Chapter 465: Beg Me!

Chapter 465 Beg Me!

If it were his first time, Karen would likely still be in the dark about what exactly was unfolding, but he was, after all, experienced by now.

This was an attempt to thoroughly transform both his flesh and his soul into the dark moon.

Her appetite was vast, so vast that she disdained merely taking back her own Eye of the Dark Moon; instead, she wished to subject his body to a complete renovation before moving in.

To be precise, the one who wished to move in was not her, but this bone; yet, to a certain extent, this bone was her.

Karen, after all, was no Neo. One had to understand that Neo's heart relocated itself every two weeks, and his broken ribs were chopped and tossed to the butcher's shop faster than they could be sold.

Karen rarely suffered such pure, deep physical trauma, and the sensation was as though his body were a balloon that had now been violently punctured.

You have already lost the perception of "the body as oneself," gradually turning the body into "a suitcase," "a coat."

It seemed Neo was right: when the instances of injury multiplied, one truly ceased to take one's own body seriously, and you began to treat parts like your palms and calves as "hair" and "nails," mere "accessories" that could be trimmed and grown anew.

The emergence of these thoughts in his mind actually meant that Karen's inner self was no longer as tense and anxious as before.

He was somewhat afraid the other party would swing the bone and smash his head to pieces, and also afraid she would directly shred his soul, but since she intended to clean out his body before moving in...

That truly brought him right back to his most familiar home ground.

The bone had long been riddled with fractures; it was originally extracted from the heavily wounded corpse of a god, had endured the repeated activations and uses of the altar, and was further bearing the erosion of the years.

One could say this bone was like one thrown into a pressure cooker and boiled for bone broth seven or eight times over; it was already difficult to squeeze much of anything left out of it.

Since you want to come and fill it,

Fine,

Let us see if you can fill me to the brim!

Furthermore,

The last "adventurer" who attempted to enter my body is currently watching from above at the mouth of the well!

...

By the edge of the well, Kevin stared with wide, canine eyes.

Because Purr was not as perceptive as Kevin, she had not yet reacted to what was happening below.

Immediately afterward, Kevin began to pat the mouth of the well with his dog paws, laughing as he patted, a laughter that was incredibly exaggerated.

"Stupid dog, what are you laughing at?"

Kevin could not be bothered to answer and continued to laugh.

"Stupid dog?"

Kevin laughed and laughed until he began to gasp for breath; a big golden retriever had actually laughed himself breathless.

"Stupid dog, what on earth is going on?"

Kevin shook his head, flinging away the bitter tears at the corners of his eyes.

"Woof, woof, woof."

Purr froze for a moment, blinked, and pointed downward with her paw. Seeing Kevin nod at her, Purr turned her head back and sat her bottom down on the edge of the well.

After a series of transformations, the expression on the cat's face finally could not be contained:

"Pfft-meow!"

...

"Woof-oh, woof-oh!"

Grandma, like a dog, fawned and barked flatteringly at the woman.

"Hehe, do you know what the most terrifying change for a spiritual imprint is?"

Philomena sat on the threshold, looking up at the sky that had already turned into a sunset red, offering no answer to the question of the woman in red before her.

She felt that if the Captain were here and had swapped places with her, the Captain would likely converse with this woman in red, but she herself could not do it.

She only knew that this woman was invading, saturating, and controlling her dreamscape, which had been her most cherished pure land since childhood.

The woman answered her own question: "It is thinking. When I begin to think, it proves that I have betrayed that existence."

Philomena still ignored her.

Yet the woman seemed to crave talking and communicating with someone, so she continued:

"I began to think, why must I confine myself here forever for the sake of that existence's revenge? I do not hate the moon, because I feel that I am myself, and the moon is the moon. Why must I be imprisoned here forever for her revenge?

Just sitting in that well, the seagulls in the sky and the fish in the sea are all freer than I am; they are all objects of my envy.

The more I thought, the angrier I became, and the more unwilling I grew.

I began to loosen my control over her. She actually began to think even earlier than I did, but had always been suppressed by me. When I stopped suppressing her, she began to actively wear away the shackles here.

That existence certainly would never have imagined that a day would come when the bone she left behind would also rise up to rebel against her, hehe.

Our luck was also just right. When we could take this island as a whole and begin our voyage, we soon perceived that in several places in the nearby waters, a dense aura of the fallen faith of the Moon God was rising.

That was our nourishment, our food, but the problem was, we could not eat it...

However, this must be fate. It was fate that imprisoned us, making us prisoners from the day of our birth, but it is also fate that has unlocked our chains, because it has already delivered the final key."

Hearing this, a trace of doubt appeared on Philomena's face.

The woman continued: "When we found you, when you actively boarded the island, both she and I were laughing. The two of us laughed very happily."

"Is it because we brought two people from the Church of the Moon God along?" Philomena finally asked.

"Not only that, that man is also the true key; he possesses the purest bloodline of the Dark Moon."

The Captain?

The Dark Moon bloodline?

Philomena felt herself beginning to touch upon Karen's secret, only it seemed knowing these things now was of little consequence.

"In truth, we did something in vain, which was that before you boarded the island, I had her destroy the altar for the concluding ritual in advance. But now it seems to have been pointless, because you... no, he simply did not know that a concluding ritual even existed.

What does this mean?

Hahahahahahaha!"

The woman suddenly raised her head and laughed aloud, startling Grandma, who was gnawing on a bone before her, into a few shivers.

"It means that the inheritance of that existence has already suffered a severe generational severing. The believers and inheritors of that existence do not even know of this place anymore.

Hehehe, so, on what grounds should the two of us continue to hold out and suffer here for that one's ridiculous revenge?

All of this should come to an end.

She can obtain a new host body, and I can also obtain you as my host body. This team of yours is truly so perfect that I find it impossible to describe; everything we require, you all possess."

At this moment, the woman placed her hand to her ear as if listening to something, and then she smiled:

"She is very happy, you know, because she has found that his body is far better than anticipated, perfectly suited for her integration."

The Captain's... body.

Is the Captain about to suffer the same fate as me? Are we all to become host bodies for others?

“What kind of emotion is this?” the woman asked, looking at Philomena, “I feel that your anger and hatred have weakened a lot after hearing this news?”

Philomena replied, “Because if his end is the same as mine, my heart is suddenly much more balanced, at least it doesn’t feel unfair.”

“Is that so,” the woman nodded and asked, “Is this a form of liking?”

“No,” Philomena shook her head, “Liking is the simplest and lowest level of emotion; this is a form of identification.”

The woman pondered for a moment,

And said helplessly:

“Perhaps it is because your level of life is too low that I cannot understand it?”

……

“Perhaps, I can let you see something of a higher level.”

Inside his own conscious world, a smile appeared on Karen’s face when he saw that the Ancestor Alan, the Heart of the Sea God, and the Gate of Reincarnation had all been dyed red.

The infiltration and plundering from the Dark Moon had been going on for a while, and its momentum remained fierce.

In the world of consciousness, Karen saw the figure of the Goddess of the Dark Moon change from dim to bright, from clear to grand. Standing there like a woman, she was gradually declaring her sovereignty over this place.

She was originally here, but now, she no longer belonged to Karen; at least for now, she was beginning to rebel.

The phantom of that bone floated at the position of the Goddess of the Dark Moon’s ribs, continuing to infuse her.

But the rate of infusion was already much lower than it had been at the beginning.

The problem was, she had not even touched Karen’s true core yet.

The phantom of Dis appeared behind Karen. Ever since that time Karen heard the conversation between Ankara and the God of Order in his dream, Dis’s figure had become very, very faint. Even now, although it had recovered a little, it still appeared quite thin.

Karen waved his hand, and the phantom of Dis began to retreat. He was unwilling to let the family faith system given by his grandfather face risks at this moment; his grandfather needed rest now.

“Buzz!”

“Buzz!”

“Buzz!”

The Goddess of the Dark Moon began to raise her arms; she was about to completely seize control of Karen’s soul consciousness.

Karen crossed his hands over his chest and began to pray:

“I come from the darkness, seeking the light step by step—that is the light of salvation, the light of hope, the light that is everywhere.”

A beam of light shone into Karen’s conscious space.

Following it was the grand divine body of the God of Light. This was the power of light Karen had obtained from Pur, and also a deep bond left behind since his own “purification.”

Since Neo could be covered in light yet insist he was a believer of Order;

Then Karen could just as well be covered in Order while shouting a slogan of Light.

When the figure of the God of Light appeared, a large portion of the dark red was instantly compressed. In front of the God of Light, the Goddess of the Dark Moon suddenly seemed very petite.

But this was still not enough.

“Supreme Order represents the rules of the world. All chaos shall eventually return to order!”

The figure of the God of Order appeared beside the God of Light.

As the two faith bodies of Light and Order appeared, the Goddess of the Dark Moon was instantly suppressed. In front of these two dominant main gods who had once ruled their respective eras, the Goddess of the Dark Moon was naturally at an absolute disadvantage.

One must know that even Artemis, the Moon Goddess who failed in her dark moon revenge, dared not show any offense toward these two during the eras they reigned.

Of course, the strength here could not be measured entirely by the power of the main gods of each faith.

The fundamental reason still lay in the previous existences like the Sea God’s Armor, the Gate of Reincarnation, and Ancestor Alan. They acted like flood control channels, neutralizing most of the Dark Moon’s waves.

By the time the true dam appeared here, the waves no longer had the strength to crash against it.

Karen took a deep breath. He had already sensed the hunger rising from the depths of his soul, a feeling that appeared again at the most opportune moment. But this time, Karen did not choose to suppress it.

The figure of the Goddess of the Dark Moon began to retreat, while also starting to shrink, meaning she was choosing to flee.

Within the conscious space, Karen raised his hand, and an Order Chain bearing purple rust shot out, directly binding the wrist of the Goddess of the Dark Moon;

In reality, Karen’s hand reached out, grabbing the woman’s wrist, preventing her from pulling that bone out of his sunken chest.

“My heart was originally carrying some gratitude. Although I didn’t want the two of them to die, I did indeed gain benefits after their deaths. But now I realize that my gratitude is completely meaningless, because all of this seems to have been arranged by you people.

Since that is the case, I don't need to be polite either.”

The woman wanted to struggle, but once the bone left her body, the extremely powerful strength she possessed that could have slaughtered everyone present was actually gone, unless that bone could return.

But Karen’s hand blocked its path back.

“Crack... Crack... Crack...”

From the part of the bone that entered Karen’s sunken chest came the sound of cracking, accompanied by the noise of tearing, which meant that not only in soul consciousness but even physically, Karen was dissolving and absorbing this bone.

……

Above the wellhead, Kevin tilted his dog head, his expression both happy and depressed.

Pur turned her head to look at it and asked, “Stupid dog, why can Karen’s body also decompose this bone? What on earth is going on?”

“Woof woof.”

“Oh, right, Karen’s body was originally remodeled by you. A body that can accommodate the descent of an evil god can naturally be filled with a god’s bone, especially this kind of bone that only retains a little divinity. There’s no need to worry about being rejected and repelled by the contained divine power, making it even easier to absorb.

Originally when you were summoned down, you were just a soul. You

Trap her!

Muri, Ventura, and Bart immediately surrounded Philomena.

To be honest, the three of them had little confidence, for Philomena’s original strength made her the strongest in the squad save for the captain, and in a duel, none of them stood a chance against her, to say nothing of the extraordinarily powerful aura she was emanating now.

Yet Philomena, who had only just opened her eyes, immediately closed them again, reseating herself and remaining completely still.

...

What is going on?

The woman in red found herself pulled from reality back into the dream, though it was clear that by controlling this dream, she should control Philomena’s physical body in reality.

Still held aloft by her throat in the woman's grip, Philomena looked at her quite calmly, gesturing with her hand toward the bed in the cabin:

Why do you think I chose to wake up on the cabin bed?

The woman in red froze, and then a realization struck her: A dream within a dream? There is a second layer?

A phantom of a smile played at the corner of Philomena’s lips:

This was originally a trap I prepared for my grandmother.

...

Within the conscious space, Karen stared at the Goddess of the Dark Moon, whom he had bound in chains, a thick, palpable greed blooming in his eyes as his sense of hunger boiled over.

Much like how Neo loathed drinking human blood yet utterly relished the process, Karen loathed devouring souls, yet knew with absolute clarity that it would bring him profound pleasure.

Now, there was no reason to restrain himself; this was not to satisfy his own hedonism, but to consume her to save his own life and the lives of everyone else.

When indulgence dons the cloak of righteousness, stripped of its final layer of moral burden, nothing remains but pure, unadulterated pleasure.

However, just as Karen prepared to dismantle the Goddess of the Dark Moon before him, a woman’s voice echoed from within the bone:

If freedom is beyond reach, then I shall hasten toward release.

The bones, both within the conscious space and in reality, began to glow.

Meow!!! Purr shrieked, This thing is going to detonate itself!

Kevin also barked in sheer terror: Woof, woof, woof!!!

At that moment, the entire island began to tremble, as some horrific, cataclysmic shift brewed beneath the surface.

Out upon the sea, the marine beast that had been waiting there began to shudder, acutely aware that a miserable end awaited it if it did not flee immediately, yet the restriction Purr had placed upon it forbade it from disobeying commands;

It could only let out one helpless, agonized wail after another.

...

You can go look for my next layer of dreams now, and as long as you occupy it, you can still control my body, though it will delay you a little bit, Philomena said.

The woman in red shook her head, releasing her grip on Philomena’s throat with a heavy sigh,

And said:

No need, he is far more mysterious and uncanny than we imagined, and she has already chosen release.

Philomena pondered for a brief moment before distinguishing whom the he and she referred to.

Release?

Yes, to annihilate me, her, and this entire island along with us.

...

Within the conscious space, Karen stood there, quietly watching the light within the bone of the Dark Moon Goddess grow brighter and brighter; in a few moments, a horrific explosion would erupt, and his soul, his physical self, and this island would cease to exist.

But Karen did not panic, nor did he fear, for such emotions no longer existed in his mind;

Just as to an addict, so long as they can take one more hit or inject one more dose, the life or death of their family and even the destruction of the world can be tossed to the back of their mind.

This was precisely why Karen had been restraining himself from bowing to it before, because he knew all too well that once he thoroughly indulged this state, he would eventually begin to devour even those closest to him.

Why else did the true Ankara hate the God of Order so vehemently?

Yet, right at that moment, the light of the bone suddenly froze, as if everything had been paused.

What is happening? From within the bone came the woman's bewildered voice, and then, as if realizing something, Damn it, you are still here!

The figure of the Goddess of the Dark Moon, which had been as numb and expressionless as a temple statue, seemed to undergo a peculiar transformation at this moment, and a primal, majestic voice resonated from her mouth:

Swear allegiance to me, avenge me, and I shall grant you my gift.

This was a decree from the Goddess of the Dark Moon herself.

Perhaps a strand of her will had always been sealed upon this island, never discovered and never awakened, only to quietly stir at this very instant;

Or perhaps, in the grand design of things, what was unfolding here struck a chord, causing this phantom of a goddess, who should have been devoid of all emotion, to generate a self-aware behavior under established rules.

In short, the situation that had nearly faced utter collapse met with a turning point once more.

As long as Karen could swear the oath, inherit the legacy of the Dark Moon Goddess, and seek vengeance against the Moon God Church, he would receive her boon.

In fact, this island, this altar, and these bones were originally gifts prepared by the Goddess of the Dark Moon for her outstanding descendants.

Karen licked his lips, the greed in his eyes so thick it nearly liquefied and spilled out, his hunger-filled heart already capable of driving his entire being to reckless abandon;

Reason dictated that he should agree to any condition at this moment, so long as it allowed him to feast quickly and satiate the hunger that was driving him to madness.

Yet Karen stopped, refusing to rush into agreement.

Looking at the phantom of the Goddess of the Dark Moon before him, the hunger in Karen’s gaze transformed into a most indifferent, icy profundity;

Facing the goddess who exuded a holy and pure aura,

He spoke in an utterly calm voice:

Beg me.