lHey there, Ketu here. This is not a chapter MUAHAHAHAHAHAHHA ... er, just wanna talk about a few things about this story (More like the process of me writing it instead of the actual story itself). As you can guess from the title of this non-chapter, which honestly kind of clickbaity, I'm going to talk about this story past present and future along with all my problems when writing it. (I won't actually talk about it in chronological order).

So first thing first, Last year I took three months of unannounced break from writing this story. I didn't just stop uploading, I stop writing this story completely during that time. The main reason being, writing this story has become a chore and pretty stressful for me (Wait there, don't be angry, I haven't quit writing this story). I also didn't lie when I told you that I've been busy, but if I'm enjoying writing, then no matter how busy I am I'll probably have some time to write.

So, why did this story become a chore and stressful to write? tl;dr, this story has strayed a lot from what I first envisioned, and trying to correct it only makes me stressed.

(Skip this part and scroll down if you just want to know the whole point of this non-chapter)

Long story:

Let's go back a little bit to two years ago (i think, I don't really remember). Back then I've never read any novel, AT ALL, I don't like it, too many words, too few images. I only read mangas and watch animes/movies/little bit of TV series and play games, lot and lot of games. until my computer got deep fried by a lightning and I was left computer-less. Having too much free time without games made me search for something to fill it.

Then my friend told me about this site and a few other amateur novel sites.

Then I started reading, only the amateur one though and short one, still don't like long novels (I didn't read the top ranking back then since you know, long). After reading a bit, I started writing, trying to create my own story. In the end, it went badly since my only references were amateur novel with not so good quality.

Then my friend introduces me to FSN and Overlord, which is the first two professional works that I read. I was utterly impressed by the difference in quality (duh!)

So I started over and write another story, which turns out to be a carbon copy of FSN. Doesn't go so well, not to mention that kind of battle royale story have been done to the death which I don't know back then.

Then this story, God Blade, come to be. My third story. When I first wrote this story my list of references only increase by a few from this site Top ranking and top most popular (This was during the time Arcane Emperor first comes out), the list of professional works I've read haven't increased. And I haven't read any blog, tips to write, writing forum, or anything like that. So while I put some though into writing this, I still don't have any preparation. I didn't have an outline, didn't write down any of my idea, didn't prepare that much in terms of story. I just write whatever I want with whatever appears in my head. But still, since I actually put some thought into it, I have some of my pride behind it.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Back then when I first post this story I know I shouldn't expect much, but then It exceeded my expectation. Got a lot of readers, lot of comments, even getting into the trending list and fourth pages of top popular list which is insane. This makes me care about number of followers, rating, traction, etc, eventhough I knew that caring about those is kind of a pitfall for writer in this site or any site.

Then the first complaint and review came out. Back then I've never got any complain or review at all so I don't know how to handle those things. Instead of taking the complaints and reviews with a grain of salt (Or a mountain of it), I tried to please people. With more and more time passes I tried to please more and more people before someone actually told me that I mustn't try to please the complainer, but then It was kind of too late.

By the mid of the Fire Invasion Arc, I realized that this story has gotten quite far from what I originally envisioned. Theo actually becomes kind of a good guy compared to what I originally planned, the demon races played too little part, some characters were left out, Lyana's past wasn't explained properly, and so on and so on. So I tried to correct the course of this story to correct its path, but it only stressed me out.

Then after looking around, I got the idea to rewrite this story. Luckily for me, I actually look around a little bit more before doing that and abandoning this version of the story and realized that trying to rewrite this story at this stage is actually kind of a bad idea.

So I got stuck and stressed out, and my busy schedule gives me a perfect excuse to disappear. I never actually intended to return, I want to let this story be among many stories in this site that suddenly went on a hiatus, never to resume

But then I met a group of people, a group of writer IRL. I talk with them, write a few stories with them, and discuss my problems with them. Then I read some more professional novel, LN, and VN.

And I came back.

But the problem with wanting to rewrite this story and the feeling of dissatisfaction of how this story turned out, still lingered in my mind. Which lead me to write this non-chapter (not really).

I have three choices:

1. To just abandon this version of story and rewrite (This is no longer a choice really since I'll probably lose interest mid-way)

2. To write both this version and the new Rewrite version.

3. To continue this story until I can't take it anymore, then and only then, rewrite it.

After talking with my friends, I decided to go with number three, though I occasionally write some ideas for the rewrite version.

So what is the point of this non-chapter?

Nothing.

Just want to share some of my thoughts and to thank you all for reading this story that I myself can't bear to reread without wanting to smash my head into the wall.

Also from this point on, some chapters will follow different POV character and some chapter will have a little bit more LORE to compensate me forgetting to tell them in earlier chapters. Also, some problems will suddenly come out like the Spanish Inquisition, unexpected and without proper set-up, because I forget to set up those problems in earlier chapters. I will try to not make them too jarring or too sudden, but just want to let you know.

Thank you for reading this story.

P.S. If any of you have any question at all, just ask me in the comments or through PM, I'll try my best to answer

P.P.S. I'm surprised that some of you are surprised enough by the 'future Demon Lord Theo Gladium' part to comment about it, not complaining though, just didn't expect you to be that surprised.