Chapter 351
“How dare you sit comfortably in your high seats and claim to serve the goddess? How can you even think of it?!”
The Pope's gaze pierced through the fading darkness, landing on the petite green-haired figure behind the curtain.
“Tala...?”
A hint of sorrow tinged the Pope's voice. “What have you become...?”
Tala paid no heed to the Pope's call. With fervor, she waved her arms, continuing her impassioned speech.
“The doctrine of the Church of the Savior Goddess! We must place the goddess first! We must place the Mother Goddess first! Think of the declaration from the Age of Holy Wars! We fight for the awakening of the Mother Goddess! Everything we do is to bring Her into this world!”
“It is with this will that we grow stronger! Surviving through the Holy Wars! And yet, after just over seven hundred years of peace, you’ve let your faith and will erode? Even Bei Ansu is about to lose it!?”
“Surely the sages would be so enraged by your actions that they’d rise from their coffins!”
“Enough! You wretched scum of the Holy Church!” Madeline shouted, her voice laced with fury, as she stepped forward to strike down the green-haired girl.
But just then, a staff blocked her path.
“Wait…”
The Pope was looking ahead.
She wasn’t focused on Eleanor or the Tala behind her, but rather on the figure beneath the statue of the goddess, standing with her back to the crowd.
Just moments ago, that figure flickered before the Pope, her once fiery red curls twisting into a deep black, with long blue hair trailing at the ends. Even her aura had completely transformed.
What kind of ability is this...
Meanwhile, Xia Er was leisurely surveying her surroundings, murmuring, “Is this all the blood there is...”
“How much longer do I have to wait...”
“Couldn’t we have prepared some blood in advance for tonight? Why use a pocket watch...”
Saying these words seemed to drain her of all energy. She slowly raised her hand, glancing at the emerald ring on her left hand.
This thing draws blood quickly.
“Two, five, ten... Even if it drained me completely, it wouldn’t yield a single piece of meat...”
“You, come here.”
Xia Er beckoned to a member of the Holy Church, taking off the ring and handing it to her.
“Here, put it on, and aim at...”
Xia Er gestured to a spot just below her chest, saying, “Aim here, and activate the ring...”
“Uh... Me!? Alright...”
The high priestess, called upon, took the ring with trepidation. After putting it on, she aimed at the marked spot and slowly activated the ring.
Her blood was swiftly drained, a green light accompanied by a humming sound slicing through Xia Er’s heart, cleaving her in two.
A torrent of blood gushed forth, pain mingling with a chilling drowsiness that washed over Xia Er.
Cutting a wrist or severing an artery would yield more blood, but this was much faster... and she could still catch a nap.
The high priestess, holding the ring, barely noticed the numbness and cold creeping into her left hand. Blood splattered across her face as she stared in shock at Xia Er’s half “corpse” lying on the ground, twitching slightly in agony.
The splattered blood quickly congealed into threads, rapidly replenishing the vast blood array.
Everyone fell silent at the sight.
Even Eleanor, who had turned back, slowly opened her mouth.
Then, in the stunned gaze of all, Xia Er’s bleeding form twisted and reformed. A flash of silver light, and a girl with sky-blue hair slowly rose from the pool of blood.
Xia Er looked down at the blood being pulled away from her clothes and skin, a fierce impulse surged in her mind.
Why bother with all that effort?
The “instigator” had bled for several hours to summon a divine servant.
The second summoning of the Abyss Worm Apostle wasn’t even presided over by the “overthrower.”
Now, it was her turn to preside, and she had already bled nearly one and a half people’s worth; her own blood should be sufficient. The only issue was that the proportion of her blood might make the summoned entity less controllable.
But what if she pushed beyond her limits?
What if she could command it?
After all, it looked like Tala was about to lose control of the situation.
Let’s do this!
Xia Er drew out her pocket watch with a flick of her wrist, the chain wrapping quickly around her fingers before settling firmly in her palm. She then turned the central gear.
【Limit Break Gear】
【Spiritual Summoning】
“Gamblers” like her didn’t care about their lives when it came to betting.
Click—click-click—
The central gear spun rapidly, bursting forth with dazzling silver light. Silver cracks spread from the pocket watch all the way to Xia Er’s right arm.
Ding—
A sound like shattering crystal rang out, and silver blood flowed down the cracks, stretching into silver threads that quickly infused the blood array and other blood strands.
The silver blood array rapidly took shape, and this shattering energy surged toward the members of the Holy Church standing at its center, their bodies beginning to crumble.
Even the statue of the goddess trembled under this terrifying wave.
Countless streams of blood erupted from the bodies of the disintegrating cultists, quickly turning silver. The members of the Holy Church fell lifelessly in an instant, without a hint of pain.
Countless silver blood threads twisted and spiraled above the statue, forming a silver vortex.
In less than ten seconds, the vortex was fully formed—something never seen in previous spiritual summons.
“O Goddess... what is that...”
A terrifying pressure descended upon everyone, causing some bishops of the Church of the Savior Goddess to instinctively take a few steps back... a reflexive, unresistable fear.
“The aura of the Otherworld...”
The Pope’s hand gripping the staff began to tremble. She had only felt the aura of the Otherworld when the Church of the Savior Goddess still had a saintess to communicate with it.
But this overwhelming, seemingly unbarred aura from the Otherworld left her unable to utter a single coherent word.
Her own strength was merely that of a “Radiant Bishop,” and her feelings mirrored those of the other bishops.
Fear.
A chilling, paralyzing fear.
An aura that seemed to transcend ordinary life.
The same aura she had sensed months ago...
That was the aura of “uniqueness” in the present world...
The wind howled through Westminster Square, the already gloomy sky torn open by the gusts, a ray of sunlight shining down upon the silver blood array and the statue of the goddess.
Xia Er looked up, her expression a mix of shock and excitement at the unprecedented horror before her.
Wait...
A minute has almost passed...
Why hasn’t the thing inside come out yet...
Right... the vessel!
In the sacrificial summoning of the divine servant, the vessel was Jidi, while the vessel for the Abyss Worm was the Keybearer.
These two were a rank 2 and a rank 3, respectively... and neither had particularly high spiritual talents...
If a stronger vessel could bear more power, could she gamble on using a rank 4 as the vessel?
Xia Er slowly turned, looking at Eleanor, who was half-kneeling on the ground, staring at her in shock.
“Come, welcome your (Guan Su language) ‘Ascension.’”
Xia Er extended her left hand slowly, palm up, toward Eleanor.
This amount was just right for summoning the Abyss Worm, and rank 4 Eleanor was also known as the Apostle of the Abyss Worm... perhaps she would make a good vessel.
At that moment, Eleanor’s face was a mix of shock and disbelief. Her crimson pupils reflected the silver blood array in the sky. Finally, the fervent excitement overtook her reason. She sprang to her feet, stepping over the fallen Tala and striding into the blood array.
As she stepped into the blood array, countless silver blood threads bound her, pulling her toward the silver vortex in the sky.
A torrent of black-red blood surged from the silver blood array, completely ensnaring her in a blood cocoon. Terrifying energy continuously poured in, eroding and refining her body until her soul could no longer withstand the overwhelming force. A silver mist formed a shadow that dove into the blood cocoon.
Thud—
With a sound reminiscent of a heartbeat, a wave of energy radiated outward, stirring up a strong wind.
But just then, the 【Limit Break Gear】 stopped spinning, and the silver blood threads quickly faded, returning to crimson.
The silver vortex above the statue of the goddess also rapidly lost its color, turning red.
That single heartbeat, which had only pulsed once, never sounded again.
The aura, the power, ceased to grow.
The blood cocoon continued to shatter, its shell peeling away bit by bit, falling to the ground.
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