Chapter 1 The Ritual is Broken

The ritual was ruined.

When the Queen's Guard, who had been repeating in the cycle of reincarnation for half a century, suddenly broke the cycle for some unknown reason, when the "Gate of Ascension" in the ritual hall was blown up by invaders, when a group of guys who popped out of nowhere ran into the hall – when the intended sacrifice, in front of the Pool of Elements, sacrificed herself to the green flame, this noble and ultimate ritual had reached the point of no return.

Now, the heretics have rushed in, and the destroyers are frantically slaughtering the Holy Master's followers, destroying decades of painstaking effort.

"What have you done?!"

In the center of the deep pool, the leader of the cultists, with the appearance of a golden-haired young man, roared in fury. His body suddenly grew taller, and with the support of the black mud, he transformed into a swollen and terrifying giant. He swung his arm towards Agatha, and countless thorns and bone spurs grew rapidly from the pool, spreading overwhelmingly towards the gatekeeper who was still standing in the flames.

However, all attacks failed to touch Agatha's body. They instantly turned to ashes under the burning of the ghostly green flames. The strange flames instead spread backward along the path of the ashes, gradually burning the sacrificial symbols and blasphemous objects around the mud pool, and spreading towards the pool.

Agatha was still enveloped in flames. The raging spiritual flames were already erupting from her body. Every wound on her body had even turned into a channel for the flames to gush out. It looked as if the flames had turned into liquid, flowing in her blood vessels – the excruciating pain of being burned by the flames had faded away at some point. She laughed in the fire, raised her head, and fearlessly stared at the furious but powerless heretic, murmuring to herself, "Ah… I understand…"

The next second, her eyeballs were instantly burned away by the spiritual fire. Fire gushed out from the empty eye sockets, and she used these burned-out "eyes" to look around, at the cultists around the deep pool who were in great chaos.

When her gaze swept over them, all the cultists began to burn, and the demons that coexisted with them also began to burn. All the blasphemous objects in the hall became fuel for the fire, and even the hall itself began to slowly permeate with the texture of flames.

The Fire Thief granted her authority, and she used the authority of fire to end the blasphemy here – this was the truth she saw in the fire the moment her eyeballs were burned away.

The cultist in the center of the mud was not to be feared. He was just a freak who had completed a self-sacrificial transformation. What truly maintained the operation here were those ugly and distorted heretics who were shouting and screaming around the mud pool.

"Stop! Stop it now! You have no idea what you're doing! The ritual going out of control will do no one any good! It has already reached…"

The cult leader, who had turned into a swollen giant, shouted in vain, and constantly created barriers, trying to resist the flames that were spreading throughout the hall. However, at this moment, a gunshot suddenly came from the side, interrupting his shouting.

"Bang!"

A young warrior in a soldier's uniform from half a century ago, holding an old-fashioned rifle, rushed in and fired at the deformed and swollen giant in the center of the deep pool.

The brave warrior was swallowed by the surging black mud the next moment, but behind him, more soldiers were rushing into the hall.

In terms of time, the cycle node of the Queen's Guard's "counterattack battle" had already passed. These phantom warriors should have all disappeared, but it was obvious that this cycle had been changed by the destruction of that thorny gate – the Queen's Guard, who should have disappeared at the next hour, had returned here from the cycle and began to attack this final hall.

The marine squad led by Lawrence was also fighting fiercely with the nearby cultists and abyssal demons – they had run out of bullets, but they still had sharp scimitars and longswords, as well as bodies that were temporarily not afraid of death. Therefore, even when facing dark priests and demonic creatures who possessed various dangerous powers, they were not at a disadvantage, like powerful transcendents.

With a "clang," Lawrence's short sword deflected a bone spur flying towards him, and then he dodged a fireball that almost exploded on him. He stepped forward in the flames, cut off the chain behind the neck of a cultist, watched the dark priest's body quickly turn into ashes, and then raised his head, looking at the long-haired woman not far away who was standing in front of the mud pool, burning like a torch.

"Girl! We're here to help!" the old captain shouted, "We all work for the 'Captain', right – which ship are you from?"

He could see clearly that the young girl standing in the flames was burning with the same ghostly green flames as himself, which obviously meant they were on the same side. On the other hand, the girl's flames were darker and the fire was obviously bigger than his own, which must mean she was not an ordinary "one of us."

Bigger and greener – a big shot under Captain Duncan.

Captain Lawrence made a simple judgment based on his rich adventurer and captain experience, and concluded that he should take the initiative to greet his future high-level colleague.

Agatha looked in astonishment at the sturdy old man who looked like a captain and was shouting at her.

"What did you say?!" After two or three seconds, she couldn't help shouting loudly, "It's too noisy here, I can't hear you!"

Lawrence was stunned for a moment, then turned to confirm with his subordinates, "Did she respond?"

"How would I know!" Abnormality 077 was the closest. The dried corpse was now shouting, his voice mixed with panic and fear. He jumped back and forth in the flames that were spreading in all directions, desperately dodging the bullets, fireballs, bone spurs, and even the blown-off limbs that were flying around. The double blades in his hands had already been chipped. "I'm a sailor! Why am I fighting a bunch of cultists in the sewers – this is a marine's job!"

"You weren't like this when we landed," Lawrence shouted, "You were as excited as a pirate preparing to plunder a city."

"You said we weren't pirates!"

"Then I'm appointing you as a marine."

"You motherf—"

"Hmm?"

"You mother…"

Agatha listened blankly to the incomprehensible shouts and exchanges between those rude and sturdy sailors and their captain, watching the extremely chaotic scene before her –

Who are these guys? Where did they come from? What are they doing?

She saw those strangers burning with the same green flames as herself, and the cultists in the hall were fighting with them. She also watched a large group of soldiers who looked like ancient ghosts rush in and shoot everywhere. From time to time, soldiers shouted the name of the Frost Queen. Everything here was beyond her understanding, as if…

As if after she chose to sacrifice herself, the style of the whole world had changed.

However, soon, a whistling sound in her ears interrupted her wild thoughts.

The swollen and deformed giant bent down towards her.

"Everything… cannot be stopped…"

It roared, its whole body spewing out filthy and out-of-control black mud. The once handsome, golden-haired young man's appearance had long disappeared, and now it was replaced by a terrifying monster that vaguely had a human-like outline.

Half of its body was covered with crisscrossing mouths, and chilling friction and whispers came from between the sharp teeth. Its head was slowly cracking in front of Agatha, and the cracks were covered with malicious eyeballs. The elements had completely eroded and replaced the monster's former human body. It had become a part of that pool of mud, even… a part of some larger, more chaotic will.

The swollen giant stared at Agatha with its countless eyes. The mud spreading from its body had been ignited, and the flames had even spread back to its body. However, the monster seemed to feel no pain at all, only repeating again and again, "Cannot be stopped… cannot be stopped… error, error…"

"You have already failed," Agatha raised her head, and looked into the monster's eyes. The flames flowing from her eye sockets distorted the surrounding air. "You should be able to feel that the so-called 'channel' has been cut off – the inversion process between the mirror and reality has stopped."

"Stopped?" The monster seemed to suddenly wake up for a moment because of Agatha's last words. In those countless mutated eyeballs, the hatred belonging to humans reappeared. "Foolish… you think that just because you sacrificed yourself… we have no other sacrifices?!"

Agatha was stunned.

The next second, she saw the giant suddenly raise its hands high – its arms suddenly changed, growing and dividing rapidly like dry and cracked branches, turning into large patches of thorn-like structures, and piercing into the roof of the assembly hall and every nearby pipe. Between the thorn tips, there were faint flashes of light that darted quickly, like fireflies.

From the depths of this "thorn bush," came a cry of ecstasy –

"I see it! I understand it! I understand!

"What a magnificent creation! What a grand blueprint! O Great and Holy Lord… I have understood your intentions, I have understood… to reshape this world, yes, to reshape… all of us, and all things in this world, will be born again from the flesh and blood of God – believers, the time for sacrifice has come!"

"The time for sacrifice has come!"

Under the shocked gazes of Agatha and the marine squad led by Lawrence, all the remaining Annihilation cultists in the hall began to cheer wildly. They seemed to have really received some revelation from the truth. In this thunderous cheer, they jumped towards the pool of mud in the center of the hall one by one!

(I have a bold idea!)

(End of this chapter)