Chapter 975: Battle For Godhood (Finale)
Chapter 975: Battle For Godhood (Finale)
All of the followers had their palms joined together as they prayed to Death God Dax in trembling voices.
They had witnessed a truly miraculous scene on this night, and all that was left was for the divine prophecy to be fulfilled. This was destined to be a night that would be recorded in the history books, and once the divine prophecy was fulfilled, everything would draw to a conclusion.
They were going to be the first followers of the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea, and they were very much looking forward to the rise of their god!
Their initial astonishment and fear had transformed into anticipation, and even the youngest of the followers were beginning to pray with all their might.
The sound of their collective prayers accompanied the sound of the crashing waves to form an undulating symphony.
However, none of them closed their eyes as they couldn't bear to shut out such an astonishing scene. As such, they discovered that the scene before them was suddenly becoming brighter.
What was going on?
Some of the followers turned around to find where the light was coming from. This wasn't a conscious gesture, it was merely an instinctive urge, and none of them were expecting to see anything more interesting than the battle taking place on the sea anyway.
However, right as the first follower turned around to look behind him and was about to withdraw his gaze, he was immediately transfixed by what he saw and his jaw dropped straight to the ground.
His body then began to tremble uncontrollably, and he sprang to his feet before pointing a certain direction. He couldn't even muster up a full sentence and could only give a strangled gasp of utter astonishment.
His reaction to what he had seen was so extreme that it instantly attracted the attention of the other followers, and those around him also began to turn around.
Curiosity was a common trait in human nature, and on this occasion, their curiosity brought them a massive shock!
An elderly follower turned around, and his eyes immediately widened while his pupils contracted drastically. A wizened hand flew over his mouth as he silently rose to his feet.
A young follower turned around, and upon seeing what was unfolding behind him, he seemed to want to stand up, only for his legs to give out under him. As a result, he sat back down on the spot as his body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Soon, all of the followers had turned around to stare at the miraculous scene unfolding behind them.
The light shone on their faces, illuminating their astonished expressions, and it could be seen that every single one of them was completely transfixed.
In the extremely far distance behind them, there was a pillar of light rising straight up into the heavens like a lighthouse in the darkness.
If that were it, then this wouldn't be a remarkable scene. What was truly astonishing was that all of the LED screens along the entire coastline were displaying the same image. In addition to that, that same crystal clear image was being broadcast over the entire length of the building of the largest hotel in the city.
The image was depicting a church.
Most of the people present could identify it as the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church. However, at this moment, the church was in a very strange state. All of its buildings had been completely uprooted and were hovering in mid-air as if gravity had malfunctioned in the area. Those intricately crafted pillars and statues were all hovering around a massive ball of light.
Boundless holy white light was radiating from the center, within which the indistinct form of a long spear could be just barely made out. Behind the spear was a figure in a black cloak who was entirely enshrouded in darkness.
His head was lowered, and he was carrying a scythe on his back. As he slowly raised his head, his black cloak danced around him.
This scene was resonating deep in the hearts of all of the followers. This was the spitting image of the grim reaper in western mythology!
Qin Ye had used a sly trick here.
This was only a form that he had taken in order to appease the followers gathered on the shore. If he were to appear before them in the form of a Cathayan Underworld Yama-King, he didn't know how many of them would be willing to accept him, and there was a good chance that their worship wouldn't be focused.
However, firing the spear as the grim reaper would elicit acceptance from all of the followers for sure!
On the fliers for Death God Dax, there was no image of Dax enclosed.
Thus, there was only a name circulating around Usonia, but no face connected to the name. Dax itself was nothing more than a legend created by the grand script of death, and it had never shown itself to anyone.
Presumably, it was supposed to be in Leoric's appearance.
However, Leoric was just a skeleton in pirate attire, so his image wasn't sufficiently grand and imposing to capture the spirit of a mighty death god. Furthermore, he was more of a deceased spirit rather than a death god. Upon reaching the Duke level, one would undergo a massive change. An example of this could be seen in Qin Ye, who had managed to break through the curse of the Taisui fungus upon becoming a Yama-King.
He wanted to appear before the world in a perfect form.
Prior to this, the image of Death God Dax had only existed in the imaginations of all of the followers, and Qin Ye was presenting to them an image of the grim reaper that had existed for thousands of years, so it undoubtedly a perfect match with the image that everyone had in mind!
"Lord Dax..." someone called out from within the crowd, and his call was immediately acknowledged by all of the followers present. All of the people who had stood up immediately knelt down again, and their voices were trembling with excitement.
"It's Him! That must be Lord Dax!"
"Is this divine descent that we're witnessing right now?! Is the divine prophecy finally about to be fulfilled?!"
"Is Lord Dax going to slay that sea monster? Is He going to come here in person?!"
Their voices grew louder and louder in waves, and before long, they had traveled into the ears of Leoric, who was in the midst of attacking Kraken with all his might.
He faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately swung around, and in the next instant, he let loose a thunderous roar of fury as the netherfire in his eyes erupted up to 10 meters in height!
"Who is that?!" He rushed toward the shore like a madman with tightly gritted teeth, and he really did feel as if he were about to go mad! He wanted to hurl his warhammer directly toward the LED screens, but he caught himself right at the last second.
There were people lining the entire coastline, and if he were to do that, he would be killing his own followers!
Before he had a chance to do anything, one of Kraken's tentacles was already swinging toward him like lightning, and he could only repress his own fury as he dodged the attack before turning to face the LED screens while trembling with rage.
Who is that?! It's not one of us! Dax is a name that belongs to me! Someone's trying to take the power of worship from this grand script of death! But who would do that?!
The two cardinals of the church and the two Dukes of the Freemasonry weren't underworld beings, so they wouldn't benefit at all from intercepting the grand script of death, and the lack of a conflict of interest was why he had no qualms about working with them.
So who was this person?!
"I'm going to kill you!!!" He frantically rushed toward the shore again, but there was simply no way for him to bypass all of Kraken's lethal tentacles in a short time.
"Akana! Zerens!" For the first time, he was struck by a sense of overwhelming fear. Whoever this person was, he had concealed himself far too well, to the extent that even now, they still had no idea who he could be! How long had this man been plotting to intercept their grand script of death? Had he been watching from the very beginning and was only striking now that the grand script of death was about to reach its conclusion?!
"We have to grab the attention of the followers!"
He was screaming so loudly that his voice had turned hoarse, yet right as his voice trailed off, a grand and holy voice rang out from the loudspeakers on the shore. "I am the death god of the Fifth Sun..."
You bastard!!
Akana and Zerens had naturally also noticed what was happening on the shore, and they were absolutely livid with rage! The grand script of death that they had plotted for over a century to complete was currently being intercepted by someone else!
They were frantically trying to bypass the resistance posed by Kraken while yelling with all their might toward the shore, yet their voices were completely drowned out by the crashing waves and Kraken's almighty roars.
Thus, they could only look on helplessly as the image on the LED screens continued to unfold.
A skeletal hand reached out of the figure's flowing black robes as he declared, "I am the ruler of hell, the only death god, the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea..."
"No!!!" Leoric was truly on the verge of insanity, and he rushed toward the shore with no regard for his own safety as he frantically screeched, "He's an imposter!! Don't look at him!! Turn around!! Look at me!! I am..."
Before he had a chance to finish, a tentacle came sweeping toward him, and he felt as if the entire sky had fallen upon him, swatting him back by several hundred meters and obliterating his left arm. However, he paid no heed to his own injuries as he continued to scream toward the shore. "Look here! I am the true death god!!"
Please look over here! I'm begging you!
However, no one was paying any attention to him.
All of the followers were completely enthralled by the scene unfolding on the LED screens.
In their eyes, this was the god that they had been worshiping for so long, and he was far more alluring to look at than a battle that had already been raging for an hour.
Qin Ye continued, "I am Dax!"
His voice was like rumbling thunder, and even though the declaration was being made through the loudspeakers, heaven and earth still trembled violently.
Brando turned around with a slack-jawed expression, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Dalton, Erza, and Orel had also stopped what they were doing and were gawking at the shore with incredulous expressions.
In that instant, all color seemed to have been stripped away from the world, and the hope that had just been ignited in their hearts turned into bitter despair once again.
"The power of worship is acknowledging him!" Dalton exclaimed. He then swung around, and several seconds later, he began to tremble with rage as he roared with fury and indignation, "You're all a bunch of fools!! Take a good look and see who the true death god is!!"
It doesn't matter who the death god actually is, the only thing that matters is who looks more like the death god right now! A sinister smile had already appeared on Qin Ye's skeletal face beneath his cloak.
You've fought a sea monster for so long without being able to defeat it, yet you dare to call yourselves death gods? In your grand script of death, god was supposed to have descended and instantly slain Kraken. You've already missed your opportunity to establish the right image in the eyes of your followers. There's not even any chance for you to be viewed as heroes as everyone's attention is on me as I fire the Spear of Longinus! In terms of grasping human psychology, you're far too out of touch to compete with me! You don't know what they want, you don't know what they fear, you don't know what they want to see, so you were destined to fail!
Whoosh!!
The Spear of Longinus in front of him was finally fired.
Even through the screen, a gust of fierce wind swept over all of the followers, blowing them off their feet, and all of the screens shattered violently in unison.
However, that wasn't important as everyone could already see a shooting star rise up into the sky before piercing through the darkness of the night and traveling straight toward the sea!
"Lord Dax, You've answered our prayers!"
"I am Your most loyal follower, Lord Dax! You are the only true God!"
"Praise Lord Dax! Is this the conclusion of the divine prophecy?"
Scintillating light illuminated the earth as all of the living beings in the entirety of New Jersey looked on at the miraculous arrow arcing through the sky!
It was launched from Philadelphia and was traveling directly toward Kraken all the way in Cape May!
"NO!!!!!" Leoric was yelling with all his might as he and the other two death gods of the Caribbean rushed toward the light with no regard for their own safety.
This isn't how things were supposed to be! The script isn't like this! I am the death god! I am Dax! That man is an imposter!!