Chapter 661: Light Curtain

She crouched briefly, then stood up; the twisted smile on her round face had vanished, replaced by an expression that was hard to define as confusion or anger.

Her eyes narrowed, and the golden eyes behind that layer of black mist glittered like two lamps set to maximum brightness.

"What are you?"

When those four words came from her mouth, they carried a heat that couldn't be suppressed.

Robin stood behind that golden figure, completely nailed to the ground, motionless.

Her mouth was slightly open, and those lake‑green eyes stared at the golden twisted figure before her; the pupils reflected the golden light mist, which danced in her eyes like two candles flickering in the wind.

Her mind was a blank.

Not because she was scared, but as if something had emptied her mind.

Those thoughts, those emotions, those things that had been turning in her heart since just now vanished the instant the golden figure appeared, as if someone had pressed the delete key.

Her mind held nothing, only the praising voice rang.

The golden figure began to move.

Its arm lifted from its side to shoulder level; the vague light mist gathered around its palm, finally forming a shape—a slender, long rod, thick at one end and thin at the other, the thick end within the palm, the thin end pointing upward.

The surface of that rod bore a flowing golden pattern, the lines regular as if drawn with a ruler.

A conductor's baton.

Ilya didn't know why that word sprang from her mind, but she felt the shape was a conductor's baton.

Gudazi didn't wait.

She thrust her foot against the ground, and her whole body shot out like a cannonball.

This time she didn't use her fists; instead she condensed that black‑red mist into a blade, its blade bearing flowing black‑red patterns.

The blade struck the golden figure's shoulder.

The praising voice grew louder.

The voice surged from Ilya's mind, sliding down her spine; she felt her body lighten within that sound, as if something lifted her, no longer pulled by gravity but drifting in the voice like a feather lifted by wind.

A crack appeared on the golden figure's shoulder.

The crack was small, merely a thin slit in the golden light mist; it flickered within the mist, its edges leaking golden light, like a fruit cut open with juice flowing from the cut.

But the crack closed quickly, as if it had never existed.

Gudazi's brows furrowed even tighter.

Her body spun once in the air, landed on the ground, then bounced again.

This time she didn't rush alone; the black‑red mist erupted from her, coalescing around her and splitting into dozens of weapons of various shapes.

They hovered around Gudazi, like a ring of weapon racks fixed in midair.

She waved her hand.

Those weapons shot out in unison, hurling toward the golden figure.

They struck the golden light mist, but, unfortunately, it was like a few pebbles tossed into a swamp, sinking bit by bit until they vanished completely.

Only clusters of black‑red sparks remained; those sparks burned within the golden mist for a few seconds before extinguishing.

The speed at which the cracks closed seemed even faster than before.

The golden figure's conductor's baton twitched.

The tip of the baton drew a tiny arc in the air.

It left a golden line that curved gracefully in the dim air.

That line began to deform.

From a line it became a rope, from a rope a strap, from a strap a light curtain.

On that light curtain golden symbols emerged; the symbols were neither characters nor pictures, but like marks etched into the light.

The symbols arranged and rotated on the curtain, like stars nailed to the heavens.

Suddenly the symbols fell off the curtain, drifting down like snowflakes, fluttering and spinning in the air.

The symbols landed on Gudazi's shoulder.

Her speed slowed, as if a deceleration button had been pressed.

Every movement was stretched infinitely; raising a hand took twice as long, stepping took three times as long, even blinking was a beat slower than usual.

The black‑red mist tangled around her, but its speed was much slower than before, like a river whose flow had slackened.

On Gudazi's round face, something new replaced her; her golden eyes narrowed even more, like two straightened lines.

The golden figure's conductor's baton twitched again.

The floating golden symbols in the air accelerated; they no longer drifted lazily but were flung as if shot, soaring toward Gudazi.

Their speed was astonishing; streams of golden light darted around Gudazi, weaving.

Then the light beams exploded on Gudazi's body.

They burst like ignited fireworks, blooming into golden light blossoms.

Gudazi's body was blown backward by those light blossoms.

She spun countless times in the air, her whole form like a stone kicked away, tracing a long arc, crashing into a distant wall; broken bricks and dust spewed from the hole, burying her completely beneath.

The praising voice grew louder again.

On the stage, the golden figure had changed.

It was at least twice as large as before, its head nearly touching the theater's ceiling.

Its body shifted from a vague outline to a clearer shape as if carved by something.

The golden light mist swirled over its body, as if guided by something.

The mist flowed from its ankles to its waist, finally gathering atop its head into a small sun‑like light sphere.

Several golden rings appeared on its arms, slowly rotating; the surface of the rings bore intricate symbols, like beating hearts.

Its face had something extra.

It wasn't facial features, but rather something like patterns embedded in the light mist.

Those patterns extended from its forehead down, all the way to its chin.

The direction of the patterns was highly symmetrical; the left and right were identical, as if someone had drawn them against a mirror.

Ilya opened her mouth and stared at the thing on the stage that was growing larger and less humanoid.

She didn't know what word to use to describe it, because the words in her mind—big, bright, golden, strange—were no longer enough.

Those words were too small to contain this thing.

She could only use those three words.

Divine Lord Day.