Astraea was truly regretting waking up in this era. If only that damned Steelweaver did not exist, she could have slept for another century or two, and all these issues of the mainland would have been solved on their own.

In trying to prevent Damian and others from growing too much, they gave them even bigger reasons to seek strength.

There was another minor god on the mainland now. And unlike Landbreaker, this one was abnormally powerful, able to strengthen not just the pathfinders but all of mankind. The glimpses Astraea had seen of his ideas were beyond revolutionary. A man like him would indeed become a true god within a few centuries if left alone; there was no doubt about it.

'Could he truly be him? Am I really being deceived on such a level?'

The Black Man.

The bane of their existence. The reason why they could not plan for a peaceful life in their world and still tried to one-up each other with anything other than direct conflict. But, ironically, it was the presence of Black Man that had created this unity of gods.

Because they had this unity and had not killed each other off, they were able to face The Tribunal when they arrived. Because of this unlikely unity, they still had an independent world. Otherwise, they would have become a slave colony long ago.

In the age of the gods, when they lived among their people, one day a strange being had appeared. He did not have a face or flesh. Just a shadow on the wall. They had no idea if it was a man or not. Instead of his material body, only pitch darkness, the absence of light, was present.

It was extremely powerful. The sheer power was not as impressive, but his skills were world-threatening. No attack, no runic tool, no dungeon relic could touch him. As if the man did not exist in their world at all. But he did. He killed gods. He spread conflict and aggression among the common people.

His aim was not simply to have a territory like each of them. The Black Man only existed for the joy of killing gods. He did not even gain strength by killing gods like them. But then again, his three target gods had never been killed by him, so she wasn't exactly sure about that.

His aim had always been the Dark God, Astraea herself, and the Sun God. The elemental gods, to be exact. But those were just his favourites; he did not discriminate against any god when they came in his way. All were killed and thrown into the cycle of reincarnation.

But gods were immortal. And the Black Man only existed for a decade or so before vanishing into thin air on its own. He returned every five-six centuries to wreak havoc on their people. He was no god; they had figured that out after countless battles. And the true gods with greater faith had more than enough power to survive his deadliest attacks.

The faith of people was a must for them to face the Black Man head-on.

No attacks landed on the thing. But after several battles, the Rune God had created a sealing array to capture the Black Man and keep him frozen till he ran out of time and vanished in thin air.

They can not kill him. But they can restrain him and keep him away from their people. This sealing array was a universe-level spell and needed at least three gods to work. The more the number of their followers grew, the easier it was to deal with the Black Man. But with time, he had stopped fighting them head-on and started hiding among their people and only revealed himself when the gods were distracted.

The Black Man was unable to hide himself from them though. And he barely took a human form. Always manipulating people in their minds. He always preached to people to rise against their gods. She had been keeping an eye on Damain for more than a decade now; it can't be him.

All his thoughts and actions were about saving his people and finding an equal footing with the gods so Sanctuary could prosper for a long time.

'He is not anti-god. Besides the last Black Man appearance more than a thousand years ago. The thing should have appeared more than three times now, but he didn't. I doubt he even exists any longer.' 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Astraea sighed, "Let's not jump to unnecessary conclusions. Even if Landbreaker comes back as a god, we will take him out together. There has never been a Spellsword God, so I doubt it's even possible. But if we do that, Damian will seek vengeance against us. More than Landbreaker, that kid has the potential of becoming a god. If we fight, there is a possibility one of us might get injured; the chaos bastard will also never miss such an opportunity. Without us three, what happens if the black man truly comes or the tribunal comes? It's a miracle both have left us for such a long time."

Astraea paused for a second and stared at the two to see if her points were getting across or not.

"Why don't we just let the two boys come back from wherever they are? If Damian has truly found a way to force ascensions. We can rise in numbers and replace the tribunal itself!"

Finally, the two silhouettes showed a reaction Astraea was betting on. If these two baffoons understand the advantages of being together, a lot of their issues can be solved.

To be honest, Astraea only wished to reveal this possibility of recruiting gods after Damian had become a fifth ranker. After hours-long conversations with the man, Astraea was certain of her plan. She truly believed in this unity of gods and the divine code they had. But just like Damian looked far from the mainland to grow his reach, Astraea had the idea of doing the same as well.

They were always on defense. From the Black Man, from the chaos god, from the tribunal.. if they can somehow gather more power and good-natured people to wield that power, they can truly enter a new universal age.

Of course, one of the main reasons Astraea wanted Damian to become a god was his changed mana signature. Even though, as a fourth ranker, he was not in her control, Damian still had her divine mana fragments. If he becomes a god, those fragments will merge with him and create a divine mana that she can share with Damian.

Finally achieving a state of superiority among the gods. No fear of death from anyone; no one would be their equal. Everything will be theirs.

'Together, we can rule over all these fools!'