Chapter 1807: Chapter 1806: The Hell Manager’s ’Secret
As the yellow light crossed the firmament, He Ao only felt a surging power flowing through his body.
He lifted his head and looked back at the inverted reflection suspended in the sky behind him.
The yellow light and purple light were still entwined, the yellow light emanating from the God of Order and the purple light from the Witch of Desire.
At this moment, neither of them expected that He Ao would escape through the opened fissure, or rather, they did not expect that the orange light, which is the ’Eternal Light’, would assist in He Ao’s escape.
At this moment, both the God of Order and the elder sister wanted to spare power to capture He Ao, but were obstructed by each other. Neither wanted the other to obtain He Ao, resulting in a stalemate.
As for the orange light transformed by the Eternal Light, at this moment, it was ’gazing’ at He Ao through the opened crack.
It let He Ao go not out of kindness, but at the moment of contact with He Ao, they reached some sort of ’transaction’.
However, He Ao’s gaze did not fall on the orange light, but rather on the gray eyeball sun faintly appearing behind the orange light on the reflection.
The actions of the God of Order and the Witch of Desire were not beyond his expectations.
The God of Order needed the body of ’Soter’ as an angel puppet; otherwise, he would not preserve these fragments of Dream City, and from the last copy world, it can also be seen that the Witch of Desire seemed to have a peculiar ’longing’ for He Ao.
It was no surprise that they would fight.
He Ao also had reasons to convince the Eternal Light.
But the lack of action from a good friend was somewhat beyond He Ao’s expectations.
He had originally planned to see if the Eternal Light could help block his friend for a while.
But his friend’s inactivity instead left him somewhat unsettled.
However, at this moment, he didn’t have the mind to ponder these things.
His body fell from the sky and hovered in front of the enormous ancient gate.
The doorframe of that gate had completely stripped away its fire, but the flames within the frame were still burning, just increasingly thin, as if the door had not yet fully ’opened’.
The crowd below had already awakened among the two layers of thunder, beginning in a panic to flee in the direction away from the giant gate.
The two booms of thunder were naturally not He Ao’s own power; they were tremors detonated at the world’s base layer using the power of the Eternal Light.
And at this moment, the gigantic flaming skeleton standing at the gate bowed its head, looking toward the hovering He Ao, a thunderous rumble emerging beneath the trembling flames, "Soter? You are not dead?"
"Seems like you wish I was dead?" He Ao raised his head, looking at the enormous skeleton, lifting his hand slightly.
He had to resolve Dest swiftly, the stalemate between the Witch of Desire and the God of Order in the sky wouldn’t last long; once stagnated for any length of time, they would inevitably collaborate to capture He Ao.
The Eternal Light might not block them.
He lifted his fingertip, a gently flickering light rising at his fingertip, unfolding into a magnificent geometric shape.
At the end of the Sote Dungeon, the ’Carpenter’ talent sequences from the old agent and the Divine Grace of the God of Order were also integrated into Soter’s body, which was the God of Order’s preparation for possessing Soter.
Essentially, He Ao’s current body was an angel incarnation of the God of Order.
Of course, due to some ’unexpected’ reasons, another divine being got involved, causing the God of Order’s possession to fail, forming this ’Circular City’ Character Card.
Besides this divine power, there were also some other, incomprehensible yet seemingly ’fate-related’ green light within this ’Circular City’.
He Ao didn’t know what consequences these fate-related powers might cause, but when he redeemed this card, there were no other choices.
After all, now in Dawn City, the options for calling forth angel-tier powers were not plentiful, especially ones capable of descending in extreme time to thwart the Grim Reaper Church’s plot.
Weighing every factor, he still chose this Character Card.
Even knowing there were issues, he had to brace himself to move forward.
However, judging from his recent experiences, the power of fate seemed to harbor no ’hostility’ toward him, nor did it impose any obstacles.
For now, he could only watch and see.
"Interesting, you’ve acquired some kind of Divine Grace?" Facing He Ao, Dest lifted his hand, dazzling flames burning in his palm, a surge of fiery waves rising from all sides in an instant, "So are you going to stop me?"
"I just saw you claiming to be the apostle of ’K’," He Ao also slightly opened his hand, a soft yellow light covering his entire body, a semi-transparent geometric crystal forming in the void, encapsulating his body and blocking the surging fire waves outside.
He gazed at Dest, smiling, "I’d like to see how potent your so-called ’apostle’ strength is."
Dest looked at He Ao, shrouded in the geometric crystal, slightly furrowing his brow.
Soter himself had no experience wielding the ’Carpenter’ talent sequences, nor controlling the Divine Grace of Order.
Nor did He Ao.
If he had exchanged this card before, He Ao might have needed a considerable amount of time to figure out how to wield these formidable High Positional Grade powers.
But that’s not necessary now.
The superior intuition of the Secret Wizard allowed him to leverage Soter’s experience, quickly comprehending the usage methods of these forces, allowing him a relatively proficient grasp in a short period.
In fact, possessing such powerful supplementary forces in a Character Card wasn’t exclusive to ’Circular City’; previously, He Ao had to not only deal with the divine forces within these cards but also spend time delving into the card’s powers.
Now, he could skip that research step.
From a certain perspective, the Secret Wizard was indeed the talent sequence most suited to him.
Not only could it assist in resolving comprehension issues, but it could also help him quickly master those potent Character Cards.
The intense flames around became even more surging, enveloping He Ao like a rocking storm, even obscuring his world.
He Ao lifted his hand, the crystal enveloping his body suddenly expanded, forcefully spreading the fire open, revealing the gigantic skeleton behind the flames.
"Is your talent sequence ’Hell Manager’?" He Ao looked at Dest’s body, asking thoughtfully.
Dest, at this moment, encased in fiery skeletal form, bore a strong resemblance to Hawke’s activated Hell Manager state.
As he spoke, the crystal surrounding him continued expanding vigorously; any flames and mist that touched this crystal quivered rapidly, then constructed into intricate geometric shapes, like scattered snowflakes drifting in all directions.
Letting more flames and mist assemble into similar shapes.
And as they assembled, the dissipation pace of flames inside the massive gate gradually slowed down.
These geometric mists also floated beneath the gate, obstructing the view below, separating the twisted, terrifying existence above from the ordinary people below.
And the panicked crowd below, under the guidance of Christos and others, restored some order, proceeding down several paths to ’evacuate’.
Under the hazy mist, the blonde woman commanded the crowd to leave while turning her head to glance at the mist on the firmament. A faint glow flickered in her eyes, as if piercing through the thick fog to see the silhouette floating above.
"Don’t compare me with such low-level power." Dest, shrouded in surging flames, glanced at the geometrical shapes dissipating around him, sneered at He Ao, then raised his hand, grabbing in He Ao’s direction.
At that moment, He Ao’s body stiffened abruptly.
At the lowest layer of that world, an invisible giant hand seemed to pass through the transparent crystal barrier and seize his soul.
A surging power erupted from that arm, attempting to pull He Ao’s soul from his body. The invisible force tried to infiltrate He Ao’s body and completely dominate his soul.
At this moment, Dest, his face burning with flames, paused slightly and raised his head, looking at He Ao with some surprise, "How is your soul so strong?"
However, before he could finish speaking, a faint purple-gray radiance burst out from He Ao’s soul, surging along the arm trying to seize his soul and rushing toward his own soul.
The massive skeletal structure encased in flames trembled for a moment.
Immediately after, one by one, ethereal bodies wrapped in flames unfolded behind his body again.
He Ao raised his head, gazing at those ethereal bodies, his eyes slightly open, covered with a faint purple light.
Just moments ago, he saw Dest’s soul, a massive sphere enveloped in purple light.
Now, as his power rushed into Dest’s soul, the deeper essence of this soul unfolded in He Ao’s field of view.
The light wrapping the sphere was directly unlocked, revealing dense cracks underneath, segmenting this gigantic spherical soul into countless tiny fragments.
Each fragment seemed to be a hollow soul.
Dest’s soul was not the soul of an individual, but a mosaic of countless souls.
"What are you doing?!" Dest seemed provoked by something and roared, reaching for He Ao with the other hand.
The phantom arm penetrated the bottom layer of the world, grabbed He Ao’s soul, and abruptly exerted force.
He Ao’s body swayed slightly, and at that moment, Dest almost managed to pull his soul from his body.
Yet, He Ao’s actions did not cease; his gaze quickly scanned through the cracks in Dest’s soul, reaching the deepest, most core part of Dest’s soul.
It was an incomplete soul.
In that instant, He Ao suddenly recalled the soul of ’Des’ he had killed in Ains.
It also seemed to be an incomplete soul, only able to function correctly by relying on Divine Grace’s power.
Furthermore, Des’s incomplete soul and Dest’s current incomplete soul seemingly could form a complete soul together.
Their names, in the Federation’s pronunciation, were only one syllable apart.
An extremely sophisticated power had split a person’s soul into two parts.
He Ao’s thoughts quickly compared the differences between the two souls.
Dest’s soul was clearly smaller, but more core, while Des’s soul appeared like ’discarded parts’ that had been ’cut off’.
He Ao’s gaze swiftly swept over those blank souls, each of which had a ’point’ connected to Dest’s soul.
The being manipulating the soul had cut Dest’s soul open specifically to connect these blank souls.
Just like in that classic Federation joke about hell on how to install a mechanized arm on a complete person—just chop off an arm.
Most of the soul was cut away, allowing it to connect with these blank souls.
He Ao vaguely felt that these blank souls were currently connected with some powerful high positional grade power, and also with the strong Divine Grace power permeating outside.
Dest could wield such enormous power, control angel tier items, and drive surrounding Divine Grace power through these blank souls.
However, these blank souls didn’t seem to belong to ’Dest’. Although connected to Dest and driven by him, another kind of aura entangled within truly controlled them.
Clearly, the true owner of these souls was the Higher Being who had cut Dest’s soul open.
Above the firmament, the massive city reflection was becoming clearer, with entwining yellow and purple light rapidly pressing downward.
The God of Order and the Witch of Desire seemingly grew impatient, quickly bearing down toward He Ao, while the orange light coiled nearby, as if it had nothing to do with it.
"How is your soul so powerful?" Dest was enveloped in roaring flames, his hands angrily exerting force, as a faint purple radiance surged from behind him, "Great Lord, please grant me the power!"
He Ao’s body floating in the air shook violently like a falling leaf, the surging purple light flickering, as if some terrifying force with enigmatic eyes tried to descend from countless dimensions away.
In the world’s depths, He Ao’s soul was almost completely pulled away by those hands, and dense purple light also attempted to infiltrate his body.
The orange glow in the sky occupied the city’s mirrored image, seemingly enjoying a good show.
At this moment, He Ao’s power thoroughly penetrated Dest’s soul.
From the beginning, he noticed a sense of familiarity about the blank souls in Dest’s soul.
Now, he finally realized where this familiarity came from.
It was the Hell Manager’s power; these blank souls had once belonged to the Hell Manager’s Talent Sequences, tainted with the Hell Manager’s aura.
Moreover, their Talent Sequences were probably identical, otherwise, the aura would not be so similar.
These souls had been members of the Church of the Grim Reaper, those who possessed the Talent Sequence of the Hell Manager, and eventually, mysteriously vanished.
What Hawk possessed should also be the same Talent Sequence as theirs.
Their souls had been extracted, stripped of personal traits, and turned into some ’structure’ connected to Dest’s soul.
He Ao didn’t anticipate finding so many Hell Manager souls here; the mastermind Higher Being had seemingly been preparing for this day for a very long time.
Countless pieces of information coalesced in He Ao’s mind.
From all these signs, Dest and these souls seemed to be mere components of a sophisticated technique, served as ’pedestals’ carrying specific powers and intents.
The mastermind Higher Being, indeed, had gone to painstaking lengths.
The yellow and purple radiance in the sky was pressing down more rapidly.
He Ao raised his hand, looking at Dest ahead, as geometric light unfolded at his fingertips.
The more intricate the creation, the easier it is to destroy.
