Lord of Mysteries 2: Circle of Inevitability

The mournful cry seemed to draw closer: "My child, Omebella, where are you?"

Hearing the name "Omebella," Lumian shuddered violently, snapping out of his fear-induced daze.

Who? Who is looking for Omebella? Why are they looking for Omebella?

As he wondered, Lumian noticed the surrounding area growing darker, with a sense of confinement and imprisonment.

He reached out, his hands brushing against a cold, hard "wall."

He pressed himself against it, trying to peer through its cracks.

The "wall" was pitch black but semi-transparent, and Lumian could faintly see the pale-white sky, the collapsed towers, and the shattered palaces.

He also saw Sharron, the temperance faction demigod dressed in a small bonnet and a Gothic dress, floating nearby. She extended her hand, summoning the Sword of Courage, now pale from erosion.

Beyond Sharron, he looked down at the rubble-strewn ruins. A pale figure in tattered clothes was kneeling, bent over as if to crawl.

The figure was trembling all over, struggling to raise its head and straighten up.

It was a face wearing a golden mask-his own face!

Me?

If I'm outside, then who is here?

Already half-conscious, Lumian felt even more bewildered.

Almost simultaneously, he saw his outside self, with charred skin peeling off, sprouting half-pale, half-chestnut feathers. His belly writhed visibly, while wheat, mushrooms, and flowers grew from the sunlit wounds.

Silently, Sharron leaped onto the golden mask and appeared before Lumian, placing the Sword of Courage into his hands.

The surge of courage instantly dispelled the fear suppressing his mind and consciousness, making his vision pale-white and no longer pitch black.

The sense of confinement and entrapment around him also dissipated.

He raised his head higher, no longer seeing himself or using a top-down perspective.

His gaze fell on the black egg under the ancient Death's corpse at the top of the main hall.

He instinctively believed he had just been inside the egg, observing the outside through its shell!

No, it wasn't me inside the black egg, but the part of me that lost courage and was subdued by the ancient god's aura resonating with the creature inside the egg, sharing its senses.

So, I "saw" the scene outside the shell, "heard" the mournful cry for Omebella, and showed signs of corruption!

Thinking this, Lumian quickly looked down at his body, seeing the feathers falling off, mixed with wheat, mushrooms, and flowers.

They had all lost their color, turning pale and dim.

Lumian also saw his belly flattening, feeling his blood, meant to be solid as a deceased, flowing throughout his body.

Suddenly, he understood why Oxyto risked so much to nurture a fetus with undead traits and an aura of the Underworld.

Even with just a bit of Omebella's bloodline, suppressed by the ancient god's corpse, he could resonate and interact with the creature inside the black egg. How much more could the bird-clawed infant, with more of the Great Mother's gifts, fused with Paramita and the Underworld, and perhaps also with Omebella's bloodline!

If we hadn't taken out Oxyto's premature child in time, it might have used the resonance and interaction to merge with the creature inside the black egg, controlling it from the source, or completing its catalysis!

Hmm, the premature birth meant the bird-clawed infant lacked the rank and traits, requiring extreme caution. Even if it reached the final step, there was a high chance of failure...

Now, the question is, why could the creature inside the black egg hear the 'Mother's' call for Omebella...

Who exactly is Omebella's 'Mother'? It can't really be the Great Mother, can it? Isn't She always outside the barrier?

What is the relationship between the creature inside the black egg and Omebella?

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Lumian suddenly heard a faint cracking sound.

He looked up in astonishment, seeing the pale-white flames burning on the black egg dim significantly and peel away. The black egg itself developed a noticeable fissure.

It seemed to be disintegrating to some extent.

The next second, the entire Pale-White Nation began to tremble. A deathly aura from the black egg, where the ancient Death's corpse lay, started to emerge.

Even with the Sword of Courage in hand, Lumian couldn't help but freeze, trembling.

The surrounding palaces and towers, whether in ruins or half-collapsed, began to shake violently as if struck by an earthquake.

A thought flashed through Lumian's mind: The Phoenix Ancestor Gregrace's corpse is awakening... Run! Escape!

He shouted this in his mind but couldn't turn his body or take a single step.

The temperance faction demigod Sharron grabbed him, and in his eyes reflected the dim figure of the Knight of Swords, who looked much fainter than before.

Cracks appeared in the pale-white sky, extending towards the trembling ground. An overwhelming sense of dread was rapidly accumulating at the top of the main hall of Death.

Sharron, holding Lumian, initiated Spirit World Traversal.

This could be used in the Underworld but would trigger retribution.

Countless indescribable limbs reached out from the void, grabbing at the swiftly moving Sharron.

Sharron endured the damage from these limbs, continuing to head towards the pitch-black cathedral at the edge of the Pale-white Nation.

Her body ignited with pale-white flames, directly burning her spirit, causing clumps of powder to fall continuously.

Sharron could no longer sustain it any more than three seconds, interrupting the Spirit World Traversal and falling onto the pale-white wilderness outside the palace of Death, nearly a kilometer from the pitch-black cathedral.

Holding the Sword of Courage, Lumian, now outside Death's palace complex, no longer felt as afraid. He immediately pointed at himself, indicating for Sharron to possess him.

At the same time, he saw numerous jagged cracks rapidly spreading from behind, revealing a bottomless darkness, spheres wrapped in blood-red substance, and mountains filled with tombs...

Feeling achill within him, Lumian quickly ignited in blazing white flames, transforming into a magnificent spear, and launched towards the edge of the Pale-White Nation.

Above, below, and on all sides, countless cracks chased after him like shattered glass. Behind him, from the direction of the palace, a heavy sound emerged.

Amid the pale erosion, the flaming spear disappeared and reappeared twice.

Finally, Lumian escaped the Pale-White Nation, landing in front of the towering pitch-black cathedral.

Here, only the underground portion of the cathedral was visible, resembling a massive mountain.

Lumian passed through the heavy wooden doors, once again transforming into a flaming spear and launched upwards.

When the flames dispersed, he sheathed the Sword of Courage, climbing upwards using the collapsed stairs, peeling walls, and broken pillars, repeatedly jumping between them, sometimes leaping across support-less areas as a flaming spear.

Before long, the pitch-black cathedral began to shake violently. The already precarious corridors, stairs, walls, and pillars started to crack and fall.

Seeing himself about to be crushed and buried by the collapsing building, Lumian prepared to draw the Sword of Courage to carve out an escape route.

At this moment, he was surprised to find the stones and pillars above him seemed to have a life of their own, avoiding him and continuing to fall past his sides.

In such a dangerous situation, Lumian remained unharmed.

He guessed Sharron provided some help, not wasting any time, and continued his ascent, repeating the process.

After an unknown amount of time, the violent shaking abruptly stopped.

Lumian didn't relax, maintaining his pace and rhythm until he sawa pale green light above.

A blazing white spear shot out from the dark hole within the half-collapsed church.

With the flames dispersing, Lumian's figure appeared, standing firmly on the cracked stone slab.

Next to a broken wall embedded with several bone torches, a tall Demon with a human-goat hybrid face slowly turned, dragging a white bone leg.

At that moment, Lumian realized he hadn't retrieved the black egg, failing the Demon's commission.

Instantly, anger surged within him: Was this a task I could complete?

You were sending me to my death! Truly a Demon's commission! Fine, since completing the task is no longer an option, I have only one choice: destroy the commissioner!

Despite these thoughts, Lumian only reached into the Traveler's Bag, preparing to draw the Sword of Courage, without intending to fight immediately.

He was concerned that the ancient Death's corpse's awakening would cause mutations to spread here, preferring to leave the depths of the Underworld as soon as possible, especially given the unknown strength of the goat-faced Demon.

Hunched over, the goat-faced Demon staggered in front of Lumian.

It stared at Lumian silently before speaking in a hollow, decayed voice.

This time, it used Dutanese: "You've taken that egg for yourself!"

Before it finished speaking, the goat-faced Demon straightened its four or five-meter-tall body and swung the white bone leg at Lumian.