Translator: CinderTL
Buzz!
A black curtain descended, plunging the world into eternal dark night.
Under the continuous days of darkness, panic spread relentlessly throughout the World of the Dead.
Commoners rationed their meager kerosene supplies at home, while nobles in their villas lit every lamp, their faces pale with confusion.
"What does the Church say? Still no news?"
A Steel Kingdom noble asked in his manor. The butler, his face ashen, shook his head gently.
The True God Church remained silent, offering no explanation for this extraordinary phenomenon.
Even the ongoing kingdom war ground to a halt.
This scene played out like a microcosm, repeating itself in city after city.
Even the waters around Hurricane Island were eerily quiet, with only faint lights flickering on warships anchored along the harbor.
"Eternal night has fallen—this is the legendary end-of-days scenario."
"After the True Gods protected our world, they transformed into the sun. Now that it's gone, it confirms the apocalypse is upon us."
In a street corner on Hurricane Island, a ragged man sat against a wall, his face filled with melancholy, as if he had grasped some profound truth about the world.
The man's unwavering tone caused the young boy's face to shift, as if he had just learned the world's true secret.
"The sun... are they really the Nine True Gods?"
"Of course."
A lone streetlamp struggled to illuminate the corner where they sat. The raggedly dressed man had brown eyes and unremarkable features.
"To repel the Evil God's invasion, the Nine True Gods paid a tremendous price."
"To heal their wounds, they had no choice but to transform into the sun, drawing strength from the faith of mortals."
"Then why did the sun disappear?" the boy asked, his face full of confusion. He wore patched, coarse linen clothes.
"That's because..."
The man paused, straightening his posture.
Glancing around warily, he leaned closer to the boy and lowered his voice. "The Evil God has returned."
The boy's eyes widened in shock.
Fear, worry, confusion—a storm of emotions flickered across his face.
The world was on the brink of destruction.
The Evil God had returned, poised to slay the True Gods?
As these terrifying thoughts raced through his mind, the raggedly dressed man smiled mysteriously.
"So, do you want to save the world?"
The little boy froze for a moment, then snapped back to reality, instinctively pointing at himself.
"Me?"
Confused and bewildered, he saw the man nod with a smile, gesturing toward the dented iron bowl in front of him.
"Give me two copper coins, and I'll tell you."
The boy's fear vanished instantly.
"Liar!"
He knew this was just a trick to scare him. Besides, where would he get two copper coins?
He made to get up, but the beggar chuckled awkwardly and scratched his head.
Then his expression froze.
His pupils contracted, and he stiffened, rooted to the spot.
This sudden change didn't convince the boy; he still thought the man was trying to trick him into staying to listen to his fabricated stories.
"That's so fake!"
"Like there's a monster behind me!"
The boy grumbled, turning around to expose the man's deception.
But then...
Boom!!!
The ground shattered with an ear-splitting roar.
Flying debris flashed past his eyes as the boy's eyes widened. He felt himself lifted into the air by a powerful arm and whisked across the street.
In the center of the heavily shattered brick street, an aberrant monster nearly three meters tall materialized.
Boom!!
Its massive foot slammed down.
The boy felt no pain. Shaking off his terror, he looked down at the arm holding him.
The tattered sleeve was so familiar that his pupils trembled involuntarily. He turned his head to look behind him.
"Surprised?"
The ragged beggar smiled faintly. Though his hair was disheveled and his appearance utterly disheveled, to the boy, he seemed utterly different in that moment.
"You..." The boy's throat tightened as he tried to speak.
But before he could form a complete sentence, a deafening roar erupted from ahead.
"ROAR!!"
The stench of blood and decay filled the air, the roar bestial and savage.
The boy's face paled as he frantically turned back to face the monster.
The three-meter-tall humanoid demon had skin that was a sickly green, pockmarked and uneven. Its limbs were unnaturally long and thin, and its head lacked eyes and a nose, replaced by a gaping maw like a man-eating flower in full bloom.
"Roar!!"
The roar suddenly grew closer.
The eerie green monster leaped forward, its maw filled with razor-sharp teeth dripping with foul-smelling saliva.
Just as the boy was about to meet his end, devoured by that monstrous maw...
Whoosh!
The beggar man exerted himself once more, yanking the boy by his collar with one arm and dodging the attack.
Huff... huff... huff... huff!
His breath came in ragged gasps, the wind whistling in his ears.
The boy's face paled, struggling to breathe.
His wide eyes began to blur, barely registering the sensation of being shoved aside.
Thud!
The ragged beggar man had single-handedly blocked the humanoid monster's strike, his hands clamped onto its gaping maw like a vise.
Visibly, the skin on his arms rapidly transformed, shifting from pale flesh to a rocky, deep brown.
"Kid, watch closely," the beggar man said, his back to the boy. "This is the power of the earth sequence."
A faint, earthy-brown spiritual radiance emanated from his body, enveloping him entirely.
Whoosh!
Sensing his distraction, the monster swung its arms down like blades.
The boy behind him widened his eyes, about to shout a warning.
At that critical moment—
Thump!
The beggar stomped the ground for leverage, launching himself into a backflip.
Evading the monster's crossed-arm strike, he landed on its shoulders and immediately unleashed a barrage of blows.
"Stone Fist!"
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
His fists, as hard as stone, hammered down relentlessly, leaving a violent afterimage.
Muffled explosions shook the air.
The boy, still sprawled on the ground, stared in disbelief as the humanoid demon's head shattered, collapsing to the ground.
Eerie green blood flowed across the pavement, while dust motes swirled like glowing sparks beneath the streetlights.
The middle-aged man in beggar's rags slowly rose, a faint amber glint now visible in his brown eyes.
"What do you say?" he asked in a deep voice. "Will you become an earth sequencer?"
He had already sensed the boy's latent spiritual talent.
The boy was momentarily stunned, then quickly regained his composure.
He instinctively swallowed, guessing he might have stumbled upon some extraordinary opportunity.
"Can I become a Sequencer too?"
"Of course," the middle-aged man dressed as a beggar replied with a smile, nodding. The boy couldn't resist asking about their earlier conversation.
"Was everything you said earlier true?"
"Mostly."
The man's expression turned serious. He didn't deny it, even revealing that he was from the earth church and his name was Sosis.
A brief silence hung in the air as the boy's face shifted through a range of emotions.
He hadn't expected the world to change so suddenly. So the end really was here.
"You need to decide quickly."
Sosis, the church man, turned to face the darkness at the end of the street, his expression grave.
"Monsters will descend with the darkness. Hurricane Island is no longer safe."
"We should leave now."
As his words hung in the air, the boy gritted his teeth.
After quickly assessing the situation, he was about to nod in agreement, join the earth church, and leave Hurricane Island with Sosis.
But then...
Boom!!
Before he could speak, another muffled explosion echoed through the street.
The boy's face paled slightly, while Sosis frowned and turned back.
Loud crashes reverberated through the dimly lit street, and the streetlights on both sides began to flicker and go out one by one.
Then...
Bang!
"Ah!"
A gunshot rang out, followed immediately by a bloodcurdling scream.
Amidst the agonizing wails, the sound of some monstrous creature chewing echoed in the darkness.
"What is this..."
Sosis's brow furrowed as a brown spiritual energy gathered around him in defensive readiness.
Thud!
Another muffled impact shook the surrounding buildings, causing them to tremble violently.
An unsettling premonition surged through Sosis's mind. Without hesitation, he moved to flee the area with the boy.
But it was too late.
Thud!!
The muffled explosion shattered the air.
A ghostly green shadow plummeted from the sky, landing directly behind them.
"Something's wrong."
Sosis's face darkened as he recognized the creature's distorted features. His body instantly reverted to its petrified state.
Before he could strike, another muffled explosion erupted beside him.
Thud!
Thud!!
Thud!!!
One by one, monsters descended from the heavens, scattering across the area.
Some crushed the streets, blocking their escape routes, while others perched atop the surrounding row houses, their Scarlet Eyes glaring down.
There were half-human aberrant monsters, like demons straight from hell, and bestial horrors like nether wolves with blood-drenched jaws still rejecting human flesh, and Corrosive Black Serpents.
"Damn it!"
Sosis's expression twisted in fury. He had never anticipated so many monsters appearing at once.
The boy beside him had already turned pale with terror, watching helplessly as the monstrous horde closed in.
The stench of decay filled the air, and the sight of festering sores burned into their eyes.
Boom!!
The petrified Sosis was struck in the chest by the nether wolf, its tail lashing out like a whip to shatter his spiritual defense.
As he flew backward, humanoid demons surged forward from both sides, their fists slamming into him.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
His feet skidded back as Sosis crashed into the street wall, leaving a several-inch-deep dent.
Visible to the naked eye, the brown spiritual light faded from his body inch by inch, his ruddy complexion turning pale and weak, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"Cough, cough!"
Pain shot from his caved-in chest, but Sosis ignored his injuries, lifting his head in shock and fury.
The boy he was supposed to protect stood exposed, a shadow spreading over him like black liquid, engulfing his body.
"Get away!" Sosis roared, forcing out a burst of spiritual light in a desperate attempt to intervene.
But.
Boom!!
The mountain-sized nether wolf pounced, its phosphorus fire-burning eyes pinning him to the ground.
Stone shattered as Sosis's head slammed into the cratered earth.
His eyes burned with rage, but he could only writhe helplessly, forced to watch the boy freeze in terror as the black shadow devoured him inch by inch.
Knees, waist, arms, neck.
The boy's body seemed to melt into the darkness, the last remaining streetlight swallowed by shadows.
"No!!"
Sosis roared in fury, his eyes bloodshot as a sudden wave of sorrow washed over him.
Has the Earth God truly fallen victim to the Evil God?
If not, why do you turn a blind eye to the calamities ravaging the earth?
Why do your Believers suffer persecution without even a flicker of your blessing or response?
Buzz!
In an instant, the final streetlight flickered like ink bleeding into water, then went out completely.
The boy, now completely consumed by shadows, was reduced to a pair of terrified eyes, their whites gradually darkening.
"No!!"
Sosis's spiritual world trembled with rage, his bloodshot eyes now filled only with despair.
Despair permeated the air, and Hurricane Island seemed to echo with his anguished roar.
Yet, in this moment of utter helplessness, the boy vanished completely, merging into the thick darkness.
"Ah!!"
Boom!!
The desperate roar reverberated, brimming with sorrow and indignation.
A streak of platinum light descended like a divine response to prayer, tearing through the night curtain and illuminating the darkened Hurricane Island as if dawn had broken.
Platinum light pressed down from the heavens, expanding relentlessly like a mountain range descending upon the city.
In an instant:
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of muffled explosions erupted as monster after monster shattered into bloody fragments.
Whether nether wolves, demon familiars, or aberrant creatures that had crawled from the shadows, all were reduced to crimson dust by the overwhelming wind pressure.
"This..."
Sosis, his face etched with despair, froze in shock as control over his body returned.
The darkness and shadows receded rapidly, like a tide pulling back to reveal the unconscious civilian boy.
In disbelief, Sosis scrambled to his feet and caught the boy.
Then, he looked up and witnessed a sight he would never forget.
The Platinum Colossus, crowned with a golden diadem, loomed over Hurricane Island. Its colossal form stretched across the sky like a floating mountain range spanning thousands of miles, nearly obscuring the entire night sky.
Each casual movement unleashed layers of wind pressure capable of shattering all in its path.
The golden stone wings hummed and vibrated, summoning towering sandstorms that spiraled into the heavens like Heavenly Pillars.
"The Great Earth God?"
Sosis's pupils constricted, nearly hallucinating that a clone of his revered deity had descended.
Sandstorm, earth's power, colossal form.
And that sudden mental projection in the sky, resembling a mountain range-sized spiritual world, bore an uncanny resemblance to his god.
"Is that... a god?"
The semiconscious boy stirred, his raspy voice trembling slightly.
Sosis jolted at the words, glancing down to see a flicker of hope in the boy's eyes.
For a moment, he opened his mouth to speak.
Then, with a bitter smile, he nodded.
"Perhaps."
Buzz!!
Platinum light erupted, the nascent spiritual world transforming into a projection of power that spread inch by inch, pushing back the darkness.
The sight was nothing short of divine, briefly illuminating half of Hurricane Island in platinum radiance.
Awe and profound shock gripped every heart.
Whether in the city's sprawling districts or on the Tulip Kingdom's warships along the coast, all couldn't help but crane their necks, enduring the piercing light to gaze upon the distant spectacle.
Platinum majesty, like a second sun.
Yet, faintly visible, a shadow of crimson-black Blood Wings stood silently on the Platinum Giant's shoulder.
Surveying all below, his Scarlet Eyes seemed colder than the surrounding darkness.
Hurricane Island and the surrounding sea fell within his gaze, as if utterly indifferent to the endless malice emanating from the encroaching shadows.
"It seems the opportunity to defeat the Fearless Heart..."
Chen Feng narrowed his eyes, dark energy crackling and coalescing above his head.
"...has finally arrived."
(End of the Chapter)
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