Mysteries On Marvel

Before the Angel's Scepter could completely descend—

The priest of Sothoth, in a desperate attempt to evade this fatal strike, detonated his own magical energy, choosing self-destruction without hesitation.

Boom!

In an instant, the priest's flesh transformed into billions of wriggling worms, scattering in all directions with the force of the explosion.

...

On a Distant Rooftop

Eren watched the scene from afar, a faint smile flashing across his face.

"At this point, trying to escape from the Scepter of Judgment? Not that easy..."

Boom!

Almost at the exact moment the priest of Sothoth self-destructed, unleashing a torrent of magical essence and sending billions of worms fleeing—

Judgment Descended!

A radiant golden light, centered around the Angel's Scepter, burst outward in all directions.

In an instant, the golden radiance engulfed the worms that had once been the priest's flesh.

That golden light, filled with holiness and purity, transformed into a terrifying purging flame the moment it wrapped around the wriggling creatures—flames capable of incinerating all evil.

Within mere seconds—

The worms caught in the golden brilliance were burned to nothing but ashes.

...

Nearby

At the moment the Angel's Scepter unleashed its attack, Hulk, sensing the overwhelming danger, turned and sprinted away at full speed.

But before he could get far—

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Abomination—who had been locked in a fierce, even fight with him just moments ago—instantly pierced by a golden lightning bolt.

Killed on the spot!

And that massive worm, which had been overpowering Abomination and draining him, was also obliterated in a flash of golden lightning. The creature shattered into countless smaller worms, only to be immediately incinerated by the surging golden flames.

The sight of this holy fire reducing everything to ashes made Hulk's massive heart clench in terror.

Then, in a desperate burst of survival instinct—

He pushed his speed to the absolute limit.

The sheer velocity of his escape stirred up a raging windstorm, clearing away everything in his path.

But—

Even though he had tapped into his latent potential in the face of life-threatening danger, Hulk was never built for speed.

How could he possibly outrun the speed of divine judgment?

Thankfully—

Just as the radiant golden light was about to envelop him—

Hulk instinctively sensed a sliver of hope and immediately changed course. He dove toward the entrance of an underground parking garage, rolling through the impact and crashing through several walls before tumbling deep into the structure.

Just barely escaping the terrifying holy light.

The golden radiance, centered on the priest of Sothoth, swept across a radius of a hundred meters, reducing every escaping worm to ash. Then, as if possessing a will of its own, the golden halo retracted, compressing with a force so immense that it pulverized the ground within the affected area, grinding everything into dust.

Only then did the golden energy surge back into the Angel's Scepter.

Ding!

[You have slain "Abomination" Emil Blonsky. A ripple has been triggered in the River of Fate… Fate Points +3000.]

"Hm?"

Hearing the system notification in his mind, Eren's expression shifted.

Because—

This time, he had only received the fate notification for Abomination's death.

There was no notification confirming the death of the true mastermind behind this disaster—the priest of Sothoth!

"He survived that? This guy's life force is truly stubborn..."

Just as Eren prepared to activate his spiritual vision and, together with the six-winged angel, search for the priest—who had self-detonated into billions of worms and was likely hiding somewhere on the battlefield—

A terrifying presence, filled with chilling malice, suddenly emerged behind him.

A gust of eerie wind howled toward him, carrying a sinister aura.

[Ritual Magic Array—Phantom Shift!]

At the very moment the translucent figure lunged at him, reeking of decay—

Eren, who had long prepared several temporary ritual arrays on the rooftop, activated one of them immediately.

In a flash—

His body reappeared seven or eight meters away, leaving behind nothing but an illusory afterimage.

As an entry-level ritual technique, Phantom Shift had many limitations. It was a one-time use spell, restricted to a maximum teleportation range of ten meters.

Moreover, activating it required spiritual energy to trigger the magic circle.

For many higher-level beings, ten meters was practically insignificant.

By the time they activated the ritual, they could have easily moved ten meters—or even a hundred—on their own.

But for Eren—

Who only needed to buy a moment of time—

It was enough.

The instant he teleported away—

The six-winged angel, who had been scanning the battlefield for any surviving worms that had escaped the Angel's Scepter's Judgment, suddenly turned.

In the blink of an eye, a golden holy sword materialized in the angel's hands, slashing toward the figure that had just appeared on the rooftop.

Just as the holy sword was about to strike—

A strange ripple distorted the air around the translucent figure.

Rather than dodge or evade, the entity allowed the golden sword to pass through it.

A second later—

The golden blade sliced through the figure.

But—

This time—

The dazzling holy sword, which had previously obliterated all evil, seemed to cut through an illusion.

Like slicing through flowers reflected on water, or the moon mirrored in a pond.

The translucent figure remained completely unharmed.

"Kekekekeke..."

Seeing that the six-winged angel's sword had failed to harm him, the distorted shadow behind the void ripple let out an unsettling, shrill laughter.

Eren, now standing several meters away, glanced at the figure and sneered with mild disdain, deliberately goading him—

"Oh? You managed to dodge the six-winged angel's sword. And that alone is worth celebrating?"

Hearing his voice, the translucent figure snapped its head around and fixed Eren with an expression of pure hatred.

"Don't bother trying to anger me," it sneered. "If not for the fact that my Void Talent can only affect my soul and not my physical body—mere puppets like this wouldn't be able to destroy me..."

Wait.

Had the six-winged angel's attack already destroyed his physical form?

And because his immensely powerful soul had not perished, the system had not registered his death?

No.

Someone like this couldn't be trusted so easily.

It was entirely possible that his physical body still existed.

After all, during the moment of his self-detonation, billions of worms had scattered.

Who knew if some had survived?

It was quite possible that everything he was saying now was a lie—a deliberate attempt to mislead Eren into making the wrong judgment.

But—

If this was his true form—

Was this what the priest of Sothoth really looked like?

In his semi-transparent spectral state, the priest now resembled a human once more.

Though his ghostly body occasionally bulged and twisted, as if something was squirming beneath his translucent skin.

Still, at least he had a humanoid form now.

And that made him a little less disgusting to look at.

As he continued observing the entity before him, Eren spoke again, his voice calm and detached—

"Is that so? But the reality is... you've already lost your body. You're nothing more than a wandering specter now..."

"A vengeful spirit? Kekekeke... I'm not some lowly undead creature!"

As he spoke, the priest of Sothoth, now in his spectral form, suddenly had his eyes flare with a crimson glow.

An invisible mental shockwave gathered into a sharp spike and shot toward Eren's mind in an instant.

"Die, fool! Kekekeke..."

This psychic spike was an exotic soul-piercing ability that the priest had acquired in his youth from a perilous ruin.

In the past—

This very ability had allowed him to ambush and kill countless opponents who had once stood on equal footing with him.

Now—

This arrogant man before him would be no exception.

And once he had killed this wretch who had ruined his evolution ritual and destroyed his body—

That powerful scepter emanating divine radiance would become his spoils of war.

Just as the priest began reveling in his fantasies—

Two overlapping voices suddenly echoed in his ears.

[Gaze of Despair]

[Gaze of Despair]

Boom!

Two raging mental blasts shattered the psychic spike mid-air and then, in an instant, struck deep into the priest's soul.

"AAAHHH—!"

A miserable scream erupted from the priest.

At the same time, the void ripple that he had been maintaining with his spiritual power faltered—

Leaving an opening.

"Now's my chance!"

Without needing any command from Eren—

The moment the void ripple around the priest weakened, dissolving significantly—

The golden holy sword in the six-winged angel's hands erupted with dazzling radiance.

Like slicing through tofu, it cleaved into the priest's spectral form.

Simultaneously—

Eren and his clown double, who had crept up unnoticed, seized the opportunity.

Both focused their mental energy—

And each unleashed another [Gaze of Despair], hammering into the priest's mind.

Under this barrage of attacks—

The priest's spirit sustained heavy damage.

Just as Eren prepared to press the advantage, aiming to eliminate him entirely—

A flicker of clarity flashed across the priest's eyes, followed by madness.

"Kill me?"

"Impossible! I am immortal!"

"When the End arrives—I will return..."

"Since you all wish to kill me—then I'll kill you first!"

"DEATH—SHOCKWAVE!"

As the priest roared—

His spectral body cracked apart, piece by piece, shattering as an unknown force transformed him into an unstoppable wave of death energy.

An invisible death shockwave erupted like a hurricane, sweeping across most of the rooftop in an instant.

With spiritual sight, Eren could clearly perceive the true terror of this "death energy."

It was not simple death.

It was absolute death.

Wherever the black tendrils of death passed—

Every insect on the rooftop perished instantly.

Potted plants withered at an unnatural speed, as though they had been killed rather than simply decayed.

Even the red bricks of the rooftop—when touched by the black death energy—began to rot and crumble.

As if—

A single gust of wind would reduce them to scattered dust.

"This is bad...!"

Seeing the horrifying power of [Death Shockwave], Eren's expression shifted, and he retreated at full speed.

But—

How could he possibly outrun a suicidal detonation fueled by the priest's very existence?

Just as the black wave of death was about to reach him—

A single golden strand of hair flashed across his vision.

Then—

A perfect, radiant face appeared before him.

A moment later—

This tall angel, significantly taller than Eren, suddenly embraced him tightly.

And then—

Her three pairs of white wings folded around him, completely shielding him within.

At the same instant that the wings closed—

A divine barrier of light formed within, sealing Eren in 360 degrees with no gaps.

Hummmmm—

As soon as the light barrier materialized—

The wave of death energy swept past like a raging storm.

It engulfed the six-winged angel, who had wrapped herself tightly around Eren—

And also caught the clown double, who had been desperately fleeing but still couldn't outrun [Death Shockwave] in time.

From the distance—

The clown double, seeing how the original Eren was protected, let out a grimace.

Surrounded by the corrupting power of death, his soul grew darker and darker.

"Damn it... If I had known this would happen, why did I rush in so eagerly?!"

That was his last thought.

The flame of his soul extinguished completely.

His fleeing body, now lifeless, collapsed like a discarded rag doll.

After rolling several times across the rooftop, his corpse finally hit the edge of the roof, coming to a halt.

(End of Chapter)

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