Chapter 439. The Temple (2)
In a fraction of a second, Alon Palatio searched his mind to find the scarce information he had about Calixophobia.
Since that man had a human appearance, he wondered if perhaps he was a character from Calixophobia.
But according to his knowledge, such an entity did not exist.
Just at the moment his doubt grew—
"How curious. Everything is happening exactly as I expected. And that is considering he doesn't possess this level of clairvoyance."
The man in front of him completely stopped looking at the large red sphere and looked at Alon Palatio and Yutia as if he were delighting in it all.
The man's body as he turned was difficult to consider human.
Half seemed similar to an ordinary human being, but the other half was covered by something resembling a strange red mineral.
"…Who are you?"
An amused smile.
Intense red hair.
It was the first time Alon saw that Divine Blood, so he asked. The man replied with a light laugh:
"Does it matter who I am? Anyway, now that you are here, you are not getting out alive."
"……That remains to be seen."
"Remains to be seen?"
The man let out a loud laugh. He shook his head, amused and mocking.
"Ah—well, I suppose it is possible that you don't know. You might manage to stop me, maybe. But—"
Smirk—
"Anyway, with ‘The Whispering Void’ descending, it is no longer important."
Alon's eyes widened enormously.
He still didn't understand who that man was. But the words he had just pronounced changed everything.
"The Whispering Void…?"
Alon knew that name. It was impossible to forget.
The Whispering Void was one of the 4th Level Divine Bloods, leaders of the most powerful faction mentioned by the Blue Eye.
How is that possible?
It didn't make sense. His brow furrowed instinctively.
According to what he knew, the Divine Bloods could only descend through different levels of descent.
That is why the Blue Eye, who spoke to him before, and also The Wanderer, who explained more details, could not come down to the physical world.
They could not descend.
But now, just when the 1st Level Divine Bloods are barely descending…
This man was saying that a Divine Blood who was supposed to descend at the end was about to manifest. Something impossible.
Was it a lie?
The doubt was obvious, but…
Soon he decided that perhaps it wasn't a lie.
The reason was the enormous sphere behind the man.
The red sphere vibrated as if it contained unimaginable power and began to compress.
Alon tried to use magic against that without hesitation, but—
"Ah, if you were trying to do something, go ahead. It doesn't matter. The descent has already started."
"…What?"
The man spoke with total calm.
"Was it hard to understand? In short: it's too late. You cannot stop his descent."
He even stepped aside, as if inviting him to try.
Just as Alon was about to react—
[…Master.]
"Eh…?"
Yutia's voice resonated in his mind.
[I am speaking to you telepathically with holy power, please listen to me.]
Alon nodded barely, surprised, and she continued:
[I believe what that man says is only a half-truth.
An extremely strong Divine Blood is indeed descending…
but it is not impossible to stop him yet.]
[If you can stop him, I will do the rest.]
Alon looked at Yutia.
She nodded with a brief smile, saying he shouldn't worry.
He shifted his gaze toward the red sphere.
It pulsed as if it were alive.
…Sending Yutia alone inside that…
It worried him, but—
[I will be fine.]
Her red eyes conveyed absolute conviction.
He could no longer doubt.
Alon nodded slightly.
[Master, be careful. He is completely different from the Divine Bloods we have seen before.]
While he listened to her warning, he looked ahead.
There were still many things he didn't understand.
But the essential thing was to avoid the catastrophe.
He sighed and prepared himself—
In that instant, Yutia, without making a single sound, threw herself toward the red sphere.
Her divine body moved in the blink of an eye.
The man, previously smiling, extended his hand.
In an instant, he reached Yutia.
But—
Just when his hand was about to reach her…
Alon, who had already formed a seal in his pocket, fired his magic.
‘Sniping of Oblivion.’
A modest amount of mana,
but more than enough to interrupt him.
And Alon saw it:
his spell stopped dead in front of the extending hand.
An incomprehensible anomaly.
But while he processed that, Yutia had already penetrated the red sphere.
"Tsk, she got in."
The man shrugged as if there was no help for it and looked at Alon.
"I warned you that you couldn't stop her."
"…For being like that, you seemed quite desperate to stop her."
"Well, there is always a possibility.
But if she already entered, I have no reason to stop her.
Rather… it suits me."
"…Why?"
"Because that way I will be able to face the Star Eater directly."
The man continued smiling.
"I want to know why he is so interested in you.
And why he advanced this plan so much because of you."
From those words, Alon instinctively understood:
The Whispering Void remembers the First Round.
And that this event in the temple…
had been accelerated by him in some way.
"And I also want to test the power I obtained when, thanks to his blessing, I reached the 2nd Level."
Alon spoke after a silence.
"Are you a Divine Blood?"
He was completely different from those he had seen.
He laughed briefly before replying coldly:
"Are you comparing me to those incomplete beings out there?
Those who cannot even handle the Law?"
"Of course, before I was also like them… but that was before."
"…You say you are different from those outside."
"Did you think I wouldn't be?"
He frowned.
"Controlling the Law or not controlling it makes an immense difference.
Did you not know that?"
…Was he supposed to know?
"It doesn't matter if you know or not. What I don't understand is why he ordered me, ‘The Night That Leads In’, to kill you."
The Night That Leads In murmured:
"But it's fine."
He smiled while raising his hand.
"I will show you the difference between the trash outside and a real Divine Blood."
Then, his hand closed slowly.
And the impossible happened.
At first, not even Alon noticed the anomaly.
Then he understood:
'…Is it… floating?'
Small stone fragments were rising.
And then—
KWAAAGGGGK!!
The exterior walls of the temple where Alon was standing were ripped out by the roots and absorbed toward the sky.
As if gravity reversed.
KWADEUK—!! KWADEU—!!
The ground,
the enormous columns,
the carved murals…
Everything was pulverized and absorbed.
Even Alon's body began to rise—
"Basiliora—!"
Feeling his body float, Alon shouted.
And then—
breaking the temple, The Receive — Basiliora emerged.
Securing his body and expanding his vision, Alon couldn't help but open his eyes wide.
“—”
The affected area did not stop at the temple.
The huge temple,
the red spheres,
the gigantic trees…
even the nearby hill.
Everything in the surroundings was devoured.
The countless red structures were crushed and absorbed.
The hill in the middle of the meadow sank like a black hole.
And the last thing Alon saw—
Was a gigantic meteor floating in the sky.
A red planet,
formed by absorbing everything on the surface.
So big that even Basiliora seemed like a simple worm.
Alon could only exhale an empty sigh.
"Now do you understand the difference between trash and a true Divine Blood?"
The Night That Leads In, who had created that meteor, let out a twisted smile.
…What a damn—
In the distance, Evan, who had been watching nonchalantly, cursed under his breath.
Beside him, Penia let out an incredulous laugh.
"This is… absurd…"
The red meteor floating above the sky.
If that fell, it could erase everything from the face of the earth with ease.
Penia already suspected that something terrible would happen, because Alon had warned her. But she didn't think Alon would be cornered so easily.
He had taken all precautions before entering.
He was even able to use Basiliora immediately because of that preparation.
Even if they had another plan for later—
"This is too much…"
Her voice faded while looking at Alon.
At that distance, she shouldn't be able to see him,
but her eyes reinforced by magic allowed her to see his face.
His expressionless face.
And then—
"…Eh?"
Penia let out an involuntary sound.
It wasn't because of his expression.
Alon ALWAYS kept a neutral face.
It was because of his posture.
Penia had learned to read his emotions through his body, not his face.
And what she saw now was not fear, nor despair, nor resignation.
It was—
Confidence.
Just when Penia read that—
Inside the red mist where Yutia had entered—
"Long time no see."
[I knew you would have returned, you monstrous bi*ch.]
She, with her red eyes, faced a gigantic eye.
