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To the east of the Sonia Sea, at Port Falin of the Aladek Archipelago within the South Intis sea region, a giant shadow slowly accentuated itself amidst the thick fog where ships had already ceased navigating, drawing closer and closer, growing larger and larger.
In less than half a minute, the giant shadow crashed through the fog, revealing a section of a dark-green giant sailing ship's hull.
The clanging of alarm bells rang out on the dock. The workers who were busy proficiently put down the goods they were carrying and the machinery they were operating, slipped into the emergency passages, and rapidly evacuated to hide.
As dockworkers, they were already not surprised by this kind of matter. Over the past year, strange and bizarre things would frequently float over on the sea—shattered sailing ships, carcasses of giant sea monsters, exaggerated mushrooms...
After the dockworkers had mostly evacuated, a crimson long spear entwined with black flames sliced through the air, inserting into the deck of that dark-green sailing ship.
The black-red flames exploded in an instant, turning into layer upon layer of fire waves that spread toward the surroundings, rapidly burning the dark-green hyphae that covered the entire sailing ship.
Along with the topmost layer of hyphae being melted by the flames, one after another large or small mushroom was revealed. They were deeply rooted in the ship, having already fused into one with this sailing ship.
A fissure resembling a mouth split open on the pilei of these mushrooms; some cried and howled like infants, while others continuously spewed hyphae outward, filling the loopholes burned out by the black flames.
"So hungry, so hungry, so hungry...."
"I want Mommy, Mommy..."
Along with the crying and howling of these mushrooms, the surrounding flames burned even more fiercely. Individual tentacles condensed from fire followed the holes on the deck and the opened windows to probe into the interior of the cabins, setting the entire ship ablaze.
Boom!
A giant explosion sound suddenly rang out, looking as though it ignited gunpowder buried within the cabins.
Amidst the fierce firelight mixed with black and red, the giant sailing ship fused into one with the mushrooms deconstructed, turning into countless fragments that were thrown high up and then fell into the sea surface.
The air instantly became suffused with the fragrance of roasted meat, the smell after milk was boiled, and the smell of red wine evaporating into the air.
Individual black flames flew out from the firelight, falling onto the dock, and then rapidly aggregated, outlining a tall and thin figure.
With black hair and black eyes, his face shape was thin, and his facial features were not considered outstanding when looked at separately, but when combined together, they gave off a gentle and sunny feeling.
He stepped slowly out from the flames, shaking the brown long windbreaker draped on his body, appearing to want to throw off the smell of mushrooms stained upon his body.
In a few minutes, the South Intis official Beyonders garrisoned at the Port Falin Tribunal rushed over.
The former second mate upon the Black Emperor, now a senior deacon of the South Intis Supreme Tribunal, Earl of the Fallen Bird Mastan, sized up the sea surface where flames were still leaping with a heavy gaze, speaking with a tone that appeared somewhat helpless:
"Mr. Trissy, this time it is another shipwreck salvaged from the seabed by mushrooms?"
The young man addressed as Trissy nodded, speaking with a calm tone that carried no fluctuations:
"Very obvious. I don't know what that Queen of Stars is actually thinking; that first mate of hers has almost salvaged all the shipwrecks in the Sonia Sea over these past years."
Bird Mastan was silent for a moment. Thinking of his own former captain, the current Angel of Entropy Nast, and his strange attitude toward this matter, he spoke a phrase casually like a joke:
"Perhaps she just wants to find something for him to do earlier."
Trissy let out a disdainful laugh, originally wanting to say that this was looking too highly upon that Druid, but suddenly froze.
The sound of an illusory mirror shattering suddenly echoed by his ear, and countless firelights were reflected within his eyes—firelights rising from the underground.
"It has started again."
Muttering in a low voice, he subsequently closed his eyes and began to pray to the Omniscient One.
.....
Inside the captain's cabin of the Dawn anchored at Port Leusel, Cattleya stood by the window, looking with some worry toward the direction of the northwest side of the Sonia Sea.
...Frank's mushrooms are becoming increasingly dangerous. Not letting him become a Classical Alchemist was indeed the correct choice... Hopefully there will still be shipwrecks in that sea region for him to salvage for the next period of time, or, some other time-consuming matters can be arranged for him. In short, he cannot be let to idle down.
Bernadette suddenly approached, opening her mouth to ask: "What are you thinking about?"
Cattleya only then returned to her senses, pulling back her thoughts and speaking out the purpose of her coming to the Dawn this time:
"It has already been three years since I obtained the Sage characteristic, but I have consistently failed to find a suitable opportunity to complete the ritual."
"I attempted to perform prophecy a few times, but all carried no results, until recently."
"I saw a sheet of firelight, firelight rising from the underground. There appeared to be something further behind, but I could never see it clearly."
Bernadette nodded gently, and after condensing a moment, she said:
"Firelight signifies calamity. You cannot see the opportunity behind the calamity clearly, perhaps because the things involved therein are too many, too complex, and the level is too high."
Without waiting for Cattleya to inquire, she switched to another tone and continued to speak:
"The essence of this ritual is to let the promoter establish a sufficient connection with the Spirit World information produced by actions, and high-level matters will cause this portion of information to carry a distinct brand, becoming exceptionally robust, and will not be washed away by remaining information within a short period of time."
"This is not necessarily preventing a disaster; it merely requires establishing a sufficient connection with high-level power and letting the Spirit World produce corresponding information."
"The simplest method to complete this ritual is to seek the help of the Omniscient One, letting Him elevate the level and status of a portion of information upon your body. This will have a better effect than holding the ritual normally, because information belonging to oneself is the most robust connection."
Cattleya first nodded, and then shook her head:
"I once prayed for enlightenment, but did not obtain a response."
Bernadette was just about to say something, yet suddenly froze on the spot. Deep dim-purple flowed out from both her eyes, becoming extremely deep, resembling the sea surface before the arrival of a storm.
Cattleya hesitated for a moment, after which she also seemed to perceive something, pausing slightly. Subsequently, her figure flashed, and she appeared on the deck of the Dawn, looking toward the direction of the east. The sky in that direction was full of a sense of brokenness, a fiery red patch, like individual glass fragments placed in a furnace fire to be scorched.
"The City of Calamity has thoroughly eroded the Primordial Demoness, and has begun to snatch 0-01."
Bernadette appeared soundlessly on the deck, likewise gazing at the fiery red patch of sky in the distance, speaking with a calm tone that permeated with an unclear emotion.
"0-01?" Cattleya asked back with some doubt.
Bernadette nodded gently: "It also has a name, called the Salinger Blood Banner."
Cattleya furrowed her brow slightly. Through Bernadette's words, she seemed to already be able to see some not-too-good futures.
.....
In Lenburg where the headquarters of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom was situated, the light of the sky all at once became fierce and scorching, and the smell of gunpowder smoke appeared to diffuse in the air.
Silently and soundlessly, the entire city was stained with a layer of gray-white, looking like an exquisite model carved from marble. In the sky above the city, a female figure possessing thick, snake-shaped hair emerged.
Her figure appeared even taller than the city below. The thick snake hair was slimy and hidden-evil; the tips were either embedded with eyes that were distinctly black and white, or grew viper-like heads with mouths slightly open and flicking tongues.
All the eyes upon her body together looked down upon the city below, hidden-evil radiance flickering within the eyes, like the gaze of Medusa.
Individual illusory book scrolls subsequently emerged—heavy and layered, continuously rising upward to pile up an illusory high tower that encompassed the Primordial Demoness, extending into the sky, looking as though it enclosed the entire world into its own interior.
Then this high tower took the Primordial Demoness and the shattered sky together to vanish from reality.
After everything recovered calmness, a pair of illusory brass-colored eyes emerged in the sky above the city.
Under the gaze of this pair of eyes, countless brass-colored glimmers traveled rapidly among the city, outlining one after another mysterious symbol to wear down and decompose the gray-white covering the surface of the city.
After everything calmed down, all reflective mirror surfaces in this city simultaneously turned gloomy and dark, looking as though they simultaneously opened all doors connecting to the mirror world. Countless invisible matters were surging out from within, and the smell of gunpowder smoke diffused in the air once again.
Among the countless mirror surfaces scattered in the city, the appearance of the Primordial Demoness was simultaneously reflected—a Primordial Demoness completely opposite to the image in the sky just now.
A intense convergence effect came from the mirror. The mystical items and Beyonders belonging to the two pathways of Hunter and Demoness in the city simultaneously fell into a state of losing their minds, and fluorescence that was either crimson or dark purple separated from various places of the city, merging into the mirror world.
In a certain underground mausoleum where a vast amount of soldier puppets were placed, a scorched banner floated up without any wind.
The blood spots upon the banner surface diffused a dangerous aura, rippling out rings of rusty red outward. Even the air around became viscous, looking as though it wanted to conquer the bodies and minds of all living beings.
.....
In the Forsaken Land of the Gods, a round of blood-Crimson Moon rose from the ground. Beneath the moonlight, spirituality germinated, life increased, and all things were reviving.
Under the illumination of the moonlight, the illusory, viscous black liquid covering the ground boiled in an instant, writhing, distorting, and flooding upward to condense into a pitch-black giant full of a degenerate, filthy connotation.
With every step this giant took, the ground beneath its feet shook once, like an out-of-control steam train dragging out countless afterimages as it crashed onto the barrier composed of the cyan jungle.
Every single crash of its would leave a giant gap on the barrier, and simultaneously would have the majority of its vitality buried.
But with its feet treading the earth, it had endless vitality to replenish, not influenced by withering or desolation in the slightest.
With every movement of its, countless mud-like black liquids splattered out from the giant's body, staining onto the barrier composed of the cyan jungle, instantly corroding individual large or small holes.
Under the crash after crash of the pitch-black giant, the barrier composed of the cyan jungle was tottering, looking as though it would deconstruct and collapse at any moment.
Outside the barrier, a vast amount of black mist full of a degenerate, filthy connotation spread, like a collection of the most hidden-evil, unpresentable emotions and desires at the bottom of human hearts.
Shrinking back into the Abyss, the Dark Side of the Universe seemed to perceive an opportunity, coming once again to the Forsaken Land of the Gods, wanting to grasp the chance to master the Tenebrous World.
At places outside the black mist of the Abyss, the Chained God hung on the tree likewise emerged here. Different from before, that tree with a distorted and bizarre posture that resembled a pile-up of countless sarcomas was hung full of all sorts of people; without exception, they were all Beyonders belonging to the Mutant pathway.
This tree was like the Convergence of all curses and filth, carrying an inexpressible attraction toward the power of Mutants and Demons.
This kind of attraction caused the pitch-black giant within the cyan barrier to become even more frenzied, crashing onto the barrier once after another with even more exertion.