Sun-Moon Empire, Mingdu.
This thousand-year-old city had lost its former prosperity. Groups of Holy Spirit Cult members chanted their doctrine amid the sounds of doors and windows being smashed open and anguished cries for mothers and fathers. Dressed in white, the cult members expressionlessly dragged all manner of people out of their homes, tied them together with ropes, and stuffed filthy socks into their mouths before herding them like sheep toward predetermined locations.
In the center of Mingdu, a magnificent prayer platform had been completed after a flurry of construction.
Luo Tiansheng, leader of the Holy Spirit Cult, had specially bathed and changed his clothes, burned incense to cleanse himself of worldly impurities, and brought himself into peak condition. Dressed in his ceremonial robes, he solemnly ascended the steps and mounted the prayer platform beneath the expectant gazes of countless cult members.
At that moment, all fell silent.
Had anyone looked up and outward just then, they would have seen a black hole blotting out the sky and sun as it steadily approached Mingdu. That terrifying expanse of darkness far surpassed ordinary storm clouds, seemingly capable of devouring everything. Wherever it passed, vast stretches of land vanished, leaving only the boundless sea to replace the former scenery.
By now, everyone in the Holy Spirit Cult understood that their great leader would conduct an unprecedented blood sacrifice that day, summoning a projection of the Evil God to confront the black hole about to swallow Mingdu.
Standing on the prayer platform, Luo Tiansheng looked down at the tens of thousands of Evil Soul Masters below. Suddenly, he spread his arms as though embracing the world and fervently proclaimed the Holy Spirit Cult's doctrine:
"Let holy light illuminate the earth! Let the Holy Spirit descend upon the mortal world!"
Below the prayer platform,