The Deception

Rumble...

The brief hesitation did nothing to slow the siren. Though the aura of death was so overwhelming, she still pushed the temple doors open with all her strength.

The moment the doors opened, the siren's heart raced. She lifted her eyes and looked inside.

The temple's interior was in a terrible state of disrepair, and everything inside had been soaked by water. Yet all the jars and pots sat exactly where they belonged.

The offering table, even the cloth covering it, remained steady, as though it were still on dry land.

It was as if this temple had been abandoned by the laws of physics. The water had not changed a single thing inside.

The Immovable as a Mountain Curse really was here!

The siren had realized how powerful the Immovable as a Mountain Curse was at a glance.

But in the next instant, she had no strength left to think about any of that. As she looked around the temple, she could not help seeing the statue enshrined directly before her.

The enormous clay statue sat cross-legged atop a lotus pedestal, standing three or four meters tall.

It wore the flowing robes of a groom, its hands forming an unfamiliar seal. Its finely carved face looked handsome, and a benevolent smile tugged at its lips.

Its eyes brimmed with mirth, half-lidded as they gazed down at the "believer" before it.

The siren wanted to look away.

But her body was frozen in place, and her head seemed to be under someone else's control. It slowly tilted upward until she was looking directly at the statue, locked in a staring contest with the god.

This was it.

A buzzing filled the siren's ears, and her heart began to pound wildly. In an instant, her body was trembling like a