Chapter 145: The Destruction

Chapter 145: The Destruction

Murphy stared at being before him. Around him the pillars had begun to sink inside the floor, breaking apart the ceilings.

He glanced back, only to find Asterion had already escaped.

To anyone else, the crumbling cathedral and the descending entity would simply be a terrifying evil God, but to Mo Fei, who had those eyes was worse and agonizing to witness the spirit threads.

?Buzz—

?His Apprentice’s eyes flared involuntarily, showing up spirit threads. The crimson light radiating from the mutilated statue became a writhing mass of illusory black veins and crawling, translucent worms of spirit. They squirmed in the air, whispering forbidden syllables directly into his consciousness.

?"Ordinal 5? No... at least Ordinal 4, a post demigod-tier descent!"

?Mo Fei clenched his teeth together until his gums ached as another streak of blood trickled down from his left nostril.

?In the Eleven Worlds, a higher Ordinal being brought terrifying qualitative changes, but they also came with an iron law: do not look directly upon a deity, and never gaze too long into the corrupted depths. Every second he spent staring at the floating, legless torso of the Hanged Sage, his mind whispered dangerous temptations.

The gaze had already begun to damage his soul directly instead of his body.

?"Humph." ?Murphy let out a sharp grunt and took a few steps back before looking away from the being.

?He couldn’t afford to bring corruption. If he turned into a monster, the Midnight Wings or any other churches would deal with him before the sun even set.

?With his vision swimming and the environment warping around him, Mo Fei didn’t hesitate. He reached into his coat pocket, his gloved fingers wrapping around a small object.

?The Mystical Charm? No, a Grade 4 item or a Grade 5 wouldn’t cut through this level of divine contamination.

Suddenly, he felt a rope tightening around his neck. He moved both his hands to his throat; just then the noose pulled him toward the ceiling.

’Gasp!’ His eyes widened as he grumbled. The noose tightened around him, just then, multiple ropes caught his hands and pulled them away from his throat. The sharp edges were bruising his body.

Clatter!

The revolver dropped on the ground, leaving Mo Fei gagging as it forced him to look at the cosmic being in front of him.

"Urgh..." He touched the spirit threads of his weapon through his trembling fingers, just then the revolver shifted back into his Glaive before he forced his hand forward even though the noose pulled his hand back. Using all his strength while his vision blurred, he pulled the threads as the Glaive spun before it lifted toward him.

Fwip!

Slash!

The Glaive cut through the thick ropes as it slashed down the noose, and Murphy fell on the ground, coughing up to regain his vision.

The mark on his shoulder split open, pushing Mo Fei backward, which made him nearly slip the persona, but he regained his footing and gripped his shoulder and felt the wet, sticky blood on his fingers.

But before he could register, a thin warm barrier surrounded him, creating a completely silent barrier that came out from the earring of Jian Yue. From behind him, he felt a hand on his back, helping him stand up.

Mo Fei grunted inwardly and stood up while closing eyes to not look at the entity.

He remembered the practice he had done to understand the spirit threads and look at them while keeping his eyes closed.

Murphy pulled the mystical artifact of the Curator of Flesh authority and threw it forward toward the Hanged Man, whose flesh suddenly began to twist as it got into the artifact’s contact. Finally, he chanted the honorifics. "The Light that Walks Beyond the Sun."

The very next moment, a sudden weight of the divine mist surrounded him.

?Taking advantage of the momentary reprieve, Mo Fei threw his weight backward, rolling behind a shattered marble baptismal font.

Just then, a beam of corrupted fountain of blood scorched the flagstones where he had been standing a microsecond before. Using the Spirit Threads, he dodged it effortlessly.

?Boom!

?The stone melted into bubbling glass and sizzled violently.

?"That Asterion. I didn’t see this coming." Mo Fei wiped the sweat and blood from his brow, his grey eyes remaining close. "He used his own blood and a high-tier ritual sacrifice as a beacon. That entity is not fully summoned, and yet it is at post Demigod. What the hell is that thing exactly?"

?As if echoing his deduction, the floating entity in the center of the collapsing cathedral slowly turned its massive, featureless head downward. The hollow eye sockets didn’t have pupils, but they stared directly through the marble barrier, locking onto Mo Fei’s spiritual presence.

?The pressure doubled. Mo Fei felt his knees buckle, his coat soaking through with cold sweat. Suddenly, he heard a chilling whisper of cosmos in a language that he couldn’t understand, making his blood boil from beneath.

?If he didn’t break line-of-sight or disrupt the residual spirituality anchoring the manifestation, his own Embodiment would soon violently mutate from the corruption.

As a drop of blood fell from his shoulder on the ground, the land disparted, instantly turning his blood black, creating a small dark hole that quickly moved toward a nearest pillar.

Giygogagohgwooh!!!!!!!!

Mo Fei’s mind calmed down as the corruption slowed down almost instantly from his brain. With closed eyes, he looked back toward the spirit threads of the pillar where the massive black portal opened.

Six massive tendrils, held by one crimson dragon claw, held the portal, before opening it wider as shapeless eyes stared back from the void.

Giygogagohgwooh!!!!

Another similar scream tore through the whole place, instantly breaking the pillars as the one side of the Cathedral’s roof broke apart, falling onto the ground.

A smile crossed over Murphy’s lips. "Is it you?"

The shriek came again as if agreeing with his words as the shadow behind the portal shifted and slowly came out of it.

The long body of the Divine Dragon slowly emerged as its mandible-looking jaw armor ripped open before flying through the realm. Its destructive gaze locked directly into the Hanged Man, who stared back with the same expression as before, devoid of any human emotions.

The Divine Dragon heaved a long breath that grinded against the air, rippling the wind surrounding it as it moved toward Murphy before wrapping itself around him protectively and speaking. "I’ll destroy your flesh for that blasphemous thing to bring the drop of the blood of my master. I’ll take the price by peeling your skeleton off."

The Divine Serpent’s voice followed in his mind. "Great Master... do you truly believe you can control its destructive thoughts?"

"It’s better this way if it can fight alongside."

"Yes, Great Master... only one issue."

Mo Fei glanced at the divine dragon and asked in his thoughts. "What?"

"Unlike me... the Divine Dragon doesn’t have any restrictions over your Ordinals to manage the power, and without those, it may even destroy the whole city without any malice behind it." The Serpent hissed, and its voice faded after the warning.

Hearing that, Murphy looked around rapidly. The exits were blocked by falling debris and blazing pillars, leaving only one path. The ceiling was caving in, although deep within his mind, the phantom maggots had stopped multiplying.

But a more dangerous thing to handle currently was the Divine Dragon, who had been staring at the cosmic being with pure rage and intentions of destroying Him completely.

?"Looks like I’ll have to use that." Murphy whispered, his expression turning grim.

?Just as he could decide his next steps, a heavy, oppressive bell toll echoed from outside the cathedral doors—Dong... Dong... Dong...

?It wasn’t the local church’s bell. They didn’t have a bell that authoritative; within moments, he realized what it was.

?The crimson light instantly stuttered. The floating Hanged Sage paused, His ghostly form flickering like a dying candle as if something divine, terrifying, and majestic had started to look at Him. Which was none other than the Divine Dragon, of course.

?Mo Fei narrowed his eyes, a flicker of profound realization crossing his pale face.

?"The Midnight Wings are already here? But who called them?"