"Finally, the truth is revealed."
Mary’s countless words ultimately converged into this single sentence. She had spent her entire life preparing for this moment.
Ever since her encounter with that mysterious vortex-masked man, she had dreamt for months about scarlet ice and chairs turning into red tapeworms writhing on the ground. This made Mary aware of a tragic fact—at that time, if he had wanted, he could have easily taken her life.
But he didn’t. Instead, he toyed with her, showing her the principles of the scarlet plague and admiring her desperate struggles.
This left her, the Chief Priest of the Life Sanctuary, feeling insignificant before the Evil God Bazatous.
This aligned perfectly with the usual conduct of Bazatous’ followers.
In fact, she was unable to find any other followers of Bazatous that came close to him during that period.
Ethan did not respond; he simply watched Mary.
This encounter was indeed unexpected for him. He had not anticipated Turzan’s trump card to be an old acquaintance. The last time they met, Mary was just a Tier Four Priest, tirelessly working to fight the scarlet plague with noticeable dark circles under her eyes from sleepless nights.
She was a figure from another era, now standing before him in the present, embodying the role of the God-chosen of the Goddess of Life.
The feeling was somewhat intricate, and more so was the fact that this God-chosen subtly shielded her rear with her hand while facing him.
Making it seem as if he had done something perverse.
Ethan’s complex gaze immediately made Mary alert. She even turned her head to check that there was no stool or other object behind her. The nauseating scene from before was something she never wanted to witness again in her lifetime.
And as the God-chosen of the Goddess of Life, she would leave no chance for him to escape!
"I won’t give you any chance for repentance, face my wrath!"
Mary said with an unprecedentedly fierce tone. At this moment, she finally released the resentment that had accumulated in her heart for years, "This is the magic I crafted specifically for you!"
As a fellow God-chosen, she knew she couldn’t afford to give her opponent any chance to breathe.
The colossal sword hanging in the sky plummeted to the ground, absorbing all the light in this world. Only in doing so, she believed, could she cut the link between the vortex-masked man and the Evil God Bazatous. The other half of her soul, separated for this purpose, existed solely for this magic.
The people of the Imperial Capital looked up at the sky. As the Sword of Judgment descended, they forgot to flee.
They witnessed the sword falling from the sky as depicted in the Holy Scripture, a parable of the goddess’s judgment upon this tainted world. On the day of judgment, their bodies would be destroyed, the souls of the vile would be torn apart by the goddess’s wrath, while noble souls would return to the Celestial Kingdom embraced by holy chants.
Suddenly, someone noticed a change in the surrounding ice layers, where images appeared once more.
It was the battle happening inside the grand hall.
They saw Mary, the God-chosen, directly confronting the demon in the hall. Someone immediately recognized Ethan, whose poster as a D-class investigator from the Reception Bureau had been plastered across streets just a day before.
The Imperial Capital’s people found it hard to describe their peculiar sentiment. After the church’s high-pressure policies had labeled many as followers of the Evil God, they finally found a genuine one.
Apparently, one of the most formidable among the followers of the Evil God.
They momentarily forgot that death approached, as the Sword of Judgment descending closer declared the coming of doomsday. Facing the inevitable destruction, their hearts felt a surprising calm.
Silver white light shone upon everyone; it was the last remnant of light in the world. What followed was an eternal long night.
In the hall, Mary stared at Ethan. She had long disregarded parables and doctrines. This was a battle between two God-chosen, and even if the aftermath of this battle would destroy the entire city, she wouldn’t hesitate, for the followers of Bazatous would bring further destruction.
In an instant, twisted flesh creations and souls distorted by agony flashed before her eyes.
This only strengthened Mary’s resolve.
Mary never stopped researching the scarlet ice. Exhausting all her knowledge and that of all the followers of the Goddess of Life, she finally created this magic called "Judgment."
Though extremely reluctant to admit, Mary had to acknowledge that, to some extent, this magic was taught to her by the God-chosen of Bazatous.
It was that nightmarish encounter which left a profound psychological shadow and made her realize the restraint the life goddess’s magic power origin had on the Evil God’s power.
The Sword of Judgment drew ever closer. Willingly burning half of her soul, she would use the original magic she comprehended to destroy the evil power emanating from Bazatous himself.
Their lives were reaching an end, and Mary desperately wanted to see changes on Ethan’s face.
Regret, fear, or perhaps anger?
She had captured countless followers of the Evil God, who mostly showed similar expressions when facing judgment. She wanted to see if Bazatous’ God-chosen would also reveal his human side at life’s end.
However, the result greatly disappointed Mary.
Facing the imminent descent of the Sword of Judgment, Ethan’s expression remained utterly unmoved; he seemed to be calmly awaiting the judgment.