Eldritch Horror Theatre

Hmph!

When it comes to charity, neither our Apocalypse nor Rebirth has ever been outdone.

Amidst the terrifying shockwave that successfully helped reduce Old Man Feng to an even finer blood mist, Fu Qian felt no pride, treating it as a routine operation.

As for what was not routine?

This floor seemed a bit too hard.

As he examined Nepheli’s corpse—the only one still holding a recognizable silhouette—Fu Qian’s gaze quickly dropped to the ground beneath her.

His stomp, which an ordinary High-Tier Transcendent couldn’t have withstood, had merely shattered a layer of the floor’s coating to expose a flawless pitch-black beneath.

As the various wreckage melted into it, the blackness rapidly spread, becoming omnipresent in the blink of an eye.

Even before that, the newborn in Nepheli’s hands had burrowed inside, its crying never ceasing for a moment.

The only comforting thing, perhaps, was that the cries blended perfectly with the previously elusive wailing.So not only had the Miracle been activated several times, just as he guessed, but the newborns produced by those successful activations had all hidden in this place beforehand?

His speculation was confirmed, but this was entirely bad news.

Because for Fu Qian, the identity of this omnipresent blackness could already be faintly deduced—the Mind World, a place he had repeatedly been denied entry to.

It wasn’t because Fu Qian heard any mental whispers; quite the opposite, he heard nothing at all.

It was exactly like the second test arranged in the Underground of the Benevolent Curse Institute.

When Classmate Su Gao successfully entered the Mind World, she reported encountering a different scene from before: she had entered a completely dead, dark region, as if a part of the Mind World had died.

Their understanding at the time was that this was also caused by the Miracle, which not only attracted The Ark, but whose power even influenced the Mind World.

Therefore, if he had entered a dark domain where he could hear the minds of others, the overall logic would actually no longer line up.

After all, according to his earlier speculation, the Miracle was very likely a recreation of the apocalyptic Descent unfolding before his eyes.

If the Mind World remained unaffected at the site of the true apocalyptic Descent, a lot of things would have to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch.

...

To think he was stuffed into this place for the very first time with the help of the Mother of Gospel?

Although her motives were malicious, it didn’t stop Fu Qian from cherishing this hard-won opportunity. He fully opened his perception, paying close attention to the movements around him.

Indeed, there was nothing but the crying and the surging gospel echoing in resonance.

Aside from that, there was absolutely no sign of the ”voices that inspire a sense of beauty” that Classmate Su Gao had mentioned, nor could he sense the edges of the silent region.

Even the texture of his surroundings as he moved was entirely unlike drifting through the sea of mind.

Was this the legendary ”if you don’t fit the circle, don’t force it”? Even forcing his way in was useless.

In that moment, Fu Qian didn’t doubt his own judgment; instead, he followed the logic to a further explanation.

As expected, was the collective sea of mind ultimately an untouchable realm for an outsider?

So why was that?

It was worth noting that those newborns, who supposedly carried a portion of the Mother of Gospel’s power, could easily hide within it.

That was an evil higher entity trapped outside the barrier, single-mindedly intent on destroying the world.

Aside from the notion that an outsider had no rights here, the core logic remained unanswered, but today’s harvest was already quite rich.

As for the Mother of Gospel’s purpose in sending him here?

”...self... imprisonment.”

Just as Fu Qian locked onto the crying darting about in all directions, the first identifiable piece of information finally appeared. Its source, however, was the head in his hand.

After snapping Nepheli’s neck earlier, he had kept holding it in his hand. She was a Tier 2 Transcendent after all; even under the effects of the Four Rings, she didn’t rapidly annihilate.

Fu Qian was even acutely aware that this woman was still quite far from death.

She was astonishingly the only one among everyone present to receive the Mother of Gospel’s extra favor.

Although the incomplete message he received still wasn’t spoken aloud, it was transmitted through some sort of turbulent intent.

Simultaneously, in a fleeting instant, the traces of crying that he had managed to faintly capture using his perspective as a higher entity completely vanished out of thin air.

Vision, hearing, perception... every single method of gathering information shrank down into a circle no larger than an arm’s span.

...

So this was ’self-imprisonment’?

Although he had only received a few intermittent words, it didn’t prevent Fu Qian from figuring out what had happened.

A Miracle.

Despite there being neither a sacrifice nor a physical gesture, and without even properly voicing an ’incantation’, Nepheli had just successfully activated a Miracle.

What else could restrict the power of the King of the Abandoned Prison so cleanly and decisively other than the methods of a Deity?

As expected of someone who had received the gospel’s enlightenment; she didn’t even need to follow the intricate formalities to channel a Deity’s power.

Therefore, unless he had unleashed all his methods to utterly obliterate Nepheli at the very first moment, it would have been quite difficult to stop the Miracle’s activation.

Fu Qian didn’t even believe he ever had the chance to utterly obliterate her.

From earlier until now, the Mother of Gospel’s posture felt as though she were merely considering how much effort to allocate to him.

If he had truly acted that extremely, Her response would most likely have been different.

As for what activating this Miracle was meant to achieve?

Before Fu Qian could tighten his grip, Nepheli’s head and body, as if having fulfilled their mission, simultaneously decayed and silently seeped into the darkness.

What else could it be? It caused no harm and didn’t even seize the opportunity to launch an attack. It was nothing more than an attempt to maximally slow down his search for those surrounding cries, trapping him here to unilaterally accept the gospel’s enlightenment.

...

After the earlier violent execution didn’t go so smoothly, ’Master Yuhun’ had actually initiated quite an ideal backup plan.

Throwing his ’inner demon’ into the moment of the past apocalyptic Descent, directly facing the terrifying power that would destroy the world.

He obviously couldn’t command the Mother of Gospel, which resulted in a scene that didn’t look overly gruesome, as the latter hadn’t engaged in close-quarters combat with him right away.

However, the methods the Mother of Gospel directed at him were shockingly fitting.

He couldn’t forget that his King of the Abandoned Prison state had a time limit.

The Mother of Gospel didn’t want to clash head-on, so she directly used her control over the Mind World to trap him by drawing a circle on the ground as a prison. It could almost be considered the optimal response.

He certainly couldn’t afford a war of attrition. And even if he could return, according to past experience, it would be equivalent to giving ’Master Yuhun’ a free advantage. Not to mention, wouldn’t he still be in this state upon his return?

In all likelihood, the cage wouldn’t automatically lift.

Not to mention that as an outsider, he inherently had very little affinity with the Mind World, which already increased the difficulty of finding those cries and dealing with the gospel. And now, an additional layer of restriction had been slapped on top.

For his opponent, it could truly be said that everything is the best arrangement—but so what?

Your Excellency has shown this seat such a spectacular sight; in return, you are naturally qualified to witness more of the King of the Abandoned Prison’s glory.

Souls wither because of you, and flesh is granted the peace of Eternity.

He wasn’t a spiritual mentor, but when it came to making people quiet down, the King of the Abandoned Prison also had his own methods—

He didn’t try to search for traces of the crying anymore. He even deactivated the Armor in that moment. Amidst the brilliant radiance of the Commandment Residue, Fu Qian made a slight backward-leaning motion.

Tendril Barrage Devastator!

Triggered by the Deity’s power, thousands upon thousands of tentacles blasted endlessly in all directions, slamming into the darkness that even he couldn’t perceive.

And what clung to them wasn’t ferocious scales or sharp fangs, but an endlessly frenzied golden flame.

The legendary Flame of Ill Omen, burning in the Land of Self-Abandonment.