Three hours after Prince Simdo and Archbishop Link received their orders, a pale blue ring of light suddenly erupted from the top of the enormous Titan Pyramid.
The ring was immense, spreading outward at astonishing speed. One kilometer! Ten kilometers! A hundred kilometers...
It kept expanding until the entire Number One Void World lay within it.
Unlike the earlier blue light, which had instantly obliterated everything it touched, this vast ring swept across the sky without killing anyone. People on the ground merely saw a beautiful streak of blue overhead.
In the blink of an eye, the ring reached the majestic City of Light.
The Holy Light Tower in the city stood taller than the Titan Pyramid, so its tip rose above the blue ring.
Yet as the ring passed through it, the tower silently snapped in two. Its upper section plummeted, then struck the ground with a thunderous crash.
A vast square surrounded the base of the Holy Light Tower. It was usually filled with high-ranking clergy of the Holy Light Church, but today it was deserted. Even when the tower's tip fell, no one came out to investigate. Only low-ranking priests and nearby believers gathered at its doors to see what had happened or await instructions from their superiors.
But no instructions came. The leaders of the City of Light seemed to have vanished all at once, and not a single person emerged from the Holy Light Tower.
The same thing happened at several other cathedrals in the city. Lower-ranking clerics and nuns could not find a single senior cleric or bishop.
Almost everyone in the City of Light could see that the tip of the Holy Light Tower had been sheared off. It was the city's symbol and the pride of the Holy Light Church. Believers across