Lord of Prayer

Chapter 123: Chapter 103: Angel

“I saw it… I saw it…”

“Everyone is going to die! Everyone is going to die! You’re all going to die!”

On the chaotic street, a man in a disheveled suit was shouting madly at the fleeing crowds. Suddenly, he froze as if struck by lightning, staring blankly as though he had seen a ghost. His mouth hung open, his glasses were askew, and his face was a mask of utter disbelief.

Zhou Chen gestured for Erin to stop, watching the man with a wary gaze. His senses told him this was an Ascender, but the man was acting like a complete lunatic. ’He’s probably gone mad from some kind of mental corruption.’

“You… you…” The man raised a trembling hand and pointed at Erin, his expression filled with terror, as if he had just seen something indescribably horrifying.

Erin looked completely bewildered.

“Stay away from her… Stay away from her! Don’t go near her! Get away from her, she’s dangerous!!” the man roared incoherently, stepping forward to try and pull Zhou Chen away.

Zhou Chen pushed the man’s shoulder, sending him flying back several meters to land in a wretched heap on the ground.

Immediately after, a sharp pain shot through Zhou Chen’s eyes. After a moment of disorientation, his vision was flooded with a deep, bloody red.

It was a blood-red glow enveloping the entire city.

A scarlet light, like fresh blood, swirled around the man and the passersby.

The shocking crimson converged into a sea of blood, covering almost every inch of space. It surged violently, as if foretelling the arrival of a catastrophe.

Zhou Chen’s heart hammered in his chest. “This is…”

“I’m a peripheral Ascender from the Star Association. My Ability is the Eye of Fortune, and I can see everyone’s fortune for the near future.” The man scrambled up from the ground, having regained a sliver of his composure.

He hastily righted his glasses, panting as he looked at Zhou Chen. “Just now, I temporarily shared my vision with you through physical contact. Now look at the woman beside you.”

Zhou Chen whipped his head around to look at Erin, his pupils contracting sharply.

The ominous scarlet light was so dense it had turned a blackish-red, dark as ink. It coiled around Erin’s entire form, brimming with calamity, so thick it seemed ready to solidify and drip away.

“Ever since my Ability awakened, I’ve never seen such a terrifying aura of doom… She’s going to die, there’s no doubt about it…” The man’s entire body trembled in fear.

“What about me?”

Zhou Chen looked down at himself. ’It seems this Ability doesn’t let the user see their own fortune,’ he thought. ’But by ’sharing’ the vision, they can let someone else see it for them.’

“You’re the same… you’re the same…”

In the man’s eyes, Zhou Chen too was wreathed in that deep, blackish-red light—a sign that his life would soon be over!

“If you get away from her, you might still have a chance to live! Don’t be with her anymore! She spreads doom and will get everyone around her killed. Anyone who stays by her side is guaranteed to die!”

The man scrambled backward, let out one last scream, then turned and fled.

“Mr. Zhou Chen…” Erin tugged fearfully at the corner of his sleeve. She opened her mouth to speak, but then hesitated.

“Don’t take it to heart. Jiang Che and the others have been making preparations; there’s no way they’ll let there be too many casualties. That guy was only Tier One, and a metaphysical Ability like the Eye of Fortune has major limitations. What he saw isn’t necessarily accurate.” Zhou Chen squeezed her hand reassuringly. “Let’s head back to the Star Association. We’ll be safe once we get there.”

The words had barely left his mouth when—BOOM!

In a distant park, smoke and dust filled the sky as a giant gray tree shot up from the ground. It grew at a rate visible to the naked eye, soon towering over the adjacent office building. It impassively stretched its massive trunk and branches as innumerable leaves sprouted and multiplied.

The lifeless, gray canopy blotted out the sky, emitting an aura of decay. The cracked patterns on its thick trunk formed menacing Abyss Curses. Any area that fell under its shadow would undergo Abyssalization. Any living thing within that shadow, unless it possessed Extraordinary Power, would be swiftly assimilated by the power of the Abyss, grotesquely mutated into an Abyssal Creature.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM… Amidst violent tremors that felt like a landslide, one gray giant tree after another erupted toward the sky. A torrent of soil, chunks of concrete, and architectural debris rained down from on high.

As the sources of corruption fully erupted, the summoning ritual activated.

The thirteen Ritual Arrays placed throughout Jinzhu suddenly flared to life. The torrents of Darkness that poured from the Ritual Arrays became perfect fuel for the Chaos Fire. Thirteen columns of Hellish Evil Fire erupted and blazed, illuminating the entirety of Jinzhu.

In a symphony of destruction, streaks of dark, molten fire branched out, surging in every direction. Everything in their path—buildings, trees, streets—was mercilessly consumed, reduced to lifeless, scorched earth. Within moments, the thirteen Ritual Arrays were linked by these fiery lines, which then converged on the main array.

“The time has come!”

“This is the Day of Blackest Night!”

Li Xiaoxiao screamed with fanaticism. She stood in a black robe on the deserted athletic field of Jinzhu University. Her lovely face was covered with eerie, branded markings. Her eyes had no whites—only a black, malevolent fire that burned intensely.

Laughing, she threw her arms wide and activated the summoning ritual.

In that instant, the world plunged into darkness.

The earth groaned and space shattered like glass, forming a gaping void—a tear that seemed to be a passage to another World.

On the other side of the Gate of Hell was only Darkness.

A bottomless, unfathomable Darkness.

But upon closer inspection, one could see that the Darkness was writhing, burning in a frenzied dance.

That was Chaos Purgatory, the Divine Kingdom of the King of Chaos.

Li Xiaoxiao looked at the wooden box on the altar. She reached out, wiping away the Sealing Secret Ceremony that had been placed upon it. With a soft CLICK, she easily opened it.

The Curse sealed within erupted forth.

A viscous Darkness flowed out, spreading and expanding into a roiling, pitch-black mass. To the sound of a raging flood, it churned violently, stretching endlessly in every direction. It quickly submerged the Jinzhu University athletic field and began to overflow into the outside world.

“Save us… it’s so cold here… it’s so dark here… save us… save us…”

The desperate cries of thousands, even tens of thousands, of Undead were mixed within it, creating an overlapping, cacophonous din.

The Chaos Fire flared up around Li Xiaoxiao, warding off the hands that tried to drag her into the Darkness.

’Since there was no way to get the item out in secret…’

’…why not choose the most direct and simple method?’

’Have the great King of Chaos come and take it himself!’

’Admittedly, the King of Chaos couldn’t perform a Divine Descent in person; the risk was too great.’

’But a single projection, along with a few loyal minions, would be more than enough to retrieve the item safely.’

Behind the Gate of Hell, a ferocious silhouette as vast as a mountain range began to manifest—the vanguard was stirring, eager for battle.

Just then, however, a sudden change occurred. It was accompanied by a divine light and the magnificent sound of a Holy Song, chanted in unison by a chorus of ten thousand voices.

In Jinzhu City, a radiant Angel descended.

A Blazing Light Ring hovered over its head, sixteen pristine wings spread from its back, and it wielded the Blazing Holy Sword—it was the very image of a Holy Judgment Angel from myth and legend.

The instant it descended, the Angel extended an arm toward the Jinzhu University athletic field.