Chapter 403: Overlapping Shadows! The Clash of the Beast Tide?
It was a silver-haired goddess, the very Goddess of Wisdom from Greek mythology.
But Alice knew this goddess was not merely confined to Greek myths.
Myths associated with her spanned at least half of all human territories.
And this goddess seemed to notice—no, not seemed, but indeed noticed Alice's prying gaze. Her eyes met Alice's, instantly freezing her in place as if she had been turned to ice.
However, the goddess only glanced at her briefly, her attention more focused on her opponent.
This goddess had brought about such an extreme dark night, seemingly to forcibly resist something.
Concentrating her spiritual power once more, Alice saw that the darkness released by the goddess was clashing with a strange, hollow void.
A void?
Looking closer, on the other side of the void—was that a world?
In that world, Alice saw a floating temple? It seemed to be Athena's temple?
Was the other side of the void a divine realm? A world of gods?
No!!!
Alice's spirit vision delved deeper into the essence of that world. It was a Barrier world constructed by some kind of Authority.
It was mimicking a stage like the space of Greek mythology, but it lacked actors. Now, it was trying to pull in the key actor—Athena.
And of course, Athena refused to enter.
Huh? That was!!!
Alice saw a figure within this fabricated Greek space—the one who had constructed this stage.
The figure was indistinct, like a three-dimensional shadow.
Her pupils contracted sharply, and her heart seemed to stop beating, for this shadow almost perfectly overlapped with the one from her dreams.
Who was it?
Alice strained to see more clearly, focusing desperately.
Just as she was about to discern it, as if the other party sensed her gaze, their eyes met.
In an instant, Alice felt as if her brain had been struck by a heavy blow, her consciousness nearly plunging into darkness.
She was not under attack.
She had purely attempted to glimpse the true origins of the other party, only to find her brain's computational power insufficient, causing it to shut down like an overloaded system.
It was akin to trying to run the latest AAA game on a computer from over a decade ago—the result would be an immediate system freeze.
Perhaps a more fitting analogy would be a game requiring a high-performance graphics card running on an ordinary one, instantly overloading and nearly burning out the card.
A kilometer away from Alice's mansion, at the source of the malice, a leopard with yellow and brown spotted fur and emerald-green eyes suddenly appeared.
The leopard merged into the darkness and reappeared hundreds of meters away, as if teleporting through space.
In reality, it wasn't exactly teleportation, but something similar.
This leopard possessed the ability to move from darkness to darkness, shadow to shadow, traversing between shadows at high speeds, capable of covering hundreds of kilometers in mere dozens of seconds.
If possible, the leopard could move even faster, but the current domain of darkness was resisting it, preventing it from getting closer.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning pierced through the darkness and struck.
"Boom—!"
The leopard was hit, and as the dust settled, it had vanished, seemingly obliterated by the blow.
"In the name of the King of the Underworld, I command the offering of black wings that can pierce the heavens. Sky, open your embrace for me alone!"
With these Words of Power, the ground at the impact site trembled, and a black demonic bird burst forth from beneath the earth.
Soaring into the sky in an instant, its flapping wings unleashed a destructive wind capable of slicing through buildings, descending upon a dense grove in a nearby park.
In the blink of an eye, the grove was torn to shreds.
Sensing something, the demonic bird released an even more terrifying destructive wind toward a spot a hundred meters above the grove.
Just as it was about to strike—
"What—!"
The black demonic bird let out a cry of astonishment, for at the moment of impact, a tornado suddenly descended, blocking the attack and neutralizing it.
The reason for its shock was not merely the blockage but the fact that the tornado carried the aura of a Divine Authority.
So, had another Heretic God descended?
Its pupils contracted as it glimpsed the figure behind the tornado, distorted by the swirling air and appearing to sway. Though the face was unclear, it was a woman—a human.
And the only humans capable of wielding Divine Authority were Campiones.
Among the current Campiones, the only females he knew were Lady Aisha and the leader from Jiangnan, but the woman before him was definitely neither of them.
Could it be that, unbeknownst to all, a seventh Campione had been born?
And to interfere at such a time?
Could this person not see the situation clearly? At a time like this, the priority should be to stop the Heretic God!
"Why are you stopping me?"
As the black bird spoke, it transformed back into human form.
It was a figure clad in a blue gown, draped in a black cloak, and wearing a mask designed with insect-like compound eyes—this was the one known as the King of the Underworld, John Pluto Smith.
"Stop you? Wrong. It's not about stopping you, but rather I want to see exactly how powerful you Campione are."
As the words suggested, the person blocking the way purely wanted to test the gap between themselves and those Campione.
Thus, beneath the disguise of the obstructing figure, the face hidden behind the mask revealed an eager expression.
Unexpectedly, they had also managed to catch a glimpse of the true identity of the Campione before them.
Hearing these words, John's expression darkened—the person before them was truly a scoundrel.
"So, let me see your power, Smith—no, Miss Annie~"
The playful remark caused John—Annie—to narrow her eyes sharply.
The fact that they knew her true identity meant there was a high probability the other party was someone she knew.
But those who knew her identity were only a handful—who could it be?
There was no need to think or speculate, nor was there time for it.
Defeating them outright would reveal their identity.
Here, at the center of the night's storm.
Here, a sudden clash of beast tides commenced!