"We... are we saved?"
"It's that young man! He saved us!"
"He single-handedly... defeated all the Ghost Brides!"
People emerged from their hiding places, gazing at the boy standing atop the clock tower with eyes full of reverence and admiration. He was merely fifteen or sixteen years old, his black robe flapping in the wind, magic wand pointed towards the skies, as if a deity had descended. His slender figure draped in a tattered black robe yet radiated an intimidating majesty.
"Is... this a god?" a woman holding a baby murmured.
Ian did not respond. His gaze was cold and stern, sweeping across the city to confirm there were no longer traces of the Ghost Brides. The last one was hidden in the sewers, attempting to drag away an unconscious child.
Ian leapt down, a flash of silver.
"Exile of Cause and Effect."
The opponent silently dissipated.
The city finally quieted.
However, at this moment—Ian had no time to accept worship. He turned towards the Temple, his pupils constricted—there, the sky was twisting, black-red lightning woven like a web. More terrifyingly, the entire temple structure began melting like wax, revealing the golden writhing flesh within!
Ian suddenly turned pale with fright.
Towards the temple, the sky was changing rapidly.
Dark clouds gathered like ink, forming a massive vortex, various thunders exploding as if heralding the birth of something that should not exist.
At the temple's center, a golden pillar of light shot into the sky, piercing the clouds as if vying to replace the newborn sun. The rolling thunder was not ordinary, but golden thunders striking like divine punishment, not harming the city, merely swirling and incapable of preventing the birth of the Evil God.
The Evil God's gestation was reaching its final stage.
Inside the mutated flesh temple, the cries of babies seemed to intermingle.
"Damn! Luring the tiger away from the mountain!" Ian's face changed drastically.
At this very moment.
He realized a troubling issue, cold chills crawling up his spine—the Ghost Bride slaughter was too deliberate, the Mummy Priest declarations too flamboyant, like... like a carefully designed performance. Ian realized his entire city rescue was the Evil God Embryo's ploy to lure him away.
Perhaps others could not see his Raven Form, but the Evil God Embryo was different, merely leaving no trace, using Ghost Brides to divert Ian's attention, buying time for its birth. Yes, that monster had long detected the observation from his Raven Form but disguised without a flaw!
Even at the cost of sacrificing all the Ghost Brides!
More terrifyingly, it calculated Ian's choice—exploiting human weaknesses, forcing Ian to choose between "destroy Evil God" and "save the world". Such scheming surpassed ordinary intelligence.
Almost like foresight-level terror.
"It... is truly about to be born." Ian had thought halting the sacrifice would delay the embryo's awakening. But evidently, it had accumulated enough energy, not needing more offerings.
Everything.
Was the Evil God Embryo's conspiracy.
"There's no time…" Ian murmured softly.
But he did not retreat.
He turned, facing the temple, gripping his magic wand tightly.
"Since you insist on being born..."
"Then I will make sure that the moment you open your eyes, you close them forever."
The wind rose, the black robe fluttered.
The boy's figure charged once more towards the temple leading to Hell.
At the city's edge, a woman in black robes looked up at Ian's rapidly moving silhouette. The night wind lifted her veil, revealing the fading runes inscribed there. Her cracked lips trembled slightly:
"Will it succeed?"
This statement was as light as a sigh; she indeed had not suffered, yet neither did she know what she was planning.