Chapter 274: Stealing the Sky, Swapping the Sun

In the sky over New York City, a strange hum resonated.

It was the moment between dawn and dusk, the few minutes before the city woke, when morning light had not yet appeared and night was nearly gone.

On the rooftop of the Midnight Building, Constantine, Midnight Father, and Lester stared blankly at the pitch-black night; they were not looking at the city lights below, but at something far larger and more complete above the sky.

Tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of buzzing, invisible things circled freely in the night sky; occasionally, ordinary passersby on the streets heard a strange noise, looked up, but could see only the dark sky.

But from the perspective of the three on the rooftop, a massive black cloud, a black cloud composed of tiny flying spirits craving flesh, was now boiling, surging, and coalescing. They gradually synchronized in the night sky; billions of discordant sounds slowly began to resonate, gradually syncing until they completely transformed into a chant of a higher level and frequency, one even the human ear could not capture, echoing wildly above the city like a great bell.

The three could not hear this sound; they only felt something strange in the void of the netherworld reaching their ears, instantly making them understand Morse—it craved flesh and desire, and transmitted this greedy longing to the city.

All three vaguely felt that within this dark night, something strange and massive had taken form.

An invisible giant moved between building after building; a terrifying sense of oppression gradually spread across the entire city. Though the beast in the darkness was neither visible nor audible, all three could truly feel its presence.

Great sound is faint; great form is formless.

Lester looked at the calm night sky and could not help but let out a despairing groan.

"God, that is it, it must be it."

Constantine and Midnight Father were now sweating coldly; both were highly powerful veteran sorcerers, able to vaguely sense that figure in the void through some spiritual awareness.

Huge invisible insect wings obscured the entire sky; slender insect limbs pierced through several city blocks; a greedy long tongue licked half of New York's desires—unlike its compressed state inside the church, its true form had now expanded to an absurd degree.

Gulp.

Constantine could not help swallowing his saliva: "Buddy, it's really huge; I feel like I've only seen scenes like this in Godzilla."

"Are you sure Godzilla is that big?" Midnight Father could not help adjusting his round bowler hat: "We must deal with this evil spirit today, otherwise, New York City will become a dead city within a month."

"You have quite a bit of faith in New York."

As the two spoke, the first ray of rising sun lit up from the horizon.

"Hum~"

That form approached the building; as the distance closed, the scent of Lester at the center of the chicken-blood formation grew ever more distinct; this made Morse restless, made it drool, made it rejoice.

So it stretched its body, ready to enjoy this sumptuous feast.

When they saw the sky-covering swarm of insects manifest in the dust-light, the expressions of all three grew tense.

"Why didn't you keep your friend?" Midnight, suppressing the urge to tremble, said to Constantine: "Right now, I really want to properly meet this expert who could seriously injure Morse and seal it for an entire night."

"Saying all this is useless," Constantine replied. "Now the arrow is on the string."

And Lester had already witnessed firsthand the horrific state of being possessed, so his screams and wails were especially loud.

"No, no! Let go of me, let go of me, I beg you!"

Yet neither paid any attention to his cries; they simply stared fixedly at the insect tide.

"John, it's too strong; you can't catch it! The magic bottle can't hold this thing anymore! Buddy, where's the magic bottle?"

Lester, who had originally been screaming, suddenly quieted his voice: "John, you didn't bring the bottle; how are you going to catch it?"

Constantine did not answer.

"No, no, no, you can't—please don't do this."

Constantine still did not respond; he simply, together with Midnight Father, silently performed the sacrificial gesture.

The black insect tide finally flew to the front of the group; at this moment, the morning light on the horizon was completely obscured by it; a huge shadow loomed over the entire rooftop. Dense swarms of insects flew and twisted, forming a giant fly that advanced toward Lester's face; the humming sound was almost deafening.

"No!" Lester, having achieved complete enlightenment, finally let out a final despairing curse: "Constantine! You bastard!!!"

A black blizzard engulfed the three.

The humming flying insects struck the bodies of the group like snowflakes; if it had intended to launch an immediate attack on Constantine or Midnight, then all three would have been dead without doubt.

Constantine remained expressionless; Lester's face was pale and despairing; Midnight grinned, revealing a smile utterly devoid of warmth.

The instant Morse touched Lester's body, as if a shark had smelled fresh blood, just like the many people it had bewitched, it could not restrain its greed at all and began to grow wildly.

Then, it swarmed and burrowed into Lester's body; Constantine locked eyes with him through the swarm for only an instant, and then could hear no more sounds from him.

That hungry spirit finally entered his body completely.

"We must act fast," Constantine thought, his hand moving the pen like lightning, tattooing the patterns that bind demons into Lester's skin.

And by the time Lester woke up, he was already wearing a prisoner's restraint suit again.

His fists clenched tightly; a buzzing insect sound rose from his mouth; his eyes stared fixedly at Constantine and Midnight, as if he would leap up in the next second to tear the flesh of the two apart, but after struggling for a few minutes, his whole body went limp, and he sat back down in the chair.

"John, you truly deserve to die," human words issued from his mouth, which made the two breathe a sigh of relief.

"I am glad you were not controlled by Morse," Constantine patted his shoulder. "We should go."

"You might as well kill me directly, to spare me this torment."

"I cannot do that, friend—and I cannot do it anyway; if I kill you, Morse will escape."

Constantine waved to Midnight: "You need not see us off; we must leave today."

"Leave?" Midnight frowned. "I have a pen; you do not, Constantine. We must ensure Morse is thoroughly destroyed."

"I know," Constantine replied. "That is why I must take him to Sudan—remember? That old priest is there; only he can ensure this hungry spirit never returns."

"... Do not be soft-hearted, Constantine." After a moment of hesitation, Midnight nodded: "We have done so much; if anything goes wrong, all will be in vain."

"You may rest assured."

Lester changed his clothes; the two went downstairs; at this moment, a taxi was already waiting at the street corner.

A gaunt figure opened the car door and asked the two timidly: "Jo-John, how is the situation?"

Constantine did not answer; his mind was in turmoil.

"It is over," Ma Ma Zhaodi's voice suddenly sounded from Lester's mouth beside him.

"You owe me a life, Gary."

(End of Chapter)