Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 667 - 666: The Beginning of the defied Plan

Gawain has always been quite interested in the ancient Gondor Empire’s immense "Defied Plan"—from a certain perspective, he felt the plan couldn’t just be described as immense; it could even be termed as great.

This was a plan where humans, after confirming the existence of gods and facing a world dominated by supernatural powers, took the initiative to resist deities as a means of survival—in the modern world a thousand years later, human civilization has declined, and races other than humans seem to be mired in stagnation. Gawain saw too much rigidity, backwardness, ignorance, and decay in this era; nevertheless, small sparks from the defied plan still persist within this dark chaos. Even if it’s just a spark or two, it proves one thing to Gawain:

At their core, humans in this world have the urge to resist and survive.

But upon careful investigation and contemplation, Gawain discovered too many doubts within the defied plan—this vast plan seemed to revolve solely around "defying gods," although its ultimate purpose seemed to be combating the chaotic wave. Was it merely to help humans survive the chaotic wave?

The Gondor Empire, so determined in its defiance against gods, continued its old research even after the chaotic wave ended and new nations emerged, with Defier like Ophelia further pursuing studies focused on analyzing gods rather than just combating the chaotic wave, which felt more like an accessory to this series of plans.

Ignoring these doubts, the fact remains that with a living Defier like Ophelia around, Gawain was inevitably curious to learn ancient secrets from her lips. After all... gossip is in human nature, even if one becomes a satellite spirit.

"The defied plan... I thought you would at least discuss it with me after the situation was completely stable," Ophelia chuckled lightly. "The subject involves domains that can’t be summarized in a few words."

"It’s just a casual chat to satisfy my personal curiosity," Gawain said, "You don’t have to fully answer my questions. If you feel certain secrets must be kept, we can leave them until after we’ve built more trust between us—after all, it’s merely idle chat."

Ophelia sat on the high-backed chair next to Gawain’s desk, slightly turning her head with her cheeks seemingly bathed in a faint Holy Light: "Rest assured, I’m more than willing to tell you about these matters. Defier never reject fellow travelers, apart from necessary discretion to the public, our endeavor isn’t hidden from view."

Gawain nodded: "That’s good—I’ve already learned that the defied plan is actually divided into many project groups. Kamel’s ’divine evils’ project is merely one of them. I’m curious about how many projects there are and which part you specifically oversee?"

Ophelia pondered briefly: "How many specific projects... I’m afraid I can’t really tell you. It’s not that I intend to keep it secret, but... because God might hear."

Gawain frowned: "God would hear?"

"I’m not sure you can comprehend this excessively abstract knowledge; I can only convey what I know verbatim: some projects... Defier has traveled too far, into the chaos between the mortal world and all Divine Realms. There, once you know of the gods, the gods know of you—we’ve implemented safety measures to mislead the gods’ eyes during our research, allowing them to glance elsewhere. But if these projects are mentioned at an inappropriate time, especially by Defier, those misleading measures could instantly be penetrated..."

"Gods possess a conceptual nature, such that mentioning related knowledge in certain domains would attract their attention?"

"...You possess a remarkable comprehension ability," Ophelia glanced at Gawain with slight surprise, "That is a sincere compliment."

"After facing life and death, I’ve touched upon some secret knowledge," Gawain said casually, "So given these characteristics of gods, how did you manage to research projects that can’t even be mentioned?"

"...Even this can’t be talked about," Ophelia shook her head helplessly—this was the first time Gawain saw a helpless expression on her face. "The security measures established back then have now mostly failed. I can’t discuss any related topics in the real world. In a sense, these secret projects are ’stuck’ at the border of the Divine Realm. I’m sorry, I haven’t found a way to break through yet."

"...No worries, not everything can be forced," Gawain sighed, "Then tell me about the projects you’re in charge of, about those that can be discussed."

"Researching the essence of gods and their numerous laws, and attempting to find breaches within them is my main task," Ophelia nodded. "Besides, I also oversee several defied bases, including the defied Fortress you know."

"Several bases..." Gawain suddenly lifted his eyes, showing surprise, "Are there many bases like the defied Fortress?"

"For such a dangerous plan, how can all projects be in one location?" Ophelia said blandly, "The defied Fortress you know is just one among many bases. But as far as I know, the defied Fortress is indeed the largest and oldest of all bases—it connects to the fall of Amoen, the Giant Stag. Our initial projects began there, thus it’s worthy of the name ’defied’.

Gawain couldn’t help but inquire: "Then the other defied bases..."

Ophelia’s next answer temporarily dispelled all his thoughts: "In the Gondor wasteland."

"...Alright," Gawain sighed, "For now, it’s beyond our capacity to resolve."

Ophelia looked at Gawain: "Is there anything else you wish to know about the defied plan?"

Gawain contemplated, tapping his fingers lightly on the table in front of him: "Is the goal of the defied plan merely to combat the chaotic wave? Must humans defy gods to combat the chaotic wave? Or to phrase it differently... Why must humans defeat gods to survive? Is it because only by stealing gods’ powers can humans resist the chaotic wave, or is it because gods themselves initiated the chaotic wave?"

This is the question Gawain has continuously pondered over recently: What was the original reason and motivation for Defier’s defiance against gods?

As a former atheist coupled with old thought habits, when Gawain initially learned about the defied plan, he didn’t feel there was anything wrong with it. In his view, mortals attempting to break free from gods’ shackles is "inherently correct": pursuing freedom, overthrowing evil spirits and demons, gods oppressing the world, isn’t that the way of things?

But the more time he spent in this world, the more he felt the disharmony from the local people’s worldview:

What exactly is the relationship between gods and mortals? They indeed control the source of Divine Magic Power, control mortal faith, and may have even created the "mental Steel Stamp" to ensure mortal faith towards themselves. But beyond that, have they truly intervened in the operation of the mortal world?

The church acts on behalf of gods in supervising the world—this is one of the rules of the mortal world. In other words, in fact, those clergy groups composed of mortals are the true exploiters and oppressors, even interpreters of theocracy, a fact confirmed by Wright after taking over the Holy Light. Although divine oracles exist, the issuance of divine oracles by gods is infrequent, apart from connections in the field of Divine Arts, they are essentially detached from this world, merely priests truly conduct actions...

Of course, Gawain personally remains highly wary and even somewhat hostile towards gods, but this stems from his personal experiences and worldviews.

Then what about the others besides him? What about the natives who were born and bred in this land? And those ancient Defiers?

The Defiers initially decided to oppose the gods, so there must have been a more compelling reason—according to the intelligence revealed by Ophelia, the defied Plan could be said to counter the gods in all aspects, not just stealing their power, but also studying their essence, searching for their coordinates, finding their weaknesses, and going further... They certainly wouldn’t mind killing those gods either.

If it was merely to ensure that mortals could survive the chaotic wave, they wouldn’t have to go this far. There must be a deeper reason, such as...

The existence of gods itself is an "absolute threat" to mortals.

On this point, Kamel, merely a senior researcher and team leader, couldn’t provide Gawain with an answer, but Ophelia Norton, a former member of the Gondor Royalty and a senior manager of the defied Plan, should certainly know something.

Perhaps Gawain’s question really hit the mark, as there was a faint solemnity on Ophelia’s face. After pondering for a long time, she softly began to speak:

"As long as gods exist, humanity is bound to be destroyed one day."

Gawain furrowed his brow: "...So did they indeed cause the chaotic wave?"

"Quite the opposite, gods never caused the chaotic wave. In fact, according to our research, in the lost civilizations of the Ancient Era—do you know about the lost civilizations of the Ancient Era?"

Gawain nodded: "I’ve interacted with the Dragonkin and know a bit about ancient civilizations; it seems you are aware of these as well."

"That makes it easier to communicate—according to our research, ancient civilizations also encountered chaotic waves. Some of them even survived the disaster, and those surviving civilizations didn’t all rely on their own strength..."

"Are you saying..." Gawain’s action of tapping on the table suddenly stopped, and his eyes grew heavy. "Was it divine intervention?"

"More than just intervention—as the darkness deepens, the light becomes more dazzling. The more severe the disaster that mortals face, the more gods will spare no effort to protect them. There’s evidence suggesting that during ancient times, gods might have even directly descended into the real world to help mortals resist the chaotic wave. Though they couldn’t always ensure a civilization’s survival, those gods indeed did so."

Gawain pondered: "...Is the information reliable?"

"We can’t confirm events from ancient times, but we have more than one clue, including the revelations from some ancient races and some ancient artifacts we excavated in the center of the mainland," Ophelia said calmly. "The chaotic wave wasn’t caused by gods; instead, the latter would appear to help humans resist the chaotic wave—as a pioneer, you should know that in the pioneering era, many priests served as crucial forces of the pioneer armies on the front lines, and weren’t the Divine Arts in their hands derived from the gods they believed in?"

Gawain couldn’t help but drift towards a conspiratorial thought: "What if it was the gods who caused the chaotic wave and increased their faith through heavenly miracles?"

"Increasing their number of followers by reducing over 70% of the population? After the chaotic wave, the number of church followers sharply declined by more than half, and many beliefs were directly severed. Furthermore, there were entire civilizations in the Ancient Era that were completely destroyed by the chaotic wave... From this point of view, I think your hypothesis doesn’t hold."

"Alright, that seems too conspiratorial," Gawain also realized the inadequacy of his guess, "so then, what is your reason for opposing the gods?"

Ophelia took a deep breath and said seriously: "There was more than one civilization that survived the chaotic wave in ancient times—but where are those surviving civilizations now?"

In the brief silence of two or three seconds, a concept sprung to Gawain’s mind—something Melita Ponia had once told him—

Black Pit.

"Did the gods eventually destroy those survivors?"

Ophelia nodded slowly: "I’m afraid so."

Gawain was taken aback and suddenly spread out his hands with an odd expression: "...Are gods all schizophrenic?"

"We don’t know the reason—and initially, we didn’t find any clues or evidence to support the notion of ’the gods destroying the world.’ We only found records of gods protecting humans during the chaotic wave, and the fact that all civilizations that survived the chaotic wave eventually became extinct.

"At first, we didn’t know what destroyed those survivors, until during an adjustment of the Well of Deep Blue’s magic power flow, we accidentally opened an incorrect rift connecting the ’Divine Realm border.’ Through that distorted and magnificent rift, we saw a glimpse of the All Divine Realms for the first time...

"The Gondor Royalty at the time organized a secret scouting team composed of the most powerful priests and scholars. The purpose of this team was straightforward, to see what lay on the other side of the rift if possible, and pay homage to the God to thank them for their protection of the mortal realm—the team wouldn’t truly enter the kingdom, nor would they commit any act of offense.

"However, at the moment the ’transgression’ occurred, the situation went out of control. The rift emitted extreme chaos and madness, and the glorious image of heaven instantly turned into the most horrific nightmare, with the brilliance hiding twisted ’knowledge’ and ’truths’ beyond human comprehension. Almost all of the scouting team was obliterated in an instant, with only two half-insane legendary powerhouses barely holding on to life returning to the real world. Before dying, they only left two sentences:

’They want to destroy us.’

’This is a countdown.’

Ophelia stopped, quietly watching Gawain, and after a dozen seconds of silence, she softly broke the silence:

"These two sentences mark the beginning of the defied Plan."