Under the shroud of twilight, the viscous black mist gradually thinned and dissipated bit by bit. The double-leaf door, formed from crimson magma and pale blue flames, shook continuously, emitting a phantom, teeth-grinding creaking sound, as if it would collapse under the pressure at any moment.
The orange-red twilight, like a giant straight sword, pierced down from the sky and plunged into the mass of fresh red that floated in mid-air, constantly revealing various faces.
On that mass of fresh red liquid, faces let out delirious, painful groans. This sound carried an extremely evil and defiled aura; merely hearing it caused the Beyonder in this port city to either lose control directly, suffer heavy injuries, experience mental confusion, or be afflicted by curses.
Below, Snarnar's body ignited, continuously expanding into a giant wreathed in scorching white and crimson flames. His hands dragged a blood-stained, flame-wreathed longsword from the void.
Under the twilight's glow, he leaped up, his longsword slashing down, piercing through the scarlet liquid from bottom to top. Crimson flames surged out of thin air, transforming into various shapes of blades, stabbing into the faces that had emerged on the fresh red liquid from different angles.
The fresh red liquid instantly dispersed, turning into a rain of red droplets that evaporated in the orange-red twilight before reaching the ground.
"Ah!!"
A piercing shriek echoed out of thin air, directly assaulting the Spirit Body, causing Snarnar's body to tremble briefly and stiffen somewhat. His mind suddenly went blank, temporarily losing all thoughts.
The next second, a giant, grotesque arm extended from the Spirit World. The surface of this arm was dark and sticky, with an evil liquid flowing from it, and various strange and bizarre things grew upon it, causing an extreme sense of evil, defilement, and Degeneration to rapidly permeate and pollute the surroundings.
From the fresh red raindrops, scarlet substances continuously precipitated, caught by the suddenly extended arm.
Having obtained what it desired, the arm withdrew without hesitation, shrinking back into the Spirit World and moving away from this area.
Snarnar, having recovered, had a tangible firelight flickering in his eyes as he looked in the direction the arm had withdrawn, gritting his teeth and saying, "Suah."
"Rose School of Thought, and that Devil just now... Who is behind this?"
After Suah left with the characteristics from the summoned mass of fresh red, the orange-red twilight quickly dissipated, and the crimson moonlight once again enveloped the area.
Leyton withdrew his hand from Bugs Bunny's ear, crossing his arms over his chest, and mused thoughtfully, "That wasn't the 'Dark Side of the Universe' just now, but it certainly had the 'Dark Side of the Universe's' divinity, and extreme madness, like an out-of-control Monster."
Leyton suddenly chuckled. He thought of a possibility... The reward Ankewelt was able to offer to move the 'Dark Side of the Universe,' which was in a poor state, must have been related to methods of avoiding the Mother Tree of Desire's corruption.
"At high Sequence, the best way to avoid corruption is to die once, and a Spectator happens to be very good at stripping away identities they once possessed."
"The 'Dark Side of the Universe' is clearing the Mother Tree of Desire's corruption and alleviating its own state by stripping identities and transferring characteristics. And all those polluted characteristics were recovered by Suah. No wonder it felt not only evil and mad to me just now, but also more Fallen and defiled."
"What are you talking about, Boss?" Bugs Bunny looked at Leyton in confusion. It could understand every word, but strung together, they became words a rabbit couldn't understand.
"I'm marveling at the 'Dark Side of the Universe's' boldness. It must have stripped away many of its own characteristics, using this self-mutilating method to escape corruption. Now, it might have already Fallen from the True God's rank."
Leyton gave a simple explanation, not caring whether Bugs Bunny understood or not, and directly took it, transforming into a torrent of information, surging into the Spirit World Depths.
In Hittron, the capital of the Northern State, in the sky shrouded by thick clouds, several airships emerged from the mist. On the side of the airships, the triangular holy emblem of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery was engraved.
These airships, built by the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, were clearly superior in performance to those controlled by other nations and church factions. The noise they produced when flying in the air was very low, almost drowned out by the wind, and they shuttled between the clouds, making them difficult for people on the ground to observe.
Airships gracefully arced through the air, dropping metal-cased missiles towards the brightest lights of the city.
A "light" composed of pure knowledge surged from the void, rapidly traversing between the shells, disintegrating their structures from within, causing these shells to misfire directly.
On the ground, a government building, from which no light emanated, was brightly lit inside, making it as bright as day.
Roselle stood by the French window, gazing at the night sky, a slight smile playing on his lips, unable to hide his excitement as he laughed, "I knew the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery people would first assault this city. The high deacons and archbishops of the Church have brains like unmaintained machines; they have no creativity or ideas at all."
"Your analogy and conclusion are not correlated." Beside Roselle, Glenn, with brown hair and brown eyes, materialized out of thin air.
Roselle turned his head to Glenn, somewhat surprised, and asked in confusion, "Even if you're not going to pursue those raiding guys, why are you back so quickly? Are there any acquaintances of yours in those airships?"
"Acquaintances? There is someone I know, but not really a close acquaintance." Glenn shook her head, not dwelling on the topic, and continued, "That one dispatched her Angel of the Holy Word. In this land, even if that one is still in slumber, her Angel can easily exert strength beyond its own Sequence."
"So, I don't need to participate in the subsequent matters. The flexibility of information beings makes me more suitable for mobile support rather than deep involvement in a specific battlefield."
"Just as you said before, the period of that one's slumber is their best opportunity for attack. Once this period is missed, even if Steam and Sun join forces, they can only be suppressed."
"How can you, a 'Sage' of the Moses Ascetic Order, be so confident in someone else's God?" Roselle chuckled, teasing.
Glenn's gaze was calm as she looked straight ahead, her tone flat as she said, "We believe in knowledge, in true, in wisdom, not in narrow self-cognition with strong personal colors."
Roselle, knowing better, did not continue the topic, his gaze leisurely directed towards the sky. The thick clouds covering the entire city had dissipated at some point, revealing the half-disk crimson moon behind them.
Beneath the Crimson Moon, a bronze-colored Door, covered in mysterious patterns and impossible to describe precisely, appeared high in the sky, shaking, creaking, and slowly opening.
Inside the Door was an endless darkness, where countless indescribable eyes densely gazed outwards.
A cold wind, carrying a putrid smell, blew out from behind the Door, rapidly sweeping across the entire sky. Bright yellow runes lit up on the airships, erupting with the light of the Sun domain, isolating the wailing cold wind.
Suddenly, a giant, somewhat ethereal, dark-green figure rushed out from within the Door, moving and circling extremely fast in the sky, encompassing all the airships.
Its body was covered in large, dark-green, almost black scales, with pure white feathers growing in the gaps. Each feather and scale bore strange symbols of different shapes, and pale flames burned in its eye sockets. A pair of exaggeratedly thick feathered wings spread out behind it.
This was a Feathered Serpent, a true Feathered Serpent!
Mr. Pulak Eggers, wearing a dark trench coat, was held aloft by an invisible spiritual force, floating near the Feathered Serpent's head. He respectfully bowed to the enormous Feathered Serpent and said, "Thank you, Mr. Thanas."
The Feathered Serpent, called Thanas, gently shook its massive head, and a sharp, indifferent voice directly transmitted into Pulak's ear: "Following the contract left by Death, this will be the last time I provide you with gratuitous help."
"I understand." Pulak nodded slightly.
The enormous Feathered Serpent stopped speaking, casually flapping the wings behind it, and an icy gale immediately swept through the surroundings.
Countless spirits appeared and disappeared, wailing, shrieking, and staring resentfully at every living being, as if the underworld had been projected over.
The aura of decay, cold, and Death rapidly eroded the pale golden light on the airships. The surfaces of the airships visibly became mottled and decayed, as if they were being dragged to race endlessly on the path of Death.
"Wahhh Wahhh..." An inaudible, indescribable "Language of the Dead" emanated from the Feathered Serpent's throat.
This sound directly penetrated the pale golden light on the airships, bypassed the physical bodies of the Beyonder inside the airships, and launched an attack targeting their spirit bodies.
Inside the airships, everyone's bodies visibly aged and decayed. Their eyes became cloudy, their hair turned white, age spots appeared on their skin, and their bodies emitted the smell of decay.
Inside the foremost airship, a circle of warm light suddenly radiated outwards, encompassing all the airships circled in the sky, Purifying the power of the surrounding Death domain, causing them to rapidly dissipate.
Deep in the sky, a scorching white firelight suddenly appeared, rapidly darting through the clouds like a meteor, a long spear, heavy, sharp, and with an unstoppable momentum, it shot towards the eye socket of the enormous Feathered Serpent.
At the same time, a transparent soul appeared beside Pulak.
His attire resembled that of a count from the previous century, wearing shoes with upward-curving, exaggerated arches, a gold-embroidered coat with highly puffed shoulders and thighs, and long trousers tucked into white socks.