Leyton silently watched these increasingly distorted and wonderful puppets for a moment, discovering that the light he created, imbued with the Purification power of the sun domain, had no effect on them.
Immune to Purification? Or immune to the power of the sun domain?
As thoughts swirled, Leyton rubbed his fingers again, creating slowly floating stars that scattered clear starlight, enveloping all the puppets prostrate on the floor.
As the starlight fell upon these puppets, the oil paint on their bodies seemed to melt, continuously flowing and dripping downwards, becoming more and more abundant, gradually transforming into thick, black liquid. The puppets' expressions also grew increasingly ferocious.
In a pool of thick, black liquid, the puppets slowly rose. The puppet standing at the very front, closest to the inverted statue, wearing faded bishop's robes, watched Leyton with its black eyeballs twitching.
Its voice was exceptionally hoarse, grating and unpleasant like cat claws scraping glass:
"People of the conservative faction? What are you doing here? The Lord's temple does not welcome you."
"The Lord's temple does not welcome you."
"Does not welcome you."
The surrounding puppets echoed the words of the puppet in bishop's robes, one word at a time, as drops of thick, black liquid gushed from their opening and closing mouths, eye sockets, and ears.
Leyton slowly retreated two steps, looking at the puppet whose eyeballs were twitching as it watched him, and spoke calmly:
"Who is the Lord you speak of?"
The puppets in front of him simultaneously opened and closed their mouths, answering Leyton's question, both chaotic and bizarre.
"Of course, it is the Lord Who Created Everything, the Omnipotent and Omniscient God."
"No, what we believe in is the Lord Who Destroys Everything, the embodiment of all endless calamities and doomsdays."
"It is the Lord Who Created Everything... No... It is the Lord Who Destroys Everything."
The puppets' voices became increasingly chaotic, their own words contradicting each other, at one moment believing in the "Lord Who Created Everything," and at another, in the "Lord Who Destroys Everything."
Bang!
One puppet's body suddenly exploded, scattering parts covered in thick, black stains across the floor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The puppets began to explode one after another, leaving broken wooden pieces, iron scraps, and gears scattered on the ground.
Uh... After turning into puppets, their brains aren't good enough; they explode after thinking for a bit?
While complaining inwardly, Leyton reached into the void and pulled out an illusory hat, placing it on his head.
His figure then vanished, concealing all traces.
The moment his figure disappeared, the parts and black liquid scattered throughout the entire prayer hall instantly writhed, and distorted, eerie puppets crawled out from the dark ground.
Some of them had grown white feathers, some had grown fish scales, their bodies secreted slippery liquid, some had grown eyes, and others had grown fleshy organs...
Their gazes simultaneously turned towards the back-side of the prayer hall, carrying clear malice.
"Indeed."
Leyton sighed softly, and his figure reappeared under the gaze of the many strange puppets. Was this an anomaly caused by the Beyonder materials used to make the puppets? The types of Beyonder here are quite complete!
He lowered his head slightly and whispered in ancient hermes:
"The Fool who does not belong to this era, the Mysterious Ruler above the Gray Fog, the King of Yellow and Black Who Holds Good Luck."
"The Fool who does not belong to this era..."
After chanting twice, a silver-white bolt of lightning suddenly descended, passing directly through Leyton's body and striking the wall with colorful murals behind him, leaving a charred mark.
Then, thin, sharp wind blades and fiery white, Red Light spears cut through the air, shooting towards Leyton.
All attacks passed directly through Leyton when they landed on him, as if he were non-existent.
Before the next attack arrived, his figure suddenly distorted, instantly disappearing from his original spot, then reappearing at the main entrance of the prayer hall.
"Banish!"
As the incantation was chanted, a misty starlight emerged among the strange, distorted puppets and rapidly collapsed inward, tearing open a dark blue rift with a powerful gravitational pull, leading to an unknown destination.
It dragged all the surrounding puppets and the attacks they released into it, banishing them to an unknown area.
After doing all this, Leyton's figure instantly became transparent, transforming into shimmering starlight that surged and darted towards the back of the temple.
In the garden filled with fake flowers and trees made of paper and iron sheets, a faint blue starlight rapidly surged in, and points of starlight reassembled inside, revealing Leyton's figure.
As he manifested, the puppet holding large pruning shears swiftly moved towards him. Its speed was incredibly fast, almost achieving the effect of instantaneous movement.
"Imprison!"
As Leyton softly chanted the incantation, he raised his hand to create points of starlight, which rapidly coalesced into brilliant rays of starlight that flew out and descended upon the puppet that appeared before him.
The starlight instantly condensed, creating a giant transparent amber that completely enveloped the puppet, restricting it in place.
The next instant, the puppet enveloped by the transparent amber abruptly vanished, leaving only a colorful paper dried flower in its original position, while the puppet itself reappeared behind Leyton.
It can swap places with plants in the garden, what kind of ability is this? As thoughts drifted in his mind, his body instantly became transparent, transforming into a statue made of countless brilliant starlight.
This statue was instantly cut into several sections, disintegrating into countless shimmering points of starlight, which surged and re-coalesced behind the scissor puppet, reforming Leyton's figure.
The moment his figure appeared, Leyton condensed a black doll-like chess piece and threw it forward. The chess piece merged into the scissor puppet the instant it touched it, slowing down its time, almost pausing it.
Leyton took a step back, spreading his hands. Star after star emerged around him, densely packed and dazzling.
These stars rapidly converged, forming shining starlight spears. The spears had many interconnected strange runes, appearing extremely heavy and powerful.
Under his control, these spears shot out simultaneously, instantly piercing through the puppet holding the scissors, pinning it firmly to the ground.
Leyton's figure flickered, instantly appearing beside it.
Deep blue, almost purple, radiance flowed continuously in his eyes, outlining mysterious symbols. Streaks of light passed between these mysterious symbols, like lightning from the depths of consciousness.
His gaze flickered for an instant, and a powerful mental attack instantly struck the scissor puppet's Spirit Body.
The bird skull mask on its head made a cracking sound, and several cracks appeared from the eye sockets and forehead.
The intense mental attack significantly reduced the madness on its body. Leyton felt as if he saw a hint of rationality and struggle in the pulsating dark blue flames within the bird skull mask's eye sockets.
Raising an eyebrow in surprise, the radiance flowing in Leyton's eyes deepened, outlining gray-white three-dimensional symbols that could influence and modify consciousness.
He met the gaze of the puppet, which was firmly pinned to the ground, and spoke with great allure:
"Who are you? Or rather, what is your identity?"
The puppet pinned to the ground seemed a bit confused. It paused for a long while before speaking hoarsely, its voice somewhat intermittent, as if it had forgotten how to speak after a long silence.
It wasn't speaking the Jotun of the City of Silver; instead, it was somewhat similar to Ancient Feysac, but with many differences in detail:
"I... I am... the gardener of Zenith Church... No, I'm not, I'm the gardener."
"Is there a difference?" Leyton complained inwardly with a hint of speechlessness. He paused, then continued to ask:
"What happened here? Why has so much time passed, yet everything in this temple remains as it was?"
Gradually getting used to speaking, the puppet's voice became clear and continuous:
"I don't know, my job is to prune plants in the garden."
"Zenith Church is Sasitan's most successful mystical item, capable of helping us endure the long apocalypse, waiting for the Lord's salvation in the boundless darkness."
"Pruning... plants?"
Leyton tilted his head and looked at the surrounding plants made of colored paper, iron sheets, and wood chips. He couldn't imagine any need to prune them. Being a gardener here would be every slacker's dream.
As the thought just surfaced in his mind, a dense Gray Fog suddenly surged before Leyton's eyes. In the depths of this Gray Fog, Red Light surged like a tide, and a tall angel with twelve pairs of black wings and wearing black full armor flew out from the Red Light.
It landed before Leyton, enveloping him layer upon layer with its twelve pairs of black wings.
It only lasted for an instant. The Gray Fog, light, and angel before Leyton all disappeared, and at the same time, he felt a strange and stable connection establish between himself and a certain existence in an infinitely high place.
After receiving the paper-man angel's blessing, Leyton felt the decaying sluggishness on his body, like an old machine, instantly removed. Both his body and spirituality felt lighter at that moment.
Klein's voice simultaneously echoed in his mind:
"Where are you? This place is a bit strange, the surroundings seem to be covered by a dark curtain, I can't see very clearly."
"A city seemingly called Sasitan. The people here, in order to escape the apocalypse, transformed themselves into puppets, but it seems they didn't fully succeed. Their puppet bodies are closer to monsters than normal creatures."
"Flesh is weak, machinery ascends?"
"Something like that, but a super low-spec mechanical ascension. It involves the domain of life and soul. Humanity's research in this area before the Great Cataclysm was very limited; it cannot be completed by relying on mysticism."
"I sense an eagerness in you."
"With the help of the Church of the Earth Mother and Numinous Episcopate, this idea is not entirely unfeasible."