Danitz could still clearly remember the horrifying scene of the other cultists dying covered in feathers!
And now—his eyes turned into a bright sea-blue, and his expression twisted into something wild and feral.
"5…4…"
Edward's countdown was nearing its end.
He pulled out a goblet of Sequence 6-level liquor, downed it in one gulp, and channelled every ounce of spirituality in his body.
Then, all of a sudden, he saw Danitz take off running toward the black vortex. Just a few meters from it, Danitz tore off the bone shard bracelet from his wrist—
And in that instant, a violent thunderstorm erupted, exploding into silver-white lightning.
At the same time, a massive black hand, covered in feathers, stretched out from the vortex, lunging toward Edward.
BOOM!
A beam-like bolt of lightning shot down from above, piercing directly into the vortex, unleashing a force even more terrifying than the one Sea King Kottman had used earlier.
That feather-covered giant hand, just two or three meters from reaching Edward, suddenly froze, and then just as swiftly retracted—along with the black vortex, which vanished into thin air.
At that same moment, all the feathered serpents chasing Edward instantly withered, falling like oil-stained feathers drifting in the air.
"Nice one, Danitz!"
Edward had just begun to praise him—
When he noticed something wasn't right.
Danitz's expression was twisted with madness, and his exposed left arm was now embedded with translucent white bone shards, looking almost like scales—no, snake scales.
Meanwhile, the dimensional rift to the Elven Ruins—now stripped of Artificial Death's power—began closing rapidly.
But Danitz dropped onto all fours and sprinted toward it like a wild beast.
"Distortion!"
Edward had no idea what was happening, but he reacted instantly, twisting Danitz's trajectory with his ability—Danitz was flung backwards in the opposite direction.
But he immediately flipped over and sprang up again.
As he turned to look at Edward, he opened his mouth wide—
And inside, silver lightning began to crackle at the back of his throat.
Edward froze for a moment.
What the…That's the sea serpent's move?!
WHOOSH!
A blindingly hot beam of violent lightning blasted from Danitz's mouth.
Edward barely blinked away in time.
But even that brief distraction gave Danitz the opening he needed—He leapt through the closing dimensional rift in the very last instant, vanishing from sight.
"Phoenix! Take me to that ruin!"
Edward shouted at once.
Phoenix dove, grabbed him by the shoulders, and tore through space, diving into the layered brilliance of the Spirit World.
Everything around them became both real and unreal, strange and surreal.
Above them, seven-colored light hung in the sky like some divine chandelier, bathing the Spirit World in its glow.
On either side, Edward could faintly make out various bizarre and terrifying spirit-world creatures.
Suddenly, Phoenix went into a steep dive.
Within seconds, a ruined structure came into view—its outline flickering and half-hidden in the depths below.
Outside the ruin floated a gigantic jellyfish-like Spirit World creature, its translucent tendrils coated in slime, drifting slowly outward and enclosing the nearby space as its domain.
At the tip of each tendril was a white skull, its hollow eye sockets swaying eerily as the jellyfish drifted.
Clearly, this was a powerful spirit creature—
But Phoenix ignored it entirely and charged straight through with Edward in tow.
Startled, the jellyfish flailed its tendrils in panic and quickly parted the way.
The next instant, Edward passed through a curtain-like veil of nothingness.
The air around him instantly grew thick and heavy. Rippling waves shimmered on all sides—caused by the deep blue seawater that filled this entire region.
At the seabed lay a crumbling, shadowy ruin—Its buildings were either fully collapsed or half-sunken, ancient and eroded.
This was the place where the sea serpent had hidden, a boundary between the real world and the Spirit World.
Inside the ruins, chaos reigned.
Collapsed structures were strewn everywhere.
All around were fallen Sea God guards, their bodies covered in feathers.
Edward stepped onto the staircase, ascending without any resistance, entering the ruined structure beneath a half-collapsed pillar.
The first thing he saw was—
A massive sea serpent, so large it was nearly beyond comprehension.
Its entire body was coated in slick, blue-green scales, patterned with ancient runes that matched the markings carved across the ruins.
It lay coiled in the vast hall, taking up a full third of the space—Like a blue-green mountain, rising and falling with each breath.
But it was covered in wounds—
Some torn open and bleeding, some stripped to bare white bone.
The worst was the spot two-thirds down its body: nearly cleaved in half, held together by just a few strands of sinew, twitching and writhing.
This was the Sea God worshipped by the Church of Sea God—Kalvetua.
Sensing Edward's presence, the serpent opened its eyes.
It looked at him coldly—but the madness that had once filled its gaze was now gone.
Yes.
It was still alive.
But just barely.
Its breathing was weak—each one spaced out by ten or twenty seconds, soft and powerless.
The contrast between this and its earlier godlike might was almost absurd.
At that moment, Lilith, who had been tucked safely in Edward's arms, poked her head out and said, "Waaah! Big, biiig snake…"
Edward gently patted her head, signalling her to stay quiet.
Even though Kalvetua was on the brink of death, Edward didn't lower his guard one bit—he remembered from the original storyline how this bastard could still unleash devastating destruction even in its final breath.
"Crrrck, crrck, crrrk…"
Just then, an unsettling sound of chewing and crunching rang out—like teeth grinding against bone.
Edward cautiously stepped in the direction of the sound—and saw Danitz, with his fiery red hair, crouched beside one of Kalvetua's wounds, gnawing on its flesh.
His eyes glowed with a blue-green light, his mouth was stained crimson, and his teeth were sinking deep into muscle and sinew.
The once sporadic snake scales on his left arm had now spread into a dense patch, each one a miniature replica of Kalvetua's own shimmering blue-green scales, engraved with strange patterns.
In other words—Danitz was undergoing sea serpent transformation.
Or worse—Kalvetua may have used some unknown method to attempt resurrection through Danitz.
With that realisation, Edward acted immediately—
He used Invisible Hand to snatch Danitz away, then tranfigured a set of chain-shaped bindings to restrain him. Without hesitation, he poured a large bottle of emetic potion down his throat.
"Bleargh!"
The effect was immediate—Danitz fell to the floor, retching violently, spewing out the bloody meat he had just consumed.
The changes to his body visibly regressed.
Edward didn't have time to confirm whether the danger had passed—because the supposedly dying Kalvetua had begun to glow again—streaks of blue-green lightning flickering across its enormous body.
Edward didn't hesitate.
He fired off a Stunning Charm, knocking Danitz unconscious.
"Magnify—Distortion."
He distorted Kalvetua's already mortal wounds to aggravate them further, then enlarged a coin and launched it like a cannonball toward the creature's massive head—
Followed by a heavily empowered Killing Curse, laced with concentrated spirituality.
"ROARRRR!!!"
The two consecutive strikes sent Kalvetua into howling agony.
It thrashed wildly, letting out a piercing shriek so sharp it nearly burst Edward's eardrums and made his spiritual body tremble.
Lilith screamed in pain, covering her ears.
Even Phoenix collapsed, overwhelmed by the sonic force.
"Emperor's New Clothes!"
Edward quickly used the third recorded instance of the Emperor's New Clothes ability.
A second Lance of Longinus, radiating a pungent metallic bloodlust, formed in his palm.
"Go!"
Kalvetua opened its jaw wide again, forcing out the last remnants of its vitality to form another devastating lightning sphere.
Magnify. Distortion!
Edward distorted its spellcasting, dispersing the half-formed thunder orb.
In the next instant, the bloodstained spear struck Kalvetua's colossal skull. After a brief clash of resistance, it pierced through with a burst of crimson light.
But even this didn't kill it.
Kalvetua thrashed like a frenzied eel thrown into boiling oil, flinging itself across the ancient ruins.
Its enormous tail and skull slammed into collapsed pillars and broken walls, wreaking further havoc.
Then it roared again—the surrounding seawater rushed into its mouth, forming that same terrifying vortex it had conjured before, one that could devour everything around it into the abyss of its black throat.
Distortion!
Edward tried once more to twist Kalvetua's intention—
But this time, it failed.
With no choice, he blinked next to Danitz, stuffed him into the leather pouch, then hoisted the unconscious Phoenix from the ground.
Another two quick teleports brought him to the entrance of the ruins.
Yet even from this distance, the deadly pull of Kalvetua's final struggle could still be felt, growing stronger by the second.
Edward gritted his teeth, countering the suction with spatial abilities, while continuing to unleash spell after spell, wearing down the last shreds of Kalvetua's lifeforce.
His spirituality was draining fast.
He downed two more goblets of Sequence 6 beyonder characteristic infused wines—were it not for the massive haul of traits he'd taken from Moon City, he would've collapsed by now.
He could already feel the dizzying onset of intoxication.
Another drink, and he'd probably black out.
Fortunately, this battle wasn't endless.
After over ten minutes, the suction abruptly vanished.
Kalvetua, head pierced and eyes dim, crashed to the ground.
From its throat came a long, low, wailing roar—filled with resentment, pain, fury, and madness.
It echoed endlessly—
The dying howl of Sea God Kalvetua.
Ding.
Edward flicked a coin into the air, confirming the serpent was truly dead.
Only then did he walk back into the hall, standing before the mountainous corpse of the sea god.
"Haaah…Finally."
He exhaled in relief, then pulled Danitz out of the pouch.
The snake scales on Danitz's left arm were still there—a massive patch—but thankfully, they no longer seemed to be spreading.
Edward flipped a coin again and asked:
"Is Danitz in danger right now?"
The result: Number face up.
Negative.
He wasn't satisfied.
Another flick:
"Has Danitz been contaminated by Kalvetua?"
Head side up.
Yes.
Contaminated…but not in immediate danger?
Edward hesitated.
Then performed a third divination:
"Will Kalvetua resurrect through Danitz?"
———
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