Chapter 59: The Sinful God

Chapter 59: The Sinful God

Lin stood across from Bai Ning, her hand clenching her blade. The puppets lay in ruins around them. Bai Ning’s chest heaved, his composure finally cracking slightly. Sweat dripped from his forehead.

Lin’s gaze fell on the Cursed Womb behind him. The woman’s body twitched, the thing inside her pressing against the limits of her flesh. The branches twisted her hands; a muffled whimper escaped.

Lin’s hand tightened on her blade. She had to end this sooner...

Bai Ning lunged again, his spear aiming to pierce her. Lin sidestepped, her blade catching the shaft and deflecting it wide. She stepped inside his guard, driving her knee into his stomach. Feeling the sudden hit, he gasped, stumbling backward. From the puppet behind her, blades made of blood shot out with a blinding speed.

Lin quickly jumped to avoid the blades. The blood passed by Bai Ning’s side. Then she pressed the advantage, her blade slashing an arc toward his throat.

Bai Ning clawed in the air; his strings caught her wrist. She halted, the blade stopping an inch from his skin.

"Impressive," he said, his voice strained. "You are in a hurry; the God will be born within a minute."

Lin twisted her wrist. The strings snapped. She aimed the arc at his chest this time, slicing it horizontally. Bai Ning staggered, his hand pressing against the wound. His eyes widened in genuine surprise.

"You were wrong about one thing," Lin said, her voice cold. "You aren’t a trap but merely a distraction."

Bai Ning’s shock flickered into something darker. His strings lashed out, faster than before, wrapping around her ankles, her wrists, and her throat. He was going to finish her now.

He yanked the strings to slash her entirely.

Lin disappeared.

Bai Ning’s eyes twitched in disbelief. He spun around, his spear slashing the air, but found nothing. Then something shifted behind him. He turned just in time to see Lin reappear from a portal behind him, her hand already glowing with a key-shaped sigil. "I don’t need my key to end you." she said.

Bai Ning stepped forward, appearing in front of her. His spear stabbed through the air. Lin caught the spear with her hand and swung it in an attempt to throw him, but he jumped and bounced at the haft of the spear. Then Bai Ning directly kicked her on her stomach, crashing her away.

Lin’s jaw tightened. Her ribs screamed from the force of the kick, and for a fraction of a second, her vision blurred, but she couldn’t afford to blink. The wall got closer, but instead of bracing herself for the impact. She let the stones swallow her entirely and disappeared in them; a heartbeat later, she came out of the ceiling above him.

She stomped down her leg to slam Bai Ning, but as soon as she got closer, Bai Ning’s body turned into bones.

Thud!

Her leg landed on the ground, smashing the bones.

Bai Ning came out of one of his puppets. "I won’t let you ruin the plan." He lunged forward.

Lin’s hand raised, slamming a key in the invisible portal. She quickly threw her blade in the air; as soon as she did that, the blade came out from the portal, multiple, dozens of them. All these blades rushed toward him, coming out of every corner.

Bai Ning pulled the strings, the puppets covering his body. "Damn it, I just used Flesh Transposition."

The blade slashed through the flesh of puppets. Finally, the blades passed through his body, cutting his body. Blood formed on the wounds, his strings trying to sew the flesh again. He stood up with a groan. "Grgh, damn you."

Lin didn’t give him time; she surged forward, stopping just near him. The world slowed down as she quickly kicked his chest.

Crack!

The bones in his chest broke with the sheer impact. The metallic scent of blood followed before his body got thrown away toward the wheelbarrow.

Thud!

Bai Ning hit the wheelbarrow with a loud grunt. His hand reached toward the wheel, trying to stand again.

But he couldn’t...

Guhl-ggrrgh!!!

The roar echoed through the chamber from behind him. It wasn’t even just monstrous; it literally shook the entire palace. The sound itself was so heavy that it made both of their hearts stop.

Khhh-slrrk!!

Another roar crashed onto the hallway. Lin’s head snapped toward the woman. Her stomach began to bulge at an unimaginable speed. The veins darkened further, her body twitching every single moment. Then stomach moved the thing inside.

"This can’t be so soon." She ran toward the woman and drew the blade.

Bai Ning looked at the woman over his shoulder, his shoulder dropping low. "It’s over; we won."

The woman’s stomach tore apart; a contorted shape stayed behind. Its bloodsoaked eyes stared from within. Those eyes were not simple. They were utterly disgusted, utterly disturbed, and utterly disappointed. They were illuminated by the greyish light. Those eyes had no retina, just a deep hole that glowed.

Lin’s breath hitched at the sight; did she fail?

Finally, the thing’s hand came out. They didn’t even have flesh at all, just dark, crimson muscles. No skin at all. But those hands were simply just not the absurdity; it was just the beginning. There were dozens of mouths and teeth. In each mouth tongues flickered as if tasting the musty dust in the air.

Orrrr-grrrrrrr!!

The hands shot out toward Bai Ning. Lin quickly hopped forward, but she was late... No, not late but misunderstood the movement itself. Bai Ning thrashed his hand, the strings trying desperately to save himself. The hands turned into jaws; each one bit deep into Bai Ning. He screamed loudly, trying to move away from his body but couldn’t. His horrified eyes met Lin. "SAVE ME!!" one last scream... That was it.

Crunch! Crunch!

Gulp.

The thing bit his body into pieces, swallowing him entirely.

The last moment she saw was his terrified face. That was God... That was the God they wanted back. The corruption had taken over ’Him’ again. The God wasn’t dead for no reason; awakening a dead meant awakening the regrets of the cosmos.

Lin stepped back a few steps. "It’s... A demigod already!"

Lin breathed, but the suffocating presence of the God pulled her breaths out of her lungs. Her hands trembled. She couldn’t move her legs again; the world didn’t want that thing to awake. Her muscles screamed to run, but she knew that she shouldn’t. The God didn’t even reveal itself yet, but one thing that was certain... the God couldn’t be seen without terror.

That was when the monstrosity awakened.

The Sin of a God.

***

Jian Yue and Zhuo stopped near the door, and then they entered. Their eyes scanned the place before feeling the scent of poison. Both of them covered their mouths and ran forward. "Zhuo, don’t breathe." Jian Yue warned, then his eyes landed on the wheelbarrow’s marks.

As they followed the marks. They finally found others who were also following the traces.

Zhuo and Jian Yue ran toward them, then Zhuo called. "Wait for us!"

Mo Fei turned; behind him, both were running toward them. Finally, they stopped near.

Jim and Riyoshi nodded at them.

Jim said, "You’ve managed to win."

"Yes, somehow." Jian Yue simply answered before joining them. Zhuo walked beside him, eyes observing the palace.

Guhl-ggrrgh!!!

The roar tore through the palace like a physical force. All of their eyes widened, the growl shaking their bones. Mo Fei’s Glaive dipped. Alisa’s hand went to her blade. Riyoshi’s thin blade wavered.

"Don’t tell me..." Jim’s voice was barely a whisper.

Mo Fei’s eyes widened behind the mask. He couldn’t blink; they got paralyzed in fear. He could feel it... the spirits inside him recoiled; they had feared something. They must have known that sound. They had heard it before.

"That spirit." He inhaled a shallow breath.

Riyoshi’s face went pale. "We are too late!" His head snapped toward the path ahead. "Lin couldn’t end it."

"Yes," Alisa’s voice was sharp. "Lin is still there."

Mo Fei gripped his Glaive. All of them rushed forward.

Khhh-slrrk!!

The scream tore through their ears again. Their faces dripped sweat. Jim had a terrified look, his eyes too wide, the brightness of his eyes fading in horror. Riyoshi ran, his hand trembling to even hold his own blade.

They burst through the door. The sight froze them on the spot.

The woman’s body was torn apart from the middle. In the place of her stomach, something had come out, a mass of crimson muscle and bone, unsupported by skeleton or reason. Only those two hands with dozens of mouths could be seen, each one gnashing and chewing at the air. Its eyes were holes. Its hands were jaws. And at the center of the torn stomach covered in fluids and blood was something that might have been a face.

It watched them with ancient, indifferent hunger. The God was already tainted with corruption.

Lin stood before it, her blade raised, her hand trembling. She hadn’t moved.

The thing turned its faceless attention toward the newcomers. The mouths opened. The air filled with a sound that was hunger, a malicious growl.