The god spoke no more. On yellowed parchment, the fanatical priest wrote down a prophecy of the final judgment:
"When the end comes, God shall judge the world and rebuild a new doctrine upon the ruins."
The scant record was buried deep beneath the dust of history, while the unspoken myth vanished into the wind and snow of the night.
Thereafter, the god witnessed by only one person slept within the temple.
Qi Si was the first to enter the Holy City Instance.
Or rather, it was precisely because of his entry that this Instance had been forced into operation, drawing in a group of suitably powerful players to make up the numbers and opening for the first time after having been built for years.
One day before the Instance began, Qi Si had opened his eyes in Holy City in the form of a god. From the moment he descended upon the square outside the temple, he had seized control of the Soul Leaves of nearly all NPCs. Only a small number of NPCs involved in the Instance's mechanics remained under the jurisdiction of the Rules—such as Priest Rachi.
The remaining Rules struggled for a while, frantically issuing a warning:
[No attacking others within Holy City!]
The meaning was clear. Even if his power was enough to turn the entirety of Holy City into a sea of blood and mountains of corpses, he could not personally kill those NPCs beyond his control.
Although the power of the Rules had already weakened considerably, and he was destined to defy them eventually, the Instance had yet to begin. It was not yet time to reveal his hand, so it was best to avoid violating any underlying rules that could be circumvented.
Of course, Qi Si had never intended