Cthulhu Gonfalon

Leon’s smooth return was indeed good news. It allowed Sui Xiong and others who had been worried all the while to finally relax, as there was no need to be worried anymore.

Hence, it was time for a scolding.

“How can you be so brave?!” Sui Xiong scolded profusely, his tentacles waving around like a deep sea monster seen in a horror movie. He said furiously, “Last time, we had already told you how strong Junero was, how dare you still challenge him?! Are you out of your mind? You really don’t understand the word ‘die!’”

“I just thought that, with the help of the three artifacts, I could at least run away, even if I couldn’t fight him…” Leon argued.

“Run?! Run your head!” Sui Xiong was furious, so mad that even his tentacles had turned red. “Did you think that the three Eagle artifacts were that terrific? A character of level sixty who gathered three epic equipments could show off in a level eighty dungeon. You could be half killed by just one hit from a small monster on the side of the road!”

Leon was quiet. Although he didn’t really understand what Sui Xiong was saying, at least he could still understand the numbers.

“Who is this Junero? He’s an expert who was eligible to fight for the throne of Orc Emperor even five thousand years ago. He’s an old senior who is at the same level as sky devourer canine and steel lion. At this time, those who are great might not necessarily live long, but those who can live that long must be really great! You really thought your three Eagle artifacts were that great? Back then, the God of Eagle Himself was a b*stard who was hammered into a pile of slag by God of Light! The sky devourer canine is the same level as God of Light, and Junero had fought with sky devourer canine before, which means he is at the same level as God of Eagle, and he might even be stronger than it… exactly who the f*ck gave you this unfounded confidence, and allowed you to think that you could fight an expert who is the same level as God of Eagle with only the help of His three passed down artifacts?”

While Leon was scolded until he was dizzy, he hadn’t noticed that Sui Xiong was gradually changing topic. Carissa was standing next to him not saying anything, just nodding her head again and again and again. She used this silence to increase the persuading power for His Highness’ criticism and also to keep increasing the psychological stress inside of him. The both of them pressured him different ways, and Leon couldn’t stand it anymore. He honestly bowed his head and admitted that he was wrong, then promised that he wouldn’t get into trouble with Junero anymore.

“A promise is useless, I need you to swear an oath!” Sui Xiong said coldly, “If you dare to go and get into trouble with that dangerous guy again, then Steele will climb into your bed in the middle of the night!”

Leon’s face suddenly paled to the color of snow. He screamed, “This oath is way too evil!”

“I don’t care how evil the oath is, as long as you never think about betraying it, then there will be no problems!”

Carissa’s face had also paled as she advised, “Why must it be Steele?! That’s not very nice!”

“It is because it’s Steele that it’s a deterrent!”

Sui Xiong was smugly forcing Leon onward when suddenly one of his tentacles was pulled twice. He looked down at it, and he could see a little pink pig giving him a big smile as it gently tugged his tentacle.

“Ah?!”

When someone spoke badly behind another person’s back but was heard, it was a very embarrassing thing. Even someone as thick skinned as the Jellyfish God was stunned right now, not knowing what should be said.

But Steele did not give him a chance to think of an excuse. She smiled, and there were two firelights of different colors, red and blue, that circled around her body, turning into a huge pink pig in a blink of an eye. She raised her huge fist, which was like a City Rushing Hammer.

“S-Steele… Let us speak nicely… We are all civilized people… Do not use your hand—”

Boom!

“—or leg.”

She used one punch to knock out the Jellyfish God with no verbal manners. Steele’s body had a circle of firelight around her before she changed back into a cute little pink pig again. She leaped away and flew out of the temple.

After a few seconds, Carissa exclaimed, “Miss Steele is really getting greater and greater! When did she master this ability?”

“Got the ability by using the Perfect Wishing Magic…” Sui Xiong said with a slur.

Both Carissa and Leon looked at his bare face that had been hit until he was dizzy, still unrecovered, and then they thought about the place that the perfect wishing magic originated. They couldn’t help but look at each other and secretly laugh at him.

What did it mean to bring something on to oneself? This was it!

After being disrupted by Steele, Sui Xiong had no more interest in criticizing Leon anymore. He switched to another topic.

“What’s actually the matter with the three Eagle artifacts?” He asked, “I haven’t really heard before that a mortal can become an expert on par with God with just three pieces of equipment… Such equipment is unheard of!”

“These artifacts, aren’t they all very great?” Carissa asked, “The sword and armor that you made for Leon were also very great, so why are you so interested in these three Eagle artifacts?”

“They’re two different things.” Sui Xiong said, “No matter how great the artifact is, it can’t create a large amount of energy out of nothing. After all, the person who was using it was just a mortal, but the three Eagle artifacts were different. They gave Leon a large amount of energy that was enough to defy God in a short moment. This is completely against common sense, it’s just not right!”

But Leon and Carissa were not suitable people to discuss this with, thus Sui Xiong could only look for Morani to discuss it.

“Based on your earlier statements, do you think God of Eagle had grasped some kind of skills beyond common sense, and that was why He had the confidence to challenge God of Light?”

Morani set down his large wine glass, and while laughing, said, “How could that be?! I can’t speak for the others, but in the field of blacksmithing, I’m much greater than He is! It is not because I look down on Him, it is just that even I cannot do that, so on what basis could He?”

Sui Xiong thought about it, but he was feeling more and more puzzled.

As the God of Forging for the half-orcs, Morani was naturally the most professional among the professionals. If He said it was impossible, then it was definitely impossible. If the God of Eagle’s skills were really higher than Morani had imagined, then back during that time, He would not been killed by God of Light—God of Light would have been killed by Him instead.

If this was so, then what kind of secret was hidden within the three Eagle artifacts?

“What do you say I bring the three Eagle artifacts back here and we secretly study them?” The more he thought about it, the more he felt as if a hundred claws were clawing his heart, his heart feeling so itchy that he couldn’t take it anymore, and he couldn’t help but suggest, “We could just return them after we’re done studying them…”

“Do you think you still need to steal them?” Morani laughed, “That year, I already stole them and studied them, and I even studied them for quite a few years!”

“F*ck! Then what did you find out about them?”

“Nothing,” Morani said helplessly, “It was just an item that can absorb the belief of mankind towards God of Eagle, then turn it into divine powers. Based on this, it was an item that shouldn’t be very complicated or high class. I could even make three to five sets of them in a day with my eyes closed. But for some reason, the ones I made did not have the same effect as the original version…”

As He saw that Sui Xiong was as curious as a baby, He simply took out a set of three imitation Eagle artifacts and handed them over to Sui Xiong.

It could be seen that this set of “Eagle artifacts” was not any different from the activated set that Leon had been wearing earlier, though there was also an energy surrounding it that could be felt clearly. Yet as he carefully sensed it, he found that the energy force was much weaker than the one on Leon’s body before. It was as absolute as the difference between sky and land.

“This was forged strictly according to the original version. From its materials to the structure, there should not be any difference.” He said, “Of course, from the aspect of forging skills, every blacksmith has their own set of techniques. But I can guarantee with my name, that my techniques are definitely more refined than God of Eagle’s!”

Sui Xiong took the set of imitations and thought about it, then he made a clone and wore the set. He used the teleportation door and went to Eagle City, then went all the way to the battlefield once again.

Although Leon had already came back, the war had only ended a few hours ago. The armies from both parties were still stationed near the battlefield. They were still cleaning up the bodies from each of their sides, and they still needed to exchange refugees before everyone could retreat.

When Sui Xiong reached it, he saw the auxiliary armies from both sides cleaning up the battlefield. Under the dusky sky, the battlefield was covered in darkness.

As every space was filled with dead bodies who had been killed violently, the scene was chilling. It was now the middle of winter, the weather cold and chilly. The hot blood that had flown relentlessly a few hours earlier had already frozen along with the flesh and blood, the armor, weapons, and soil. Even though it wasn’t that hard, it did give the soldiers a huge problem. Usually, it took a few soldiers roughly seven to eight minutes to completely retrieve a dead body, to carry it up to the wheel cart stopped beside them and await to be transported back to the main camp.

Looking down from the sky at the sea of dead bodies on the battlefield, Sui Xiong could not accurately count how many were dead, even with his extraordinary eyesight.

Looking at the scene, his original excitement of stealing the three Eagle artifacts for research purposes was drowned by a bucket of cold water. The passion immediately and completely cooled off.

“So this is… war…”

Stopping on the battlefield that still held the after effects of violent killings, it was as if he could hear the loud and violent voices from both sides, as if he could still hear the neighing of warhorses, the clashing of weapons, as if he could still see the scenes of weapons tearing up bodies, fresh blood and life forces spewing everywhere, as if he could still feel the emotions of anger, unwillingness, helplessness and despair of those who were facing death.

Yes, these were all still there. Even though mortals could not see them, to a God, this piece of land had already been soaked through by war. It was not defined how many months and years it would take before it could become normal again.

“Such an extravagant scene, isn’t it?” A shadow that was covered in black robe appeared beside him. He retreated two steps under his cautious sight. He was holding a long scythe, looking down upon the scene that was like a frozen hell under their feet, “Although I’ve seen it many times before, every time I see it I have new insights.”

“Why would the Grim Reaper come to the human’s world?” Sui Xiong couldn’t help but ask, “Shouldn’t you be guarding the underworld all year long?”

“Just a clone.”

The man in the black robe who was holding the long scythe was one of those with strong divine powers, Theo Narus, the Grim Reaper. He had built His Holy Kingdom in the underworld and had all sorts of dead souls become His believers. He pronounced that all living would die, only the dead having eternal peace.

Among all of the Gods, He was one who was heavily avoided by everyone, the one no one not wanted to be enemies with. It was just that even though His powers were great, He had rarely caused any contradiction with others, except for the time when He had fought the Goddess of Life. And as He had been badly defeated, for a thousand years, there were no other battle records for Him.

As for the only battle record… being able to engage in a fierce battle with the Goddess of Life itself was enough proof to show how strong He was. One had to know that up until now, even those with strong divine powers did not dare to fight the Thunder of Punishment that was left behind by the Goddess of Life!

The appearance of Grim Reaper was quite a surprise to Sui Xiong, but then he immediately understood what Grim Reaper was there for. He could see the gloomy God wave His hand, and His long scythe had turned into a stroke of black air as it drew a few rounds, circling the entire battlefield. It was as if there was an uncountable number of hooks that hooked many dead souls up, until they were lined up and tied to the blade.

“Since they’re dead, if their souls had no place to go, they would turn into evil spirits sooner or later.” God of Death sighed gently, “All I can do is give them peace, so they will never have to suffer the pain that they had suffered while they were alive.”

“Thank you.”

The Grim Reaper smiled. It appeared that there were a pair of eyes underneath the black robe looking at Sui Xiong.

“This is my clergy and my belief, there is no need to thank me. In fact, you have beautified my actions. You need to know that almost all of these souls each had an obsession. There is not even one who is willing to go to the underworld. I am bringing them away forcefully, and I will probably be cursed one way or another.”

Speaking of this, the Grim Reaper disappeared without a trace along with the countless dead souls that were locked on the long scythe.

And at this time, the final bit of remaining light at the edge of the sky had finally disappeared as well, leaving the night to cover the entire land.