“To lure me into your game, you didn't hesitate to deliberately put on that performance when I entered your dream, casually killing off your own creation just to provoke me into forcefully breaking through the barrier and returning to the mortal world. Afterward, you guided me step by step to join this operation, leading me to voluntarily bring the replica to the ritual, making all my efforts look utterly ridiculous.”
Lynch gently swayed his round fan and sneered.
“But there was a folk saying passed down from the Mythological Era: when one's scheming against others reaches its limit, it will eventually backfire on oneself. Lady Evil God, your gifts are quite useful, and I like them very much. However, I have never liked being schemed against, so I have decided to keep the sugar coating and send the cannonball right back.”
The Swelling Daughter frowned. “You knew my goal all along?”
“No, I am not that perceptive; I knew nothing. But I know you are an evil god who has ravaged mortals for four ages, and one of the highest status among them. Underestimating you would be the most foolish thing in the world. Therefore, once I realized I was up against you, I approached every single thing I encountered with the utmost suspicion, even if many of those things were just me being overly sensitive and fighting shadows.”
“Heh, you say all this, yet you still completed the ritual with the black fan. Nothing can be undone now.”
“Yes, nothing can be undone. For you, that is indeed the case, great Lady of the Great Old Ones.”
Hidden behind his round fan, the corners of Lynch's mouth curved into a chilling smile.
“William has already set his sights on the mirror, and you have cast your amused gaze upon this country. You will do whatever it takes to achieve your goal. This is a deadlock. Even if I can defend against it once, I might not be able to do so a second time. After all, with a twisted mind like yours, as long as you exist, the threat will always remain. As an evil god, you will always find a way to deliver the mirror here.”
“A catastrophe is bound to break out sooner or later, and I absolutely despise being a passive target. If someone reaches out to grab me, I will definitely chop off their hand, whether it belongs to an evil god or a human. I want to completely cut off your hopes, which means smashing that broken mirror so you can't use it to stir up trouble again anytime soon. But that is by no means an easy task. With the mirror in your hands, trying to rush in and snatch it is nothing but a pipe dream. Yet, if I wait until you complete the ritual and deliver it, we will lose control of the mirror, and it would be too easy for things to go wrong. I certainly don't want to bear the blame for sitting by and watching Lande be destroyed.”
Lynch narrowed his eyes, locking gazes with the evil god in the image.
“Fortunately, you are a good person—no, a good god—who actively delivered the solution right to me. Your guidance made me realize that this is actually the best opportunity. There is absolutely no need for me to rush. I just have to wait for you to happily deliver the mirror into my hands. That way, we won't lose control of the mirror, nor will we have to fight an evil god for it.”
With that, Lynch clapped his hands and said with a faint smile, “Isn't that just a wonderful coincidence? Since you are willing to voluntarily deliver it to me, why wouldn't I cooperate?”
“Heh, a nice struggle, truly splendid. Unfortunately, mortals are but mortals, and ants are but ants. No matter how you struggle, you are merely amusing us. You cannot change anything.”
The Swelling Daughter sneered.
“What makes you think you can destroy that mirror? A mystery relic you classify as manifestation grade is simply not something mortal strength can destroy. What gave you such confidence? Is it the Divine Authority you obtained from who-knows-where? What a laughable delusion. Have you forgotten that your will clashed with mine when you broke through the barrier? If I couldn't guarantee my safety, how could I personally deliver the mirror into your hands? With your meager, mortal-limited understanding of Divine Authority, you cannot affect the mirror in the slightest. Hehehehe... I want to watch you hold the mirror and be completely powerless, forced to watch everything unfold with your own eyes. That is the ultimate performance a mortal can offer.”
“Indeed, I am just a mortal, a mere ant in your eyes. But even ants have their own resistance.”
Lynch let out a low chuckle behind his fan.
“From the very beginning, I have never been fighting you alone. I have comrades to whom I can entrust my back, working tirelessly on my behalf. ‘We’ are not fighting a ‘lone’ battle either, because I believe they have the ability to awaken those who defend the dignity of ants and protect the will of this world.”
Saying this, Lynch felt a sudden premonition and pointed upward.
Piercing through the thick catacombs and the dense mist, the world outside was already shrouded in the dark of night.
The red moon was just rising, and the stars were twinkling.
A bizarre meteor, trailing twisted light and shadow, streaked across the distant horizon, hurtling directly toward this ancient tomb nestled in the mountains.
Right in the direction Lynch pointed, directly in the path of the descending meteor, the elegant and graceful projection of a woman holding a black cat materialized in the night sky. The phantom was faint and fleeting, far beyond the sight of ordinary people. Only those Soul Severers whose souls had already been alienated were fortunate enough to catch a fleeting glimpse of it.
Behind the projection, a dignified lady with the head of a cat and the body of a human held a scepter. She raised her head from her throne and let out a soul-shaking howl at the meteor tearing through the sky.
“The great cat goddess, Lady Bastet.”
As he spoke, Lynch shifted his finger, pointing toward another angle.
In the night sky, a man in a yellow robe suddenly emerged, holding up a bizarrely twisted mark. Behind the mark, a towering, eerie man in a yellow robe—with octopus-like tentacles writhing beneath his chin and feet—stared at the meteor in the sky through the mark.
“The Unspeakable One, the Lord of Deep Space and the Starry Sea, the Feaster from Afar, the King in Yellow, Lord Hastur.”
Shifting his finger again, Lynch did not actually know which entities the two ladies had managed to persuade. He relied entirely on his trust in them and the guidance of his inspiration to point toward a third position.
The projection rising in the night sky was that of a little girl, beautiful beyond human measure, her petite body brandishing a totem pole even larger than herself. Behind her, the shadow of an ancient, sunken city loomed indistinctly, as countless hideous tentacles reached out from the ancient city toward the meteor in the night sky.
“The Sleeping Lord, the Lord of R'lyeh, who sleeps within the ancient deep-sea city of R'lyeh—Cthulhu, who waits dreaming.”
Having just invoked the phantoms of the three Great Old Ones, Lynch felt a sudden stir in his heart and pointed his finger toward another part of the night sky.
The star-dusted Scepter of the Black Night, the red double-headed snake scepter, and the intricately dazzling chariot of the sun—the emblems of the three major gods rose into the night sky as well. Beneath these emblems, the phantoms of an elderly, ordinary man, a tired old woman with a hunched back, and a muscular man with a gleaming bald head looked on from afar, facing the opposite side.
“See? Though we have no choice but to borrow supreme power to fight you, this will to resist has always belonged to us mortals. I cannot guarantee success with absolute certainty, but at the very least, we fought until the very last moment.”
Lynch waved his round fan at the Swelling Daughter behind the image and spoke calmly.
“In their own ways, they are borrowing supreme power to help me suppress the mirror's memories and authority. Now... it is my turn.”
With that, Lynch let his consciousness sink into his soul.
‘Neighbor, someone said my understanding of the red moon's Divine Authority is pitifully meager.’
【Well, you are.】
‘...Neighbor, someone said our understanding of the red moon is pitifully meager.’
【Pfft, that is intolerable. That is blasphemy, and this mistake must be corrected.】
‘Heheh, we share this body. I'll leave the rest to you.’
【What did you just say?】
‘Alright, then. Let's do this together.’
【Mm, together.】
Thus, beneath the crimson full moon and in the vast night sky, the phantom of a mysterious woman holding a round fan finally revealed her form.
Behind her, an invisible red moon rose slowly. A lady clad in a multi-colored robe, her black hair cascading like a waterfall to the ground, lightly tapped her pure white feet against the invisible red moon as she ascended into the sky, merging into one with the phantom of the woman before her.
Looking down at her body and then raising her head to gaze at the incoming meteor, the lady let out a soft, gentle smile.
“God said: Let mystery dissipate, and let all come to an end.”
The word of God is truth.
And so, it was done.
Bang.
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