"The process is going quite smoothly."
Watching the pitch-black flames burn within the Reiji Maigo, Shudenan bared his teeth in an excited grin.
"Before long, the Proxy Body will be complete, and the Alliance Leader's will shall manifest in this world, correct?"
Having said that to no one in particular, Shudenan turned his gaze in another direction.
Belphegor turned her head as well and looked over.
At the innermost end of the chamber, upon a wall that had previously held nothing but evenly spaced pillars, a vortex formed from a silvery haze had appeared.
Within the vortex was a suit of armor suspended from the ceiling in the posture of someone undergoing death by a thousand cuts.
It was a full suit of Western plate armor, entirely silver in color.
It was none other than the Silver Armor that had once emerged from the Reiji Maigo and devoured Amakusa Shirou Tokisada.
Thin wires and thick tubes extended from the surroundings and coiled around the Silver Armor, while countless paper talismans were pasted onto it.
The Creation God—the "Serpent of the Festival."
This God of the Crimson World, sealed within the gap between the two worlds, should never have had any possibility of returning to either the Crimson World or the Real World. It should have slept there forever, never again seeing the light of day.
Yet through its connection with Black Catty, the "Serpent of the Festival" had gradually transmitted the Imperial Mandate Poem it had woven from itself, which it used to create things in accordance with its divine authority. Thus, it had gained the chance to see the light of day once more.
Because of the Imperial Mandate Poem, the "Serpent of the Festival" still could not escape the gap between the two worlds, but it had gained