Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

Amidst the heavy tearing sound of a long-unmoved wooden board, the chestnut-brown door slowly opened outward.

The first thing Lumian noticed was the dim light, unlike the darkness typical of the deeper parts of the Underworld, emanating not from golden humanoid streetlamps but from all objects ahead.

He then got a clear view of the exterior.

There lay a cluster of palaces half-sunken into the void, with a majestic main hall, several high towers, and aerial corridors connecting them.

Deeper into the palace complex, the structures seemed to sink further into the void, while those on the periphery stood solidly on a barren wilderness.

Even so, the main hall in the core area towered much higher than the rest of the buildings.

Now, most of the structures were completely collapsed, leaving only ruins and broken walls. The relatively intact palaces and towers were concentrated on the periphery, with the only visibly towering structure in the core area being the main hall and its four attached spires.

At this moment, whether it was the broken palace complex or the surrounding wilderness and the sky above, all had faded to a dim, pale white, enveloping and infusing the entire world with pallor.

They brought light.

This pale-white world still retained a few other colors-gold embedded on the surfaces of buildings and the black at the bottom of the palace complex representing the void.

The latter had two other sources: one was the silently falling illusory dark River Styx from above, cascading behind the main hall, and the other was a creature long enough to be described in hundreds of meters, nestled among the four spires atop the grand main hall.

It was an exaggeratedly large bird, its wings woven from pale-white flames and mystical patterns, quietly sprawling on the roof of the main hall. Many of its pale-white fiery feathers had shed, revealing the black, decaying skin underneath.

Despite the considerable distance, and even with just a few fleeting glances, Lumian couldn't help but feel his "death" accelerating.

He lowered his head to look at his hands and found his already pale, dull, and withered undead skin now marked with spreading patches of blue-black decay.

These marks moved slowly, deepening continuously.

Moreover, his clothes were also beginning to be "infected" by the pallor of this world, all colors turning dim.

"What kind of monster is that?" Lumian dared not gaze at the distant giant bird anymore and could only look directly at the palace complex itself.

After a few seconds, the increasingly ethereal voice of the Knight of Swords, Maric, rang out: "It might be the corpse of Gregrace."

Gregrace? The Phoenix Ancestor, the ancient Death among the eight ancient gods of the Second Epoch? Lumian blurted out in astonishment, "Why would Her body be here?"

After posing the question, Lumian felt it was somewhat meaningless.

This was the Underworld, and it was not strange for any deceased's body to appear here. The Phoenix Ancestor-ancient Death-had perished before the Underworld anomaly.

On the other hand, the absence of the Eggers family's Death's corpse, hidden somewhere, was an anomaly.

Lumian didn't expect the Knight of Swords to actually answer his question.

"It might be that the ancestor of the Eggers family, the former Death, placed it here."

Uh... Does that mean the Eggers family's Death not only acquired the Beyonder characteristics of the Phoenix Ancestor Gregrace but also brought Her body back to the Underworld, hiding it somewhere in the palace complex? How did She, no-it end up on top of the palace? Is it just a corpse? Was it placed there initially? Or did the anomaly in the Underworld come from this ancient god's corpse? With the reigning Death dead, has the ancient god's corpse reanimated?

Lumian suddenly had some thoughts.

At that moment, he heard the Knight of Swords add, "Sharron just saw the egg."

The egg? The one the goat-faced Demon wants? Is Sharron referring to the temperance faction demigod within me? Lumian's heart leaped with joy before he quickly asked, "Where is the egg?"

"Below the belly of what seems to be the corpse of the Phoenix Ancestor. It has a pitch-black shell and is engulfed in pale-white flames, about a meter in diameter,' the Knight of Swords briefly described the egg.

Protected by the corpse of the ancient Death? Lumian's scalp tingled at the thought.

How am I supposed to retrieve it?

This might as well be no different from slaying the Devil Monarch, Farbauti!

Of course, for those of high stature, a living ancient god and a Beyonder-characteristic-lacking one reduced to a decaying corpse were not on the same level; the difficulty of these tasks was as different as heaven and the abyss. But for Lumian, they were equally insurmountable, both falling under the category of "impossible even with self-sacrifice."

Son of a sow, that goat-faced fellow really is a Demon turned undead!

Fine, if it can't be completed, then so be it. Just finish off the contractor as if there was no task at all!

As malicious thoughts spread throughout his body, the Knight of Swords added, "It's not entirely impossible to retrieve the egg. The state of the Phoenix Ancestor's corpse is somewhat strange."

Strange state of the corpse? Aren't there only two states for a corpse, eternal rest and reanimation? Lumian dared not use his own eyes to inspect the decaying corpse of the ancient Death, Gregrace, and could only inquire of Sharron, the only one present who could withstand looking at the body of an ancient god to some extent, "What's strange about it?"

The one responding was still the Knight of Swords.

"It's asleep, the kind of deep sleep that's hard to awaken from.

"This doesn't align with the current state of this Pale-White Nation."

Asleep? Dead and transformed, yet still needing sleep? Lumian frowned slightly and asked, "Why does that not align with the current state here?"

The Knight of Swords paused a few seconds before explaining, "From what we've seen, one of the reasons for the original anomaly in the Underworld was the reanimation of the Phoenix Ancestor. It destroyed Death's palace, killed all of Death's Blessed present, and turned this place into a pale-white nation.

"We've encountered a few demigods from the Death domain. Since the Underworld anomaly, they could still manage some affairs in the Underworld, even enter directly, but none dared to venture deep into the Underworld to search for the treasures within Death's palace. Their instincts told them it was too dangerous, absolutely not to be approached.

"But Sharron didn't have such a premonition for danger, so she agreed to come here."

That means, for a long time after the Underworld anomaly, the body of the Phoenix Ancestor still roamed this pale-white nation, keeping the high-ranked beings of the Death domain at bay, but now, it lies asleep... Lumian found the oddity from Maric's description.

"When was the last time a high-ranking Beyonder of the Death pathway felt danger approaching deep into the Underworld?" Lumian tried to determine the approximate timeframe.

"I don't know," the Knight of Swords answered promptly.

Don't know... It seems then, that the Phoenix Ancestor's body has only fallen asleep in recent years. Otherwise, the high-ranked Beyonders of the Death pathway entering the Underworld would have discovered that it's not so dangerous here anymore, and might have attempted exploration, not leaving without a trace nor without any news spreading... What happened in recent years? Lumian thought, unable to suppress his complaint.

"Why did the Eggers family's Death bring back the Phoenix Ancestor's corpse, leaving such a huge risk? As a true god, He could have directly destroyed this corpse!"

The Knight of Swords responded to Lumian's complaint, "The Underworld was established by the ancient Death in the spirit world, and as an ancient god, She wasn't limited to the powers of the Death pathway when She created the Underworld.

"It might not have been easy for the Eggers family's Death to initially take control of the Underworld; He might have needed to use the corpse of the Phoenix Ancestor. By the time He truly took control, His state might have changed, no longer concerned with such trivial matters."

Does this mean the Eggers family's Death went mad later? The Underworld wasn't naturally formed, it was created by the ancient Death, Gregrace... Such a powerful ancient god, no wonder She could have undergone reanimation... Lumian reflected inwardly.

The Knight of Swords, sensing his sigh, simply said, "It's said that even among those mad ancient gods, the Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace, was particularly fond of stirring things up, much like the Blood Emperor Alista Tudor of the Fourth Epoch."

Now that you put it that way, I can understand perfectly... Lumian's gaze continuously shifted among the pale sky, the wilderness, and the collapsed palace complex, pondering whether to seize the opportunity of the ancient god's corpse being asleep to steal the enormous black egg burning with pale-white flames.

Suddenly, he spotted a figure still capable of movement.

It was a creature with a human head but the body of a giant bird.

The creature's limbs were bent, with nails that flickered with a cold light; its back sported wings covered in half pale-white, half chestnut-brown feathers. The development of its head seemed incomplete, resembling several infant heads slowly merging together.

"Oxyto's premature child? It's indeed here!" Lumian recognized the creature's identity.

That was the target he and the members of the temperance faction had been tracking!

At that moment, Oxyto's monstrous child was flapping its wings, continuously circling and stealthily drawing closer to the sleeping ancient god's corpse.

Its target appeared to be the enormous black egg pressed beneath the corpse!

"We must stop it! Sharron will handle cursing and controlling it, and we'll take care of the attack!"

The voice of the Knight of Swords echoed in Lumian's mind. "Okay."

This time, Lumian didn't hesitate and sprinted out from the base of the pitch-black cathedral.

As soon as he stepped into that pale-white nation, his entire being was dyed pale-white, devoid of any additional colors.

This caused him to shiver both body and soul, wanting nothing more than to kneel down on the ground, lying prostrate and motionless.

Silently, Lumian drew the Sword of Courage.

The blade, now color-eroded by the pale-whiteness, suddenly ignited with a bright white flame tinged with blue.