Inside the study, the dark gray dust locked in the void by the four-colored laws shook violently.

The cage formed by the four supreme laws gave off a suffocating divine power.

It was the terrifying Strength of an Intermediate god, tearing this piece of space completely away from its original dimension.

Leon’s projection could not fade away. It could only gather back together inside the web of laws.

On the face formed from Primordial dust, the shock had not fully disappeared, but now there was something new in it: a doubt he had never felt before.

Aiden’s words were like a giant hammer that could split heaven and earth. They smashed a crack into the belief Leon had held for five hundred years, a crack that could never be repaired.

"The Heavenly Demon Clan... is actually a twisted result of the evolutionary leap?"

Leon muttered to himself. His voice was hoarse and filled with confusion he could not hide.

"Could the other side of the door really not be heaven, but a deeper hell?"

Five hundred years of sitting alone. Five hundred years of planning.

At that moment, it all seemed like one huge joke.

Aiden stood tall. His double-pupiled eyes looked down at Leon, cold and deep.

"Whether it’s hell or not, we’ll know once we go and see."

Aiden’s voice was calm, but it carried an unquestionable force.

Leon suddenly raised his head and stared hard at Aiden.

"Go and see? Easy for you to say!"

"The two-year countdown has already begun. The Strength of the Lord of the Primordial is waking up!"

"Even if my theory is wrong, we have no way back now!"

"Do you really think the Lord of the Primordial will give you time to prepare on this side of the door?"

Aiden looked at him and slowly raised one finger.

"One year."

Those two simple words fell like thunder from a clear sky, making the void hum and shake.

Leon froze.

"What did you say?"

"You waited five hundred years. I won’t let all that waiting be for nothing."

Aiden tilted his head slightly, and a wild, proud smile appeared on his lips.

"Give me one year."

"Within one year, I will become strong enough to face the Lord of the Primordial head-on."

"When that time comes, I will push open that golden door together with you."

"And I will personally ask the Lord of the Primordial that question: after evolution, what exactly will we have to face?"

Boom!

The air in the study seemed to be sucked dry in that instant, and the temperature dropped sharply.

Leon looked at Aiden as if he were looking at a madman.

"One year?"

Leon was so angry that he laughed. His voice was full of disbelief.

"Aiden, do you really think you’re some all-powerful savior?"

"You are only at the early stage of Intermediate god right now, and your understanding of the laws is only sixty-six percent!"

"If you want to face the Lord of the Primordial head-on, you’ll need to reach Greater God at the very least. You may even need to reach Supreme God or God-Emperor!"

"How are you supposed to cross such a huge gap in just one year?"

For gods, one year was no more than the blink of an eye.

Even the most gifted geniuses from a hidden family would need hundreds or thousands of years of hard training to cross a single divine realm.

To go from a lower god straight to God-Emperor in one year?

That was simply the biggest joke in the world.

Aiden did not argue. He only looked at him in silence.

The next moment, Aiden’s double-pupiled eyes suddenly merged into one.

Buzz-

A data screen so bright it was almost impossible to look at unfolded before Aiden with a crash.

It was his unique system panel. At that moment, it burst with golden light that lit up the entire Celestial Imperial City.

[Ding! Primordial crystal resonance detected. Hidden container reading has reached: 105!]

[System container has entered the collection stage!]

Under Leon’s shocked gaze, the data representing the Seven Pillars crystal container began to flash with mysterious runes.

Then, at the very bottom of the data, a hidden module that had never appeared before slowly began to emerge.

Rumble!

As the module appeared, the space around the entire Celestial Imperial City began to shake violently.

Inside Aiden’s body, the four supreme laws-space, thunder, light, and the primordial trace-actually let out low cries, as if they were bowing in surrender.

It was a line of text made from ancient and supreme law runes. It gave off a pressure that seemed to stand above all gods.

[Hidden Module: All Things Return to Their Source (Locked)]

[Unlock condition: Container reading must reach full capacity.]

Leon stared hard at those words, and his mind exploded with shock.

The half-primordial Strength inside him suddenly became uncontrollable, as if it wanted to kneel before it.

"This is... Yves’s work?!"

Leon cried out in shock. His voice was shaking badly.

As someone who had lived in the same era as Yves, he knew far too well what this Strength meant.

"All Things Return to Their Source... He actually left something like this at the deepest layer of the system..."

"As long as the container reaches full capacity, this module can be unlocked?!"

Leon completely lost his focus.

At last, he understood why Yves had been willing to die back then, just to set up this world-shaking plan.

Aiden put away the panel, and the bright light of the laws around him slowly faded.

"That’s right."

"This is my trump card."

"Now, do you think one year is enough?"

Aiden looked straight into Leon’s eyes. His voice was calm, but every word carried weight.

Leon fell silent.

He stared at Aiden, then looked at the empty void around them.

In Aiden, he saw the shadow of Yves from back then.

But Aiden was more forceful, more ruthless, and far more determined.

Yves had chosen to protect and wait.

Aiden had chosen conquest and destruction.

"Fine."

After a long silence, Leon finally spoke. For the first time, there was a hint of release in his voice.

"I’ll bet on one year."

"With the last of my will, I’ll bet on the miracle you can create in that year."

As his words fell, the four great law Strengths that had sealed the void slowly faded away.

Leon’s projection began to truly collapse, turning into specks of starlight that merged into the surrounding void.

But before he disappeared completely, Leon suddenly turned back and looked deeply at Aiden.

"Remember this, Aiden."

"I am not your ally, and I am not your enemy."

"I am only a mirror."

"A mirror that showed you the things you could not see on your own during these five hundred years."

Aiden raised his brow slightly.

"What things?"

Leon’s voice grew weaker and weaker, but it still echoed clearly beside Aiden’s ear and lingered for a long time.

"I hope that one year from now, you can show me something my mirror has never reflected."

"An answer."

"Not my answer, and not Yves’s answer."

"But your answer, Aiden."

Whoosh.

The dust completely faded away, and the study returned to silence.

Aiden stood by the window, looking at the star-filled night sky outside. A deep, cold light flashed in his double-pupiled eyes.

"My answer, huh..."

He slowly clenched his fist, and his knuckles cracked sharply.

The one-year bet had officially begun.

...

Aiden pulled back his gaze. The violent law waves in the study had not yet calmed down, but he did not waste even a second.

He immediately issued the highest summons of the Celestial Imperial City.

Boom!

The heavy bronze doors of the core council hall of the Celestial Imperial City slammed shut, cutting off all noise from the outside world.

Aiden sat on the head seat made of obsidian. A faint mist of chaos surrounded his body.

Space, thunder, light, and the primordial trace-four Intermediate God-level Forces of Laws-wove through the void like a web. They gave off a terrifying divine pressure that made it hard to breathe.

Around the meeting table, all the core leaders of the Celestial Imperial City had already arrived.

Bella wore silver-white armor. Her face was calm and cold, and a faint chill surrounded her.

Cheryl rested her hand on the Miko short blade at her waist. Her eyes were firm as she looked at the man in the head seat.

In midair, Zoey’s blue holographic projection flickered slightly. Her expression was more serious than ever before.

Jade held a cold longsword in her arms. Victor stood like an iron tower. Radiant Thorns appeared and disappeared around Nellie’s fingertips.

Luke rubbed his temples. Even this hot-tempered "Tyrant Cleric" could feel the crushing pressure in the air.

Rainn sat quietly at the side. The aura of the Primordial Miko inheritance faintly echoed with Cheryl’s, mysterious and deep.

Faye lay obediently on Aiden’s shoulder. She looked like a a little girl, but whenever her dragon eyes opened, they shone with the supreme dragon pressure of a Mythic Rank Heaven-Devouring Mystic Dragon.

"I met Leon."

Aiden spoke slowly. His voice was not loud, but it struck everyone’s heart like a heavy hammer.

"The two-year countdown to the primordial revival has been shortened by one year."

"Leon and I made a one-year bet."

As soon as he said this, the already tense hall fell into a dead silence.

"One year?!"

Luke suddenly stood up. His eyes widened, full of disbelief.

"Aiden, your strength has risen a lot, but fighting against the Lord of the Primordial in just one year is impossible! It’s like a myth!"

"Nothing is impossible."

Aiden raised his hand and pressed down lightly.

In an instant, the gravity in the entire council hall increased by ten times. Even the void showed a visible sign of collapse, forcibly crushing Luke’s shout.

This was the absolute control of an Intermediate God.

Overbearing, and not open to question.

Aiden flicked his finger. A huge law star map suddenly spread out in midair. Countless streams of data moved through it like shooting stars.

"Leon told me that once that golden gate is opened, what welcomes humanity may not be evolution, but complete distortion and destruction."

"The Heavenly Demon Clan at the top level of the Abyss is the twisted result of a failed evolutionary leap."

Everyone looked at the dark red flow of energy on the star map, the symbol of destruction. Their faces turned extremely grim, and cold sweat formed in their palms.

"So we have no way back. We can only charge forward."

A cold light flashed in Aiden’s double-pupiled eyes.