Life has dealt a heavy hand to a weak demigod like me.

Accepting the Holy Light and becoming a demigod meant losing themselves, and their life goals would become revitalizing the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun, maintaining the orthodoxy of the Five Gods Church, and recovering their lost gods. This was something they were unwilling to do no matter what.

It is also something they don't want to see at all.

After all, the gods disappeared, and as demigods they were the masters of the world. If the gods returned, they would fall into the mortal world.

The demigods who knew the truth did not have much contact with each other, but they vaguely had a common rule to maintain.

That is, to hide all the secrets about Shenghui.

After all...anyone who attempts to become a follower of God is an enemy of each other, unless it is yourself!

Unfortunately, they failed.

Although it is a dead object, the Holy Light is ultimately a holy relic left by God.

The power contained therein is definitely more than just inherited bloodline and responsibility.

After their failure, they changed their goal from hiding all the secrets about the Holy Light to preventing the emergence of new people who could contain the Holy Light.

This time, they did not fail.

There are a total of ten people who know about the Holy Light. Three of them have died. The other three destroyed another family that inherited the name "Krolov" ten thousand years ago and are no longer paying attention to this place.

Four remained, though they occasionally paid attention to the Kingdom of York.

But... for them, this attention is just an occasional glance in their spare time.

As long as it is confirmed that the Krolov family did not become saints step by step, as long as it is confirmed that the Krolov family still exists.

Then, based on what they knew about the rules of Holy Light, no one could inherit its power.

At least that's what their previous research showed.

but now...

A kind smile appeared on the old man's face.

"I had prepared a lot for this day."

"But...it's not necessary anymore."

"But this is a good thing... When the time comes to close the net, Shenghui might not put up too much resistance."

As for the subordinate god who performed miracles here?

The old man didn't care. After all, the methods he displayed were more like those of a servant god of the Church of the Earth.

The Holy Light was not taken away, and his presence here gave rise to a guess in the old man's mind.

Perhaps this new church has learned the lesson from God about the ancestor of the Krolov family and is ready to unite more forces to revitalize the church.

He is waiting for the birth of a new God.

So...as long as I show some intention, there will be no danger.

"Gajeel, or rather "Hate", I hope you are not too disappointing..."

As he muttered to himself, a young man emerged from the old man's body and strode towards the Kingdom of York. The old man remained standing, gazing at the sun in the sky.

Severus Manor, in the study.

Severus stared ahead with a gloomy gaze.

At this moment, a dark green aura emanated from his body. From a distance, even ordinary people would have an urge to escape.

This is the final reminder from their life instinct.

"Hmm~ Look~ What do I smell?" A slightly sarcastic voice appeared in Doug's ears.

"Hatred, what a wonderful look~" A well-dressed man wearing a clown mask appeared in front of Doug as if by magic.

Doug didn't say anything, just stared at the other person coldly.

"You're so calm. You're worthy of being a man who can leave a great reputation in this country~" The man threw his cane aside, pulled a chair and sat down in front of Doug casually.

"How about it? Are you satisfied with the gift I gave you yesterday?" The other party took off the clown mask, but his cheeks were not exposed. Under the clown mask, his cheeks were covered with clown makeup.

"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. You can call me Joker."

"What a shame! I just wanted to leave you an heir yesterday. Who knew your two children were in a safe place?"

"Women stay overnight at men's homes, while men stay in the City of Eternal Night."

"What a bad boy."

"The others performed very well." The clown was muttering something, but Doug said nothing and just stared at them coldly.

"Although your son-in-law is not good-looking and has no real strength, he always protected your precious daughter until his death."

"But what's the use? It's still torn to pieces."

Doug's hand trembled slightly, and the smile on the clown's face became even more vicious.

"The little girl is pretty, but a little too green. I don't have an appetite for her. But when I plucked her head off like an apple, she was still threatening me with you."

The remaining corpse, coupled with the clown's words, made Doug think of many things.

The dark green aura began to spread and gradually surrounded the clown.

However, faced with this kind of aura, the other party didn't care.

"Who told you to do this?" Doug took a deep breath and then tried to remain calm.

"Who? Ordered me?"

"Why would someone order me to do something like this? Does such an interesting thing require someone to order me to do it?"

"Don't you think it's wonderful to be stared at with hatred and to be wanted to be killed?"

The clown spread his arms and smiled a little intoxicatedly.

"Crazy?" Doug fell silent.

"No, no, no! I'm enjoying hatred." The Joker stood up and waved his hands quickly, then took out an invitation and threw it in front of Doug.

"I sincerely invite you to join us [Mother Tree of Hate]."

It was a ridiculous invitation, but the Joker was serious.

[Mother Tree of Hatred] is a secret association founded by a demigod who uses hatred as his power to harvest hatred for himself.

Most of their members are as crazy and full of hatred as the Joker.

The source of their suffering is the [Mother Tree of Hatred] itself, and the purpose of absorbing them is to better absorb the power of hatred generated by them at every moment.

The stronger his strength and the purer his hatred, the greater the power he can reap.

"You really want to kill me~ but you can't~"

"The difference between Sequence 4 and 5 is that even if you sacrifice your life, there's no revenge~"

"Besides, I can't stay here for long."

"It will be very difficult for you to find me by then."

"Joining us will be different. Not only will you know my location at all times, but I can also promise that I won't kill you if you try to attack me the first three times."

It sounds ridiculous to create hatred and make the other party obey you.

But it is not impossible.

Just let the other person see hope.

"As long as you contribute to the [Hate Mother Tree], you can even use Sequence 4, or even Sequence 3, Transcendental Traits like the Hate Mother Tree~"

This contribution is considered from all aspects, but the simplest and most contributing task is to develop new members and cultivate new hatred, just like what the Joker is doing now.

Hatred blinds the heart.

At the same time, for those who see no hope, they will desperately grasp at any glimmer of hope.

Even though they know that behind this glimmer of hope there is a greater possibility of despair.

but...

Despair delayed is always better than despair that comes now.

"I'll give you some time to think about it. Maybe by then your hatred for me will be even stronger." The clown said with a slightly exaggerated smile and was about to leave.

"A clown..." Doug, who had been silent all the time, spoke.

"Have you thought about it?" The clown paused and said in a light tone.

"What a pathetic person..."

"What?" The clown looked at the other person strangely.

"Thank you anyway," Doug continued.

"At least you let me know...there are many people who can be killed besides you..." Doug's expression remained unchanged, but his tone and his calm face made the Joker, who had always thought that everything was under control, panic.

"What are you talking about? Do you want me to execute you now?" The playing cards slowly scattered around the study, and the surrounding space seemed to be shattered by the playing cards thrown by the clown.

"If it comes to revenge, it won't work just with one person..." Green mist enveloped the entire study.

"Annie and the others must be very lonely... They must wish there were more people around to keep them company."

The clown suddenly felt weak, his hair began to fall out, a tumor seemed to have grown in his throat, his stomach began to feel nauseous, and some purple spots grew on his body.

"Cough cough cough..." The coughing sound began to emerge.

He coughed desperately, and slowly some of his internal organs were coughed out.

"you..."

He pointed at Doug, who had been sitting upright in the chair, but couldn't say a word.

"You should have killed me first..." Doug said again.

But this time he banged his head hard on the table, tears fell inadvertently, and then he wiped them away.

The clown struggled and a colorful ball appeared at his feet. He stumbled and pounced on the ball.

When his body landed on the ball, the clown couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The space around him began to flow, and he slowly disappeared into the study.

Aside from that one time, this was the Joker's worst defeat.

Thinking of what had just happened, hatred once again eroded his sanity.

"Damn, damn, damn!"

"I swear I will end your life in the most cruel way!"

But after saying these words, he felt a slight darkness in front of his eyes. He stretched out his hands, and his originally slender and white hands had become like dried firewood.

Slowly his vision began to blur and he could not see things in the distance clearly.

blah-

The carbuncle on his body cracked open, and strands of blue-green pus flowed out.

Some water stains flowed out from under him.

The clown had no strength left and fell straight to the ground.

In the study, Doug slowly stood up, his whole body had turned dark green.

He walked slowly towards where the clown had just sat and picked up the cane and mask he had thrown away.

"A clown...will only be a clown."

But...what am I if I can't even protect my family from a clown like that?

A dark green aura surged out of the study.

The guard who had been guarding outside the door suddenly fell to the ground and slowly turned into a corpse. More dark green aura was brewing on his body.

die...

Damn it...

Damn the clown, damn the Mother Tree of Desire, damn the guards who couldn't protect them, damn me, damn everyone...

A feeling of brutality and destruction came over Doug.

The aura around him became more unstable.