The figure that suddenly appeared stared blankly ahead, extending his right hand, and softly chanting in ancient hermes:
"Arson is forbidden here."
"Provocation is forbidden here."
"Changing the weather is forbidden here."
Every "forbidden" he uttered was reinforced by some power, displaying an effect beyond the Saint level.
The scorching white flames that shot forth became unstable, the surrounding flames weakened considerably, and the long spear formed by the flames showed signs of collapsing.
In the darkness brought by the giant Feathered Serpent obscuring the moonlight, shadows rippled like water, extending out dark, illusory yet solid shackles, imbued with power from the Fallen domain, coiling around the scorching white flame spear from different directions, firmly immobilizing it, making it difficult to break free for a time.
Seeing the person who attacked him being blocked, the pale flames burning in the Feathered Serpent's eyes intensified once more.
Its figure emerged in the eyes of the undead reflected from the Underworld, looking from all directions at the airships it had encircled, making eye contact with the people inside the airships across the distance.
Silently, the airships disintegrated, scattering into countless rust-corroded parts, along with piles of rotten flesh and white bones.
In just a few breaths, the airship fleet dispatched by the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery was completely annihilated.
Boom! Boom!
Streaks of silvery-white lightning struck down, hitting the dark, illusory shackles and briefly creating a gap.
Scorching white light erupted, fleeing into the distance.
Pulak glanced at the retreating firelight, then gently nodded towards the massive Feathered Serpent, saying:
"Thank you for your help, Mr. Thanas."
The Feathered Serpent, with pale flames burning in its eyes, looked back at Pulak, and after a gentle nod, it moved its massive body and disappeared into the sky along with the projected Underworld.
In front of the French window, Roselle watched this scene with some astonishment, then turned his head to look at Glenn, who had already sat back in her chair, and chuckled:
"No wonder you didn't look worried about any accidents at all; who would have thought there was a Feathered Serpent here."
"That's a true Feathered Serpent, right? Not like a Beyonder's mythical creature form?"
Glenn nodded gently, introducing calmly:
"The guardian of the Underworld left behind by the previous Death, who maintains a certain connection with the Eggers family. He can, to some extent, borrow the power of the Underworld, and his status and strength are close to a Sequence 1 angel."
Roselle nodded thoughtfully, sighing with emotion:
"As expected of an angel family that once had a True God, their foundation is truly deep."
Glenn nodded in agreement, then moved past the topic, saying:
"It's time to return to Paz River Valley. Our mission is to forge as many weapons as possible. With that 'Angel of Holy Word' here, plus a Feathered Serpent that has shown itself, there won't be a second attack until preparations are made."
"I didn't expect that even though I'm no longer an 'Artisan,' I still have to do an 'Artisan's' work."
Roselle shook his head and sighed, his tone full of helplessness. He had agreed to work for him to repay his debt after being saved, but now he hadn't even been resurrected yet, and he was already working. It was truly...
After sighing to himself twice, he suddenly felt like he had been tricked. He could have stayed peacefully in his grave until his resurrection, but he was pulled out to work as soon as he was mentioned!
As he thought about it, Roselle suddenly felt his mood was no longer so pleasant. He chuckled self-deprecatingly twice, then suddenly said:
"After that guy assimilated the 'Knowledge Emperor' characteristic I left behind, he had quite a few surplus characteristics, including the 'Savant' Pathway characteristics from Sequence 9 to Sequence 2. Why not cultivate a 'Knowledge Magister'?"
Glenn smiled bitterly and shook her head, saying:
"The few Saints of the Moses Ascetic Order are not very keen on changing Pathways. As for other High-Sequence 'Mystery Pryer' or 'Savant' Beyonders, they either belong to the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery or the darkness Church."
"What we currently lack is not characteristics, but suitable talent."
"Alas~" Roselle sighed, lamenting with some helplessness: "Out of so many True Gods and Evil Gods, he chose the one with the most enemies as an ally. He truly has a challenging spirit!"
As his voice faded, brilliant starlight gathered in the room, gradually forming an illusory Door covered with mysterious patterns, encompassing both Roselle and Glenn, then shattering into fragments of pale blue stardust, slowly disappearing.
On the south bank of Paz River Valley, in the Red Rose Church, Leyton and Bugs Bunny appeared in the clergy lounge behind the prayer hall.
Sasrir, as if he had already expected it, nodded slightly to Leyton, then gestured to the chair opposite the desk.
After Leyton sat down, Sasrir spoke gently:
"You need some psychological counseling. This will help you stabilize your condition and assimilate that characteristic as quickly as possible."
"Are you also a Psychiatrist now?" Leyton said with a smile.
Sasrir simply explained: "To facilitate handling some matters, my main body separated a 'Discerner' characteristic for me to 'graze'."
As he spoke, a pair of eyes appeared behind Sasrir, a pair of dark golden vertical pupils, deep and dim within, as if containing an unreal, boundless labyrinth.
Under the gaze of these eyes, Leyton felt his constantly agitated emotions calm down, his thoughts became clear, and he no longer constantly wanted to expose himself to the Moonlight.
Letting out a long breath, Leyton removed the illusion covering his appearance. Under his translucent skin, countless starlights flickered, twisting and pulling into strange, evil eyes. In these eyes, a faint, flickering crimson appeared.
"Relax, don't resist."
Sasrir's voice was very gentle, making people unconsciously want to trust him and rely on him.
Leyton did not refuse this influence from the spiritual domain. He slowly closed his eyes, calming himself through meditation.
Under the gaze of the eyes behind Sasrir, Leyton's shadow beneath him gradually became three-dimensional and substantial.
Relying on the authority of the Fallen and Mind domains, Sasrir stripped away Leyton's negative, Fallen thoughts, combining them with the shadow to form an uncontrollable Fallen creature.
As soon as the Degenerate creature, using the shadow as a vessel, took shape, a "Cull of Spiritual Flesh" from the Fallen domain appeared out of thin air, directly piercing and killing the Fallen creature.
At this instant, Leyton felt a tranquility he had never experienced before, and the corruption from the Primordial Moon within him subsided.
Seizing the opportunity, he immediately calmed his mind and began to analyze the Primordial Moon's corruption within his body, dissolving it bit by bit.
In this state, his connection with the Primordial Moon was strengthened. In a trance, he saw a deep red Round Moon, full of vitality and incredibly beautiful.
As Leyton's thoughts stirred, eyes containing countless brilliant stars, cold and indifferent, without eyelashes, emerged around the Crimson Moon. They indifferently watched the Crimson Moon, gradually disintegrating its facade, revealing the constantly wriggling, unnamable, indescribable mass of flesh behind the Crimson Moon.
The master of all feminine powers in the universe, the embodiment of beauty, in some sense the most beautiful existence in the entire universe. Although everyone has a different definition of beauty, this appearance is a bit too distorted, isn't it?
Life, spirituality, beauty, darkness, strangeness, desolation, plants, souls. As expected of a systematic authority, it encompasses so many domains.
Collecting his thoughts, Leyton began to analyze the information contained within the unnamable, wriggling mass of flesh, breaking it down and dissolving it bit by bit.
Time passed imperceptibly, and the stained-glass window on the wall already let in some faint morning light.
On the chair in front of the desk, Leyton's skin was no longer translucent; the constantly twisting starlight was hidden by the surface flesh, and only when looking into his eyes could one see the still-flickering starlight.
Letting out a long breath, Leyton slowly opened his eyes and gently nodded to Sasrir, who remained in a leaning posture:
"Thank you for your help. This has greatly accelerated my progress in assimilating that 'Knowledge Emperor' characteristic."
Sasrir nodded gently, responding calmly: "Intis's army has arrived. This war may last a long time, and resisting multi-pronged attacks will strain our high-level forces."
"There's nothing we can do about it. Cultivating a Saint, or even an angel, takes too long."
Leyton shook his head with a bitter smile. He currently had more than one surplus angel characteristic, but he had been unable to find suitable people to cultivate.
Sasrir clasped his hands and leaned back in his chair, nodding slightly, briefly lost in thought.
A moment later, he looked up at Leyton, his tone calm:
"We need to quickly bring the Ancient Forest under control, or destroy all of the Feysac Empire's shipping lanes and ports there."
"Bringing the entire northern region of the Southern Continent under control and seizing all external ports will maximize the severance of connections between the Northern and Southern continents, limiting the number of troops the Northern Continent nations can land."
Leyton nodded gently. His thoughts were consistent with Sasrir's. The two then exchanged some more topics until the sky outside the stained-glass window was completely bright, and only then did Leyton get up to take his leave.
Returning to the manor on the north bank of Paz River Valley, Leyton wrote a letter to Bernadette, hoping to extract a "Death Consul" characteristic from the pale death, after which he would use his own abilities to restore the pale death.
After writing the letter, he simply arranged a ritual and summoned Bernadette's messenger. In the astonished gaze of this "speedster," he handed the folded letter to the other party.