The sun in the sky was shrouded in shadow.
Twisted, depraved, dark, and mad shadows covered the sun's eyes. Black sun, utterly different from the light, warmth, and evil-dispelling warmth of the true sun, was born, replacing the sun's position.
Then, sunlight like the sun, poured down.
The grass, trees, soil, stones in the valley, the opened fissure, the people within, the demons one after another, insects, birds, beasts, and even the ritual symbols, none were spared from the black sunlight that rained down.
It was the storm of the sun, the storm of pollution.
The twisted power endowed inanimate matter with the characteristic of being 'alive'. They shouted in unison:
'Praise the sun—'
'Praise the sun, praise the sun—'
'Sun, sun, praise the sun, sun, sun, praise the sun—'
The singing, akin to mental pollution, seemed to erupt from every ray of sunlight, from the spirituality of every polluted life, like a pitch-black tide. In an instant, the black sunlight devoured all the spirits it touched.
The countless flying spirits, before even reaching the abyss or merging into it, were stained by the black sunlight. Their translucent spiritual power turned pitch black, and twisted smiles of happiness appeared on their numb faces.
They opened their mouths wide, shouting as if in a frenzy:
"Praise, the sun!"
They no longer moved forward, no longer attracted by the ritual. Their bodies turned jet black, no longer possessing the pure light of spirituality. Their bodies transformed into twisted sun symbols one after another, turning into black sunlight, and then, in crazed roars of praise for the sun, they dispersed in all directions, polluting everything, like a plague.
Having just consumed an Ocean Singer, it could turn into this ghostly appearance. Tang couldn't help but rub his arms, goosebumps almost rising.
Attacking those spirits was already the greatest effort he could make given the current situation.
Tang didn't have many, nor could he have such a large number of high-level charms of the Death domain, capable of clearing all the flying spirits.
That was impossible for him, a Sequence Five Seer. He wasn't good at large-scale spirit clearing work in the first place.
And once these spirits stepped into the ritual range that the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe was conducting, they would probably all become a force to open the abyss. In response, he could only pollute these spirits in advance, which was better than them helping the wicked and becoming nourishment for the abyss, allowing the Dark Side of the Universe to exert more influence on the real world.
"Purification requires ability. Forcibly purifying without ability is just being a saint."
Where the sunlight shone, there were no colorful hues, only pitch black. All living beings radiated by the black sun became carriers of the black sun, becoming new sources of pollution, spreading outwards.
These were intense mental pollutants.
The extraordinary power of the Sun Scepter erupted fully at this moment, and the impact it caused could be described as terrifying.
"Aaaaah—!"
In the distance, the demigod of the Gardener pathway who had fallen to the ground sat up at some unknown time. Many black spots grew on her face and body.
Those spots seemed to use her flesh and blood as nourishment, her mind, spirit body, everything as sustenance for their growth, emitting a pungent stench, filled with filth and depravity.
The pulsating black sun centered on those spots. Her facial skin seemed to have its own will, beginning to break free from its master's control, spontaneously praising the sun.
"No! I don't want to!"
Flowers grew from her body, but withered extremely quickly, becoming lifeless.
The earth trembled slightly, and arms carved from rock grew out from within, trying to pull her body underground, to avoid this terrifying black tide. But the aura of decay and filth constantly flowed out from those spots and was eroding her other normal parts, causing her pain, madness, and loss of reason.
Something was overflowing from her body, which caused her control over those alchemical products to decline sharply.
The erosion began from the body and continued until the mind was completely depraved.
Her mind itself had been corrupted by the Dark Side of the Universe. Even if the black sunlight hadn't polluted her, she would have become one of the carriers for the abyss to expand into the real world.
Her shadow unknowingly stood up in the world full of black sun. Its pitch-black, gentle hands caressed her neck. Before she completely turned into a pool of 'oil', with a crisp cracking sound, the lady's cry for help abruptly stopped.
The shadow stood behind the lady, grabbed her body, and entered the ground together with the earth golems that had all turned into black sunlight around them.
Now, the battle between the War Bishop and the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe continued.
Under the shroud of the black sunlight, within the affected area, except for the location of the 'Trennsohst Brass Book' and Tang as its user, other regions had been completely covered.
"Interesting, really interesting."
The shadow behind the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe had no reaction. In fact, this purely dark environment made him nostalgic.
"Filth, depravity, darkness, distortion, do you think such things will affect me?"
"No, no, no, it won't."
Amidst the derisive laughter of this vessel, the surrounding depraved beings, created by the black sunlight, who had all attacked him, suddenly turned against him and instead polluted the War Bishop.
In the extraordinary world, the abilities covered by a domain or authority are scattered across multiple pathways, with the main pathway concentrating a large amount and the remaining pathways dividing the rest.
Unsurprisingly, the Abyss and the Hanged Man were both pathways that controlled the authority of domains such as depravity.
And facing the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe, the Sun Scepter's mastery of depravity couldn't compare and would be counter-manipulated.
He could even use this large-scale pollution, this environment similar to the abyss, to try to open the door to the abyss again.
"I told you, a magician never performs without preparation."
The next moment, from the center of the depraved sun in the sky, a compressed beam of black sunlight fell vertically.
Entering Euclid's space, using another Yesterday Once More charm, Tang interfered with the demon's danger premonition through 'dimensional reduction', preventing it from detecting his attack intention in advance, allowing this vessel to fully receive a blast of black sunlight.
Chains of iron suddenly rose from the ground. The black flames engulfing the War Bishop in the sunlight devoured him. The spirit worm within him grabbed the demon's spirit threads. The mercury symbols on the parchment written by the Trennsohst Brass Book jumped and danced, and the bound vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe had no choice but to take this black sun attack.
And his face twisted under the frantic devastation of the sunlight.
Faint, dark light spots separated from his body surface. The extraordinary power of the Sun Scepter's depravity domain indeed couldn't affect the Dark Side of the Universe, which also held the 'depravity' authority of this pathway. But who said the Sun Scepter only had the extraordinary power of the 'depravity' domain?
It also contained the extraordinary characteristics of the other four pathways!
Sequence Four of the Sun pathway, No Dark.
It could forcibly and continuously purify filth, forcibly strip extraordinary characteristics, reduce the level of Beyonders, and even revert Beyonders into ordinary people!
As a component of the Sun Scepter, the black sunlight also possessed this extraordinary power!
The blasting black sunlight caused the potion within the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe to overflow. The person's face changed, and his body suddenly moved backward. The surrounding black sunlight also began to surge into his body.
He wanted to use this to stabilize his form and reduce the impact of the sudden loss of control.
But who would give him that time?
Tang's figure reappeared in the real world, a cane appearing in his hand.
'Moment of Luck' exchanged the control of the War Bishop marionette's spirit threads with the Theater Core.
Tang and the War Bishop marionette instantly switched positions.
The twisted sun symbol of the three-meter-long Sun Scepter with its dark golden luster was aimed at the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe, who was trying to absorb the surrounding filthy and depraved power. A Yesterday Once More charm had already disappeared in his hand.
At the same time, the light of the golden hammer flashed, amplifying the mystical power of this black sunlight impact!
The black sunlight condensed like a true abyss—filth, depravity, madness, horror—as a black sun attack struck the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe again.
This attack even caused the demigod's brain to go blank instantly. The extraordinary characteristics of the Sequence Four Manipulator of the Visionary pathway were planting layers upon layers of psychological suggestions in his mind, making him give up resistance and sing praises to the sun under the sunlight.
His body uncontrollably moved away from the abyss's fissure, and the extraordinary characteristics within his body were accelerating their separation.
"Can't go on like this."
He plunged his hands into the nearby wall, forcibly controlling his backward-flying body.
The next moment, the smell of sulfur and the power of depravity suddenly erupted. The parchment created by the 'Trennsohst Brass Book', the Uniqueness power that restricted demonic power, was suddenly strongly affected.
The pollution that had originally been cleared silently spread across the parchment again, and as if it had grown on the parchment itself, it could no longer be removed.
It was only a faint yet unremovable power of the abyss, but even so little, could the 'polluted parchment' be considered a manifestation of 'demonic power'?
If it was 'demonic power', then the death penalty should be executed immediately!
The rules written by the 'Trennsohst Brass Book' fell into self-contradiction. If it were to execute, it would inevitably lead to self-destruction.
Maintaining this space and suppressing the power of the demons rapidly withered and decreased. The suppressed abyss began to emit even deeper and more terrifying black mist outwards.
'Host!'
"I know."
The War Bishop fell from the sky at some unknown time, smashing towards the vessel.
A large patch of black-brown skin, unlike human form, tore open on the vessel's body, and he began to show the form of a mythical creature.
But the next moment, two more pieces of parchment appeared in Tang's hand.
"The law stipulates that there is no more mystery here, and all should follow the rules of physics."
"The law stipulates that all legal regulations cannot affect the 'Trennsohst Brass Book', the authorized people, and the items they hold!"
The parchment shattered, and the power of enhanced reality forcibly suppressed the demonization power of the vessel.
The next moment, the War Bishop suddenly disappeared, stuffed back into the warehouse by the System, replaced by countless metallic-lustered liquids.
The golden hammer in Tang's hand flashed again. The next moment, his figure also disappeared, entering Euclid's space to avoid the upcoming danger.
The countless liquids that still emitted brilliant colors in the black sun domain suddenly lit up.
The next moment, a world-destroying explosion rang out, like a huge and magnificent mushroom cloud.
The metallic hydrogen continuously produced by the Never-Ending Theater's 'creation miracle' was all used here.
All fear comes from insufficient firepower!
The ground cracked, the earth trembled. Even thousands of miles away, the terrifying tremor from the earth could still be felt.
That was ash soaring into the sky, the undoubtedly magnificent miracle of the 21st-century science side.
Countless existences cast their gazes here. The two closest demigods, one serene as night and the other violent as a storm, locked onto the location simultaneously.
"Chanis, it seems the Dark Side of the Universe's plan was discovered long ago, and the Extraordinary who stopped him made quite a commotion."
The middle-aged man, who looked only thirty or forty years old but had white hair, chuckled.
"Don't underestimate the enemy. The Dark Side of the Universe is plotting to open the door to the abyss. We can't afford to be careless about this."
The old man, wearing a black robe, serene as the deep night, with a sense of vicissitudes, slowly said, "The church has activated the '0' level sealed artifact. Before that, we must understand the situation and check what the door to the abyss is like and whether it has been opened."
"May the storm be with us." The tall, burly man struck his left chest with his right fist.
"Praise the Goddess."
The next moment, the figures of the two flashed again, rushing at an extremely fast speed towards the distant place where explosions were still occurring one after another, the sound shaking the heavens and the earth.
"This should be enough to attract the attention of the church's high-level members."
In Euclid's space, Tang watched the scene of frantic explosions around him, precisely locking onto the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe who hadn't been blown up after so many continuous explosions.
"What a cockroach, still not dead after all that blasting."
Watching the demon's body constantly disintegrate and continuously replenish itself from the abyss pollution constantly emanating from the ground, barely recovering his body under the punishment of the rule book, Tang's face couldn't help but darken.
'Host! What should we do next?' The System counted. Before it left, it had almost emptied the Theater Core's inventory. Apart from the necessary spirit worms that the Theater Core needed to use on the marionettes, after using them for this period, there were still seven Yesterday Once More charms left that could be provided to the host.
Tang held the Sun Scepter, stroking the knowledge runes carved on it, without speaking.
Polluting those flying spirits, two black sun bombardments causing the vessel's extraordinary characteristics to overflow, and the continuous explosions still damaging the vessel and the abyss—these could hurt the vessel of the Dark Side of the Universe but couldn't solve the fundamental problem.
"Wait," Tang said.
Waiting for an opportunity.
A one-shot kill opportunity.
(End of this chapter)