Chapter 473 - 472-

And after this happened, a blood-colored light suddenly shot upward from one of the leaves of the Heavenly Vine.

At the very tip of the leaf was a single drop of boiling blood.

Unlike the other blood that had been drawn upward and swallowed by the spinning vortex in the sky, this single drop remained behind, suspended at the very tip of the leaf as if it had been deliberately left there.

Then, the drop began to change.

It slowly condensed.

The boiling blood gradually shrank in size, becoming smaller and smaller until it was no larger than the tip of a finger. Yet, as its size decreased, the terrifying aura contained within it became increasingly concentrated.

When the drop of blood finally finished condensing, an overwhelming amount of divinity erupted from it.

The moment that divinity appeared, both Grey and Violet felt a piercing pain shoot through their heads.

It was not merely pressure.

It was as if an incomprehensible existence had suddenly descended upon their minds and was attempting to force its way into their consciousness.

Grey’s face paled slightly.

Ever since the sky had shattered, he had been unable to determine where exactly the divinity was coming from.

He could sense it within the spinning black vortex in the sky.

He could also sense it coming from the Heavenly Vine beneath their feet.

However, despite being able to perceive the divinity coming from both places, neither of them had released anything remotely comparable to the amount of divinity contained within this single drop of blood.

It was simply too concentrated.

It was as though all the divinity contained within some enormous existence had been compressed into this tiny drop.

And because of that, the overwhelming pressure it released was finally able to manifest.

For the first time since arriving here, a slightly solemn expression appeared on the face of the Cloth Puppet.

Its open, bleeding eyes narrowed slightly.

Then, another wave of divinity erupted from its tiny body.

However, unlike the terrifying divinity coming from the drop of blood, this divinity did not spread into the surrounding space.

Instead, it condensed around Grey’s body and completely enveloped him.

The pressure surrounding Grey instantly decreased.

The Cloth Puppet then let out a cold snort.

Grey remained shockingly unharmed.

However, the corpse that the Captain’s consciousness was currently residing within was completely different.

The moment the concentrated divinity appeared, the corpse began to tremble violently.

Its already pale and cracked skin split open even further.

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!

Several new cracks spread across its body like a spiderweb.

Then, from within those cracks, black darkness began to seep out.

The darkness was unlike anything Grey had ever seen.

It carried an extremely evil intent, one filled with wickedness and malice. The darkness seemed almost alive. It twisted and writhed as it emerged from the corpse, and soon, several grotesque hands formed from within it.

Those black hands stretched outward and grabbed onto the edges of the cracks.

They wanted to widen them.

They wanted to tear the corpse apart from the inside.

It was as if something horrifying was trapped within the Captain’s body and was desperately attempting to escape.

Violet’s body shuddered when she saw this.

Fear immediately appeared in her eyes.

She did not hesitate.

Her hands rapidly formed a series of complicated seals, and she spoke in a terse voice.

"Seven Verdant Seals: First Pact; Micrometer Judgement!"

As soon as her words fell, an extremely complicated seal appeared in the sky directly above her head.

The enormous seal was green in color, and an ancient aura slowly spread from it.

It was more than twenty meters in length, its complicated patterns extending across the surrounding space and covering the area occupied by both Grey and Violet.

The ancient patterns within the seal began to rotate.

Then—

Boom!

A pillar of pure green light descended from the center of the seal.

The moment the green light landed on the Captain’s figure, her entire body was engulfed by blinding radiance.

For a brief second, the surroundings were illuminated by an intense green light.

Everything within Grey’s vision turned green.

Then, the radiance slowly receded.

Grey’s pupils contracted.

He saw a thin green thread appear around the Captain’s body.

It was incredibly small and delicate, almost like a strand of silk.

Yet, despite its appearance, the thread possessed an ancient and powerful sealing force.

It quickly wrapped itself around the black darkness that was attempting to tear the Captain’s body apart from the inside.

Sizzle!

The moment the green thread came into contact with the darkness, a sizzling sound immediately rang out.

The black hands that had been desperately prying open the cracks suddenly recoiled.

They twisted violently, as though they had encountered something they instinctively feared.

The darkness retreated.

The small hands that had been attempting to tear the Captain’s body open could only withdraw in terror.

Violet’s expression became slightly exasperated.

The enormous Verdant Seal in the sky had already begun to fade.

Almost as quickly as it had appeared, it dissipated into the air.

However, the thin green threads remained.

They continued to wrap around the Captain’s body, suppressing and sealing the black darkness that had emerged from within her.

An expression of fear was clearly written across Violet’s face.

It was obvious that she had been thoroughly jolted by what had just happened.

Her reaction had been almost instantaneous.

The moment she sensed the danger, she had immediately used the Seven Verdant Seals to prevent herself from being torn apart from the inside.

Had she been even a fraction slower, the consequences might have been disastrous.

However, this was merely the consequence of divinity being revealed.

The Heavenly Vine itself had yet to attack them.

It was just about to do so when the spinning vortex in the sky suddenly began to shatter.

Crack!

A strange sound echoed through the heavens.

Then another.

Crack!

Crack!

The enormous black vortex began to break apart.

At the same time, a rain of blood suddenly began falling from the shattered heavens.

Countless droplets of blood descended from above, staining the surrounding space with a horrifying crimson color.

Then, right in the center of the vortex, a single crack appeared.

The crack was tiny at first.

Yet, the moment it appeared, an unimaginable power erupted from within it.

The entire vortex began to collapse at an even faster speed.

Barely a second later—

BOOM!

The black vortex completely shattered.

And what appeared behind it caused Grey’s heart to tremble violently.

A huge, incomprehensible figure was revealed.

It was a closed eye.

A gigantic eye that seemed to occupy the heavens themselves.

Grey could not understand what he was seeing.

He could not even determine where the eye began or where it ended.

The moment he looked at it, several muffled booms suddenly rang out in both his ears.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Grey and Violet staggered backward simultaneously.

Blood surged into their throats before they both spat out large mouthfuls of blood.

Violet’s body shook violently.

The Captain’s eyes exploded directly.

Blood and other viscous fluids flowed from her ruined eye sockets as intense pain surged through her body.

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to cry out.

But she forcefully restrained herself and continued retreating backward.

Grey, however, suffered far greater damage.

Fortunately, his eyes were already closed.

The instant the vortex shattered and the crack behind it was revealed, Grey had instinctively shut his eyes.

Yet even with his eyes closed, it was useless.

Something was already inside his mind.

Ravings.

Mutterings.

Voices.

They constantly echoed within his ears.

These voices were completely different from the faint and inaudible mutterings he had heard in the past.

This time, they were loud.

They were piercing.

They were almost screaming directly into his mind.

Grey’s expression twisted in pain.

His eardrums ruptured almost instantly.

Blood flowed from his ears.

Yet even after his physical ears had been destroyed, the voices did not disappear.

Instead, they became even clearer.

Because the voices were never actually coming through his ears.

They were being spoken directly into his mind.

Grey nearly collapsed into madness.

The experience immediately reminded him of the time when he used to hear the strange mutterings and ravings coming from the Purple Moon.

Back then, Grey had never known where those voices came from.

He had only known that they were dangerous.

Fortunately, the Purple Crystal had always been able to suppress them.

Whenever those strange and inaudible words appeared, Grey could rely on the suppressive power of the Purple Crystal to force them back.

But now—

It was happening again.

Grey instinctively reached out toward the Purple Crystal.

The moment his thoughts moved, an intense purple light erupted from within his body.

The Purple Crystal released its suppressive power.

A powerful suppressive intent spread through his consciousness, attempting to force the terrifying voices out.