Chapter 1 Everything Happened in an Instant

Three Annihilation cultists disguised as priests of the Church of the Dead launched a surprise attack. Black-clothed guards rushed to assist, and a dozen sewage treatment center workers and guardians engaged in combat. All of this happened almost simultaneously.

A shocking fact was revealed – the entire sewage treatment center had already been completely corrupted and replaced.

No wonder the sewage sedimentation tanks and various pipes showed no signs of pollution. The "Prime Essences" that escaped through the sewers seemed to have evaporated – they already had a nest, right under the noses of the city-state authorities and the church.

But countless mysteries remained. Why could Annihilation cultists who followed the Gloom Lord call upon the name of the God of Death? How did those "imitations" disguised as treatment center employees evade her senses? And where had the real employees gone?

But reality didn't give Agatha much time to think and deduce all of this.

The Gloomhound's highly corrosive and impactful dark breath howled towards her. The filthy ball of energy flew past Agatha's hair, instantly piercing a support pillar beside the sedimentation tank. The mental intrusion released by the Dust Jellyfish continuously attacked her mind, slowing her movements and thoughts. And the pale woman who shared a symbiosis with the cat-shaped demon remotely raised her finger, causing countless intersecting bloodstains to instantly appear around Agatha – a corner of her clothing brushed against those bloodstains, and the fabric at the intersection was instantly disintegrated into dust.

This was a premeditated trap. No wonder these heretics obediently gathered here to accept "inspection" – they were planning to assassinate the Church's gatekeeper?

"Wishful thinking."

Agatha said calmly, tapping the ground lightly with her cane.

The gentle tap of the cane against the ground produced a thunderous roar, followed by layers of illusory ripples spreading outwards from the end of the cane. In an instant, everything around her fell silent, and the entire space around the sedimentation tank plunged into darkness. Everything within sight was tinged with gray and black. The black-clothed guards and "imitations" who were fighting froze in mid-air. Only a pale glow poured into the room from the distant doors and windows, and from cracks that had appeared on the roof at some unknown time, causing everything within sight to appear shadowy and indistinct.

In the spirit world, Agatha held her eyeball in her left hand, "looking" at the three Annihilation cultists who were also frozen not far away.

Beside them, black flames rose and fell on the symbiotic Gloom demons. In this world composed of black, white, and gray, the flames burned quietly, and the smoke rose slowly, as if in slow motion.

Agatha raised her cane and waved it gently in the air.

The pale, dim space suddenly shook. The projections of the black-clothed guards who were fighting instantly disappeared from the spirit world. She raised her left hand, and the only things within the range of her eyeball's gaze were the three Annihilation cultists and the dozen or so distorted imitations formed from "Prime Essences" behind them.

"Feast," Agatha said softly.

The beings in the spirit world stirred. The shadows lurking in the cracks of the world received the gatekeeper's invitation and permission. In an instant, countless shadows, both dark and light, appeared on all the "surfaces" around the sedimentation tank – on the ground, on the nearby walls, on the pipes, and even on the high ceiling. Those shadows were like cheering crowds, or like herds of beasts jostling against each other. They gathered in groups, surging along the surfaces of all objects, surging towards the enemies in Agatha's sight!

Everything within sight was covered in surging shadows, a scene that made one's scalp tingle. However, Agatha merely watched all of this quietly. Her right eye was calmly open, without a trace of emotion, while her left eye was tightly closed. And in the palm of her left hand, the eyeball was constantly rotating, staring intently at any movement around her.

The surging shadows first surrounded the "imitations." In the blink of an eye, they spread over those imitations like rising tides, instantly devouring and dissolving them silently.

The next second, the shadows rushed towards the three Annihilation cultists and their symbiotic demons.

The Gloom demons sensed the danger.

A strange cracking sound came from within the demons and the chains on their bodies. The flames on all the Gloom demons suddenly trembled violently, and even the edges of the Annihilation cultists' bodies showed strange tremors and blurring. In this realm where everything was frozen, they were actually struggling to "live"!

The young man who shared a symbiosis with the Dust Jellyfish was the first to regain his ability to move. He abruptly broke free from the spirit world's restraints, and the next second, he instinctively looked up in Agatha's direction.

At almost the same time, the gaunt old man who shared a symbiosis with the Gloomhound also regained his ability to move. He saw his companion's actions and immediately warned loudly, "Don't make eye contact with the gatekeeper!"

However, his warning came too late – the young cultist had already turned his gaze completely towards the "triangular area" where Agatha was standing.

Agatha raised her left hand, holding up her eyeball, as if presenting her own eye to the young cultist.

The heretic's eyes widened, his gaze fixed on the eyeball in Agatha's hand, as if his entire being had been drawn to that eye – he stared at it blankly, even dazedly, a look of serenity and peace gradually appearing on his face.

As if in that instant, he had comprehended the true meaning of life and death, and found the meaning and answer to his entire life in that truth.

"Ah, how beautiful..."

He said softly, then smiled and slowly fell backwards, falling into the midst of the shadows that surged like a tide.

He and his Gloom demon were instantly torn to pieces by the endless shadows.

But even as the heretic fell, a strange scream came from not far away. A sharp wind pressure approached from the right, and Agatha had to dodge slightly. As an invisible blade flew past her forehead, she turned her head to look in the direction of the attack. The pale woman who shared a symbiosis with the cat-shaped demon was screaming in that direction. Her mouth opened like a twisted and torn alien, and blasphemous incantations were compressed into short screams. The next blade was rapidly taking shape.

On the other side, the Gloomhound had prepared its next breath attack.

Agatha seemed to completely ignore the Gloomhound and the gaunt old man behind her, only raising her cane and pointing it at the pale woman who had already begun to mutate like a demon before her eyes, while also raising her left hand high, holding up her eyeball again.

The pale woman subconsciously avoided the gaze of the eyeball in Agatha's hand – but the next second, she was greeted by a muffled gunshot.

The front end of Agatha's cane spat out a dazzling light, and a large-caliber silver bullet shattered the pale woman's already completely twisted and torn head.

The next second, as the heretic's headless body fell and was devoured by the shadows, a ball of Gloom breath containing intense corrosiveness also slammed into Agatha's back.

Black flames rose, smoke filled the air, and the Gloomhound's impact breath exploded behind the gatekeeper, then quickly dissipated.

Not a single trace of damage remained on Agatha's black coat.

She slowly turned her head to look at the last remaining cultist, the gaunt old man.

The latter's eyes widened, his eyes filled with astonishment and horror.

"I thought that if you dared to set a trap, it must have been a well-considered move after thoroughly investigating the intelligence," Agatha calmly gazed at the last enemy, "but looking at your expression, it doesn't seem to be the case – could it be that the three of you were just discarded pawns?"

The fear in the last cultist's eyes intensified, and there was even more helplessness in his fear.

Agatha noticed the change in the other party's eyes.

"Are you looking for this?" the young gatekeeper said calmly.

The next second, she suddenly opened her mouth – a ball of filthy Gloom breath containing intense corrosiveness instantly formed in front of her, and with the same momentum and trajectory as when it had struck her just now, it charged back towards the Gloomhound beside the gaunt old man!

The Gloom demon instinctively sensed the danger, reacted almost instantly, and dodged to the side, but the Gloom breath that had been returned along the same path suddenly changed its trajectory like a guided missile – it drilled into the Gloomhound's head with unparalleled precision. After a brief delay, the demon formed from stacked bones exploded into pieces on the ground.

The gaunt cultist who shared a symbiosis with the demon instantly let out a scream. Even though he had not been attacked in any way, he immediately curled up on the ground in pain, unable to even crawl.

The tide-like shadows surged towards him in the blink of an eye, preparing to continue the feast.

"Leave this one to me," Agatha's voice rang out at this moment. At the same time, the sound of her cane striking the ground heavily echoed around her. "Leave."

The shadows in all directions suddenly stirred, and the monstrous malice and chilling noises rolled like giant waves, invisibly impacting the entire space. Some shadows even faintly approached Agatha's direction.

Agatha's expression remained unchanged. She simply raised her cane and slammed it hard on the floor.

Another thunderous roar echoed throughout the space.

"Get out."

After a moment of stillness and silence, all the shadows retreated like a tide.