Bang! Bang bang bang!
Scarlet spikes burst forth like scattered blossoms, their shrill whistles tearing through the air as they pierced everyone in an instant, like nails through paper.
Clusters of blood blossomed in midair.
The terrifying penetrating force did not remain lodged in flesh and bone; it tore straight through bodies before plunging deeper.
Blood splashed across the reliefs on the surrounding walls, dyeing them red and turning them into a sea of crimson clouds.
Even with his eyes shut in horror, Yahiko could still clearly hear those sounds.
Until, at last, every sound ceased.
Intact corpses knelt with their heads bowed, forming a semicircle around Yun Chuan. Great streams of blood bloomed and flowed, pooling beneath them.
"Cough! Cough!"
Atop the altar of piled skulls, Kousan struggled to kneel on one knee. His body was covered in holes through which pink flesh could be seen.
Several had even pierced his spine and heart, yet he somehow had not died.
That was because the believers' blood kept churning, flowing from beneath the altar into his body like spring water and healing his broken body at a visible speed.
But then, a shadow fell over him, casting him into darkness.
Kousan instinctively looked up, thrusting the black spear hidden in his sleeve forward with a sudden, vicious shriek.
Too close, he thought. Just a little blood, and I can...
But before the spear could reach the person before him, he felt his wrist being wrapped up.
It was a scarlet tentacle that looked like flesh and blood, tightly gripping the black spear he had thrust out.
Crack!!
The tentacle twisted violently, snapping Kousan's wrist cleanly.
"Ugh!" He let out a muffled groan, his face twisting in extreme pain.
Then, with a brutality no human possessed, the tentacle lashed toward him through a humming rush of air.
Bang!!
With an explosive crack of bone that made teeth ache and ears ring, Kousan was sent flying into the wall. His twisted limbs rolled beneath the altar!
"Only when two opponents are evenly matched does the distance between them hold any meaning."
"Unfortunately, distance holds no meaning between you and me."
Yun Chuan's voice first reached Kousan from afar, but the next second, he suddenly felt something pierce his chest.
Squelch!
Yun Chuan looked down at him and said gently, "Look, all it takes is this to reach your heart."
Ignoring the tentacle stabbed through his heart, his tone was practically that of someone offering a greeting.
But another tentacle extended from behind him, wrapped around Kousan's neck, and lifted him into the air.
"An incomplete immortal body?"
Looking at the heart that continued beating despite being pierced, then at the head Kousan had instinctively curled up to shield, Yun Chuan shook his head and sighed. "Possessing vitality that does not match one's strength is also a kind of tragedy."
Compared to Hidan from the original story, this guy's "immortal body" was far too weak. He needed enough blood to sustain it.
"Cough! You... blasphemer... you are more of a monster than I am!"
Kousan's voice was hoarse and chilling, not at all something a human should have been able to make. His face, covered in filthy blood, was crazed as he grinned savagely. "Kill me, and you will be cursed by the 'Lord.' Death will follow you like a shadow!"
The instant his words fell, Yun Chuan suddenly felt an inexplicable sensation of being watched.
"Hm?" Yun Chuan raised an eyebrow.
Following that sensation, he turned toward the faceless stone statue atop the altar and immediately understood that those "eyes" were watching him from within its cracks.
That invisible gaze swept over him from head to toe, as if every inch of his skin had been seized in a hand that slowly tightened, greedily trying to squeeze him into a puddle of blood.
"The Lord is watching me, and you will be cursed!"
Kousan stared fixedly at Yun Chuan, as if trying to see through his soul and find fear and cowardice within it.
But the next moment, a sharp pain flooded Kousan's mind.
Blood dripped from the tip of the tentacle, finally falling to the floor with a crisp sound.
"Argh!!"
He let out an incomparably miserable scream and cast Yun Chuan a venomous glare.
Yet Yun Chuan's face was covered by a scarlet mask, while his deep blue eyes were like dry wells, seeming capable of swallowing every prying gaze. There was no hope of finding even the slightest trace of fear in them.
"A curse?"
Looking at Kousan, whose brain had been pierced by a tentacle as he swayed in the air with the wind, Yun Chuan said softly, "It sounds more like a promise."
"Then my promise is..."
"To kill every so-called god."
Squelch!!
He pulled out the tentacle, letting Kousan drop to his knees with a thud, his entire head tilting back.
Yun Chuan's calm voice entered his ears. In Kousan's gradually lifeless pupils, only a trace of fear remained.
The candlelight on the walls reflected a dark red glow. Cast upon Yun Chuan, it made him look especially bewitching—more terrifying than the stone statue itself.
This man was a blasphemer.
—And a monster.
Mission Name: [Acolyte's Sacrament] Mission Level: Blue Mission Status: Completed Points Held: 5200 (2200+3000)
Yun Chuan lowered his eyes as the scarlet tentacles withdrew.
He merely glanced at the stone statue, a cold smile appearing on his face.
Then he turned and walked toward the doors of the Stone Tower.
"We're leaving."
Nagato silently watched the entire scene unfold. He patted Yahiko, who stood frozen in place, then turned and followed Yun Chuan out of the Stone Tower.
But just as Yahiko came back to his senses and was about to leave as well,
he suddenly heard faint crying, as though it had drifted to his ears through a mist of blood, accompanied by nightmare-like chanting.
Yahiko's pupils abruptly contracted. Every hair on his body stood on end as he sharply turned toward the sound.
There, atop the altar, the woman who seemed to have been forgotten had somehow given birth to a child!
"Waaah!"
"Only the Lord is with me. In this barren land of despair, the Lord has bestowed abundant grace upon me. I offer my faith to the Lord..."
The entire Stone Tower suddenly fell silent. Only the woman's devout chanting and the increasingly piercing cries of the child echoed endlessly in Yahiko's ears.
He could not help but step toward the skull altar, before his steps turned into a run.
The altar had been smeared with blood until it resembled a slaughterhouse, and the pungent stench of blood was enough to make anyone vomit.
But when Yahiko carefully bent down and picked up the crying infant, a complicated expression suddenly flashed through his eyes.
"Child..."
He looked at the pale woman beside him, who was still praying devoutly. His grip tightened around the sharp dagger in his hand, and the sorrow in his eyes vanished in an instant.
For the first time, he felt how vivid and yet tragic life and fate could be.
Fate had no mercy, and the gods' long night had no end.
"I'm sorry. Please don't blame me..."
Yahiko looked at the woman and murmured softly. At last, resolve showed on his face as he said pityingly, "No, please hate me as much as you wish."
With that, he held the infant in one arm and raised the dagger with the other.
Squelch!!
The devout prayer came to an abrupt stop. Blood splashed across Yahiko's face, lending him an eerie air.
What died along with that life was Yahiko's compassion—and the head of the stone statue.
The severed surface at its neck was perfectly smooth. Its head had clearly been cut off in a single stroke!
Death was not rebirth.
Rather, death was accompanied by rebirth...
Outside the Stone Tower, Nagato turned to Yun Chuan beside him and asked in confusion, "Brother, is that naive, hot-blooded fool really worth your special regard?"
"Grinding From Zero to Become a God"
A stat-boosting, experience-grinding story starting from infancy. Those interested can check it out.
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