Holding a half cup of coffee, Shen Yi felt the heat in his hands while he turned and glanced at the surrounding place.

‘This church was full of mystery, like from the old movies. It was empty and open. Colorful murals outlined on the walls, the ground was full of weeds. It seems that it had been left unattended for a long time.’

‘He found a little silver-haired girl on the altar not far from his feet. The little girl on the altar was curled up into a ball with her butt facing him.’

He stood on the altar and combed his hair, once again going through everything from the beginning.

  ~Since the crossing, I have been mistakenly receiving ‘annoying calls’ from cultists. And even from several summoning groups.

  Tonight, once again, he heard the summoning ritual and came to this weird place with a little girl tied next to my feet.

However, he quickly arrived at a conclusion. After all, these series of events were all reminiscent of cult sacrifices.

  ~The identity of the little girl was obviously a sacrifice.

It was clear that the cultists who got the ritual wrong not only passed the summon words to him but even managed to summon him as a god.

The expression on his face revealed his helplessness. He thought it was just a wrong phone number, but now he was somehow pulled through the phone line.

“This kind of thing… is too unimaginable.”

He squatted down and put the coffee cup aside, then went to the trembling little girl and reached out his hand to untie the rope on her body.

The rope on the little girl’s body was brittle. He did not use any force with a gentle tug, the rope broke loose and fell on the ground, a section seemed to be burned by a high temperature.

The little girl on the ground still kept her eyes closed. Even though the rope was untied, she did not stand up and remained there.

He did not want to scare the little girl. So he gently said, “Open your eyes. It’s all right now.” 

The little girl huddled on the ground had long since been despairing. The Sect Elders had told her that her life was for the sacrifice- to be born, grow up, and then die.

She had given up the illusion of living long before she had come here.

When the Lord of Ashes really did appear, the little girl became more desperate. She could only close her eyes and wait for the end as she repeatedly consoled herself in her heart.

  ~Don’t be afraid…Don’t be afraid…This is a glorious thing…

  ~I should be happy…That’s what everyone said…

  ~But, but…

Just as she was consoling herself, she heard a deep, ancient and profound voice, full of majesty, as if from the end of the abyss.

The majestic voice was far from being a human language. But it had been transformed into an abstract concept that anyone could understand the meaning of.

The Lord of Ashes asked her to open her eyes. His voice was full of irresistible commands.

  “…”

No matter how desperate she was, even though she had given up struggling, she did not dare to violate the oracle of the gods.

The little girl could only open her wine-red eyes in fear. In the next second, her eyes widened when she saw the most unimaginable existence in her life!

The terrifying python-like head of the god was blurred in the mist. And she could feel its warm breath. The black flames formed six unfolded wings, and the dark red skin seemed to breathe flames, and fleeting ashes popped up from time to time.

‘Infinite disasters, the source of destruction’

 ‘ The Lord of Ashes! ‘

Enormous fear captured her brain. A momentary blankness made her overwhelmed, and she immediately passed out.

  ——

Shen Yi had noticed the little girl opening her eyes and looking at him. Her eyes were full of horror. Soon her eyes rolled back, and she fell flat on the floor, motionless.

The little girl’s eyes were full of horror just now. As if she saw a terrible monster. No, she seemed to have seen something more terrifying than a monster.

“What is so scary about me?”

He lifted his arm and looked down at himself. It’s still the same as before. He felt that he was quite handsome and had a good temperament because most of the customers in the cafe were always women. There was nothing to be scared of.

But he could understand the little girl’s fainting. After all, it was normal for a little girl who had been treated as a sacrifice to get agitated when encountering such a situation. And may even faint in fear.

After a while, the unconscious little girl’s body begins to move. At first, it shook slightly, then began to tremble uncontrollably. But from beginning to end, her eyes were closed tightly.

He paused for a moment and realized that she was awake but was pretending to be dead.

  ~Oh! forgot it.

‘She was likely afraid because the atmosphere at the scene might have caused her to misunderstand him as an evil god. Even he might have pretended to be dead.’

He could only try to keep his tone soft: “What is your name?”

The ancient and deep inhuman voice again resounded from the bottom of her heart, confusing the already desperate girl.

  ~What’s going on?

Confusion and doubts were raised in her heart. Were the gods actually communicating with her? She was nothing more than a sacrificial offering and was completely unqualified to communicate with the great gods.

She opened her eyes slightly and peeked at Shen Yi.

In her field of vision was an enormous and terrifying body. Like a volcano that was about to erupt, making her whole body scorching hot, full of indescribable aura that made her brain boil and chaotic!

 ~ It’s very scary!

She almost fainted again, but this time she held on and closed her eyes for a long time before opening them again. And stole another glance.

I don’t know if it is natural or for unknown reasons. The little girl gradually adapted to her fear after taking multiple peeks. Shen Yi found that the little girl’s tremor was no longer as intense as before, and she was secretly peeking at him. 

  ~Did she calm down?

Her breathing was heavy, and she knew God had given an order, and she was likely to provoke him by playing dead.

She could only close her eyes and slowly and reluctantly creep up from the ground. She was trembling, not daring to stand up at all, just crawling on the ground.

Only then did she realize that the rope on her body was broken. From the position of the break, she could see that the rope was burned by the Lord of Ashes with flames.

  ~The great Lord of Ashes! Why did he untie her?

The little girl could not understand the god’s intention. She just squatted on the ground and did not dare to raise her head anymore, stumbling and chanting hymns in her mouth.

“Infinite disasters…., the source…. source… of destruction”

“The aversion….. of the White Mist…..”

“The Lord of Ashes who annihilated the Stars”

A series of prayer chants came out of her mouth. Although the little girl was nervous and frightened, she still did not dare to make a mistake in her chant.

The sect members had taught her the summoning words long ago. And the Senior Priest had told her to pronounce them accurately before eating. She would get whipped if she made a mistake.

“My name is Aina.”

Shen Yi nodded in acknowledgment and remembered her name, Aina.

“Stand up. It’s all right.”

An ancient and profound oracle appeared in Aina’s mind, shaped like a flame and imprinted in her mind. Her prostrate body trembled. She pushed the ground with her arms and barely managed to stand up. Still not daring to look directly at the Lord of Ashes, she just lowered her head and looked down at the ground.

Seeing the little girl’s pitiful appearance, Shen Yi felt soft, and he had the thought of saving her but did not know how to take her away.

 He felt a powerful force behind him, continuously pulling him, which was getting stronger.

‘So… I don’t belong here, and I will eventually be sent back by some rules, but what about this little girl?’

  ‘Could I be able to take her back through the mist?’

For some reason, Shen Yi had a certain understanding in his heart for a moment that this method could not succeed.

  ‘Then, how should I save her?’

He made a hypothesis that the little girl now completely regards him as a god. By the time he leaves, she would be the only person who could convey the “oracle”. Even if this “oracle” is false, it might be considered real by other cultists.

  ~In that case, if I want to save her, then I can just order that directly.

 ‘Although I do not know what their gods look like, the definition of Mythology in people should be similar. And it is not very difficult to fool a little girl by myself.’

Shen Yi took a deep breath and said, his tone calm yet majestic, full of command.

“I am infinite disaster, the source of destruction, and I command you that you must live for a greater purpose.”

A deep voice appeared in Aina’s mind, she trembled slightly, and her desperate look became bewildered and confused.

  ~I must live?

The joy of life gradually spread from her heart. She thought that the Lord of Ashes would burn herself to ashes, but now things have turned around. The great God intends to keep her alive.

  ~As a sacrifice, shouldn’t she be sacrificing herself?

Aina was full of confusion, but she stuttered, “Yes, the great Lord of Ashes…I, I will definitely live.” She was still scared and fearful, but not as desperate as before.

Aina faintly breathed a sigh of relief. ‘It’s great. Now her mission is no longer to die for the Lord of Ashes but to live.’

Shen Yi fumbled around in the church and found that the words on the wall were written in Noland’s language. So, the place where he was summoned should not be out of the country.

He went to the church window and looked out at the darkness outside.

Heavy rain poured down. Thunderstorms and lightning were wreaking havoc. In the night sky, the rain seemed to be connecting the sky and the ground.

Shen Yi looked out at the church door for a while, but he did not go outside. 

“There is no need to take any risk. I can just hang in there until I get back.”

With a sigh, Shen Yi returned to the altar and sat down. The most reasonable option at the moment was to wait for the summoning time to end at the church….