The sky cracked open.
It wasn't just a regular gathering of dark clouds, nor was it a sign of an impending thunderstorm.
The ordinarily clear blue heavens seemed to be torn apart by some unseen force. Twisted, black, pure-gold lightning snaked through the clouds, spreading an intensely ominous aura over the world.
It was as if... even the Holy Light had been corrupted.
These were no ordinary lightning bolts, but a higher-dimensional reality collapsing and undergoing Abomination. Every crimson and dark flash was accompanied by a spine-chilling hum.
It felt as though the entire universe was trembling.
The air was saturated with a scent that didn't belong to this world—a mix of divine and blasphemous that was both awe-inspiring and sickening.
Across the universe, every super-human on Earth, ghosts in distant celestial kingdoms, and even prisoners hidden deep within the Phantom Zone felt this anomaly.
Some looked up in awe, some knelt down to pray, and some... covered their ears and screamed as they ran.
Because they heard that song.
The Distorted Hymn.
"Shut up! You damned angel!" The voice of the Bone-Piano in the parlor was laced with panic. "Stop singing! I can't take it anymore! I'm going to be corrupted!"
Its lid opened and closed.
It was convulsing like the mouth of some creature, and black slime seeped from its wooden surface. Even with its frenzied playing, the Bone-Piano couldn't drown out the angel's voice.
It wasn't the only one screeching.
As the angel began to chant, everything in the manor seemed to be affected. Ian gasped, leaping up and rushing from the window toward the transparent Crystal Cage.
The angel's wings were utterly warped, with writhing flesh growing where feathers had fallen out. All of his multiple mouths were simultaneously chanting a perverted Distorted Hymn.
This Distorted Hymn.
Each lyric was like a virus program running in the real world, rewriting the rules and corrupting everything.
"Ah ah ah ah ah~"
Every word the angel Manny sang twisted the surrounding air a little more. Oil paintings on the walls began to melt, and an unsettling liquid seeped from the floorboards.
"This manor is worth way more than the villa, and God knows if I can find another one. I have to protect my sacred property from infringement! You damn angel should be locked in Hell planting cotton!"
Without another word, Ian balled up his fist and smashed it against the Crystal Cage, punch after punch. At the same time, outside the restroom window, Crowley and the female demon Meg watched the sky with equally 'colorful' expressions.
"So you actually guessed right? The angels... they really fell under that influence?" Meg muttered, her black pupils reflecting the twisted golden rift in the sky.
"Never underestimate the arrogance of angels. They think they're so high and mighty." Crowley didn't answer her, instead, he squinted, a bizarre smile playing on his lips.
"Go do what you need to do, Meg." This sounded like a command, carrying an undeniable authority, but the female demon Meg was unmoved.
"You can't give this manor away! You know what's buried underneath! It's important to us!" The female demon Meg didn't dare to argue with Ian directly.
She was trying to persuade Crowley to change his mind. Whatever Crowley's reason for giving up the manor was, Meg absolutely did not consider it a suitable transaction.
"But you too..."
Her words were cut short by Crowley's crimson eyes.
"I know what you're trying to do." Crowley's tone was calm, yet incredibly firm and deeply meaningful. "But that thing cannot be released by us right now."
"Perhaps not even in the future."
Crowley's voice was low and commanding.
At this, Meg's expression darkened.
"I'm going to tell Lucifer you're betraying Hell." She began to raise the banner, invoking the true master of Hell, but this did not intimidate Crowley.
Because this wasn't a decision Crowley had made on his own.
"The Boss is very happy in Los Angeles. He doesn't want to release what's downstairs right now, either."
Crowley shrugged carelessly, his body still slumped against the window, his eyes fixed on the sky, unwilling to miss a second of the anomaly.
"I'll ask Lucifer myself. Don't try to trick me." Meg's face cycled through anger, resentment, and doubt... Finally, she let out a cold snort and turned to leave.
"You'll regret this, Crowley."
The female demon was still seething inside.
Crowley finally looked back.
"Don't even think about sneaking around. If I were you, I'd never show up near this manor again. It belongs to that boy. Getting close to it is like getting close to Heaven."
The wisdom of a King of Hell flickered in Crowley's eyes. He hadn't initially made this decision, but his change of heart was entirely because he found out what happened at the place where the Supreme Sorceress was imprisoned.
It was a scene he dared not even contemplate.
"Don't try to scare me."
The female demon Meg scoffed, thinking Crowley was trying to fool her. She knew too well the lying nature of demons, being an Advanced Demon herself, skilled at weaving falsehoods.
"Suit yourself. I'm taking our friendship into consideration. If you get caught, don't say I didn't warn you—falling into that boy's hands, you'll also be classified as a 'trash can'."
"Now, don't forget what you're supposed to be doing. You know the consequences if you mess up." Crowley gave the female demon a meaningful smile.
"I know what I need to do."
The female demon Meg gave Crowley a long, hard look.
She dissolved into a black mist and vanished from the restroom.
Crowley watched her leave, then leisurely pulled out his phone, snapped a few photos of the sky, satisfied himself with a filter, and sauntered back into the parlor.
As soon as he pushed the door open and entered.
Crowley froze.
"How the hell do you get that thing to shut up?!"
Ian was standing on the mutated angel Manny, using sofa cushions, tablecloths, and even the broken strings of the Bone-Piano to stuff the angel's dozens of mouths. However, a new mouth split open on the top of the angel's skull, immediately continuing to chant the Distorted Hymn. Even worse, the entire parlor was being corrupted.
The walls were starting to writhe irregularly.
It was a bizarre and unsettling sight, as if something was gestating beneath the surface.
Far more terrifying than the sight of wriggling flesh.
"Wait... how did you take him out?!" Crowley's eyes widened. He immediately looked around and noticed that the Crystal Cage that had imprisoned the angel was gone.
"Where is my artifact!"
He even checked the boy's crotch, confirming that the boy, who liked to put things in his pants, hadn't somehow stuffed his crystal container into his trousers.
"The artifact, huh? No wonder it was so tough. But when I punch, the void collapses and all paths of the Dao wail wherever my fist travels. Even a container forged from the most Supreme Divine Material has to turn to ash."
"My Heretic God Annihilation Fist is that powerful. Nothing in this world can stump the Heretic God Lord." Ian knew which persona to use when dealing with a demon.
He was busy stuffing the angel's newly sprouted mouth.
It was an endless task.
The damn thing's lower mouth could start chanting. Ian, who was frantically pulling out a toilet plunger, could only console himself that at least it wasn't a female angel.
[ERROR DATA, INCOMPATIBLE]
[ERROR DATA, INCOMPATIBLE]
[ERROR DATA, INCOMPATIBLE]
...
Ian couldn't count on the System to help him cleanse whatever was inside the angel. This wasn't because the angel was too high-level, but because the System was genuinely too picky.
From previous experiences, Ian wasn't surprised by the current situation. The System only consumed the Essence of the Corruption Source. When it came to things corrupted by the source, it just kept throwing up errors.
"That was a fish tank I stole from Lucifer." Crowley looked like his second wife had died, his expression utterly depressed. His good mood had noticeably dimmed.
"So it was Lucifer's fish tank! No wonder it was so delicious... I mean, sturdy." Ian corrected himself in time, giving Crowley a polite, albeit guilty, smile.
[Entropy Lord Experience +3893]
[Entropy Lord Lv10 (4000/5120)]
[Savage Tyrant Experience +298]
[Savage Tyrant Lv10 (4444/5120)]
...
This was Ian's gain.
The Entropy Lord had digested the energy from the cage, while the Savage Tyrant had a much easier time digesting the physical matter. These two Classes had always complemented each other well.
After adapting for some time, Ian had summarized his Class characteristics. The two Classes were not in conflict. The Savage Tyrant focuses on the physical absorption of matter, while the Entropy Lord emphasizes the absorption of souls and energy. The process was like a chemical reaction, completely meaningless to the Entropy Lord.
"That cage couldn't seal this kind of corruption anymore. It might have even gotten corrupted itself, which is why I took action." Ian told Crowley about a third of the truth.
He also started to console Crowley.
"Don't worry. I'm sure Lucifer has other treasures in Hell for keeping pets. If not, I'll go to Los Angeles tomorrow and steal his flush toilet for you to use."
Ian, of course, wasn't going to Los Angeles. He was just good at lying to and coaxing demons.
"..."
Crowley was on the verge of tears.
He opened his mouth.
But in the end, he didn't mention seeing what looked like crystalline fragments between Ian's teeth. The always-wise King of Hell decided to assume he was simply too old and mistaken.
"Forget the toilet."
Crowley did not want Lucifer's toilet.
He had already scrubbed Lucifer's toilets enough times in Hell. Seeing the angel's influence still spreading, he didn't bother to complain, instead surrounding himself with a faint defensive black mist.
This, of course, was not foolproof.
So, Crowley quickly made his next move.
With surprising dexterity, his chubby fingers pulled out a remote control embedded with Hell Runes from his inner suit pocket.
Just then.
The miraculous remote control let out a low hum. As his thumb pressed the central crimson button, a sulfur-smelling crack suddenly tore open in the air. The next moment, a black-smoking box appeared out of nowhere, as if it had just been teleported from Hell to the human world.
"Catch!"
A box crafted from Obsidian popped out of the void.
Crowley tossed it towards Ian like a hot potato. As the box arced through the air, the Sealing Runes on its surface flickered on and off, like it was breathing.
The moment Ian raised his hand to catch it, the box automatically unfolded.
Inside, resting quietly, was a feather about the length of a palm—it looked ordinary but radiated an incredibly holy and powerful force in the dimly lit parlor.
"Put it on him! Quick!" Crowley shrieked and retreated, his chubby body knocking over the coffee table. The whiskey bottle smashed on the floor, but he didn't care about his treasured collection.
An angel was a dangerous toy.
A Distorted angel was even more so.
"Alright, I want to save my manor too." The moment Ian grabbed the feather, a tingling electric shock ran through his fingertips. He carefully placed it near the angel Manny's forehead.
That patch of skin was already sprouting numerous small mouths.
Just as the feather touched the angel Manny's forehead, a pure white light suddenly spread out like a ripple. The mutation on the angel Manny's body stopped instantly.
It was incredibly sudden.
Extremely fast.
The angel's twisted limbs snapped back into place with the crisp sound of bones resetting. Although the corrupted feathers on his wings shed, new down grew back at a visible rate. Most astonishingly, the tumors all over his body evaporated like dewdrops hit by the sun, leaving only faint marks on his skin.
The entire purification process took no more than three heartbeats.
When the last wisp of black mist drifted out of the angel's ear, Manny returned to his original appearance—snow-white wings and skin as dark as the night sky.
He was still unconscious, though.
Long eyelashes cast fan-like shadows on his face, and his mouth was still tightly drawn from the pain.
Ian curiously turned the feather over in his hand, noting that it was slightly duller than before.
A residual golden liquid in the feather's quill was slowly seeping into his skin, bringing a warm, stinging sensation. He suddenly remembered the feeling of trying to eat a lithium battery not long ago.
Dangerous and addictive.
"What treasure is this?"
Ian had a guess as he looked down at the feather in his hand.
It was pure white, its edges faintly glowing, as if it contained some kind of Law power. Even just looking at it, Ian could feel a strong sense of pressure.
Without the slightest hesitation.
Ian stuffed the feather directly into his mouth, so fast that it was a blur. Crowley's protest was caught in his throat, as he watched the precious feather disappear between the boy's white teeth, where he started chewing and chewing and chewing.
But he couldn't chew it up.
And he couldn't swallow it either.
A teeth-grinding chewing sound echoed in the parlor. Ian chewed hard a few times with bulging cheeks. Although he couldn't swallow it, an indescribable flavor spread across his mouth.
It was like the first snow melting on the tongue.
Or like the first unfinished wet dream.
A purity that made his heart tremble.
"A Super-Lollipop?"
Ian stopped chewing.
He spat it out, then took a long, hard inhale.
[Entropy Lord Experience +99]
[Entropy Lord Experience +99]
...
In short.
It was a First Love kind of deliciousness.
The Entropy Lord's experience points were skyrocketing.
"That is the feather of the Most Powerful Angel." Crowley sighed, hesitated for a moment, but still answered Ian's previous question, his tone laced with regret.
Cleaning Lucifer's room always brought unique rewards.
It was something other demons envied.
"So it is Lucifer's Angel Feather!" Ian wrapped the feather in a piece of plastic chocolate wrapper and put it in his pants pocket. His energy levels were now saturated.
[Entropy Lord Experience +46]
[Entropy Lord Experience +74]
The slowing increase in experience points meant Ian was saturated. Eating more would be a waste of food, as the energy in a single feather was finite.
It would be too extravagant to eat something he couldn't digest. Just as Ian was feeling a little emotional, thinking he wanted pigeon soup, and wondering when Lucifer started clipping his wings.
Crowley was silent for a few seconds.
"Actually... you could give it back to me."
He finally couldn't hold back, speaking in a cautious tone, as if negotiating a payment plan with a creditor. He couldn't help it. Crowley wouldn't care so much about other things. But Lucifer's feather wasn't like a person's hair, it wasn't something you could just find on a pillow anytime.
It was supposed to be a Talisman for him to suppress other demons.
"I know."
Ian nodded.
But he made no move to return it.
Seeing this.
Crowley immediately knew what had happened to him.
"Don't be like that. You're the King of Hell now. When Lucifer goes to Hell to be a psychiatrist, you'll definitely be the Long-Term Regent. As the future Long-Term Regent, you need to be magnanimous."
"I'm going to Hell sooner or later anyway, so giving me things is actually boosting the power of Hell." Ian was as good as ever at fabricating non-existent grand theories.
However.
Hearing his words.
Crowley was suddenly stunned.
"Really?"
He was a little excited.
A flicker of light crossed his eyes.
The King of Hell felt that this might be a pie in the sky he could actually eat. Everyone knew how much this tailor-turned-demon coveted power, he always believed that only good food and power were worth living for in this world.
"Truly, truly."
Ian nodded repeatedly. "Lucifer will become a psychiatrist... Wait, I'm a psychiatrist too. So, once you reach the peak of the supernatural, you just become a psychiatrist?"
He muttered to himself, looking shocked, as if he had discovered a universal truth.
"Regent... Long-Term Regent..."
Crowley's face flushed crimson, as if he had drunk too much Hellfire liquor, and even his bald head gleamed with excited oil. He rubbed his hands, his chubby body pacing back and forth in the parlor.
For some unknown reason.
The demon, who was skilled at seduction, genuinely believed Ian's words. Just then, a flurry of footsteps and the distinct clatter of metal sounded from outside the main door.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The sudden noise broke the contemplative atmosphere.
"It might be my subordinate bringing your friends." Crowley stopped pacing, wiped the endless sweat from his forehead, and tried to plaster on a benevolent smile.
His current skin-suit likely couldn't handle too much of his power.
It was slightly overloaded.
The more he used his power, the more profusely he seemed to sweat.
"Well, you are a demon of your word! Not bad, not bad! You're as trustworthy as I am." Hearing this, Ian immediately looked toward the hallway outside the parlor.
The footsteps were approaching.
However.
The figure that rounded the corner was not the demon who had left to fetch people.
Or rather, not entirely.
The head of that demon was being gnawed on by another demon, whose own head was tightly gripped in the hands of a girl with long golden hair.
It was Madison.
She walked like the protagonist of a movie, majestic and imposing. The Minotaur Demon she was feeding had a gun handle installed on the back of its skull, making the delinquent girl look like she was carrying a flamethrower as she strode forward.
"Ian! We're here to save you!" Madison was holding one hand on the bull's horn and the other on the grip at the back of its skull. Her little leather shoes tap-tap-tapped as she ran into the parlor.
She was a ruthless one.
Without a moment's hesitation.
She pointed the Minotaur Demon's head at the somewhat dazed Crowley.
"Demon! Die!" Madison's line, which she must have picked up from some exorcist movie, was delivered with a non-professional but full-bodied emotion.
"Master! Your loyal Wisdom Demon reports for duty!"
The Minotaur Demon used the blood vessels extending from beneath its neck to put down the other demon it was gnawing on. It obediently opened its mouth and spat out a jet of scorching Hellfire.
However, Crowley merely squinted his crimson eyes and swept his gaze over it. The next moment, the Hellfire was instantly frozen in mid-air, as if it had been completely halted.
"Poof."
The flame was immediately extinguished.
A muffled sound came from the Minotaur Demon's throat.
Like a chicken being choked.
"What's wrong?!" Madison vigorously shook the demon head she was holding. "Breathe fire again! You've eaten so many demons, you should be at least Low-Grade Fifth Rank by now!"
It wasn't just the Minotaur Demon who believed Ian's system of rank classification.
The delinquent girl also had unwavering faith in it.
"Even Low-Grade Sixth Rank wouldn't work! That, that is a Lord of Hell..." The Minotaur Demon drooped its face in frustration. Its gaze kept shifting between Crowley and Ian, who was busy using Fell Energy to pluck the angel's feathers. The clever Bar realized the situation might be different from what he and the delinquent girl had assumed.
Sure enough.
After stopping the Minotaur Demon's attack, the crimson in Crowley's eyes slowly faded. He changed his expression, rubbing his hands with a very approachable smile.
He looked like the uncle selling fried fishballs down the street.
"What Lord of Hell? It's all a misunderstanding! I've already come to an agreement with this friend." As he spoke, Crowley turned back to look at Ian, who was currently using Fell Energy to singe the angel's feathers.
His eye twitched, but he refrained from commenting further.
"I have a dream: a fan made of angel feathers." Ian wasn't trying to get more Super-Lollipops for himself. The angel Manny's feathers didn't contain much power.
As Lucifer himself had said, the difference between these angels and Lucifer was truly vast, so much so that they could almost be considered two fundamentally different species.
Lucifer's feathers contained Holy Power because Lucifer's power belonged only to himself. Most of the angels' power came from a shared resource provided by Heaven.
Although the mechanism was slightly more advanced than Ian's Shared Brain, it was still an external force. When disconnected from Heaven, the angels' feathers were merely high-grade material—perhaps useful to the Savage Tyrant, but Ian lacked a substance that could catalyze a reaction with it.
A feather fan would be perfect.
"No, how are you two getting along so well? This Minotaur said you were about to be stewed for a powerful demon's nourishment." Madison and the Minotaur Demon both turned to look at Ian.
The human and the bull were filled with confusion and suspicion.
"Don't joke around! It was a genuine misunderstanding. My subordinate just didn't know better." Crowley immediately gave a dry laugh, answering before Ian could even open his mouth.
Ian touched his nose, feeling a little guilty.
"He offered too much..."
Ian was ashamed that he had been seduced by a demon.
"What?!" Madison's eyes widened, completely disbelieving. This wasn't the storyline she wanted. She wanted a plot where the Great Female Protagonist saved Ian.
"We almost got killed, and now you're telling me it was all just a misunderstanding?!" The delinquent girl's gaze darted between Crowley and Ian.
"I almost got trampled to death, too!"
The Minotaur Demon's head supplemented indignantly.
Ian was about to speak.
Crowley preempted him again.
"Don't worry, don't worry. I'll give you a satisfactory explanation." Seeing the commotion, Crowley immediately clapped his hands. Before his voice faded, a dozen crimson magic circles suddenly appeared on the parlor floor.
Accompanied by sulfur-smelling black smoke.
A dozen demons wearing human skin crawled out of the summoning circles.
As soon as they stood up.
They looked at Crowley with confusion.
"Boss, what's going on?" The demons, occupying human bodies, looked around, startled to see the Supreme Sorceress there.
"Boss, were you planning to resurrect that..." One of the demons, who thought he was clever, was about to say something, but Crowley immediately glared at him with crimson eyes.
"Snap~"
The demon's head exploded like a watermelon.
"My apologies, but this is a necessary price to pay. Gentlemen, there were quite a few traitors among you. Your deaths are not unwarranted." Crowley's eyes suddenly turned cold.
His crimson gaze locked onto all the demons in an instant.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!—"
A continuous string of explosions rang out. The heads of a dozen demons exploded at the exact same moment. Black demon blood and brain matter splashed onto the floor like overturned ink bottles.
Their bodies twitched and fell.
They quickly dissolved into pools of viscous black liquid.
The demons' Essence tried to escape, but due to Crowley's influence, they lost their vitality and became feeble, only able to writhe on the ground.
"Mine! All mine!"
The Minotaur Demon excitedly broke free from Madison's grasp and lunged onto the floor. It rolled around in the demon remains like a dog, frantically absorbing the dissipated energy of its kin.
Madison was stunned, her mouth slightly ajar.
"No... this..."
She had seen a lot of demon fights, but this was the first time she had seen a demon like Crowley casually wipe out all his subordinates. Was this demon so ruthless even to himself?
The world view of the loyal girl was shattered.
"Just cleaning house. Actually, all the people I brought out this time were double-crossers. I had planned to clean them up after the show anyway. This just moved things up a bit." Crowley didn't know if he was lying, but he acted as if he had done the most normal thing, casually wiping the blood that had splattered onto his suit.
Then.
The King of Hell, whose full power had only partially manifested in the human world, turned to look at Madison.
He smiled and began to speak.
"Miss, I actually own several Hollywood film companies. We're currently in desperate need of a high-quality actress like you." Crowley rubbed his hands, his smile benevolent.
A merchant demon is a master at reading people's hearts.
And understanding human needs.
More importantly, he was a King of Hell of the new era, skilled in using the internet.
This made his professional skills even more refined.
With just one sentence.
Madison froze in place.
"Huh? This..."
She felt the same sensation Ian had felt earlier.
"My company not only has great scripts but offers generous pay and specializes in creating international superstars." Crowley added with a beaming smile, having truly zeroed in on Madison's weakness.
"Deal!"
Madison snapped back to reality and made her decision immediately. All the drama about being tied to an altar or not was just an earnest experience to understand life and enrich her future acting career.
Ian: "..."
Minotaur Demon: "..."
The delinquent girl's eyes were sparkling.
She was probably already imagining herself walking the Oscars red carpet in a red gown.
She turned to Ian.
"This demon is indeed powerful. He truly offers too, too much." The delinquent girl nodded in deep agreement, having even forgotten her dream of being a Great Female Protagonist in real life.
If you can be a Great Female Protagonist in a movie.
Why bother being one in real life?
In real life, she preferred to be an international superstar who bullied A-list stars, B-list stars, and C-list stars, while also playing the role of a supportive big sister to the D-list stars!
"What about me? I don't act, but I have great scripts, like Batman's Tragic Love Story and The Death of Stocking-Man..." Ian didn't think the old freak from Gotham would let his novels flourish in film, so he needed to save his potential masterpieces from obscurity.
"We'll film them all, all of them. No problem on my end. The funding is more than sufficient." The writer boy's words made Crowley, who was now sweating profusely again from using his power, quickly offer a dry laugh.
"Tomorrow?" Ian's eyes lit up.
"Tomorrow!" Crowley nodded firmly.
Ian was extremely satisfied and was just about to suggest a few more script ideas.
Suddenly—
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
An eerie rumbling sound came from outside the window. The murky sky twisted again, and several ominous "stars" appeared deep within the clouds. They pulsed with a sickly light.
They looked like meteors approaching Earth.
"What is going on today?"
Madison moved to the window, finally having time to pay attention to the anomaly in the sky. She felt that her life was incredibly exciting now, with seemingly one major event happening after another every day.
"Those 'stars' might be angels... all infected with the Dirty Disease." Ian stared at the sky, his tone slightly wistful. He had already discarded the black angel after plucking all his feathers.
"Super AIDS? I can learn that! I've already started!" Madison's tone was full of boastfulness. This was indeed the first time she had felt the thrill of being exceptionally talented.
"It's more terrifying than that."
Ian said seriously.
Madison was intrigued, showing intense enthusiasm. "I can learn that too! I'll continue to be a Sorceress and then go to Hollywood to play a Sorceress!"
She didn't know what the angels were going through, but she had become a very eager learner since leaving school.
"It's better not to learn this one," Ian rubbed his temples helplessly. "It affects your mental health."
Everyone fell silent, looking out the window together. The strange "stars" were slowly moving, seemingly approaching Earth, while some appeared to be plummeting toward the sun.
Just then.
Crowley's phone suddenly rang.
He pulled it out, and the screen prominently displayed [BOSS].
He naturally couldn't ignore the call.
"Hello? Uh-huh... Yes, yes..." Crowley finished the call, nodding and bowing, then offered an apologetic smile to Ian. "The Big Boss needs me for something. I have to go."
Ian narrowed his eyes.
"My Super Hearing heard it. Lucifer told you to go move some booze for him."
He was always good at eavesdropping.
Crowley wasn't embarrassed by this. He merely adjusted his tie and proudly puffed out his chest. "Not everyone has the privilege of being Lucifer's freight worker."
With that.
The King of Hell gracefully walked toward the fireplace, pulled a handful of powder from his pocket, and scattered it at his feet—flames instantly shot up, and Crowley's figure twisted in the light.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished.
"Crowley Potter?!"
Ian was dumbfounded.
It wasn't that his imagination was running wild.
It was just that the method of traveling through the fireplace was too Hogwarts!
"That's Crossroads Demon magic." The well-fed Minotaur Demon was now feeling pumped up. As he underwent a Life-Form Evolution right there, he lifted his head and became cocky again.
"I'll surpass him soon if I follow Lord Ian!" Just how inflated could the Minotaur Demon's ego be after consuming over a dozen powerful demons? He even tried to gnaw on the fallen angel.
This was, of course, not a viable option.
No matter how much power the angel lost, it was still a High-Tier Cosmic Life-Form, and its body's parameters were incredibly explosive. Even the Mid-Tier Minotaur Demon could not bite through it.
"I want to learn that magic, too." Madison said succinctly, her eyes sparkling. She had never been so enthusiastic about her schoolwork before.
This perfectly illustrated the profound impact Talent has on a person's diligence.
"Is Metropolis going to suffer today, too?" Madison watched Ian standing by the window. She sounded slightly worried, feeling that the world might be on the brink of an apocalypse.
"Who knows."
Ian was using his Shared Brain to calculate the falling trajectories of the 'stars.' Just as he finished speaking, the sky outside underwent a dramatic change again!
Countless stars appeared in the night sky, arranged in an ancient and mystical pattern. And in the center of these star clusters, a gigantic Portal slowly materialized.
It was the Gate of Heaven!
However.
The Gate of Heaven, which should have been sacred, was now covered in marks of Filth and Evil.
The faces of the Hymn Angels sculpted onto the reliefs were now twisted into images of painful screams, and foul pus oozed from every mouth.
"Creak—creak—"
The sound of the hinges turning was like rusted metal grinding.
Or like a colossal creature chewing on bones. It was occasionally interspersed with the sticky sound of liquid dripping. Every drop of the black substance that fell twisted into the shape of a miniature angel in mid-air.
They quickly disintegrated into mist.
Most chilling were the whispers emanating from within the gate—thousands of voices overlapping. At times, they sounded like chanting scriptures, and at others, they devolved into demented babbling.
Madison unconsciously covered her ears.
The voices felt like tiny insects crawling into her brain. The tips of the Minotaur Demon's horns glowed with an unnatural red light, as if sensing some terrifying presence.
In the midst of this suffocating terror, Madison suddenly felt a heat on her chest.
"Ah!" she cried out, yanking the copper cross from her collar. It was now emitting a soft, milky-white glow, warm like winter sunshine.
The brain-drilling demonic sounds were instantly isolated. Madison sighed with relief, feeling as if she were soaking in a hot spring.
"Awooo—!!"
The Minotaur Demon, however, let out a pig-like shriek and rolled into the corner. It covered its eyes with its two vessels, its head fur standing on end like a feather duster.
"I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! The Holy Light is here to purify!"
The creature was genuinely scared stiff.
Yet, the anticipated burning sensation never came.
"What's going on?" Bar cautiously peeked through its fingers, noticing the holy light enveloping its body, yet miraculously causing no harm.
"Huh?"
It seemed to realize something.
"Praise God Ian!!"
Bar rolled over and scurried to Ian's feet, moving so fast it left a blur. It frantically rubbed its head against the boy's trousers, fawning like a dog with just a head.
Who says a bull can't be a pet?
"No, this..." Ian took the glowing cross. He held it up to his ear but didn't hear any voice from the Supreme Being.
"Godfather, are you there? Heaven is turning into a septic tank." Ian was perplexed. The cross glowing meant that Godfather should be fully aware of everything happening.
However.
He heard no response.
Nor did he see God intervene to save the angels—what was going on? Ian looked out the window again. The chilling sounds coming from inside made him intensely curious.
What exactly was happening inside the Gate of Heaven at this very moment?
...
Night descended, and the once tranquil sky was now torn open by a colossal rift. Pillars of golden and black light descended from the heavens, like divine punishment raining upon the world. The Gate of Heaven slowly materialized under the gaze of countless people, its edges twisted and foul, as if the foundation of the entire divine world was collapsing.
People on Earth had already sensed this anomaly. The massive screens in Times Square suddenly flickered, switching to a live news feed—the celestial anomaly was being captured simultaneously by global satellites.
However.
Scientists could not calculate its distance.
"Oh my God... what is that?"
A man in a suit looked up. The coffee cup in his hand clattered onto the ground, the brown liquid splashing onto his leather shoes, but he was oblivious. Reflected in his pupils was the colossal, filthy Gate of Heaven, black slime oozing from its seams, like some living thing was writhing.
"The End of Days! This is the Apocalypse!"
A fanatical believer knelt on the ground.
His hands were raised, his voice trembling. The Bible he held had already fallen beside him, its pages fluttering in the wind, finally settling on a page in Revelation.
"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True..."
But now, what was tearing the sky open was not a holy radiance, but a chilling filth.
London, Tokyo, Paris, Moscow... major cities around the globe fell into chaos. People looked up in terror. Some screamed, some prayed, and some frantically filmed with their phones.
It was as if, even with the end of the world coming, these people only cared about gaining followers. Besides them, many criminals felt that the apocalypse had arrived and it was time to indulge in a final carnival of lawlessness.
Many lawbreakers rioted, prisons were breached, and cities plunged into panic. Flames burned in the streets, police sirens wailed everywhere, and the air was thick with the smell of scorched earth and fear.
However.
The Apocalypse Party faction was simply too numerous.
Perhaps this was the result of the demons controlling Hollywood and training humanity.
They formed mobs.
Smashing, looting, and burning.
This directly overwhelmed the already limited number of Super Heroes, leaving them with no time to even pay attention to the celestial anomaly. They were busy chasing after these anti-human elements whose minds were completely high.
Wonder Woman was among them.
After all, New York, where she lived, was one of the most crime-ridden cities on Earth.
"You people disgust me. That little girl is only fifteen!" Diana Prince flicked her wrist, and the Lasso of Truth wrapped around three armed robbers like a spiritual snake.
"And yet, you would steal her sandwich?" The golden rope suddenly burst into a dazzling light, illuminating the dark street corner as if it were daylight.
"It's the Apocalypse! Food is the most important thing!"
The three armed robbers were clearly extreme Apocalypse Party members. They firmly believed in the 'Neighbor Stores Food, I Store Guns' philosophy, and their firepower was even more comprehensive than that of a standard US military unit.
As the Lasso of Truth took effect.
The robbers, who were about to declare that they were merely following the philosophy of the survival of the fittest, all rolled their eyes back.
"Praise Ian, the All-Law Emperor God!" The lead robber's eyes rolled back, and he shouted with drool dripping from his mouth, "His glory shall purify this filthy world!"
"Praise God Ian! All-Law Emperor, invincible, omnipotent! He is the One, the Ten Thousand, the Lord of all living beings!" The robbers, bound together, were filled with reverence.
It was as if they weren't captured but subjected to some divine trial. To pass this trial, it seemed they had to compete to see who could offer the most verbose praise for the All-Law Emperor.
"..."
Wonder Woman sighed tiredly.
It wasn't because of the Lasso of Truth acting weirdly. As a highly adaptable Amazon, Diana had grown used to such scenes. Her sigh was mainly due to the overwhelming number of criminals.
This was the seventh group of criminals she had dealt with today.
Since the appearance of that bizarre Gate of Heaven, all of New York seemed to have had its craziness switch flipped. She looked up at the sky, the filthy portal seemed to be becoming clearer and clearer.
She could vaguely see writhing shadows inside.
"What exactly is going on?" Diana was filled with unease. Compared to the rioting maniacs in the city, she was more concerned about the abnormal situation in the sky.
Just as she was feeling confused, anxious, and uneasy.
Suddenly.
Wonder Woman's communicator vibrated on her wrist.
It was a text message from Superman, consisting of only a single line.
[It's the Angel Fall, they're all infected with the Dirty Disease.] Clearly, even from many cities away, Superman had heard Wonder Woman's... inner monologue.
"What the heck is the Kryptonian cheating on now? And what does he mean angels are falling to Earth, and they all have the Dirty Disease? Do angels have those kinds of parties in the sky, too?" Wonder Woman didn't know what to say. She realized that Clark seemed to have gained a new ability during the last incident.
The facts once again proved this point.
Wonder Woman merely thought this to herself.
Immediately after.
[That's Ian's exact words... He's currently trying to break into Heaven.] Another message from Clark. Wonder Woman looked up at the Gate of Heaven in astonishment.
Good heavens.
There truly was a figure clinging to the Portal, trying to pry it open.
[I can't get close to the gate.]
Another text message arrived.
Wonder Woman saw Superman flying around the sky like a headless chicken. He was flying so fast that her vision couldn't even track his trajectory.
"..."
Wonder Woman looked down at her Lasso of Truth. She felt that she was still behind the times. If this involved angels, perhaps all she could do was help deal with the ordinary criminals in the city.
Just like Cyborg and Aquaman—at this thought, Wonder Woman's complicated feelings eased slightly. She couldn't help but rub her temples and look at the criminals again.
The continuous "Praise Ian" ringing in her ears made her temples throb.
"I know, I know already. Ian, the All-Law Emperor God, is the most powerful." Wonder Woman grumbled helplessly. She pulled the Lasso to send the fanatics to the police station.
In that instant, an anomaly occurred.
The light on the Lasso of Truth suddenly flared, dazzling as if she were holding the Milky Way. A series of Ian's funny faces appeared on the rope's surface, like the artifact's startup animation.
[Confirming friendly status]
[God-Smashing Whip Mode activated]
Before the voice faded.
Countless golden bolts of lightning suddenly erupted from the Lasso!
Under Diana's astonished gaze.
The Lasso of Truth revealed its brand new form.
"No, this..."
Before she could finish, the electric current wrapped around the robbers like a living thing, yet bizarrely caused them no harm. Instead, the electrocuted robbers let out pleasurable moans.
"Don't stop! Please don't stop!" One of the robbers cried out, tears streaming down his face. "This feeling is so divine! I'm being purified! I can feel how sinful I truly am!"
"Ask us anything! We'll confess everything! We must wash away our sins!" Every single robber seemed to have turned into a penitent, crawling on the ground and begging for forgiveness.
"..."
Wonder Woman didn't have much to ask criminals whose guilt was already clear. She was more concerned about her gear, so she quickly retracted the Lasso of Truth and slammed it against a nearby object like a whip.
Countless bolts of lightning surged.
They were also praising Ian.
However.
Wonder Woman could clearly perceive the power contained within this lightning.
"Power specifically designed to combat Gods?"
In that moment.
Wonder Woman seemed to have had a flash of understanding.
[Assemble.]
Another text message from Superman arrived at that moment. Wonder Woman, who had found her new upgrade, looked in the direction of Metropolis. Superman was suspended in the sky, holding a phone.
His gaze was fixed on Gotham.
"Can't reach Batman..."
Clark's eyes scanned all over Gotham. He still hadn't found the Batman who liked to play hide-and-seek, but he did see another scene.
Just then.
Inside an isolation chamber at the Gotham City Institute.
Barry Allen was staring blankly at the digital clock on the wall. Since the major incident last night, Batman hadn't found the cause of the anomaly in him.
Instead, he insisted that Barry accept this isolation and observation.
Barry Allen, who trusted Batman, didn't refuse. Who would have thought that he would be stuck here for an entire night and half a day? Batman had left and never returned.
"Well, at least there's free food here." Barry Allen sighed and walked to the glass window. He was about to have lunch but noticed a figure moving outside.
"Is that you, Bruce?"
Barry Allen tentatively asked.
Suddenly, the emergency lights outside the isolation chamber flickered.
Barry frowned in alarm, the Speed Force tingling in his veins. The next moment, a figure wearing the Reverse-Flash suit appeared at the control panel.
His fingers flew across the keyboard.
"Reverse-Flash!"
Barry subconsciously took a half-step back. Then, the isolation chamber door hissed open. The yellow-suited speedster looked up, and a familiar sneer came from beneath the crimson mask.
"Run, Flash."
The Reverse-Flash's voice carried an unusual sense of urgency.
Before the words were finished, the yellow lightning had vanished down the hallway outside. Barry had almost no time to think. The Speed Force instinctively surged to every part of his body.
"Whoosh~"
The Flash turned into a bolt of lightning and chased after him.
After passing through three security doors.
The two chasing figures appeared on the ground level.
Reverse-Flash stopped in front of the chaotic street, while the Flash was stunned by the anomaly in the sky. Floating like a mirage above the usually gray Gotham sky was a giant Portal.
"Did you do this?" Barry's voice trembled with anger.
He threw a punch.
The speed was incredibly fast.
However, the Reverse-Flash easily sidestepped it. He countered with an elbow strike that sent Barry flying—his speed had increased so much that the Flash found himself unable to track him even while the Speed Force was fully active.
"This is your doing, isn't it! To gain even greater speed!" Barry was knocked down, got up, and was knocked down again. The red uniform left long streaks on the concrete pavement.
He stood up, determined to fight back.
However.
The yellow boot was already planted on his chest.
"It has nothing to do with me. Besides, this isn't a history I'm familiar with. Last night, Lois should have died." The Reverse-Flash looked up at the sky.
His exaggerated electronic voice held a rare gravity.
Barry struggled to get up, but the boot on his chest felt like a ton of bricks. He could feel the Reverse-Flash's emotions were in turmoil, lost like a lighthouse in a storm.
"Lois is perfectly fine! This world will be fine without you! Why can't you just stay in your own timeline!" Barry demanded angrily.
This sentence was like a switch being flipped. The Reverse-Flash suddenly flew into a rage, the energy in his crimson eyes almost bursting out. He bent down, grabbed Barry's collar, and lifted him up.
"Do you think I don't want to?! You should have learned how to travel through time by now! But you haven't!" The Reverse-Flash's voice was furious, his face extremely distorted from the shaking.
Barry was stunned by the sudden outburst. In his memory, the Reverse-Flash was always calm, mocking, and in control. This out-of-control enemy felt unfamiliar. But an even stranger thing happened. The Reverse-Flash's anger came and went quickly. He let go, and even straightened Barry's ruffled collar.
"Of course." His tone was as calm as if discussing the weather. "From what I've discovered recently, perhaps it's not entirely your fault. Some other factor might be influencing you."
Barry stared blankly at his nemesis, whose shift from rage to calmness was so fast it was like two different personalities switching.
He was about to ask a question.
"Go find Batman."
The Reverse-Flash stepped back two paces.
The lightning pattern on his yellow suit began to glow.
"Wait!" Barry reached out to grab him. "What do you know—"
The yellow lightning had already disappeared at the end of the street, leaving only a gradually fading after-image and a sentence drifting on the wind: "This time, we are actually on the same side."
On the chaotic street.
Barry still hadn't processed what had just happened.
He was always like this.
The Speed Force Brain wasn't as useful as a Super Brain.
"Even the Reverse-Flash is panicking?" This was the only thing Barry realized. The pain in his chest reminded him that everything that had just happened was real. He looked up at the increasingly clear Gate of Heaven.
"Whatever is going on, Bruce definitely knows." Muttering to himself, Barry Allen was about to start running. However, he saw a figure slowly descending.
Yes.
Superman. Clark Kent descended from the sky. The moment his red boots touched the ground, the entire street shook. The Penguin's gang and Two-Face's henchmen, who were brawling with each other, simultaneously stopped moving.
Like comical actors whose scene was suddenly paused.
"Bruce is not at his manor."
Superman spoke directly.
He ignored the villains who were quietly slipping away, just as he had allowed the Reverse-Flash to leave. At this moment, only the increasingly clear Gate of Heaven seemed to be the most critical crisis that needed to be resolved first.
"How did you know what I was thinking?" Barry was astonished. He really was about to head to the manor to find someone, and Clark's appearance was too coincidental.
"I can hear you."
Superman replied calmly.
Hearing this.
Barry's expression shifted from astonishment to horror.
"Super-Hearing can hear thoughts? Is that even scientific?"
He was deeply shaken inside.
Superman didn't explain. His gaze remained fixed on the sky.
"We have to deal with this problem." Clark's voice was unusually grave. He couldn't help it, he had actually met angels and knew how unconquerable they were.
"If Bruce isn't home, where is he?" Barry followed Superman's gaze upwards, but he could only see the distorted Portal and couldn't clearly see the scene in front of it.
"He's in the sky."
Superman's eyes reflected a sight that ordinary people could not see—at tens of thousands of meters in the air, Bruce, who had rushed out from who knows what corner, was driving a specialized Bat-Vehicle and crashing it into the Gate of Heaven.
Honestly.
Clark didn't know how Batman managed to get that close.
He only knew.
His old friend, whose neck he really wanted to wring, seemed to have gone insane.
He was actually trying to cooperate with Ian.
To rush into Heaven together.
***
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