Chapter 208: The Cry

Chapter Two Hundred Eight
The Cry

Beep, beep, beep.

Inside the Captain’s office, the telegraph suddenly stirred, as though a new message was about to arrive.

But Klein and Leonard could not spare even the smallest part of their attention. Their eyes were red, and they were silently counting the beats of the second hand.

“Ten.”

“Nine.”

“Eight.”

…

At that moment, Dunn Smith, holding in his left hand the square casket that seemed made of silver and bone, entered the reception hall with a grave expression.

Megose, who had been tearing out handful after handful of golden hair and scratching wounds deep enough to reveal bone and blood, seemed to be stimulated by something. She shot to her feet, pointed at Dunn Smith in his thin black windbreaker, and shrieked in a piercing voice:

“You want to kill my child!”

“You want to kill my child!”

Bang!

As that terrifyingly sharp voice echoed, Klein felt as if his head had been smashed by a heavy hammer. His silent count abruptly broke off. Pain and dizziness filled him.

His vision was instantly dyed blood-red. At his nose, something seemed to flow down uncontrollably.

Instinctively, he glanced to the side and saw blood streaming from the corners of Leonard Mitchell’s eyes, from his nose, from his mouth. Leonard’s face had turned deathly pale, and his body swayed as if he might collapse at any second.

I seem to be the same…

Klein dragged his thoughts back by force and resumed the count from the place where it had snapped. He deliberately skipped two seconds.

“Five.”

“Four.”

…

Amid that terrifying shriek, the deep gray eyes of Dunn Smith were covered with bloodshot veins, every single one clearly visible.

The blood vessels on his face bulged as well, one after another, like venomous snakes. Bright red liquid flowed from his ears.

Yet he did not fall dizzy. His right hand paused only for one second. Then, driven by powerful will, it pressed upon the casket of Saint Selena’s ashes and lifted the lid.

Inside was darkness deep beyond description. Within that darkness lay brilliant grains of sand, each one dazzling. The scene possessed a dreamlike beauty, like the night sky sealed inside a box.

Everything around them abruptly dimmed. Depth and gloom enveloped the entire reception hall. In the air, countless black, cold, slippery threads stirred and rippled.

They surged toward Megose and almost instantly wrapped around her.

They did not seem like spider silk. They were more like tentacles belonging to some nameless creature.

Megose’s right eyeball had long since been gouged out by her own hand. It hung beneath the empty socket, attached by a bloodstained cord. She glared at Dunn Smith and screamed:

“You must die!”

Bang!

Dunn was flung away by an invisible force and slammed hard into the opposite wall. Cracks spread across the plaster, and bricks flew loose.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, but his hands still held the casket of Saint Selena’s ashes. They held it tightly. They did not let it fall.

The countless black, cold, slippery threads drew tighter and tighter, binding Megose firmly where she stood. Whether it was the flames that suddenly rose with “mold stains” upon them, or the blasphemous fluid secreted from the surface of Megose’s skin, none could harm those threads in the slightest.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

Klein and Leonard burst past the partition at the same time—one gripping a warm, thin gold sheet; the other with Vascular Thief wrapped around his left wrist, opening five fingers toward Megose.

Megose, who no longer looked much like a human, was struggling with all her might. On each of her shoulders, flesh swelled outward, mixed with blood vessels and green-black veins. Round and bulging, they looked like children’s heads.

Across those two “heads,” cracks were spreading quickly, as though about to become eyes.

Megose suddenly sensed danger. She opened her mouth wide, the corners splitting all the way to her ears.

She was about to use “Blasphemous Words” to curse every enemy who intended to harm her child.

Just then, Leonard’s five fingers abruptly clenched, and his wrist rotated half a turn.

His pale face turned the color of liver. Blood vessels stood out across it, like tiny venomous insects.

“…”

Megose’s Blasphemous Words stuck in her throat and came to an abrupt halt.

In that instant, she seemed to lose the ability to speak. She lost the ability to curse others.

Klein seized the chance. In a deep voice, he uttered one ancient Hermes word:

“Light!”

Let there be light!

He immediately felt the thin gold sheet, covered with mysterious patterns, turn scorching hot in his palm. It emitted a blinding radiance, as though it had transformed into a tiny sun.

Klein poured most of his spirituality into it, then threw that Sunflame Charm at the imprisoned Megose.

The reception hall turned brilliantly bright. The deep darkness and gloom vanished at the same time. The black threads wrapped around Megose suddenly shrank back, as though instinctively avoiding something.

Yet before Megose could regain freedom, she saw sunlight.

At some unknown moment, a great hole had appeared in the ceiling of Blackthorn Security Company. The hole pierced through the roof of the third floor, allowing the blue sky and blazing sun to shine in together.

The thin gold sheet merged with the sunlight above Megose’s head. It instantly expanded, lighting a sphere of radiance in place—a sphere of light surrounded by countless flames.

Boom!

The entire building shook violently. Glass shattered along the nearby streets.

And yet the power of the sphere of light had been concentrated at its core. Very little scattered outward.

It swallowed Megose. The light stabbed Klein, Dunn, and Leonard until none of them could open their eyes.

Forcing back tears, Klein squinted and looked over. The radiance had already scattered. The flames still rose, and within them, many black ashes spun and danced.

Megose and the baby in her belly had left no trace, just like the coffee table, water cups, newspapers, and sectional sofa in that area.

Is it over? Did we deal with her and that suspected evil god’s child before it truly took shape and descended into the real world?

For a moment, Klein hardly dared believe it.

Based on all his experience from games, how could a major boss be dealt with so easily?

Suddenly, every hair on his body stood on end. The Clown’s premonition told him that an extremely intense danger was about to arrive.

Without time to think, Klein violently rolled to the left.

Just then, an unusually sharp white bone blade, as long as an arm, cleaved out from nowhere and appeared in midair. It possessed a strange, bewitching beauty. Its speed was so fast, its angle so difficult to avoid.

Swish!

Klein’s clothing over his right chest was split in two. His skin was split in two. His flesh was split in two. Even his bone was split in two.

The wound was so deep one could almost see his lung.

If not for sensing the danger ahead of time and dodging in time, that slash would have cut his entire person into two pieces, killing him on the spot.

Even so, Klein froze. Violent pain filled his head, driving away all thought.

At the end of the white bone blade, a figure rapidly outlined itself. If not for the high bulge of her belly, perhaps no one would have been able to recognize that she was Megose.

Her hair and dress had been burned completely away. The skin of her face and body was charred black and peeling off piece by piece. Her nose had melted, leaving only two small black holes where it had been. Her eyes were gone, and in their sunken sockets, pale-white flames leapt.

The “heads” protruding from Megose’s shoulders had also been burned away. Her left arm had become the white bone blade she held—demonic and holy all at once.

Clang!

As the floor shook, Megose ignored Dunn, ignored Leonard, ignored the black, cold, slippery threads surging toward her again. In a flashing motion, she appeared before Klein, whose rolling movement had stalled. The white bone blade aimed at his neck, about to slash down.

Suddenly, she heard a voice filled with intense blasphemous intent:

“Submit!”

Leonard raised his left hand, locking Megose in his palm. Around his wrist, the Sealed Artifact 2-105 changed from a thick, pale, bloodstained vessel into a dark-red “intestine,” swollen almost to the point of bursting.

Moments earlier, using Vascular Thief, he had successfully stolen Megose’s Blasphemous Words. Now he was attempting to control her with her own ability.

Only an ability of equal level could take effect.

Affected by the Blasphemous Words, Megose bent slightly at the waist. Her knees trembled, and her movement stopped.

Around her, the countless black threads seemed to have discovered a delicious prey. They surged forward one after another. Klein also seized the opportunity to roll in another direction, leaving a trail of bright-red blood behind him.

At the same time, the pain loosened its grip on him slightly. His palm entered his pocket and took out the last Sunflame Charm.

Use this chance while Megose is controlled. End her completely!

If she lasts until the “baby” successfully descends, the consequences will be unimaginable!

Bang!

Megose’s head exploded on its own. Charred skin and flesh scattered in every direction.

But her headless body used that to break free of the influence of the Blasphemous Words.

Bang!

Megose’s charred body transformed into a cannonball, shooting toward Leonard at terrifying speed. And because the Blasphemous Words had been forcibly broken, Leonard was briefly frozen in place.

At that moment, Dunn Smith was still tightly holding Saint Selena’s casket. His face was deathly pale, while the cold black threads created by the ashes still needed just a little more time to close the circle. They were about to dye the surrounding space entirely black.

Crash!

Megose slammed into Leonard, knocking him into the wall and causing it to collapse with a rumble.

Leonard’s bones cracked one after another. Blood spilled continuously from his mouth. He had not even the impulse to struggle. He directly lost consciousness.

Megose raised the white bone blade.

But the countless black threads spreading from Saint Selena’s casket wrapped over again, trying to bind her tightly and imprison her where she stood.

Klein had no time to care about his wound. He pulled out the thin gold sheet.

Just as he was about to recite the ancient Hermes incantation, inside that deep, dim, tranquil room, a sudden sound rang out:

“Wah!”

It was the cry of an infant.