Chapter 498: Tonight, the Moon is as Red as Blood (Part 1)_1

"Squeak... Squeak... Squeak..."

The wind sways the windows producing odd creaking sounds, the curtains flutter with the wind, an unidentified beam of light creates bright squares on the floor through the window. As Khonsu walks down the insane asylum's corridor with Shiller, it feels like a finger rippling over the contrasting black and white piano keys.

Khonsu is unlike any other Demon God; he personifies as the Power of Moonlight on the Moon Knight and embarks on adventures in human society with them. Hence, he isn't completely oblivious to human life; at the least, he recognizes that this is a corridor in a human hospital.

However, at the same time, this corridor feels unfamiliar to him. It lacks the twisted, mysterious human script, but rather contains square characters that feel familiar to him, the same as the ancient Egyptian text he's a devoted user of, the lines are complex as a painting.

In the blur, Khonsu reminisces; he seems to have seen this language in the mind of a certain agent before; it belongs to a distant Eastern country, as ancient as Ancient Egypt, where Khonsu resides.

As Khonsu walks ahead, he turns to look at the hallway walls of the hospital, the bottom half painted in bluish-green, below which it's lined with a white skirting. Yet, the colored paint has chipped off significantly, making it appear shabby.

Khonsu is an ancient Demon God, but at the same time, among all the Cosmic Sorcerers, he is the closest to humans. He drew faith from the people of Ancient Egypt, while simultaneously guarding the ancient nation and its people in the temple.

His thought process is distinct from that of humans, yet because he is so close to them, he can better understand these small beings.

In his perspective, humans have endless beautiful fantasies; they exhaust all their imagination to create a utopia in their minds - every Moon Knight had done so.

However, the person walking ahead of him now seems different. Khonsu doesn't understand; why does Shiller have a slightly dilapidated mental hospital in his mind?

The windowpanes, slightly yellowed from sunlight, the peeling wall paint, the uneven skirting boards. Each room door and wall is plastered with small adverts containing texts and numbers. Even the glass and tile floors look cloudy, appearing as if they haven't been wiped for ages.

"Where are we going?" asked Khonsu. "Where is your strongest personality?"

"Don't rush. Before that, we need to negotiate the terms." responded Shiller as he continued walking ahead.

"Indeed, humans are fond of negotiation. Everyone I've met is like this." replied Khonsu, not the least bit surprised.

"Before that, aren't you going to introduce yourself to me? Moon God Khonsu, who are you? Why choose a Proxy with multiple personality disorder?"

"I'm not sure how much you know about Deity System, but if the organization you've mentioned, the Holy Sanctuary, has been in contact with many Demon Gods, then you should know that human faith is crucial for us."

"There are two ways to seek human faith. The first is to descend upon the human world, demonstrating your formidable power, revealing your true name and enabling people to worship you as their God."

"Alternatively, embodying natural phenomena that humans already believe in like the sun, moon, birth, death, spring, winter, etc. is another way."

"Did you choose the latter?" Shiller asked, slightly turning back.

"Correct, but there are many Demon Gods who made this choice. These natural phenomena inherently yield conceptual Demon Gods, but there aren't many phenomena that humans venerate. Accordingly, the deity overlap is inevitable."

"As per my understanding, every Deity System has a Sun God, Thor, Fire God, Water God, etc., they all have the same Godship, how is faith distributed?"

"That's precisely what I'm getting at." Khonsu's deep voice resonates in the corridor. Due to Shiller's unique nature, Khonsu has the patience to explain more. He said, "The Earth has many Sun Gods and Moon Gods, but we each oversee different aspects."

"I represent the changing phases of the moon. The People of Ancient Egypt etched the different forms of the moon on the walls in the form of patterns and integrated them into their language. They associate the moon's changing phases with the passage of time. Hence, I've become the Deity representing each phase of the moon."

"This is why, unlike other Demon Gods, who merely confer power to the proxies, I, on the other hand, can take up residence in the host's mind, enabling them to summon me anytime, anywhere."

"As many as there are phases of the moon, there are as many versions of me. I constantly oscillate among several states without a definite original form."

"Therefore, I elect proxies whose state is similar to mine, choosing them to become Moon Knights, because like me, they are also undefined. In this state, they can better utilize my power."

"So, if you choose me as your Proxy and cast your power upon me, what would you expect me to do?"

This question from Shiller stumps Khonsu; he's the first human to ask about the cost of gaining power. However, after a brief silence, he says, "Actually, that's something you should also be doing, as all this happened because of the Holy Sanctuary."