Chapter 345: A New Storm Has Taken Shape

"What is this?!" The God of Darkness had barely time to scream before being swallowed by Little Phantom.

"What is this?!" Nagelis also cried out upon sensing something wrong, and Ange instantly stood up, his Scale Ring manifesting on his back.

Dyson was killed, and his divine flame naturally fell into Ange's hands; all these unused divine flames and divine core fragments, Ange fed entirely to Little Phantom.

But there were too many good things—Little Phantom couldn't consume them all at once, so Dyson's divine flame was left uneaten until now. Just as it opened its mouth, the God of Darkness's consciousness projected over.

The imprint left by the divine flame ignited by Guli'ani using the Light-Dark technique was utterly concealed; before the God of Darkness projected, no one could detect its presence.

So Guli'ani never casually checked on Dyson's condition, fearing he'd become alert—yet precisely because of this, he was fooled by the decoy, failing to notice the divine flame had ended up in Ange's hands, then the God of Darkness walked straight into the trap.

If it were the God of Darkness in this situation, what would it think?

"Damn it! Guli'ani betrayed me!" Roaring, the God of Darkness unleashed its divine power, slamming into Little Phantom.

The divine flame had already been swallowed, so this blast exploded from within—Little Phantom swelled like a demonic egg bursting open, its entire form inflating as it exhaled a massive breath.

Ange immediately summoned holy light and poured it into Little Phantom's body.

"Huh? Not broken? What is this? A seal?" The God of Darkness was stunned, unleashing all its power and striking again.

Little Phantom swelled once more, ballooning into a giant sphere—but still didn't burst.

Now not only the God of Darkness was stunned, even Nagelis was speechless; feeling the intensity of the two forces colliding, Nagelis stared in disbelief: "So tough?"

After enduring two divine power strikes, was this still the same Little Phantom that nearly burst from a single breath? When did it become this monstrous?

"Maybe it ate too much divine power. Sigh. These wastrels—I save every feather of a four-winged angel, but it? It gorges on divine core fragments and divine flames. If I had these, I could forge countless divine artifacts. What a waste." Du Luo muttered enviously from the side.

True enough—having devoured so many divine core fragments and divine flames, and recently digging into the three Great Light Deities' essence, it's no surprise it's become this monstrous.

But what exactly was this consciousness inside the divine flame?

"I know! I know!" The withered bone skeleton quickly raised its hand: "Only one being could hide something inside a divine flame from all of us—I know who it is: the Dark Aspect of the Light-Dark God."

"Light-Dark God? Never heard of him. Who is that?" Nagelis asked.

"That's a long story," Feiti glanced at Little Phantom, which swelled again, then let out a huge breath—still unbroken.

Ange pressed both hands against it, palms glowing continuously as holy light surged into Little Phantom, rapidly replenishing its depleted energy.

He replenished from outside; the God of Darkness blasted from within—for a moment, a stalemate formed.

It seemed it wouldn't break anytime soon; Feiti continued: "You haven't heard of the God of Darkness, but surely you've heard of the Shadow God?"

"That one? The shadow of light? The 'Lord' of the Shadow Knights?" Nagelis gasped.

The Shadow God was famous—not because it was powerful, but because it was treacherous: the only deity among the Light Gods who specialized in dirty work.

Many gods were strong—like the Arbiter God—but it wouldn't attack you without cause; you had to be a heretic, a heathen, or violate the Holy Law.

The Shadow God was different: it plotted against you even if you'd done nothing to offend it. Annoying as hell. Though the Holy Church never acknowledged the Shadow God's existence, the Shadow Knights were undeniable proof.

Speaking of Shadow Knights, Ange had once encountered one—Da Mao was met during that incident; wasn't it called something like Yulian?

That Shadow Knight had used Da Mao to cross dimensions and spread the Undying Plague—such a treacherous method. If Ange hadn't known holy light, the plague would've spread across the Abyss of Rest.

"So the God of Darkness is the Shadow God? Then I know it," Nagelis said.

The mighty Shadow God, the Dark Aspect, had been swallowed whole by Little Phantom. Despite its frantic struggles, Ange's power was too immense—holy light poured into Little Phantom without restraint. As long as it couldn't burst it in one blow, Ange could heal it instantly.

Swell, contract, burp, swell again, contract again, burp again—sometime later, Little Phantom stopped swelling, only burping.

"Ha… er… ha… puh…" Finally, it spat out a pearl.

Du Luo shot over instantly, eyes blazing with hunger as he stared at the pearl, his face unusually uncomposed: "Divine Soul Crystal! It's a Divine Soul Crystal! My lord, give it to me, please give it to me—I can forge a supreme artifact from it!"

"Oh." Ange handed it to him.

Such a casual gesture left Du Luo stunned—he took it hesitantly, disbelief in his voice: "You're really giving it to me? Don't you know what this is? A Divine Soul Crystal—has a chance to learn the target's divine technique. You're just giving it away?"

Ange tilted his head, reaching out to take it back.

"No no no! That chance is too low—give it to me, I'll forge it into a supreme artifact and greatly increase the chance, releasing the target's divine technique. Give it to me!" Du Luo wanted to slap himself—just take it, why say so much?

Seeing Du Luo's expression of regret, Nagelis wanted to laugh—told you not to chat with this damn skeleton.

"So the God of Darkness's divine technique was stolen?" Nagelis quickly changed the subject, cementing the fact before Ange reached again.

"How could it be that easy? The projection was only a portion of the God of Darkness's power—mostly, it's still Dyson's divine flame," Du Luo replied, slowly retreating aside; seeing Ange didn't reach again, he sighed in relief: "I'll take it to forge—it'll definitely become a supreme artifact. Damn, Divine Soul Crystal—this stuff is so rare. My lord, your pet is the real treasure—it can even crystallize divine souls."

Little Phantom, slightly dazed from being swollen, opened its mouth and exhaled again, its form slowly shrinking like a deflating balloon, finally curling back onto Ange's finger.

After a short pause, it poked its head out again and spat out another crystal.

"… " Du Luo and Nagelis exchanged glances, speechless.

After a long while, Nagelis finally spoke: "This one seems to be Dyson's."

Dyson's divine flame plus the God of Darkness's projected power condensed into two crystals—reasonable, yes, perfectly reasonable.

Deeply shaken, Du Luo and Nagelis muttered curses like "lucky bastard" and "goddess's lover" as they shuffled away.

Ange raised his finger, watching Little Phantom on it. Du Luo was right—Little Phantom was just a pet to Ange, so whatever was edible, he fed it, regardless of value.

Judging by Du Luo's reaction, these things were clearly valuable.

But now it seemed Little Phantom wasn't ordinary either—could crystallize divine souls?

Tilting his head, Ange extended his other index finger slowly toward it and said: "Eat."

Little Phantom blinked, popped its head out, saw the light dot on Ange's fingertip, and immediately bit down.

The little wraith blindly popped its head out, saw the light dot at Ang's fingertip, and immediately bit down on it.

Nagelis and Du Luo stared at the third Divine Soul Crystal Ange brought over, faces like they'd seen a ghost: "You're saying you fed Little Phantom the Instant Death Aura, and it spat this out?"

Nagelis and Du Luo stared at the third soul crystal Ang had brought over, their expressions as if they'd seen a ghost: "You're saying you fed the Speed Death Aura to the little wraith, and it spat out this?"

Du Luo collapsed onto the ground, heartbroken: "It's ruined. Commonplace. Worthless. All divine soul equipment is worthless now."

Nagelis sneered: "Are you trading futures? Worthless? You've just gotten rich."

Futures were a kind of promissory note created by the Gnome Guild for advance transactions—for example, if the Gnome Guild expected to harvest ten million tons of grain next year, they'd print ten million in futures, sell them cheaply upfront, then use the money to organize production.

Farmers and landowners benefited from early cash, improving production and reducing risk; grain merchants gained a lower price by paying early.

But weather wasn't always favorable—if harvests failed and prices soared, futures prices rose too; merchants could sell them early without delivering grain, making huge profits.

Conversely, in bumper years, grain prices dropped below the merchants' advance payment, causing them losses.

This logic—that more of something made it less valuable—clearly came from those gnome futures traders.

Du Luo didn't have such complex thoughts—he simply felt the once-rare materials were now common, and it upset him.

But when he examined it, he realized something was off: "This isn't a Divine Soul Crystal—the power's sealed. How do you release it?"

Ange took the crystal and led everyone to a rice field, crushed it, and smashed it into the ground—a footprint appeared instantly, and the Instant Death Aura erupted.

"Sss—Divine Technique Sealing? You can seal divine techniques and release them at will?" Nagelis asked, stunned.

"It." Ange raised his finger.

"This… this… Little Phantom is too powerful! How does it do this? Try again!" Nagelis urged eagerly.

Ange shook his head: "It's tired."

"Oh oh oh, right, right, let it rest, rest now—next time you seal something, call me—I want to see how it's done."

Nagelis hurriedly said, lowering his voice drastically, afraid of disturbing Little Phantom.

Previously, Little Phantom never received such treatment—only ate, useless, always despised by Nagelis. Now, it instantly became a believer praying to Nagelis before an exam, terrified it'd sleep poorly and fail.

Ange realized Little Phantom's ability and immediately thought of the Instant Death Aura. Nagelis didn't—its first thought was: "Can your Ultimate Transformation be sealed like this?"

Ang realized the little wraith's ability and immediately thought of the Speed Death Aura; Nagelis couldn't, so his first thought was: "Can your Ultimate Transformation be sealed like this?"

Nagelis whispered: "Do you know who this reminds me of? The Redemption Goddess—she can seal divine techniques, hers or others', and release them when needed."

Nagel whispered: "Do you know who this reminds me of? The Goddess of Redemption—she could seal away her own or others' divine techniques, to be used when needed."

In the hidden realm, the previously dimmed black flames flared back to life; throughout the space echoed the God of Darkness's low roar: "Guli'ani! You betrayed me!"

Guli'ani, stepping into this realm, was startled and quickly retorted: "No! I didn't! Don't say that! What happened? How did I betray you?"

"You made me project into a giant mouth, and my projected power was devoured—you betrayed me!" The black flames coalesced into a face, body, limbs—as if a figure had emerged from the flames.

"No, absolutely not! I was wondering why Dyson went in and nothing happened, so I came back to ask you. Don't get agitated—tell me what happened first?"

"How should I know what happened? I projected and saw only a giant mouth that swallowed me whole. How could it be so coincidental? Clearly, the opponent prepared to trap me—if not you, how could they know I'd project there?!"

If the timing hadn't been so perfect, the God of Darkness wouldn't have suspected—but the timing was too perfect: one second earlier, the opponent couldn't have swallowed its power; one second later, it could've reacted and recalled the projection.

Yet it was swallowed the instant it projected—as if calculated.

Guli'ani was furious: "I swear on my divine oath I didn't do it!"

"Don't think I don't know—you're already a pseudo-deity. Divine oaths don't bind you."

The God of Darkness's form fully detached from the torch, becoming a towering black flame giant, looming over Guli'ani.

"I didn't! I'm not lying!" Even as he spoke, his hands moved swiftly—he slapped his chest, light flowing down; regardless of whether the God of Darkness believed him, he protected himself first.

Just as the two were about to clash, a consciousness swept over them both.

The God of Darkness and Guli'ani turned simultaneously toward the holy torch—on its surface, a face materialized.

"Light Aspect!? Oh my, you've finally awakened!" The God of Darkness cried out, excited—never before had it found the Light Aspect so lovely; previously, the Light Aspect dealt with humans while it remained merely the shadow beneath holy light.

For the past decades, the Light Aspect had suddenly fallen asleep, forcing it to deal with humans—immediately discovering how difficult they were, like Guli'ani, whose words it couldn't tell true from false.

Wonderful—the Light Aspect had awakened. It could once again lie idle beneath holy light, a useless shadow.

Guli'ani also immediately lowered his guard and knelt: "I pay homage to the Light Aspect God."

The Light Aspect's consciousness swept over him: "You are Lyen Shet. You've been reborn."

"Yes, Light Aspect Lord—the Church had a traitor. I was working with the Dark Aspect to deal with it, but the Dark Aspect misunderstood me. Please, Lord, clear my name."

"No need. Meaningless. A new storm of faith is brewing. All deities will face a new baptism. Loyalty or betrayal no longer matters. Have you ignited your divine flame?"

Guli'ani felt a chill race from his tailbone to the crown of his head—a storm of faith? The legendary storm that annihilated all gods?

"N-no… I haven't ignited my divine flame."

"Then you're lucky. Under the storm of faith, possessing a divine core is dangerous—the more cores, the more dangerous. We, the Light and Dark as one… go to the Arbiter. He survived the last one. Perhaps he knows how to resist the storm."