766 Early Labor

Gazing at the young man wearing red gloves, Franca cautiously asked, "Who might you be?"

She wasn't about to trust a stranger just because of what he said unless influenced by some Beyonder power.

"Two of Cups, Seven of Cups. You don't need to be involved in what's coming next," said the young man in red gloves directly, calling Franca and Jenna by their Minor Arcana names.

His voice carried the natural authority of someone used to leading many people, instilling a faint sense of fear in Franca and the others.

He knows our Tarot Club codenames... A member of the Tarot Club? One of the Knight of Swords' helpers? His outfit looks like those "Red Gloves" from the Church of Evernight Goddess... As Franca pondered, she didn't sense any warning from her spiritual intuition.

Before she could respond, the young man in red gloves pulled out a tarot card.

The card's front depicted a goddess pouring holy water under a sky full of stars.

Major Arcana, The Star!

So, it's Mr. Star... Franca and Jenna hesitated no longer and nodded in unison, saying, "Okay."

Lugano stood there, a bit dazed.

Why did he take out a card?

I think I've heard of something like this, but I can't remember...

Almost simultaneously, Anthony appeared out of nowhere and squeezed in beside Franca and Jenna.

Franca was startled for a moment, muttering to herself, "I really did forget about you..."

Mr. Star didn't say much more. He opened his mouth slightly.

In an instant, Franca and the others were enveloped by a vast, invisible spirit, and then they ascended into the layered, colorful spirit world, like they were traveling in a hot air balloon.

...

Along the city's periphery, covered in crystalline ice, Lumian, wearing the Eggers family's golden mask, withdrew his gaze.

He could roughly guess that the blurry figures in his eyes were the temperance faction's demigods responsible for this operation. One of them, headless, seemed to resemble the temperance faction's Angel he had seen before. The translucent insects crawling in and out of his mouth were likely helpers invited by the temperance faction.

How many people have taken residence in my body just now? Lumian grumbled internally as he followed the Knight of Swords, Maric, in a mad dash.

They entered the wilderness outside Raklev under the pale, cold "sunlight," heading swiftly toward Lake Dalsh.

Due to the unique influence of Paramita, Lumian couldn't teleport anywhere beyond his line of sight. He had to use a visual lock to establish a position, which made it challenging to appear instantly at the edge of Lake Dalsh.

After running some distance, he reached out and grabbed the Knight of Swords' shoulder.

Almost simultaneously, blazing white flames surged from within him, instantly covering his entire body.

The Knight of Swords understood his intent without asking and promptly dematerialized into a wraith, attaching himself to Lumian.

Lumian transformed into a white-hot spear and shot off into the distance in a brilliant display.

The flaming spear streaked through the sky, crossing vast distances to arrive at the edge of Lake Dalsh in no time.

As Lumian detached from the blazing white spear, he noticed that even in Paramita, intertwined with the spirit realm, this lake remained tranquil, clear, sacred, and beautiful.

In the dim surroundings, the gray-white water seemed weightless, stretching upwards like a giant curtain, perhaps drawn to some high-altitude entity.

In front of the water curtain, countless human skulls formed a mountainous head.

Among the skulls of various colors, one stood out the most. It was at the very top, crystal clear as if carved from crystal, and significantly larger than a normal human skull.

Instead of pale or dark red flames, the eye sockets of this crystal skull reflected a mysterious, intricately patterned, ancient bronze door.

The door was slightly ajar, revealing endless darkness within. In that darkness were countless indescribable eyes, staring out yet unable to emerge.

Along the edges of the bronze door, strange, grotesque, and sometimes revolting hands grasped the frame as if trying to squeeze through but unable to. They only managed to scratch out piercing noises that seemed to tear at the human eardrum.

Many spirits and human skulls were drawn to this place, gradually becoming part of the massive head.

Is that crystal skull the Undying's skull used back then? Is the bronze door in its eye sockets the Death Sequence 5's Gatekeeper's door to the Underworld? Hmm, a Sequence 5 can't keep the Underworld door open for long, so they used the Undying's skull and the unique properties of Lake Dalsh to fix it... But where has Oxyto, the Shaman King, gone? As this thought crossed Lumian's mind, he saw the countless human skulls forming the massive head in the air open and close their bony teeth, speaking in unison in various voices: "Why couldn't you give me a little more time?

"If I can't have it, I'll destroy this place and see how many of you can survive the calamity of this collapsing Paramita!

"And I have already abandoned this place and left the Raklev region using my prior preparations!

"Hahaha, hahaha!"

Amid the sharp, hoarse, old, and deep laughter of the human skulls, Lumian felt the massive shadow in the sky descend toward his head. Cracks appeared in the ground below, growing deeper and revealing a dark void.

All the skulls, including the crystal one, developed tiny cracks, seemingly ready to shatter completely in no time.

At that moment, Lumian felt a chill leave his body, and all the skulls stopped cracking as if temporarily held back by an invisible external force.

This also halted the process of Paramita's collapse and destruction. Although it didn't reverse, it wasn't going to happen immediately.

Is this the temperance faction's demigod or their invited helper using their ability? It seems Oxyto really escaped. After testing the waters with the Banshee's Howl, she decisively abandoned this Paramita, clearly stronger than other Madames, and used her prior arrangements and the unique properties of this place to escape before the temperance faction could act... A series of thoughts flashed through Lumian's mind as he took in the scene before him.

An ancient voice suddenly echoed in his ears: "Don't just listen to what Oxyto says.

"In my experience, anyone who leaves behind so many words before running away is either already insane or trying to cover up something.

"Oxyto did indeed flee here decisively before we locked onto her and planned to destroy this Paramita, but why would she tell us her objectives? Purely to vent her emotions?

"That may be one reason, but there should be a more important one: she wants us to focus on the collapse and destruction of this Paramita and overlook something else."

Lumian hadn't entirely dismissed his doubts after Oxyto's proclamations through those human skulls, but such behavior wasn't unusual for the indulgence faction of the Rose School of Thought.

Those accustomed to indulgence were always eager to express their emotions.

The ancient voice finally said, "Time will provide us the answer."

As soon as these words fell, Lumian saw the insects with translucent rings flying out.

Suddenly, everything around him slowed down.

A grayish-white fog settled over everything Lumian saw, making it all look surreal.

Soon after, everything projected on the foggy "curtain" started to rewind. The human skulls were no longer cracked in countless places, the ground returned to smoothness, and the thick shadows receded into the sky.

Time wasn't moving backward; rather, recent history and events were being displayed.

Lumian then saw a pair of brown wings that could blot out the sky, leaving the current shadow behind.

Between the wings, each feather as large as a human head, stood a female figure with an exposed abdomen.

The woman was as beautiful as the moon at night, her face radiating maternal brilliance, but her hands and feet were arched, with sharp nails that gleamed coldly.

This was the Shaman King, Oxyto.

Having seen her male form, Lumian recognized her instantly. Her features were softer now, and her facial details were more delicate.

Her belly was swollen, stretched taut with black veins visible on the surface. The skin was so thin that it was almost transparent, revealing the merging forms of numerous bird-clawed monster infants inside.

She... stuffed all those corpse-born bird-clawed infants into her belly... What kind of monster is she nurturing? No wonder the bloodline connection didn't work directly, only indirectly within a certain range... As Lumian came to this realization, Oxyto reached for her belly in the scene from the past.

With a tearing sound, she ripped her abdomen open, blood pouring out.

Oxyto forcefully pulled out an infant slightly smaller than Ludwig. Its skin was pale, its flesh decayed, and remnants of four or five heads and seven or eight bird claws remained on its surface. A pure, clear membrane, seemingly from Lake Dalsh, covered the baby's body.

Oxyto let out a cry of agony as she threw the infant into the eye socket of the crystal skull.

The rotten, multi-headed infant was clearly much larger than the eye socket and the bronze door within it, yet it mysteriously shrank smaller and smaller until it squeezed through a gap barely wide enough for a hand, disappearing into the boundless darkness behind the door.

Is Oxyto's ultimate goal to send that monster infant into the Underworld, making some terrifying thing a reality? And now she's been forced into early labor? As Lumian had this thought, he realized the coldness inside him had vanished.

The figure in the small black bonnet and the Knight of Swords in the vest and shirt simultaneously appeared in front of the crystal skull.

But they seemed unable to pass through the crack in the bronze door and were trying to open it a little more.

The Underworld... Wearing the Eggers family's golden mask, Lumian felt a stirring inside.

Seizing the opportunity provided by the temperance faction demigods stalling Paramita's collapse, he activated the black mark on his right shoulder, teleporting to the front of the crystal skull.

In his eyes, the bronze door loomed abnormally large.

He stretched out both hands and pressed them on either side of the bronze door.

A hollow, muffled buzzing filled the air as the bronze door opened a little wider.

Lumian immediately felt a terrifying suction, and with a swish, he was pulled through the crack, flung deep into the darkness.

Inside him, two more cold masses joined him.