The night sky had turned crimson. Naturally, it was because of the reflection of the Crimson Temple’s light, glowing like a massive flame in the heart of the city.
Above it, right where the air shimmered from the heat, a dark rift split open in the sky.
From the depths of the darkness, a figure emerged. His face was shattered like that of a broken monster, and his body was cracked like half-burned charcoal. From between those cracks, the light of death gleamed, as if he was a piece of hell that had descended to earth.
Behind him, dozens of other monsters appeared, each surrounded by terrifying and powerful auras.
The sound of the wind echoed through the sky, and the city beneath them fell into absolute silence.
Naturally, that figure was none other than Daniel. He had altered his face to look exactly like the monsters he had seen in the Canyon. In truth, he hadn’t planned to do this, but he decided to just in case.
He had a bad feeling about tonight, and he also needed to consider what would happen if their plan failed. So, he chose to attack while disguised.
He didn’t bring Drael with him and instead left him in the room with a clone he had created. Though, calling it a clone was generous, it was more like a lifeless shell, something that couldn’t do anything except exist, but it was enough to fool others.
Then, his gaze turned toward the temple. Daniel, without saying a word, raised his hand.
Around him, the Law of Death and the Law of the Moon intertwined, silver light and absolute darkness swirling in a spiral wave through the air.
A massive sphere of energy formed, like a black moon ready to devour everything.
"Burn." He spoke a single word.
The explosion erupted. Waves of darkness, like thousands of blades of energy, descended upon the Crimson Temple, splitting the earth and shaking the heavens.
Boom!
But just before the strike hit, a golden light burst from within the temple.
A massive aura, like a shield made of sunlight, enveloped the entire temple.
The energy of death collided with it, and a sound like shattering metal echoed across the sky, but nothing happened.
The temple didn’t even have a scratch.
Daniel hovered in the air, staring at the temple with cold and confused eyes.
"What... was that?" This golden power had appeared out of nowhere and completely neutralized his attack. Where the hell did this thing come from?
What even was it?
But he didn’t have time to think.
Shouts rose from below. Powerful auras appeared in the sky as dozens of priests in golden robes lifted their divine energy and glared at him with fury.
"Vile beast! How dare you attack the Holy Temple?!" one of them shouted.
"Where did you come from? How did a monster even enter the city?"
At that moment, despite their anger, they were also confused. No monster should be able to enter the city, so how had these ones managed to get inside?
And to commit such blasphemy as attacking the temple itself?
What would happen if God became angry?
Daniel simply looked at them. He didn’t take these priests seriously at all and didn’t see them as the slightest threat.
The Fallen suddenly leaped into motion, letting out muffled, beast-like roars as they charged toward the priests.
The priests, in turn, responded to the attack with rage.
The battle began in the skies.
However, Daniel completely ignored them for now and focused his attention back on the temple. If one strike wasn’t enough, then he would just hit it twice, right?
Without wasting time, he raised his hand again. A massive amount of death energy gathered in his palm and formed a Death Orb.
He hurled the orb toward the temple, and at the same time, an enormous explosion shook the heavens.
Boom! Boom!
Yet just like before, a golden aura appeared out of nowhere and completely deflected the orb’s power, protecting the temple.
When the smoke cleared, the Crimson Temple stood there completely unharmed, not even a single scratch.
"What? What the hell is this?" Daniel couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His attack had been blocked once again.
And now he realized what that golden aura was, it was the same strange power he had sensed when he first entered the city.
But what exactly was this power that could even block his attacks?
"I knew it... there’s no way Phase Two would be that easy." He laughed and decided to retreat for now. After two failed attacks, he understood there was no point in wasting more energy.
He first needed to figure out what this power was before finding a solution.
He turned to order his Fallen to retreat, but what he saw next shocked him.
One of the Fallen grabbed a priest by the throat with its bony claws and twisted him in midair, but before it could finish the job, a golden ring appeared around its body and slammed it into the ground.
Two other Fallen attacked from above at the same time, but golden light burst from the priests’ eyes, forming chains of light that wrapped around their bodies.
"Impossible... their power should be lower than the Fallen’s." Daniel frowned. He had already assessed the priests’ strength before.
But reality was different. Every strike from the Fallen, every wave of darkness, was being nullified by that same golden aura.
"Stupid monster! Did you really think your dark powers could triumph in this sacred place?!" one of the priests shouted mockingly.
"Chain them! These abominations must burn in the flames of God!" another yelled with laughter.
Daniel tried to cancel the summoning of the Fallen and retreat to reassess the situation, but suddenly, the space around him locked up.
Golden marks appeared all around him, intricate circles of light that grew tighter by the second.
"The space is sealed?" His eyes narrowed.
The priests’ laughter echoed through the sky.
"You think you can escape?"
"Now that you’ve come here, this place will become your grave, black monster!"
Daniel silently looked down. One by one, his Fallen were bound by the golden light and vanished.
Of course, he wasn’t worried about them, he could always bring his Fallen back to life.
Right now, he needed to focus on figuring out how to get out of this place.