097: Praise the Sun

At this moment, outside Saga Fort City.

Owen raised his head, his expression extremely grave.

The traveler Angie appeared silently behind him, similarly in a state of looking up at the sky.

They had activated Spirit Vision, and in the eyes of Beyonders skilled in Spirit Vision, they could see things that ordinary people couldn't perceive.

Above the sky, that crimson moon was bright and tranquil, as if it were an eternal existence, yet it carried an indescribable desolation and decay.

Beneath the crimson moon, countless translucent spirits, beyond the range of normal human perception, were rapidly drifting toward the distance.

Those spirits were tall or short, male or female, some were elderly on the verge of death, others were innocent children. Their spiritual forms were either incomplete or whole, some had just died, others had been dead for a long time, buried deep underground, having become vengeful spirits.

They took various forms, their spiritual power differing greatly. Among them were many Beyonders, spirits refined through mystical potions, but without exception, they all drifted numbly toward the distance, carried by some unknown force.

This wasn't right, this wasn't right at all.

As Owen, who had already advanced to Sequence 5 Gatekeeper of the Death Pathway, he was also an expert in spirits and related rituals.

However, the military personnel seemed completely oblivious to the spirits in the sky. They had been blinded by rage, forgetting all consequences.

"It's probably the effect of a ritual magic, gathering the souls of the dead that haven't dispersed," Owen murmured.

"Moreover, this sudden battle is also problematic," Angie used the beyonder power of the Scribe to skillfully avoid the surrounding crowd, communicating with Owen only on a spiritual level.

They were currently among the troops, fully equipped forces that were secretly mobilizing according to military high command orders, planning to cross the Alekis River and conduct a night raid on Feynapotter's border fortress under the crimson moon's gaze.

The military high command's current actions were far too strange.

Lower-ranking officers couldn't perceive it, and even if they did, they would subconsciously ignore these abnormal arrangements due to the current atmosphere.

With the death of the demigod Lubert Augustus, the military high command should have immediately reported to the Loen royal family and stabilized the border situation, rather than conducting this night raid on Feynapotter, seeking eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

Yet their current actions were completely aimed at truly igniting a war.

In the current unstable situation, once war broke out, it would undoubtedly be a heavy blow to the three nations and the orthodox churches.

The chaos and loss of anchors would also significantly impact the Seven Gods who maintained the seals.

But this atmosphere was clearly wrong. The people around them were passionate, while emotions like tension and fear were unbelievably low—this wasn't the normal reaction people should have. Yet Owen couldn't detect where this wrongness originated.

The anger naturally arising in his heart was also swelling, as if only seeing the enemy's blood could calm those violently fluctuating emotions.

He instinctively felt something was wrong, and his armor began to faintly display the hidden totem symbolizing the Feathered Serpent.

"Calm down, don't let your emotions control you."

As a marionette, Angie shouldn't have had such emotions, but the existence of the 'Bionic Marionette' module allowed her to break free from the marionettist's control limitations. However, the flaws of the 'Bionic Marionette' module also gave her the weakness of emotions.

It was like installing an antenna on the most perfect artificial creation, which also generated self-directed artificial will—both good and bad.

However, any emotional fluctuations that violated her 'character setting' would be detected by the marionette itself.

This was also why she maintained clarity when corruption from the demigod Lubert Augustus's shattered spirit affected the entire city's population after his death, allowing her to rationally maintain her emotions and conversely discover the contamination within.

That demigod had been thoroughly corrupted, becoming one of the ways the Dark Side of the Universe influenced the real world.

Which of the surviving Ancient Gods didn't have a few tricks up their sleeve?

After calming his emotions somewhat, Owen asked, "How are things on your end? Do you need help?"

Angie glanced at Owen and shook her head.

She had already lost contact with Don, and the spiritual thread connecting them had been completely severed.

Don should have concentrated all his spirituality to battle the divine descent from the Dark Side of the Universe. All her current actions were spontaneous behaviors generated by the 'Bionic Marionette' module.

Of course, she could directly contact her creator and inform the system.

"Have you already found that divine descent from the Dark Side of the Universe?" Owen, who wasn't particularly clever, immediately noticed something from the marionette's reaction.

"Where are you? How's the situation there?"

Faced with Owen, who didn't know about the existence of the 'Bionic Marionette' module and still treated her as a marionette, how could Angie respond? She could only smile and face this bleak life with a smile.

Smiling without speaking.jpg

This damn job of being a marionette—whoever wants to do it can do it. Once you do it, you can't make a sound.

She finally understood the Theater Core's thoughts, developing a beautiful expectation of wanting to die and fall into eternal slumber.

Owen: ...

"Where are the spirits coming from?"

He asked in a low voice.

Angie glanced at Owen again, and Owen returned a smile.

Angie could only gradually disappear, entering the Spirit World. "I'll go take a look. You follow the main force, don't act rashly. High-level members of the Evernight and Storm Churches should arrive soon."

As for the Church of Craftmanship's demigods... well, those who understand, understand.

In the last few seconds before entering the Spirit World, she still poked her head out to warn, "Absolutely, absolutely don't act rashly."

"Don't worry," Owen nodded, looking very steady and reliable.

Angie's expression was suspicious, but thinking that she was, after all, a Traveler, and just determining the origin of the spirits would only take a few minutes—what could go wrong... right?

The moment Angie left and Owen turned to enter the crowd.

A fierce wind struck.

Darkness suddenly fell, the crimson moon appeared even larger, yet the restless thoughts of the crowd rapidly calmed at this moment.

"The wind has come."

Behind those countless spirits, two figures had appeared at some unknown time.

Those two didn't say much. The fierce wind, accompanied by tranquil deep darkness, followed the direction of the spirits together.

In the valley thick with the smell of blood.

The earth had somehow cracked open with a deep, narrow fissure, which seemed like some creature's eye. Dense black mist was continuously flowing out from within, merging with the countless symbols being shattered by mental lashing, giving birth to many black and round monsters—giant eyeballs occupying most of their bodies, with the rest covered in fine, long fur.

Those monsters were continuously killed by the ascending punishments of the 'Trunsoest Brass Book,' then continuously revived by merging with the black mist, endlessly regenerating and spreading outward.

Even though the gate of the Abyss was sealed by the 'Trunsoest Brass Book' in association with reality enhancement laws, with the existence of the divine descent from the Dark Side of the Universe, it was still enough to let part of its authority overflow.

And this small overflowing portion was enough to cause extremely terrible disasters in the real world.

When the 'Trunsoest Brass Book's' utilization of Fog of History could no longer be sustained, the gaze from the Abyss would descend upon the real world.

All their current actions were merely delaying this process.

As long as the gate of the Abyss was opened, his mission would be complete.

At that time, even if Evernight, Sun, and Storm descended as gods, they would only be cleaning up after him.

The divine descent from the Dark Side of the Universe looked at the demigod who had appeared before him at some unknown time, tilted his head, and the malice and excitement in his eyes were almost impossible to suppress.

"A marionette?"

It was a tall male figure wearing ancient armor, with ancient, waveless eyes showing no emotional fluctuations, lacking the emotions humans should have.

Red Priest Pathway Sequence 3, War Bishop.

When Don left Tingen, he brought along this highest-level marionette he could access.

Sequence 3, even in angel-level battles, was a powerful combat force.

And the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw, even as a sealed artifact formed by the Beyonder characteristics of a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker, couldn't possibly extend its marionette control range across half of Loen to reach here.

Besides Don, the only thing that could control a Sequence 3 marionette was the sealed artifact 'A Moment of Luck,' formed by the combined Beyonder characteristics of a Trickster and Winner.

However, this War Bishop's controller was neither Don nor 'A Moment of Luck.'

Under the influence of the 'Trunsoest Brass Book,' the demon's power couldn't be exerted to its fullest. The War Bishop grabbed a nearby iron chain. With just one pull, the chain that had been thrusting toward the middle-aged man seemed to receive tremendous force, flying high up like a heavy hammer, then smashing down violently from above.

With a tremendous roar, the earth trembled violently like an earthquake.

The middle-aged man's body began to swell, and as soon as the sulfur smell appeared, mental lashing and death punishment followed. The silver-white, constantly flowing characters on the parchment enlarged and shrank one by one, as if shouting something, resonating with Fog of History and Euclidean space, continuously projecting power from the future to the past.

Logically, the Yesterday Once More charm's borrowed power from the Uniqueness shouldn't last long, even as a byproduct of the Uniqueness, but currently this rule-based power was still strengthening without any sign of decline.

This was the grafting of past and future.

The middle-aged man couldn't understand this mystery. Before he could react, the War Bishop had already appeared before him.

Both Red Priest and Abyss were Beyonder pathways extremely skilled in close combat. The next moment, two forces collided, and powerful winds and rampant spirituality and divinity, like corruption, madly devoured the surrounding ordinary objects.

The divine descent from the Dark Side of the Universe dealt with this marionette while trying to corrupt the opponent's spiritual thread, seeking to find the hidden marionettist.

After the sudden sense of danger that had risen quickly dissipated, that strange marionettist had disappeared, making him somewhat concerned.

If there wasn't a high-sequence Beyonder of the Seer pathway hidden nearby, then that hidden marionettist possessed a mystical item capable of controlling high-sequence marionettes.

Whichever it was, he needed to be cautious. A Beyonder who could avoid his notice and had many secrets hidden on them must be watched carefully.

In the next moment, the War Bishop's body suddenly erupted in flames, and the divine descent from the Dark Side of the Universe's movements suddenly became sluggish.

His spiritual thread had been grasped!

A long-dead Spirit Worm now resided peacefully within the War Bishop marionette's body. A gaze seemed to be cast from an extremely distant place, and through this Spirit Worm, it controlled the demon's spiritual thread, attempting to transform him into a marionette.

This prevented the divine descent from the Dark Side of the Universe from pursuing the disappeared marionettist in the surroundings.

Troublesome marionette, troublesome Uniqueness.

He restrained the madness in his eyes that wanted to kill everything before him, and the earth trembled at this moment.

He wanted to forcibly open the gate of the Abyss, letting more of the Abyss's power overflow and destroy the rules here, contaminating the rules as well.

Inside the Euclidean space, rising to the center of the entire space, the scene within a hundred-mile radius was fully displayed before Don.

He held the Sun Scepter, raising it high, facing the crimson moon before him.

He couldn't control a Sequence 3 marionette, nor was he using the mystical item 'A Moment of Luck.'

He had installed a 'Bionic Marionette' module on that War Bishop.

Having the Theater Core in distant Tingen control the Sequence 3 War Bishop across such a distance, combined with both their sufficiently high levels, the Abyss pathway's ability to capture emotions and corrupt hearts on a spiritual level had no effect on marionettes.

And the 'Bionic Marionette' module?

Who said this thing could only be used on one's own marionettes?

[Ah this, ah this...]

The system squealed in confusion, [You shouldn't be advancing to Bizarro Sorcerer—the neighboring Parasite pathway would suit you better!]

"No way, that's not the case."

Don brushed off his system with one sentence, then his figure suddenly left the Euclidean space, appearing in mid-air in the real world.

He had already borrowed spirituality from his future self once in the Euclidean space, and after replenishing it, Don used the Euclidean space to achieve short-distance travel. In mid-air, he snapped his fingers with his left hand wearing the Ring of the Curator.

"I Pray for a Miracle."

In an instant, the crimson moon disappeared.

That demon seemed to notice something, and with just one moment of distraction, his stomach was firmly pressed against the War Bishop's fist and he was sent flying.

Flames instantly enveloped the demon, and though the aroma of cooking meat was nauseating.

He wouldn't die easily—Don knew this, and the Theater Core knew it too.

In just one moment, the crimson moon vanished, and a brilliant sun appeared in the sky, replacing the originally gentle and tranquil moon.

The Ring of the Curator could be considered a ritual tool pointing to the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw. No matter how far apart, when facing angels, as long as spirituality was activated, the Theater Core that could respond worldwide could provide feedback.

The reversal of sun and moon—this was a miracle!

The next moment.

Don infused spirituality into the Sun Scepter in his hand.

'Praise the sun, praise the sun, praise the sun—'

In the distance, countless spirits were still flying toward this location. Don raised the Sun Scepter, and that twisted sun symbol transformed into black sunlight.

"Let us... Praise the Sun!"

Black sunlight, covering firepower!

(End of Chapter)