Chapter 1271
The Giant Whale Crashing into the World
July 7th, 7 AM.
It was still the early morning, and the scorching sun had yet to rise, making it the most comfortable time of day.
At this moment, as those dim yellow runes appeared, the earth, buildings, and stone tablets began to tremble.
The ancient buildings, older than human history, hummed and trembled, and the stone statues that had existed for hundreds or thousands of years roared and quaked.
It was as if an earthquake was happening.
Or rather, it was an earthquake—
“—As above, so below; by this, the Taiyos miracle is fulfilled!”
Aimel Nour raised the ritual staff in his hand and struck the lake surface again.
The Sacred Lake did not splash out water; instead, it erupted in a mass of thick white mist.
Within the white mist, the Good Masters chanted, and under the blessing and shelter of the Twin Mirrors, the Ouroboros Ring ritual rapidly unfolded: “All things are Taiyos, created from Taiyos through differentiation!”
They were calling upon a miracle from “Taiyos.”
A myth of the world being restarted by the God of “All That Exists”!
“The sun is father, the moon is mother, conceived by the wind, nurtured by the earth.”
The “wind” that birthed all things was the white mist that enveloped them; the “earth” that nurtured all beings was this Sacred Lake itself.
Just as the sun and moon were one person, wind and earth were both Gaia—
All the water vibrated violently, occasionally letting out a loud bang and splashing up a fountain. It was as if something had exploded in the deep water.
The cries and screams of the people rose and fell, echoing throughout Anxi.
They had no idea what was happening or what they should do. Some wanted to flee but found that all escape routes were blocked. They weren’t even allowed to return home, and any attempt to pass through an intersection resulted in an attack. Some tried to erase the runes but were immediately executed by the Slave Knights and Crow Guards who had already been waiting there.
They had nowhere to go, so they could only huddle under something or stand dazed in the middle of the road.
—Of course, they had nowhere to go.
Because they were the living sacrifices that Aimel Nour had prepared in advance.
The pot was hot, the oil was poured in, and could the pre-prepared dishes possibly sprout wings and fly away?
“—Ascend from earth to heaven and descend from heaven, gaining the abilities of above and below!”
The Good Masters were bathed in white mist, and the incantation to open the Ouroboros Ring was nearing its end.
Aimel Nour, with his eyes slightly closed, could sense an incredibly vast power condensing in his hands—
The three hundred and thirty-three runes appeared, connecting with each other to form the image of a monstrous, tentacled creature.
The morning sky suddenly changed, becoming unusually prominent and bulging, and completely transparent. It was like a fisheye lens.
The originally azure sky warped and melted at an astonishing speed. Within two breaths, it turned into a chilling, almost pure black deep blue.
It was like a bulging droplet of water—like a drop of water about to overflow, but adhered by surface tension, suspended in mid-air.
Or as if the entire world had turned into a small glass ball, and outside the glass ball was the deep sea. The glass ball was helplessly sinking slowly in the deep sea.
And above the sky.
Suddenly, an incomparably giant eye opened and appeared on the transparent outer wall of the sky!
The people screamed again—this time, it was truly warranted. Even the bravest warrior would roar and vent their inner fear and panic at this sight.
The eyeball was so large it covered the sky.
From the center of Holy Spring City, directly above the Fourth Ring, was the center of that eyeball… but if one stood at the edge of Holy Spring City, they wouldn’t even escape half of the eyeball’s radius.
This was the largest city in Anxi!
And if such a size was merely one eye of a monster…
Just how large would the body of this damn monster be?
Just being gazed at by that eye would bring forth endless fear and despair.
People’s consciousness shattered in an instant—just like when in extreme panic and helplessness, even the ability to speak is taken away.
All who saw that giant eye instantly lost the ability to speak and act. They could only gesture and babble like idiots, feeling extremely anxious but unable to control their limbs or tongues.
—It was like waking up in a daze to find yourself standing in the middle of the road. A hundred-ton truck, accompanied by an ear-splitting horn, was speeding towards you, shaking the ground.
In that moment, even their legs refused to move.
The next moment.
After the giant eye suddenly moved away, releasing its awe-inspiring gaze, the people hadn’t even had time to breathe a sigh of relief… when an extremely intense sensation of falling instantly occurred!
It was an impact!
Although there was no sound, and no strange phenomena could be seen… it was undoubtedly the Great Abyss crashing into this World!
This violent vibration and descent did not just cover the land of Anxi but resonated with the entire World.
The entire World was forcefully struck by the Great Abyss!
An incredibly strong sense of weightlessness, accompanied by a stifling pressure in the chest. The feeling of suffocation was like the oppressive atmosphere before a heavy downpour, but several times more intense. Ordinary people had to gasp for air, their faces red, merely to maintain their breathing.
And this sense of weightlessness was not an illusion—some small objects had already flown towards the sky on their own.
And as the Good Masters’ chanting continued, this sense of weightlessness intensified.
This meant that the Great Abyss was still crashing into this World, and each time it was heavier than the last!
“—Thus, the glory of the World is attained, and darkness and ignorance are repelled!
“The World is thus created, and through this, miracles can be achieved!”
“Through this, miracles can be achieved!”
“Miracles can be achieved”
“Miracles!”
“Miracles—”
Endless echoes overlapped, becoming increasingly grand, resonating like a celestial bell.
Finally, only the word “Miracle” remained.
At this point, it was the final step of the Ouroboros Ring.
All the Good Masters, within the white mist, looked at Eivass with extreme tension… or rather, in the direction where Eivass was.
—If Eivass still wanted to turn the tables, it could only be at this juncture.
After all, Eivass was also a quite excellent Ritualist.
He indeed possessed the ability to reverse a ritual… In fact, according to the information obtained by the astrologers, Eivass had displayed similar abilities from the very beginning of his transformation into an Extraordinary.
Perhaps because Eivass was a Sacred Entity, all prophecies regarding his future became extremely vague, but the events that had already transpired were not so difficult for them to uncover.
This was, after all, Anxi, the birthplace of astrology along with Horus.
In the past, the body of the Twin Mirrors was shattered, causing the Material Realm and the Dream Realm to merge.
The Hourglass (Deity) deemed this incorrect. Just as an hourglass is always inverted, It wished to restore everything.
Thus, with the remains of Taiyos, It constructed the Curtain of Balance—a magic circle formed by building numerous stars in the sky.
These star maps formed a new “mirror,” separating the Material Realm and the Dream Realm once more. The “underground” reflected by the Sacred Spring became the “sky” reflected by the stars, rebuilding the Dream Realm for the second time.
These stars, in addition to suppressing the Extraordinary Abilities of various Paths in the Material Realm and blocking communication between the Material and Dream Realms, served a special purpose—
That was “eyes.”
Light leaked from the openings; these were the stars. They were wounds and eyes. They were windows in the Curtain of Balance and surveillance cameras left by the Hourglass to observe all things.
To obtain the information stored within the stars through special means—this was the essence of astrology.
Just as the Seventh Path and the Eighth Path have commonalities, the Fifth Path and the Sixth Path also share common ground… this commonality was embodied here.
Just as violence has the ability of sacrifice—
The predictive abilities of Path Adaptation were, in essence, the starlight power of the Path of Balance!
The Good Masters… or rather, Aimel Nour, attached great importance to Eivass. He had investigated Eivass long ago, thus knowing what had happened to him on his very first day as an Extraordinary.
Eivass’s ability to master knowledge he had never encountered without any study was clearly due to his status as a Sacred Entity. His calm demeanor and inexplicable power likely stemmed from this.
He had once served as nourishment and sacrifice for demons summoned by a Demon Scholar, but in the end, he controlled the summoned Shadow Demon and killed the Demon Scholar who summoned it.
—Could it be that Eivass would replicate his past actions now?
Just as he had in turn sacrificed those two Demon Scholars—would he sacrifice them all to the Great Abyss?
Aimel Nour speculated wildly in his heart.
This also coincided with the strange, increasingly encroaching unease he felt.
And Aimel Nour genuinely believed… that it would not be too bad an ending.
The Great Abyss had imprisoned them, the tomb keepers, for lifetimes. Now, they were sacrificing their future to drag the Great Abyss into the Material Realm, fighting to the death, which could be considered a kind of destiny, a cycle of fate.
—However, if Eivass intended to twist the ritual, his only chance to act was now. A few more minutes, and the winners would be them.
This would be a thrilling battle of wits—bloodless, but one wrong move would lead to utter destruction.
All the Good Masters were on high alert, ready to counter Eivass’s spells at any moment. And they paid close attention to the details of the ritual, ensuring that it would, in the final moment, target Eivass and not anyone else.
Only the Brave Isma’i was secretly anxious—
What was Eivass doing!
—He wouldn’t ignore the information he had painstakingly stolen, would he!
If the ritual had already been activated, then there was nothing more to be said!
If he hadn’t also been shrouded by this initial white wind that obscured the perception of all Extraordinary beings, the unease and tension on his face would likely have been detected by the other Good Masters.
Meanwhile, Aimel Nour connected the final runes into a line.
He solemnly and cautiously initiated the final phase of the Ouroboros Ring ritual.
Through the supreme authority of “Taiyos” and “Gaias,” it injected the power of “infinite circulation” into the Curtain of Balance, causing it to overload and weaken the Curtain of Balance within a certain area—this was the essence of the Ouroboros Ring ritual’s ability to open a channel between the Dream Realm and the Material Realm.
If they weakened the Curtain of Balance in the lower layers of the Great Abyss, which was already crashing into the World, the Great Abyss would directly shatter the Curtain of Balance and reach the Material Realm!
“I am Hermes, the thrice-great, who possesses the wisdom of the triple worlds!”
Turn the key.
“This is the Ouroboros Ring, the Great Deed of Eternity—”
Confirm the command.
At this very moment, a dim yellow clock appeared above the Sacred Spring.
This clock had only one hand, which rotated tick by tick with a “tick-tock” sound. Each tick pointed to a person.
Eivass stood quietly at the eleventh position.
The Good Masters either extended their hands, clenched their weapons, were drenched in sweat, or gazed intently.
They watched as the hand rotated tick by tick. With each tick, a person would heave a sigh of relief and relax.
And as it drew closer to Eivass, the Good Masters grew more excited and more confused.
—What was Eivass going to do?
What Eivass was going to do was simple.
He could indeed counter this ritual and make others the sacrifice… but if the Great Abyss descended, many people would still die because of it.
Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
No, it was hundreds of thousands, millions of people!
Despite Eivass’s best efforts to save people, he couldn’t save them all.
The population of Anxi was too large, let alone… the capital of Anxi in the past, its largest city, Holy Spring City, had a population of over a million.
Could he possibly tie them all up and drag them away?
That was impossible.
Could he then turn a blind eye and let his own remains kill them?
That was also impossible.
…Then there was only one answer, wasn’t there?
“Drink, drink…”
Eivass murmured softly. His golden liquid soul flowed from his seven orifices, transforming into golden mist, merging perfectly with the white mist of the Twin Mirrors.
The golden and silver mists mingled, like DNA, or like a tall tower, spiraling upward stably.
“Drink deeply of my blood, unsung and unspoken!
“Drink as if it were sweet wine—”
As Eivass’s prayer suddenly intensified, the hearts of the Good Masters leaped into their throats.
The next moment.
The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh was heard.
—Did someone kill Eivass?
—Whom did Eivass kill?
They thought this as they rushed over in a panic and fear.
Passing through the white mist, they finally saw the truth—
They saw Eivass piercing his own heart with a white sword, crucifying himself in the shattered Sacred Lake.
Like a suffering Son of God, or as a deity in a mirror.
“I am the Eucharist…”
An incredibly silent voice echoed before them.
And the hand of the clock slowly and steadily moved past the eleventh position, then the twelfth.
Then, the clock disappeared.
A phantom and transparent golden pointer, like a giant golden sword, hovered above Eivass.
It pointed “downward.”
“—This is mercy.”
As Eivass’s steady and calm words rang out.
The pointer of the sacrifice, like a sword, descended with a roar.
