Ham could not think of any solution right away, and seeing Chloe in this state, she could only start explaining. After all, she was the one holding everything together now. "Alright. Dawn rushing out to act as a coordinate was not just for finishing someone off. More importantly, she needs to wash her soul and Divine Kingdom."
"…Wash?" "It is just an easy way to put it. You know how bad things were before you arrived. To prevent Fate from being controlled by those people, I had to stay asleep the whole time. During that period, the only one qualified to sit on the Throne was Dawn."
"The reason we took turns before was to slowly clean away the pollution from those dozens of guys blocked outside. That pollution never stopped, and it built up for tens of thousands of years. Even when you arrived and Dawn finally got a chance to breathe, all that accumulated filth could not just disappear."
At this point, Chloe began to understand what Dawn was trying to do, and also why she had needed to trigger the power of the Holy Sword earlier. Dawn was in terrible condition, and that was something she had always known. Her source of faith had been cut off by the shameless Elfido while she was imprisoned, so she could barely use her power.
Even now, what she could manifest were only very short-lived parts of Clone, and even that was likely her limit. Last time, by finishing off Elfido, she recovered some faith and stabilized herself a bit, but her body was still covered in layers of debuffs placed by the Abyssal Gods during all those years of confinement. At this point, slowly grinding it away was not the best option, and the clean solution was to reset completely, but only after using an external force to wash away the pollution.
The force used for cleansing before was the Holy Sword, one of the world's ultimate safeguards. However, the only one who could use it back then was the former Chloe, and later she was also forcibly imprisoned by the gods. That meant the only one left who could wield it was Belial.
In other words, Goddess rushing over was not just for a finishing blow. It was to take advantage of that last chance to clean herself and restart. And because Belial probably had no idea what was really going on, and Dawn did not have time to explain, she charged straight into the other side's fountain just to pull him back.
Thinking this through, Chloe finally understood why Ham had lost control. She knew that those who reached the realm of Crimson Ascension had immortal souls and could restart and wait for a chance to awaken again. She had simply forgotten about that detail.
"Then what do we do now? Has Dawn already started the process? Can we contact Belial through Divine Kingdom and call him back?" In response, Ham only gave her a dead-eyed stare. If that had been possible earlier, there would have been no need to come here to look for a solution.
The key link in this entire mess was Belial himself. At that time, Dawn could not explain things clearly, and every call with Belial consumed a huge amount of faith. She needed to save that faith to trigger the Holy Sword at the end and finish off Fate and Edward, so she left things vague. After rebirth, even if Belial could not find her, Ham could go explain that it was a character reset, not death, and everything would be fine.
As for the issue with the Throne, it would probably be solved as soon as Belial took a look. The plan and logic were all clear and perfect. It was only now that Ham realized she had underestimated Belial, never imagining that he would be stubborn enough to charge straight into someone else's fountain for an online friend.
At the very least, he should have considered the difference in strength. That environment did not offer the same world buffs or support. No matter how unclear Belial's true nature was, no matter what rock he crawled out from under, he could not fight dozens of old monsters in Abyss at once.
"If it really comes down to it, I can only go check whether Dawn's rebirth process is still in time and drag her back to work. At the very least, I have to call her back before she sleeps again." As Ham thought this, she glanced at the pair of giant hands made of pure black fog behind Chloe. It was this thing that had helped Chloe withstand and clear the pollution, and even treated the resentment leaking from the Throne over the years as snacks.
According to Bella's research, there was a high chance that even if Belial died over in Abyss, he might grow back over here. When Ham first saw Bella and the bit of red stuff in her head, she had nearly scared herself to death and almost committed suicide in the cultivation pod. In this area, Ham was more knowledgeable, and those black substances seemed to be part of Belial's true nature, making regrowth possible. Still, it was better to pull him back directly.
Daylight and Dawn shared the same divine aspect, so their connection should be close. It might actually be possible to use that faint link to pull him back from Abyss. Ham was already calculating this and was about to act.
"Do not do it." "I already know the situation."
A voice filled with helplessness and near collapse sounded between them, as light wove itself into a figure draped in white cloth. The figure reached out and grabbed Ham's small hand. Dawn felt just as bad as the other two, if not worse. No one knew what she had been thinking when she tried to call Belial with her last bit of strength, only to see his location showing Abyss.
She had thought this was the most hopeful run in history, and then in the next moment, her own pillar had jumped into the banished zone to look for a family that did not exist. The current state of the world was like dragging a patient who was almost ready to be discharged back into a barely salvageable condition. If anyone from Abyss casually jumped out now, everything would collapse again.
Their current combat strength was still not enough. Any true Crimson God-level existence could wipe the floor with them, and even dealing with Demigod like Elfido was not easy. Especially now that Belial had gone to Abyss, even calling in substitute help like before was nearly impossible. Things were much better than before, but Dawn suddenly felt like she did not know how to play without Belial.
She had relied on a wheelchair for too long and now could not walk on her own. Worse, there was no good way to contact Belial directly. She had reset herself, Ham was temporarily unavailable, and the other old acquaintances had never remembered their main account passwords in any loop. For both strategic reasons and personal concern, they had to pull that dragon back, even if Belial was stronger than most of those dozens. Some of them were still very troublesome.
It would be best to bring him back before he attracted the attention of most of the students and got mobbed unfairly. Was there a method? Maybe there still was one.
"Ham, you still have the old Fate records, right? Help me. Put them into Divine Kingdom." "…Did we not agree on rebirth? If you do this, you will get dragged back in."
When Ham saw the Fate records Dawn wanted, her expression changed instantly. This was not just overtime, it was like walking on a tightrope. Was she serious? "This could easily attract the attention of the other half, that one. Are you sure?"
Sweat poured down Ham's face as she pulled up the records. According to them, survival was extremely difficult, and almost none lasted more than a few years. If she died midway, there would likely be no restart, and these records were at best a rough guide. "You know that if you show up and go that far, the mirror reflection might notice. If that thing descends, the sun, the mirror, will lose a Shard. The risk is absurdly high."
Ham gritted her teeth, rubbing her hands together. She could vaguely guess what her friend wanted to do, and in that situation, even they could not force their way in to retrieve someone. "I have already planned for this. Daylight is not inside the world, and as long as it does not belong to that one, it is fine. Even if something happens to me, Dawn can still persist."
"And now this child Chloe has help from Belial. As long as no large-scale ritual is activated and the Lord does not descend directly, relying on Gold Rank alone will not get through. If something really goes wrong, you are still here. Interrupting the ritual would not be hard for you now."