"I need to work, I can't stop, I'll be fired!"
The puppet, pinned to the ground by several long spears shimmering with starlight, struggled fiercely, its painted expression gradually turning ferocious, as streams of dark, viscous liquid flowed from the eye sockets of its mask.
Leyton half-crouched, his voice imbued with a subtle, fluctuating spirituality as he asked, "What happens if you get fired?"
"I can't be fired, I can't…"
"I want to stay in the church, I can't leave. The Lord will redeem me!"
The puppet pinned to the ground shrieked its ravings, beginning to struggle with all its might.
Click! Click!
The puppet's violent struggles caused its body to break apart piece by piece, various parts mixed with dark, greasy oil scattering across the ground.
Suicide? What kind of fated wage slave is this, willing to self-harm just to go to work… Klein, in the palace above the Gray Fog, couldn't help but mutter aloud as he watched this scene through the connection he had established.
"Maybe their factory setting is to work themselves to death..." Leyton shrugged, replying mentally, while standing up and stepping back two paces.
As he retreated, the scattered parts on the ground vanished one after another, transforming into dried flowers made of colored paper and wood chips.
In another patch of dried flowers, a reassembled puppet holding a giant pair of scissors stepped out. It stood on green leaves made of paper, with not a single dried flower beneath its feet.
"It might not be the gardener here, but it's definitely the Guardian. What it calls pruning plants, I feel is more like killing intruders."
Leyton chatted with Klein mentally via "Mind Communication" while turning to face the puppet with the giant scissors.
Dark, viscous liquid continuously poured out from beneath the giant bird skull mask on the puppet's head, obscuring the painted face on the skull.
Snip!
The giant scissors in the puppet's hand quickly opened and closed, making a snapping sound. The sharp blades on the inside of the scissors burst forth with mercury-like silver-white light, attacking the exact spot where Leyton stood, traversing space.
As the silver-white light swept through Leyton's body, he suddenly became transparent, illusory, and transformed into a pile of foam.
The scissors in the puppet's hand rapidly opened and closed, continuously making snapping sounds. Silver-white light flashed quickly in mid-air, forming a fragmented Hurricane of Light that shattered each of the floating foam particles.
"A weakened version of 'Hurricane of Light.' The scissors in this puppet's hand seem quite formidable. They are somewhat special, capable of unleashing an attack nearly at the demigod level."
"Do you want it? Wouldn't it be strange for the cold and ruthless mad adventurer Gehrman Sparrow to use a pair of scissors as a weapon?"
Leyton muttered to himself mentally, and his figure vanished again.
Where he disappeared, two sharp silver-white rays of light intersected in mid-air, carrying a sense of sharpness as if they could tear even space apart.
The next moment, Leyton's figure appeared directly behind the puppet holding the giant scissors.
The giant scissors, gleaming with silver-white light, traced a semicircle in the puppet's hand, moving extremely fast, leaving a silver-white afterimage in the air, instantly passing through Leyton's waist without causing any damage.
Leyton stared directly at the puppet wielding the scissors in front of him, his deep blue, almost violet, eyes shimmering with light, continuously outlining one mysterious symbol after another. Wisps of silver-white light darted between these mysterious symbols, like lightning from the depths of consciousness.
As his gaze flickered, a powerful mental attack erupted, causing the puppet wielding the scissors to pause its movements. Its head, wearing the bird skull mask, tilted back 90 degrees, and the mask, stained with dark liquid, made cracking sounds, its surface once again splitting into many tiny cracks.
Taking advantage of the puppet's moment of distraction, Leyton intoned aloud in Dragonese: "Frost!"
Centered on him, streams of crystal-clear light descended from the sky, turning into thick frost upon touching solid objects, freezing the entire garden within. The puppet, looking up in a daze, and the trees made of colored paper, iron pieces, and wooden blocks, all became adorned with countless icicles.
The surrounding temperature plummeted, and the white mist exhaled from one's mouth was clearly visible.
"What do you want to do? Frost shouldn't be able to deal with this puppet..." Klein's question echoed in Leyton's mind through "Mind Communication."
"Just an experiment. I'm a bit curious about the ability of those scissors."
While communicating with Klein mentally, Leyton held his hands level, creating a slowly rotating ball of stardust.
One by one, stars emerged, dense, dazzling, and brilliant.
These stars interconnected and moved slowly, drawing mysterious runes in mid-air. The faint starlight around him almost solidified, forming an extremely thick and sturdy barrier.
At the same time, Yellow Light spots continuously appeared in the frost-covered area. At the very center of these light spots, the puppet, enveloped in thick frost, turned completely golden, like the setting sun at dusk, bright but not dazzling.
The dim Yellow Light gradually intensified, and refracted by the frost, it resembled fragmented pieces of light.
They were dense and countless, forming a flickering and violent sharp hurricane that swept outwards, a terrifying blow filled with destructive intent.
This was a "Hurricane of Light..." similar to the "Hurricane of Light" of a Dawn Paladin, but more dangerous and destructive. Anything touched by that dim Yellow Light would decay, rot, wither, die, lose its vibrant essence, and simultaneously be torn to shreds by the violent and sharp storm.
"...Indeed." Within the thick starlight barrier, Leyton watched this scene with little surprise.
"What kind of Beyonder ability is this? An advanced version of 'Hurricane of Light'?" Above the Gray Fog, Klein clearly saw what had just happened through Leyton's vision and immediately posed his question.
Leyton stood calmly behind the starlight barrier, watching the "Hurricane of Light" rage through the garden, and softly murmured to himself:
"To be precise, it should be a mutated version, which can be called 'Hurricane of Light.' The scissors in its hand should be a Mystical Item crafted from the characteristics of a Gatekeeper and a Guardian, combined with some residual aura from the Forsaken Land of the Gods."
"No wonder I always felt that the scissors in that strange puppet's hand were the main body..." Klein sighed mentally.
The "Hurricane of Light" lasted for about ten seconds before gradually dissipating. As the dim Yellow Light receded, the garden became bare, and even the floor and surrounding walls showed varying degrees of decay.
The thick barrier constructed from brilliant starlight instantly disintegrated into a hazy starlight that enveloped the entire garden.
An ancient-style long spear, burning with specks and clumps of blood-red light from tip to hilt, suddenly streaked across like a dark-red meteor, directly piercing through the puppet holding the scissors in front, its powerful attack pinning it to the ground, pulverizing it from the inside out, bit by bit.
After Leyton approached, the puppet pinned to the ground had completely vanished, leaving no trace, except for the giant scissors stuck diagonally in the ground nearby.
Perhaps the recent "Hurricane of Light" had thoroughly imbued the surroundings with "decay" and "death..." or perhaps the puppet's body was too completely shattered, but this time, it failed to revive.
Specks of dark green, almost black, light, mixed with fragmented dim yellow and silver-white, emerged from where the puppet's body had been and quickly converged into the scissors stuck diagonally in the ground.
"Its puppet body was already 'marinated' by these scissors, so the characteristics released upon its death were also aggregated by the scissors..." Leyton murmured to himself, as if explaining to Klein above the Gray Fog, then reached out and gripped the handle of the scissors, pulling them out of the ground.
The scissors were large, the length of an adult's entire arm, overall grey-black, with the sharpened middle part being silver-white. The entire body was adorned with patterns drawn with peculiar oil paints, half dark green, half dim yellow, resembling countless converging single eyes, giant snakes, and feathers.
Leyton held the giant scissors horizontally across his chest. The deep blue light in his eyes flickered for a moment, becoming extremely profound. In this state, his eyes clearly lost focus, appearing blank.
After a brief moment of distraction, his eyes quickly became clear again. At this point, he also noticed that the skin on the palm of his left hand, which was holding the scissors, had developed fine cracks, and there were faint age spots.
"The negative effects are quite strong. With your demigod body, you've already shown a reaction after holding it for such a short time."
Leyton nodded slightly and said:
"It is itself a powerful weapon. By holding it, one can conceal their malice and certain actions. Each attack will carry random effects of penetration, decay, rot, magic-breaking, and Purification. It can launch cross-space attacks within 50 meters and can also unleash a terrifying 'Hurricane of Light'."
"Of course, most importantly, its attacks have a certain chance to deliver a lethal blow. This is true, absolute death. Any creature without divinity cannot resist this attack, and even those with divinity will suffer heavy damage; it's just that the trigger probability is not very high."
"At the same time, the person holding it cannot defend, and defensive magical abilities will not take effect on them. However, correspondingly, their offensive capabilities will be greatly enhanced."
"Its negative effects are equally powerful. As long as one holds it, their ears will be incessantly filled with screams and roars that seem to come from the depths of the underworld. This is a mental attack capable of driving one mad and losing their sanity. Once it exceeds a certain limit, it will be irreversible, turning them into its slave."
"Any living creature that touches it will uncontrollably head towards death. Lifeless objects will also become decayed and dilapidated after prolonged contact."
"Because the materials used to forge it were tainted with the residual aura and dying madness of certain great existences, even if it has never been used, people around it will inexplicably and suddenly die and go mad."
"Hmm, let's call it 'till death do us part.' After sealing, it can barely be used; I just need to purify myself after each use."
"till death do us part?" Does it have some tragic love story?
Leyton curled his lips, offering his explanation: "It has a lethal characteristic. As long as you persist in using it, it will definitely trigger."
"I don't understand, but as long as you're happy..." Klein replied mentally from above the Gray Fog, leaning back in his high-backed chair, a bit speechless.
After a pause, he added mentally, "Today's Tarot Club is about to begin."
"I know..." Leyton nodded lightly, muttering to himself mentally.
His figure then became transparent, transforming into a statue composed of countless brilliant starlight, shattering into dust, and the brilliant starlight surged away from the temple, speck by speck.