Infighting Among the Four Pillar Gods?

The underground hall grew so quiet that only the crackle and lick of flames remained. The children stopped crying, staring at him blankly. At this moment, Igola looked as though he had turned ten years younger, just as dazed and innocent as the children beside him. Only Harvey wore a comical expression, looking as if he wanted to laugh but didn't dare, giving Yaxiu a thumbs-up with his bound right hand. Everyone seemed to hold their breath, quietly waiting for the outcome of this duel of sacrifices. One second passed, two seconds passed, three seconds passed... Nothing happened. The children showed disappointed expressions one after another, and Igola breathed a quiet sigh. However, the black-robed figures around them gradually began to stir. "How is this possible...?" "Have we been abandoned?" "Why is this happening? O Four Pillar Gods, are you punishing us?!" Even the Everlasting Presence's charming, delicate face—naturally predisposed to looking lovely whether in pouts or smiles—frowned slightly now, like a child who had seen their toy snatched away. Yes, nothing happened. Yet nothing happening was precisely the greatest problem of all! The Four Pillar Gods had always responded to sacrifices with utmost speed, never acting aloof or dragging their feet. When it came to being user-friendly, the Four Pillar Gods were truly at the top of the industry—accurately pinpointing believers' pain points, deploying across new verticals, forming a closed-loop ecosystem between sacrifices and divine oracles, enhancing public perception, and ensuring an end-to-end, agile, and efficient process from offering to deity. With a flat, decentralized organization, they had achieved simple reuse and rapid turnaround for sacrifice rituals, creating the Four Pillar Cult's most formidable moat... Yet this time, the Four Pillar Gods hadn't answered their followers' summons to come collect the offerings. It was practically like internet users discovering a webpage wasn't responding; it was only natural that the robed figures were in such a panic—they suspected the Four Pillar Gods had severed the connection! Who wouldn't be terrified when the internet cut out?! *Thump!* A strange sound suddenly echoed from above. The robed cultists looked up in delight, only to see a crack splitting open across the hall's ceiling. *Boom!* With an explosive roar, the ceiling blew right open! Watching this, Yaxiu couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen this plot development somewhere before. "Finally found you, Serena Bright." Through the falling dust and smoke descended a tall elf with long ears and gray hair, landing lightly in front of Yaxiu and the others. She wore a hooded red cloak, her gray ponytail swaying high behind her, and each hand held a pistol inscribed with runic circuits. The moment her feet touched the ground, the surrounding rings of fire instantly went out, and the earth fractured to raise layers of earthen walls, neatly shielding the children within! Accompanied by whistling sounds like surging electric currents, over a dozen rescuers similarly clad in red cloaks breached from the ceiling, ruthlessly firing upon the black-robed cultists across the hall without showing the slightest regard for human rights. Yet the robed cultists here were far stronger than Yaxiu's former cheerleading squad. Undaunted by the surprise attack, they drew their weapons and cast miracles to charge back, attempting to overwhelm the outnumbered rescuers! Suddenly, a young man among the rescuers let out an ecstatic roar: "Job! Thank goodness, you're all right—die, cult leader!" The tall elf's expression changed drastically. "Kusuo, don't—" *Phew!* The young man fired an electromagnetic bullet at the Everlasting Presence. Yet his shot happened to collide with another rescuer's round. The two bullets clinked crisply in midair, their trajectories forcibly warped, and then— *Smack!* Yaxiu heard what sounded like a watermelon bursting behind him, followed by a sudden warmth on his back, as though splashed by some tepid liquid. Right after, the children broke into hysterical screams of terror. He didn't even dare look back. "Job... Job?!" the young man roared in frantic panic. "Impossible, this is impossible—" The tall elf kept her gaze locked on the Everlasting Presence and yelled, "Kusuo, you are on a battlefield!" The elf's worry quickly materialized. The moment her words fell, the young man named Kusuo let out a bloodcurdling scream, seemingly countered and killed by a robed cultist seizing the opening. Throughout the entire process, the tall elf never looked back once. She remained standing before Yaxiu and the other sacrifices, her gaze fixed entirely on the Everlasting Presence while leaving the other cultists to the rest of her squad. "Cleios Baimu." Even though her stronghold had been raided, the Everlasting Presence didn't seem to care at all. Without a shred of worry on her face, she looked at the tall elf with keen interest and said, "Ranked first on the 'Red Hat: Azula Sub-ranking' and tenth on the 'Red Hat Main Board,' Watcher 'Crying Sand' Cleios has actually come in person to arrest a disabled girl like me. Serena is truly flattered." "You aren't merely disabled; you are cruel." The female elf named Cleios said coldly, "First on the 'Sinners Board: Azula Sub-ranking,' sixth on the 'Slaughter Board: Azula Sub-ranking,' and eighth on the 'Disaster Herald Board.' In recent years, Azula's crime rate has climbed year after year. Serial killings, kidnappings, drug smuggling, the resurgence of cult activities—all of it is tied to you." "Sister Cleios, the truth is, I was framed." The Everlasting Presence suddenly began to sob whimpering tears. "Look at me. Without a wheelchair, I can't even move. Without people to wait on me, I would starve to death. I'm just a puppet placed on display. Sometimes, I'm even used as a toy by the mastermind behind the scenes... Sister Cleios, can I trust you? Can you free me from the Four Pillar Cult's control?" Harvey and Igola looked at Yaxiu in unison, deep suspicion flaring in their eyes once more: *Brother, do all of you cult leaders use the exact same lines to whitewash yourselves? Did you attend the same training seminar before taking office?* How could Yaxiu not realize they were judging his noble heart with their villainous minds again? He whispered defensively, "I really was framed! If you swap her speech's subject to me, it's actually the truth!" "So the mastermind played with you as a toy too?" Harvey asked. Faced with the Everlasting Presence's excuses, Cleios felt not the slightest ripple in her heart; if anything, she felt like laughing. "Serena, your doom is sealed tonight. Nothing you say will work. The Book of Gospel cannot be wrong." The Everlasting Presence's expression shifted in an instant, and she gave a cold huff. "Blind faith is a road of no return. The foolish thing humans do is to be selfish enough to think a god is selfless. Cleios, your blindness will bring you despair sooner or later." "Does a cult leader like you have the right to say such things?" "Because I know god loves the world," the Everlasting Presence said with a smile. "But god loves itself even more." Cleios fell silent, seemingly having no interest in continuing to trade nonsense with her. The Everlasting Presence leaned lazily against the silver throne. "Well then, since you're so sure I'm the criminal, Cleios, why don't you come up and arrest me? You don't expect a disabled little girl like me to walk down and surrender, do you?" "I'm waiting," the female elf said coldly. "Waiting until the other cultists are all disposed of, until all external variables are eliminated, until your destiny miracle has no more targets to exploit. Then, I will personally toll your death knell." A destiny miracle! Hearing mention of this most mystical sorcery faction, the three migrant workers couldn't help but prick up their ears. Destiny, truth, and prophecy—there was virtually no sorcerer who didn't want to learn these three factions, yet not a single sorcerer knew how to study them. Even with prophecy, the most accessible of the three, there was no systematic method of study in the Blood Moon Country. Any professor researching the prophecy faction at Kaimeng Comprehensive University, without exception, was just swindling research funding. Although the prophecy faction was an elusive pipe dream, sorcerers at least still recognized it as a legitimate school of sorcery. The truth and destiny factions, on the other hand, had long been denounced by many sorcerers as superstitious nonsense—not even the shadow of a sorcery spirit from those factions existed, and tales of destiny and truth sorcerers existed only in ancient myths. How was that any different from pure fantasy lore?! A sorcery faction dismissed as superstitious bunk even by miracle-believing sorcerers had actually appeared before their eyes? "Before this operation, I used up all my points and gospel to obtain from the Book of Gospel the method to defeat you: 'Do not harm you,'" Cleios said. "If I'm not mistaken, your destiny miracle uses all manner of coincidences to distort every attack aimed at you, and can even turn those attacks back onto anyone who harbors murderous intent toward you. "Just now, Kusuo tried to gun you down, yet by pure twist of fate the bullet flew at his own younger brother. And because his composure shattered, he was slain by your subordinate... A truly terrifying destiny miracle. "That's why my operational plan is to first slaughter your subordinates and clear away every unstable factor that could help you, before dealing with you at my leisure." The female elf sneered, "How does it feel to watch yourself walk into a dead end with your own eyes? Beneath that cute human skin of yours, is fear beginning to take root?" "As expected of the venerable Red Hat 'Crying Sand' Cleios, but you're mistaken on one point." The Everlasting Presence laughed. "The ability you described is not a destiny miracle, nor am I well-versed in that legendary sorcery faction. "It is not a miracle, not a sorcery spirit, not a secret poison, not a blessing. "It is my... 'Touch.'" "Nonsense!" Cleios swept her eyes around the hall, and seeing that the cultists were essentially suppressed, she waited no longer. Raising her gun, she aimed at— The ceiling! *Phew, phew, phew!* Cleios's bullets seemed imbued with a miracle; just a few rounds caused the rock of the ceiling to dissolve and crumble rapidly. With a rumbling roar, a massive slab of stone was about to crash down, ready to smash the Everlasting Presence on her silver throne into a pulp! Yaxiu instantly grasped Cleios's reasoning: *Although I can't attack you, if I attack the stone and let it drop to crush you, won't that circumvent that bizarre destiny miracle?* It certainly seemed like a clever approach—at least Yaxiu couldn't see any flaw in it. The robed cultists were pinned down and couldn't save the Everlasting Presence, and she herself lacked mobility. If she wanted to leave the silver throne, she would have to rely on sorcery spirits or miracles. Yet for some reason, Yaxiu had a strong hunch: Serena was not a sorcerer! Other than her so-called "Touch," she possessed no sorcery spirits or miracles whatsoever! Just like Heath had been back then! *Crack.* Amid the rumbling, a bizarre cracking sound drew everyone's attention. They looked up to see a strange fissure appearing in the center of the ceiling slab, a few drops of water seeping through. Cleios's pupils contracted sharply. She fired a shot behind her, and the earth surged into a fortress to shield the children. *Crash!* The rock shattered completely, but surging right behind it came a torrential flood! Other sections of the ceiling rapidly caved in as well, and an underground river roared into the hall like a waterfall! "How could there just happen to be an underground river right there—?!" Cleios stared in disbelief and horror, her eyes nearly tearing at the seams. Her Red Hats had dug through the ceiling to breach inside—how could they have happened to miss an underground river when breaching? So furious her eyes welled up, she bit her lip and fired rapidly at the floor, layers of earthen walls rumbling upward in an attempt to block the rushing waters. Yet it wasn't just in front; the side walls began fracturing too. The raging river surged in like an army, as if the entire underground hall were submerged within a subterranean sea that would instantly flood at the slightest breach! Both Red Hats and robed cultists were swept tumbling away by the water. Cleios could only use earth miracles to protect herself, completely unable to look after anyone else for the moment—and so Yaxiu was swept away too. Perhaps Yaxiu and his companions were standing too close to Cleios, or perhaps she felt adult prisoners had no special need of protection, for her earth miracle covered only the children, leaving the three of them right outside. Yaxiu's hands and feet were still bound by miracle chains. Unless he could spin his tongue like a propeller, he had no way of swimming at all. He could only hold his breath and drift helplessly with the current until he crashed into a soft body and came to a halt. "You bumped into me." "Gasp, cough... S-sorry." Yaxiu scrambled to draw great gulps of air. Glancing down, he found himself resting on the armrest of the silver throne. The former cult leader turned his head slightly and saw his young counterpart, drenched like a drowned kitten. Right now, he looked like a perverted adult resting on a little girl's lap—if she had working thighs to speak of. "Earlier you said you were the End Watcher?" she murmured, leaning in close to whisper in his ear. Yaxiu nodded, then shook his head, squirming as he tried to back away from this current cult leader. "Actually, I've turned over a new leaf and started fresh..." "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am the Everlasting Presence: forever entangled, persisting until the end," the Everlasting Presence said with a smile. "Pleased to meet you, End Watcher. You may call me Presence." Yaxiu was taken aback. "(⊙o⊙)... You can call me Watcher." "Well then, Watcher, please go die." Serena reared her head back high, and slammed it down with all her might— Headbutting Yaxiu right in the forehead!