Chapter 1802: Chapter 1801: The Power of the Netherworld
Southern wilderness of Ains
A massive black mecha streaked across the night sky.
A middle-aged man with a stern physique sat inside the cockpit, gazing at the screen within. In the dim twilight, a hazy fog was slowly rising.
The area enveloped by the fog was so vast that even the high-powered telescope image on the mecha showed only the hazy mist.
The man watched this scene with some surprise and said, "Is it foggy outside, such a thick fog?"
"Scanning the composition of the external air," a somewhat mechanical prompt sounded in the cockpit, "no definitive fog components detected, but based on the camera scan, there is indeed luminous material in the surroundings resembling fog. Analysis suggests this fog phenomenon may be constructed by some kind of Extraordinary Power."
"Extraordinary Power?" The middle-aged man was slightly stunned, looking at the fog on the screen, "Could you turn off the optical shield for me?"
Click—
Accompanying his words, a structure resembling a metal door slowly opened, revealing the transparent lens glass behind it.
The middle-aged man looked up and gazed through the lens glass, seeing the dense fog behind it.
The fog visible to the naked eye was even denser than that shown on the screen beside it.
"Extraordinary phenomenon?" He looked at the dense fog somewhat bewilderedly, "How powerful an Extraordinary Power and terrifying an ability would it take to create such an extensive fog?"
Just as he was speaking, he suddenly realized that as he gazed, a faint amount of fog was slowly permeating through the thick ’glass lens’, gradually spreading towards the interior of the cockpit.
"Alert, suspected intrusion of Unknown Extraordinary Power detected."
Fierce red lights instantly flashed in the cockpit.
Immediately after, the originally opened metal door abruptly closed.
The fog that had been spreading inward suddenly stopped, but soon, before the man could even breathe a sigh of relief, a fine mist passed through the metal door, extending towards the inside of the cockpit.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man did not panic but instead took a deep breath and turned his head towards the direction of the console, "How long until we reach the Captain’s designated destination?"
"Based on the current route," the mechanical voice echoed in the cockpit, "estimated time is half an hour."
The middle-aged man turned his head, looking at the surrounding screens.
The fog in the screens was quickly disturbed and receded.
The massive mecha was swiftly passing through this suddenly appeared fog region.
——
Ains
Dense fog covered the narrow streets lined with buildings, beams of light flickered between the streets, illuminating intricate arrays.
An elderly man leaning on a Curved Handle Staff stood atop a small building in the center of the radiance, his gaze swiftly sweeping over the arrays shining around him, and the swirling dense fog that almost completely obscured the sky.
"The power of the Netherworld," he lowered his head, his eyes deep and mysterious, "Church of the Grim Reaper?"
Around him, the arrays flickering with light were already generating invisible distortions.
These distortions joined together with the surrounding black fog, as if some invisible chisel, slicing the space of these streets and the external spatial sense, forming an invisible cage.
The black mist subtly squirmed, seemingly harboring some invisible twisted monster attempting from another space to reach here.
The elderly man lowered his head again, glancing at the ruined array below him, which still flickered with a faint glow beneath the building.
The sacrifice here was not a real trap but merely a bait to trigger the warning net, leading him into the trap.
He lifted his head, gazing around, the real Sacrificial Array was the ring of arrays surrounding him.
These arrays had been arranged long ago and did not trigger the warning net, quietly waiting here, lying in wait for the ’prey’ stepping into the trap.
Normally, the setup of such powerful arrays involved a substantial amount of Mysticism and even items infused with strong Divine Grace, making it impossible to escape the detection of the warning net.
Unless a member involved in setting up the warning net aided the Church of the Grim Reaper, concealing the arrangement of these arrays.
The elderly man quietly observed all this, watching the twisted, surging fog ahead.
Deep within the fog, a shadowy inverted mountain peak flickered in and out of existence, resembling a real mountain range, or maybe just a pattern formed momentarily by the mist, abruptly collapsing.
But the elderly man below had already diverted his gaze, looking forward.
Some colossal, terrifying being was faintly emerging from the pitch-black fog.
The invisible barrier had already completely severed inside and outside, lifting his gaze, one could hardly see any sight beyond the barrier.
Witnessing this, the elderly man couldn’t help but take a deep breath, "Fools!"
He lifted his head, stepping into the void, moving towards the vast silhouette emerging from the mist.
——
Ains · Abandoned Factory Ruins
He Ao lifted his head, looking at the dense fog surrounding him, within its depths, faint lights began to illuminate.
These radiances glistened brightly, akin to sharp swords piercing through the mist, allowing even those at distant locations to see these lights beyond the fog.
Some invisible coercion was spreading from these lights, even isolating the surrounding fog.
He Ao counted, a total of seven radiances, these lights did not feel like living Angels.
Until now, there had been no living Angels showing power and coercion, indicating Ains’ Angels had either departed or were trapped.
Based on fragmentary information drawn from Dest’s memory, coupled with the current situation, Ains likely retained only Boris as an Angel.
And the Church of the Grim Reaper, at this moment, had evidently used some method to temporarily trap Boris.
He Ao raised his eyes, continuing to scan over the seven radiances in the sky.
Seven radiances did not necessarily mean Ains had only seven Angel-level items left; there could be Angel-level items that haven’t displayed such ’flamboyant’ powers.
Nevertheless, these radiances, and those Angel-level items that might not have notably displayed their prowess, seemed to lack any intention of extending their power outward.
Those few Angel-level items, if combined, could fully deploy Angel-level strength and Position, and it’s rather easy to disrupt this ceremony at its early initiation.
Yet evidently, those wielding Angel-level items and possessing strong forces or ancient families did not have this intention.
"Does your family’s Angel-level item require any additional conditions for use?" He Ao turned his head and looked at Medala.
"I don’t know," Medala shook her head while listening to the recording, smiling bitterly, "You overestimate me. You know my position in the family is not high, I can’t access such high-level things at all."
At this, she raised her head and looked at the surrounding rays of light, "But from the standpoint of mysticism, to drive such powerful Extraordinary Items should require a price, and a rather high one at that."
"Do you think the Ellison family will pay this price?" He Ao asked softly.
"If you want my honest opinion," Medala shook her head, gazing at those rays of light, "there’s no way the family will pay a large price to drive the family’s Angel Items."
"Even if it can save Ains?" He Ao turned to look at her.
"I fear we’re being a bit sentimental," Medala smiled bitterly, "Even if an Evil God starts a sacrifice and sacrifices everyone in the city, as long as the family remains unaffected, they won’t care,"
She paused, then continued, "Ains won’t be destroyed in this sacrifice; only those ordinary people who are sacrificed will die. For the family, as long as this land remains, and their Extraordinary Items remain, once everyone dies, they can open for new immigrants."
At this, she seemed to remember something and sighed with a smirk, "To the family, we who can ’die’ at any time are not Ains, they are. So right now, they’re ’saving’ Ains."
He Ao listened quietly to her narrative, gazing at those rays of light, "Your ancient family is worse than I previously understood."
"Actually, you don’t need to be so careful with your wording," Medala glanced at He Ao, "You can just use ’disgusting.’ Many times, I myself feel disgusted,"
At this, she directly bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and suddenly threw it at a distant light, "Fuck you!!!"
The stone cut through the mist, flew only a short distance before landing on the ground with a clatter.
The pitch-black mist roiled, responding only with silent emptiness.
He Ao said nothing, merely lifted his head to look at the surrounding pitch-black mist that twisted and surged, as if connecting to some unknown world.
A faint purple light covered his pupils, and he gazed at the dense mist, rasping, "Something is coming through the ’other side’ of the mist."
——
Dawn City
The violent sound of rain was drowned by the crowd’s shouts, Christos stood atop the podium, quietly observing the people below.
Once the crowd’s shouts quieted a bit, he raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet.
Thump—thump—thump thump——
As he raised his hand, a slight sound arose beneath the podium.
At first, this slight sound was suppressed by the violent shouts, and no one paid attention.
But soon, the sound intensified and became sharp.
The staff guarding the black coffins were the first to notice the abnormality.
Because the thumping came from the black coffins beside them.
They turned their heads, looking at the black coffins beside them.
The coffins gently vibrated, as if something was knocking from the inside.
Quickly, the thumping intensified, even covering the surrounding shouts within a small radius.
In the back, the people in black also noticed all of this, staring incredulously at those black coffins, their eyes flashing with disbelief, "How could this be?!"
Thump, thump, thump——
At this moment, the coffins grew even more active, aligning and starting to violently shake, knocking against the ground.
The compounded vibrations formed a loud noise, attracting more and more people’s attention.
The intense shouting gradually stopped, making the coffin’s sound even clearer.
Standing on the platform, Christos frowned slightly as he looked at the coffins on the ground. He raised his hand to signal the staff around to carry these coffins down.
At that moment, faint purple light suddenly burst from his platform.
He paused in surprise, looking down to see the source of the light.
It was none other than the draft paper he had prepared for his speech, which was not from his office, but a few unused draft pages mixed in with the materials Sett gave him.
Below this draft paper were some materials provided by Sett that Christos had retrieved to use as a reference.
Now, violent purple light surged from the paper, turning into invisible arms reaching for him, reaching for his soul.
The speed of these luminous arms was so fast they emerged almost instantaneously.
At this moment, Viktor was just noticing the glowing papers but hadn’t reacted; the purple arms were already about to touch Christos’s soul.
Behind everyone, faint lights exposed on giant ancient statues.
At that instant, blue light suddenly emerged from Christos’s body, slightly supporting Christos backward, holding him to move a little distance further away.
At this time, Viktor took a quick step towards Christos.
The purple arms continued forward, reaching Christos’s body in a flash, touching Christos.
At this time, Christos just held his pocket.
The dense power instantly enveloped Christos’s soul, and then orange light suddenly descended from the sky, reaching Christos’s body, separating the purple power away.
The two forces instantly struggled within Christos’s body, leaving him stuck frozen on the spot.
Meanwhile, Viktor and the nearby Sett arrived at Christos’s side.
"What’s happening?" Viktor glanced at the draft paper which still had some remaining purple light, and turned toward Sett.
Sett also glimpsed the paper, hesitating slightly before saying, "The paper’s not a problem. It was fine when I used it."
"Who gave you these papers?!" Viktor guarded Christos, immediately questioning.
"An assistant I hired during the investigation," Sett also realized something, turning his head to look towards the podium below. His gaze pierced through the rain, reaching a man in the distant crowd holding an umbrella, "Dest!"
Boom——
At that moment, one of the black coffins in the plaza was suddenly opened.
