"Crash..."
The sewer was collapsing.
Lanevus's twisted, massive body rampaged through the narrow space, violently and madly slamming into walls and the ceiling.
Silas leaped up from the ground.
Through the gap broken open at the top of the sewer, he saw Backlund's gloomy, deep black sky.
Suddenly, two points of blue-green light quietly lit up in the darkness above the opening, drifting left and right.
What was that?
The thick cloud layer in the air tore open a crack, and crimson moonlight poured down. By the moonlight, Silas could finally see clearly. It was actually a pure black kitten.
Its body was thin and pitiful, covered with a lot of dust, but its eyes were azure and clear, very beautiful.
The glowing came from its eyes. It was curiously staring at Silas.
"Rumble..."
But before Silas could examine the kitten carefully, Lanevus began making a commotion in the sewer.
He twisted his massive body, turned around in the narrow passage, and aimed at Silas again.
The sewer shook accordingly. The tremors transmitted upward, and the little black cat was frightened.
With a whoosh, it pulled back its head and ran off somewhere.
"Child, let's eat him..."
Lanevus stared at Silas and murmured.
His wet, bloody upper body looked terrifyingly horrific in the moonlight.
The lump of flesh in his abdomen was wriggling, gradually taking on the basic outline of limbs and a torso.
Unlike the vessel Lanevus, this lump of flesh was actually becoming more and more human-like.
Silas endured the pain of his head exploding and looked at Lanevus.
"Roar..."
Lanevus let out a screech that didn't sound like something a human could produce.
His massive body charged forward at an astonishing speed that didn't match his cumbersome appearance. His bloated lower body, like that of a worm, sprouted many arms that helped him achieve rapid crawling.
The short distance of just over ten meters between them was crossed in an instant. He aimed at Silas's neck and bit down with his torn, gaping mouth!
"Boom!"
His swift attack missed.
Silas's body collapsed and dissolved in an instant, transforming into pitch-black shadows that scattered on the ground and disappeared.
Lanevus futilely bit at the air, crashed into the wall on the other side, and let out an angry, pained roar.
Silas opened his eyes and looked at the strange world before him.
He was still standing in the sewer, but everything around him had changed.
The sewer and the shattered bricks all appeared in two colors, black and white, floating chaotically and unclearly in the illusory space like small islands.
Their forms had become flat, like projections of certain angles from the real world.
This was a world of shadows: flat, dim, monotonous, discontinuous... The only thing with color was Silas himself.
When he became a shadow, his body came here, with only a shadow remaining in reality.
Reality and illusion overlapped before his eyes. This world reflected reality to a certain degree but was also different from reality.
On the other side of his vision, Silas saw Lanevus's pitch-black shadow projection.
In this world, he maintained a human outline with a baby-sized thing in his embrace, entangled with his body and almost merged into one with him.
Silas looked at Lanevus and drew out the crimson "Agony" dagger.
After taking a step forward, his figure flickered and appeared under another shadow's projection without passing through the void space.
But in his physical sensation, it felt like he had walked a distance.
A very peculiar experience.
"Swish..."
Pitch-black shadow spread from Silas's hand, wrapping around the dagger. The originally crimson dagger immediately became dark and lightless.
"Shadow Shaping," one of the Shadow Ascetic's abilities, could use shadows to create weapons or animals with additional cold and corrupting damage. Here, he was directly attaching shadow to the dagger.
As he gradually mastered the potion, more and more shadow abilities became available to him.
Like this, he continuously "jumped" from one shadow to another, gradually approaching Lanevus's shadow.
In the real world, Lanevus crawled back and forth in the sewer, searching for his location. But in the shadow world, Lanevus's shadow always remained in place.
Silas soon arrived in front of Lanevus. He raised the now pitch-black dagger and stabbed it toward Lanevus's shadow.
Damage received in the shadow world would also feed back into reality, thereby weakening his power!
However, just as he rushed to Lanevus, the other's shadow suddenly changed. The originally pitch-black shadow gained color in an instant.
The blurred outline became clear, sketching out a complete human form.
"Caught you."
Lanevus said to Silas with bloodshot eyes and a cunning, mad smile at the corners of his mouth.
He could actually infiltrate the shadow world too!
Silas was startled and was about to dodge away when he saw Lanevus spread his embracing arms, exposing what was in his bosom before him...
"Boom!"
He saw it.
Silas saw it.
Blasphemous yet sacred, deformed yet perfect, the innocence of a baby and pure divinity, twisted, ugly madness and nauseating limbs...
"Ahhhhh!"
Silas's body emerged from the shadows. He clutched his head and let out extremely agonized shouts.
"...Heaven opened for Him, and the Spirit of the Lord descended and fell upon Him...
A voice from heaven said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, who shall become King upon the earth..."
Ancient and obscure chanting echoed in his ears. His eyes melted, blood mixed with light blue vitreous humor flowing down.
But the pain this brought him was far less than the impact on his spirit from directly gazing at the deity's offspring for that instant!
Even though the illusory tide blocked most of the mental erosion, the remaining aftershock was terrifying enough!
"Hahahaha!"
Lanevus was laughing maniacally.
He crawled quickly to Silas's front and, like a snake, used his body to tightly coil around Silas.
"Creak..."
The bones throughout Silas's body were making brittle sounds. Lanevus leaned close to him, admiring his agonized expression. A cruel smile emerged on his skinless face.
He gently caressed the lump of flesh in his abdomen, hunger flashing in his eyes. His mouth tore open to his ears, opening wide as he bit toward Silas's head!
"Pssht!"
At the critical moment, Silas violently twisted his body and turned his head aside. Lanevus failed to bite off his head and instead bit into his right ribcage!
"Crack!"
A crisp bone-breaking sound rang out. More than half of Silas's right chest went into Lanevus's mouth.
"Die!"
Silas, with newly grown eyes, roared at Lanevus. Gripping the crimson dagger, he stabbed it deep into his twisted, bloated body.
But Lanevus seemed not to feel it and continued biting down, his teeth going deeper, tearing off his flesh bit by bit.
The place where Silas had stabbed him wriggled and swallowed Silas's stabbing arm, as if trying to fuse his body into his own.
You want to eat me?
Silas's head was like boiling water.
He became increasingly ferocious in madness and chaos. Without hesitation, he immediately released the dagger and activated blood flesh magic, trying to transform Lanevus's body into a blood flesh bomb!
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Lanevus's body exploded, turning into spattering blood mist. The explosion spread downward from where Silas's arm had stabbed in.
"Wahhh..."
But Lanevus's body was really too large. This little explosion couldn't produce much effect.
In the blink of an eye, Lanevus had completely bitten off one of his ribs and swallowed it.
"Hehe..."
He laughed indistinctly, as if enjoying the sweetness of Silas's flesh and blood.
"Get off!"
Silas's left hand spewed shadow, creating a pitch-black dagger, constantly stabbing at Lanevus's face. But even so, he didn't release his mouth.
Fuck!
The True Creator's mad ravings and the baby's foul wailing echoed in Silas's mind, never ceasing, making his spirit painfully sluggish.
The sound of the tide was also drying up; he couldn't hold on much longer!
Damn it, I'll blow up with you!
Silas thought madly, preparing to dissolve his body and transform into a river of blood to entangle with Lanevus.
Although that would consume a large amount of spirituality and might even lead to irreversible madness and loss of control, it was still better than being eaten by this bastard!
"Whoosh..."
But just then, he suddenly heard the illusory sound of the tide, clearer and louder than ever before.
Silas looked in the direction of the sound. At the edge of his vision, Ma'am M appeared.
In the filthy, dark sewer, she seemed to be illuminated by some soft light, appearing clearly.
The white robe wrapping her entire body was spotless. At her bare feet, chaotic, deep black seawater was lapping and flowing back and forth like a tide.
She wore a gentle, calm smile and made eye contact with Silas with her golden eyes.
Why are you coming out at a time like this? Disappear!
Silas cursed, and was about to ignore her and continue self-destructing, when he saw Ma'am M move.
She spread her arms and, facing Lanevus who was gnawing on Silas's body, spoke softly.
"Come here, child."
That voice was full of loving kindness.
"Wahhh... goo?"
In Silas's mind, the constantly clamorous wailing suddenly paused. It seemed like an invisible gaze was scanning and spying.
Like a crying child who suddenly saw a novel toy, examining it with curious eyes.
Lanevus, who had been wantonly gnawing on Silas, suddenly froze and abruptly raised his head.
"Who's speaking?"
He seemed to have heard something and looked around tensely and uneasily. Even though Ma'am M was standing right beside him, he couldn't see her.
He just kept searching as if sensing danger.
"Is it you?"
He asked Silas.
Silas looked at him coldly and raised the shadow dagger to stab toward his eyes, but he dodged.
"Child, come quickly..."
Ma'am M spoke again. Her voice seemed to carry endless tenderness and pity, like a mother softly calling her own child, preparing to give her child infinite love and care.
Only, something seemed to be brewing behind that voice.
In the invisible realm, some immature and abnormal existence directed more attention to her, like a baby putting its finger in its mouth, using its little head to think about what to do.
"I already said! Stop calling!"
Lanevus shouted in panic.
He threw Silas down, closed his arms, and lowered his head to protect the lump of flesh in his abdomen, shrieking at it, "Child, look at me! We are one! You're the one I carried for ten months to survive!"
His massive body thrashed futilely in the sewer, trying to destroy the unknown invisible threat around him.
At this moment, he looked like a woman about to have her only child taken away, desperate and terrified.
Unfortunately, Ma'am M had no mercy. She walked closer to Lanevus, her golden eyes flashing with soul-stirring light, and called out gently once more:
"Come to Mother, my child..."
"Whoosh..."
The illusory tide echoed at her feet, interweaving layer upon layer with her call, making her voice extremely charming and radiating some unique, strong attraction.
Thus, under Ma'am M's allurement, the evil god's offspring made its final decision.
Silas had just painfully sat up from the ground when he saw Lanevus's desperate struggle.
"No! Don't take my child away!"
In his abdomen, that bulging lump of flesh rapidly deflated. Some invisible thing was peeling away from his body, floating up and spreading toward Ma'am M's direction.
"Child, don't abandon me!"
Lanevus cried out shrilly, opening his arms and reaching for something.
His massive body was rotting and collapsing, transforming into loose chunks of flesh and flowing blood.
However much he had wanted to get rid of this evil god's offspring before, he now wanted just as much to keep the offspring.
However, deities are heartless. After sensing a better, more suitable vessel, the evil god's offspring unhesitatingly abandoned him and floated toward Ma'am M.
"My child..."
Blood tears flowed from Lanevus's eyes. His body disintegrated and collapsed in the sewer, gradually dissipating. Until the moment of death, his eyes still stared in the direction the evil god's offspring had left.
In that direction, a radiance of indescribable color was floating toward Ma'am M, toward her open, warm embrace.
Ma'am M welcomed that pure light, slightly closing in as if embracing something.
The tide lapped at her feet. She looked so loving and sacred that even that foul and mad existence felt peace and happiness.
Then she suddenly moved.
"Crack."
Ma'am M was clean and efficient. Her pale palm fiercely and mercilessly grabbed something, as if easily snapping some invisible thing.
"Wahhh..."
An urgent, terrified cry suddenly rang out, as if the invisible something was making a weak and helpless plea.
But Ma'am M's movements showed no hesitation. The tide suddenly surged, submerging her thighs and upper body until it submerged her arms before stopping.
The loving mother had suddenly, in an instant, become a vicious stepmother!
The originally faint crying was drowned by the tide, quickly becoming tiny and inaudible, as if sinking into the depths of the sea...
Silas snapped awake.
Ma'am M had long since disappeared.
He suddenly found that he was maintaining an embracing posture, his arms closed together.
The moist feeling slowly disappeared from his feet, like the tide receding, never to return.
At the same time, something seemed to have been drowned and destroyed by the tide, leaving only a bit of illusory matter slowly floating up and surging into his mind.
Silas felt that thing. He seemed somewhat familiar with it. Just moments ago, he seemed to have experienced it from Lanevus's body.
That was... a trace of pure divinity.
"Ugh!"
He couldn't help but clutch his head and scream madly again.
Because that trace of divinity was spreading uncontrollably and merging into his body!
---
In the original work, Klein faced Lanevus after his divinity had been eliminated, making him less dangerous. Here, Silas faced Lanevus who contained divinity and whose divine offspring was about to be born. And it just happened to be at the top of his Sequence, naturally having strong restraint against him.