"It's up to you now..."
The Judgment's captain, Sere, temporarily handed control of the ship to the astronomer Prince.
Although Prince wasn't a knight, with the Celestial Orb now transferred from the main cannon to the engine, he was able to briefly command the Judgment. In cooperation with Sere, he activated a shield that harnessed the star essence from the Law Turbulence Zone, gaining its protection.
Seeing that they still had some distance before reaching the zone, Prince began manipulating the Celestial Orb to remotely draw upon more star essence.
Thanks to the synchronization of their energies, the Judgment slipped into the zone without being repelled by the turbulent laws.
But the Mother of Flesh and Blood, who relentlessly pursued them, was immediately met with violent rejection from the chaotic forces within the zone.
Only a mindless being like the Mother of Flesh and Blood could disregard such peril and continue the chase.
Due to the spatial restrictions, the monster's movements became sluggish, and it quickly lost track of the Judgment.
The vast expanse of the Law Turbulence Zone, stretching millions of miles, offered the warship ample space to evade detection.
However, unnoticed by everyone else, peculiar changes had begun at Chinon's severed leg—new flesh, unnaturally sinister, was rapidly growing.
Sere cast a glance at Chinon earlier, assuming that he was simply regenerating his leg after clearing out lingering law energy that had been preventing the healing process.
But that moment of complacency almost proved disastrous.
Rosen, hidden within the Mysterious Study Room, observed Chinon's regenerated flesh with suspicion.
It didn't look remotely human.
Trusting his Seventh Sense, he summoned a prevision painting.
In it, Rosen saw a scene where the Mother of Flesh and Blood devoured half of the Judgment.
A horrifying realization dawned on him: despite the turbulent spatial interference, the monster had managed to lock onto the Judgment's precise location, while the ship's radar failed to detect its approach.
The answer was obvious—Chinon was the problem.
His regenerating flesh contained a trait that irresistibly attracted the Mother of Flesh and Blood.
Rosen knew he could expose Chinon right away, forcing the god into disgrace and foiling his plot.
Yet, he chose to wait.
After all, gods rarely defect from the world government—it was practically a death sentence.
Divine kingdoms couldn't be transported from the Eternal Continent.
The Noble Sequence Tree would inflict a deadly backlash.
And the world government had no trouble eliminating a renegade god.
Only with the backing of an alien true god could a god survive, but the price for such protection was unimaginably steep.
Chinon hadn't reached such a desperate point.
If he had the support of an alien true god, he wouldn't have needed to collude with the Mother of Flesh and Blood.
There was only one plausible explanation—Chinon had found a way to become a true god.
A conventional true god? Highly unlikely.
It had to be a path to becoming an evil god.
The only explanation was that there was a Source of the Evil Gods hidden within the Law Turbulence Zone.
Rosen, who regularly monitored the gods' network, knew the existence of the Source of the Evil Gods. Chinon, as the head of the Archaeological Institute and a master of the Archaeologist Sequence, naturally had access to such knowledge.
Rosen gave up on warning Sere because he wanted the Source of the Evil Gods for himself.
Its value was immeasurable.
Most gods would go bankrupt to obtain one.
It could help a god ascend into an evil god, making it a treasure countless gods coveted.
The chaotic spatial environment forced the Judgment to slow its advance despite the protection of the Celestial Orb.
This gave the Mother of Flesh and Blood the opportunity to close in.
Due to the spatial chaos, the Mother of Flesh and Blood had already closed in on the Judgment, with the warship's radar completely oblivious to the threat.
The massive monstrosity suddenly transformed into a blood-red, skinless serpent, launching itself hundreds of miles in a single bound. With its gaping maw wide open, it swallowed the rear half of the Judgment, its saliva corrosive as blood, rapidly eating through the celestial orb-formed shield.
Without this shield, the Judgment would have been immediately rejected by the turbulent laws of the zone, just like the Mother of Flesh and Blood.
In that split-second of life and death, the astronomer Prince decisively expanded his Law Domain, enveloping the entire warship as a replacement shield.
A god's Law Domain was a power that far exceeded a demigod's territory. While it didn't grant full control over a law, it did enable mastery over certain aspects within a defined range.
With the protection of this domain infused with the essence of the stars, the Judgment no longer faced the risk of rejection by the law turbulence zone, even with its shield shattered.
Taking this chance, the warship broke free from the abyssal maw of the Mother of Flesh and Blood and began its desperate flight.
Even so, despite Prince's Law Domain naturally harmonizing with the star essence of the zone, it couldn't completely neutralize the chaotic spatial currents.
Navigating through them remained arduous.
In this aspect, the Mother of Flesh and Blood held the upper hand.
While the Judgment excelled in speed, spatial jumps, and raw firepower, it stood little chance in close combat against a true god-level entity.
Despite shedding its defenses like a golden cicada escaping its shell, the ship was quickly pursued and caught again by the Mother of Flesh and Blood.
Though now mindless after becoming an evil god, the beast's combat instincts had only sharpened over the years.
Sensing its prey's evasive maneuver, the Mother of Flesh and Blood convulsed, transforming from a colossal serpent into a hulking mantis covered in exposed muscle. Its blade-like limbs swung with near-light speed, visibly slicing apart Prince's Law Domain.
Realizing that their defenses would soon be breached, Prince made a decisive move—he detonated the Celestial Orb.
Compressed to its limits, the star essence within the orb exploded.
Sensing imminent danger, the Mother of Flesh and Blood shifted its form once again, this time resembling a monstrous frog. Its elongated tongue lashed out, wrapping around the Law Domain and dragging it toward its maw.
The Judgment attempted another desperate escape, trying to shed the domain like a discarded shell.
But the suction force from the monster's mouth was terrifying beyond words.
The Celestial Orb finally exploded, ripping the Mother of Flesh and Blood to pieces.
The rear half of the Judgment, however, was obliterated as well, leaving only the front half intact as it hurtled forward on its remaining engines.
On the surface, the explosion seemed to result in mutual destruction, but in truth, only the Judgment suffered significant damage.
The Mother of Flesh and Blood, though blown apart, quickly began regenerating.
Defense had never been its strong suit, but as an evil god wielding the laws of growth and flesh, it could mend its body in no time.
If the Judgment had moved even a bit slower, it wouldn't have had a second chance to escape.
Barely surviving, Sere and Prince simultaneously turned their gaze toward Chinon.
There was no way this attack had been a mere coincidence.
The Judgment had entered the law turbulence zone long before the Mother of Flesh and Blood, and in an environment where wide-range detection was nearly impossible, the odds of the beast "accidentally" stumbling upon the warship were infinitesimal.
Not to mention the initial ambush was a complete surprise attack.
The only plausible explanation was that someone had guided the Mother of Flesh and Blood directly to them.
Chinon had visited the law turbulence zone before and had ties with the Mother of Flesh and Blood's cult.
The most likely culprit was none other than him.
Sure, it was possible he was innocent—but who would gamble on his integrity at such a critical moment?
Better to kill the wrong person than let a traitor go free!
Almost simultaneously, Sere and Prince unleashed their Law Domains upon Chinon.
Prepared for this moment, Chinon spun around and dashed through the Judgment's severed hull, diving into the surrounding chaotic spatial currents before disappearing from sight.
Sere considered pursuing him but hesitated, wary of Chinon luring them closer to the Mother of Flesh and Blood.
Self-preservation came first.
Sere retracted the Judgment into his mount's spatial dimension and focused on finding a way out.
With Prince on board, escaping the turbulence zone wouldn't be too difficult.
Before Sere could fully secure the ship, Rosen had already detached from the controlled Sequence 3 criminal hunter and seamlessly assumed the form of Damon.
Using the bloodline connection between Damon and Chinon, Rosen tracked the fleeing god.
However, navigating the chaotic turbulence zone was a nightmare, and Chinon's speed far outpaced his own.
Fortunately, Rosen could still rely on his Foreseeing Painting, and Dragon God's Wrath barely held off the zone's law rejection. Despite the difficulty, he managed not to lose track of Chinon. After several days of pursuit, Rosen passed through a chaotic spatial current and arrived in a stable foreign dimension.
The laws here were unusually stable, distinct from the fragmented and dispersed ones in the turbulence zone.
At the center of this space, Chinon stood before a mass of darkness, using every ounce of his divine fire to refine it, attempting to assimilate the black mass into his divine core.
"I absolutely can't let Chinon refine the Evil God's Source..."
Rosen summoned the Hellish Flesh Tree, unsealing a narrow gap in its sealed flesh dimension.
The tree had long been glutted from devouring the Mother of Flesh and Blood's fragments: an unholy manifestation in the Alchemical Lab of Vyska and Rotten Flesh, a transcendent relic directly refined from the Mother's body.
Now, unsealing even a fraction of the stored flesh would inevitably draw the Mother of Flesh and Blood to the scene.
Chinon instantly sensed the proximity of the evil god but, realizing he wasn't immediately targeted, quickly deduced that someone had deliberately lured the Mother of Flesh and Blood, intending to use it to kill him.
Still rational, Chinon decisively abandoned his attempt to refine the Evil God's Source.
He even painfully stripped away portions of his divine fire and divine core that had been tainted by the source, dragging his heavily injured body into a desperate escape.
Yet before he could flee the dimension, he found his path blocked by a world domain.
Sensing the semi-divine rules within it, Chinon's spiritual intuition told him this was Rosen's domain.
A Sequence 3 ambushing a Sequence 0?
Others might underestimate Rosen, but Chinon didn't hesitate—he immediately changed directions and fled without engaging.
If Rosen dared confront him here, it meant he had full confidence in taking him down.
Chinon was nothing if not pragmatic and had no interest in a suicidal battle.
Rosen didn't immediately pursue but instead dispatched his divine avatar to lead the Hellish Flesh Tree away, drawing the Mother of Flesh and Blood elsewhere.
After confirming Chinon had not doubled back, Rosen immediately retrieved the Ancient God Realms from his Book of Divine Secrets, summoning the World Tree to envelop the Evil God's Source.
The World Tree, powered by its mastery of world laws, forcibly absorbed the source into the Ancient God Realms.
Visibly, the World Tree began to show signs of contamination.
Thankfully, Rosen had already relocated the Tree of Life and all dependent Spirit Realms, or they would have been irreversibly corrupted.
Even so, the World Tree couldn't sustain this burden for long, so Rosen's first instinct was to transfer the source to the Main God Hall.
He planned to swiftly negotiate a trade with gods in need of such a perilous relic.
But just as he was preparing the transfer, the World Tree's sole World Fruit began absorbing the Evil God's Source.
Guided by the Painting Laws, the source's sinister law of hatred and resentment slowly channeled into a single leaf on the Law Tree.
That leaf corresponded to a spirit realm painting: Horror Amusement Park, now Sequence 1.
Unexpectedly, as it absorbed the Evil God's Source, the park rapidly ascended to Sequence 0, eventually showing signs of evolving toward the true god level.
This transformation, however, required complete fusion with the Evil God's Source, a process whose duration was uncertain.
During this development, Rosen gained insight into the law residing within the Evil God's Source.
It was the Phantom Law, a subordinate law of darkness—a hybrid born from the fusion of Shadow Law and Illusion Law.
This law wasn't naturally formed but had been created by a now-deceased Great True God.
Even the law itself had been condemned by the Main World as a scapegoat to bear the resentment of countless beings.
Rosen suddenly considered a disturbing possibility—could all Evil God Sources originate from fallen Great True Gods?
Perhaps not all Evil God Sources were connected to fallen Great True Gods, but a significant portion certainly was.
After all, laws were the very foundation of the world. When the Main World was forced to sacrifice certain laws due to the hatred of all living beings, it was clear which would be chosen — the self-created laws of the Great True Gods rather than the world's native ones.
The choice was obvious — personal ties always took precedence.
Although Rosen hadn't managed to sell off the Evil God Source, integrating it into the Horror Amusement Park was definitely a worthy trade.
It was only then that Rosen resumed tracking Chinon.
The forced cessation of the Evil God Source's fusion had inflicted severe injuries on Chinon, causing Rosen's pursuit speed to surpass his prey's desperate flight.
After half a month, Rosen finally caught up.
Thanks to the concealment of the Wolf Totem, he stealthily maneuvered ahead of Chinon.
With a sudden expansion of the World Domain, Rosen ambushed and enveloped Chinon entirely.
By the time Chinon activated his Law God Domain to break free, Rosen had already brought him into his divine domain.
Sensing the unique spatial density of Rosen's domain, Chinon realized escape was impossible.
He had no choice but to deal with Rosen, who would relentlessly pursue him otherwise.
Chinon's divine domain had already ascended into a divine kingdom, which meant he couldn't deploy it to counter Rosen's domain.
However, his projected divine kingdom combined with the Archaeological Museum of Sequence 1 meant Chinon wasn't entirely disadvantaged in terms of terrain.
As for strength, despite his severe injuries, Chinon still held the upper hand.
With a grim determination, he flipped through the Eternal Chronicle, turning back to a chapter predating his injuries in the star realm. Instantly, his condition reverted to peak form.
This forced historical rewind couldn't last indefinitely.
He had to kill Rosen before his state deteriorated.
A micro-wormhole suddenly appeared behind Rosen, firing a Dragon God Roar Grenade.
Chinon was struck directly but remained unharmed, having rewritten history to erase the ambush.
In the next moment, Chinon transformed into the Arcane True God, a deity who had perished in the river of history.
Using the god's remnants he had excavated during his archaeological research, Chinon temporarily wielded part of the Arcane True God's power.
Godbody Rupture Art!
This fearsome arcane spell, faintly surpassing Sequence 0 power, spanned dozens of miles and struck Rosen.
The Holy Lion Cloak was instantly shredded, and even the World Domain failed to withstand it.
Rosen's Ancient God Physique began to disintegrate, but thanks to the Holy Grail Crown locking his vitality, he could continue fighting at full strength despite being gravely injured.
Moreover, the Undying Dragon Physique boosted his combat power the more injured he became.
Coupled with the combat enhancement from Vengeance Judgement, Rosen barely managed to survive Chinon's arcane onslaught.
As time passed, Rosen was entirely suppressed by Chinon.
Yet Chinon grew increasingly desperate — no matter how grievously injured Rosen became, he simply wouldn't die.
Rosen deflected damage, and an army of angels constantly healed him.
Even after Chinon shattered the crown atop Rosen's head and finally killed him once, Rosen instantly resurrected at full health using Angel Revival.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Chinon couldn't hold out any longer.
His forced historical rewind faltered, dragging him back into his heavily injured state.
The strain of forcibly altering history left his wounds even more severe, and he could no longer borrow the Arcane True God's power.
Realizing death was imminent, Chinon didn't hesitate to use his final life-saving trump card.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished from Rosen's divine domain.
Rosen knew that Chinon had fled into the past.
Though he couldn't alter history, Chinon could hide there and survive.
To pursue him, Rosen first had to pinpoint the exact timeline Chinon had fled to.
This would be a daunting task for most, but Rosen's divine avatar was a historian, and he was also a Time Lord.
In no time, he had locked onto Chinon's timeline and crossed the river of time to reach that point in history.
Seeing Rosen pursue him even into the past, Chinon despaired and prepared for a final act of mutual destruction.
Rosen, however, pulled out a pre-painted portrait of Chinon.
Through Death Judgment, he sent the painting directly into Chinon's consciousness.
The space around Chinon collapsed into a Zero-Dimensional Point, and the gravitational pull of the spatial collapse sealed Chinon's shattered divine core within the painting.