The dark red eyes swept around before finally settling on Lin Yuan.
The stone statue had no mouth, yet its voice came from all four walls at once.
"Believers who have come from afar, offer up your fear."
Mira raised her demon arm. "Who are you calling your believers?"
"Don't attack yet." Macao stepped in front of the nine missing people first, spreading purple flames in a semicircle. "Wakaba, check on them. Lin Yuan, Mira, keep an eye on the statue."
Wakaba's smoke split into nine streams and wrapped around the black threads on the missing people's chests. The moment the smoke touched them, they all opened their eyes.
They didn't look at their rescuers. Instead, they all stared at the statue.
"The god has awakened."
"There will be no more famine this year."
"As long as we offer up our names..."
All nine spoke in exactly the same tone, giving Mira goosebumps.
"This thing is scarier than the master when he's drunk."
"I'll put that in the report," Macao said.
Purple flames spread across the floor toward the black threads. Wherever the flames passed, the threads wrapped around the missing people shrank back, and the bronze bell in the statue's hand trembled along with them.
"Why do mortals reject my blessing?"
Blurry images appeared on the walls. Ears of wheat grew once more in cracked fields, empty granaries filled with grain, and an elderly person recovered on a sickbed.
"Offer up one person, and a hundred can be saved."
"Offer up ten, and an entire town can have a bountiful harvest."
The voice passed through the church and spread into the town with the midnight bell. In the meeting hall at the foot of the mountain, people began removing the door bars and walking dazedly into the street.
A burst of purple flame suddenly rose into the night sky.
It was the alarm Macao had left behind. The mayor and guards immediately struck the bronze sheets and doused the bewitched people awake.
In the basement, Macao also saw what their opponent was after.
"It doesn't just take people at random. It creates fear first, then promises to put an end to the disasters so the townspeople will offer sacrifices willingly."
Wakaba's smoke turned into thin blades that slashed at the black threads in succession. "But these people aren't dead yet. What's it keeping them for?"
"Because the sacrifices haven't agreed yet."
Lin Yuan stared at the black threads.
One end of each thread connected to a missing person, while the other ran to the foot of the statue. Fear only made the threads appear. What truly strengthened them was the phrase the missing people repeated over and over: "I am willing to offer up my name."
This thing needed people to believe it was a god.
"You don't have the power to grant blessings at all," Lin Yuan said.
The dark red eyes turned toward him again.
"Ignorant child."
"If you could make the harvest abundant, you wouldn't need to hide people underground and wait for them to agree. All you can do is use the bell to create illusions."
Mira understood. "So it's been lying the whole time?"
"At least the strawberry cake should be real," Lin Yuan said.
"Why bring up cake at a time like this?!"
"Because it's easier for you to understand."
Her demon fist changed direction and slammed hard into the statue's face.
Boom!
Stone chips exploded across the room. Half the statue's head was knocked off, and the bronze bell rolled from its hand. But the next instant, the black threads on the floor lit up at once, the shattered stone flew back of its own accord, and the dark red eyes opened again.
"Those who blaspheme against a god shall be devoured by fear."
The illusions on the walls abruptly changed.
Mira saw villagers brandishing torches and driving her and her younger siblings out of their village; Macao saw the Guild engulfed in raging flames during a mission; Wakaba saw smoke rising from his companions' corpses.
But the three of them only paused for an instant.
Mira's second punch struck even harder than the first.
"I got sick of seeing the same thing long ago!"
Macao's flames closed in at the same time, surrounding the nine missing people in a safe area. "Fairy Tail repairs the Guild every day. If you're going to use a different illusion, at least don't be lazy about it."
Wakaba puffed out a mouthful of smoke. "Besides, my smoke looks much better than that."
The statue fell silent.
It suddenly occurred to Lin Yuan that this so-called god might never have encountered such uncooperative believers.
"Save the people first," Macao ordered. "I'll burn through the connections, and Wakaba will get them out through the passage. Mira, you smash things. Lin Yuan, find where the black threads come together."
"Why does she only have to smash things?"
"Because she's best at it."
"I agree with that." Mira had already charged out.
Purple flames and smoke covered the nine missing people at the same time. Lin Yuan opened his hand and peeled apart the distances scattered throughout the room, layer by layer.
Black and silver lines appeared between the walls, floor, statue, and bronze bell.
Beneath those lines belonging to space lay another mark, a serpentine carving that should not have existed. It coiled around the statue's base, its tail reaching deep underground, as if the entire church were merely a scale exposed on its surface.
The God-Slaying Magic Power in Lin Yuan's palm immediately stirred.
It was not the revulsion he felt when facing a true god. It was more like catching the scent of stolen remnants.
"Found you."
He reached for the distance between the statue and the carving underground.
The dark red eyes suddenly narrowed.
"I see."
The statue's voice changed for the first time. It was no longer solemn, but carried a sort of greedy delight instead.
"You have a throne older than the sacrifices hidden within you."
The black threads suddenly abandoned all the missing people and lunged at Lin Yuan from every direction. Macao swept out a wall of fire, and Mira moved in front of him to block them, but a slender thread still slipped through a gap in the folded space and touched the center of Lin Yuan's forehead.
Deep within his soul, ten extinguished divine thrones appeared at once.
A tiny crack silently opened in the chain closest to the lightning.