Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Boom!
A sudden flash of lightning passed through the thick black clouds, bringing with it loud and muffled thunder. The thunder kept spreading in the clouds and gradually rolled away.
The people startled by the thunder got up from their beds in horror and wiped the cold sweat on their foreheads. With the help of the lightning that flashed from time to time, they fumbled to get up and light the oil lamps. They placed their hands on the oil lamps to prevent the wind from blowing out the flickering flames and walked to the window to close it.
Looking at the thick black clouds in the sky, everyone knew that this would be a stormy night.
But after closing the window, they still couldn’t sleep. This damn weather seemed to be foreshadowing something, making them feel uneasy and even... terrified!
This night, many mortals found it difficult to sleep. But they didn’t know that this stormy and bad weather didn’t only appear in the sky above their cities but almost the entire sky of Sanctuary.
The strange meteorological phenomenon brought large-scale rainfall to Sanctuary and even caused the entire sea level to rise a little and many disasters.
Although the High Heavens, the Burning Hells, and Sanctuary were not on the same spatial plane, at least there were some connections. This was also why the three realms were unified as one world. The fall of the High Heavens and the destruction of the Crystal Arch inevitably affected Sanctuary.
Back then, the angels led by Imperius were incomparably proud. They had a special feeling for the magnificent High Heavens. So even though the angels had spread the doctrines of holy light in Sanctuary, they didn’t allow the mortals to enter the High Heavens. Only the wise and great who had made outstanding contributions would receive gifts from them and enter the High Heavens to visit.
The result of this was that the impression of the mortals of Sanctuary could only come from the records and descriptions of the High Heavens in books. Over time, the High Heavens became synonymous with distant and illusory to them.
Therefore, after the fall of the High Heavens, the people of Sanctuary had no way of knowing...
Well, it couldn’t be said that no one knew. Outside a small church near the Weeping Hollow on the periphery of New Tristram, a tall figure was walking through the storm. This tall figure seemed to be a crusader. He had a broadsword on his back, an iron shield in his left hand, and a heavy hammer in his right hand. The hammer head emitted holy light, and this crusader used the holy light as a torch to illuminate his path.
When he arrived in front of the church, under the light of holy light, he saw the dilapidated scene of the church clearly. The roof of the right side of the church had collapsed, and the broken eaves and walls were full of charred marks. The originally bright stained glass windows had long been smashed into countless fragments.
There was not even the light of candlelight in the church. It was dark.
Who would have thought that this church had been the most popular church in the nearby town three months ago? But in the recent conflict between the High Heavens and Sanctuary, this church was smashed by angry people. They burned the church, shattered the windows, stole everything valuable in the church, and finally left countless pieces of rubbish in this church.
Although the priest in the church had repeatedly explained to these people that they believed in holy light and not angels, how could the angry mob distinguish this? They directly beat the priest and chased him out of the church. Who knew where this poor priest was wandering now?
And now, the crusader walking into this abandoned church had not been having a good time recently. His clothes were easily recognized, and people would roll their eyes at him wherever he went. Although these ignorant masses didn’t dare to do anything to him, they wouldn’t sell him food or let him stay in Inns. AS a result, tms crusacler could only go out at mgnt ana try to travel at night...
Alas, why did it suddenly become like this? The crusader sighed inwardly as he pushed open the tattered door of the church. With a place to take shelter from the rain, he shook his body to disperse some of the rainwater on him before walking deeper into the church.
In the darkness, a new hammer of holy light lit up. A figure was sitting on a brick.
“Mentor!” The crusader placed his hands on his chest and bowed. He said helplessly, “Why did you choose to meet here?”
“It can’t be helped... Only here can we avoid the rain...” The person called mentor stood up. It was obvious that he was also a crusader, but he looked a little older.
The crusader organization originated from the paladins of the original Zakarum religion. It was said that many years ago, a leader of Zakarum paladins keenly noticed Mephisto’s corruption and depravation of the Zakarum religion. When he realized this corruption and depravation, it was already a little late, so he could only select some elite warriors who had not been affected by the corruption and bring them to the east. Although it was an expedition in name, it was actually a secret mission. They wanted to find a way to purify Mephisto’s corruption of their faith.
The result was that the entire Zakarum religion fell into Mephisto’s hands, and only this expedition army survived. They inherited the doctrines of the original paladins and continued to believe fanatically in holy light. They also changed the name of the organization to crusader. Many years later, they returned and continued to fight on the front line against the demons.
The inheritance of crusaders was the inheritance of ‘mentors’ and ‘disciples’. Every qualified crusader would take in a disciple. They regarded the disciple as their son, and the mentor would temper the disciple into a weapon of holy light. When the mentor unfortunately died, the disciple had to inherit the mentor’s weapons, shield, name, and unfinished holy mission.
The ones who appeared in the church now were such a pair of crusader mentor and his disciple. The one waiting in the church was the mentor, and the one who came in later was his disciple.
After seeing his mentor, the crusader disciple said in a helpless tone, “Sorry, mentor, there’s still no news of Tyrael... And the most troublesome thing is that the holy light power in my body seems to be weakening recently...”
“It’s not just you. I am the same!” his mentor replied worriedly. “I’ve even contacted other crusaders, and the same situation is happening to them.
Although the power of holy light hasn’t disappeared, it has indeed weakened...
It seems like there’s a great change in the High Heavens!”
Hearing this, the disciple was stunned and asked, “Mentor, we believe in holy light. What does this have to do with the High Heavens?”
“Indeed, holy light is only a kind of power! It actually has nothing to do with angels...” the mentor replied. “But it’s undeniable that the existence of the High Heavens will increase the holy light power of Sanctuary. This might have something to do with the Crystal Arch! Now, there’s no problem with our world, but holy light power has weakened. There might be a problem with the Crystal Arch.
“In addition, some time ago, angels frequently attacked Sanctuary, and then all the angels suddenly withdrew...” The men tor pondered. “Perhaps it’s because the High Heavens was invaded by demons again!”
“Then, don’t we have to support the High Heavens as soon as possible?” The disciple’s eyes widened. “Although it’s hateful for those arrogant angels to attack us, nothing can go wrong with the High Heavens!”
“How can we not know?” The mentor sighed. “Now, the crusaders scattered all over the world are searching for traces of Tyrael. It’s said that he reappeared some time ago and had a short exchange with the angel army who attacked Sanctuary. But then he seems to have gone to the High Heavens, and there’s been no news since. We can’t contact them at all, and the New Church of Horadrim is in a mess...”
“Since we can’t contact them, we can only force our way into the High Heavens!” the disciple suggested. “Find the mages and think of a way. They should be able to find a way to open a portal to the High Heavens.’
“Those mages? Hmph!” The mentor snorted coldly. “Don’t you know? When the High Heavens attacked Sanctuary, they were the happiest. Those mages have always thought that Heaven and Hell shouldn’t interfere with the mortal world. They have the same hostility toward angels and demons. They’re overjoyed that the angels have left, so how could they help us enter the High Heavens?”
“But the problem is that once something happens to the High Heavens, the demons will likely attack Sanctuary!” the disciple said anxiously. “No matter how much those mages hate angels, it’s impossible for them not to think of this, right? Perhaps we can convince them through this?”
“Hmm... It’s possible!” The mentor pondered for a while. “Okay, let’s try it. But don’t have too much hope. We still have to find a way to find Tyrael... Also, there’s Demon King Osiris. I suspect that the matter with the High Heavens has something to do with him!”
“The people of Xiansai found Demon King Osiris’s palace in the depths of the mountains. He seemed to have been there for a while, but he’s gone now...” the disciple replied. “This is very unsettling..
After a short exchange, the mentor and apprentice separated again. They continued to inquire about news all over the world, and the other crusaders did the same.
It could be said that the crusaders paid the most attention to the High Heavens. As for the mage clans, barbarians, and demon hunters, they didn’t pay much attention. As mentioned earlier, after the short conflict between the High Heavens and Sanctuary, many nephalem felt that it was better for angels and demons not to interfere in the mortal world!
The crusaders roaming all over the world didn’t receive any help from the mages. But in the end, they received news from the Priests of Rathma—the necromancers.
The necromancers told the crusaders that the High Heavens had fallen. The King of Despair, Osiris, had led the demon army to defeat the angel army and destroy the Crystal Arch. Among the four Archangels, the Archangel of Justice, Tyrael, was imprisoned again; the Archangel of Hope, Auriel, had disappeared; the Archangel of Fate, Itherael, had died in battle; and the Archangel of Valor, Imperius, had been devoured by his anger. In order not to fall and become an accomplice, he chose to destroy himself...
In other words, after this war, the High Heavens no longer existed, and it had already been two weeks. The demon army had already finished cleaning the battlefield and returned to the Burning Hells.
This news was like a bolt from the blue, shocking all the crusaders. Although they thought that something had happened to the High Heavens, they didn’t expect it to be so serious. The war was over without anyone knowing?!
After the shock, the crusaders quickly informed the other organizations about this news. This time, the entire world of Sanctuary was shaken. The mages temporarily abandoned their prejudices and worked together to open a portal to the High Heavens to check.
In the end, all they saw was devastation. The once glorious High Heavens was now in darkness, and the light of holy light no longer shone on this land. It was an utterly desolate scene.
At this moment, everyone was at a loss. In hindsight, they realized that although angels were also hateful, they were the first targets of demons after all. Before the High Heavens fell, they had resisted most of the demon invasions, and the impact on Sanctuary was not too terrible.
Now that the High Heavens was gone, there was no shield anymore. Didn’t this mean that Sanctuary would have to fight against the demons alone in the future?
Just as the leaders of the various organizations were holding a meeting and arguing over what to do next, no one thought that the first to take action would be the Priests of Rathma.
The reason why the necromancers had first found out about the destruction of the High Heavens was that Trag’Oul, the big shot behind the Priests of Rathma, had participated in the war of the High Heavens. Although he had failed to stop Roy and was unable to save the High Heavens from destruction, after returning, he immediately considered what to do next.
To Trag’Oul, his attack had already provoked Demon King Osiris. He was very worried that the demons would shift their target to him, a world-soul titan, so he needed a force that could fight against the demons.
Therefore, he thought of the nephalem of Sanctuary. These nephalem had great power that was not inferior to angels and demons. Especially after the destruction of the Worldstone, this power was still strengthening. If they could unite to fight against the Burning Hells, they might be able to shoulder the responsibility of the original High Heavens.
But the premise was that they could really unite... Trag’Oul had always observed the mortal world. He had witnessed thousands of years of battles between mortals, and he understood human nature quite well. He had always had doubts about whether they could unite.
Trag’Oul felt that these nephalem might need a leader, a leader who could unite them.
Finally, Trag’Oul told the Priests of Rathma about the fall of the High Heavens through revelations and found a very special necromancer among them.
This person was the founder of the Priests of Rathma, Mendeln!
Yes, Mendeln was still alive. As Uldyssian’s brother, he had lived until now after the Sin War. He was a first-generation nephalem, a true descendant of
Inarius and Lilith, and his lifespan far exceeded that of other nephalem. In the Sin War, Uldyssian had sacrificed himself to expel all the angels and demons at the time. And Mendeln, who had witnessed all of this with his own eyes, his memories were not sealed after the war.
In other words, he was the only nephalem who still remembered the Sin War...
After the war, Mendeln accepted Trag’Oul’s doctrine of balance, established the Priests of Rathma, and became the first necromancer in Sanctuary. He had been living in seclusion and developing the Priests of Rathma. The reason why Trag’Oul looked for Mendeln was that he thought that his identity as a first-generation nephalem could very well unite the humans of Sanctuary, and he hoped that he could stand up and become the leader.
However, Trag’Oul didn’t know that after Mendeln Imew that the High Heavens had fallen, his thoughts were different from Trag’Oul’s.
Although he believed in Trag’Oul’s doctrines, he didn’t believe in Trag’Oul himself. After many years of contact with Trag’Oul, he knew very well that Trag’Oul was only protecting himself. Now that the High Heavens was gone, he urgently wanted to push mortals out to help him resist the prying eyes of demons!
Not only that, but in addition to the original seven demon kings, there was also the King of Despair, Osiris. Mendeln also realized how powerful Hell was now. He felt that it would probably be extremely difficult to stop the Burning Hells with the strength of the mortals of Sanctuary alone.
Therefore, Mendeln walked out of the jungle of Kehjistan and walked on the ground of Sanctuary again. Then, with his memories from a long time ago, he found the seal and altar that Inarius had established when he expelled Lilith.
This was a dark temple with an enormous magic formation engraved on the ground. Three stone pillars stood in an equilateral triangle in the magic formation, and the obscure angel language and demon language were engraved on the stone pillars.
Then he spread rumors that there was a large amount of gold and silver buried here to attract the bandits and riffraff of Sanctuary to come and search for treasures. He killed these bandits and riffraff continuously and poured their blood into the altar.
All the mortals of Sanctuary had the nephalem bloodline in their bodies. But because it had been a long time and they had reproduced many times, this bloodline was gradually becoming thinner. But no matter how thin it was, it was still the nephalem bloodline. When this blood gathered together, it formed a coordinate, a coordinate in the material world!
And this coordinate would direct the mother of all nephalem, the Red Sea (Blood) Queen, Lilith!
Without anyone obstructing him, Mendeln’s plan went very smoothly. After gathering the last wave of blood sacrifices, he guided the offerings and personally said the prayer.
“By three, they come. By three, thy way opens. By the blood of the willing, we call thee home!”
With the chanting of the prayer, the chests of the last three sacrifices tied upside down to the stone pillars split open, and the blood flowing out converged with the blood of all the previous blood sacrifices and spread out. This blood intertwined like silk threads to form a huge triangle floating in the air.
A phantom suddenly appeared above this triangle made of blood. The phantom slowly descended and passed through this layer of blood. The moment it passed through, the phantom immediately turned into a physical body. Bit by bit, Lilith’s figure fell from the Void into the material world!
Mundane stretched out his hand and caught Lilith’s outstretched palm. He looked up and saw Lilith’s face, which had just transformed from illusion to reality and was still a little transparent but had blood seeping out.
“Hail, First Mother... save us!”

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