Liliana had already clashed with the people inside the ruins.
Judging by the situation, the cultists gathered here were attempting some sort of special ritual. In this world, there was a good chance they were trying to summon a god. But could a god really be summoned that easily?
Squinting, Hikaru saw that apart from the cultists, there were a handful of unconscious civilians—unfortunate souls captured to be used as sacrifices.
Moreover, several human corpses had already been dismembered by bladed weapons, filling the air with the heavy stench of blood and rust.
Since these were cultists, their ritual clearly wasn't going to be a pleasant one. But at this point, continuing the ritual didn't seem possible.
Liliana, driven by her sense of justice, had launched a surprise attack, breaking their concentration at a critical moment.
Enraged by the interruption, the cultists were on the verge of successfully summoning a god, only to be thwarted at the last second.
Still, with every passing moment in the fight, more blood spilled onto the ground—and gradually began flowing into dried-up traces of an arcane pattern.
After Hikaru watched for a while, he sensed a faint breeze stirring in the sealed cavern. Neither side of the battle noticed at first, but as the breeze grew stronger, Liliana finally sensed something amiss.
The wind intensified, the cavern began to shake… yet the blood on the pattern remained perfectly undisturbed. Liliana struck one cultist with her sword, sending him flying, eyes widening in alarm at the sudden shift.
"What on earth is happening?"
Being a witch, Liliana was far more sensitive than most to the flow of magical power. She could feel a spell's energy rapidly swelling.
Her sky-blue eyes flicked down to the ground where the blood had formed some sort of snake-like beast-man design, and it seemed to be staring back at her.
Even as a Great Knight, goosebumps prickled all over her skin. And before long, she realized it wasn't her imagination: the blood pattern was actually moving. Its outline quivered, and it seemed like it had taken on an expression—an expression of pain, twisted with rage. Amid the howling winds came a savage beast-like roar.
Seeing this, the surviving cultists were ecstatic.
"It's begun! Let's offer up everything we have to our lord!"
Without hesitation, they turned their weapons on themselves—stabbing through their own hearts or even beheading themselves.
Hikaru watched as the magic circle glowed brighter and brighter. A blood sacrifice to a blood god? Presenting heads in a gruesome ritual?
As for Liliana, she knew there was no more time to wait.
"O mountains of Gjergjbojë, let the life-giving rain fall upon you! Let there be an offering for the ravenous beasts! Sacrifice thyself to become the shield of the warrior beyond! Shield of Thor, an offering of suet—manifest here!"
A beautiful song rose from her lips as she unleashed powerful spellcraft, the surge of magical energy radiating from her body making the silver sword in her hand flare with blazing light.
She was attempting to destroy this place in one final strike. However, just before she could swing her blade, a snake-like beast shot out from the pool of blood. Letting out a hissing roar, it lunged straight at her.
Crap, she thought. She'd focused entirely on the ritual's circle, leaving herself wide open. She had no time to counter with sword or magic and could only watch helplessly as the venomous serpent closed in.
Right then, an arm reached over her shoulder from behind, grabbed the collar of her shirt, and yanked her backward like a puppy. The serpent missed its mark, and Liliana lost the chance to attack.
Immediately afterward, a wild, divine surge of magic burst from the air itself, accompanied by overwhelming pressure.
The magic circle underwent yet another change. The serpents coiled around the cultists' corpses, sinking their fangs right into the foreheads. Fresh blood gushed out. A few cultists who weren't completely dead had their mouths open and shut in silent agony; they were likely regretting it all now, spewing blood that poured out from ruptured organs in their chests.
Snakes slithered fully into their bodies, propping them up like puppets, making them resemble macabre figures still standing upright.
Liliana gaped at this, her mind going blank. At this point, there was no way to stop the ritual.
"How can they summon a god so easily?" she whispered, voice trembling. If it really were that simple, then why would Marquis Voban need to scour the entire world?
"What if it's not a summons, but an awakening?"
A stranger's voice sounded behind her. Startled, Liliana jumped away like a frightened rabbit and brandished her silver sword at him, her expression tense.
But when she saw his face and attire—a foreigner, and a strikingly handsome one at that—her features softened a bit.
"Who are you?" she asked, her tone no longer as hostile.
"Is my name really more important than a Heretic God?" Hikaru replied, wearing a faint smile.
He had a mesmerizing smile, Liliana found herself thinking—then forced the thought from her mind.
Without another word, she resumed chanting, channeling the Silver Master's power to attack the magic circle. But it was no use. A barrier formed from the blood rebuffed her assault and only grew more frenzied.
The cavern shook relentlessly, pieces of rock raining down. Tremors radiated out, rocking the mountains and warping the night sky.
Outside, gusts whipped up huge storms. Raindrops, propelled by violent winds, hammered the ground with enough force to leave dents on car exteriors.
Within seconds, black clouds rolled in, blotting out the dusk. People below panicked at the sudden atmospheric shift, overwhelming the meteorological hotline with calls, though no one knew the true cause.
Naturally, it wasn't a normal weather event but the work of an ancient Heretic God.
Areas near the ruins and around New Delhi were hit particularly hard. The rain fell so fiercely it could split heads open, leaving countless residents drenched in blood.
The Ganges' tributaries flooded, pushing rivers over their banks by more than two meters, submerging everything within a dozen kilometers. It was chaos on an unimaginable scale, and there seemed no end to it.
Standing on a slope outside the cave, Liliana surveyed the inundated regions, her face drawn with anxiety. She was barely holding herself together.
"Is there anything that can stop it…?"
After escaping the cave, she paced in agitation, muttering to herself.
"It's simple," Hikaru said. "All we have to do is kill it."
~~~
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