Clang.
Tanzimat fell to the ground, and Lioz dropped heavily onto the pile of rubble. His fists clenched tight as a vast torrent of information flooded into his shell. His consciousness was pulled from this body and rose to a higher plane.
It was a realm... beyond description.
Vaster than the ocean, hotter than sparks. Lava and icebergs collided violently; causality, the past, the mortal world, the future—this was an endless, immaculate pure land.
He could not feel pain, yet wave after wave of suffocation gripped him. The destinies of countless living beings entered through his fingertips, passed through every nerve in his body, then tangled together roughly four or five inches above his head, condensing into a golden halo.
"Urgh—aaah!"
As the golden halo took shape, Lioz's entire body shuddered, freeing him from that strange, uncontrollable state.
The next instant, he opened his eyes, and a trace of golden radiance stained his deep-blue pupils.
Every call, every prayer from the universe, the past, the present, and Parallel Worlds connected to the depths of his consciousness.
"Merciful High God, Mother of Reproduction, save my child."
At the scene of a car accident, a weakly breathing infant lay limp in its mother's arms. The mother's wails and agony were heart-wrenching, enough to make listeners weep and onlookers grieve. She clutched the pink-and-blue pendant at her chest. The antlers of the spirit deer pierced her palm, blood streaming out as her prayer was carried before Lioz.
"My supreme, great, benevolent, and beloved lord, display Your divine might and save the suffering people of my kingdom."
Floodwaters swept across the land. Faced with the impoverished masses, the cold-hearted king pushed his own flesh and blood onto the altar. Amid the priest's prayers, he closed his eyes and coldly, resolutely begged the High God