In the Loen Kingdom's Sea County, deep within the Minsk Mountains, was Ruin No. 7.
Streaks of silvery-white lightning snakes shot out, carrying a surging, almost tangible aura of tyrannical destruction, causing the surrounding turbulent sea of blood to boil and evaporate, yet they couldn't truly harm the Bloody Archduke, who was hidden within and possessed an angel-level malicious perception.
The steaming blood mist didn't dissipate; under the manipulation of the defiled words echoing in the underground mausoleum, it merged with the constantly growing malice, like a grand sacrifice.
Calamity Queen Cohinem's expression was cold. As an ancient Angel from the Second Epoch, she felt an extremely loathsome and familiar aura, one that originated from the Demon Monarch who had once attempted to subvert everything, pollute reality, and stand against all the Ancient Gods.
Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Cohinem unhesitatingly activated the 'Yesterday Once More' charm, allowing her spirituality to spread through the thick mists of history to a certain moment in the Second Epoch.
The next second, a terrifying storm of lightning, centered on Cohinem, spread outwards. Countless layers of entangled spherical lightning struck into the sea of blood like meteors, visibly melting it away.
Cohinem looked with a hint of nostalgia at the bone spear in her hand, surging with electrical light. This divine artifact, forged by the Elf King Soniathrym from his own bone and blood, had long been destroyed in the Ancient Sun God's battle to reclaim the Ancient God's authority.
And as the Queen of the Elven race, she had clearly once wielded this divine artifact, which symbolized status and glory. With the help of 'Yesterday Once More,' she successfully summoned its corresponding projection and, through it, briefly possessed the authority of a Sequence 1 Thunder God.
Knowing that the historical projection's duration was limited, Cohinem ignored the Devil North, who was frantically dodging in the lightning storm. She could feel that the hidden danger had not yet been fully triggered, but she was no longer going to give that fellow a chance.
As her thoughts raced, Cohinem's figure became illusory. Without hesitation, she merged with the spear, transforming into a dazzling, silvery-white streak that pierced through the mausoleum sealed by defiled words and distorted order.
A moment later, the tyrannical lightning storm finally subsided. Beside the half-collapsed mausoleum, a deep crimson, almost black, shadow rose, instantly transforming into a grotesque Devil.
Pale blue flames danced on its curved ram horns, covered in sinister patterns. Bloody Archduke North no longer showed his previous discomfiture. His bloodthirsty, indifferent eyes swept over the crack left by Cohinem's escape, and his slightly regretful, defiled words echoed for a long time:
"One less angel-level sacrifice, what a pity. I should have acted more convincingly..."
Bone wings, entwined with pale blue flames, unfolded from his back, carrying this high-level Devil into the nearly dried-up sea of blood. On the exposed ground, complex patterns outlined a hexagram, its layers interwoven, clearly forming a massive altar.
At the center of the altar, where the malice and defiled aura were most concentrated, a pristine white finger bone, covered with wriggling blood threads, quietly floated. Viscous, foul-smelling blood gushed from the blood threads, replenishing the depleted sea of blood once more.
This was the most important item North had brought from the Abyss—the finger bone of the 'Dark Side of the Universe.' Even a full-power strike from a Sequence 1 Thunder God hadn't damaged it, and it was also the medium connecting the Abyss to reality.
Shifting his slightly greedy gaze from the finger bone, North tilted his head slightly, coldly scrutinizing the Blasphemer, Isaac Tamara, who had quietly emerged from the void. A low, indifferent voice then reached his ears:
"The Primordial Demoness has descended. George III won't last much longer. I'm here to complete the final ritual for you, to trigger the Abyss and create an opportunity for the Hidden Sage and the Chained God to escape!"
The scarlet in his eyes flickered. North silently watched as the Blasphemer's body disintegrated into surging white mist, part of it forming a continuously expanding vortex, and the other part merging into the altar beneath the sea of blood. He then uttered a low, hoarse demonic chant:
"Lord of the Abyss..."
"Monarch of Filth and Degradation..."
"Great Dark Side of the Universe..."
He did not directly pray to the Mother Tree of Desire but instead chanted the honorific name of the Dark Side of the Universe.
Within the vortex, Isaac Tamara's figure flickered in and out of sight, solemnly declaring with the 'Words of Order':
"North offers the finger bone of the Dark Side of the Universe, the altar, and materials for the Abyss descent ritual, requesting a gray transaction. His desired reward is the great Mother Tree of Desire's bestowal of grace, causing this reality to fall towards the Abyss!"
"Great Uncertain Mist, your most loyal servant, Isaac Tamara, implores your grace! I implore you to reclaim the high-level characteristics of the Black Emperor Pathway and the malice generated before his death, using the gray transaction I made with George III, to make the Abyss fall even deeper!"
Amidst the continuous Words of Order, his connection with the Uncertain Mist grew tighter, and the pervading white mist became denser and more unpredictable.
As the sea of blood trembled, a point of light in the vortex suddenly expanded, reflecting the deep, dim Cosmos. A giant tree, as if drenched in black asphalt, stretched out strange and terrifying arms as branches, and its surface was covered with rolling, bloodshot black and white eyes.
---
In the half-collapsed mausoleum, thanks to the God of Steam and Machinery's divine descent vessel and Astolfo's help, Aaron, while blocking the escape of the Hidden Sage and the Chained God, finally managed to reclaim William Augustus I.
A colorless drop of liquid, carrying a strong aura of eternal silence, immediately fell onto William Augustus I's glabella, plunging this gravely wounded, dying Hand of Order, who could have completely lost control and mutated into a Monster at any moment, into eternal slumber. The process of losing control also abruptly ceased.
Aaron restrained the aggregating instinct from the depths of his spirituality, not begrudging the River of Eternal darkness's water.
At this moment, William Augustus I's body, apart from his already uncontrolled will, was filled with the corruption of the Hidden Sage and the Chained God. It would take some time to purify him before he could be accommodated, and now was clearly not the time, so only the most secure sealing method could be used.
Only Adam's last Hand of Order characteristic remains... As his thoughts raced, Aaron subconsciously sensed the changes in the surrounding order, and to his surprise, he found that Groselle's Travels, which he had thrown out earlier, had disappeared at some unknown point.
Before Aaron could investigate further, he perceived a terrifying erosion, powerful enough to corrupt even divinity, rapidly spreading through the connections of the nine mausoleums and converging towards Ruin No. 1 near Backlund. Calamity Queen Cohinem's prayer also echoed in his ears at this moment.
"Abyss..."
Vaguely guessing the source of the anomaly, Aaron's eyes narrowed. He decisively abandoned the attempt to continue besieging the Hidden Sage and the Chained God, grabbed William Augustus I, who was in eternal slumber, and directly returned to the Nation of Disorder.