"Tonight, we welcome the descent of God!"
These words carried a strange, mesmerizing magic that made many Yellow-Robed Monks willingly follow behind Cardiff, forming a long line.
"Follow me, and I will lead you to welcome the descent of God!"
Cardiff raised his head and shouted again. From the distance, more Yellow-Robed Monks gathered and consciously joined the end of the line.
The Yellow-Robed Monks as an organization had a little over a hundred members in total. At the moment, more than sixty percent of them were already following behind Cardiff.
With an almost condescending posture, Cardiff looked down at Madam Lisa. He did not need to say any boastful words. The followers behind him had already voiced what he was thinking.
"You are already old. It's time to leave that position at the very front. Now is my era." Cardiff vaguely remembered that back then, he had also stood behind Madam Lisa as one of her followers. Now, he himself had become the banner others followed.
He had waited for this day for a very, very long time. He had always wanted to become the first believer standing before God!
Faced with the scene before her, Madam Lisa did not stop it. She simply remained silent.
People change. Having lived to her age, she had long seen through everything. Yet when this day truly arrived, she discovered she was not as calm or as composed as she had imagined.
After all, this was the organization she had built from nothing. She was the one who first raised the torch and attracted follower after follower.
Could such a farce really attract the attention of God? Madam Lisa raised her head and looked at the black star in the night sky. Like an eye, it calmly overlooked everything happening here.
If possible, then let this farce grow even more intense.
Madam Lisa stepped aside, allowing Cardiff to lead the group past her.
This was a kind of tacit approval, and also a kind of indulgence. That person of destiny from Backlund ultimately could not escape the great net woven by countless threads of fate.
As Cardiff straightened his back and passed by Madam Lisa, leaving the manor and preparing to tear open a passage to the spirit world to reach the ancient castle with lightning speed and seize that perfect vessel, the lake ahead suddenly glittered with starlight like a song.
Beneath the starry sky, in the eyes of all the Yellow-Robed Monks, deep within the lake, the water split into two halves as if pushed apart by an invisible force. A figure emerged amid the praise of the stars.
He wore a tattered yellow robe and was barefoot, floating quietly in the air. The separated waters on both sides gathered again and flowed calmly beneath his feet.
The devout believers conducting a ritual by the lakeside were the first to kneel and offer their loyalty.
A domino effect soon formed. When that figure's gaze swept across the area, the Yellow-Robed Monks who had still been standing knelt down one after another.
Soon, only Madam Lisa and Cardiff remained standing.
Devout believers... truly not devout at all. A faint trace of mockery curved at Hastur's lips.
He had arrived at the manor long ago and had happened to overhear the argument between Madam Lisa and Cardiff. Thus, he had not rushed to reveal himself. He wanted to see how many truly devout believers still existed within the Yellow-Robed Monks.
Unfortunately, these believers seemed not devout at all.
That was why he deliberately chose such a dramatic entrance, he wanted to see how these so-called followers would face his presence.
Cardiff stood frozen for a long time. The mysterious figure who had suddenly appeared above the lake looked very similar to the image of God Madam Lisa had once described.
The difference was that the deity in Madam Lisa's description had no concrete physical body.
Beneath the tattered yellow robe was a chaotic, formless, indescribable existence, something closer to a concept of nothingness, unlike the handsome black-haired young man before them.
"You blasphemer! How dare you profane the divine!" Cardiff immediately labeled the strangely appearing young man before him as a fraud.
He infused his words with Beyonder power, and his voice thundered through the minds of every Yellow-Robed Monk.
Soon, some of the monks who had been kneeling in worship raised their heads. Trembling, they stood back up, their eyes regaining determination as they followed behind Cardiff.
Hastur did not speak. He merely watched calmly.
Blasphemer.
Hastur did not dislike that title. As for the King in Yellow, that Great Old one with whom he had too many entanglements, he truly held no goodwill.
Blasphemy? He really did want to drag the King in Yellow down from the divine throne.
Yes, starting with the organization of the Yellow-Robed Monks.
Madam Lisa stood to the side, her eyes filled with the traces of time as she stared intently at the figure above the lake.
That figure differed greatly from the divine image in her memory. He seemed more like a human than a god.
But tonight, just earlier, the prophesied black star had appeared in the sky.
The black star appeared, and now such a young man dressed like the King in Yellow had appeared as well. Wasn't that too much of a coincidence?
Could tonight really be the destined day? She was not certain, so she chose not to step forward.
"Blasphemy? Is that so?" Hastur pulled off the yellow robe with his right hand and held it up. After glancing around at the Yellow-Robed Monks present, a flame suddenly ignited at the bottom of the robe.
Blazing fire consumed the symbol of the King in Yellow.
Blasphemy.
Naked, blatant blasphemy!
The Yellow-Robed Monks who had still been hesitant became even more certain of their choice. The one who appeared tonight was a blasphemer, not a descending god.
Only Madam Lisa trembled slightly. Instead, she began to believe that the young man before her truly was the incarnation of God.
Because God enjoys toying with human hearts. God is the architect of fate and often performs acts beyond common sense.
Never try to understand a god from the perspective of a human!
"The blasphemer must die!" With a loud shout, a wave of hostility quickly formed, ready to swallow the madman who dared blaspheme.
Cardiff's eyes were full of ridicule. The god he believed in was still sleeping deep within the starry sky, waiting to be awakened by him.
Such a false descent of a god was probably the work of Kaius and his group, meant to protect that person of destiny with a justified excuse.
A man who should have died long ago being able to live until now was already his greatest fortune. Now, fate had come to claim the payment it once advanced.
"Blasphemer, you shall die beneath heavenly fire!"
Cardiff stepped forward and shouted loudly. Three followers stepped out behind him.
They all looked up at the starry sky simultaneously, as if chanting to summon something.
Suddenly, the calm night sky erupted as clusters of flaming meteors crashed down from the heavens, like a meteor shower.
Hastur had witnessed this scene before.
On the night when Ince Zangwill was targeted, the sky had also displayed such abnormal falling flames.
Now the mystery was solved. The ones who had targeted Ince Zangwill that night were these Yellow-Robed Monks.
Hastur simply stood quietly above the lake, not even lifting a hand.
When the fiery meteors rained down, their target was actually Cardiff and the others!
His eyes had already seen through the weakness in the rules. By simply exchanging the conceptual positions between himself and them, he redirected the heavenly fire's target.
The Yellow-Robed Monks who had been expecting the sacred sight of heavenly fire burning the blasphemer hurriedly fled.
Cardiff, the main combat force, wore an unusually serious expression. He stood firmly in place as flames exploded around him, yet not a single meteor struck him directly.
This was both luck and a miraculous Beyonder ability. Several meteors crashed toward the manor with no escape.
Madam Lisa stepped forward and deflected all the incoming flames toward other directions. Apart from that, she did not interfere further.
Of course, there were still some unlucky ones who were directly struck by the flames or caught in the explosions. Cries of agony began to sound.
"Divine Blessing." Cardiff murmured softly.
Milky-white light rose around him and transformed into white chains that darted through every injured Yellow-Robed Monk.
The sacred healing power allowed their wounds to visibly recover at a speed noticeable to the naked eye.
In this world, having such healing abilities was truly excellent. Somewhat similar to the Light Priest of the Sun Pathway.
"O Lord of the Deep Sea in the distant starry sky, please descend with holy light and judge this blasphemer!"
The calls actually summoned pillars of white light descending from the heavens! More than a dozen beams locked onto the area where Hastur stood.
He merely glanced at them and opened his mouth, releasing a mass of black mist. Dark as night itself, it transformed into a surging black tide that instantly swallowed the dazzling pillars of light.
"Judgment? Who is judging whom?" Hastur deliberately raised behind him a giant holding a black whip.
The giant had more than a dozen arms. Each arm tightly gripped a black whip dozens of meters long.
He shouted loudly: "Sinners who blaspheme the divine, come receive the whip of judgment!"
As his voice fell, more than a dozen black whips lashed down through the air like black tentacles!
Some Yellow-Robed Monks who failed to dodge were smashed apart in a single strike. Some had their heads whipped off. Others were cut in half at the waist.
The bloody and bizarre judgment brought an overwhelming sense of shock. Only now did they truly understand the gap in strength!
"Blasphemous madmen! Followers with divided hearts! An organization that has lost its faith! Prepare to receive the judgment of God!"
Hastur instead adopted a lofty stance, treating all the Yellow-Robed Monks as blasphemers while continuously swinging the whip of judgment.
Cardiff knew things could not continue like this. While summoning clusters of flaming meteors toward Hastur, he rapidly shouted: "The disturbance tonight has attracted powerful spirit world creatures! They regard this mysterious young Beyonder as their mortal enemy and will drag him into the spirit world!"
Strange sounds echoed from the spirit world.
A gigantic claw, as large as a mountain and covered in black fur, tore open a passage through reality, preparing to descend.
"Scram!" Hastur gave a light rebuke.
The mountain-sized black claw immediately withdrew, and the spirit world returned to silence.