The sound brushed past his ears like a gentle breeze, yet in that unspeakable stillness, it was deafening.
Only after that sound passed did everything around them slowly come back to life.
Some could no longer support themselves; their legs gave way, and they collapsed to the ground, their equipment and weapons clattering into a scattered mess.
A jeep in the distance failed to brake in time, crashing heavily into a nearby off-road vehicle. The incessant blaring of its alarm echoed through the air.
But no one paid any attention to the chaos.
Every soldier and Esper, including Gawain, remained frozen in place, their eyes wide and unblinking as they stared fixedly at the distant sky.
"What... is that?" Gawain squeezed out the words with great difficulty, his voice as hoarse as a broken gong.
Ren Yi did not respond. He slowly turned his head, casting his gaze toward the sky even further behind the City of Stars.
Right at the horizon where the earth met the sky, amidst the dark, heavy clouds, and upon the distant firmament that almost merged with the darkness, a piece of the sky was "missing."
The sky there seemed to have transformed into a material that Ren Yi could not comprehend.
It looked like plastic melted through by a lighter; its edges were a surging, smooth, and viscous liquid, resembling watered-down oil paint.
Influenced by gravity, the liquid surged into teardrop shapes, trailing long tails as it slowly dripped from the sky.
This scene was so absurd that for a fleeting moment, Ren Yi thought the world beneath his feet was nothing more than a toy castle built of clay and plastic.
As for the gap in the middle, it was a void of "nothingness."
Deep within that high and distant void, something seemed to be slowly falling through that gap.
Ren Yi remembered this feeling.
An Auxiliary Rule... or perhaps it should be called a Calamity Rule now.
Who triggered a Calamity Rule? Was it Xin City or Royal City?
No, Calamity Rules spread and intensify during the early stages of a world's demise, so it was possible this was just a natural "diffusion."
In that case, did these Calamity Rules spread randomly?
Ren Yi blinked slowly. After the initial hair-raising chill, continuing to gaze at the gap no longer brought the same sense of pressure as before.
After all, there was almost "nothing" there.
The sky where the gap was located was simply too far away; Ren Yi could not see at all what the land beneath the Calamity was experiencing.
But a distant Calamity couldn't affect him here. Ren Yi turned back to look at the camp.
The flow of positive emotions had been diluted and dissolved the moment the silence descended. Now, panic was the dominant force here.
...The Pope's previous concerns were justified. If this panic and despair counted as "pain," and if the Calamity Rule had already spread here, everyone in this place would be wiped out in an instant.
Ren Yi noticed the Pope hurrying through the crowd toward him from a distance.
Beside him, Gawain's expression was no longer calm. His flickering gaze constantly shifted between Ren Yi and the Pope.
"Lord Son of God, is this..." the Pope said directly as he reached Ren Yi.
Ren Yi nodded.
"I told you. Through the broadcast, you couldn't feel the terror of facing It directly."
The Pope fell silent for a moment but did not pursue the topic further.
"Lord Son of God, this is a bit troublesome. It will take some time for the troops to regain their combat effectiveness. We may need to delay our plans."
"No, perhaps I can give it a try," Ren Yi shook his head. "Prepare some mutant beasts for me."
"You intend to personally boost morale?" The Pope was taken aback.
"No, it is the will of my God that will hearten them," Ren Yi said indifferently.
He exchanged a few brief words with the Pope, asking him to immediately arrange for personnel to rally the scattered troops while sending trusted aides to capture several mutant beasts nearby to serve as "sacrifices."
Since things had come to this, he might as well move up the schedule for the "performance" he had prepared.
Compared to hollow words, a manifested "miracle" was always more persuasive.
Ren Yi never felt he had the charismatic personality to gather thousands of followers with a single shout, nor the eloquence to make people die-hard loyalists with a speech.
However, he had "special effects."
Furthermore, after his "stroll" around the camp earlier, he had already planted illusion seeds in the hearts of those most likely to doubt him.
Of course, he was merely trying to speed up the process of pacification; after all, the people here would be working for him soon.
To ensure his own safety, he had been using his abilities non-stop along the way. The energy he had truly collected from the Holy City folk was limited.
Next, having them help him catch mutant beasts would be the main source.
As the ultimate beneficiary, watching the workhorses fall into a panic and stop producing results made him anxious as well.
As for the content of the "performance," he had already thought it through.
He would refine an illusion crystal right here in front of everyone.
Creating an Ability Crystal was much more difficult than a Rule Crystal. The method Ren Yi used before—opening a "small workshop" inside his own body—was not applicable, which was why he hadn't made a single Ability Crystal yet.
But based on his experience making Rule Crystals, Ren Yi knew that if he didn't intentionally hide the production process... it should look quite spectacular.
Escorted by Gawain, Ren Yi walked out of the camp and stood on a slightly elevated earthen slope.
This position was perfect; both the soldiers nearby and the people at the back of the camp could clearly see his figure.
The Pope's direct subordinates had already prepared three mutant beasts. They were old acquaintances—the large, flesh-colored centipedes he had seen before. Even though they were restrained, they continued to writhe and struggle.
Ren Yi instructed Gawain to arrange the centipedes in a circle. If anyone asked, it was for the sake of ritual.
As for the affairs within the camp, Ren Yi didn't bother with them, merely telling the Pope in passing that he was going to "publicly display the Oracle."
That Pope should be much better at the whole business of playing god.
Ignoring the commotion in the camp behind him, Ren Yi slowly drew the blade from his waist and plunged it directly into the mouths of the three mutant beasts.
Bright red blood surged out, quickly soaking the ground beneath his feet as a thick, metallic scent drifted with the wind.
The moment the blood mist began to spread, he slowly raised his right hand.
In the next second, translucent white mist emerged around him. The churning mist carried an eerie sense of vertigo, as if it could pull at one's very soul.
Following that, countless tiny specks of golden light appeared within the mist, like fallen stars. They gradually gathered toward his palm, finally coalescing into a brilliant sphere of light the size of a human head.
The sphere of light shimmered with flowing colors; it was dazzling but not piercing, standing out exceptionally well against the gloomy sky.
In the crowd, the plants arranged by the Pope began to draw the people's attention toward Ren Yi's position.
Ren Yi quietly activated his ability, locking onto the soldiers in whom he had already planted illusion seeds.
In the vision of these people, a wondrous scene unfolded: the light of the crystal in Ren Yi's palm suddenly exploded, transforming into a brilliant pillar of light that shot straight into the sky. His own figure was enveloped in this light, appearing holy and majestic.
That golden pillar of light seemed to possess a life of its own, extending toward the black gap in the distant sky. Visually, it actually "filled" that terrifying void.
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