Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
The Hall of the Goddess of the Parthenon Temple…
The mountain was drenched from the rain. The green plants were blown into pieces by the strong wind. They drifted aimlessly in the wind. They did not know when they would land on the soil again…
The clouds were hanging low in the sky. The Citadel of Athens had lost its brilliance, too. The usually colorful towers, buildings, and churches had turned gray. The peak of the Mountain of the Goddess almost touched the clouds.
Tata stood in a pavilion with white curtains. The curtains were swinging wildly, like a woman’s dress. She was staring at the candidate that had come from the east helplessly, as she had no idea how she could comfort her.
Tata had been with the Saintess for some time. The doubts, disdain, and difficulties she had gone through personally never left her so depressed. There was only one thing that would turn her into an ordinary girl who could not help but worry, panic, and have bad thoughts.
“Now that I’ve met him, I know he isn’t someone that will easily place his life in fate’s hands. I told you he would live a long life, didn’t I? You don’t have to worry so much about him,” Tata finally said in a slightly superstitious manner.
“In the past, he always joked with me about a different world. He told me there are no demon creatures in that world. Everything that we are devoting our time to now is just superstitious beliefs in that world. People in that world used knowledge to change their lives instead… who exactly invented magic, invented destruction, and the power to casually decide a person’s life and death?…” Xinxia asked.
For some reason, Xinxia had started to yearn for the world that Mo Fan told her about, but she would feel depressed when she realized it was just something that Mo Fan came up with to cheer her up. No matter how realistic he sounded, no matter how he described the world as if he had actually been to it before, everything he was doing now was against what he believed in. He kept roaming between the boundaries of life and death, he kept resisting, from poverty and his humble status in the past to the cruel merciless devils of the Black Vatican now…
He always argued he treated his life very preciously. If he knew he could not win, he would definitely run away just to stay alive… but what was he doing now? In the past, when she was not around, she would automatically ignore what he had been through whenever she saw him returning safely in one piece. For example, during the Calamity of Bo City, when she was hiding in the freezer, she only saw him coming to save her life, but she did not see how he had snuck past the demon creatures along the way, the dangerous situations he was in, and the number of demon creatures chasing after him…
But now, ever since Xinxia had shared her heart with Little Flame Belle, she could clearly sense his presence, whether it was strong or weak. She could even capture some of his emotions, be it anger, joy, or discontent…
Currently, Mo Fan’s presence was extremely weak. It was worse than his condition after the fight with Bei Jiang. Even Little Flame Belle had reached her limit.
He was not dead, but Xinxia could tell with Little Flame Belle’s help that he was lying in a pile of corpses. He was so worn out that he could not even move his body. If someone from the Black Vatican showed up, he would die for sure.
How could she not be worried?
Unfortunately, she had no idea where he was.
Tata believed it was meaningless for her to constantly worry about Mo Fan. She tried using other things to divert her attention. She said, “Our people have found out that Izisha’s resurrection has nothing to do with the Parthenon Temple’s Spell of Resurrection. I noticed a strange scent from her before. If I’m not mistaken, her resurrection must have something to do with the Pharaoh Spring. Didn’t Egypt’s national team perform brilliantly during the World College Tournament? They must have relied on the Pharaoh Spring to keep Summoning their undead. It’s likely that Izisha was using Egypt’s evil magic…”
—
—
Dust was continuously being swept into the air. A loess would end up as barren land with jagged edges after being exposed to strong winds for a certain period. As time passed, they would turn into rocks, deserts, or badlands…
The dust was being blown away by the wind. The land looked like irregular boulders spread across a vast land from afar. The boulders were smeared with blood that even the wind had failed to erase. It slowly dissolved into the harsh yellow soil.
Over a hundred corpses were scattered across the place. Most of them were blown to pieces, only a few were barely intact. The area was full of holes, including ravines that were still burning, and pits scorched by lightning. There was also a kilometer of ice that had not fully melted yet…
A pack of condors was circling in the dim sky. They were low-level creatures, absolutely terrified by the destruction that had occurred in the area, but they eventually returned after everything returned to calm. Their need for food was stronger than their fear of destruction.
They circled in the air for some time to confirm there was no movement in the area, and slowly descended to the ground.
A rather bold Gray Condor landed on the ground and pecked the corpse of a man in a black outfit hungrily. The man’s chest already had a hole in it, and the condor immediately tasted the freshness of his flesh. The condor was so satisfied that it started beating its wings.
The rest of the condors landed on the ground and began to enjoy the feast after seeing their companion was perfectly fine.
Suddenly, a condor cried and flew back up into the sky in fear.
It had noticed that one of the bodies was still alive…
However, a few other condors noticed that the guy was no different than a corpse. They boldly went up to him.
A condor pecked at the man’s face and left a bloody wound on it. The other condors quickly came over, trying to peck the man to death. The man’s face was soon damaged beyond recognition.
The man simply laid still while the condors were pecking at his face.
He was able to move his hand, yet he did not drive the condors away. He surprisingly grabbed a gray-blue outfit from one of the corpses nearby and slowly put it on. He used his finger to guide the dark energy and swipe his nail across his chest…
His chest began to bleed, attracting a few other condors over. They started pecking at his chest fiercely, leaving him bloody.
The condors were not fond of corpses. They preferred eating living things that were about to die, as the flesh was fresher!
—
A condor acting as a sentry screeched suddenly. The condors that were enjoying their food quickly flew into the sky and fled for their lives.
Not long after, a man and a woman in gray-blue outfits showed up. They glanced at the corpses lying across the place. The man harrumphed coldly, “We didn’t expect the Enforcement Union to be watching us so closely.”
“Luckily, the Chief Extraditor was being extremely cautious. He didn’t receive the Shepherd and Blue Deacon Eagle Eye right away. Otherwise, things would have been a lot worse. The Cold Prince will surely feel it to be a waste now that they are both dead,” the woman said.
“The Shepherd was one of the best Extraditors we had. It’s quite a surprise that he was killed. It seems like the Enforcement Union sent out an expert this time,” the man said.
“Yeah, they even killed so many of our people,” the woman agreed.
“Let’s go, I believe we’ve already thrown them off…” the man said.
“What should we do with the corpses?” the woman asked.
“Don’t worry about them. The condors will clean them up for us. Besides, we have something important to do, don’t we?” the man said.
“Yeah, it’s a mission that Unas assigned to us personally…” the woman said.
“I wonder when the Cold Prince will assign us a mission himself. It would mean we have successfully made a name for ourselves, hahaha!” the man sighed.
The two were having a pleasant conversation while facing the corpses. They clearly had no mercy for their fallen comrades.
A moan came from the corpses as they were about to leave.
The woman had better hearing, and quickly turned around. She hurried over to the man, whose face was chewed up beyond recognition after being pecked at by the condors.
“There’s one alive still,” the woman said.
“Oh?” The man came over too.
They did not lend the man a hand right away, but inspected him thoroughly first.
“He’s a Blue Deacon too!” the woman observed. She proceeded to undo his shirt to reveal his chest.
To her surprise, the man’s chest was covered in bloody holes left by the condors. The condors had almost stabbed through his heart. However, she could vaguely see a seal among the wounds.
“The condors have messed up his seal. He must be one of us, but I can’t figure out his codename,” the woman said confidently.
“Are you sure?” the man asked.
“I am,” the woman nodded.
“Ask him for his codename,” the man said.
“Can he really answer us in such condition?” the woman had to ask.
“It depends on him now. If he can’t say his codename, we have no choice but to kill him. The Chief Extraditor doesn’t want anyone left alive,” the man stated heartlessly.
The woman went closer. The man’s face was heavily ruined. Blood was pouring out of his eyes, mouth, and face…
However, the Blue Deacons would not recognize one another unless they were on the same mission. Therefore, it did not really matter if the man’s face was beyond recognition.
The man began to panic when he heard he would die if he did not give them his codename. He tried his very best to open his mouth and say something.
“North…Northdeer…” The man finally used all his might to say his codename.
“Ah, it’s Northdeer… Master Cold Prince mentioned him before. He’s a reliable and intelligent new recruit. He was promoted to a Blue Deacon in just a few years!” The woman seemed to have heard of the codename before.
“It’s him, even though I’ve never met him… how miserable, those petty condors almost ate him alive, hehe,” the man said mockingly, instead of showing any pity.
“Should we save him?” The woman did not truly care.
“Sure, we just happen to need some help. We can’t just leave our comrade to die here,” the man said ironically.
One could easily tell from his expression that he was not really willing to save the man. However, knowing how difficult their mission was, he believed having an extra Blue Deacon would significantly increase the odds of them completing the mission, so he decided to save the man. He did not want to mess up the first mission that Unas personally assigned them, since Unas was the closest person to the Cold Prince!