Chapter 528: Silver Lamp

The gunshot did nothing to dampen the revelry within the camp. If anything, the believers became even more frenzied, their wild laughter carrying an abandon so absolute that the darkness itself seemed afraid to draw any closer.

"Is she dead?"

From the corner of the hospital building, Sally observed the office on the top floor through an aerial mirror condensed from atmospheric moisture.

She knew how seriously Sense regarded this purge, for Sense had not only dispatched Sally, one of the High Guards of the Four Pillars, but had also used the last of a spatial gateway to teleport her instantly from the Crowslaughter Zone to the Calamity Flame Zone for maximum speed.

Because of that urgency, Sally stayed completely on guard, even though the target had already been blown to pieces.

According to Sense, the target was most likely a Two-Winged sorcerer, with only a slim chance of being a Sacred Realm sorcerer. Regardless of whether she possessed a Sacred Realm, there was no way she could survive Sally's shot.

After all, that round had been fired from the Annihilation Sniper Rifle, loaded with a Sacred Realm Annihilator Round.

In the present-day Myriad Continent, gun-wielding sorcerers were exceedingly rare.

Firearms from the Gray Fox Age all required identity authentication, and after the Great Apocalypse, every production line capable of manufacturing them had collapsed. At best, the various factions could only produce crude matchlock muskets with laughably poor accuracy, weapons so unreliable that bows were often the better choice.

Conversely, every gunslinger still active across the Myriad Continent was terrifying beyond measure. Without exception, they had all stumbled upon Gray Fox firearms by sheer chance, enabling them to walk this unique path of sorcery.

Sally had once belonged to the Mist Extinction Sect, serving under the Grand Law of Annihilating Mist. During her coming-of-age ceremony, she was required to touch the Gray Fox firearm treasured by the sect. Only the slimmest chance existed that doing so would pass the weapon's identity verification. True to those odds, she was the only person to succeed in ten years.

As Sally's talents began to shine, the Mist Extinction Sect steadily expanded its sphere of influence. When the Grand Law of Annihilating Mist finally perished, both she and the Annihilation Sniper Rifle transferred their allegiance to Sense.

The rifle's destructive power needed no explanation. Even without the enhancement of any spirits, its tremendous kinetic force could punch through every building within a thousand meters.

And this time, Sally had used a Sacred Realm Annihilator Round. These rounds were designed specifically for the Annihilation Sniper Rifle. The instant they encountered a Sacred Realm, they unleashed spatial turbulence capable of tearing it apart.

She had only three rounds remaining. Despite being merely a Two-Winged gunslinger, this exact combination had already allowed her to snipe three Sacred Realm sorcerers.

Across the Myriad Continent, the most dangerous sorcerers were neither Sacred Realm nor even Legendary sorcerers. They were Legacy Sorcerers, individuals inheriting relics from the Age of Gods.

Through the Lightsound Prism, Sally watched as the other two assassins entered the office. Neither belonged to the Calamity Flame Zone. They were High Priests from the Spiral Light and Shattered Ice Zone, both Sacred Realm sorcerers.

To eliminate a traitor who might not even possess a Sacred Realm, Sense had dispatched the equivalent of three Sacred Realm-level combatants. Sally murmured, "O great Mercury Trojan Horse. The righteous bow before you, the wicked revere you."

Meanwhile, in the office atop the hospital, the two High Priests silently approached the headless corpse. Both were cloaked in their Sacred Realms with weapons already in hand, fully prepared in case the target was merely feigning death to stage a counterattack.

They had every reason to be cautious. Even within the Four Pillars Cult, their target was considered among the strongest of the first tier. Most believers capable of hosting a Grand Law would rather fight the Four Pillars Cult to the death than surrender, willingly drowning alongside their ideals. Yet their target could host not just one, but multiple Grand Laws at once, even earning the blessings of the Four Pillar Deities because of it. Not even Sense enjoyed such treatment.

No matter how frail her actual body might be, the mere fact that she could host Grand Laws elevated her combat strength to the threshold of a Legendary sorcerer. How could they possibly lower their guard?

It wasn't just the corpse they watched. They also kept a wary eye on the Grand Laws. But the Grand Laws seemed utterly unconcerned by their host's death. The little Blazing White Tiger leaped onto the desk and began pacing leisurely. The rabbit, lizard, and snake simply watched the two intruders in silence, as if politely inviting them to make themselves at home.

The High Priests quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Their target excelled at commanding Grand Laws, and they had feared the Grand Laws might avenge their fallen host.

Grand Laws were unlike spirits. Spirits could be crushed with ease. Grand Laws, however, would never dissipate until they had exhausted their Source[1]. Still, no matter how powerful a Grand Law might be, it required a Divine Possession Ritual before its power could be unleashed. Once the host died, even if the Grand Laws wished to take revenge, the worst they could do was paw harmlessly at their enemies.

Reaching within three steps of the corpse, the two struck simultaneously. The combined force of a punch and a crescent moon-shaped slash obliterated both the body and the chair into fine dust.

Amid the exploding spray of blood, four cards fluttered to the ground, completely unscathed. The two instinctively focused on them, then exchanged glances. They were Dragon Gate Formation Shopping Cards from the Gray Fox Age. With those cards, locating one of the Gray Fox stores meant the inheritance of the Gray Fox would be theirs.

However, another thought immediately occurred to them. Sally had undoubtedly witnessed everything through her scope. Their devotion to the Four Pillar Deities quickly overwhelmed the sudden surge of greed. Suppressing the temptation, they turned their attention to the other items inside the desk, searching them carefully.

The High Priest of Spiral Light suddenly said, "Come to think of it, what was her name? She was a High Priest of the Calamity Flame Zone, yet I never heard anyone call her by it."

"She didn't have one," replied the High Priest of Shattered Ice.

"No name?"

"She used to be the Holy Maiden of the Calamity Flame. After returning from the Silent Spiral, she acquired a Miracle that she used to erase her own name, allowing her to evade almost every tracking Miracle.

"And more than that... She never gave herself a codename, nor did she respond whenever anyone addressed her by any title. She became a nameless existence in the truest sense."

"How do you know so much about her?"

"The sect I was once part of was an enemy of the Temple of Calamity Flame. When she first showed up as the Holy Maiden, I tried to assassinate her several times."

"Each attempt failed for one reason or another. In battle, she never left survivors. She constantly ambushed our forces, whittling away our strength piece by piece. In the end, the Temple of Calamity Flame launched a full-scale offensive against us. The Grand Law faded; along with it, the destruction of our sect."

The High Priest of Shattered Ice paused. "That was when the Four Pillars Cult took me in. Driven by nothing but hatred, I devoted myself to helping Sense, hoping that one day the Temple of Calamity Flame would be wiped from existence. And yet..."

The High Priest of Spiral Light understood the complicated emotions behind those words. The Temple of Calamity Flame had indeed been destroyed, but he hadn't played any part in its destruction. The enemy who had once caused him endless trouble had simply changed sides, becoming his colleague. Not only that, she had grown far stronger than he ever was, receiving even greater favor from the Four Pillar Deities. Perhaps that was why Sense had sent him on this mission.

The High Priest of Spiral Light continued, "So, what did everyone call her?"

"The Silver Lamp Holy Maiden. The holy sons of the Temple of Calamity Flame were known as Gold Lamps, and the holy maidens as Silver Lamps. There were several of each, so the title was never hers alone."

The High Priest of Shattered Ice paused before suddenly smiling. "But now... Every other holy son and holy maiden of the Calamity Flame has been slaughtered by her own hand.

"She is the one and only Silver Lamp Holy Maiden. And soon... she will be reunited in the Virtual World with the companions she betrayed."

Whoosh.

The two High Priests suddenly felt a chill run down their backs as an icy cold pierced straight through their bodies. Looking down, they saw hands of blue flame thrusting through their chests. Their blood instantly froze into crimson ice while the frigid flames spread through their veins, reaching every limb and organ. Frost even began forming over their eyeballs.

It was too late to unleash their Sacred Realms. A Sacred Realm could not protect what was already inside the body. The question was...

How is this possible!?

They had personally torn their target to pieces. Unless it was the Legendary Time Class Miracle, such as the Localized Time Reversal, or the Legendary Brute Body Class Miracle, Rebirth from a Drop of Blood, there was absolutely no way anyone could come back after being reduced to a puddle of blood and gore.

Their minds wavered. Blood and gore?

The floor and the desk were spotless, as pristine as if they had just been cleaned. There was not a trace of blood or flesh anywhere. But that could not be right. Where was everything that had burst out when her head exploded? Where was the blood that had splattered everywhere after they shredded her body?

They blinked. Only then did they realize that what they had mistaken for bloodstains was actually the grain of the wooden desk, patches of shadow, and the patterns on the floor tiles. Why had they seen such an illusion?

"I am not particularly fond of the title Holy Maiden." Her voice sounded strangely distorted. "If you insist on calling me something, you may call me Silver Lamp. On second thought, you had better forget even that. I would rather my name never appear in your Sorcerer's Handbook."

The two High Priests struggled to turn around. Behind them stood a humanoid figure composed entirely of blue flames.

Grand Law of Dust Calamity Flame!

Sally's heart sank. Through the Lightsound Prism, she saw a mass of blue flame suddenly erupt from the floor, instantly piercing through both High Priests' backs before they had time to deploy their Sacred Realms. There was no doubt about it. That blue flame belonged to the Grand Law of Dust Calamity Flame.

A thought suddenly flashed through Sally's mind. When has the target completed a Divine Possession Ritual with it? The Grand Law of Dust Calamity Flame should not allow someone to survive having their head blown apart.

She had seen the Grand Law of Dust Calamity Flame before in the form of the Blue Flame Squirrel. But the squirrel had been elsewhere in the office, and it had not performed a Divine Possession Ritual with the target at all. So what exactly was going on?

Sally froze. She carefully examined the room through the Refraction Prism. Inside the office were only the Blazing White Tiger, the rabbit, the lizard, and the snake. The squirrel sitting there only moments ago was nowhere to be found.

No human could survive having their head blown off. Their soul would immediately sink into Hell. An ordinary sorcerer certainly could not regenerate from a drop of blood. But as long as a Grand Law had not exhausted its Source, it could restore itself instantly.

At that moment, Sally felt the Annihilation Sniper Rifle become slightly heavier. She lowered her head. A squirrel was pressing down on the barrel. In a blur, the squirrel transformed into an unfamiliar young woman wearing glasses. Sally had never seen her before, and she looked nothing like the descriptions in the intelligence reports, but she knew at once that this was her assassination target. The Nameless One, or rather, the target going by the name Silver Lamp.

With her right hand, Silver Lamp pushed the rifle's muzzle aside. With her left, she clamped Sally's throat in an iron grip. Her eyes were as calm as a still lake.

At last, Sally understood the secret behind the trick. "You turned your Grand Law into a clone?"

"Do not panic," Silver Lamp said calmly. "Compared to the peace of the Virtual World, reality is nothing more than a fleeting moment of pain. When you return to eternity, you will realize it was all an illusion."

Sally struggled desperately, but Silver Lamp's grip held like a steel vise around her throat. Forcing the words through her constricted airway, she rasped, "Mercury... Trojan Horse..."

"I was already considering leaving the Four Pillars Cult," Silver Lamp replied evenly. "I should thank Sense for helping me make up my mind."

Just then, a tremendous explosion suddenly tore through the night sky. Silver Lamp turned her head toward the sound and saw chunks of masonry blasting away from the hospital's outer wall in the distance. The darkness made it difficult to see clearly, but if she remembered correctly, that was the location of the cells holding the travelers from another world.

1. Source is the core energy driving a Grand Law. It acts as an underlying power reservoir. So long as this energy remains unexhausted, a Grand Law or its manifestation can continuously heal, reshape itself, and survive fatal physical damage. ☜