Chapter 192: Polluting a God

The black holy flame poured into his body, starting from the armpits held up by both hands, spreading slowly like ink dropped into clear water.

The God of the Scales felt his body burning, a sensation not unfamiliar to him, but what was now kindling was a dimmed holy flame.

The God of the Scales shook his head hard once more, and his mind finally cleared. His gaze swept toward Seeing Ange, swept toward the surrounding believers and Guardian Gods, swept toward the Wind of Repose in the sky, and finally settled on the black holy flame on his own body.

"What have you done to me?" the God of the Scales said, swinging his arm in a wide sweep, pulling back behind him.

A hand reached out, seized his wrist, and held him firmly in place.

"?" The God of the Scales blinked, the thick question almost leaping from his eyes—someone had grabbed his divine arm? Who?

He focused his eyes in confusion: a skeleton? Is this some kind of joke?

The divine arm struggled hard but couldn't break free. His other hand swung up a fist, about to throw a punch, but the moment it rose, a steel-headed fist the size of a head sprang over, gripped tight, and seized his entire forearm.

He turned his head to look—and it was actually a steel giant?

"Who are you? Where is this place?" the God of the Scales asked, bewildered and confused.

He was a little dazed now. Hadn't he been struck by a Petrification Light? Why had he ended up here, and where was here?

Looking at this ring-shaped basin, at this towering transmission tower, at those steel giants—didn't it look a bit like the World Transit Station of the Undying Empire?

The black holy flame spread across his body in ring after ring. In his bewildered confusion, the God of the Scales instinctively kept struggling. He stamped his foot hard, and a ring of light spread outward from the point of impact.

The ring of light struck Seeing Ange, struck Patxi, struck...

Bang! A big foot stomped on his toes, snapping the ring of light on the spot. At the same time, a big fist slammed into his eye socket, knocking his head back involuntarily, and black circles quickly bloomed around his eyes.

The Rock Hand—hands that could tear apart even a divine body—giving you a pair of black eyes was nothing.

The God of the Scales was a bit dazed from the blow. Perhaps in his entire life, he had never had the experience of being grabbed by both hands and beaten across the face. This made him shriek in frustrated fury: "What are you doing to me?"

Xiong Xiong holy flame surged out from his body, dazzling holy light burst from his eyes, and a luminous phantom slowly emerged from him—the true form.

The appearance of a living human was merely his outer image, meant to satisfy the imagination of his believers; the true God of the Scales was not like this.

Clang! A large hand covered in magic runes slapped the luminous phantom, erupting with violent energy shockwaves. The phantom was slapped back, nearly shrinking back into his original body.

A Guardian God very similar to Patxi, also possessing a round, chubby body, but with a pair of long spring-loaded legs, sprang out, bouncing its body above the God of the Scales and slamming a palm down.

"Despicable mortals who offend the true god, you shall bear my wrath!" A furious voice seemed to roar out from the God of the Scales' throat.

The long-legged Guardian God slapped down again.

"The god's wrath shall burn your body!"

A ball of fire rose on the Guardian God's steel shell.

"Slap!" The Guardian God ignored the flames and slapped his luminous phantom again.

"I shall send you into the abyss of agony..."

No reaction—another slap.

"Eternally despairing wailing..."

Slap—another slap. Every time the God of the Scales spoke, the Guardian God's big hand struck once, forcibly slapping his true form back inward.

The twelve Guardian Gods that guard the World Transit Station each possess different abilities, but they share one common ability: they ignore most flashy attacks—things like holy words, reflection, burning, shockwaves, and the like. They're tough as nails.

If you want to smash them, it's best to go fist against flesh, real blades and real guns, and clash with them head-on. Don't use those fancy-schmancy skills.

But smashing them is hardly easy. Covered in steel shells and magic runes, just standing still makes breaking their defense difficult.

Seeing Ange's Patxi had seized both his hands, a long-legged Guardian God was slapping him, and ten other Guardian Gods were watching menacingly—but none of these were fatal.

The most fatal attack came from Shamara. Her hands pressed on the God of the Scales' back, black holy flame pouring in continuously, staining him. Gradually, the God of the Scales' light was no longer holy; streaks of black flame mingled into the white light.

The terrible thing about the power of corruption is not its intensity, but its contamination. Even a whole vat of water can be polluted by a drop or two of ink. Light mingled with the power of corruption becomes impure—and is impure light still holy light?

The God of the Scales felt his power rapidly fading, and by the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

"I... I can't sense the holy light anymore?" the God of the Scales murmured in disbelief, his true form shrinking back into his body.

Even when he had manifested his true form, he couldn't break free of Seeing Ange and Patxi's restraint, let alone now. Held firmly, it was like being dragged by a minotaur auntie at the entrance of a market to do a promotional activity—no matter how he struggled, he couldn't break free.

"What are you doing to me..." The same question came from the God of the Scales' mouth again, but the tone was completely different now, filled with unease.

"Nothing much, just making you the same as me." Shamara said softly, though a tremor she hadn't even noticed lingered in her voice—she had corrupted a main god.

If the God of the Scales hadn't just awakened, if Seeing Ange and the others hadn't restrained him, if the ability of "corruption" hadn't happened to counter his divine power, this contamination would never have succeeded. All of it could only be said to be too coincidental.

"Cor... corruption power? You corrupted me? Are you in league with that rebel Seraphim Luna?" the God of the Scales finally realized what power those black holy flames were, and said in a trembling voice.

Rebel Seraphim Luna? A fallen angel? Who did that refer to?

"You mean her?" Seeing Ange pointed not far away. That petrified angel sculpture carrying some unknown weapon had also been taken out by him, standing lonely in a corner.

This angel—was also a fallen angel like Shamara?

Since he couldn't break free anyway, the God of the Scales gave up struggling.

Shamara was thrilled and excited; this way she could plunder the fruits of victory to her heart's content. She kept plundering the holy power from the God of the Scales, then pouring in the power of corruption, continuing until she was nearly bursting before stopping.

"Tie him up, tie him up—is there any way to bind him?"

"Light gods, rope probably won't hold him, right?"

"Would a Holy Shroud work?"

"Are you stupid? The Holy Shroud might be something he himself defined."

"Let us handle it." Patxi said, pointing at one of the Guardian Gods—also with a round, chubby body, but its body could open up, with a hole inside. Open the lid, stuff the person in, and that hole was just the right size to let the face show.

"The Undying Coffin—the King had it built specifically to imprison the Light Gods." Patxi explained.

The title of King hadn't been heard in a long time. In the Undying Empire's system, it referred to that one supreme existence—the Undying Sovereign.

After locking the God of the Scales inside, Lord Nai Ge Li Si flew over, rubbing his fists together: "Great, now we can properly interrogate him and find out what exactly happened."

Everyone was immensely curious about the disappearance of the Sovereign and the gods. Now that they had actually caught a Light God, of course Miss Anna couldn't resist asking some questions.

But before Lord Nai Ge Li Si could begin his questioning, a series of cracking sounds came. Looking back, they saw the surface of that petrified angel sculpture was breaking apart piece by piece, as if something underneath was about to burst out.

Lord Nai Ge Li Si immediately reacted: "Not good! The God of the Scales has lost his divine power, the Equal Holy Frame has also failed—this six-winged archangel is about to awaken!"