The explosions continued relentlessly, earth and stones tumbling about, blocking out the sky and sun.
The purely physical nature of the assault left the devils, whose mystical powers had been weakened, temporarily unable to cope.
Amidst the continuous explosions and the sound of crumbling earth and stone, the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe was nearly blown apart by half, revealing half of his brain and organs and fat that were red in some places, yellow in others.
He had lost an arm and a leg, and was now being constantly enveloped by the black mist seeping from the ground. After being blown apart, his body had become abnormally massive, with countless black tentacles growing from the broken parts of his body.
He looked like a patchwork monster of tentacles, humans, and devils—a creature living in nightmares.
Yet it did not die.
He had even caused the power of the surrounding abyss to become more substantial.
The devil's power grew stronger as the power of the "Trunsoest Brass Book" waned, and the restrictions of the rules in this region were decreasing step by step.
Don didn't rashly take out the Yesterday Once More charm to grab another rule book. The opponent was already prepared for such methods, and doing so again would have no miraculous effect—it could only restrain the opponent's devilish power, which wasn't cost-effective.
"Moreover, if the first wave of metallic hydrogen explosions didn't kill him, subsequent explosions would have great difficulty pulverizing him."
The first encounter with something is always unexpected and difficult to handle, but high-sequence Beyonders, especially devils who possess the Dark Side of the Universe as their power source, derive their strength not only from the Beyonder characteristics within their bodies, but also from the Dark Side of the Universe and the abyss.
Once adapted to this situation, purely physical explosions could no longer cause him much harm—at most, they could make him somewhat disheveled.
Don sighed and stood up.
Rotating his wrists, the Sun Scepter appeared in Don's hands once again.
'Praise the sun, praise the sun—'
Don smiled: "I'll let you sing to your heart's content later. Can you shut up for now?"
"Or go have a sweet romance with the system."
He really didn't want to hear the Sun Scepter singing right now—it would make him very irritated.
[Hehehe~]
Even the system's mechanical voice seemed... well, let's not mention it, or his little system would cry and throw a tantrum again.
The Sun Scepter silently went mute.
Aggrieved.jpg.
The explosions continued, and the Euclidean space was equally noisy, yet had a strange tranquility.
It was like watching a TV drama that had nothing to do with oneself. No changes in the real world could disturb this space existing in higher dimensions. As long as this ability was used well, in battles between high-sequence Beyonders, one could constantly flicker in and out, and combined with marionettes, it would be enough for Don to avoid the vast majority of enemy attacks.
Honestly, as an outsider, Don had already done enough by reaching this point. He had delayed time and injured the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe. At this point, he could just go back and take Owen away. Even if the contamination broke out, only the Orthodox Churches would have a headache.
Given the commotion they'd caused, the Churches' high-sequence Beyonders, carrying what were probably "0" level Sealed Artifacts, were likely already on their way. Even if the Dark Side of the Universe truly opened the entrance of the abyss, the gods would descend when the time came, and the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe simply couldn't complete his mission.
His own potion had received sufficient spiritual feedback from this battle—a puppet show with himself, the War Bishop marionette, the Sun Scepter, and the God's Descent as the core, with the hidden Dark Side of the Universe as the audience.
Moreover, his ritual conditions had been satisfied when that demigod of the Planter pathway died from sun light contamination.
Although both the potion digestion and ritual effects were still somewhat unsatisfactory, if he gritted his teeth, he might be able to attempt advancement to Sequence 4 right now.
The audience was of sufficiently high level, the drama he directed was grand enough, and even the demigod he killed incidentally had already satisfied most of the ritual's requirements. At most, it would result in poor ritual effects, increased risk, and more severe personality splitting.
But speaking of audience... Don looked strangely at the Euclidean space extending to extremely distant places.
He always felt that since the battle began, something dirty had been watching him.
But it hadn't manifested within the Euclidean space.
Time was pressing, so Don didn't dwell on this issue. Taking advantage of the remaining power of the explosions, he began to examine traces of the abyss doorway.
Looking at the valley that had been leveled, and the extremely deep underground where a crack was constantly expanding, Don's heart sank further.
"Haven't the Church's high-level officials arrived yet? Really, too slow."
He had no choice but to delay the opening of the abyss doorway.
If the things inside were allowed to escape, the entire Orkney Highlands would probably suffer the impact of a contamination flood.
How many thousands would die then?
"Advancing to Sequence 4 now would cause indescribable impact on my spirit. An unstable mental state would definitely be exploited by the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe."
Moreover, the great explosion had not destroyed the Abyss doorway.
The Abyss doorway is an abstract concept in mysticism—it doesn't exist as a physical entity. Even if the entire Orkney Highlands were destroyed, it couldn't prevent the Abyss doorway from opening. The only way to stop it, from current appearances, was to prevent the ritual of the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe.
Taking advantage of the explosion's aftershock beginning to subside, Don found a safe place to exit the Euclidean space.
'A Moment of Luck' and the Theater Core once again exchanged control of the War Bishop's Spirit Body Threads.
The hunter in ancient silver armor wielded the Sun Scepter, charging once more through the explosions toward the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe.
The reason for exchanging control of the marionette was, firstly, the beyonder power of the War Bishop sequence.
As a high-sequence Beyonder of the Catastrophe pathway, only a War Bishop could truly unleash the advantages of an army.
And serving as the 'army' were the countless marionettes in the Theater That Never Ends—even though they weren't here, they would still become members of the 'legion.'
The Sun Scepter in the War Bishop's hands was like a killing weapon. Without needing the black sun light, the Sun Scepter itself was an indestructible weapon.
The God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe, whose body had already collapsed into a monster, struggled desperately under the War Bishop's assault. The War Bishop held nothing back—his figure became more elusive, his strength increased, and his destructive power became even more terrifying.
Compared to the previous battle that relied purely on physical strength against the devil, this was more savage. Each swing of the Sun Scepter left bottomless cracks in the ground.
At the same time, there was the deterrence of the Psychiatrist, the recording of the Scribe, the spider silk of the Witch, the blazing sun of the Solar High Priest, and various mid-to-low sequence beyonder powers suitable for this scenario burst forth.
War Bishop—'One-Man Army.'
Meticulous attacking mindset, uninterrupted covering strikes, every weakness of the enemy, every countermeasure as if calculated by a precise computer, without the slightest error, as if naturally born for battle, for war—a monster.
This was not a marionette, not a state that a Marionettist could manipulate.
Rather than saying he was facing a marionette, it was more accurate to say he was truly facing a seasoned Sequence 3, a being approaching an Angel on Earth.
And this was when the beyonder nature of a Sequence 3 Beyonder truly began to show.
Yet the God's Descent was already in a wretched state, but the smile on his face only grew wider, almost able to tear the corners of his mouth.
"Do you think this level of battle can affect me?"
His words—every single syllable was filthy, corrupt.
The marionette had no emotions. Even with the 'Bionic Marionette' module installed, facing the abyss, Don had set no emotions and had also used high-level Death Domain charms to preemptively kill the emotional content in the module. No emotional fluctuations could possibly appear.
But this corruption was not aimed at the marionette before him.
The earth was still trembling. The explosion sounds had gradually ceased, but the earth's trembling continued unabated.
The surrounding black sun light had thinned out, and the black sun in the sky was slowly moving away, revealing the brilliant sunlight behind it.
After praying to the Theater for a miracle, projecting the daytime scene of this area from the Historical Void and Fog of History, this place had transformed into daylight. Now, this historical projection of the scene was fragmenting—the sun was illusory and dim, gradually revealing that enormous crimson moon.
The earth's trembling never stopped for a moment. That terrifying force—even the dust flying and explosions reaching the sky—had not filled the crack in the ground, and it showed signs of expanding.
Like a person's eye, slowly opening.
Don stood at a great distance, his gaze becoming profound, communicating with the Theater Core through the Arbiter's Ring.
"As for the second reason for exchanging control of the War Bishop's Spirit Body Threads..."
The next moment, the War Bishop cleaved through the other half of the God's Descent's body that had already become monstrous.
The God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe hadn't yet reacted when the War Bishop's figure before him disappeared, replaced by a new marionette.
And above the shattered sun, floating ethereally, was a crystalline, translucent core that pulsed like a heart.
That was the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw! That was the Theater Core!
Through Spirit Worms, through the infinitely extended Spirit Body Threads of the 'Bionic Marionette' module, the War Bishop and the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw had switched places!
"Miracle! Miracle! Miracle of life! Miracle of creation!"
Crazed roars and shouts rang out. The gradually fading sun in the sky could no longer conceal the red moon behind it, but now an enormous dome spread overhead, and black curtains fell one after another.
A massive, magnificent, mysterious, terrifying theater was rapidly being constructed.
Mysterious and secretive power, accompanied by crazed knowledge, was isolating this place from other regions, creating an inescapable cage, attempting to imprison the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe.
Sequence 2, Miracle Invoker.
This was a true "0" level Sealed Artifact, this was true Angel-level combat power!
The pupils of the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe widened slightly—this was the first time he had shown other emotions.
"It's you."
It's you who took this Sealed Artifact! It's you who disrupted my arrangements!
His roar did not escape. The moment the theater took shape, he was confined within the deep Crimson Campus!
On the enormous yet dilapidated playground.
"Am I... beautiful?"
"Am I... beautiful?"
"Am I beautiful? Am I beautiful? Am I beautiful?"
It was a young woman with disheveled hair, wearing a red coat and a mask.
"Am I beautiful like this?"
She removed her mask before the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe, revealing corners of her mouth torn exactly like those of the Dark Side of the Universe.
"Even like this, am I still beautiful?"
She somehow had a large pair of scissors in her hands, and before the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe, she suddenly laughed maniacally and charged at him!
"I want to make you as beautiful as me! As beautiful as me, hahahaha!"
The next moment, her body turned to blood and was killed by the opponent.
But this was not the end.
The Deep Crimson Campus buried countless monsters and mental contamination—real fear and eeriness that could drive people mad and out of control.
The death of the Slit-Mouth Woman, contaminated by the black sun light, brought thick mental contamination that quietly crept onto the cleaved body of the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe.
His body became heavy. This wasn't a problem for the Dark Side of the Universe, which wielded the authority of 'Corruption,' but—
"Twist and distort, twist and distort, twist and distort—"
"Mother, watch over my red wedding dress, don't let me die too early, too early..."
Giggling sounds, crawling sounds, the creaking of wood, suona horns, chainsaws—terrifying and intense mental contamination was everywhere.
Slenderman appeared on the walls, people carrying human head lanterns flew back and forth in the sky, distant sirens wailed continuously, and concrete dolls in corners quietly turned their heads.
Each one carried the intense mental contamination of the black sun light, each one twisted and eerie.
This was mental madness, this was the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw, tearing away all facades to reveal the deepest darkness beneath.
The people in the Surface Campus and Inner Campus hadn't realized that the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw had moved. Olsen and his group of Abrahams continued doing their own things, noticing no problems.
But at the very bottom of the entire school, in the deep Crimson Campus, the irrigated contamination was like a flood, surging toward the God's Descent of the Dark Side of the Universe!
That was contamination, that was ultimate contamination meant to completely drag the opponent's spirit into madness!
The countless curtains of the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw had severed the God's Descent's connection to the abyss, preventing him from borrowing power from the abyss and from digesting so much mental contamination, so much corrupting power.
But, but—
Even in dire straits, even with his Beyonder characteristics already out of control, even as he was about to go completely mad, he still—
He still—
Before the contamination reached him, his body began to swell.
The Theater Core sensed something was wrong, but it was too late.
The abyss's contamination overflowed from his every cell, every piece of flesh, every drop of blood, madly devouring the surrounding mental contamination.
He was forcibly reverse-contaminating these contaminants, assimilating them.
The Dark Side of the Universe had abandoned this devil's body. He—no, It was about to open the doorway of the abyss!
The contamination corroded the curtains, and through the curtains, a drop of black blood fell onto the crater bottom outside, which had already been bombed to smithereens.
Don's expression became grave. The earth's trembling had not stopped, and that crack suddenly tore open wide in the next moment!
That was a crack that seemed to lead to the abyss, bottomless.
The howling wind rose from beneath the crack, and foul, corrupting power surged upward!
The doorway was open.
(End of Chapter)