"All the actors have arrived — now it's time for me to make my entrance!"
Leilin watched the enormous sphere of serpents rise into the sky, along with the terrifying figure of
Meanwhile, Thomas on the ground had already been struck dumb.
The Second Elder and the Punishment Legion had rebelled! The
Each of these events alone would have been a catastrophic upheaval, and when they all happened at once, Thomas had absolutely no idea what to do.
"Oh! It seems you were in charge of maintaining order within the city during the war? My apologies for interrupting your work! You see, this city is about to descend into far greater chaos!"
Leilin apologized to Thomas with the courtesy of a gentleman, leaving the other man's mind in complete shambles.
"Greater chaos? What do you mean?"
But Thomas had no more time to think. A massive grey pillar of light erupted from the walls and floor of the entire tower, shooting straight up into the sky.
This was the last thing Thomas saw before the terrifying energy dissolved him entirely, leaving not a trace of his body behind.
"We meet again, Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents! And the Gluttony King!"
Leilin wore a smile on his face and bowed with fluid grace, as though greeting old friends he hadn't seen in ages.
Compared to the colossal forms of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents and Beelzebub, the pillar of light beside them looked like a thin thread, and Leilin within it was smaller than an ant.
Yet it was this infinitesimal existence that drew the simultaneous attention of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents and Beelzebub!
The gaze of two Eighth-rank beings — even an ordinary Fourth-rank Dawn Star
"Cough—!" He violently coughed up a torrent of fresh blood, so much that it gushed out from between his fingers.
"The Emperor of the Komoin. Little one. I admit it — you've managed to truly anger me!"
The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' voice was perfectly calm, but a massive shadowy serpent head had already lunged forward, its gaping maw wide enough to swallow Leilin whole.
"Beautiful lady! Please wait — he belongs to me!"
An invisible great mouth seemed to materialize from the void, biting clean through the shadow serpent head.
Beelzebub flapped his terrifying wings, and his multitude of compound eyes all focused on Leilin. "Thank you for finding this world for me. What a pity, though, Wizard — the thoughts of a being that exists as a Rule are not something a mere mortal can peer into. Did you think you could sow discord between this lady and myself, then profit from the chaos as a third party? Such schemes are doomed to fail. How could a mortal's wisdom ever scheme against gods?"
"According to my agreement with the Defiled Bird, this wizard belongs to me!"
Beelzebub declared to the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents as though staking his claim.
"As I expected — you were colluding with the Defiled Bird all along, using its power of chaos as cover for yourself… cough… cough…"
Grey motes of light surfaced from all over Leilin's body, making him weaker by the second.
The chaotic power of the Defiled Bird he had absorbed earlier now erupted in revolt, as though trying to bind Leilin on the spot and present him as a gift to Beelzebub.
"Heh heh… What a pity…"
Leilin looked even more feeble, as though he might die at any moment, but from beneath his bowed head came a string of laughter.
"What's a pity?"
Beelzebub clearly wanted to toy with its newly acquired prey a bit longer.
"Heh heh… What a pity is that I never once intended to rely on either of you! Nor did I harbor any hope that you would tear each other apart! I arranged all of this for one reason alone — to lure your true forms here!"
Leilin threw his head back in wild laughter, his eyes blazing with fervor. "You! Are all my prey!!!"
"A premonition of misfortune! A branch appears in the threads of fate! A variable has emerged! Whatever he's trying to do — stop him!"
The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, who had maintained a serene smile throughout, suddenly lost her composure.
"Heh heh! Too late!" Leilin roared with laughter as countless sacrificial runes surfaced from his body.
"Execute the predetermined plan!" he commanded sharply.
<叮! Plan One initiated — forcibly expelling chaotic power!> The Chip's mechanical voice rang out.
From the very first time he had performed the ritual for the Defiled Bird, Leilin had been on his guard against it, and afterward he had ordered the Chip to monitor him constantly. Through several洗礼 of chaotic power, he had never allowed the raw force to flood directly into his body, instead treating it merely as raw material — all in preparation for this very moment.
"Hngh!" Leilin's face flushed crimson as a layer of grey filth suddenly erupted from beneath his skin and pores. Even the barbed structures that had formed within his cells were violently expelled and purged in an instant.
Boom! A sacrificial array materialized, and at its center, the rune of the Defiled Bird shattered violently, accompanied by the bird's furious shriek.
"By the power of the Defiled Bird, I offer this sacrifice to you! Great
Leilin's eyes burned with fervor, yet contained within them was judgment honed to the utmost calm. These two contradictory emotions made his gaze look utterly sinister.
Hummm! A colossal sacrificial array, inscribed with intricately woven patterns, spread outward from the tower where Leilin had been residing.
This sacrificial array was far larger than any of the ones the seven Supreme Rulers had used before, and at its very center sat a single rune representing the will of the Purgatory world!
Crash! In an instant, the entire world of Purgatory seemed to come alive. A grand, sweeping will — like the very projection of the world itself — turned its gaze upon this place.
Gale-force winds howled as an enormous funnel of clouds formed in the sky, taking on the shape of primordial chaos.
From the heart of that chaos, a layer of grey radiance descended swiftly, colliding with the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' attack. Though it dimmed considerably, it still shielded Leilin from harm.
Within Purgatory, those who practiced the Way of Sacrifice had always looked only to the seven Supreme Rulers, forgetting that there existed another option. Though this existence was chaotic and often overlooked, no one could deny that it was the very origin of the entire world of Purgatory!
"Heh heh… So this is your trump card, Wizard? A chaotic consciousness?"
Beelzebub roared with laughter. "This kind of protective power — no Rule-level being could possibly—"
"Exactly! The will of Purgatory is utterly chaotic, with no capacity for response whatsoever. Even if I used a portion of the Defiled Bird's power to draw its attention, the protective force it descended could never truly shield me, let alone defeat you…"
Leilin's voice was soft and calm, yet it filled both the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents and Beelzebub with a deep sense of foreboding.
"But… what if it were to 'wake up'?"
A speck of green light slowly rose from within the pillar of light — it was the Seed of Wisdom that Leilin had been cultivating all along!
From the lush little tree, brilliant green radiance rippled outward, so dazzling that even the mindless Gluttony Beasts displayed expressions of intense longing.
"That's… the ancient Tree of Wisdom? Is he trying to—? Stop him!!!"
A great grey bird spread its wings, as though taking flight from the depths of endless chaos, its transmission carrying unmistakable urgency.
"Great Will of Purgatory! I sacrifice to you the ancient Tree of Wisdom! Awaken!"
Leilin's eyes burned with resolve, and his hands moved with blinding speed. As his chant of sacrifice rang out, the little green tree transformed into a stream of verdant light and merged into the chaotic sky above.
Crash! Crash!
Within the grey chaos, something bestial seemed to lurk, and the fluctuations surged dramatically, gradually suffused by a layer of green luminescence.
"Great Will of Purgatory! You are the sovereign of Purgatory! You are the primal force of Purgatory itself! You are all that exists! Open your eyes and look upon these robbers! They plunder your power without restraint, corrupt your world, and drag all of Purgatory ever deeper into ruin… I, Leilin Farell! A humble wizard, humbly beseech your power to sweep away this filth and restore Purgatory to its true form!"
With Leilin's prayer, the roiling chaos finally ceased its turbulence, revealing a pair of cyan eyes.
And then the entire world seemed to freeze. The Gluttony Beasts, the serpent-people not far away — all of them fell into complete stillness.
Those enormous cyan eyes, carrying the will of an entire world, fixed upon the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, Beelzebub, and the others who could still move.
Rage! Rage! Rage!
As though the entire world had come alive and was venting its fury, making even the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents and other supreme beings tremble in their hearts.
"The world's will… has awakened!"
The Mother of Tenousand Serpents' face turned deathly pale, as though she were witnessing the most terrifying thing imaginable.
The sky cracked open, and surging waves of primal world force poured down ceaselessly, like a mighty torrent, buffeting Leilin with power — so much so that he felt as though he himself were the world.
Crash! Leilin's figure swelled enormously, in an instant becoming a towering giant that seemed to hold up the sky. The vast Holy City below now looked like nothing more than a model in his eyes.
"Success!!! Power! Power beyond the Sixth Rank! At minimum, I am now a Seventh-rank sacrificial practitioner!"
Cyan runes of chaos covered Leilin's entire body. He clenched his fist, and even the void itself shuddered.
"This… is my true trump card!" The elation of his plan's success nearly made Leilin howl triumphantly at the heavens.
From the very beginning, his hidden card, his ultimate leverage — all of it had been placed on the will of Purgatory.
To break through the shackles of bloodline required the Blood of Origin and power that transcended the limit, and Leilin had neither.
Bound as he was by the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' curse seal, finding a power strong enough to defeat her had seemed utterly impossible!
But the Way of Sacrifice within the world of Purgatory had shown Leilin a glimmer of hope!
The Way of Sacrifice was, at its core, a method of calling upon higher-order power to overcome the strong as the weak — and the widespread dissemination of this sacrificial power system had given Leilin a daring idea.
Rather than sacrifice to the Supreme Rulers, why not sacrifice to the will of the entire world of Purgatory?
After all, compared to those mercurial Supreme Rulers, a world-will that operated like an intelligent program was far more trustworthy.
And when it came to offerings, what could possibly be more fitting than a branch of the ancient Tree of Wisdom — a tree capable of bestowing enlightenment?