The Epic Tale of Chaos vs Order

Chapter 2395: Crimson People?

What appeared in Cain’s sight was a sky, but instead of clouds and stars, storms ruled the firmament. Lightning and thunder raged endlessly, clashing with such fury and power that it seemed as though Alpha–Omega Overgods were locked in battle above. Each strike tore through the heavens with terrifying force, waves of destruction rippling across the expanse.

Fortunately for Cain, as part of The Flow, he existed in a place where that devastation could not reach him.

Carried alongside the endless current, Cain continued diving through the lightning storms. Days passed as the chaos roared around him, yet the current remained steady, shielding him from harm. Eventually, the storms began to thin, and Cain’s gaze fell upon what lay beneath them.

A landmass.

It was gargantuan beyond comprehension.

Mountains rose so vast that they rivaled entire worlds, dwarfing even the mightiest peaks of the Nine Empyrean Suns Universe and the Crimson World. Their sheer mass distorted the air around them, radiating pressure so intense that it felt like the land itself possessed a will.

Volcanoes dominated the landscape, but they were not barren. From their molten hearts grew colossal trees, their roots submerged in magma and their trunks piercing the sky. They fed upon fire and storm alike, their branches crackling with lightning as if drawing strength from the raging heavens.

”A weapon forged from those trees... just how strong could it be?”

The thought crossed Cain’s mind as he began to grasp the true power of the land he had reached.

Yet the volcano trees and world-sized mountains were only the beginning.

More phenomena revealed themselves as he drifted onward—some even more majestic, others far more dangerous. Cosmic rules reigned around certain regions with such intensity that Cain could feel them pressing against his existence. If he were careless, those laws alone might shatter the barrier between planes of existence and reach him, even within The Flow.

Beyond the land itself, Cain witnessed its fauna.

And it matched the brutality of the environment perfectly.

The beasts possessed animal forms, but the stronger they were, the more fiendish their appearances became. Claws sharpened into weapons capable of tearing through mountains. Fangs lengthened into jagged blades. Wings grew vast and razor-edged, while barbed tails lashed with lethal precision. With every increase in strength, their bodies became more refined in the art of killing, as though evolution itself had been shaped solely for slaughter.

Then—

”WHOOOOMMP!”

Cain’s eyes widened as a sound like the call of a whale echoed across the distance.

The fabric of space itself tore open.

From within emerged a massive whale-like creature, so vast that its body blotted out the sky. With a single motion, it opened its colossal maw and devoured all life within a massive forest below—trees, beasts, land, and energy alike—before diving back into the fabric of space, which sealed behind it as if nothing had happened.

Cain stared in shock.

”What... was that!?”

Not only was the creature large enough to swallow an entire small world in a single gulp, but the energy contained within its body sent chills through him. It reminded him of the King of the Root when they had first clashed.

”Beasts with the power of Late Alpha–Omega Overgods...?”

Even the strongest beasts in the Nine Empyrean Suns Universe barely reached the Arch-Deity Rank. The Crimson World was no different. Compared to that, what Cain had just witnessed was beyond absurd.

”Is this place ruled by beasts?” he wondered. ”Have intelligent lifeforms been entirely consumed?”

The thought seemed ridiculous, yet Cain could not dismiss it. When power reached a high enough level, even the greatest wisdom could be crushed beneath overwhelming strength.

The speed at which Cain moved within The Flow was staggering, yet even after several days, he continued to witness only phenomena and beasts. On the fifth day, however, something finally changed.

A city appeared.

It was massive beyond belief, its buildings so tall that they rivaled the volcano trees themselves. Towering structures stretched endlessly upward, forged of unknown materials that radiated strength and resilience. While Cain could not approach directly, he could see movement within.

People.

Though calling them people might have been a stretch.

The entities moving through the city possessed humanoid forms, yet the similarities often ended there. Their physiques varied wildly, but one trait united most of them—armor-like bodies. Their flesh appeared dense and reinforced, as if forged rather than born.

Aesthetics clearly held no importance here.

It was as though every single entity had been built with the sole purpose of fighting and killing. That intent seemed engraved into their very souls, shaping their bodies and defining their characteristics.

As Cain focused on them, a frown formed on his face.

”Their auras... they’re similar to the Depravita Race,” he muttered, ”but their bodies are flesh and blood, not energy and emotion.”

Naturally, Cain’s thoughts drifted to the Demon King and the Depravita Race. Though they now belonged to the Tenth Empyrean World, that had not been their place of origin.

Yet despite the similarities, Cain had not seen a single true Depravita.

As he moved through the city, battles erupted everywhere. People slaughtered one another in the middle of the streets, tearing into their victims and devouring their corpses until not even a drop of blood remained.

Such scenes would have shocked even the most brutal cities of the Nine Empyrean Suns Universe and the Crimson World.

Here, they barely drew a glance.

The surrounding entities walked past the carnage as if it were no different from breathing. Blood, death, and screams blended seamlessly into daily life.

The deeper Cain moved into the city, the more brutal the battles became—and the stronger the people involved. Power escalated rapidly, violence sharpening with every step. Yet upon reaching the center, something unexpected occurred.

Order.

A semblance of peace emerged.

The myriad forms of the city’s inhabitants began to diminish, converging into a dominant archetype. These beings shared striking similarities: white hair, tall frames, and sharply defined musculature. From their foreheads opened a third eye—crimson in every single one of them.

While the colors of their two normal eyes varied, that third eye never did.

Curved horns extended upward and outward from the sides of their heads, shaped almost like crowns. Their presence radiated authority and refinement far beyond the rest of the city.

Cain frowned.

The aura they emanated was similar to the others—yet purer. Stronger. As if they were the culmination of countless evolutions.

But what unsettled him most was something else.

They shared more than a passing resemblance to his own Crimson Bloodline.

”Crimson people...?” Cain muttered, confusion deepening as the situation grew stranger by the second.

His gaze swept across the city once more.

”Where the hell am I?”