13 Mink Street

Lenora was still wearing the same style of waiter uniform as Karon, but this time, she let her hair down. The golden, shoulder length hair made her look like an exquisite porcelain doll.

A moment later, Lenora floated up until she was almost level with Zeric on the raised platform.

He looked at her and smiled. ”I feel very happy, as I can see that you have come back again.”

”So am I, Grandfather.”

”I made you, so let me go this one time.”

”You made me, but you also destroyed me, so we no longer owe each other nothing.”

The briefest possible reunion ended as quickly as it began, and Lenora raised a finger and pointed it at Zeric. The copper coin released a dark yellow sheen that formed a vortex.

The arm Zeric had been using to hold the coin, the arm that had become fixed in place, exploded. With it, a part of his soul was blown away as well. In a moment of life and death, the Expositor demonstrated decisiveness.

He immediately began to retreat as quickly as possible, yet even as he fell back, he erected three Expositor shields in front of him.

The four squad members of the Order of the Whip failed to retreat in time and were dragged right into the center of the vortex. The vortex did not devour them, but simply compressed them until there were four clouds of blood mist.

Lenora formed a square seal with her two hands. From within the vortex, a withered yellow hand reached out. It had long purple nails on each of its five fingers. The arm seemed endless as it grabbed for the fleeing Zeric. It instantly pierced all the three of the Expositor shields he had laid down, and then seized Zeric by the throat. Then, the hand exploded.

Boom.

Zeric was blown to bits.

The copper coin floated back to Lenora and settled against her chest. Her eyes swept her surroundings, and the coin at her chest turned with her eyes, shifting its direction.

Suddenly, Lenora looked up. The barrier above had not been withdrawn, but had simply stopped descending. It still sealed off the corruption. In front of it, Zeric reappeared.

”Grandfather, you watched me grow up. How could I not see through your substitute puppet?” Lenora spread her arms. Starting from where her body floated, another massive barrier formed. The upper and lower barriers then began to close in on each other.

Zeric clenched his jaw. He was being driven to madness. The corruption soaking into his body no longer mattered to him. What mattered was that this spatial lock would ultimately crush his body and soul completely.

He began to chant, and as soon as he did, the space around him started to tremble.

Karon warned, ”He is preparing a forbidden Art.”

”Lenora, do you really have to force your grandfather to this point?” Zeric finished his chant. Beneath his feet, a massive black star sigil appeared, and from within it, a gigantic horn forced its way out. “Forbidden—Anros’s Fury!”

In the previous epoch, when the God of Order had been active, countless ferocious beasts had been suppressed, and from those beasts, many forbidden Arts had been refined and enriched. Those Arts were able to borrow the power of the sealed beasts.

Of course, the price of casting a forbidden Art was also enormous.

The forbidden Art had only been cast halfway before it had been halted, yet the horn that had partially emerged still was able to brace against the two massive barriers that were encroaching.

”Grandfather, I already told you, from the day I was born, my greatest wish was to place you in a pigpen. That didn’t change before, it hasn’t changed now. It won’t change in the future, either.” The copper coin at her chest projected a curtain of light in front of her. The curtain grew larger and larger, and within it, the phantom outline of an enormous bronze coffin appeared.

It was the Coffin of Lacresis.

It was the coffin in which the true god Lacresis had buried himself, along with the nine Wellspring of Sin copper coins.

”Lenora, withdraw the barrier above and let me leave now. I will gain freedom, and you gain freedom too. If our two forbidden Arts collide, the impact will be impossible to conceal. Countless eyes across York City will look this way at once.

”You know it as well as I do that there are many in this city who are far stronger than me. Once they sense the aura of Lacresis, do you think you will still have any chance to escape their grasp?

”I have already decided to abandon the God of Order and go into exile. Look, this is the punishment I am prepared to accept. You should think for yourself as well. Do you not want freedom? Freedom is something you have never touched since the day you were born. Do you not long for it?” Zeric was negotiating. Before, he had exhausted himself in trying to seal the leaking corruption from escaping in order to keep his actions a secret. The purpose of that was to preserve his identity. At this moment, his goal was merely to try to stay alive. So long as he could live, he could discard everything else.

”Heh heh.” Lenora shook her head and smiled. ”We’re not negotiating. It’s more fun to erase Grandfather’s soul sooner.”

As soon as she spoke, the phantom Coffin of Lacresis flew straight for Zeric.

At that moment, a dark yellow light flared on Karon’s body, and the same light appeared on Alfred, Pavaro, Little John, Pu’er, and Kevin as well. The next instant, Karon’s vision blurred, and he experienced a sensation reminiscent of riding a roller coaster. He then found himself standing on a curb, along with Alfred and the others, who were sprawled on the ground beside him.

Pu’er, in particular, had been flung right into a tree, though her claws reacted quickly enough to clamp onto a branch.

”Your body cannot get dirty. If you get dirty, you won’t look good.” Lenora’s voice sounded as though she were right beside Karon’s ear. ”Thank you, for letting me experience that feeling the older sisters talked about, heh heh.

”Alright, goodbye. I need to focus on killing my grandfather. I can’t keep Grandfather waiting.”

The ferocious beast’s horn collided with the Coffin of Lacresis, and violent energy waves erupted from the point of impact. The Anros beast’s roar rang out, and after that came an even denser aura from the Coffin of Lacresis. The shockwaves tore through York City’s already restless night.

An instant later, one aura after another rose into the sky and started racing towards the factory.

Two pillars of light shot up from within York City, similar to the pillars that had appeared back in Roja City when Tiz condensed a godhead fragment in Oak Cemetery.

Zeric anxiously shouted, ”Lenora, it is not too late to stop now!”

”Then hurry up and be erased, Grandfather.”

The collision between the Coffin of Lacresis and Anros’s horn continued, but it was clearly visible that the horn was slowly cracking. This did not mean that the beast was weak; The Coffin of Lacresis was only a phantom. The biggest reason was that Zeric’s state was so miserable that he could no longer sustain the forbidden Art.

Finally, accompanied by Anros’s unwilling roar, the horn snapped. The star sigil beneath Zeric’s feet shattered, and the forbidden Art was forcibly destroyed.

A layer of black flame ignited across Zeric’s body. He tried to flee once more in a last desperate gamble.

The little girl who kept calling him Grandfather and speaking to him so politely refused to give him that chance. The Coffin of Lacresis opened, and an endless pulling force erupted. Zeric, still wreathed in flame, was dragged straight into the coffin.

Lenora clapped her hands once.

Bang!

The Coffin of Lacresis shut.

Lenora drifted down and landed on the ground. The giant coffin landed with her. It then turned transparent, and from outside, Zeric could be clearly seen struggling in agony, still wreathed in flames, unable to escape.

In the end, Zeric was burned to ash, both body and soul, by the flames that had ignited on him.

He perished.

From beginning to end, Lenora watched what happened within the coffin with a smile. Only after her grandfather was completely erased did she wave a hand in satisfaction, and the Coffin of Lacresis dissipated.

Lenora sat down on the ground and spoke, ”Sisters, do you think I can still see that good looking guy again? Hmm? I think so too. I believe that in the future, he will definitely appear in front of me again, hee hee.

”Ah, right. Sisters, which of you wants to go out? I will send you out. You’ve already gained your freedom and you can go back outside.”

After a long while, with evident disappointment, Lenora said, ”Oh, you say the outside can no longer hold you?”

The women had been forced to swallow forbidden drugs and were already doomed to die. Even if they left the factory, it was impossible for them to survive. Instead, they would only bring grief to their families, and might even become a burden.

While trapped, they had longed for the freedom outside. When freedom arrived before them, they began to fear the warm sunlight they had been told existed outside.

”Then, shall we sleep together and dream, alright?” The Lacresis copper coin in front of Lenora released soft ripples of light that spread over the women in the pigpens, as well as the corpses in the trough.

Gradually, everyone calmed down and closed their eyes. From the day they had arrived, only in fleeting dreams with the little girl had they been able to forget the torment their bodies suffered and gained a tiny breath of relief.

Tears flowed from the corners of Lenora’s eyes. Under her control, the sisters in the pigpens, already so weak they could barely stand, lost the last bit of their lives one by one, and they all died. When almost each of them were dead, there was a smile on her face.

At this moment, the vast corruption that had been suppressed began to slowly disperse. A source of pollution could be detonated, but it could also be resolved. Specks of starlight rose from them, and they all gathered at the copper coin at Lenora’s chest.

She hugged the coin to her chest and murmured, ”Sisters, we’ll keep dreaming here.”

Lenora’s figure slowly grew transparent, and in the end, she also merged into the coin.

Ding dong. The copper coin fell to the ground. It looked utterly ordinary.

Two pillars of light descended upon the factory. One pillar of light spoke, ”What a dense aura of Order. This was your Church of Order using living people here to repair a divine artifact.”

The other pillar of light replied, ”The Church of Order will provide an explanation for this matter after investigation.”

The copper coin on the ground floated up and entered the pillar of Order. ”A Coin of Lacresis...

”The Church of Order will be responsible for temporarily safeguarding this physical evidence, the copper coin. If the Church of Abyss has objections, it can issue a written official letter and wait for our church’s reply.”

”This is over.”

Two pillars of light were present. Beyond the pillars, there were certainly many other figures in the darkness. The darkness beneath the sausage factory had been torn open. At the same time, there was no longer any need to worry about the corruption. They would not allow corruption to erupt within York City.

”Young Master, are you alright?” Alfred stepped forward and asked with concern.

”I’m fine. Are you alright?”

”I am fine, Young Master.”

Little John walked over to Karon and tugged on his trouser leg. ”Brother Karon, I’m not going to the orphanage! I’m not! I really don’t want to go.”

”If you don’t want to go, then you won’t go.”

”Really?”

”Our house is missing a servant to take care of the pets.”

”I like pets the best, especially pets that can talk.”

”Heh.” Karon reached out and patted Little John’s head, then walked over to Mr. Pavaro, who was sitting on the ground.

”You succeeded,” the man said.

”It was you and Miss Annie who succeeded. Without your efforts and sacrifice, I couldn’t have found this place.”

”Annie can rest easy now in the embrace of the Goddess Mios.”

”Yes, that must be the case. Miss Annie was a devout believer of the Goddess Mios.”

”You revived that artifact spirit. I also know awakening Arts, but your method of awakening makes me feel like I witnessed a miracle.”

”You flatter me, but there aren’t so many miracles.”

Karon’s body had endured the corruption because it had been modified by Rhanedar. If one wanted to flatter Rhanedar, it could barely be called a divine sign, but it had nothing to do with a miracle.

It was raining outside, so if you wore a raincoat and did not get wet, was that still a miracle?

”Then how did you do it, that kind of awakening?” Mr. Pavaro asked curiously.

”It isn’t hard. It is nothing mystical.”

”Hmm?”

”Those women in the pigpens were suffering in agony every day, so the artifact spirit scattered its own spirituality throughout them, guiding them in their dreams and giving them brief moments of comfort amid pain and torment that no normal person could endure.

”Our awakening Arts target the residual spirituality within a corpse; All I did was gather back the spirituality she had already scattered. In essence, it was still an ordinary awakening, just with one extra step.”

”But how many people could think of this step, and how many could do it?” Mr. Pavaro challenged emotionally.

”I was mainly able to succeed because the artifact spirit Zeric cultivated with such painstaking effort harbored dense resentment against him all along. Even without that, Zeric would have eventually been killed by that copper coin. We only brought the process forward a little.

”Of course, that was also because we were lucky, heh heh.” Karon smiled. ”When you do good deeds, you add a bit of luck to yourself, and that is only right.”

”If next time—”

Karon immediately cut Mr. Pavaro off, ”If next time a man borrows a lighter from me, I will tell him that smoking is harmful to his health and advise him to quit.

”If next time a woman tries to hand me an envelope stuffed with notes, I will burn the envelope in front of her.

”Mr. Pavaro, there will be no next time. My real job is a psychiatrist, not a lawyer for human rights.”

”Tsk. I just remembered, I think the clinic I work at went bankrupt tonight.”

Half the staff had probably run away, and more importantly, the boss himself had fled.

Mr. Pavaro smiled. ”That is a real loss; working so many days for nothing.”

”Oh, not quite. I withdrew a month’s salary in advance.”

”Heh heh, then congratulations.”

”Heh heh.”

”Karon, it is over.”

”Yes.”

”You must fulfill your promise to me, and use my face to make a mask.”

”There’s no need to rush things. We can wait until we get home. After daybreak, I’ll drive you back to the funeral home to see your family again.”

”With you looking after them in the future, I am at ease. Thank you.”

”Meow, meow, meow.”

Karon was drawn to the cat’s cries, and only then did he notice that Pu’er was still in the tree, clinging to a high branch. He walked over and looked up. ”Are you not coming down?”

Pu’er shouted, ”I can’t get down! Damn it, that artifact spirit definitely targeted me on purpose!”

”Why would she target a cat like you?”

”Heh, that just shows that you don’t understand women.”

Karon sighed. ”So are you going to keep waiting up there to watch the sunrise?”

”I told you I can’t get down! I can’t get down!”

”You can’t climb trees?”

”No!”

”You’ve lived as a cat for nearly a hundred years, and you still haven’t learned to climb trees?”

”Climbing trees is something stray cats do. I can’t. Isn’t that normal?”

”Fine. Just let go, and I’ll catch you.”

”Alright, catch me safely, Karon.” Pu’er let go and dropped. Karon reached out and caught her in his arms.

Kevin walked over and had Karon place the cat on the dog’s back.

”Stupid dog, when we get home you will learn to climb trees!”

Kevin stayed silent.

”Young Master.” Alfred nodded to Karon, who looked over at Mr. Pavaro. The man was kneeling on the ground, using his nails to tear at his own face.

”I am not so impatient,” Karon said as he walked over.

Mr. Pavaro said, ”The one who’s always been impatient is me, not you.”

Karon stood there and watched as Mr. Pavaro used his nails to peel the skin of his face off bit by bit. Afterwards, the man turned to face Karon and held up his own face with both hands. ”Thank you, for allowing me to confirm in my faith once again, and for letting me see Order’s true light.”

”Order’s light has always been on you, but to be honest, I don’t want to see that light again. It is too tiring and too dangerous.

”Have you been to my rooftop? There’s a sunroom there. If I can sit there and get some sunlight, I’ll be satisfied. After we get home, I’ll take you up to enjoy some sun with me.” As he spoke, Karon reached out and took the skin-mask from Mr. Pavaro’s uplifted hands.

The mask left his hands, but Mr. Pavaro remained frozen in the same offering posture, his arms still raised.

He was already gone.