boasted an average of 3 million Armor, 46,000 Attack, and 80,000 Defense. With stats that high, almost no unit could harm the towers. Even a Lord life form was incapable of doing so.

After eliminating countless enemy units, Han Wu had amassed a vast stockpile of resources. His Energy reserves exceeded 1.5 million, and he possessed tens of thousands of Sacred Objects and special items. Still, he didn't ease up. He knew danger could strike at any moment.

He turned his focus to positioning his towers. The Dark Locustman Lord Towers were powerful, but enemies like the Holy General could ignore their status ailments.

Han Wu prepared for every possibility and needed a backup plan that could handle those outliers without delay.

To prevent surprises, he decided to first look into the Epistian Tower. Though its Armor, Attack, and Defense stats were modest, its unique attack method and impressive range made it invaluable. The tower retained Epistians' traits and could charge its attacks before unleashing them.

Even better, the Epistian Towers could amplify one another. With enough of them working in unison, they could deliver a charged strike powerful enough to obliterate nearly anything in their path. Moreover, their unique range allowed them to target any enemy within Han Wu's territory, leaving no one able to hide or escape their reach.

Han Wu spent 1.2 million Energy to build a large cluster of Epistian Towers in the central region of his territory. Each cost 30,000 Energy, so with the original tower included, he now controlled forty-one. He decided to test their power. All forty-one towers charged a single fireball together and unleashed a devastating attack that dealt 41,000 damage.

He then equipped each tower with Sacred Objects he had merged, boosting their damage tenfold to 410,000. Even a High Lord would fall to a direct hit from this attack. As Han Wu continued refining the Epistian Towers, their power would only grow.

He was already eager to see the results when a familiar voice called out, “Junior Han Wu, so it was you!”