Eldritch Horror Theatre

One of his original reasons for equipping the Blasphemous Embrace was indeed Old Man Henry’s remark that the Blazing Rainbow’s authority intersected with the Ancient Sun God’s.

Still, its effects being this potent was somewhat surprising to Fu Qian, especially since this mission was taking place at night.

He could only chalk it up to his opponent being entirely too cooperative.

As for his second reason—high in the night sky, where the blackness was tinged with red, a Dark Moon exuding an icy aura hung quietly.

Raising his bow to invite the bright moon, facing his shadow to make three.

Even in a space-time like this, the Dark Moon appeared right on schedule.

The only problem was that the Pope’s voice did not appear.

...

”You really are full of surprises.”

Meanwhile, with the sun temporarily sealed, the intellect-destroying measures from the Blazing Rainbow failed to materialize.Its fortune-teller projection was critiquing his actions, displaying the greatest emotional fluctuation she had shown since her appearance.

The ravaging golden flames from earlier had burned every last strand of hair off her head. Now, the brilliant disco lights struck her bald scalp, reflecting off it rather brightly.

The blazing white in her eyes had returned to normal, and she now coldly scrutinized what Fu Qian held in his hands.

”This is indeed an extremely bizarre item. I classified it as a potential variable, but looking at it now, that estimate was far too conservative.”

”I told you I had plenty of methods!”

Faced with her assessment, Fu Qian wore a look of utter arrogance.

How could anything related to the Pope be gauged by common sense?

”What about you, though? Are all Deities this untrustworthy?”

”My exact words were that you might get to see it.”

The Indigo Witch sounded completely unashamed.

”Why don’t you guess why I’m no longer in a rush?”

”That’s easy. The methods I revealed exceeded your estimates. You can accept mutual destruction between me and that thing in the sky, but not for yourself.”

”That was then, this is now. You want to wait patiently for a short while, at least until I find it difficult to maintain this state before you strike. Trading a slightly higher risk of exposure for a slightly lower chance of losing control is entirely worth it to you.”

”That sounds very reasonable. But since you know, why are you still waiting instead of actively making the most of your time?”

The Indigo Witch stared at Fu Qian and countered.

”Even if killing a projection is meaningless, why not try to unravel the error I created? I can tell you have a rather clear understanding of it.”

”Reason one is simple: I don’t know how.”

Fu Qian answered with absolute self-assurance.

”You said it earlier yourself—some things cannot be solved through destruction and madness.”

”It is precisely because I have a clear understanding that I know the power I currently possess is useless against the error you created. This is also the beauty of authority... if you don’t understand it, you just don’t understand it.”

Fu Qian tapped his own head.

”To me, killing you directly might be the only way to undo the error, but that’s obviously impossible.”

”And the second reason?”

The Indigo Witch nodded slightly.

”Even simpler: time is up.”

Fu Qian responded with even greater candor.

And with those words, his fully activated Mythical Form dissipated in an instant.

”You...”

The Indigo Witch actually looked somewhat conflicted in response to his words.

”It’s true. I just made a few minor adjustments.”

Fu Qian gestured at his physique, which had hardly shrunk at all.

Deactivating his Mythical Form was a given; otherwise, he wouldn’t even need his opponent to strike before collapsing.

The reason his body size hadn’t changed much was that he had casually activated his harvest from The Abyss last time—the Commandment of the Resplendent Tyrant, which also possessed a body-enlarging effect.

Of course, he knew the Indigo Witch’s reaction wasn’t because of this, but because his Rank was still faked. That was actually simple as well—the cooldown period for his Pseudo-God Incarnation had ended.

With another SAN Value -10, his Rank was successfully refilled.

”Very well. And you’re still not going to make a move?”

Having dealt with him before, the Indigo Witch quickly caught on, once again expressing her astonishment at Fu Qian’s behavior.

He was obviously severely depleted. Even if he could barely maintain his Rank, he was completely at the end of his rope.

Yet even so, he wasn’t going to take this chance to fight it out?

”I told you, I was very much looking forward to this meeting.”

As he spoke, Fu Qian raised his hand and placed the Pope-Bestowed Mask over his face.

”Have you noticed something? The honesty of our Q&A just now has increased quite a bit compared to the very beginning.”

”Given such a positive shift, are you sure you don’t want to use this little bit of remaining time to have a sincere chat?”

...

At some point, the disco lights filling the room quietly faded away.

The glow on the Indigo Witch’s head across from him dimmed along with it.

However, colors soon lit up her face once more.

Only this time, Fu Qian lost the ability to describe them.

An indescribable iridescent hue instantly covered the Witch’s entire face and rapidly spread across her whole body.

Soon, only a blurry humanoid silhouette remained sitting across the table.

And with Its appearance, everything around them succumbed entirely to color loss.

”As you wish.”

At the same time, a voice echoed directly within Fu Qian’s will.

...

The Blazing Rainbow.

In that instant, Fu Qian knew with absolute clarity that the entity behind the Witch had accepted his invitation.

The only currently known, relatively intact ancient Divine Entity had formally descended before him, letting him experience exactly what the will of a Deity truly was.

It was a completely different sensation, even compared to the sun from just moments ago.

As one of the many things subjected to color loss because of It, even in his Pseudo-God Incarnation state, Fu Qian still felt as thin and fragile as a withered leaf.

”I’ve heard so much about you.”

As an existence whose hands were stained with the blood of many predecessors, Fu Qian naturally wasn’t naive enough to believe his sincerity had moved the other party.

There was a reason he had put on the mask just now.

Of course, it was no longer possible to use it to hide his identity. But the papal bestowal had already been verified before: even a New God like Yasui Tokiyuki couldn’t see through it. There was good reason to suspect that the Indigo Witch, being merely a projection, was the same.

Therefore, once he put it on, it meant that if the Blazing Rainbow wanted to keep track of his Rank changes in real-time, It might have to come and look for Itself.

And It would definitely want to keep track of his Rank changes.

Of course, there was another reason aside from that... Feeling the Dark Moon Brilliance soothing his body, Fu Qian sighed inwardly.

Even wearing a mask originating from the other party’s power, he still couldn’t hear a single trace of the Witch’s voice.

”Ladies first.”

Under the silent scrutiny, Fu Qian maintained his politeness in the next moment.

”You possessed an extraordinarily steadfast belief that I would appear on schedule, and you built your countermeasures entirely around this point. That is what helped you reach this moment.”

It seemed the other party accepted this courtesy.

”What was the reason for such absolute certainty?”

”Of course I knew you would show up on time.”

It really was this question. Fu Qian sighed.

”Because the place that sent me here always held an Invitation Letter of yours.”

”Though naturally, I’m more accustomed to describing it as a Poison Apple.”