Chapter 1803: Chapter 1802: Is ’K’ the Incarnation of the Grim Reaper?
The torrential rain curtain pierced through the pitch-black firmament.
Dest raised his head, looked at Christos, who was being controlled on the podium.
Looked at Sett, who turned his head to gaze at him.
Sett’s voice passed through Christos’s microphone, echoed through massive speakers, resonating within this dark rain curtain.
The Divine Grace Power hidden in Sett’s draft paper was merely a casual move, a test to see if Sett could pass these drafts to Christos.
Unexpectedly, Christos really accepted these drafts and even directly used some of them for his speech.
Even if Christos hadn’t taken those drafts, the Divine Grace Power would still leave the drafts, attach to his clothes or personal items, and reach here, but the exposure possibility would greatly increase.
From beginning to end, no one suspected these seemingly mundane draft papers.
Because these draft papers were extremely fragile, requiring tremendous effort, even a lot of Divine Grace, to fix the power onto them.
And if Sett hadn’t passed the drafts, or hadn’t done so today, this Divine Grace would be purely wasted.
Due to the preciousness of Divine Grace, almost no one would choose to use it in this manner.
After all, even for most divine sects, Divine Grace Power is exceedingly rare, and wouldn’t be so wastefully used even in traps.
Unfortunately, the Death God Sect is an ’exception’.
What determines the scarcity of Divine Grace is not the power itself, but the favor of the Divine Being.
For the general church, sacrificing a large number of offerings might be required to exchange for a bit of Divine Grace, but for a favored church, a simple ritual might bring a substantial amount of divine power.
Just like the deceased Apostle of K, though it’s unknown how they did it, they could always receive substantial divine support without consuming offerings, especially the favor of the God of Knowledge.
Certainly, the Church of the Grim Reaper is also such a favored church.
In this violent rainstorm, clusters of people followed Sett’s voice, looking toward Dest.
The companions standing beside Dest also turned their heads to gaze at him.
Boom——
On that vast square, almost as Sett’s voice fell, a jet-black coffin was abruptly opened.
Boom boom boom——
Subsequently, in the downpour, coffins were opened almost simultaneously.
"How is this possible?!" asked the black-clothed figures, drawn by the sound, looking at the coffins, "These remains can’t all have Divine Grace, can they?"
Thud——
Accompanied by his words, a gruesome corpse stood up straight like a plank from the coffin, with twisted flesh rapidly entwining it, barely outlining a humanoid shape.
Points of purple glow entwining the remains, everyone gazed at the corpse, and its terrifying visage strangely didn’t cause widespread fear, rather a subtle sense of sanctity vaguely emerged across the remains.
It was as if people weren’t seeing a blurred corpse, but some form of ’Holy Remains’.
Thud——
Subsequently, one corpse after another stood up from the coffins.
An eerie serenity enveloped the square, an indistinct sanctity and reverence emerged in everyone’s heart.
At some point, the firmament had turned completely black, and the raindrops falling from the sky carried a hint of piercing chill.
Those raindrops were so clear, like a crystal-clear river flowing down from the firmament, sprinkling droplets of water.
At this moment, a distant song seemingly resonated between heaven and earth, echoing in everyone’s heart.
"Brother Dest?!" a young man beside him looked at Dest, unable to resist calling out.
But Dest didn’t respond to him, stepping forward.
Purple light converged beneath his feet, forming the first steps in the void.
He ascended these steps, his other foot lifted simultaneously, new steps formed beneath him.
Then he again stepped onto a step.
As he proceeded, the distant song echoing between heaven and earth grew increasingly clear and bright.
He calmly walked forward, his pace seemingly slow yet unusually swift, drawing everyone’s gaze, even the live broadcast cameras, turning towards his figure.
In that pitch-black rain curtain, a faint mist seemed to be gradually rising.
Finally, Dest reached the higher point of the rain curtain, to the center above the square’s remains.
He lowered his head, glanced around the crowd, then looked toward the distant cameras.
He raised his hand, took out a purple ’K’ pendant from his pocket.
He held the pendant, looking at everyone, hoarsely and swiftly said, "I am an Apostle of ’K’, an Apostle of the great ’Grim Reaper’. I come here today to reward the Apostle ’Christos’ on behalf of the divine."
He raised the pendant high, "The great Grim Reaper in the name of ’K’, descends upon this world, bringing hope and future, weaving a better world before everyone, and at this moment, the realization of this new world is close at hand, the faith in the great divine has spread throughout the Federation, so we come on behalf of the divine."
He turned his head to Christos, controlled by the intense orange and purple glow, "To bestow Divine Grace to the Apostle ’Christos’, allowing him and his followers to gain eternal life."
Everyone stared blankly at this scene, momentarily not reacting to what was happening.
Christos, now raising his gaze, watched this scene, his pupils slightly trembled; he seemed to struggle to speak but couldn’t.
The terrifying purple glow was madly surging into his body, trying to completely control him.
The descending orange glow from the statue fought intensely against the purple glow.
Dest calmly watched this scene, a slight smile curling his lips.
Although Erenka’s statue interfered, these purple glows ultimately couldn’t control Christos, but preventing him from acting and refuting was already halfway successful.
"Dest! What do you mean!" At this moment, Sett beside Christos clearly reacted, he looked at Dest, "Leave here immediately, let Christos return to normal."
Speaking, Sett already walked to the microphone, loudly saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we encountered a bit of a problem, Mayor Christos was attacked and can’t act temporarily, I am Vice Mayor Sett, now taking over his duties, I announce, today’s welcome ceremony ends here, please leave the square orderly under the staff’s arrangement."
Then he looked up towards the direction of the live broadcast, gestured to the staff to stop the broadcast.
But the broadcast staff didn’t stop, continuing to aim the camera at Dest in the sky.
Viktor looked down, discovering all the camera crew were frozen in place, their eyes flickering with purple glow.
Upon seeing this scene, he didn’t hesitate and directly jumped off the podium.
Below, the massive crowd did not disperse following Sett’s words.
"You say ’K’ is the embodiment of the ’Grim Reaper,’ do you have any evidence?" a young man shouted loudly from within the crowd below.
"Evidence?" Dest turned around, smiling as he gazed at the young man, "Haven’t you noticed? ’K’ seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Initially, he had no believers, yet powerful envoys always appeared. Haven’t you wondered where such a suddenly appearing divine being comes from?"
He paused for a moment, then continued, "In fact, ’K’s envoys are the ’envoys’ of the great Grim Reaper. ’K’ is the embodiment of the great Grim Reaper; death represents the final endpoint and also symbolizes the hope for rebirth."
He glanced down at the bodies below, "These children who marched with the Ains organization all received attention from the divine being. Their deaths are not the endpoint, but a hope for rebirth."
"By rebirth, you mean turning into undead monsters?" The young man looked down at the bodies below, "You liar, you should fall from Heaven!"
"Your argument cannot change objective facts," facing the young man’s words, Dest shook his head. He did not attack the young man nor continued to argue, "’K’ is inherently the embodiment of the great Grim Reaper. Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter."
His expression was calm, as if he was repeating an objective fact.
The crowd below watched this scene, looking at Dest’s unwavering gaze, and those who were initially skeptical bowed their heads, starting to ponder whether Dest’s words might be true.
Most of those who came here were followers of Christos, and many had also been exposed to beliefs about ’K’.
When ’Christos’ is unable to refute, their beliefs are actually easily influenced.
It’s a pity; if Christos could be controlled, it would be even better.
Dest turned his head, looking at the camera behind him.
Of course, those present are the minority; the ones who truly need to be ’informed’ are the majority behind the broadcast footage.
Bang——
But just as he was gazing at that camera, a gunshot sounded amidst the rain.
A bullet suddenly sliced through the rain, rushing toward the camera, attempting to smash it.
However, the moment before the bullet reached the camera, it seemed to touch some kind of invisible barrier, slowing abruptly, stopping in front of the camera.
Then, in the next instant, a fist suddenly emerged from behind the camera, punching the camera.
An invisible barrier appeared over the camera, but a faint glow also emerged from the fist, eventually breaking through the thin invisible barrier, touching the camera, crushing it instantly.
Dest lifted his gaze, looking at the owner of the fist, none other than the burly Viktor.
"It seems there’s still someone who remains stubbornly unrepentant." He looked at Viktor, laughing hoarsely.
At this moment, Viktor had already pulled back, rushing toward the other cameras.
Soon, one by one, the cameras were broken through, and the entire broadcast also subsequently cut off.
Throughout this process, Dest did not react in any way; he merely kept his head down, calmly observing everything, "When will you realize that such meaningless actions cannot change true facts, the ’Divine Grace’ will remain unchanged, and the identity of the divine being will remain unchanged,"
He turned his head, looking at the surrounding crowd, "If anyone among you understands the transcendent, you can take a look at the abundant Divine Grace power. If the great ’Grim Reaper’ wasn’t ’K’, would there be so much Divine Grace for this matter?"
When he said these words, most people’s expressions appeared somewhat confused.
Instead, the person in black clothing standing at the back of the plaza instinctively touched his chin, starting to think.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today’s ceremony is over," Sett quickly said from the podium, "Please leave in an orderly fashion, please leave in an orderly fashion."
The people in the plaza beginning to argue with Dest was not a good sign.
Once debates start, there’s a chance for persuasion.
No matter what Dest intends to do, for him to lurk for so long and suddenly launch his output towards everyone certainly means it’s not a good thing.
While Christos is being controlled, to avoid a large number of casualties and possibly worse outcomes, the best method is to disperse everyone first, directly cutting off Dest’s output potential at the source.
But clearly, the surrounding crowd does not intend to leave at this moment.
And the entire body of those staff members seems to be controlled by some invisible force, not acting according to Sett’s command.
In that violent rain, vaguely, some kind of dim fog is spreading.
"Please leave immediately—" Sett spoke again.
And at this moment, a figure emerged from behind, handing him a wristband.
He glanced at the call notification on the wristband, ’Vislo’, South City Commander, now the chief commander of the City Defense Army.
He raised his hand, connected the call, "This is Sett."
"Something happened to Christos?" The other side seemed a bit surprised, but quickly recovered, suppressing their emotions, speaking calmly and quickly, "The consortium attacked the city."
——
Ains
He Ao lifted his head, looking at the surrounding dense fog, and the enormous presence within it.
"Broadcast interrupted." Eve’s voice sounded in his ear.
Since just now, Eve has been sketching through the side, giving him an audio broadcast of the ’welcome’ ceremony held by Christos.
Although there are some discrepancies with the footage, Eve still listed the key points, narrating rapidly with high speed, and playing the background audio with reasoning.
He Ao gazed at the dense fog around, was Dest trying to imply ’K’ is the embodiment of the ’Grim Reaper’?
Why?
Even though other cities have similar legends, those might be rumors spread by the consortium to smear ’K’.
And at this moment, the Church of the Grim Reaper personally stepped forward, announcing ’K’ is the ’Grim Reaper’, why?
Moreover, their action received substantial Divine Grace.
In a sense, this actually received the approval of the ’Divine Being’.
Why?
Is this some kind of ritual? A ritual targeting ’K’?
At this moment, He Ao’s body slightly paused.
He felt his ’chest’ somewhat ’heavy’, as if a giant hammer was pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
