Violet, Arad’s mother, walked alone through the night, taking a stroll through the silent beach of a long-lost island. No humans lived around here, and not even monsters found coming here helpful.

Walking on the golden sand, she looked at the endless night sky, then at the stars reflecting in the calm sea. She took a deep breath, and her eyes flashed dark with magic.

"Can you at least speak?" She growled, and for a few seconds, nothing happened. But then, the sea shifted, waves started picking up, and a forest of writhing tentacles slowly emerged, causing her a painful headache.

From those endless tentacles, a young, beautiful man walked out, looking at her with a gentle smile. He was well built, a bit tall, had two blue eyes, and flowing white hair that shimmered with magic.

"No answer? So we’ve lost you." She frowned and clenched her fists. "I don’t want to do this, so if you can speak or reason with me, try it."

The young man never replied and just looked at her with his innocent smile, unbothered. But behind those eyes, there was nothing but endless madness and darkness.

An hour later, Alcott’s door opened up, and he stood up, looked around, and rushed to the hallway. The first thing that hit him was the stench of blood, and what he saw there was Violet on the ground, bloodied from head to toes.

She had lost an arm, a leg, and her left eye. She had a large, gaping wound on her back and stomach. Alcott could tell immediately that this wasn’t her doll, but her, the real Violet.

"What happened?" He rushed to her and then looked back into the house. "Ginger!" He carried Violet inside and got the potions to heal her, but nothing seemed to work.

In fact, he knew the potions worked, but it was just that Violet’s draconic body was so vast and massive that whatever those potions could heal, it wouldn’t cover much of her wounds. Alcott was certain that the only reason Violet showed in her humanoid body was that her draconic one was so damaged that she had to conserve energy and turn into a humanoid form.

Ginger soon approached Alcott. "Take a look outside, the stars have disappeared."

As Ginger took care of Violet with Alcott’s mother, he went out to look at the sky, and as Ginger said, there wasn’t a single star in the sky, just endless darkness.

"Don’t worry. The stars are still there. This world is inside her stomach, and she can’t use magic to show you the stars at the moment." Amaterasu was there, standing right outside Alcott’s window.

He glared at her. "Good, come heal her."

She smiled. "That is why I came." Amaterasu flew in through the window and found Violet. "What a sorry state you’re in." She waved her hand and started healing her. Only now did Violet’s ghastly wounds seem to get better.

Violet looked at her and then smiled. "Sorry to say this, but the fucker grows like a tumor."

Amaterasu giggled. "Careful there, that’s my husband. So, where is he now?"

"Don’t know, he escaped." Violet mumbled, and Alcott glared at them. "Who escaped? Who did this?"

Violet looked at him and smiled. "Doesn’t matter now. He won’t be coming back to the mortal world." She looked at Amaterasu, "The northwest parts of the Dead Sea, you should probably get someone to repair that."

With that, Violet closed her eyes to take a long nap; she had used too much energy just to drive the mad Overgod out of the mortal world without ushering in the end of the world.

After making sure Violet was healed and only needed rest, Amaterasu disappeared immediately and landed where Violet pointed out. There, she could see the full scope of the disaster. A wide circle, a few thousand kilometers wide, of the near-endless Dead Sea was wiped out and turned into a bottomless abyss.

"This... should be visible from the moon." The mortal world was massive, but this hole was almost taking half a quarter of its surface. But such a massive hole, any attack that could leave such a scar should’ve been felt across the entire world, but no one felt anything.

"She must’ve carved this with her void magic and thrown it out of her stomach alongside Cain. So... he was hiding at the bottom of the sea and growing." She frowned and swung her hand, calling several angels.

"I’ll leave this to you. Mend it well, I have to move." She then disappeared as her angels started repairing the crust of the planet and filling the Dead Sea with water.

That might’ve seemed like an easy job, but due to Violet’s lingering magic, the water itself refused to come in the hole. The angels were going to need weeks to fix it.

Now, Amaterasu landed outside the mortal world, right on Violet’s massive draconic head, and looked at the stars around them. Violet was asleep, and her body drifted through space. It seems that she threw Cain out and teleported away several times to lose him.

"I’ll leave a mark here." The scales beneath Amaterasu’s feet burned and left an imprint in the shape of a blazing sun, marking a spot she could teleport to later on. "See you later."

Then, she flew into space, searching around using the stars to try to locate where Cain, the mad Overgod, was hiding. But even after hours of searching, she couldn’t find him. It was as if he vanished, and that didn’t bode well.

She knew he didn’t leave the universe, because there are signs when the Overgod leaves, so he had to be somewhere. But looking for him in the vast universe was like looking for a needle in a bottomless sea, and now, that needle can move and hide.

When she couldn’t find him, she returned to the mortal world, where it was already morning in Alina. Landing right beside Alcott’s house, she looked inside and could see Violet sitting in the living room through the window.

Amaterasu approached the door, then teleported inside, appearing right on the table in front of Violet.

"How are you feeling?"

Violet looked at her, then smiled. "Knock on the door first."

"I won’t knock. When I come to your house, you’re the guest." Amaterasu sighed, then looked at the fireplace. "I couldn’t find him. How did he look, what could he do?"

Violet looked at the ceiling. "Basically, he lost access to the Overgod’s power, but is still a mage. So, he is as skilled with spells as Yog, as physically powerful as Tiamat, and as violent as Maharaja."

Amaterasu jumped to the couch and sat down, looking at the tray of tea Violet was drinking from. "So, a serious fight would be a disaster.’ She poured herself a cup, then took a sip. "If he is that powerful, then he is at his prime, but without the Overgod’s authority."

Alcott walked in and saw Amaterasu there, and he frowned. "How did you get in?"

"Not through the door, I teleported in. But, I’m the least of your concerns here." She looked at Violet. "She might’ve healed, but she is still drained. Keep an eye on her, and don’t be stupid. If she ended up like that, then you and everyone here has no chance."

She started floating. "Take care of her. I’ll come back later to explain more." She then teleported away, landing inside her church in Arad’s city.

The nuns there knew her because she was living in that church, and all of them fell to the ground. Amaterasu looked around and spotted the oldest of the nuns, a woman in her late eighties. "You there, follow me."

The old nun rushed after Amaterasu, confused and worried. Soon, they ended up inside Amaterasu’s private quarter, which was just one of the church’s rooms that she expanded with magic.

When they walked inside, the nun noticed something as she walked past the mirror inside the room. She froze and looked at herself. "By the... What?"

She looked younger, as if she were back in her late teens. A young, powerful, and healthy woman. Her white hair was nowhere to be seen, her wrinkles had disappeared, and her hunched back had straightened up.

"I need you to be able to work." Amaterasu flicked her finger and threw several stacks of ancient books at the nun. "Sift through them, and mark anything that seems strange.’

The nun looked at the stack of books and then frowned. "How would I know that something is strange?"

Amaterasu approached and tapped her on the forehead. "I don’t have time to explain, get to work."

The nun immediately knew what to do, and even though it horrified her, she started working immediately.

"This isn’t knowledge we mortals should know." The nun looked at Amaterasu, who was also busy sifting through books.

"I know. You won’t leave this room alive anyway." She looked at her, and the nun smiled. "Aren’t you angry? I just told that I’ll kill you after you’re done working."

"I was a walking corpse anyway. In fact, when I saw you here first, I thought that I had died." The nun went back to working and could only pity those who would live through the coming age.

The Overgod, the one keeping all the gods in check, had finally gone insane. Amaterasu would take his place and try to keep the other gods in check, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be safe from now on.

To the gods, this was like the king of a kingdom had suddenly died, and now, they were on the brink of a bloody civil war.