...
"Grinya, what's wrong?"
Gexi watched as Grinya Loran suddenly cried out in pain, clutching her head as if she were about to faint. Gexi felt a surge of anxiety, not knowing what to do.
"God..."
Grinya held her head, the agony so intense that she would have been rolling on the ground if Gexi weren't holding her.
The words she suddenly uttered made Gexi freeze for a moment.
"What?"
"An evil god! That's an evil god!" Grinya shouted.
"We have to stop that gate in front of it from opening, or it will destroy the entire world!" she cried.
But when Gexi looked up, everything before her was a sea of darkness. She could see nothing.
"But I can't see anything," Gexi said, her heart thumping with uncertainty. "Is what you're saying true?"
"I have to leave this place. I have to close that gate." Grinya pushed herself out of Gexi's arms and took a few staggering steps.
Then she stopped again.
She was in a dark abyss, a place filled with nothingness and chaos. She had no way of finding an exit.
Even if she left through spatial rifts over and over again, she was merely jumping from one pocket of space to another. It was as if she were eternally locked away.
"But we can't find a way out at all," Gexi said.
Grinya slapped her own pale cheeks. "There will be a way. There has to be a way."
"If I can't leave this place, everything outside will be destroyed. I must leave. Grinya, think of something..."
Watching Grinya grow frantic to the point of madness, Gexi found it difficult to understand.
"You can't always rely on Lord Xun Shen. You have to prove your own value to him."
"You aren't just a vessel, Grinya."
Grinya kept whispering to herself, "You are the person closest to Lord Xun Shen. Your significance to him is unique. Now is the time to prove your worth. You have to prove that his judgment wasn't wrong!"
"Grinya?" Gexi called out, genuinely wondering if her friend had lost her mind.
However, out of kindness, she still reminded her, "Only the power of a god can counter the power of a god. For the two of us to escape the abyss on our own is practically impossible."
She only wanted to remind Grinya not to go down a rabbit hole. If her only companion in this place went insane, she wouldn't be able to hold on by herself.
Hearing those words, Grinya suddenly froze, as if struck by a thought.
"Only the power of a god can counter the power of a god..." she murmured, falling into deep thought.
If she truly had to rely on a god's power to leave this place...
But Lord Xun Shen was already in a difficult situation. She couldn't keep relying on him like she used to.
Unless she could borrow the power of another god...
Just like before, when Lord Xun Shen used her body to appear in the cathedral out of thin air.
Yes, just like that!
She could learn from Lord Xun Shen, borrow the power of the Original God, and then leave the abyss!
"Grinya, what did you think of?" Gexi asked, confused.
"The Original God! We can still borrow the power of the Original God! That's our only way out of here!" Grinya suddenly grabbed Gexi's shoulders with strength, the color returning to her face.
Seeing her regain hope, a giant question mark appeared in Gexi's mind.
"Huh?"
"Grinya, don't scare me. You haven't actually gone crazy, have you?"
"This is a godless era. Gods don't respond to anyone anymore," Gexi said with a worried expression.
She suspected Grinya was mad, and she had evidence.
"Maybe I can," Grinya said. She remembered how Lord Xun Shen had controlled her body to teleport to the cathedral, and how the god had responded to her even when she had behaved disrespectfully toward the divine.
She took a deep breath. Just as she was about to call upon the Original God, she realized she couldn't remember the prayer.
"Um... what is the prayer for the Original God?"
"...Don't ask me. Our town didn't believe in the Original God; we worshipped Cassandra, the God of Divination," Gexi said.
She paused and added, "Look, even if I recite the true name of the God of Divination, I don't get any response. No results, good or bad. If this were the old era, I'd have been turned to ash long ago. So, there are no gods in this era who will respond to you."
"Besides, you can't even remember the prayer for the Original God, so the deity you believe in probably isn't the Original God anyway. Are you sure you want to call upon a god that doesn't belong to your faith?" Gexi asked, tilting her head.
Gexi's point was valid. Grinya's faith wasn't in the Original God. Calling upon a god outside one's faith was dangerous. If there was no response, that was fine, but if there was...
She would more likely turn into a corrupted monster.
Gods absolutely loathed such unfaithful believers.
A believer should have only one faith.
Hearing Gexi's words, Grinya hesitated.
Even if she successfully received a response from the Original God, would the deity truly accept such an unfaithful believer?
Even if she wasn't truly disloyal, how could a god be expected to listen to a human's explanation?
Even a mistaken killing was of no consequence to them.
She slowly turned her head toward Gexi.
"Am I supposed to just watch that evil god descend and wait for it to destroy the world?"
"I..." Gexi didn't know how to answer. As weak humans, this seemed to be the most they could do.
At least they were safe here.
"I can't just sit and watch it happen. I have to do something," Grinya said. "I am not anyone's puppet or vessel. I am myself, Grinya Loran!"
"The radiance of Yiertaya shall bloom through me!"
Gexi looked at her, still unable to understand. "We are just humans. This involves the level of gods. If that evil god hadn't revived yet, it might be different, but its revival process is almost over. This is no longer something we can interfere with. Why are you so insistent on handling this yourself?"
Grinya looked at her and said, "Because there is a god who believes in me, and I cannot let him down."
"Before that evil god destroys the world, I have to stay in Yiertaya..."
"...And wait for him to come back."
After saying all this, she ignored Gexi. She opened her palm to reveal a small charm bag that Lord Xun Shen had given her. This bag had been with her ever since she arrived in the abyss.
She gripped it tightly in her hand.
"Great God of Order, please hear my call..."
"Great God of Order, please hear my call..."
She kept whispering the divine title of the God of Order.
In the chaotic void, her voice echoed continuously. The divine title of the God of Order was like a stone thrown into a pond, instantly causing a stir in this chaotic space.
Gexi felt afraid, her body tensed like a fully drawn bow as she stared intently at Grinya.
But Grinya remained undisturbed by external distractions. She simply repeated the divine title of the God of Order, using this method to draw the deity's attention.
The empty chaos transformed into physical monsters. A staggering surge of killing intent seemed ready to crush Grinya as they slowly marched toward her.
"Grinya..." Gexi's face was pale. These monsters were of a high level that she couldn't handle. She could only call out Grinya's name softly.
But Grinya did not respond. Yet, her repeated calls failed to elicit any response from the God of Order.
"As expected, this isn't working," Gexi said desolately.
One monster raised an arm larger than a human, like a heavy hammer, and swung it down toward Grinya.
"Grinya!" Gexi screamed. At the same time, regardless of whether she could block the attack, she threw herself in front of Grinya.
Just as the monster was about to crush Gexi, Grinya seemed to grow frustrated with her chanting. She suddenly snapped, shouting with impatience and rage:
"God of Order, fuck your mother!"
"Are you fucking deaf? Can't you hear me?!"
The moment those words left her mouth, everything around them suddenly fell into silence.
It was as quiet as if nothing had ever happened.
Rate on N.U.
