Chapter 212: Came Like a Wind; Disappeared Like a Wind

At first glance, the man in front of her doesn't look like a knight. His carefree look, gentlemanly aura, and strangely piercing eyes are enough to make one think that he is a nobleman instead. Though Degenbrecher did not shy away from reality—staring at the black blade that beheaded a dozen enemies in one go.

"I saw the 'knights' in this country and thought there would be not many true ones left, but I am mistaken. Your sword is sharp, young miss."

"It's not as sharp as yours." She replied.

Shiro chuckled upon hearing it before saying, "That's natural. You'll need to train first before achieving this level."

Tap-!

Tap-!

In the pathway behind Degenbrecher, three corrupted Terrans strolled towards them. Seeing this, they knew that the stadium is now a mess considering that the only reason for their appearance was them wreaking havoc in the stands themselves.

"Damn! What was wrong with you?!"

"Don't come near me!"

"Silver pupils... Is this Leithania's doing?!"

Aside from the panicked crowd, Shiro heard many painful screams as the sounds of teeth sinking into flesh echoed in his ears.

"Apocalypse."

The descent of outer gods brings apocalypse, something that the earthlings knew thanks to their literary works. However, this genre wasn't present in Terra which led to people feeling fright and trepidation towards the unknown that caused all of this.

"If you want to get out, now should be the best time to do so." Shiro said as he passed through her.

"What about you?"

"Me? I will clean up that mess myself."

*****

Inside the open-air stadium of the Majors, grotesque sight is present everywhere. The splattered bits of flesh from the previously excited audience dyed the ground with red. The Terrans with silver pupils emitted one of the most primal instincts of man—murder.

Be it their nails, fingers, or teeth, they were used to strip off the life of someone. Such is the frailty of mortal life.

Soon, silence is all that's left in this place. The mortals-turned-mindless killers are now seeking more lives to kill, leaving the corpses of the thousands. At the same time, sight unseen by the mundane is starting to form.

The intangible essence inside a life—soul—started gathering in the stadium's center. The black-robed men present started to recite an incomprehensible mantra. Their voices mixed, mimicking the voice of their beloved 'goddess'.

The men sensed a power so strong that the Knights of Kazimierz and the Casters of Leithania is nothing but an ant compared to it. Due to its intensity, the aura has spread all over the explored land of Terra.

...

On top of a mountain, a pavilion was built. Shockingly, the resident of this pavilion is a special existence that everyone in Yan respects, a special Feranmut who is cooperating with the government to prevent the awakening of a certain evil deity.

As they knew that the awakening of such beings symbolizes chaos and destruction, they spared no effort to comply with her demands. Of course, they are simple to the point that they were surprised at first.

"Another farcical dream to be woken up from." The beautiful blue-haired woman said as she drank all of her wine in one go. "The broken sky under the moonlit pagoda; misfortune is the one brought upon by it."

Shaking her head, she proceeded to think about more impertinent matters.

...

A white-haired Draco strolled in the hallway of Ursus' castle. The paintings of every monarch greeted her sight with her every step. If one would see her, their mind would go blank. The person in question had slain the duke of their nation, something which is viewed as the highest level of treason. Yet, the said woman is calmly strolling inside the Palace in the Capital.

Transparent threads were spread out with her as the origin, covering the entire Ursine Capital easily. As such, she can't miss out on the commotion in their neighboring country.

"The entities beyond the sky..." A dignified voice echoed out. "I shall speed up the plans."

She walked away expressionlessly—with one that could rival Kal'tsit's own.

...

A war-stricken country. Skirmishes happen every day, causing the death toll to continuously rise without fail. Although it is on the verge of collapse, dread evident in its citizens, many have not given up. They tried their best to raise Kazdel's status beyond what most know as a ruined nation.

Inside a huge landship, the pacifist Regent of the Sarkaz is placating the emotion of a young Cautus. The girl has a bright light in her little eyes, hope overflowing from it.

"Ah?" The Regent froze as she felt something with her overwhelming senses that could capture even the intangible. "Something bad has descended in this world."

"Something wrong?"

Behind her, a man in full black came. He wore a black helmet to hide his true face but the truth is that he just want to hide his gestures so that the enemies can leverage him less.

"That's right. Where is—"

"I'm here."

The feline woman, Kal'tsit, spoke as she walked towards them.

"...Pfft..!" The masked man burst out laughing as he saw her. "Looks like you can eat normal food now, don't you?"

"What do you..." Realizing her mistake, Kal'tsit swiftly removed the bread residue from her cheek before secretly turning it into ashes. "I did. How does it concern you?"

"Aha... Nothing."

"About that feeling... It came from the West." Theresa said.

"It should be in Kazimierz, the Land of the Knights."

Hearing this, the masked man became serious as he rhetorically asked "Kazimierz? Didn't we send Logos out there?"

"He should be fine." Kal'tsit stated with certainty.

"How can you tell?"

"Because... he is there."

Just as the masked man, the Doctor, was about to ask more about "he", he got interrupted by Theresa's words.

"It's gone... Did your friend resolve it?"

"Mn."

Such a terrifying aura is not a match of an ordinary Feranmut. Only the stronger ones such as the one in Yan or the guys in Sami and Ursus can rival it. Still, they might pay a huge price to defeat it...

...

Moments ago.

"Why... Why did you play with souls in front of me?"

As of now, Shiro has a wry smile on his face. These fellows are about to sacrifice Terran souls which would theoretically allow the outer god's vessel to improve. Focus on the keyword: SOULS.

Wordlessly, he activated his True Magic, [Heaven's Feel]. The souls that are gathering in this place immediately dispersed, returning to the natural reincarnation cycle of Terra. While he could not prevent such a massacre, he could do them a favor and let them 'live' in another way.

As for the black-robed men, their heads simultaneously exploded, splattering their brain matter alongside the gory hellscape in this stadium.

"Huh."

Bam-!

Something intangible slammed through his direction, utilizing the <Mind> of a god to attack invisibly. The [Moon] authority is also added to it, making the attack more lethal as the moon's gentleness can pass through most barriers available.

However...

"What?!"

In Shiro's place is another black-robed person, the beautiful woman that he swiftly saw in his vision.

Confused, she muttered, "My attack..? How?"

Her attack that was aimed at Shiro failed... and targeted her instead. Many predictions passed through 'her' mind in a flash before having a preliminary guess about this effect.

"Karma?"

"Not quite." Shiro laughed lowly as he tapped his tracksuit, turning his attire into a Victorian suit. "Hm... Like this."

Suddenly, the 'woman' felt that a portion of 'her' power abruptly disappeared. To be specific, the [Moon] authority that 'she' always had. Under her jittery eyes, a ray of moonlight descended directly onto her.

It did not possess its previous corrupting effect, but the "true" power that it represented before their arrival—that is purity.

"Her" body started to turn into rotting flesh bit by bit until it turned into ashes that scattered into the wind. Of course,' she' would not let this happen, thus she disappeared from her position. By the time she reappeared inside the Emcee's room, all she saw is a man with a monocle in his right eye, creepily staring in her direction.

*****

A/N: If anyone's wondering, MC has the fragmented memories of the ones connected to [Lord of the Mysteries]: Mysteries (The Old One), Klein, and Amon. So yeah, he has some of Amon's memories, which is basically him trolling Klein for half of the book. It should not pose any problems... maybe.

Anyways, here's the fact of the day!

Fact #91: The Void Archive (Otto's thingy) can simulate the 0th form of other God Keys! It means that I am wrong in the earlier chapters (it's corrected already). It is shown in the manhwa Honkai Impact 3rd: 2nd Lawman, chapter 58. There, Otto used Judah's 0th form on Theresa to show her its power. So yup, Void Archive might be the most broken God Key that I know of...

(PS: Thanks to my reader that pointed this out!)