No, thank you!
Who the hell wanted to play games with Outer Gods?!
Edward roared inwardly, but his face remained calm and indifferent. "Why? Has the power of you Outer Gods already begun to seep through?"
"Our infiltration never truly stopped," the figure answered. "It's just that before the barrier falls, we can only cause indirect influence and pollution."
"But you…" You're standing right in front of me!
Christine—or rather, the Mother Goddess of Depravity—still wore that serene smile. "I'm different. Because I am both the one you suspect I am…and yet not entirely that existence."
Another one of those ambiguous answers!
Did all of you bastards graduate from the same school of fraudology?
"Do you have any other questions you wish to ask?"
At that moment, the Mother Goddess of Depravity showed none of the madness an Outer God should have. Apart from that strange smile on her face, she appeared calm. Rational.
"Why did you descend into her…into Christine's body?"
She smiled. "Isn't it possible…that she was me from the very beginning?"
"!!!"
Christine…was the Mother Goddess of Depravity?
How could that be possible?!
The thought had barely surfaced in Edward's mind before he immediately realised: why not?
One could say that every descendant of the Abraham family carried the possibility of being eroded—of becoming the Mother Goddess of Depravity.
After all, the corruption Mr. Door bore was the corruption of the Mother Goddess of Depravity's power. That was why, for thousands of years, he had killed his own descendants through mad ravings, preventing that corruption from entering the Earth.
Generation after generation, with such bloodline inheritance, was it really impossible for an "exception" like Christine to emerge?
So…was that the reason behind Christine's resurrection?
And her obsession with seeking the so-called Abraham family "treasure"—was it, in truth, the influence of the Mother Goddess? When she finally found that "treasure," would that be the exact moment she fully became the Mother Goddess of Depravity?
"Heh."
Christine let out a chuckle and slowly retreated.
"Then, the game has already begun."
"Why do you want to play this game?"
"Because it's fun, isn't it?"
With that, her figure vanished. The overwhelming terror Edward had felt dissipated as well.
Yet his heart grew heavier than ever, and for a moment, he was left in a daze.
If Amon was the final boss of the book "Lord of the Mysteries", then the Mother Goddess of Depravity was the ultimate final boss of this entire verse.
And yet "She" had appeared before him so vividly—though "She" claimed to be "both Her and not Her," such nonsense did not change the fact: the Mother Goddess of Depravity had already descended upon Earth!
Seven Gods…what exactly are you doing?!
What confounded Edward most was that this so-called "final boss"…wanted to play a "game" with him.
Fun?
If such words had come from Amon's mouth, Edward wouldn't have found it strange in the least. But…coming from a Pillar-class Outer God…wasn't it ridiculous?
Weren't Outer Gods supposed to be insane, out of control, devoid of humanity—beings that instinctively devoured and assimilated any Beyonder characteristics aligned or even unaligned with their own pathways, driven purely by the Law of Aggregation?
So why was this "Mother Goddess of Depravity" so rational? Why did "She" brim with humanity?
How exactly had "She" entered? What was "Her" true purpose? What did "She" seek to achieve by playing this "game"? Edward knew none of it. He didn't even know where to begin unravelling it.
Suddenly, realisation struck him: so this…this was the true reason for Adam's "death"?
———
Meanwhile—
By channelling the authority of the Death Ring, Phoenix had opened the Gate of the Underworld, successfully holding back a Sequence 4 Puppeteer.
Shanks was indeed powerful, but due to the limitations of his pathway, he truly lacked the ability to unleash large-scale destructive attacks.
As for Enzo, the Sequence 5 Winner, he was even less capable.
Just as Shanks' face darkened and he prepared to transform into a wraith to attempt slipping in among the undead creatures, the surrounding night deepened further.
A massive arm suddenly tore through the air!
That arm stretched a full ten meters long, its surface pitch-black and viscous, studded with grotesque protrusions—some shaped like skeletal heads, some as bulging three-dimensional eyes, others like fanged tongues.
Its very emergence made the entire forest tremble.
Every green leaf instantly withered, every insect froze and died. Even the undead creatures fell into frenzied madness, turning upon each other in chaotic slaughter!
Boom!
The next instant, the encirclement of undead that had been hemming Lilith and the others in was shattered, pierced apart by the overwhelming thrust of that arm.
The first to bear its brunt was Phoenix.
Splurt!
The colossal arm passed cleanly through Phoenix, bursting him into a cloud of blood mist. Without pause, it reached straight toward Lilith.
At that moment, Lilith's entire body went rigid. She could not move a muscle, forced to watch in sheer terror as that black, oozing giant hand lunged directly for her.
But then, inside the jewellery box, the die that had been spinning without end suddenly stopped—
It landed on a six.
"Magnify! Distortion!"
In an instant, the arm that had been reaching for Lilith was forcibly wrenched off course. It swerved several meters away, crashing down with irresistible force and gouging out a bottomless crater in the ground.
"Edward!"
Lilith's voice cracked with sobs.
"Phoenix was killed by that hand!"
Phoenix…was dead?
Edward's heart jolted, but there was no time to dwell on it. He seized Lilith firmly. "Go!"
With a single step, his body shot forward like a cannonball.
The black arm that had been forced askew suddenly retracted and withdrew back into the Spirit World.
A few seconds later, the surrounding air twisted violently. Once again, that pitch-black arm tore through the atmosphere, lunging straight toward the fleeing Edward.
Bolts of thick silver-white lightning suddenly descended from nowhere, illuminating the skies above Bayam. With a crackling roar, the bolts linked together and struck directly at the viscous black arm.
BOOOM!
Thunder exploded across the heavens. But in the face of countless bolts of silver-white lightning, the black arm made no attempt to evade. It allowed the storm to fall upon it—and not even the surface of that grotesque limb was breached.
Hundreds of meters away, Klein, empowered by the Tyrant card, clutched the Sea God Sceptre with both hands. He was throwing everything he had into channelling the power of storms against that terrifying arm.
But after the barrage ended, the arm stood unscathed—while Klein himself was the one already overwhelmed.
The gap was far too vast!
He had thought that with the Tyrant card's authority and the Sea God Sceptre's power combined, he would at least have a certain degree of strength. Yet the very first battle after stepping through the door had already pitted him against such a monstrous foe.
The blow to his confidence was crushing.
"Edward, oh Edward…that arm is beyond me. All I can do is help hold off that old man for you."
Muttering to himself, Klein directed his incarnated Tyrant-form spirit body toward Shanks and Enzo. Raising the Sea God Sceptre high, he once again summoned thunder, weaving a cage of lightning that closed in around the two of them.
For once, Winner Enzo's luck was of no use. He spun around, trying to flee, but his body suddenly froze, unable to move—Shanks had transformed into a wraith and possessed him.
"Lord Shanks, what are you doing?"
"Forgive me, Enzo."
The thunder fell like a prison, reducing the entire street—and Enzo with it—into charred cinders. With Enzo's body serving as a "lightning rod," Shanks seized the opportunity to use Mirror Blink, escaping far from the storm zone.
WHOOSH!
The next second, a lightning arrow ripped across the sky, striking directly at the spot Shanks had appeared. It pierced through his steel-like flesh with ease, boring a fist-sized, scorched hole through his chest.
"Argh!!"
Even with the Puppet's formidable body and regenerative abilities, this strike left him grievously wounded.
His eyes bulged wide in fury, his sparse hair whipping wildly in the air as he fixed his gaze on the figure suspended in midair—bow drawn, arrow of lightning nocked, aiming straight at him.
Though spirits had no need for breath, Klein instinctively exhaled, recalling the words spoken to him not long ago by the woman he had encountered in Admiral Amyrius' mistress' room:
"Ah, if it weren't for the fact that acting against you now would bring me no benefit and only harm, I would love to reshape you—the future Lord of the Mysteries—into my own image."
She had smiled as she said it.
"What?"
Klein had grown even more cautious since. This woman, who called him the "new Lord of the Mysteries," was anything but simple.
"But then again, just in case, I can't pretend I didn't see you."
She had continued, "Let's do this instead…If Edward dies, then you'll have no choice but to give me a child."
"???"
What in the world are you saying?
Why did every individual word make sense, but together they were incomprehensible?
Still, even if Klein couldn't make sense of her intentions, he had understood at least one thing hidden in her words:
Edward was in danger!
———
Once again distorting the black arm's trajectory aside, Edward bounded across the land. Within a few leaps, he had already carried Lilith beyond the outskirts of Bayam. Slim though the chances were, he still hoped to use the complex terrain and environment of Blue Mountain Island to shake off Suah.
Lilith climbed out of Edward's arms, clinging onto his shoulder as she looked back. This time, the black arm did not reappear for a long while.
"Did we lose it?"
Edward gave no answer, for he already knew the truth.
"Right, Edward—take this!"
As if suddenly remembering, Lilith handed him the jewellery box.
"This is…"
The Uniqueness of the Fate pathway—the Die?!
Once again, it spun wildly, unable to land on any fixed number.
Snap.
Edward shut the jewellery box, murmuring under his breath, "The Blessing of Fate…the Blessing of Fate."
Suddenly, three figures appeared, blocking the path ahead.
The first was a familiar face—wearing black priestly robes, a black glove covering his left hand. It was Zatwen, the man Edward had once fought against in Backlund.
The second was an elderly man with unruly black-and-white hair, his pupils scarlet—clearly a vampire, the Shaman King Klarman.
The third was much younger, appearing to be in his twenties, clad in a grey coat. His eyes carried a heavy deathly stillness, calm and emotionless.
Edward's heart sank.
On top of Suah and Shanks, there were actually three more demigod-level powerhouses!
The Rose School of Thought this time…had come with the absolute intent to kill him.
———
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