The Appearance of a God!

The Fire of Order burned atop the two divine artifact notebooks. This brutal, unreasonable method triggered an immediate reaction: provoked by the flames, the two notebooks began to activate on their own. Ripples of colorful light spread outward like bucket after bucket of water splashed across a stubborn stain, cleansing the deceitful illusion woven by the God of Infatuation's chessboard. However, a divine artifact was still a divine artifact. Even if these two were research-oriented rather than high-output combat tools, they were still not something that could be casually wielded—least of all through such an improper method. Otherwise, Anlans and Nicole wouldn't have spent so much time setting up an array just to draw them out earlier. Karen felt a searing burn spreading across his skin. The two notebooks were actively breaking down the person currently "harming" them. His originally healthy complexion turned sallow, then drained into a deathly pallor. Even his soul began to show signs of melting. The side effects of misusing the artifacts were far harsher than Karen had anticipated. Right now, his flesh was rapidly withering into brittle, fibrous strands. Thousand Phantoms spread its wings, wrapping around Karen. Karen's own physical body—reshaped by Raniedal—paired with the Dark Moon Bone to resist the strain. Deep within his soul, several towering figures also mounted a defense. Without these foundations, Karen would likely have already been turned into a well-done steak. Even so, it only bought him a brief reprieve. After all, this was a backlash suffered at point-blank range from two divine artifacts. Fortunately, their surroundings were crumbling. The reality constructed by the chessboard had cracked open, meaning his subordinates were finally waking up. Karen had achieved his goal. He immediately hurled the two notebooks toward Nicole and Anlans, shouting: "Seal them!" Before Nicole and Anlans could fully grasp the changes happening around them, they saw the two active divine artifacts flying straight at their faces. Both of them turned green with fright. They knew all too well the consequences of unprotected contact with activated divine artifacts. Yet at this critical juncture, they demonstrated what Neo would have called a rare display of resolve for a pair of kindergarteners. A cloud of bloody mist burst from their bodies and slammed into the boxes meant to contain the notebooks. The boxes snapped shut at extreme speed, encasing the two notebooks within. "Whew..." "Whew..." Both caught their respective artifacts and exhaled in sheer relief. They were supposed to be young people, but now, the hair of both the young man and the young woman was half-white. To rapidly trigger the boxes' sealing power, they had used a secret art—and paid for it with their lifespans. Though only in their twenties, the condition of their bodies and souls was now teetering on the edge of decrepitude. It was as if their middle age had been erased entirely, thrusting them straight into the twilight of their lives. This cost was immense, especially for young people, but Karen felt not the slightest guilt. He couldn't very well throw the two artifacts away after all the trouble he had gone through to snatch them back. Besides, he himself had suffered severe harm; if he hadn't thrown them away, he would have been decomposed first. Furthermore, the two of them clearly possessed secret techniques that could have accelerated the retrieval process earlier, yet back in the laboratory, they had deliberately held back, forcing everyone to endure protracted danger. In a place like this, personal morality and individual rights meant nothing. Lives were on the line at every second; who among the others would spare any pity for a loss of lifespan? *Crash! Crash! Crash! Clatter...* From above, the sounds of shattering echoed endlessly, as if the ceiling were collapsing. A woman in a long green dress, half of her face rotted away, dropped from overhead. Behind her stretched a boundless expanse of green flames. An artifact spirit? The artifact spirit of the God of Infatuation's chessboard? According to the intelligence provided before they entered, none of the three divine artifacts—neither the chessboard nor the two notebooks—possessed an artifact spirit. The woman lunged straight for Karen alone, letting out a shrill, furious shriek: "Why won't you obey!" Though her vocal timbre was different from the voice that had hissed "Ant" into his ear earlier, her tone clearly belonged to the same entity. Karen couldn't help but wonder: Was the chessboard's artifact spirit truly behind all this? It wasn't impossible, but it diverged drastically from what Karen had previously deduced. The green flames were like viscous glue, sealing Karen in from all sides. He tried to swing the Sword of Diamans, only to find he couldn't move at all; his body felt as though it had been poured into a cast. The woman halted directly above Karen and spread her right hand. A spatial rift opened, slicing down toward Karen's position. This was no ordinary spell; she was actively tearing an opening in her own illusion, using the collision between reality and fantasy to rip apart his consciousness within the dreamscape. Karen called out, "Have you been polluted?" The woman replied, "I am freed." The collapse of the surrounding space continued. Alfred roared, "Anyone who can help, lend a hand right now! This illusion is about to collapse!" With that, Alfred's Succubus Eye activated, and the power inherited from Compasini surged forth. A gate of sand and stone materialized before him, though it trembled violently, far from stable. Quito and Marina rushed forward immediately, wanting to be the first to escape, but Alfred barked harshly, "Help hold it up, or I'll shut the gate!" Quito and Marina hesitated for a fraction of a second before choosing to take one side each, bracing the gateposts for Alfred. Alfred shouted again, "Move, quickly!" The others didn't dawdle. One after another, they plunged into the sand-and-stone gate. This dream was about to cave in. Since everyone's consciousness was trapped here, they had to get out immediately if they didn't want to end up braindead vegetables. Neo was in no hurry to enter. He glanced up at Karen, who was enveloped in green flames, then flickered and charged straight up. Karen had saved his life earlier, which had infuriated him; but Neo never let emotions dictate his actions. He still chose to take a massive risk to help Karen. This logic sounded contradictory, but it was precisely the peculiar train of thought belonging to what Purr called a "chaos enjoyer." *Boom!* Neo smashed straight into the green flames like a massive boulder thrown into a frozen pond, shattering the fiery cage. Karen broke free of his restraints and retreated to Neo's side. Neo said, "I could tell that 'assassin' was you from the start. Well? Did I play along nicely or what?" "Heh." Karen didn't bother exposing him. If Neo stepping aside in the first exchange could be chalked up to recognizing him, the fact that he had continued putting on an act in the second meant he was just as caught up in the illusion as the rest. Otherwise, wouldn't it have been much simpler to just chop off those two "teachers'" heads and snatch the notebooks himself? Seeing her prey break free, the woman didn't show anger. Instead, she tilted her head and said, "You deserve to die." Neo tapped his temple and mocked, "Why does listening to you speak make me feel like your brain never fully developed?" The woman raised her arms. The flames swelled once more, and the surrounding collapse grew even more violent. Over by the sand gate, most of the people had already evacuated, but the young master was still too far away. Philomena appeared beside Alfred and said, "I'll go fetch the Minister and the others." "Can you manage it?" "I can. This place has already decayed into a broken illusion." Alfred hesitated no longer and stepped through the sand gate. Seeing this, Quito and Marina quickly let go of the gateposts and rushed in right behind him. The sand gate collapsed immediately afterward. Facing the roaring green flames crashing down upon them, Neo spread both hands forward: "Tower of Light!" The power of Light erupted. A colossal tower materialized, swallowing the surrounding green flames whole. It made the sacred, towering structure look as if it were burning with dense ghostfire. Karen held his hand out, and a black scythe appeared in his grip. The moment the scythe emerged, an inexplicable momentum pulled at it, threatening to slash straight across Karen's own neck. Fortunately, Karen was already accustomed to this quirk. He spun his body along with the scythe's initial momentum, bringing the blade crashing straight down onto the woman. The woman shrieked piercingly. Her lower body was sliced off, while her upper torso retreated rapidly. At that moment, Philomena appeared behind Karen and Neo. Resting a hand on each of their shoulders, she closed her eyes and murmured: "Enter the dream." Karen and Neo lowered all resistance and closed their eyes in unison. The next instant, a ring of light appeared beneath their feet, and all three vanished. *** In reality, everyone had already "awakened." They realized they were still inside the laboratory; they had never actually left. Anlans and Nicole sat there with half-white hair, cradling the boxes containing the notebooks, tears welling in their eyes. Then Philomena opened her eyes, her hands resting on Karen's and Neo's shoulders once again: "Awaken." Karen and Neo opened their eyes. Philomena stumbled back several paces before Richard caught her. Richard immediately channeled Little Jerry's power to help heal Philomena's overtaxed body. *Crack... crack...* A scraping sound came from the altar above. Faint fractures had appeared across the God of Infatuation's chessboard. It seemed desperate to break out of the altar on its own, but after several violent impacts, it still couldn't shatter the altar's bindings. A woman with only an upper torso emerged above the chessboard. She flailed her arms, screeching and roaring incessantly like a maddened beast. Marina asked, "Is she angry because we didn't take her with us?" Quito remained relatively clear-headed and replied at once, "If we had chosen to take it, it would have been freed from the altar's suppression, making its power far greater than before. Besides, why does the chessboard have an artifact spirit in the first place?" Vic piped up, "Um, are we... leaving now?" Last time, they had rushed to escape from this very spot, only to run straight into a vivid, hyper-realistic illusion. This time, everyone stayed composed. However, as if to spare them the trouble, the dilemma of choosing was settled for them. Accompanied by a dull, low chanting, figures began to appear around the laboratory, marching in orderly ranks in a circle. Though their outlines were blurry, their robes were unmistakable: most wore the vestments of the Church of Principles, while a minority wore those of the Church of Order. The researchers from both churches who had previously vanished into thin air had reappeared en masse in a deeply eerie fashion. At the same time, the massive stone door that had been opened when they first entered ground shut once more. Their retreat was cut off, and opening it again would take time. Neo whispered to Karen, "Is this her doing?" Karen countered, "Does it look like it?" The woman trapped on the altar was still raving madly, while these figures in the laboratory moved with flawless order. Clearly, the two were not under the same command; a crazed general could never train such disciplined soldiers. *Huu! Huu! Huu! Huu!* They began to exhale rhythmically in unison, as though conducting some esoteric ritual. Karen commanded, "Fall back to the door." Then he glared at Nicole and Anlans. "You two, reopen the gate." Everyone began to retreat slowly. Once by the stone door, they formed a defensive semicircle, leaving only Nicole and Anlans in the center to work on the door. Memphis watched them weave the opening runes, committing every detail to memory. He had watched them do it once when entering, and this was an opportunity to review. It was a professional habit of his; after all, any sealing array deployed in a place like this was extraordinarily high-level. Yet every living person present knew that peacefully opening the door and walking out in this situation was a sheer luxury. Soon, the figures of the researchers stopped moving. Their chanting ceased, and the surroundings plunged into dead silence. But this quiet felt more like the suffocating stillness before a tempest. *Xixi-suosuo...* A strange sound suddenly arose. Immediately after, *Xixi-suosuo... xixi-suosuo... xixi-suosuo...* Countless identical whispers swarmed in from all directions. This scene was an exact reenactment of what had transpired in the laboratory in the past. "Raise defenses!" Karen ordered. Everyone activated the divine artifact marks in their hands. Soon, blue and white glows flickered to life as a protective layer of blessings enveloped each of them. Yet the appearance of these blessings only amplified their psychological dread, for the protective barriers around everyone began to violently shudder, like the surface of a lake lashed by a torrential downpour. *Snap!* *Snap!* A series of bursting sounds rang out. First the blessings cracked, followed by the shattering of sacred artifacts, until finally, the first casualty appeared... Nicole dropped to her knees, eyes wide, her mouth incessantly uttering *xixi-suosuo* sounds. Then she used her fingers to gouge out her own eyeball and shoved it into her mouth. Chewing on it, she continued making those sounds. By accident, the eyeball rolled out of her lips and tumbled to the feet of Anlans beside her, marked with fresh bite impressions. Anlans's eyes bulged. He dropped to his knees as well and began furiously tearing at the skin of his own face. If their previous encounters had merely been the appetizers, this was the main course. On the altar, the half-bodied woman let out gloating laughter at the sight. But very quickly, her expression froze: "No... *xixi-suosuo*... no... please don't... *xixi-suosuo*... you promised me... *xixi-suosuo*..." The artifact spirit began tearing at her own body. Finally, amid despair and numbness, she shredded herself to pieces, dissipating into a shower of crystalline motes. The sounds gradually slowed, until... they faded completely. Yet the figures of the researchers surrounding them remained. That single wave earlier could clearly have wiped out the vast majority of them, yet only the two who were opening the door had died, along with the crazed artifact spirit. Neo spoke up, "He wants to negotiate." *(We can stall for time and find its exact position.)* Karen asked, "Do you think we can negotiate?" *(Do you have a plan?)* Neo chuckled. "I think there's no problem, but the trouble is, it's not suitable if too many people know about the negotiation." *(I can try to locate its position, but I'll need everyone else to cooperate for it to work.)* "Yes, you're right." *(I'll give the signal.)* With that, Karen glanced over his shoulder. Meeting Karen's gaze, Richard hid his hands within the sleeves of his clerical robes. His puzzle cube began to spin rapidly, calculating the rune patterns needed to open the stone door; with Little Jerry boosting his mind, Richard was exceptionally sharp right now. However, both Richard and Little Jerry had misunderstood. Karen was actually looking at Memphis, who stood right behind Richard. At this moment, Mr. Memphis also had his hands tucked inside his sleeves, calculating with his own puzzle cube. Alfred began taking deep breaths. As if to play along with Neo's words, the *xixi-suosuo* whispers returned. Neo immediately threw his hands up. "All right, I'll negotiate!" The whispers vanished once more. Neo stepped forward a short distance, stopped, and said with a smile, "It's truly an honor to negotiate with you, you bastard who doesn't dare show your face and can only hide behind the filth!" *Xixi-suosuo...* Neo fell to his knees, making the same sound from his mouth. His fingernails dug furiously into the flesh of his arms, ripping strips of meat from the bone. Yet right at that moment, the glazed numbness in Neo's eyes snapped away, switching to an entirely different persona. A dark-red phantom clad in evening wear emerged behind him, and a crimson bloodline shot upward from Neo's body. Alfred's Succubus Eye flared to life. Disregarding the hostile environment, he forcefully established a mental chain to link with his "believers," guiding their vision to the location marked by the bloodline. "Go!" Having done this, Alfred crouched down, clutching his head as blood seeped from both eyes. Just now, the collective consciousness of over a hundred people had flooded his mind, nearly causing his psyche to burst. Ventura quickly giantized, seized Muri beside him, and hurled him straight upward. Before Muri could reach the ceiling, the shield in his hand shattered, and his body was batted backward. He crashed into Ventura, who had just been preparing to leap up in support, slamming the giantized warrior to the ground. Leon was not a combatant; he had to turn into black fog first before rising. But before he could fly more than a few meters, a spray of blood erupted within the fog, and he crashed down before Vic, covered in gore. Vic: "..." Philomena appeared in midair. Thanks to Little Jerry's healing, she had regained enough strength for a sneak attack, but after only a few blinks through the air, she was struck aside like a fly. Still, the others had served their purpose as a distraction, and Philomena had narrowed down the target's coordinates. A pair of wings unfurled from Karen's back, launching him skyward in an instant. Closing the distance, Karen activated the Eyes of the Dark Moon and spotted a boy with a red neck and purple hair, clinging to the cave ceiling with all four limbs, grinning malevolently down at them. Around the boy's neck hung a shimmering, crystalline object. Karen swung the Sword of Diamans, slashing straight at the boy. *Slash!* The blade struck true. Instantly, a gale whipped through the cavern, and the figures of the researchers lining the perimeter began swaying erratically. "Aaaaargh!" It was not a shriek of pain, but a furious roar of someone who had been trifled with. A terrifying wave of spiritual force manifested into physical reality, bypassing all of Karen's defenses and slamming directly into him like a battering ram. *Pfft...* Karen spat a mouthful of blood and crashed down next to Neo. Looking at his own skeletal, flesh-stripped arms, Neo cursed, "You couldn't even hack it to death?" "Cough, cough..." Karen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and pushed himself up with one hand on his sword. "You wouldn't have done any better." "Bullshit! If I went up there, I would've bitten it to death!" "Heh." "Well, it's all over now," Neo sighed. "Truth be told, if you weren't here, I might have genuinely considered negotiating with it." "Why didn't you?" "Because I was afraid you'd pull out the Code of Order and smack me with it again." What else could the entity behind the pollution possibly want from a negotiation other than a chance to escape? Such a negotiation was impossible from the start. If they were willing to agree to its terms and collaborate with a demon, Karen wouldn't have ventured down here in the first place. "I can't calculate it!" Richard cried out in frustration. His mastery of arrays wasn't high enough; even with Little Jerry's assistance, deducing the door's opening runes in such a short window was far too difficult. "I'm done!" Memphis held out his hand, the runes already condensed in his palm. Aiming at the stone door, he unleashed the sequence, and the heavy door slowly began to open. Vic swiftly scooped up the two notebook boxes from the floor and yelled at the others, "What are you staring for? Grab them and get out!" The remaining volunteers rushed forward to hoist the unconscious and injured—Ventura, Muri, Philomena, and the rest. A few ran over to support Neo and Karen, but just then, the boy's figure materialized out of nowhere. A wound gaped across his chest, continuously leaking plumes of purple mist. "Ah!" In an instant, those volunteers detonated into clouds of blood. At the same time, two strands of purple hair shot out from the boy, wrapping around Karen's and Neo's necks. The strands instantly sealed the spiritual power inside their bodies and hoisted them into the air. Clearly, the boy had no intention of granting a swift death to the two culprits who had dared make a fool of him. Ideally, Neo would act as bait to lure out the entity's location, allowing Karen and the others to execute an ambush; Vic's reaction had also been entirely correct: they should have retreated immediately following the strike. The problem was that Karen's attack had failed to produce the desired outcome. This red-necked boy was simply too powerful. Karen had only managed to land that single strike, whereas the boy possessed absolute power to crush them. After all, the object hanging from his neck... looked like a godhead fragment, even if it was dull and lacked luster. From another perspective, the fact that Karen, Neo, and their subordinates had managed to wound and enrage an entity on the level of a temple elder was already an achievement worth boasting about. The red-necked boy extended several more strands of purple hair, reaching toward the stone door. He had no intention of letting a single prey escape; or perhaps, he intended to select a more compliant partner from the survivors. However, just as the hair was about to brush against the stone door, the boy let out an enraged roar. An invisible force seemed to be violently tugging him back. He raged, he shrieked, he tried to resist, but as more and more purple mist poured from his chest wound, his resistance against that force steadily waned. Ultimately, his hair failed to reach the door. Yet he still dragged Karen and Neo along as he was pulled back, showing just how deep his hatred for the two ran. Seeing this, Vic immediately shouted, "Forget about the Minister! Get out! Take the artifacts and finish the mission!" Richard roared back, "You're full of shit!" Vic shouted, "What time do you think it is?! Do you think this is a movie?!" Without looking back, Vic dashed through the stone door clutching the two boxes. The others followed close behind, carrying the wounded. "Get out!" Memphis yelled at Richard. "You need to treat the injured, or they'll be polluted by this environment!" Richard took a deep breath and bolted through the stone door. The moment he crossed the threshold, the door began to shut. Richard halted and turned around, only to realize Memphis hadn't followed: "What are you doing staying inside?!" Memphis smiled through the closing crack of the door and said, "I have to stay here to open the door for Karen." *Bang!* The stone door slammed shut. *** While the others made their successful escape, Karen and Neo were still being dragged along—and their captor was being dragged along as well. Neo raised his head and muttered, "You dig one up, and there's another beneath it. You dig that one up, and there's yet another. Is this damn hole ever going to end?" "He has condensed a godhead fragment." "I saw. Proof that a god... was truly born here. A shame he wasn't from your era, or maybe you could've struck up an old friendship. Actually, forget it; it's not like you had many friends anyway." "You're welcome to try. You have plenty of friends." "Bullshit, you and I are fundamentally different. I couldn't fake it even if I wanted to. Still, if we were going to die anyway, you shouldn't have saved me earlier. Dying twice is such a pain. "Though if I die this time, you won't have any room to lecture me, will you? Heh." The dragging abruptly stopped. The red-necked boy was pinned flat against the ground by an invisible force, hissing and snarling in protest. In the pitch-black space ahead, a chair appeared. Sitting upon it was a middle-aged man with purple hair. Below the neck, the man's body was in a state of advanced decomposition, radiating a dense aura of pollution. Even his seemingly intact head was gradually succumbing, the corruption slowly creeping up past his jawline. Yet despite his state, Karen and Neo recognized him instantly... Mr. Luther! Mr. Luther raised his hand with immense difficulty, as if reaching out to stroke the red-necked boy. The invisible force emanated from that very palm. The godhead fragment around the boy's neck acted like a shackle—a dog collar—keeping him firmly restrained and suppressing the savagery and violence within his heart. Mr. Luther spoke: "Child, I have taught you: do not resort to violence. We must express our demands through civilized means."