Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Did you feel it? This papal bestowal."

The Witch's movements were so natural that aside from her unquestionable resolve to kill, she projected no other emotion—not even disgust.

And while it was unclear whether this had triggered another mental collapse for The Prisoners, Fu Qian knew perfectly well that their physical endurance was fading like a candle in the wind.

"Urgh—"

This time, the Inner Persuader only managed a single comment before devolving into wordless groans.

The stars spilling from the Witch's hands once again merged with their countless kin, converging into a dark galaxy.

Wherever this galaxy surged, the fog, the blood, the Insect Swarm... everything seemed caught in a massive gravitational pull, abruptly slowing down.

The pull was inversely proportional to distance, yet it wasn't the gravity of a true celestial body.

Fu Qian made this judgment because, even though he could only sense a fraction of the force, he suspected it was a conceptual devouring. It felt as if everything caught in its pull was being forced into the true dark side of the universe.

Logically, given his current state of perception, he shouldn't have been able to see it.

Yet, through that "conceptual broadcast," he did.

He could even see an insect with a pointed head, draped in a crimson robe, its figure rapidly stiffening as it was locked onto.

...

Going in circles didn't matter. With every lap, she handed out a gift, until there was absolutely no room left to maneuver.

The Witch's strategy was so simple that it was overwhelmingly powerful.

The Prisoners, despite their countless schemes, clearly lacked a reasonable counter to this blatant tactic.

They couldn't simply stop holding them back; the greedy adventurers were delving far too fast.

But to hold them back, as analyzed earlier, the Inner Persuader had already pushed its life-saving measures to the limit.

Yet, under lap after lap of escalating pressure, it was finally caught by the tail.

Splash—

At that moment, the Blood Sea unexpectedly failed to slow down as it had before.

Once the captured body fell silent, the rest of the Insect Swarm raised a unified clamor. The Blood Sea's descent accelerated, visibly threatening to submerge their scalps.

Crack—

However, the one whose scalp was submerged first was the suspected Inner Persuader.

The dark galaxy that had caught it surged forward without hesitation, and the "dark side" thoroughly enveloped it.

What followed was an impossibly abstract folding of that body.

In that instant, every structure seemed to collapse inward into a single point, transforming into that unknowable state beyond the event horizon—just like the sensation initially emanating from the Witch's hands.

Though no sound escaped, one could seemingly still feel the victim's struggle, and even the fragility of its fundamental self.

The theoretical body of a Deity was instantly rendered unrecognizable—

Crack! Crack!

Yet a bizarre noise immediately followed. From the body forced into that collapsing fold, fragment-like structures suddenly sprayed outward.

They were identical in shape—sharp as needles, forming an asymmetrical V-shape—their surfaces rippling with constantly shifting black and white patterns.

Unlike the victim, these objects didn't seem terribly bound by the "dark side." They traced individual arcs in midair, slowly drifting to the ground in accordance with gravity.

Sure enough, Excellency Destiny Serpent was here as well.

Fu Qian still didn't move, but he easily recognized that these were scales.

He had seen a similar trick not long ago.

It was an extreme expression of luck—directly evolving targeted immunity scales in almost zero time.

Even when faced with irresistible damage, it could slow the process through this delayed shedding.

Without a doubt, this was Excellency Destiny Serpent's signature trick. It had caused him quite a bit of trouble back then.

And it looked like it was successfully causing trouble for the Witch right now.

The dark side's devouring of the Inner Persuader abruptly slowed in that instant.

Not only did it slow to a near standstill, but the Inner Persuader's body even exhibited a trace of instinctual struggle.

Crack—

With another strange noise, the Inner Persuader, along with the singularity devouring it, vanished entirely from the spot.

...

Seeing the Prisoner Alliance on the verge of being torn apart head-on, the usually low-profile Excellency Destiny Serpent finally couldn't help but intervene.

To be honest, Fu Qian had considered the possibility of it being more active, but it seemed that its lively state from the last mission couldn't be maintained after all.

As for why it clearly had the strength to lend a hand yet dragged things out until a rescue was absolutely necessary—The Prisoners still leaned toward the assumption that the Witch wouldn't gamble.

Yes, Fu Qian felt he could understand this reasoning.

The Inner Persuader had been trapped, yet the descent of the Blood Sea had suddenly accelerated. The efforts of the other prisoners were obviously behind this.

If the Witch was dead set on killing the Inner Persuader and had no time for anything else, they wouldn't mind showing up briefly to apply pressure.

Their best-case scenario would be to take her down in one fell swoop, but unfortunately, they clearly lacked the confidence for that.

For one thing, he was still standing by, holding the line. For another, The Prisoners obviously believed the Witch would hit the brakes first in this deadly game of chicken.

In short, the opponents' recent move to apply pressure was most likely a tactic of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao.

The most intuitive proof was that once the Inner Persuader successfully escaped, the Blood Sea once again halted its descent.

They had retreated decisively, looking as though they were calling it quits for this round.

"It bears an incurable mark that will continuously affect all of them."

It seemed like their effort had been in vain, yet the Witch didn't waste a single second. She turned her head and softly confirmed this with Fu Qian, completely unconcerned about being overheard.

So, a Seed of the Dark Side was planted? For these five intertwined higher entities, it was indeed an effective countermeasure.

"Shall we continue, then?"

Fu Qian gave a slight nod.

"Continue."

The Witch directed this word at the Persuader.

Since he didn't possess a human body, the latter's height was quite impressive. Right now, the part on top of his head that counted as hair was actually brushing against that patch of blood-red.

Consequently, just like Fu Qian's hand, he had successfully been tainted by that strange rust, his limbs constantly being torn at by it.

However, having witnessed far too much, the Persuader seemed to no longer care.

Even when faced with the Witch's command, he walked straight toward the next door like a walking corpse—it was Al'Akir again.

That's right, this time he once again stopped in front of the reddish-brown door.

Yet, just as he raised his hand to open the door, the Persuader acted entirely out of character and snapped his head sideways.

He saw that the two people issuing orders were completely ignoring him this time.

Walking one behind the other, the Dark Moon Pope—who had just displayed her supreme might—led the way, heading straight for a neighboring door.

She even opened the book in her hand.

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