Chapter 831 Gambler

Unlike how human rulers would always have very short lifespans, the last Gold Elf Emperor was from a long-lived species, and had experienced enough years to equate countless human generations. He had ruled for so long that he became an extremely experienced politician.

The assessment of Abolar was that he hadn’t directly caused his own empire’s downfall, yet his empire had been fated to die. He had the most pitiful fate of being the final ruler of an empire who had tried to do his best to combat fate.

The Gold Elf Empire was already in shambles when he came to power. On the outside, the Great Demon Empire was still powerful, while humans were quietly amassing power as well. These species were beginning to challenge the elves’ reign as the ruling species. Meanwhile, the Gold Elf Empire also faced internal threats due to the rise of Silver Elves and Moon Elves, who challenged the authority of the Gold Elves. The worst part was that the four Superior Elf species were all making arrangements with other species. The Gold Elf Empire’s most precious treasure, magic, was spread to the outside world. The Great Demons weren’t really affected, since they had their own magic system of shaman magic and witchcraft, but the weak and short-lived humans gained the chance to rise to power because of the Superior Elves giving them magic.

Abolar had shown his excellent talent in this situation filled with threats both external and internal. He supported the wild elves and half-blood elves who were elite enough to enter the Gold Elf Empire’s upper echelons in order to suppress the ever more power Moon Elves and form a new balance internally.

As for dealing with outside threats, Abolar rejected the typical elven policy of being forceful with other species. Instead, he seemed to be weak and conciliatory. He always showed restraint during multiple border clashes. Not only was he really conciliatory towards the beastmen and Great Demons who were acting aggressively, he even constantly acted soft towards the weak humans.

His political style made him seem like he was a coward who could only take a hard stance with his own kind, which naturally wouldn’t make him well-liked. However, nobody had ever guessed what Abolar was really thinking back then.

“We elves have been the ruling species for far too long, to the point where even the Cycle of Reincarnation has stopped…”

Politicians would only see the present because of the need of votes for support. However, a statesman would be different. Some statesmen were capable of seeing far into the future, seeing things that their citizens wouldn’t possibly comprehend.

Back in that generation, the Gold Elves were one of the few Gold Species who had kept ascending since the first generation. The Gold Elves had witnessed the source and birth of all magic. Many of the elven elders had personally watched ancient battles between the Gods. The Gold Elf Empire had been strong for far too long, reaching the point where it was crushing the chances for any other species to rise up.

The elves had the strongest Main God in the world as they were the ruling species. Almost half of all Order Gods were Elven Gods. The Gold Elf Emperor was the most authoritative and powerful mortal existence in the world. At Abolar’s level, he was thinking about far more than just his own species.

Naturally, Abolar knew about the unwritten rules of the Holy War. It wasn’t merely luck that the elves had managed to defeat the previous ruling species, the giants. The Chaos Abyss would no longer tolerate the elves blocking the path of evolution.

As for the Order Faction… without even mentioning all the grudges accumulated with the Nature Faction, the Giant Gods, and so on, the elves’ ever decreasing birthrate was the best example of the entire world’s attitude towards them. In fact, the elves’ birthrate had become even lower than the powerful angel species’ birthrate.

It got to the point where the Gold Elves only had one newborn once every several centuries. Even the dragons’ birthrate wasn’t anywhere near this pitiful.

“Any species that doesn’t have newborns will have no future. The higher one climbs, the harsher the fall. Once we lose favor in the next Holy War, our mortal enemies won’t give us any chances whatsoever. The elves will only face the destruction of our species.”

Abolar was the ruler of the entire elf species during this tumultuous time. He knew quite well that the river in front of him was filled with countless dangerous undercurrents, yet he was unable to stop the ship. Trying to brake forcefully would also end up in the ship’s and his people’s destruction.

That was why he chose to intentionally fail.

He accepted the destiny of failure for the elves. He felt that was the only possible path for the elves’ continued survival. Voluntarily walking down the stage would be far better than being kicked off the stage.

The Gold Elves started to remove themselves from the high ranks of the Gold Elf Empire. The ancient Gods began to fall into a deep sleep. The Gold Elf Empire began to reduce its borders and size, voluntarily giving up on territories on the outskirts. The humans and Great Demons began to take over this land and the associated resources.

Abolar almost succeeded.

However, history would never care about almosts or ifs.

A ruler who kept striving to lead his people to victory and give them a better life wasn’t someone who should receive criticism. However, the other elves viewed Abolar as a foolish ruler who only knew how to suppress his own people and play political balancing games. They viewed him as a coward who was even afraid of warring with lower-level creatures like humans.

In my opinion, assessing a politician should be based on developments after they were no longer in power rather than their actions while in office. Some seeds would take several years, decades, or even centuries before they would sprout. Once the seeds truly blossomed, even if the citizens had already forgotten the person who planted these seeds, the historians of the future could at least say a few things in the history books.

In a way, Abolar had indeed succeeded.

However, the betrayal of the Superior Elves changed the Gold Elf Empire from seemingly weak to truly weak. The Superior Elves’ purge of the Gold Elves and the Gold Elf Gods, along with the Superior Elves’ internal struggle for power, served to return the Gold Elf Empire to a loose tribal system. The elves were forced down from the stage of history… but this definitely wasn’t the method which Abolar had expected.

Nobody would be able to resist the corrosion of the River Styx, even if a person was previously an incredibly venerated existence. Only the newborn demon Didina managed to climb out of the River Styx.

But, perhaps Abolar’s accumulated grudges and stubbornness were far too much, or maybe he had been far too aggrieved at his death. The newborn demon Didina managed to awaken her past life’s memories less than two weeks after being reborn.

Didina felt endless anxiety and frustrations about her knowledge and experience as the previous Gold Elf Emperor. Her current two weeks’ worth of memories were crushed by tens of thousands of years of memories. The new Didina’s personality was more than half Abolar’s personality.

Even though Didina was incredibly anxious and wise, she was still just nothing more than an ordinary baby demon. Even a common farmer soldier who had been trained for three years could defeat her by using a shovel. Didina would need to start over from the very beginning and follow the rules of the Chaos Abyss.

No luck would be involved in the Chaos Abyss’s bloody battles. It was several hundred years later before Didina truly had the chance and power to leave the Chaos Abyss. However, the elven palace was nothing but rubble by the time that he returned to the Gold Elf Empire. All he could do was take a few legacies back to the Chaos Abyss.

Didina was the most knowledgeable person in the world regarding the elves’ research into prophecy magic. In order to avoid the new Elven Gods and Superior Elves trying to hunt him down… no, Didina was trying to hide from her previous relatives and subordinates when she finally chose the path of becoming a succubus, choosing this form in order to complete her mission.

Didina was unable to meet with Harloys, even though she already knew that her previously innocent and pure daughter had now become the Banshee Queen.

The Elven Gods from back then were all traitors who had betrayed the Gold Elves. The Elven Gods could somewhat tolerate a “harmless” weak banshee since she hadn’t even reached adult age yet and was already dead. It was the Elven Gods’ way of slightly showing off how magnanimous they could be. However, it was definite that they absolutely wouldn’t be willing to accept the return of a former Gold Elf Emperor.

Didina didn’t dare to become too strong, because having too much attention on her would only expose her true identity, meaning that the treacherous Elven Gods would pay any price to kill her.

Thus, Abolar became the female succubus Didina, a “harmless” Demon Lord.

She also tried to plot revenge, but her plan didn’t have a chance to come to fruition, because the targets of her revenge died first.

Too many things happened over the long years. The Superior Elves and their Gods also met with misfortune. The Elven Empire became scattered elven tribes. Didina’s enemies kept dying off, so she didn’t even know whom she should hate.

Should she hate the traitors from back then? Should she hate the destiny of the Gold Elf Empire that was to be destroyed?

Didina was wise and calm, yet also pitiful. In the end, she targeted the Cycle of Reincarnation that had caused all of this.

“Even if we voluntarily give up, you still won’t let us go? Is it our destiny to have nowhere to escape…? Who made the rule that all of this was destined to happen? Misfortune will keep repeating eternally unless the Cycle of Reincarnation is stopped.”

Perhaps nobody had realized that this seemingly ordinary succubus was the one who had given Karwenz the idea of opening the door to the dimensional barrier and guiding Sophocles down the path of being the God of Evolution.

Even without subordinates, Didina still had wisdom and knowledge. This seemingly harmless diplomat who used words was far more dangerous than a million-strong army.

Did Didina want revenge? Did she want all the lives in this world to die together with the Gold Elf Empire?

Did she want to save the world? Did she want to end the Cycle of Reincarnation which had caused everything?

Perhaps even Didina herself would be unable to answer these questions.

“I have nothing more that I need to worry about regardless, so I might as well gamble…”

Didina took advantage of Karwenz, and vice versa. In the end, Didina succeeded in opening the door to the dimensional barrier.

The sealed dimensional barrier was then immediately opened, causing the Eich universe to meet its new fate.

“Click.”

Nothing changed in the world, but anyone with a decent power level could sense that a new door had been opened in this world, along with countless outsiders suddenly noticing this world’s existence.