Chapter 568: Rescue

Chapter 568 Salvation

The Fallen God does not refer to a deity who has fallen, but rather to a specific deity known precisely as the "Fallen God."

He was a very low-profile deity, a reticence born not only from his lack of an established church but also from the very nature of his duties.

He was a... corpse carrier.

Before this current era, whenever a god fell, a titanic figure clad in a grey cloak and crowned with a straw hat would manifest against the vault of the heavens.

This was the image preserved in the sparse, pitiful records left behind of the Fallen God.

Of course, he was not responsible for disposing of every single fallen deity's remains.

Some gods possessed churches of their own, whose believers would reverently gather the corpse of their lord to preserve whatever divine legacy remained, praying that their god might one day return.

Faced with these deceased gods taken in by their own churches, the Fallen God would not use force, even if the church in question was weak; he would consult the wishes of the believers, though in truth, this consultation was often entirely superfluous, for who would willingly surrender the divine vessel of their worshiped lord?

Yet, over the span of several eras, the number of gods who never founded their own churches was by no means small, and furthermore, even if some had established churches, the locations of their demises were often too awkward, or simply remained a complete mystery.

These fell within the core business of the Fallen God, and he was rarely left idle.

Moreover, during the past two eras—whether during the reign of the God of Eternity, the reign of the God of Light, or the absolute dominance of the God of Order—the faction leaders of each generation maintained a tacit acceptance of the Fallen God.

Even in times of factional warfare, no alignment would attempt to recruit the Fallen God to their side; it was not that the gods harbored some taboo, but rather that this transcendent status belonged exclusively to him, allowing him to stand independent of factional struggles and personal vendettas.

Another crucial reason was that the corpse of a god was, inherently, a massive source of contamination.

Whether handled by faithful believers, taken over by a divine friend, or squeezed dry by a vengeful slayer, any outcome was far better than a god perishing mysteriously in some unnoticed corner, eventually brewing into a land of corruption.

The Land of Divine Burial served as the perfect example, where a band of gods approaching the end of their lives gathered to die in one place, instantly polluting the area into a forbidden zone.

This forced two successive hegemons, the God of Light and the God of Order, to personally venture there to resolve the matter.

Even though the God of Order himself entered and used the most brutal means to challenge the Land of Divine Burial alone, subsequently ordering Ranedal to banish that region, it still failed to prevent their attempted return years later.

The hunched youth of the Light faction on the Island of Fire was the absolute proof of this.

Once a rotting swamp formed, it resembled a patch of toxic mushrooms; even if you cleared it out once, new horrors would inevitably sprout anew.

Thus, the Fallen God was the porter of "divine corpses."

Naturally, this service was not rendered without compensation; he certainly had a use for those divine remains he transported and processed.

For instance... extracting their sequence of faith.

Those who manipulated sand were not necessarily of the Desert Church, and while outsiders could hardly tell the difference, Kevin could, because in the previous era, he had encountered one of the... Fallen Gods.

Having unsealed two layers of his restrictions, Kevin’s perception could be said to have heightened significantly, and his senses often pierced directly to the absolute essence of things.

Yet Kevin did not know at this moment that this sand-wielder had just nearly slaughtered the Chief Bishop's entire household.

But he had already caught the scent of the killing intent radiating from the newcomer, faint yet unmistakably clear.

...

Cullen had been continuously observing the woman seated upon the coffin, perplexed by the peculiar texture she possessed, for that ethereal, transparent quality—void of any impurity, completely devoid of any blood vitality or spiritual fluctuations—imposed a significant pressure upon him.

In truth, this effect arose because Kevin had cast a "rendering" upon Purr; Cullen, observing a mere puppet, naturally failed to capture the traces possessed by a living person, just as one could never discern a heartbeat from a plastic mannequin.

This could be considered an exercise in reverse psychology, much like placing a plate of cold-tossed chameleon plant upon a table in a high-end restaurant; you would subconsciously assume it to be some sophisticated, rare gourmet delicacy.

Purr continued to manipulate her puppet to caress herself,

And at the same time,

The woman spoke: "Meisente, Lalxi, or Miliole?"

When these words fell from the woman’s lips, Cullen's expression finally turned entirely solemn, and he replied:

"I am surprised, truly surprised, to encounter someone here who knows such deep, hidden secrets. Permit me to ask you a rather cliché question: who exactly are you?"

"Me? I am just a cat."

The woman lifted the black cat from her lap, turning the feline face to meet her own, and continued:

"An exquisite afternoon tea is enough to keep me happy for a very long time."

"I am a descendant of the Miliole lineage." Cullen took half a step back and bowed. "Greetings to you, mysterious one."

Although the Fallen God had not created a church of his own, there were subordinate branch gods beneath him; the names Purr had uttered previously belonged to three of these branch deities.

Yet across the long river of history, whenever these three branch gods manifested, their appearances were identical, meaning few people—and indeed few gods—knew that this specific image of the Fallen God was actually shared.

Upon hearing the name "Miliole," a flash of gravity instantly surfaced within Kevin's canine eyes, and immediately following this, connected as he was by a mental bridge to Purr, he transmitted the corresponding information over.

Purr, held aloft by her own puppet, showed a look of contemplation in her eyes.

For Kevin had altered their original plan, which had initially dictated that the cat would borrow the dog’s majesty;

Frightening this "intruder" away would be ideal, or at least stalling for time until Cullen returned with reinforcements.

But Kevin had changed the plan, altering it beyond all recognition.

Cullen’s gaze drifted about, quickly detecting an incongruity in one of the corners, a smile touching the corners of his lips; that position should have belonged to that somewhat plump Divine Inspired from before.

To go so far as to protect and conceal a mere Divine Inspired—are they trying to deceive me?

He conceded there was a probability of encountering a slumbering, powerful existence within "Cullen's" home, but he did not believe such a mighty being would trouble themselves to shelter a trivial Divine Inspired.

Heh...

Cullen raised his head once more, the gravity and wariness vanishing from his gaze, replaced only by a playful, mocking sneer.

Purr's heart sank, realizing their ruse had been seen through, and they could deceive him no longer.

But why was it that Cullen could repeatedly deceive his opponents with such tactics, making them mistake him for a powerhouse until they lost their nerve and dared not offend;

While she, at her "venerable" age, accompanied personally by an evil god, couldn't even fool a single person?

How infuriating!

Cullen straightened his posture, slowly spreading his hands as two miniature sand whirlwinds began to spin within his palms.

"I think your current pose is excellent, highly suited to become my next artwork. My apologies, but my time is short, so I must quicken the pace."

Cullen hesitated no longer, unleashing a terrifying pressure of sand that crushed down, shattering all the miscellaneous formations scattered around, as he personally raised his hand and pointed directly at Purr.

In an instant, sand manifested beneath the feet of Purr, Kevin, and the woman, the threat of death stark and tangible.

"A puppet... you truly fooled me just now."

Right at that moment, Purr spoke:

"I have the corpse of a god, which I can give to you."

Cullen’s fingers curled, pausing his movement.

"Oh?"

The legacy of a god was the greatest secret in this era bereft of deities, and moreover, a divine corpse held an exceptionally unique significance for a descendant of the Fallen God.

Cullen smiled faintly. "I will grant you one minute to explain. If I am unsatisfied, you die."

Hearing this, Kevin took a few steps forward, shaking the sand from his body.

In truth, the moment he learned the opponent was a descendant of the Miliole lineage, Kevin knew it would be difficult to hoodwink him, because Miliole possessed a prefix: The Discerner—Miliole.

Kevin had once interacted with Miliole, at a time when he himself had already attained godhood and was pursuing the taboos of time;

He had originally intended to extort something from Miriore, setting a few traps for that very purpose, but the other party seemed to possess some sort of special ability that could pierce through the illusions before his eyes.

Therefore, at this present moment, conventional intimidation was no longer enough to scare the opponent away, so next, he had to consider how to use the cost already at hand to trade with him.

This was, of course, not a fair trade, because the other party held the lives of everyone in this courtyard in his grasp.

Kevin even felt a bit resentful, blaming himself for why he had softened his heart again, or perhaps grew too greedy; how wonderful it would have been if he had just played the part of a normal dog earlier, found a place to lie down, and pretended to be asleep.

This was a paranoid fellow, who probably would not bear to let a dog's creation lower the average caliber of his own artwork.

Come on, Purr, speak my name, hand me over, and I will lead him to find the burial place of Raniedal.

Though Kevin knew full well that his own divine body had thoroughly collapsed back when the God of Order suppressed him, and that no burial place of his existed at all.

But it felt that this was already enough; it could not fool the Miriore of the past, but fooling this successor in front of it would certainly pose no problem.

At the end of the day, Kevin was not sacrificing himself for this family; in its original calculation, it did not matter if everyone in this house died, and it even faintly anticipated the expression the real Garen would have upon returning home to find his family made into sand sculptures.

Its active "sacrifice" was entirely for Purr.

There was no special reason, nor any rock-solid motive; an evil god, after all, had to be a bit willful.

However,

Purr's next reaction caused Kevin to stare wide-eyed in absolute disbelief.

Instead of pointing at Kevin and speaking the name "Raniedal" as agreed, Purr directly hoisted her tail, parting its very tip to reveal that crystal-clear phalanx bone:

"The place where the God of Light fell, I wonder if you are interested?"

The moment the words left her mouth, Garen's figure flashed, appearing directly in front of Purr, his gaze locked dead onto that phalanx bone.

"I originally thought this was just an outing with a mission, I really did not expect that there could be such a harvest."

"I will take you to the place where the God of Light fell, a place that only I can open. The condition is, here, you are not allowed to kill another single person."

"Woof, woof, woof, woof!!!"

Kevin began to bark like mad, it was practically losing its mind, it did not understand what on earth Purr was doing!

It had clearly already prepared itself to "sacrifice," so why did you, a cat, have to steal its spotlight!

Most importantly, you and Garen are in a symbiotic relationship!

Garen lowered his head, looking down at the barking golden retriever beneath his feet.

Purr immediately added: "And no killing the dog either."

"You have a purpose." Garen smiled, "Intuition tells me that if I agree to your terms, I will very likely pay the price of my life for my greed."

Purr replied: "Of course, exploring any divine ruin is an adventure where you tie your life to your belt, let alone that of the great God of Light."

Garen stuck out his tongue and began to lick his lips at a high frequency:

"I will die because of this, my intuition has always been accurate. If I want to survive, I should kill everyone here right now, including the cat and the dog, then hide away at the fastest speed and find a chance to flee York City to have a spark of life."

Having said this, Garen's tone immediately shifted:

"But without the passion of life, one cannot create exquisite artwork. I am willing to take a gamble, to gamble with my life."

Garen reached out his hand, grabbing Purr by the neck.

Purr continued her warning:

"If you dare kill one more person here, I will ensure you get absolutely nothing."

"Tsk, tsk." Garen nodded, "I find myself starting to like your stubbornness a bit, very nice."

The next moment, Purr was covered from head to toe in sand; this sand not only bound Purr's body but also sealed away Purr's soul, isolating her communication with the outside world.

Garen cradled Purr in his arms and looked down once more at that golden retriever.

Kevin began to back away under Garen's gaze, his eyes gradually turning flattering, even prostrating himself.

"What was that rendering about just now?" Garen asked.

Kevin wagged his tail, flashing an innocent and honest smile.

"There is definitely something wrong with you, a mere dog. That fellow lying in the room altering the illusions also has something wrong with him; I even saw Compaccini in his illusion."

"Ah, this fellow named Garen, his family really hides so many secrets. I regret it a bit; the first stop shouldn't have been the Chief's house, which made me lose too much time."

Garen crouched down, reaching out his hand toward Kevin's head.

As if treating the real Garen, Kevin proactively leaned in, letting the other party pat its head.

"Heh, then I will temporarily store you and him right here. In the future, I will come back again; you have already been marked by me."

Standing up, Garen prepared to leave but suddenly paused in his tracks, appearing to speak to Kevin behind him, yet also seemingly talking to himself:

"Ah, I should be able to survive, right? What on earth is this gloom of death rising in my heart?"

With that said, his figure turned into a patch of sand and dissolved directly away.

Only after the opponent had departed did the smile on Kevin's face gradually fade, a crimson hue washing into a pair of canine eyes.

Even when Dis sealed it, even when Garen occupied the body it had meticulously prepared and it had barked and cursed maniacally, it had never been as furious as it was this time;

After all, the former instances were matters of tactical winning and losing, like a game of chess; losing once was just losing, and it could always win it back the next round.

But this time was different. The last time it looked on with such eyes, it was looking at the vast sea.

"Woof!"

……

In the courtyard of Leon's villa, Garen suddenly perceived a fierce palpitation of the heart. In an instant, he realized exactly where this palpitation originated; Purr was in danger... something had happened at home!

"Filomena, follow me back to the funeral parlor, quick!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Augee spoke up, asking: "What's wrong?"

"Something happened at my house."

Garen answered swiftly, a pair of black wings sprouting from behind him.

Before this, he had wondered whether he could be as "quiet" as Bishop Wolfrun if he were to swap places with him; clearly, it was impossible. Once he sensed that Purr was in danger, Garen completely lost all regard for anything else.

"So, are you going home?"

Augee reached out and directly grabbed Garen's shoulder. In that instant, Garen felt as though a mountain had been pressed down upon him; the flapping of the wings behind him failed to lift the soles of his boots even a fraction off the ground.

She truly was a mountain—no, she was an entire mountain range!

"Is it related to the assassination incident?"

Garen had not considered that the assassins would go to his house, partly because he did not dare think in that direction, for he knew very well what such a consequence would imply; Alfred was still unconscious at home, leaving virtually no defensive strength.

"Just say it is related. Staying here bores me to death anyway, I really want to leave the Whip-bearer's side to catch some fresh air, do you get my meaning?"

"My house has clues!"

"Mm, that's right. Point the way."

Augee gripped Garen's shoulder with her left hand, and Filomena's shoulder with her right hand.

"To the west."

"Hum!"

The figures of the three vanished from the spot in an instant.

Leon: "..."

Left behind, Leon felt his mind go completely blank. He subconsciously took a few steps forward, but beneath his feet lay nothing but frozen shards of ice.

Speed—a terrifying, unimaginable speed!

Karen felt his entire body coated in a layer of frost. What followed was a frightening, hair-raising velocity. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Philomena was also covered in frost, while in the center of them both, Auggie appeared perfectly composed.

By the time Auggie brought Karen and Philomena to the entrance of the funeral parlor, Karen took a step forward, his body so stiff that he could barely maintain his balance. Yet, he still pressed forward rapidly, even if it meant scrambling on all fours.

As he passed the hearse parked inside the funeral parlor, he spotted the depression in the rear compartment filled with sand, along with that exceedingly vulgar depiction of a red rose upon it.

In an instant, Karen sensed a bone-chilling cold far more terrifying than when he was being carried along by Auggie.

The scenes he had witnessed at Leon's house began to flash vividly through his mind.

Upon reaching the courtyard, Karen flung his arms wide, and chains of Order flew out, violently smashing open every single door.

To the left, Karen sensed Alfred lying inside; he was bound by sandy shackles, but he was unharmed.

To the right, the screams of Mrs. Lake and Dora Dorine echoed; they were safe as well.

Just then, Kevin rushed out from the warehouse as if driven mad.

At this moment, how Karen wished Purr could be riding on Kevin's back as usual, but he saw no sign of her.

Kevin came to a halt right before Karen:

"A successor of Milio from the lineage of the Fallen God has taken Purr! Hurry, use the symbiotic contract to locate her and save her!"