Reinforcements

In the test tube held by Red Glove was what looked like a fragment of a severed limb.

It had skin like some kind of metal, along with crystal-like bone. It was a finger, without a doubt—a piece taken from some Holy Remains. Whether as the seed of a Stigmata or a vessel for descent, it was more than sufficient.

"With this much Source Matter, it should be enough for its initial growth, right?"

Red Glove smiled and abruptly smashed the test tube inside the box.

In an instant, countless shards of glass flew out, then vanished into the air. They had never been matter to begin with. The entire test tube was a containment vessel made by solidifying the Universal Dissolution Agent, solely to completely isolate its contents from the outside.

And the moment it came into contact with the air—

That fragment of finger bone trembled slightly, as if it had sensed the free air.

In an instant, the Source Matter accumulated in the box over the past several days was drained dry by it. Then, screams erupted from the chapel.

Very quickly, the screams vanished.

They became silence.

Only drop after drop of crystalline Source Matter, like dew, emerged from within and slowly seeped into the finger bone like sweet rain. Then, an aura of madness and malice rose from the bone.

Like a tidal wave, it swept in every direction.

It was a storm.

A storm of hunger and wicked thoughts.

It blew wildly into the distance, greedily enveloping everything, brutally seizing every mind and dragging in all the Source Matter within its range of perception... Its range was the entirety of Old Pond Town!

Even Ascenders found it difficult to keep themselves together beneath the terrifying pull at its center.

Red Glove staggered back several steps and heard a crackling sound. It was the sound of his hair breaking apart.

Several strands had withered like wild grass, snapped by the wind, and fallen to the ground.

He raised a hand and touched his face, feeling the traces of wrinkles.

At the corners of his eyes, dense wrinkles and age spots that only belonged to the elderly had appeared, as though he had aged decades in an instant.

Then flesh sprouted from the broken gap in the finger bone, and bone began to grow... In an instant, the remaining Stigmata was awakened, instinctively drawing upon the plundered Source Matter and rapidly developing toward a complete form.

The seed was growing.

No, rather... it was recovering.

The first stage arrived first—Mercury, the legendary first metal. A fertile soil of Source Matter formed from the three substances of salt, sulfur, and mercury, the foundation of all things.

Using that as its basis, the will remaining within the Holy Remains awakened from its slumber and cast an indifferent glance upon this world that had long become unfamiliar.

Next came the second stage—Gold. Its traits were discovered, its attributes perfected, and after the Source Matter was purified, it formed a solar blaze.

Only, this blaze was azure, carrying an icy chill. Wherever it passed, everything seemed to have weathered away for centuries.

Turning into ashes.

Then came the third stage—Aether, the road beyond mortal things.

Its decayed shell could no longer restrain that terrifying radiance. Power beyond common sense brewed within it, as though it had sown the seed of divine power and reclaimed its original transcendent status. It struggled with all its strength, breaking free from the shackles of physical law.

Like a dragon's reverse scale, a phoenix's tail feather, Medusa's eye, an angel's wing, or a demon's horn.

It could no longer be bound by common sense.

Finally came the fourth stage—Stibnite.

By now, that fragment of finger bone had turned into a slender, fair hand. It seemed to extend from the void itself, as though painstakingly carved by a master craftsman, every detail flawless.

It had completely undergone sublimation, transcending the mortal world. It was no longer something ordinary humans could touch!

It was only one step away from myth.

And at that moment, a roar came from afar. The earth shook, and an iron enclosure rose from the ground, slowly sealing Old Pond Town within it.

The inside and outside were cut off.

The hand's growth came to an abrupt halt.

There was no more Source Matter for it to continue recovering toward its original state.

As though it sensed the sky beyond the chapel turning black, a regretful sigh came from the void.

Red Glove's expression abruptly changed. He took out a depth meter like a pocket watch and saw the rapidly rising reading... In an instant, the boundary degree had reached sixty percent...

This place was being stripped from the Present Realm by the Astronomical Society!

It had been so close.

Just a few dozen more seconds, and the Holy Remains could have recovered to the fifth stage—Philosopher's Stone—becoming a true miracle in this world! It might even have recovered to the transcendent stage—Crown—and gained control over divine authority...

Yet the abyss between the fourth and fifth stages could no longer be crossed.

They had been one step too late!

"This is impossible... Did they stumble onto it by chance, or did they notice something?"

Red Glove sank into stunned confusion, muttering darkly. He could not imagine where he had exposed a flaw. Or perhaps Wang Hai still had some secret that he had failed to investigate?

Soon, he heard a drifting voice.

Like a whisper carried in the wind.

"No time to worry about that. Even if it's only one hand, it should be enough."

As it spoke, the hand pointed behind itself, signaling for him to move farther back.

The next instant, it raised two fingers and flicked them toward the roof of the chapel. A sound like rags being shredded by machinery rang out.

A hurricane burst forth.

Every brick and stone in its path instantly weathered into dust, while the wooden beams rotted and shattered, swept into the sky by the gale.

The hand slowly rose and, between heaven and earth, slowly curled into a loose fist.

A shrill, ear-piercing sound rang out. The turbulent world abruptly froze, as though the hand had gripped the pivot on which it turned.

The Reality Stripping process came to an abrupt halt.

It was as though the entire space had frozen within the hurricane.

Suddenly, a roar came from afar.

.

"Unauthorized border crossing detected. Soul imprint comparison complete. Threat level upgraded—"

In the brief instant it appeared, Ai Qing's phone received an alert from the satellite overhead. It even identified the origin of that hand:

"Mutant affiliated with the terrorist organization 'Green Sun'—fourth of the 'Ten Calamities': Wind Calamity. Threat level A. Disaster alert issued."

Though everyone had been shocked and resistant when Ai Qing reported the matter just moments earlier, they could not help but breathe a sigh of relief now, sincerely wanting to thank her for her stubborn insistence.

Only Ai Qing's expression grew uglier as she silently turned her phone over.

But no message came from Huai Shi and the others saying they had successfully evacuated.

"Tch..."

She frowned irritably, then quickly stopped hesitating and looked up. "Then what are you waiting for? For him to order food? Did the Special Affairs Department not even prepare a final contingency plan?"

After receiving authorization confirmed simultaneously by the middle-aged man and Ai Qing, a roar came from afar less than ten seconds later.

Thunderous booms rang out one after another, shaking the earth.

Three kilometers beyond the blockade perimeter, smoke and dust continuously rose from a towering hillside. The pungent smell of gunpowder spread alongside the ceaseless tremors.

Steel Great Beasts crouched upon the earth, reflecting a cold gleam beneath the lights.

Following the command center's orders, their enormous bases unfolded as though wedging themselves into the ground. Their heavy barrels slowly lifted, aiming diagonally toward the sky.

Range calculation complete.

Impact point calculation complete.

The next instant, flames erupted!

Eleven howitzers that had waited for so long roared, hurling deadly iron light into the Sky Dome. In the next instant, terrifying power capable of incinerating the entire chapel dozens of times descended from above.

The hand, locked in a stalemate with the force of the blockade, seemed to sense the sudden attack. Its little finger lifted slightly and flicked to the side.

A hurricane rose abruptly, iron-colored light flashing within it. The violent winds collided with one another, producing a piercing shriek as countless sparks burst forth.

The wind of iron swept through, violently shattering half the shells. Then the little finger made a slight motion, and the iron wind collapsed inward, dragging the remaining shells into a single point.

The next instant, searing flames exploded in the sky.

The sudden blaze illuminated the completely unscathed hand.

Then the second barrage descended from the sky!

"Very good. Keep going. Maintain fire suppression."

In the command room, the middle-aged man became excited without the slightest discouragement.

The Wind Calamity's counterattack instead proved one thing: it still lacked the ability to withstand bombardment head-on—otherwise, it would not have needed to waste time on such things.

As the refuge of ordinary people and the foundation of the world, the Present Realm possessed the strictest laws and rules. Unless one reached the rank of a "Natural Enemy" and became a walking humanoid hell, it was absolutely impossible to confront the laws of physics head-on.

As long as the firepower was sufficient, it was not as though there had never been records of "the Crowned" falling beneath a military siege.

"What a pity. If only we had missiles..."

Ai Qing sighed regretfully, then heard the man cry out in delight, "High-level Present Realm reinforcements are already on their way!"

She froze for a moment. First, she relaxed, but then she vaguely sensed something was wrong. The Guardian of the Present Realm currently on rotation in East Xia seemed... not particularly reliable, did they?

Thinking of the rumors circulating among her colleagues, her heart sank again.

Under the frenzied fire of sixteen howitzers, despite repeatedly counterattacking, the hand struggling against the power of the sealed zone was still forced down inch by inch.

It had been suppressed.

Even the entire chapel had collapsed by more than half. Unfortunately, no traces of survivors could be seen through observation.

That was to be expected.

That mutant known as the Beast of Wind Calamity was best at creating Source Matter vortices and extracting the Source Matter of others as fuel. By now, everyone in the chapel—no, perhaps all of Old Pond Town—had likely already...

As the brief wait dragged on, the atmosphere in the command center gradually grew more solemn.

Normally, reinforcements transferred through a secret realm and directly "airdropped" into the Present Realm could arrive in less than three minutes at the fastest. Yet now, the wait felt unbearably long. Only the Guardian of the Present Realm coming to reinforce them kept sending messages to reassure the people in the command center.

"I've already set off!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming. On the road now."

"I'll be there in one minute!"

Messages came every few minutes. At first, everyone still held out hope, but later, they completely lost the desire to say anything.

Until the artillery positions delivered terrible news.

Their ammunition was exhausted.

"There's a bit of traffic. I'll be there soon!"

Along with the text notification, the hand, faintly scorched black, abruptly rose and violently shattered the force stripping away the Present Realm. Then its five fingers clenched into a fist. The hurricane gathered and reflected in the iron enclosure sealing all of Old Pond Town.

The next instant.

SMASH!

The earth shook and the mountains trembled.

Within the howling hurricane, it sounded as though countless cannons were roaring together. The invisible wall physically sealing off the surrounding area suddenly shuddered. The iron enclosure boomed, the earth at its foundation rocked, and cracks appeared.

The blockade had loosened.

A crack also split open on the hand, yet it paid no heed. It rose again and smashed!

BOOM!

A fissure split open in the iron enclosure, and metal wailed.

The people in the command center went pale, but the reinforcements were still nowhere in sight. There was only one airy text message:

"Hold on. I just need to make one more turn and I'll be there!"

BOOM!

That fist smashed down again.

This time, the crack in the iron enclosure spread further, already revealing a fatal breach.

The Beast of Wind Calamity broke out of its cage!

Coo coo coo coo coo coo, coo coo coo coo coo~