Chapter 224 — All Sorts of Mishaps
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
The stars had already aligned correctly, and at the same time, today was the day when "Ao" reached its strongest energy reaction of the year. The power of that ultimate star of mystery would superimpose with the many heavenly bodies in the night sky, and the special energy they released together would be a key to awakening the Lord of the Storm.
The priests of the Children of the Storm stood in orderly ranks upon the platform, while their high priest stood at the very edge closest to the sea cliff. Clad in a black robe, the high priest gazed at the increasingly violent sea, as though gazing into a bottomless abyss about to swallow the entire world.
Would the "Lord" return?
The Storm High Priest did not know what he truly wanted. He did not know whether he was hoping for the Lord's return or dreading it, but he knew clearly that this contradictory state of mind was not his alone.
The Day of Judgment would surely come, and mortals would find their proper place when it arrived. But what was the proper place of the Children of the Storm? And of the Forever Sleepers? And of the All-Things-End Congregation?
They embraced the day of annihilation, because every cult of the Ashen Salvation believed it had already found the path to its own eternal existence when doomsday descended—had even found the path to ascension on the day the gods devoured the world, to becoming something close to a god's eternal, indestructible being. Yet they were, in the end, mere mortals. They could not be certain their path was the right one. But under the torment of such fear and such anxiety, they instead turned to fervor and certainty. Only as the fated day drew near would a small few snap awake and suddenly begin to doubt the path they had followed all along.
If the gods returned, could mortals truly survive?
The Children of the Storm began to perform their rites upon the platform, calling upon the power of the sea to protect themselves. When the Pope's command was issued, they would live forever together with the sea.
Within the territory of Typhon, in the hidden sanctum of the Forever Sleepers, the Nightmare Bishops had also gathered. The failure of the seventeenth "Deep Dive" had cost them some lower nodes, but the bishop council had suffered no losses. Under the guidance of the Forever-Sleeping Pope, they came to the "Connection Hall" and established a powerful psychic network, waiting for the Children of the Storm to relay observations of the stars and the gods, while preparing to activate the "Eternal Dream" ahead of schedule.
In the north of the continent, in the underground lair of the All-Things-End Congregation, Bei Yila stood among the high ministers, gazing down at the ceaselessly writhing flesh and blood tissues in the subterranean rift. She saw the Grand Minister suspended in midair above that flesh, channeling powerful energy into the body of the "False God."
The time was not yet right—every fallen druid knew this well. They had not yet gathered enough biomass, and the Anzu-Typhon war that had been planned to be sparked before this winter had failed to break out, thwarted by that sudden turncoat, Grand Duke Pei Yi. Their flesh-gathering operations within Anzu had also failed time and again. Yet now there was no more time.
Whether or not the Day of Judgment had truly arrived, all the dark cults had to "ignite" their respective ultimate plans ahead of schedule. It was radical—but it was also necessary caution.
At some moment on this day, the activity of "Ao" finally reached its yearly peak, and at the same time the power of the stars entered this world.
In that instant, the tides surged, and the Endless Sea roared as though boiling.
The Children of the Storm activated their rites amid the tsunami, and an indescribable power began to connect them with the entire ocean;