"Order, come out and face me!"
As that voice rang out, everything—every single thing—seemed to have its pause button pressed.
Beneath the chair, the golden retriever was frozen in place, its expression dazed, frail, and helpless.
At this moment, there was no longer any need to distinguish whether it was currently Kevin or Raniedal; whether it was a dog or an evil god made no difference right now.
Purr was frozen there as well, though in her eyes, a hint of color still faintly shifted.
In truth, inside Purr's heart, a colossal storm was raging!
*Meow-w-w!!!*
*I haven't completely blown it, have I?!*
Although Purr had mentally prepared herself beforehand—otherwise she wouldn't have decided to bring out the God of Light's finger that had been sealed inside her body—the scene before her bore absolutely no resemblance to anything she had envisioned.
In her original design:
Karen was simply a noble young lady sitting quietly at home;
the stupid dog was the target begging for a beating, wearing a red flower on its head, picking its nose, wiggling its hips, and shouting, *Come hit me! Come on, hit me!*
Actually, having the stupid dog there was already a tremendous luxury.
Even the direct-line awakeners of the orthodox churches, or reincarnators of deities whose identities had practically been verified, could never place a sealed evil god beside themselves as an ornament during purification.
Yet Purr felt that wasn't enough, because she had the means to do even better.
Naturally, she knew the terror of this object and all the dreadful chain reactions it could trigger; otherwise, she wouldn't have taken it from her family in the first place.
Because the Church of Light had already fallen.
Every single major orthodox church and moderate church in existence today had had a hand in the destruction of the Church of Light; almost none were innocent or blameless.
Consequently, every ruin related to the God of Light and every person or thing touching upon the possible resurgence of the Church of Light was an absolute taboo throughout the entire ecclesiastical sphere.
The entire church circle would never permit the revival of the Church of Light, for the resurgence of a faith often heralded the return of the deity.
Rumor had it that the fall of the God of Light and the annihilation of the Church of Light had not merely been a consensus among the mortal churches, but a tacit agreement among the other gods as well.
That God of Light, who had left behind rich legends across three eras, was once one of the pillars of the divine pantheon. Only a thoroughly fallen God of Light was a respected God of Light.
Therefore, when Purr discovered that members of her family actually harbored delusional ambitions to use this finger to alter the family's faith system, she had been scared and shocked into a stupor for half a day.
Diss had once said that Purr was the finest sacred relic in the Ruilan region.
Because Diss knew what Purr had brought out from the Allen family. A sacred relic, as the name implied, was an object imbued with divine aura... or rather, the very aura of a god.
In that case,
how many sacred relics could possess more of a god's aura than an actual part of a god's body?
Karen's body had been altered by an evil god;
after the blood sacrifice ritual, Karen was now the sole bloodline heir to the Inmerlais family's spirituality;
Karen's mysterious descent and origins were even more enigmatic than an evil god's;
all of these were objective reasons.
What truly gave Purr the determination to gamble like this was a subjective reason: Diss's choice.
Diss hadn't said no, which meant... it was fine.
Out of trust in Diss, Purr had felt much more at ease, believing she could truly pull off something grand this time!
*This cat is going to forge the most deeply grounded—no, the most terrifying—God's Servant in the history of the Church of Order, no, in the history of all churches!*
Yet the scene before her...
*Diss, things seem to have gone a little wrong.*
If Raniedal was standing at the door begging for a beating, then what had originally been intended as the garnish on a mousse cake had turned into a figure that strode outside to beat up the God of Order!
*O great Church of Principles, O supreme Church of Principles;*
*your research and judgment must be correct, they have to be correct, they certainly are correct!*
Purr could only pray in her heart like this now, because she was genuinely terrified that under such intense provocation, the God of Order—who was normally in an unconscious state like turning gears—might actually have his consciousness awakened!
And once a god truly turned his gaze upon you... what secrets could you possibly hope to keep?
A passage Purr had once read in the archives of the Church of Principles under Sidi's identity suddenly surfaced in her mind:
*Records of Principles—Volume of Divine Exposition, Chapter Three: The Examination of the Gods:* [When a god intentionally turns his gaze upon you, you are like a piece of sugarcane that has already been chewed.]
...
Outside the performance hall, Alfred stood at the edge of the steps by the entrance, quietly lighting a cigarette for himself.
Earlier, he had felt like someone sending a relative's child into an examination hall. The results of this test would directly impact the child's future education and prospects—a fork in the road of fate.
Only, Alfred did not feel any anxiety in his heart.
Because he knew that the young master's test score, at the absolute worst, would be a perfect mark.
The young master hadn't entered the examination hall aiming for just a perfect score in the first place.
Facing the curtain of rain outside, Alfred exhaled a ring of smoke, unable to keep from sighing inwardly once again: *It really is nice, this feeling of full anticipation.*
Subconsciously,
Alfred turned his head, wanting to look back at the performance hall behind him. Instantly, his eyes widened.
The rain was still falling;
yet the raindrops that should have been dripping from the eaves of the performance hall were suspended in total stillness.
This spectacle could only be detected when standing extremely close; from even slightly farther away, it was completely imperceptible.
"This... extreme?"
Alfred's mouth fell open. Even though he had imagined countless scenarios and effects for the young master's purification, he had never imagined that a spatial freeze could occur...
No,
what was before him
was very likely... time.
Alfred reached out to cover his right eye;
yet the Succubus Eye did not activate.
The hand covering his right eye trembled, and Alfred himself was trembling as well. He sank into a crouch, his body convulsing uncontrollably. The umbrella had slipped from his grasp long ago, leaving him to let the rain batter savagely against his body.
A familiar feeling...
The Oak Cemetery in Rojia City, Ruilan.
That day, Lord Diss had condensed a godhead fragment, and back then, Alfred had also dropped to his knees on instinct.
But... but... but...
While the direct sensation this time wasn't as overpowering as Lord Diss's had been,
the shudder deep within his soul was far more terrifying than back then!
Must not peer, dare not peer, cannot peer!
A conviction suddenly seized Alfred's heart: if he dared to peek ahead with the Succubus Eye, he would plunge into an eternal abyss of damnation.
He struggled to raise his head once more, looking at the performance hall before him. His vision caught the frozen drops of water again; even the luster inside each droplet showed no change at all, yet the sun was moving.
This meant he couldn't even draw near. Earlier, if he had stepped back just a few paces to smoke, there might well be two Alfreds right now.
One existing in the present, and one frozen in that instant inside the performance hall.
Mr. Hoffen had left Karen many books. Karen hadn't read much because he hadn't completed his purification, but Alfred had been studying day and night without sleep or food. After all, he had witnessed firsthand the power of knowledge Mr. Hoffen had displayed before him.
The thinnest notebook recorded many forbidden-grade arrays from various churches;
this showed that Mr. Hoffen was a polymath who had cleverly overcome the barriers between the major churches through various means, "stealing" a great deal of knowledge to study.
Of course, for a scholar, how could it be called stealing?
What kind of knowledge fascinated a seeker most? Forbidden knowledge!
Everything concerning the Church of Light, which had perished a thousand years ago, was forbidden.
Yet among Mr. Hoffen's notebooks were records regarding the Church of Light, records Alfred had read not long ago.
It seemed the scene before him matched that line perfectly:
*Era of Light—Mythological Overview, Volume Two, Chapter One:* [When a god begins to speak, the world stands still to listen.]
...
Karen had been following that white dot all along. This was the method Purr had instructed him to follow, as well as the procedure for purification.
The tiny white dot drifted forward continuously, and Karen followed along with it, even though endless darkness surrounded him.
There was no panic in Karen's heart, nor any anxiety. He felt he had prepared thoroughly long ago; nothing could possibly go wrong.
Where were his feet treading? It didn't matter.
Where did his faith lie? It didn't matter.
Was what lay before him illusion or reality? Still it didn't matter.
This was a formality, merely a formality.
When holding this mindset, the world before your eyes became exceptionally clear.
Finally, the white dot stopped, and Karen stopped as well.
He had likely reached the spot—or perhaps a general vicinity.
Next, Purr would inquire about the faith he sought, and he would cry out from the depths of his heart, hoping to receive a sliver of resonance from the god he "believed in."
However, his resonance would surely be far stronger than that of other purifiers of the Church of Order.
Mm.
Karen was prepared. Even if it was a tempest, he had no fear.
Purr's voice sounded.
Alright.
Here it comes.
"Karen, do you..."
Hm?
Why did the inquiry stop?
Was there a problem with Purr, or with the procedure?
It couldn't be that Purr was just "testing the mic" with a *check, check*?
Just as Karen was pondering what on earth had happened,
the white dot before his eyes—
it
exploded!
At this moment, "exploded" was the only word Karen could use to describe what unfolded before him, and even that word fell far short.
For that white dot directly turned into a blazing sun, instantly dispelling the darkness and flooding the entire space of his consciousness with light.
Even Karen, standing within this world of pure white, began to doubt himself: *Is my very existence a desecration of this pure white?*
It was a profound sense of shame and unworthiness, and even more, an impulse welling from deep within his soul to obliterate himself.
Is... is this purification?
Karen waged a fierce internal struggle, but that struggle felt infinitesimally small. He felt his will to live collapsing like an avalanche; he was about to fade into oblivion, if only to restore this world to spotless white.
*No one told me the mortality rate of purification was this high!*
*Are you sure this is purification and not... annihilation?*
Just as Karen felt his consciousness was on the verge of being extinguished,
a voice of boundless majesty rang out:
"Order, come out and face me!"
Suddenly,
within that world of pure white, a black figure appeared.
In an ordinary person's purification, one could only catch a blurry glimpse of a portion of the god sweeping past from the darkness, like a moth brushing past a lampshade.
That was how a god worked, how a god responded to his believers. And for that, believers had to be profoundly grateful, bowing in worship of the god's greatness and generosity.
Yet this time,
Karen
saw the figure of Order!
The God of Order seemed to walk within an unconstrained river of time. He moved forward, his hands gently swaying from time to time, scattering countless rays of divine radiance—as if responding to the prayers and pleas of his believers in this world at this moment and the next.
Naturally, those eligible to receive even one sliver of that divine radiance had to be genuine introductory believers of the Church of Order; ordinary followers were not qualified to draw the god's attention.
Karen could see the God of Order's face, yet could not form an impression of it in his mind.
The god's movements and his steps—
no, everything about the god—you could see clearly, yet you could never remember it.
Because a god was supreme; even within your memory, traces belonging to a god were not permitted to remain. That was forbidden.
Yet Karen had a feeling:
The God of Order walking toward him resembled an emotionless puppet, even if he truly was a god.
Just as the Church of Principles had theorized after thousands of years—or even starting from the previous era—of studying gods: *A god is a point, and a god is a circle.*
The God of Order walking toward him right now was merely a circle.
He had been called upon,
and so,
he came.
This was an era when gods did not manifest,
an era when even an over-standard god descent ritual was regarded as taboo.
When an orthodox church initiated a god descent ritual of the highest order, receiving a single divine oracle was already an extraordinary rarity, to say nothing of the god attending in person!
In fact,
an oracle beseeched by the pope of some mortal church through the grandest ritual might, to a god, be nothing more than an ordinary person scrawling on paper with a pen, ripping it off, crumpling it up, and tossing it into the wastebasket.
Yet now,
the God of Order had come!
Because the one who summoned him was the God of Light!
The God of Order was proud. Diss had once used "hunger" to describe the wild slaughter the God of Order unleashed upon other deities during the previous era; he had once splashed the rules of order across the cosmos in the name of divine blood.
And that pride of the God of Order had influenced the Church of Order as well. Born in the previous era, this church had taken far less time than other orthodox churches to accumulate its foundations.
Moreover, in this era, it had successfully used iron fists to force all churches in the mortal realm to take half a step back, carving out space for Order to preside.
Perhaps,
even if other deities summoned him in person, they would never receive a personal response from the God of Order.
But the God of Light was different!
Suddenly,
Karen discovered that the God of Order had vanished; in that single instant, the god was gone.
Changing alongside this
was what lay before Karen.
The place where he stood was no longer pure white; beneath his feet, it seemed to have been dyed pitch-black.
Startled, Karen turned his head.
He saw,
and then,
he understood.
For
the God of Order stood right behind him, and the place where Karen stood now was in the shadow cast before the God of Order.
...
In the performance hall,
within Purr's vision,
she saw a cloud of black mist appear behind Karen, carrying a supreme aura that compelled all to bow in worship.
Purr firmly believed that had her body not been immobilized, she would certainly be prostrate right now.
Yet...
One had to remember that although she was currently a cat, her actual soul was at the ninth rank of the family faith system!
In other words, even if Progenitor Allen were resurrected and stood here right now, facing this black mist, he too would have to kneel!
And this black mist had manifested using Karen's body as its vessel.
So...
Purr's mind shuddered once again, for she realized a terrifying fact—a terrifying fact that was unfolding right before her eyes!
The entire pool of holy water could be ignored completely; there was not the slightest need for it to exist.
Because
when a god descends beside you,
it means the god... is personally purifying you!
Who could ever receive such treatment? Purr did not know, for the very question was unimaginable.
Yet next,
when Purr saw the form of an eye coalescing within the black mist behind Karen, her heart leaped into her throat once more!
That was... the Eye of Order!
The black mist around the eye seemed to boil faintly, everything heralding that the Eye of Order was about to open!
*Heavens, heavens, heavens!*
Purr knew that this time, she had truly blown it!
Because the God of Order was about to open his eye!
He was about to awaken from some slumber, or from some indifference!
When this eye opened,
not just this performance hall,
not just the entire Allen Manor,
no,
even the entirety of York City—
everything that did not conform to Order would be obliterated! A catastrophe countless times more horrific than a forbidden curse would unleash itself right here!
Yet,
in the very moment before the Eye of Order could open,
the index finger of the God of Light pressed against Karen's brow suddenly lost all its luster. Once again encased in crystal, it returned to Purr's tail, and Purr's tail dropped down as well.
*Hum!*
All the frozen stillness resumed its flow.
The Eye of Order behind Karen returned to tranquility as well. Then, the black mist began to thin, and finally vanished completely.
At that moment, Karen opened his eyes. The depths of his pupils were an unbroken, pure black.
Only after a long while
did the blackness slowly recede.
Exhausted, Karen propped his forehead with his hand.
At this moment, he still assumed that everything earlier had been deliberately orchestrated by Purr, all within Purr's control.
So, in utter weariness, he asked:
"Is the purification... complete?"
*Light of Order: Mythological Overview:* [The God of Light awakened the God of Order.]
Chapter 92