Only God
Chapter 454 - 398: To the Places Love Takes You_2

Chapter 454: Chapter 398: To the Places Love Takes You_2

The Six Gods had no choice left in the matter now.

From the moment they had established the Primordial Church, a path of retreat had become unthinkable.

They had used the souls of mortals to lure the Primordial Will merely because they were temporarily reluctant to act against their fellow Divine, but now, they had no choice but to sacrifice the souls of certain Divine.

It was a necessary sacrifice.

And now, they had to eliminate the Envoy before them, and quickly.

Mira stepped forward.

Her wings unfolded, confronting the Six Gods suspended in mid-air.

One of the Divine held aloft a giant, sacred silver mirror, which instantaneously reflected the entire Festival Lake within it.

Mira’s figure was captured in the reflection, the image upon the mirror froze, and the Divine holding it raised a hand, revealing a silver Short Sword, thrusting towards Mira in the reflection.

The girl immediately sensed something and chanted,

"Rosa!"

Time slowed in a flash, but she was still a step too late. The silver Short Sword appeared without warning from behind her, piercing her soul in an instant.

Enduring the pain, Mira flapped her wings, soaring into the sky, her hands gripping the Light Blade, slashing downwards with a blade of light.

The chilling blade of light, seen from a distance, resembled an almost imperceptible thread yet possessed the power to cut any being in half.

The Divine holding the mirror lifted the silver glass, and as the cold light shimmered, the blade of light that was aimed at the Six Gods was instantly refracted by the mirror, veering off its intended course.

Missing her strike, Mira didn’t cease her attack, transforming into a streak of light, she swept behind the mirror-bearing Divine, slashing downwards with her sword.

At that moment, another Divine acted. Without any prior indication to Mira, the mirror Divine suddenly vanished from her sight. She faintly felt that the Divine was still in the same place, but she could not sense their presence at all, as if they had never existed.

And it wasn’t just the mirror Divine; the other Divine also concealed their forms at that moment.

"Ora!"

Slaier, from the past, identified the source of this Divine Power and exclaimed loudly.

As the words of the God of Lies and Deceit fell, Mira realized that it was the Hidden God Ora at play. In that instant, the five Divine present, including the Mistress of Suffering, Gatekeeper Slaier, all vanished without a trace.

In the secrecy, a Divine made their move.

They wielded a sword-shield, their red tasseled hair billowing mid-air. Above Mira’s head, a shield as large as a small hill viciously descended, like a meteor plummeting.

With the help of the Hidden God Ora, it was only when the Giant Shield closed in that Mira realized the imminent danger.

But it was too late. The Giant Shield crashed down forcefully, shaking Mira’s soul with an impact unlike any she had felt before. Had she not been in soul form, her physical body would likely have turned to dust under that blow.

"The Valkyrie Ruose Aura... descend, that’s a lie!"

Slaier, from the past, immediately spoke up. An invisible upward force lifted the Valkyrie’s shield just in time, allowing Mira to seize the moment and rapidly back away as a beam of light.

The Giant Shield plunged into the lake, and massive waves rose from the Festival Lake.

As the identities of the Six Gods were sequentially revealed by Slaier from the past, the Gods became increasingly quick, impatient, and frantic in their actions. They no longer concealed themselves, exerting their full strength to obliterate Mira on the spot.

Mira gasped for breath frantically, the successive battles taking a heavy toll on her strength.

Another Divine took action, the air tinged with the scent of salt. Saline crystals rose from the ground on all sides, layer upon layer striving to corrode Mira’s soul.

The Soul Salt.

Priests of the Mortal World often used table salt for exorcisms, not just as a ritual necessity, but also because salt inherently can corrode the soul.

And salt from the Salt God all the more so.

Mira felt her soul weakening rapidly, a deep sense of powerlessness overwhelming her. She chanted the Ancient Language "truth," and then sought out the direction of the Salt God, slashing with her sword.

A vast swath of sword light swept past, the Salt God unable to dodge, their figure severed in half by the light, white blood spilling from the air.

Mira repeatedly chanted the Ancient Language "truth," slashing at each God hidden by Ora.

Brilliant streaks of sword light raced across the sky like shooting stars, the Divine either retreated or dodged, and once the sword light passed, they pressed forward to surround Mira.

It was a desperate struggle of a cornered beast.

Mira’s soul was becoming increasingly frail; she felt her strength waning, a sensation of feeble gasping flooding her entire being.

God...

Before Mira’s silent prayer could settle, the long-lurking Lady of Suffering suddenly materialized behind her, brandishing the Sword of Suffering, and forcefully pierced Mira’s back from behind.

A field of sorrow instantly swept across Mira’s soul with the blade!

Mira’s eyes widened, and her fingers trembled uncontrollably.

She had come from Heaven, a place almost devoid of pain.

Although she had witnessed many sights of the Mortal World with her mother, experiencing pain firsthand had been rare.

But now, heart-wrenching, soul-striking pain arrived with the Sword of Suffering—how many people’s agony dwelled within it? One? Two? Tens of thousands? Mira could not count, as the latter drowned her entire being.

Her soul began to sag powerlessly.

The Lady of Suffering slowly withdrew the blade, and the Six Gods emerged one after another from their hitherto secret places, slowly closing in.

The Lady of Suffering loosened her grip on the ethereal Mira, letting her fall into Festival Lake.

Like falling into the Abyss six years earlier, Mira’s figure disappeared into the pitch-black waters, countless pains compressing her, dragging her down, down, until there was no redemption.

"The time has come to continue, Six Gods..."

The Lady of Suffering slowly turned around and murmured with profound meaning.

..............

Anos gradually stood up from the ground.

She stood motionless; she had just witnessed this great battle.

The outcome was foreseeable.

After battling with her on the steps to Ascension, Mira had already been on her last legs; now, encircled by the Six Gods and the Lady of Suffering, Mira was destined to fail even without the Lady’s strike.

Anos’s mind was in a state of Chaos.

The Six Gods had not given up. They stood tall in mid-air, and Anos knew they were destined to continue building the long stairway to Ascension, even if it meant seizing other divinities’ souls, until they reached the end themselves and arrived at the Golden Hall, inheriting the throne that once belonged to Shan’en.

Only then could the Six Gods’ longstanding wish be fulfilled, and only so would the centuries of endeavors not go to waste; the Father of the Gods, high in Heaven, would be pressured into conceding to the Gods.

Should she feel fortunate? Or should she...

Anos’s mind was a blur.

Behind her, her mother Flora looked at her with eyes full of post-disaster joy.

Even though there were errors... but... Anos was, after all, destined to ascend to her throne.

The power of the Human Empire and the authority over Gods would finally converge in Anos’ hands.

Anos lifted her face, gazing bewilderedly at the Six Gods.

Her visage was so ragged, like an empire already fallen, and she, the last Monarch of its line.

The Six Gods watched her, and suddenly, apart from the Head of the Six Gods, they all bowed their heads in unison, as if offering undying loyalty to the Monarch to come.

Anos couldn’t misunderstand; this was both an oath of fealty and a silent coercion, behind that loyalty lay invisible, untouchable, yet tangible threads, pulling at her own threads.

She looked at the Six Gods, her gaze perplexed.

Mira had died, plummeted into Festival Lake, no longer able to stop her, and the once-desperately-pursued throne was regained, within reach at a thought’s span.

Anos didn’t understand why what remained to her was only endless sadness and pain.

She was about to reclaim her throne, her desires once obscure, now becoming lucid again,

She should rejoice in this!

But...

She had already lost that heart of gold.