Boom!
At that very moment, several miles away, Samael heard the thunder and spun around abruptly. As his Star Eyes opened and closed, what came into view was a doomsday scene unfolding in the valley, like a volcanic eruption.
A dense rain of scorching red-black meteors fell from the sky. On the ground, molten, filth-like sludge surged and spread in all directions along the terrain.
Red-black fungal threads twisted into serpentine tendrils, dragging those who failed to escape into the churning mire. Amid screams and wails, their flesh and bones were eroded and dissolved, melted away completely.
In the blink of an eye, the casualties on both sides had already exceeded ten thousand.
The God of Utmost Evil, Angra Mainyu!
The Star Eyes in Samael's gaze widened to their limit. Through layers of black corruption, he clearly saw the figure atop the altar, a tattooed youth with a twisted, maniacal smile, both familiar and strange.
What shocked him most was that these Persians, driven into a corner, had actually summoned the real thing.
Buzz!
Just as the Ancient Serpent's thoughts wavered, the surrounding Ether trembled violently. Amid the sound of rustling pages, a phoenix formed from golden-red Mana spread its wings and shot across the sky like a streak of light.
Trying to run? Stay!
Samael frowned and turned, the Spear of Nation Building in his hand blazing with crimson light. Spiraling Ether surged forward, accelerating as it wrapped around the spearhead and shot through the air.
Boom!
The soaring phoenix shattered instantly. Wrapped in glowing patterns, Cyrus twisted his torso on instinct, but his extended left arm and leg were torn apart under the crimson stream of light.
Even so, Cyrus the Great pressed on without hesitation. His golden-red divine blood burned fiercely as he accelerated even further, crashing into the breach in the barrier that had been torn open by Angra Mainyu's descent.
Damn it, he really got away!
Samael's brow tightened as he cursed under his breath. His gaze lingered briefly on the breach before dropping to the land below, now gradually being swallowed and buried under the spreading red-black sludge.
Meanwhile, the black tide surged through the ravine. Some retreating soldiers trapped within scrambled up higher ground in panic, barely avoiding the flood of filth.
Gurgle… gurgle…
The survivors, having narrowly escaped death, collapsed onto the slopes, gasping for air. But the tar-like black tide pooling in the ravine began to bubble ominously. Hearts pounding, faces pale, they turned and fled uphill again.
Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!
In the next instant, corpses of the fallen, some pierced with arrows, others skewered by blades and spears, leapt out of the black tide under the horrified gazes of the crowd. Draped in dark red fungal threads, they lunged at the survivors on the high ground, snarling and tearing into them.
Amid continuous screams, the overwhelmed survivors had their throats and arteries ripped open one after another. They choked for breath as blood sprayed from their necks, their limbs gradually going still.
To the sound of sickening chewing and tearing, those humans, their faces frozen in terror and their pupils dilated, became food for the monsters, devoured until only pale skeletons remained.
After feeding, the creatures showed no sign of satisfaction. They lifted their heads again, staring coldly toward other patches of high ground. Within their hollow eye sockets flickered a faint crimson glow, filled with resentment at death and hatred for the living.
"Ahhh!"
As the black tide rolled onward, these ghoulish creatures clawed their way out like starving spirits from hell, swarming toward the survivors clustered on higher ground. Piercing screams rose one after another.
It did not end there. Those who had been touched by the red-black fire rain or entangled by the fungal threads were not spared. As red-black vein-like patterns bulged and spread across their bodies, their eyes turned bloodshot. Roaring, they charged at nearby humans and began slaughtering them without restraint.
At the mouth of the valley, Pompey swept his sword in a wide arc. Two Roman soldiers who had lunged at him in madness, daggers in hand, were beheaded on the spot. Even as their heads rolled, their faces were frozen in deranged smiles that sent chills down the spine.
Madness… they've all gone mad…
Many Roman soldiers stood frozen, staring blankly at the chaos unfolding across the battlefield, Persians and Romans alike fleeing, fighting, and slaughtering each other. Their faces were pale as they muttered to themselves.
"Fall back! Fall back!"
Pompey raised his shield to block a Persian soldier's curved blade, then pivoted and seized a spear, hurling it forward to pin the bloodshot monster to the ground. His roar snapped the remaining clear-headed Romans out of their daze.
"Watch the fire rain and the fungal threads on the ground! If that stuff touches you, you're finished!"
On the verge of collapse, the soldiers instinctively obeyed. Supporting one another, they followed the flow of the crowd, retreating as fast as they could from this nightmarish battlefield.
Yet human flight was nowhere near fast enough to outpace the spread of the Black Tide and the rain of fire, let alone the deranged sinners being infected one after another, slaughtering and feeding as they went, spreading chaos that could no longer be contained.
As for the valiant Undead Army and the Amazon warriors, they had been too close to the altar. Most of them were stranded on the high ground, struggling desperately to hold out, with destruction hanging over them at any moment.
Thud! Thud!
A heavy arrow, a full meter and a half long, shot out and pierced straight through two deranged sinners climbing upward. Their bodies promptly tumbled back into the Black Tide.
But the splash they raised was negligible before that all-devouring flood.
Crash!
The surging red-black sludge reared up in waves several yards high, crashing toward the few remaining hilltop strongholds.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
At that very moment, the sky suddenly blazed bright. One glittering meteor after another fell from above, punching through the Black Tide and blasting the densely packed deranged sinners to pieces.
The Black Tide recoiled and evaporated at once, like plastic shriveling under searing heat.
Thud! Thud!
Immediately after, a black spear and a red spear tore through the air and plunged into the ravine with a violent hum.
In an instant, countless points of starlight were drawn down from all directions in the sky, forming a cage that sealed the area shut. It slowly contracted, pulling the roiling Black Tide and the mass of corrupted, mutated lifeforms into a membrane of light.
By contrast, the fortunate living were left outside.
Boom!
The black torrent trapped within the light membrane boiled and crashed against it violently, warping the brilliant starlit barrier out of shape.
Only when they looked closer did the survivors realize that what glittered overhead were not stars at all, but radiant runes.
"Everyone, if you don't want to die, get out of this wasteland immediately! Seal this place off!"
Under that overwhelming divine aura, the survivors who had just snatched back their lives stared at the twisting, warping prison of light, which looked ready to shatter at any second. In a panic, they turned and fled in all directions.
At the same time, a streak of red-black flame swept across the Black Tide in the ravine. An outstretched arm seized the two long spears and dropped onto the great altar, landing before the Persian youth standing there with his arms folded.
"I stayed out of your game, and yet for the sake of these humans drenched in sin, you would make an enemy of me?"
His enjoyment of watching insects struggle on the brink of death had been ruined. Angra Mainyu narrowed his eyes, displeasure and sinister malice spreading across his face.
"Enough. If it's about humans, blame me..."
Samael let out a long sigh, rolled his eyes in grief and indignation, and put on a look of utter regret.
"I never should have eaten that blade of grass back then!"
And just as Angra Mainyu's breathing hitched and shock flashed across his face, the Ancient Serpent's Star Eyes opened wide. Gripping the spears in both hands, he drew them up and thrust their blades forward with chilling force.