In a pitch black space there were whispers carried by the wind. It was not an ordinary wind made of air, it just was, as if an inevitable feature of the space itself. Following the whispers to their source, one would end up meeting an eye with its lid half-closed. The eye was the origin of those whispers, the same as another nine hundred and ninety nine eyes next to it that were covering a spherical surface of a being.

A thousand whispers coming from its sleepy eyes.

  Suddenly, the eyes opened much more and the whispers grew louder and louder. The space shuddered when it heard the madness contained within. However, it did not shudder with disgust as one might imagine, but with pleasure, as this was not the realm of those that retained sanity. Those who reveled in the opposite called this realm their home.

"Do it! Free us! Free yourself! Liberate!"

"Don't! Dangerous! Hide! Run!"

"Never stop, never cease, always sing, dance and drink!"

"Look up, reach the Heavens! Ever higher! Above anyone and anything!"

"Do not look! Eyes deceive! Only listen!"

"Body is sin, you have to cultivate your spirit! Look only inside! All else is a lie!"

"There are no gods, only pretenders! Trust no one! They are all fake! We all are! The world is fake! You are fake!"

The whispers exploded in the ether, each eye seemed to have its own opinion. It was all united into a being that had thousand opinions that were incongruent, a thousand ways whispered by one being that as a whole was known as QiXrcRlr, the god of insanity.

However, those who heard only the voices which seemed close to their ways knew the entity more as N'Ri, the corrupting voice of The Thousand Eyes. Despite the isolated voices sounding even logical at times, they all were a part of the same insanity and never led to anything meaningful, corrupting and misguiding anyone who attempted to listen to them. Or worse, to understand them.

Suddenly, one eye opened more than the others and for a second, there seemed to be almost a sparkle of sanity in it.

"Born and die, once and thrice, all protected by the cycle. Really all? Surely all?" The very brief moment of sanity seemed out of place and was very ominous on the background of all the madness around. It felt like the entity could not be consistent even in its own nature, a true abomination of chaos.

The eye's penetrating gaze was looking afar, into a great distance, an image of grand golden door reflected in it.

* * * *

  Genji's hands were tightened into fists and trembled with rage. He cloud not believe the faint words he had heard from beyond the door. Ignoring all his moral boundaries, he immediately bent and looked through the keyhole at the scene that was taking place in the forbidden chamber of the Blood God Court. He wanted to see the disgusting scene where his most trusted companion plotted his defeat with one of their officers, while their bodies joined in the most taboo chamber of their sect.

It was preposterous!

  However, the scene that he saw was a little different.

"Who. .?" Genji heard Haruko that had been pierced by an abomination that exited the Gate. He watched the dream-like picture, unable to comprehend what was happening, before an image of Sato hurrying towards the door, towards him, interrupted his stupor. He instinctively jumped back and hid behind a corner where there was a corridor leading to a rarely used storage room.

  Sato bolted out of the chamber with the Gate as if all Hell would be chasing after him and shortly, it really did when a tall, gruesome man chased after him. Everything happened too fast and before Genji knew, he was entering the forbidden chamber, defeated by his curiosity.

  There was Haruko on the ground in a large pool of blood, dead, with an expression of great pain on her beautiful face. Normally, he would have pitied the woman, but not after he had heard her talking with Sato.

"Treacherous bitch." Genji stepped over her corpse and stared at the Gate, fighting back an urge to make another few steps.

"It is a taboo, but they know already and I can find out the extent of their forces." He gritted his teeth and his expression hardened.

  Stepping only centimeters away from the Gate, Genji leaned forwards and took a peek. He needed to know the exact situation in the Second Heaven. Was the monster that had just emerged from there only an isolated incident, or was there an army waiting there to invade? He had to know, the fate of the sect depended on it. No, the fate of the whole First Heaven did!

  His head passed through the transparent membrane and after a moment, he pulled himself out and stumbled a few steps away form the Gate in shock, breathing heavily.

There was only one single thought in his mind.

Run!

He dashed out of the door, spotting another leg emerging from the Gate, but he no longer care about it, because he had seen it all! He saw everything!

  Genji ran towards his room while ignoring everyone else and started packing supplies like crazy. He had to leave Edo, there was no hope of victory any longer. There could be only defeat. His heart was still beating like thousand bells since the moment he had peered into the Gate and saw.

"Don't! Dangerous! Hide! Run!" A foreign mad voice suddenly shouted inside of his head and he clutched his head with his hands in pain.

"No! Get out! Stay away!" He shouted in panic while squirming, trying to banish the malicious presence from his mind. After an excruciating moment of a stalemate, he won the battle for his mind, regained his faculties with his face covered in sweat. He brushed it away with his sleeve and continued to pack his supplies with even greater fervor.

  Shortly, he exited the sect and ran away, no matter the direction. Without any plan and without care of not having one. Only after more than an hour he was able to calm himself down a bit, collapsing in one of the ruined buildings at the edge of Edo.

With a relief, he realized that he no longer could hear the voice that threatened to drive him insane.

He was almost afraid to remember what he saw beyond the Gate.

"This could not be! I have to warn them! I have to tell someone!" There was turmoil inside his brain, his dread almost paralyzing him. What he knew was too heavy to keep for himself, he had to tell someone.

Unfortunately, he had been separated from Sato and all others during his mad escape.

  He did not know what those things were, but he knew one very important detail others did not, for he had violated the greatest taboo he himself had been entrusted to protect by his bloodline. In the books of Tokugawa Akame, there were descriptions of the Second Heaven, what threatened their freedom and what might come and enslave them. There was one clear problem he had realized.

"Those.. . Those things. There is nothing like that in the Second Heaven." What he saw beyond the portal was definitely not the Second Heaven. "That cursed Gate leads to hell itself!"

* * * *

"I am happy to be joined with you again, master." The smooth lips spoke while her large eyes looked up at her forehead with longing.

"As I am, my priestess, as I am." Karl replied dryly with his mind. Unfortunately, she seemed to be the only minion to be able to speak properly. Karl did not know why, but he had to work with what he had.

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"Listen closely, we will approach a different gate and you will say exactly what I tell you to." Karl explained the situation in the meantime, as they were currently on their way to a different gate.

"I will happily accept everything you insert into my mouth, Master. Even words." She replied with her face turning red.

"Whatever, just do not mess it up." Karl had long given up, not correcting nor reprimanding her for her inappropriate tone. It was like telling fish not to swim, he had an easier time simply ignoring her way of speaking.

"No mess master, I do it clean." Karl imagined if monsters of other deranged gods would behave better, but it was hard to tell.

  They walked closer to the river until they arrived to a different gate where the two guards were just processing a cloaked man they were treating like he could attack them at any time.

"Not good, the main wave of the refugees will soon hit the outer wall and we really do want to be inside when the flood of escaping beasts hits." Karl thought with displeasure and headed to the three people who were arguing about something. He tried to leave his minions in the woods, but the cloaked man noticed one of his minions hiding in the vegetation and stopped moving like a statue.

"Wait, isn't it Genji?" Karl saw the cloaked man's face when he looked at him.

"The forces of hell and oblivion has arrived! Do not let him in! Close the gates! For the First Heaven!" Genji started shouting like mad, his behavior surprising Karl, who was about to greet him.

  The next second Genji used his powers to create a thick wall of fire that separated Karl and his minions from the wall while shouting some nonsense and Karl interpreted his actions as Genji losing his mind after most of his sect had died.

"Crazy lunatic!" He complained and turned around, their passage through a gate obviously not possible. "I need to continue with plan B."

  Karl wanted to use the tunnel that was supposed to connect his old base in Jinsheng with his future base in Edo. The project had not been finished, but its initial stage should have reached outside the outer wall of Jinsheng, He just needed to connect to the unfinished tunnel and he would be able to enter inside.

"It will be for the best, I have a hunch that there will be too much commotion on the surface soon."

  He quickly rushed to the spot above his little project and made sure that he could not be seen from the top of the wall. Luckily, his current self was courageously using his spell Dig, he was no longer in need of elementals, unless he wanted to rent them.

"Diggy, diggy hole! Once again." Karl shouted in his mind in exhilaration, naturally receiving a verbal answer.

"Yes, Master! Do that hole right!" He immediately restrained himself, stopped broadcasting his stray thoughts.

"Soon, I will become an undead. She will bring me to my grave." Karl whispered inside of his mind, afraid what kind of response would the Priestess of Depravity be capable of if she noticed his thoughts.

  He managed to transfer all his minions into the tunnel and sealed the tunnel right behind them. Marching towards his old base, he hoped that his scheme held and he would be able to arrive unnoticed into the private part of his old dungeon.

  Leaving the priestess to move at her own pace, Karl kept trying calling up his status, finding out that the patterns of what he was able to summon had not changed, except for the drastic change he had already noticed on the surface.

"I was right, I can create the Buildings of the chaos minions everywhere. This does not seem like a good sign." He connected this fact to the invasion that was in full swing above them and concluded that something serious has happened to the world.

"Does this stupid realm has to be this chaotic? First the disaster with demonic cultivators and now this tide of chaos. I would have been confused enough by all the cultivation, but it is apparently not enough!" Karl was angry at the whole world that did not let him explore in peace, but force onto him all kind of emergencies.

"Whatever, I need to switch the minions back to Void. There will be no diplomacy with Jinsheng if I keep using the same minions as the invaders." Based based on his previous impression, Lehaim could be squeezed for some sort of a deal. He just needed to offer the right benefit to him.

  As he thought about his future actions, he arrived to the previous location, where his Void Buildings had been build, but was left gaping at empty dirt, as all his Void Buildings were no more. He furiously began to press all the clickable options of his status screen, but it was futile. The Void structures were no longer the possible options, leaving empty underground rooms where they once stood.

"Great, for some reason the Void Buildings options that were a legit option at some places were replaced by chaos Buildings options everywhere. Not ominous at all. I will have to keep using my current minions, unless I want to replace them with skeletons and zombies."

However, replacing his chaos spawn with the dead would hardly be an improvement that would win the hearts of the public.

"The negotiations will be problematic. Should I simply wait this out?" The good old infinite tunnel strategy was looming over him, but he was unwilling to watch Jinsheng fall. Not that he hated it underground, but to have chaos spawn everywhere above his head did not sit well with him. Humans were predictable to a degree due to their ever present greed and pride, but the monsters of chaos' behavior was, well, chaotic.

"I need to establish diplomatic relations again." Karl thought about the best way to do it, immediately refusing to call on his former subordinates, as that would be going back on his word. After a while of weighing numerous options, he sighed and decided how to establish communication with the Water Dragon Sect again.

  Half an hour later, a hooded figure was walking in the direction of the Twinstar Fortress, the proud new stronghold of the Water Dragon Sect. There was no black stone at her forehead as before, due to Karl's decision to play it safe and be present only in a limited way with his consciousness. However, he had a very strong feeling that even that level of connection would need to be interrupted during the coming negotiations.

"Remember, we have to establish contact with the Water Dragon Sect and find out about the overall situation in Jinsheng. We cannot live here blind to the situation on the surface." He decided to do a quick recap of what his minion was supposed to do.

"Yes, master. I will establish this connection without fail. Will the master not be physically present?" The Priestess of Depravity asked while lifting her hands to the level of her chest area. Karl immediately focused his attention to the sky, only hearing her quickening breaths.

"No, master will definitely not be present. You will manage." Karl spotted a pair of guards that was guarding some dilapidated building outside the fortress, probably a warehouse that remained from the time before the fortress.

"How many people should I involve in our, negotiations?" She asked and Karl started having the feeling that both of them were talking about two completely different things.

"Look! These two look promising. A cultivator would have been better, but their guards should know something as well." He maneuvered the priestess's steps in the direction of the pair of guards that had just noticed their presence, as the priestess lowered her hood, revealing her gorgeous face.

"Hmm, mm. I understand, master. I shall start with the guards and continue with cultivators afterwards." She purred while walking forth as if she was a model presenting a new autumn collection of robes.

"No, no, no! You will process only the guards! I mean, only these two particular guards in front of us! Ok?" Karl frantically corrected himself, realizing how dangerous it was to leave this subordinate operate with only vague orders.

"I obey, master." She whispered as if telling him a secret and finally reached the proximity of the two guards who faced her without being able to speak a word, surprised by the unusual civilian approaching them. Most women looked far worse than the priestess and had no time for idle walks, always hurrying to complete their tasks. Both of them gulped, craning their necks to the point their heads might fall off.

"Hi, soldiers. Aren't you bored, guarding your huge thing?" The priestess started her negotiations while gripping the hem of her robe and Karl immediately cut off his mental connection, determined to reestablish it only when the negotiations were finished.

He appeared back on the forehead of the Prophet of N'Ri in his underground base, where he was physically present, and looked at the monster with regret.

"Say mama." Karl told his bearer seriously.

"Bhaaa." The prophet executed the order without delay to the best of his ability.

"We are getting there, do not worry, you will learn to speak in no time." Karl smiled at the monster. "And I will get you an ushanka-hat to cover the extra eyes."

* * * *

  Sixty Two stood up and looked at the ceiling where a black tear appeared in the impeccable structure of the sanctuary space. He shivered and suppressed the urge to run. There was nowhere to run anyway.

"Master, where are you?! If you do not return now, everything will be lost!" He pleaded, but no one listened, no one answered. It was the same as so many times before.

Suddenly he heard a nauseating whisper coming out of the tear.

"Look up, reach the Heavens! Ever higher! Above anyone and anything!" A huge disgusting eye peered through the gap, whispering straight into his head.

"Be gone, abomination! This is The Sanctuary, you have no power to enter here!" Sixty two shouted in despair, but as if mocking him, a tip of a huge, purplish black tentacle slithered inside while the edges of the tear began falling off as if rotted away.

The tentacle made a forceful circular motion and the hole in the ceiling ceased to be just a hole, it tore half of it away, leaving the distressed Sixty Two staring into more than just a single eye.

  Hundreds of eyes stared from a circular entity, a blob of corrupted meat with many tentacles growing out of it. It sounded simple, but Sixty Two knew that even his creator was powerless to destroy the entity. The difficulty did not lie with its tough muscles or great power, the space itself around the abomination was highly corrupted, able to corrupt anything and everything, assimilating it into the disgusting god of chaos. Its body could be destroyed, but it would only be replaced by something different that was at that time at hand.

And anything went. Even fire or sound, a simple picture or a disturbing memory.

"There are no gods, only pretenders! Trust no one! They are all fake! We all are! The world is fake! You are fake!" Another mad whisper attacked his ears and Sixty Two squeezed his ears while yelling desperately.

"The God is real! He is . . ." He was yanked up by one of the powerful tentacles that encircled his waist. "No! He will stop you!"

However, contrary to his words, he was being lifted high towards one of the eyes.

"Don't! Dangerous! Hide! Run!" It whispered mockingly while the tentacle delivered him to its opened eyelid.

  No more words came out of Sixty Two's mouth, as it had been covered by the tip of the tentacle and the terrible being ate him with its eye, laughing at all logic that would expect a mouth to appear.

Clearly, the pinnacle of insanity had no need for such details.

Mad voices continued to plague the place while The Sanctuary of the missing god was being undone.

"Do it! Free us! Free yourself! Liberate!"