The sun in the sky was shrouded by shadows.
Twisted, corrupted, dark, and mad shadows covered the sun's eyes. A black sun completely different from the light, warmth, and evil-banishing warm sunlight was born, taking the sun's place.
Then, sunlight like the sun itself poured down.
The grass, trees, earth, and stones of the valley, the opened ground fissures, the people within, demons one after another, insects, birds, and beasts—even the ritual symbols—all were bathed in the falling black sunlight.
That was the sun's storm, that was the storm of contamination.
The twisted power granted the characteristic of 'being alive' to lifeless matter, and they all shouted in unison:
"Praise the Sun—"
"Praise the Sun, Praise the Sun—"
"Sun, Sun, Praise the Sun, Sun, Sun, Praise the Sun—"
Songs like mental corruption seemed to burst forth from every ray of sunlight, from the spirituality of every contaminating life, like pitch-black waves. The black sunlight instantly devoured all the spirits it touched.
Those countless spirits that flew toward the abyss, before they could even touch the abyss or merge with it, were infected by the black sunlight. Their translucent spiritual power turned pitch-black, and blissfully twisted smiles appeared on their numb faces.
They opened their mouths wide, shouting like a roar:
"Praise the Sun!"
They no longer moved forward, no longer felt the attraction of the ritual. Their bodies became pitch-black, no longer possessing pure points of spiritual light. Their bodies transformed into twisted sun symbols one after another, becoming black sunlight, then scattered in all directions amid the mad howls of praise for the sun, polluting everything like a plague.
Having eaten a Sea Singer could turn one into such a ghostly appearance. Don couldn't help but rub his arms, getting goosebumps.
Taking action against those spirits was already the greatest effort he could make given the current situation.
Don didn't have too many, nor could he possibly have such a large quantity of high-level mystical items from the Death domain to clear all the incoming spirits.
That was impossible for him, a Sequence 5 of the Seer pathway. He wasn't good at large-scale spirit clearing work to begin with.
Once these spirits entered the range of the ritual being conducted by the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descender, they would probably all become a force to open the abyss. For this, he could only pollute these spirits in advance, which was better than letting them assist evil and become nourishment for the abyss, allowing the Dark Side of the Universe to exert more influence on the real world.
"The prerequisite for purification is having the ability. Without the ability to forcibly purify, that would just be being a saint."
Where the sunlight shone, there were no colorful tones—everything was pitch-black. All living beings irradiated by the black sun became carriers of the black sun, becoming new sources of corruption that continuously spread outward.
These were all intense mental corruption.
The beyonder ability of the Sun Scepter erupted with full force at this moment, creating a terrifying impact.
"Ahhhhh—!"
In the distance, the Planter pathway demigod who had fallen to the ground somehow sat up. Black markings grew on her face and body.
Those markings seemed to grow using her flesh and blood as nourishment, using her mind, spirit body, and everything as nutrients. They emitted a pungent stench and were filled with filth and corruption.
The pulsing black sun centered on those markings, and her facial skin seemed to have its own will, beginning to break free from its master's control and spontaneously praise the sun.
"No! I don't want this!"
Flowers grew from her body, but they quickly withered and became lifeless.
The earth trembled slightly, and arms carved from rock grew from within, wanting to pull her body underground to avoid this extremely terrifying black wave. But the putrid and filthy aura continuously flowed out from those markings, corroding her other normal parts, causing her pain, madness, and loss of reason.
Something was overflowing from her body, causing her control over those alchemical products to plummet.
The corruption began with her body and would eventually corrupt her mind completely.
Her mind had already been corrupted by the Dark Side of the Universe. Even without the black sunlight's corruption, she would have become one of the carriers for the abyss's expansion into the real world.
Her shadow in this world full of black suns unknowingly stood up, gently placing pitch-black hands on her neck. Before she could completely turn into a pool of 'oil,' with a crisp cracking sound, the lady's cries for help abruptly stopped.
The shadow stood behind the lady, grasping her body, and along with all the earth golems that had turned into black sunlight, entered the underground.
Now, the battle between the War Bishop and the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descender continued.
Under the shroud of black sunlight, within the affected range, except for the area where the 'Trunsoest Brass Book' was located and Don as its user, all other areas had been completely covered.
"Interesting, truly interesting."
The shadow behind the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descender showed no reaction. This purely dark environment even made him nostalgic.
"Filth, corruption, darkness, distortion—do you think such things would affect me?"
"No, no, no, they won't."
Amid this divine descender's mocking voice, all the corrupted beings around that attacked him in unison suddenly turned traitor, instead going to pollute the War Bishop.
In the beyonder world, the abilities encompassed by one domain or authority would be distributed across multiple pathways, presenting a situation where the main pathway concentrated the majority, while the remaining pathways divided the rest.
Without exception, both the Abyss and Hanged Man pathways were those that mastered the authority of domains like corruption.
Facing the divine descender of the Dark Side of the Universe, the Sun Scepter's mastery over corruption couldn't compare and would be manipulated in reverse.
He could even use this large-scale corruption, this environment similar to the abyss, to attempt once again to open the doorway of the abyss.
"I told you, a magician never perform unprepared."
The next moment, from the center of the corrupted sun in the sky, a compressed beam of black sunlight fell vertically.
Entering Euclidean space, using another Yesterday Once More charm, Don interfered with the demon's danger premonition through 'dimensional reduction,' preventing it from detecting his attack intention in advance, allowing this divine descender to completely take a direct hit from the black sunlight.
Chains suddenly erupted from the ground. The War Bishop, whose flames appeared black under the sunlight, was swallowed by them. The spirit worms within him grasped the demon's spirit threads tightly. On the parchment written by the Trunsoest Brass Book, mercury symbols jumped excitedly, binding the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descender, forcing him to take this black sun attack.
His expression became twisted under the mad ravaging of the sunlight.
Bits of dim light separated from his body's surface. The Sun Scepter's beyonder power in the corruption domain indeed couldn't affect the Dark Side of the Universe, who also wielded the authority of 'corruption' in the same pathway. But who said the Sun Scepter only had beyonder abilities in the 'corruption' domain?
It also contained the beyonder characteristics of four other pathways!
Sun pathway Sequence 4, Unshadowed.
Capable of forcibly and continuously purifying filth, capable of forcibly stripping away beyonder characteristics, making Beyonders decrease in level, even making Beyonders revert to ordinary people!
As a component of the Sun Scepter, the black sunlight also possessed this beyonder power!
The bombardment of black sunlight caused the magic potion within the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descender to overflow. The man's expression changed, and his body suddenly moved backward as the surrounding black sunlight began to flow toward his body.
He wanted to use this to stabilize his form and reduce the impact of the sudden loss of control.
But who would give him this time?
Don's figure appeared in the real world again, a staff appearing in his hand.
'A Moment of Luck' exchanged the manipulation rights of the War Bishop marionette's spirit threads with the Theater Core.
Don and the War Bishop marionette's positions instantly swapped.
The three-meter-long Sun Scepter with its dark golden luster, its twisted sun symbol aimed at the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descender who was trying to absorb the surrounding filthy corrupting power. A Yesterday Once More charm in his hand had already disappeared.
At the same time, the golden hammer's light flashed, enhancing the mystical power for this black sunlight impact!
The black sunlight condensed like a true abyss—filthy, corrupted, mad, terrifying—as another black sun attack struck the Dark Side of the Universes divine descender again.
This attack even made the divine descender's brain go completely blank. The Spectator pathway Sequence 4, Manipulator's beyonder characteristics were planting layers upon layers of psychological suggestions in him, making him give up resistance and bathe in the sunlight while praising the sun.
His body uncontrollably moved away from the abyss's fissure, and the beyonder characteristics within him were accelerating their separation.
"This cannot continue."
He thrust both hands into the nearby wall, forcibly controlling his body that was flying backward.
The next moment, the aura of sulfur and the power of corruption exploded violently. The parchment created by the 'Trunsoest Brass Book,' this uniqueness power that restricted demon power, suddenly came under powerful influence.
The corruption that had been cleared quietly spread across the parchment again, as if it had grown there naturally and could no longer be removed.
That was just a tiny but irremovable force of the abyss, but could this 'polluted parchment' be considered a manifestation of 'demon power'?
Since it was 'devil power,' it should be immediately executed!
The rules written by the 'Trunsoest Brass Book' fell into self-contradiction. If it were to execute, it would inevitably fall into self-destruction.
The power maintaining this space and suppressing the demon rapidly depleted and decreased. The suppressed abyss began to emit even deeper and more terrifying black mist.
[Host!]
"I know."
The War Bishop fell from the sky at some point, crashing toward the divine descender.
A tear appeared on the divine descender's body, revealing large patches of black-brown skin unlike human form. He began to manifest his mythical creature form.
But the next moment, Don had two more pieces of parchment in his hands.
"The law stipulates that mystery shall no longer exist here, and all must follow physical laws."
"The law stipulates that no laws can affect the 'Trunsoest Brass Book,' the people it authorizes, and the items held by those people!"
The parchment shattered. The power of reality enhancement forcibly suppressed the divine descender's devilization power.
The next moment, the War Bishop suddenly disappeared, packed back into storage by the system. In its place was countless liquid with a metallic luster.
The golden hammer in Don's hand flashed again. The next moment, his figure also disappeared, entering Euclidean space to avoid the coming danger.
Those countless liquids that still emitted magnificent colors within the black sun domain suddenly lit up.
The next moment, a world-destroying explosion rang out, like a huge and magnificent mushroom cloud.
The metallic hydrogen continuously produced by the Theater Core's 'Creation Miracle' was all used here.
All fear comes from insufficient firepower!
The ground cracked, the earth trembled. Even thousands of miles away, one could still feel this terrifying tremor from the earth.
Those were ashes shooting straight to the clouds, the incomparably great and undoubtedly miraculous achievement of contemporary science.
Countless beings cast their gazes toward this place. The closest were two demigods, one peaceful as night, the other wild as wind and waves, who simultaneously locked onto this location.
"Chennis, it seems the Dark Side of the Universe's scheme has long been discovered, and the Beyonder stopping him has made quite a commotion."
The middle-aged man with an apparent age of only thirty or forty but with white hair and a tall, robust build chuckled.
"Don't underestimate the enemy. The Dark Side of the Universe is plotting to open the doorway of the abyss. This matter doesn't allow us to be careless."
The old man in black robes, quiet as deep night with a sense of vicissitudes, slowly said, "The Church has activated a '0' level Sealed Artifact. Before that, we must understand the situation clearly and check what's happening with the abyss doorway and whether they've been opened."
"May the Storm be with us." The tall, robust man struck his left chest with his right fist.
"Praise the Goddess."
The next moment, the two figures flashed again, rushing at extreme speed toward the distant place still experiencing continuous explosions with sounds echoing across heaven and earth.
"This should be enough to attract the attention of the Church's higher-ups."
In Euclidean space, Don watched the wildly exploding scene around him, precisely tracking the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descender who still hadn't been killed in the continuous explosions.
"What a cockroach, won't die even after all this bombing."
Watching the demon's body continuously disintegrate and continuously receive replenishment from the abyss corruption constantly emanating from the ground, barely recovering his body while enduring the punishment of the rule book, Don's expression inevitably darkened.
[Host, what should we do next?] The system counted—before leaving, it had nearly emptied the Theater Core's inventory. Except for the necessary spirit worms that the Theater Core needed to use on marionettes, after all this usage, it could still provide the host with seven Yesterday Once More charms.
Don held the Sun Scepter, caressing the knowledge runes carved on it, without speaking.
He had corrupted those incoming spirits, twice bombarded the divine descender with sunlight causing the beyonder characteristics to overflow, and the current continuous explosions damaging both the divine descender and the abyss. These could hurt the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descender but couldn't solve the fundamental problem.
"Wait," Don said.
Waiting for an opportunity.
An opportunity for a killing blow.
(End of Chapter)