### Chapter 108: The Divine Descent (Part 2)
On the desolate lands far from Ice Mountain, the Golden Armored Knights stood frozen in disbelief, a fine frost coating their hair began to melt away. Each of them wore expressions of uncertainty, their eyes full of confusion and fear, too scared to take a single step forward.
“What in the world…?”
“Is that a person?!”
Amidst the crowd, the Captain of Knights took a sword from one of his subordinates, clutching his side with one hand while his lips quivered, his face pale as a ghost. Everything happening before him was beyond his understanding: “A woman… no, a girl… that’s a girl…”
“With silver hair…”
“Black… armor…”
“Is she coming down from that black sun…? Am I imagining this…?”
In the distance, a figure cloaked in black armor was stepping down from an intricately carved icy staircase that appeared to have originated from the Valen Empire’s architecture. The railings were elegant and magnificent, and the black greaves made a resonating “thud, thud, thud” as they struck the smooth, mirror-like steps, echoing throughout the now quiet ruins of the town, heavy as thunder, landing right in everyone’s hearts.
“Hey…”
“This doesn’t feel… right…”
On the other side of Ice Mountain, five Clerics unconsciously began to retreat, their eyes glued to the figure in the air as their pupils dilated, with some sporting an awkward smile: “The power of frost… has formed a staircase… and it only took a moment…”
“Is that a newborn deity…?”
“But what about the Fire Seed?”
“This isn’t our problem, is it…?”
“Dammit… shouldn’t we be kneeling and praying right now…?”
“How should I know…?”
As the Clerics collectively retreated, they gazed at the small figure atop the staircase, obscured in swirling crystalline mist, which resembled a girl clad in a black armored dress with long silver hair.
The girl emerged from the exploded sphere; they couldn’t be mistaken. It was precisely because of this that an eerie dread and strange, skin-crawling fear began to spread in everyone’s hearts, anxiety about the unknown looming over them.
Thud… thud… thud.
The unclear figure—whether girl or something else—strolled down the staircase amid the mixed feelings of the onlookers, and just as she reached the midpoint, her footsteps suddenly halted.
In the swirling cold mist, the girl slowly turned her head, peering towards the location of the Clerics.
With a single glance, the breathing of the five became erratic and quickened.
It felt like the weight of a mountain had suddenly pressed against their chests, akin to small ants being spotted by the most terrifying, super-powerful being in existence. The awful pressure from that unintended gaze caused all five highly gifted Clerics to freeze, their spines chilling, pupils dilating, and bone-deep cold surged through them.
Words couldn’t describe the nature of those eyes.
Bright and clear, icy yet scarlet, the eyes seemed to regard everything with the disdain of an upper deity looking down upon lower life forms. Though they were quite far away, those eyes made them feel momentarily numb, as if they were plunged into an icy abyss, every hair on their bodies standing on end.
A violent tremor suddenly erupted in everyone’s hearts.
Those eyes seemed to possess a strange power that could disrupt the very minds of anyone who met their gaze, causing emotions to spiral completely out of control, the potent pressure straining their nerves and obliterating their steadfast wills, leading one to act irrationally.
Buzz—
Suddenly, a golden radiance burst forth around the five. One Cleric, pale as a ghost, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead, gritted his teeth, and instinctively waved his hand, summoning a sharp Holy Lance that coalesced above his head and hurled it forth!
“Wait—”
“Pike, what are you doing?!”
Whoosh—
The others raised their hands to stop him, but the Cleric casting the miracle wore an expression of shock and doubt; nevertheless, the Holy Lance had already zipped past.
In that instant, everyone was startled to the core, bl**d draining from their faces as they watched the lance, propelled by a fierce wind, zoom across the ashen sky at a devilishly precise angle, closing in on the girl standing on the icy staircase, getting closer and closer…
In the blink of an eye, it was right beside her face.
“Oh no…”
A Cleric mumbled.
Bang!
In the very next moment, the girl snatched the lance’s tip into her hand.
No one could see when she had made her move.
With a whoosh, a shockwave exploded from the hand that grasped the Holy Lance, whipping her silvery hair into a frenzy, the lance stabilizing in her grip. The small figure didn’t budge, as if she had merely caught a pesky mosquito. A slight pressure squeezed her palm, and a smoky black mist quietly emanated from it, spreading outward and enveloping the several-meter-long weapon in an instant.
Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss—
The usually imperishable Holy Miracle, under the ravaging influence of Chaotic Power, exploded with a bang, shattering into countless golden flecks that scattered everywhere.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no…”
“Quick! Run—!”
In the frenzied shouting, one relatively calm Cleric yanked the stunned one back by the sleeve, and together with the rest, they all decided to turn tail and flee. However, just as they took one scant step back, the cold eyes from afar suddenly flickered with a mysterious scarlet.
Thud, thud!
In that moment, it felt like everyone could hear the sound of their own heartbeats.
Their steps froze, their hands and bodies stiffened, and a brutal pain exploded in their heads like fireworks. This pain almost caused them to fall to the ground, clutching their heads and screaming, as their vision blurred, seeing the towering Ice Mountain distorting for a second.
By the next heartbeat, a roar like that of a demon echoed from the spot where the girl stood.
“Roar——!!!”
“Ahhhhh!”
The sound pierced their eardrums, rendering the Clerics’ minds blank as they screamed, frantically blocking their ears. They felt the ground trembling beneath them, accompanied by a rumbling noise, and an inky black curtain suddenly unfurled around the girl, swirling and devouring Ice Mountain, the loose earth beneath their feet, the gray sky above, consuming the Golden Armored Knights and Horned Horses nearby, casting all of reality into a void of darkness.
In that endless void, they saw an immense, bl**d-red eye open, its serpent-like slit pupil spinning lazily as it stared down upon its prey.
Then, from the darkness, an even larger, skeletal hand ablaze with scarlet flames reached out.
“Ahhhhhhh——!!!”
The Clerics screamed in terror, their livers quaking, voice hoarse from crying out, desperate to flee, yet finding themselves utterly immobilized, unable to even twitch a finger. They watched helplessly as that massive skeletal hand drew near, the pale mountain spewing molten heat. The wind that rushed in its wake threatened to melt their very skin, as they felt the end was nigh. With a thunderous crash, that gigantic bony hand obliterated the horrific scene in an instant.
Crash, crash, crash…
Everything shattered like a fallen mirror, exploding into countless fragments and vanishing from sight amidst the noise. There was no darkness, no monstrous eyes, and the great skeletal hand seemed to have never existed. The trembling earth stilled, dark clouds rolled overhead, and there stood the towering Ice Mountain once more.
“Ha…”
The five Clerics stood frozen for a moment, someone suddenly exhaling in relief.
One by one, they wore cracked lips, trembling legs, and pale faces, breathing heavily as cold sweat drenched their features.
As they realized that everything seemed not to have existed, a wave of joy flooded over them, akin to surviving a catastrophe. But that feeling lasted barely two seconds before a greater shadow loomed over each of their hearts.
“Hey…”
Someone noticed that the girl who had been on the magnificent crystal staircase leading down from Ice Mountain had vanished without a trace.
But before they could convey their concerns to their companions beside them, a faint sound of breathing suddenly came from behind the Clerics.
