As bright light burst beneath him, the powerful holy white light propelled him into the sky to meet the approaching nine-fingered black hand. The white light and the black hand finally clashed in the air.
The one-eyed giant had no sense of agony, but it seemed to have sensed that it had met a powerful opponent. Using another hand, it grabbed at the white light. But everything was too late. The outcome was set for it when the first white beam pierced through its hand.
Like silk, the white light coiled over and climbed up the arm of the Annihilatus and bundled up its upper body.
The one-eyed giant roared furiously again, but more white silk came and covered its body. In just a while, white holy light silk had shrouded its entire body and started to tighten.
“Turn into my voice and become one with me!”
Lin Sheng stood on the prayer altar, looking up at the one-eyed giant. A facial armor covered his face, but his bright and calm black eyes froze in the mind of everyone at the scene like a piece of painting.
The one-eyed giant rapidly shrank. From a gigantic ball, it became smaller and smaller until it turned into the size of an eyeball, descending and floating in front of Lin Sheng. Taking it in his hand, he pressed it into his left shoulder armor, and the ball was infused into the armor and became a piece of decoration.
Everything returned to normal. Without the Annihilatus, the purification force field of the Sanctum returned to normal. It expanded and forced out the black water from all corners of the city.
The black clouds had dispersed, and blue returned to the sky. Sunlight found its way through the clouds and shone onto the land below as if the first light of hope after the doomsday.
“The Fairy Empress is dead… the Centaur Lord is missing…” Khadula whispered beside him.
“I know.”
Lin Sheng gazed into the clear sky. Many people had lost their lives in this battle. If this was the price to pay for fighting the Black Tide, then he understood how Ancellia felt in Blackfeather City.
Known as the Light of Hope at the time, she probably shouldered the same mission and role just like him. If that was the case, did she feel how he felt?
As the scene of Ancellia went from one world to another, searching for redemption for her homeworld came to mind, Lin Sheng did not want to plunge into the same situation that Ancellia had experienced.
Turning around to face his parents and sister, who were still in shock, and then those people survived the catastrophic disaster, Lin Sheng could see the many prayers and hope in their eyes.
“There is still one place that needs my help. I will leave this place to you all.”
People at the scene were mostly from the Sanctum leadership and their families. They would have to take care of the aftermath in this place.
“Wait a minute! We…” an apex Six-winger stepped up and spoke. But it was too late; Lin Sheng had faded into white particles and disappeared into thin air. The crowd lapsed into silence. No one uttered a word.
Hanyu clenched his fists, feeling nothing even though his nails nearly pierced into his palms. He had only one thing in mind at this time.
“I’m rich! I’m freaking rich now!”
He guffawed like a madman in his mind. It had never crossed his mind that the younger brother of the Night Matriarch was the Holy Emperor. Heaven must be kidding with him. He felt as if he had struck a lottery and become rich overnight, that he had come to the crest of his life. The joy of it made him want to laugh out loud.
Standing beside him, Nisse appeared coy. She clutched his wrist, fearing that he might laugh out loud. It was just not the right place and time. Many people here had lost their families; if Hanyu was ever found chuckling at this time, he could be beaten to death on the spot.
Lin Xiao gazed at the spot where her younger brother had disappeared, not knowing that Khadula had reached out to hold her hand. When she finally came out of her little world, she saw the beautiful smile of Khadula.
“I will take care of you all on behalf of Brother.”
While Lin Zhounian and Gu Wanqiu were still in a daze, Khadula’s avatars brought them back into the Sanctum, where Lin Sheng usually rested himself.
In a corner, three men gasped for air as they laughed.
“Luckily, he hasn’t seen me!” The man with multiple-colored eyes and a pale face breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking of the massive power and valor that he had sensed just now, he would shake like a leaf.
“Lord… what do we do now?” His man asked, quaking in his boots.
“What do we do?” The man smacked him on the head. “Find a way to escape, of course!”
“But… but, isn’t our mission… is to sabotage the Sanctum?” Another of his men asked in a whisper.
“You fool! Between mission and life, which is more important?” The man got angrier, slapping his subordinate on the face.
“As a Magister of the Dark Pantheon, fighting an enemy you know you couldn’t defeat isn’t gutsy but idiotic!” The man sorted out his collar.
“The human world is too dangerous. I’d better return to and retire in the underworld.”
The three men disappeared into the crowd. No one had noticed them as the massive clashes of force fields earlier had created a messy perturbation of energy. The chaotic force fields had drowned out many things.
“Let’s go back.” The man with multi-colored eyes glanced back at the Sanctum and felt miserable. “This is weird. Why am I feeling sad to leave this place?”
He felt like he was home. It was warm, safe, soothing as opposed to the Dark Pantheon, which was cold, gray, disturbing, and filled with disgusting negativity.
“How nice…” He sighed unknowingly. “It’s the best thing to believe in the holy light.” He was suddenly shocked by what he thought. “This is wrong! How can I, the Magister of the Dark Pantheon, have this thought?”
He had fought countless wars and been living for thousands of years. He had sensed something wrong with himself in the first instance. Using the underworld energy, he quickly found the source of his strangeness.
On the left side of his neck, a streak of white light had appeared. It looked like a birthmark that was permanently etched into his skin.
“This is…” The man was shocked. He finally realized it was not that Lin Sheng had not noticed him, it was just that Lin Sheng had done something to him. Not just him, but his two men. Just like him, they gazed in the prayer altar’s direction, their eyes filled with admiration. It was as if wanderers had finally come home after a long time. Seeing this, cold and fear started to overwhelm him like a flood.
“I’ve got to go! I’ve got to go now!” He staggered out and flew in a direction out of the city.
