21. Shadow of God
Hearing Reina’s words, the crowd quickly reacted.
“Get out of the way!”
“Damn it, what’s coming?”
“Run!”
But where was the time to react?
The crowd was already packed together, like a school of fish in a cage, unable to completely evacuate the castle.
The Saintess chanted [Bell of Holy Light], and instantly, the golden bell reappeared in the night sky. But the magic, which should have illuminated the entire sky, was now futile, the darkness of the sky seeming to repel the light.
The sun was still writhing, like a tumor growing in the darkness.
Just then, Calysia’s eyes widened, as if sensing some danger.
Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble, and a rough, deafening roar sounded. Reina looked up and saw the Beast King’s colossus leap into the air. Under the illumination of the Saintess’s light magic, his massive, nearly hundred-meter-tall body didn’t hinder his agility in the slightest. He held a 70-meter-long, poorly forged iron spike and flew towards the black sun in the sky.
—[Calamity Colossus]
A branch of the giant race that had existed since the Primordial Era, possessing a near-infinite lifespan but no reproductive ability. No one knew their origins. But everyone knew that they were the only beings who could rival the massive size of dragons.
And he had chosen to become the Beast King’s subordinate to fight him. He had a noticeable burn scar on his exposed abdomen, the result of a three-day battle with the Beast King.
Among all the colossi, he was probably ranked third. In the storyline, this tough and battle-hardened creature was even more difficult to deal with than Gold Scale.
Sensing the danger, he relied on his superior physique and charged to the front lines.
“Hehehehe—! Who can stop me! I’ll do it!”
And the next second, a deep blue laser shot out from the direction of the sun in the sky.
At first glance, the laser was small, the size of a mosquito in their field of vision.
But by the time he realized something was wrong, it was too late.
The laser gradually grew larger in his vision, from an apple to a basketball… and then almost filled his entire field of vision. Before the scorching flames could burn his skin, the colossus realized that he had overestimated himself.
“Ugh—!”
The black “light” quickly swallowed his body. The colossus didn’t even make a struggling sound before disappearing in the sharp explosion.
—This laser had instantly killed a real colossus!
Calysia raised her hand, and gravity magic, like an invisible barrier, reinforced Sophia’s [Crimson Veil], adding purple runic patterns to the crimson, soap-bubble-like barrier. The Beast King reacted quickly, taking out two single-use Goddess’s Treasures and throwing them into the air, forming a golden barrier that completely protected the demons who hadn’t had time to evacuate.
And only then did some of the Holy Knights react:
“This is… my god, a natural disaster!!”
“Boom—”
Immediately following was a scorching flame, and all sound seemed to disappear the moment the laser hit the barrier.
Reina recalled a time when she was playing by the sea.
A huge wave engulfed her, seawater rushing into her ears and eyes, her entire body lifted and pushed by an invisible force. In the face of such natural power, her senses seemed to lose their meaning.
But Calysia was still holding her, which made Reina feel much better.
When the black light dissipated, everyone opened their eyes and looked around.
—The so-called Phantom Island Castle was long gone. The mountaintop where everyone had gathered was protected by the power of the Four Kings of the Realms and wasn’t severely damaged, but the surrounding area was a scene of devastation, standing alone like a cake with a scoop taken out of it, as if it would collapse at any moment.
The engulfed mountains had all turned to darkness, burning with black flames, and even their night vision was useless, as if the entire world had been swallowed by darkness, leaving only this small patch of pure land.
The mountaintop where they stood had become an island, and the darkness was a boundless ocean, merging with the pitch-black sky.
“Has the Goddess of Light been resurrected?! Hahahahahaha—!”
—This damned pressure!
The Beast King erupted with an aura. Unlike his fight with Reina, he was wearing his thunder armor, intending to use his full power from the beginning. Yes, the Goddess of Light was indeed this powerful. Compared to her, any so-called treasure was meaningless.
“Damn it, is this the enemy we have to face?”
Sophia’s eyes widened. This was the first time she had seen such a scene, even though she was 900 years old.
Tris’s face was filled with despair. She had expected the prophecy to come true, but she hadn’t expected it to be so soon. She fell to her knees in despair, her spirit broken, at a loss for what to do.
“This is… a god…”
Reina could confirm that besides herself, no one knew the name of this skill.
[Blazing Sunfire]
She had once used this skill together with her dragon breath, but it didn’t even come close to the destructive power of this attack.
This deus ex machina-like feeling, it was definitely her.
But what was going on? A black [Blazing Sunfire]?
Had she been corrupted long ago?
For some reason, Reina suddenly recalled Phantom Dragon’s last words.
“The Goddess of Light has awakened.”
Now it seemed that those words weren’t about her at all.
But about this perverted person before her.
Even more despairing was that the current threat wasn’t just one Goddess of Light.
But three different figures, standing in the air, looking down at everyone.
The person on the right was wearing a black suit, a top hat, and a white, weeping clown mask. He wore white gloves and held a black wooden staff, seemingly floating in the air without any support.
He let out a deranged, mumbling sound:
“What supreme art!”
The one on the left was tall, about 250 centimeters, a burly figure. In the darkness, Reina could see the black dragon tail extending from his long robe!
—This person was a dragon!
He spoke in a magnetic, middle-aged male voice:
“This era is still as ugly as ever, hehehe… the taste of pure blood is very good, very good…”
At the front was a young woman wrapped in bandages, wearing a black hat.
Besides her messy black hair and a single crimson eye, her beautiful figure was wrapped in bandages, a strange yet alluring sight, though her somewhat flat chest was a little disappointing.
Judging by their positions, she was probably the leader of the Shadow of God.
She clasped her hands together and spoke in a ethereal, bell-like voice.
“Infinite forgiveness, no mercy, no compassion, no meaning…”
“Sow the seeds of calamity…”
“Hatch the holy light.”
