While Gideon was cleaning up the previously hidden location, a soul had been teleported inside a dungeon in a remote corner of the world.
This soul was strong enough to withstand being separated from its body for as long as it did.
However, it was now slowly fading as energy constantly left it.
However, just as he despaired, a voice traveled to his ears.
"Do you seek power?"
"Huh? Who's there?!"
"Do you seek power?"
"Yes, I seek power, so what?!"
"I can give you power beyond this world's measure."
Dylan Ross wasn't stupid, he asked, "At what cost?"
"Your fealty."
"Really? That's all? I don't believe you."
"That is all I need from you. In exchange, you will have power beyond what this world can even handle."
"Show yourself!"
"I cannot grant this request currently, however, there is no need to force you. You will die soon anyway… Hahaha!"
The laughter was too creepy. Dylan Ross felt chills down his spiritual spine.
"I will give you my fealty! Just grant me this power you speak of!"
"Very well." As if expecting his answer, the voice accepted his vow.
It was no ordinary vow, as after it was uttered, golden chains appeared to bind Dylan Ross's soul and tethered it towards an infinite distance.
"Feel the power, of the God of temptations!"
The voice called itself the 'God' of temptations. Dylan Ross who was clearly desperate did not even bother with double checking this 'God' and simply believed in it. The moment he gave consent, a power not belonging to the deities of the Divine Realm entered Dylan Ross's soul and transformed it to become a gigantic Black Dragon.
If Gideon had been here inside the dungeon and saw this transformation, he would have recognized this very same dragon kind that he dreaded so much even though he had already ascended beyond Nine Circles as a magician; Hiei of the Black Dragon.
A General, not a mere champion of the evil gods, albeit, the weakest among them.
The dungeon where he transformed was instantly expanded to reflect the Black Dragon's majesty and power. The monsters inside were also given a boost. Their strength, skyrocketed.
…
In another part of the globe, there was a small island nation called Philippines. It was a nation that inherited a king's name, Philip.
However, when the Sancrosanctum Concillium Vasis Dei opened and awakened appeared, the Philippines was one of the many small nations who awakened S-Class individuals thus cementing their status.
The sole S-Class awakened in the Philippines, Rocky Batongmalaki, was an Oracle.
S-Class Oracles were rarer than naturally formed Diamonds. And being the only Oracle in the Asia Continent, Rocky Batongmalaki was highly sought after. His services included but not limited to communicating between men and the gods, assessment of skills, divination, prophecy which was rare, and then the most well known, Awakening Ceremonies.
Awakening Ceremonies, this was the greatest threat to other nations as the Philippines had more than 250 thousand awakened contributing almost a fourth of the overall awakened population on Earth.
That was why the Philippines' status was cemented thoroughly. And through their efforts, politically and other such means, their Overseas Filipino Workers, had become one of the greatest support the world has known.
Rocky Batongmalaki, he was simply doing his rounds in the temple created for him and his patron god where the ceremonies do happen when he was suddenly struck by a severe headache. Instead of clutching his head, he stood ramrod and accepted it as if the norm for himself.
"Here I am, oh great God."
When he said so, his irises turned white as a golden light spread from its center. This was a state in which Rocky Batongmalaki became a vessel for a prophecy or a vision of prophecy.
This time, it was as a vessel for prophecy where the prophecy given by the god called Bathala, is impressed upon his mind.
"All the Earth trembles before the coming dark star. Ruin and chaos enter. Gods fall. Vessels turn to dust. The light of the world ascends. Everything is reset."
After some time, Rocky Batongmalaki regained his consciousness and he recalled the prophecy.
"What does it all mean?" As he asked, words of explanation appeared in his mind as well. This was part of his ability as an oracle. To interpret and translate prophecy into something comprehensible. A secret only he knew as an Oracle of Bathala.
Other oracles may not even have the same function.
"An evil god, stronger than the rest has come. Its designs for the ruin of the world to devour. Many will oppose it, ruin will follow. Even gods will fall from this great foe, and vessels will cease. When such a time arrives, the true savior, the light bringer, will ascend and a new age will come after the world is destroyed."
The prophecy became understandable because of this skill he had. Rocky Batongmalaki wrote it down quickly and gave it to one of his many assistants and they started to relay this to all channels.
When the world learned of this prophecy, even Gideon was alarmed. If a prophecy was properly given, then that only meant that the threat is real and that anything prophesied would come to pass, without fail!
"Damn it all!" Gideon almost let his shout escape his mouth. By the tightly scrunched brows he had on, it was a true show of concern. Although Gideon did not have the ability of an oracle himself, he'd experienced being given an oracle by an oracle of the goddess when he was in the otherworld.
"Shadowless." Gideon mentioned one name that he hadn't called lightly since it was established.
"Yes, Mr. Gideon."
"Scour every known and look for more unknown dungeons hidden deeply in the world. Look for those that expanded in a short amount of time, from a month before the oracle to a month from now. Do not act rashly and leave the clearing of dungeons to the guild."
"Yes, Mr. Gideon."
…
The Shadowless remained nameless. They did as they were commanded and scoured the globe for dungeons that expanded within the given timeframe.
In about a week, a dungeon was found… 0and then another and then more after a final sweep.
"What does this mean?"
"Dungeons are expanding by the day like mushrooms after a thunderstorm!"
"That's right. Report this to the Guild. Let Atreus deal with those known dungeons. Those we marked as beyond S-Class, must be reported directly to Mr. Gideon."
"Yes, sir!"
…
Gideon received this report and immediately sent 'Gideon' to clear those dungeons. Since it was an urgent matter, he commanded 'Gideon' to use everything in its arsenal to level the place and drop the dungeon cores. He did not care about their corpses or materials, just clearing them up was of utmost importance. Since the dungeons were clearly expanding and multiplying at an unprecedented rate on Earth, Gideon was sure, there was a higher level evil god behind this.
And this evil god did not even bother contacting the other evil gods, in fact, Gideon suspected that it already ate up the others to strengthen itself.
"Shit. If this evil god's champion is not found, Earth will probably end up ruined. Civilizations will crumble and we'll return to the stone age."
As a precaution, Gideon tasked Rebecca with recording every technological and scientific discoveries and advancements in all fields. It had to be done through magic and stored in the Akashic Plane present in this universe.
Although this was a redundant process, as all knowledge in this universe is already recorded in the Akashic Plane, it was a different thing to access it freely. To do this, even though limited only to those uploaded by oneself, the recordings must be done manually to gain access to those specific and limited knowledge. As if putting it in the cloud, albeit, universal scale.
Gideon was doing so much behind the scenes that the world just seemed as if it was having a normal day-to-day process.
Once everything was arranged, he even went into secluded cultivation to prepare for the worse. Although he did not want to ascend currently, if he was forced to, he would. The consequences will be unfavorable, but if it's to protect his family and loved ones, he would do it. And if the world benefits from it, so be it.
Gideon cultivated diligently and achieved enough momentum to go beyond Transcendence Realm to reach Sainthood and beyond.
It was at this time that he remembered closely that he didn't in fact need to go beyond Transcendence Realm at all, there was no need to. He only needed to gather divinity in order to upgrade his Divine Attribute skills like, Absolute Will, Absolute Sense, Divine Familiar, Divine Territory, and Creation. These were skills he gained through divinity, although not exclusively, they were largely influenced by it.
"There's no need to risk it if there is no need to. With enough divinity, this evil god should be bearable. If there's one thing I know about prophecies, it is that it will absolutely come to pass, yet its fulfillment can be satisfied through diverse means."
Although Gideon realized this, he did not stop accumulating Pure Spiritual Qi. A flood of Pure Spiritual Qi entered his dantian and suffused his body. Further strengthening it.
With a changed mindset, Gideon switched to absorbing divinity from the Sacrosanctum Concillium Vasis Dei's emission.
{Gained Supreme Divinity} x10
This message came to Gideon every time he breathed in the essence of divinity.
And every time, he was presented with a choice between enhancing a skill or acquiring new ones. Gideon always chose to enhance those available to him.
And in the end, after a week of 'cultivation' Gideon's Divine Familiar skill had been replaced with Divine Incarnation. And it allowed Gideon to form clones of himself, and yet physically separate from him. Having freedom of thought, yet still collectively connected to one central mind that is Gideon's.
This was an upgrade and 'Gideon' gained 'comrades' following this. Not only was this convenient, but it was also very versatile. The incarnations could transform into some other forms of creatures that represented something that characterizes Gideon's personality.
In particular, as if imitating his pride, an incarnation turned into a Lion of epic proportions. Then as a kindhearted young man, an incarnation transformed into a saintly and innocent-looking child.
Some represented his playful nature and transformed into a lovable dog, the size of a truck. These were just some. As his Divine Incarnation skill grew from the continuous upgrades, the total capacity that Gideon gained was enough for a small army of himself with different 'minds'.
The frightening fact about these Incarnations, is that they were copies of Gideon, minus the being human part and his cultivation.
…
"Scour the Earth. Search for the most powerful dungeon core. There's a 50 percent chance that that dungeon core is the champion that the evil god snuck in one of the other evil god's dungeons."
"…" The incarnations and Gideon did not need to communicate verbally. They had a supernatural telepathic connection so they merely moved after his instruction.
Now, with Shadowless, the Guild, and his Incarnations, Gideon could have eyes and ears everywhere. Not to mention his Absolute Sense and Absolute Will.
Although it was frustrating that his Absolute Sense and Will couldn't reach inside the dungeons unless he was inside one, Gideon had found the solution through this.
His Incarnations numbered 20 including 'Gideon' so in about a day, they should be able to clear located dungeons before they evolve further.
All this while, the world seemed at peace. The more sensitive ones felt that this was a tranquil before the storm. Heralds knew what was going on, but because of the gag order of the gods prohibiting them to spread this news to the non-awakened, they were the ones that took the full pressure and anxiety.
…
Meanwhile, Hiei of the Black Dragon was going around the world through an ability specially given by the evil god: Dungeon Walk.
It was an ability that made him capable of traversing from one dungeon to the next as long as it was a dungeon filled with evil god energy since it was manifested through the same energy.
Since Hiei of the Black Dragon was formed, he had become a complete puppet of the evil god. Dylan Ross was no more and his consciousness was kept to the back burners trapped in an endless darkness. The dungeons he visits enter a phase of evolution once it is saturated with the naturally leaking evil god energy he was emitting. This was the evil god's plans all along. Bestowing the Dungeon Walk skill and allowing a champion to walk and visit these dungeons to hijack other evil god's dungeons, after all, it had already devoured the baby evil gods it came across with. Their goods were his now.
With the evil god's plans in motion, soon, the dungeons worldwide were turned into evolved dungeons. Making it harder for Gideon to locate the champion.