Chapter 395: The First Victim
Faceless’s brows slowly twisted together as rage silently accumulated within him. He had failed once already and he had no intention of allowing history to repeat itself. The memory of Clara nearly being stolen still lingered in his mind like a scar that refused to heal. If Damian himself had been standing here, he would never allow Clara to be taken away, and Faceless intended to uphold that same standard.
Without taking his eyes off Corbin, he gently removed Rah’s hands from his clothes. She released him reluctantly, sensing the resolve hidden beneath his calm exterior.
"Go," Faceless said quietly, his voice carrying absolute certainty. "Take Clara and everyone else. I would love to see what this blind man intends to do to stop this God."
As those words left his mouth, a third eye slowly opened at the center of his forehead. Its violet iris spun slowly as overwhelming demonic aura poured from the slit like smoke escaping a furnace.
Buzz!
His expression suddenly froze and his pupils contracted violently.
Corbin was already standing directly in front of him.
The towering priest looked down upon him from barely an arm’s length away, his calm smile never changing beneath the white cloth covering his eyes.
"And for that... I thank you."
Corbin said softly
"I lost the ability to see the world before me. Because of that... I can now see the one ahead of me."
He calmly walked forward.
Corbin’s enormous figure slowly circled around Faceless and Rah as though strolling through a quiet garden. Yet neither of them moved. They remained frozen exactly where they stood, their eyes instinctively trying to follow him.
To everyone watching, it appeared as though Corbin had moved so quickly that even Faceless failed to react. That assumption was completely wrong. His speed never once exceeded Faceless’s perception.
The terrifying part was far simpler. Every single step Corbin took remained perfectly inside the blind spot of Faceless’s vision. Whenever Faceless instinctively shifted his head to follow him, Corbin adjusted his own movement by the smallest possible amount, remaining hidden within that invisible gap over and over again until he had casually walked behind Faceless without ever leaving his blind spot.
Only when Corbin had nearly walked completely past him did Faceless finally sense his presence. The realization alone sent a chill through everyone watching.
This was Corbin’s way of telling him...
"I could have killed you."
Pa!
Corbin’s brows narrowed ever so slightly. His gaze shifted toward his wrist. Faceless still stood with his back facing him, yet one arm had reached behind his body with impossible timing, firmly grabbing Corbin’s wrist before he could take another step.
The surrounding air became deathly silent.
"You dare disrespect me inside my own home?" Faceless growled, his voice filled with restrained fury as his burning violet eyes glanced backward from the corner of his vision.
Corbin remained exactly where he was. His head tilted ever so slightly before looking back at Faceless from the corner of his own eyes.
"It is only disrespect if what I said was untrue. Only your true body possesses the ability to stand against me now. And this planet is no longer your home. Even if you survive the tragedy awaiting you today, you no longer have a place here." His smile remained calm
Swoooosh!
Dark violet aura exploded outward and Faceless twisted violently. Still gripping Corbin’s wrist, he yanked the towering priest toward himself while simultaneously driving his other fist forward with enough force to collapse the surrounding space.
Swoosh!
His fist struck nothing. Only empty wind remained before him. His eyes widened and his instinct screamed as a colossal shadow suddenly swallowed his figure.
Corbin stood directly behind him, towering over him. One massive hand calmly held a golden sword wreathed in brilliant divine flames. Without hesitation, he swung.
Krassssh!
Faceless turned instinctively and his pupils contracted. Rah had appeared behind him. She held an ice sword above her head in an attempt to intercept the strike but the blade had been cleaved cleanly into two pieces.
A crimson line slowly appeared across her body and blood erupted from the wound. Her strength instantly disappeared as she staggered backward, the broken halves of her ice sword dissolving into countless frozen fragments before she began falling.
Corbin never paused, his grip tightened around the flaming sword and the divine flames intensified.
He thrust forward.
Pfft!
Rah’s vision blurred and her ears rang violently. Yet through the haze she could still make out one image. The burning golden blade had stopped only inches away from her abdomen because Faceless had caught it with his bare hand gripped the divine blade tightly.
She could only watch as blood flowed freely between his fingers as holy flames burned relentlessly against flesh. Rah slowly looked upward to his face and Faceless forced a small smile.
A single tear rolled quietly down one side of her face, shattering Faceless’s smile.
"It hurts..."
Krak!
Time seemed to stop and the world became silent. Faceless simply stood there his expression blank and empty.
Under his watch, Lith died, Clara was almost taken away and now Rah was lying broken before him.
Why?
Why did every tragedy happen around him?
His grip slowly tightened around Corbin’s blade until his bleeding fingers trembled violently.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A beastly roar tore across the heavens. It spread far beyond California and far beyond America.
It raced across oceans and continents until the entire planet trembled beneath its fury. Every human being upon Earth heard it.
As the roar continued, the human voice slowly transformed into something monstrous, something that no longer resembled mankind. For every devotee of the Ministry of Love, the scream was infinitely worse, it did not travel through the air, it erupted directly inside their minds.
Millions immediately collapsed onto their knees as blood streamed from ears and noses. Many screamed while clutching their heads as though their skulls were splitting apart from within.
Even worse, none of them understood what they were feeling. Right now they were overwhelmed by an unexplainable dread. Every instinct inside them screamed that something unimaginably terrible had just awakened.
Across cities throughout the world, people instinctively lifted their heads toward the horizon, their expressions filled with confusion and terror as the sky itself seemed to darken beneath an overwhelming violet glow.
Inside his office in Chicago, Twenty abruptly grabbed both sides of his head. His breathing became uneven.
Unlike everyone else, he recognized that voice immediately.
"Big brother..."
He shot to his feet and rushed toward the nearest window and his jaw slowly dropped.
Far beyond the distant skyline, asingle colossal pillar of violet energy pierced the heavens. The clouds themselves had turned dark purple, even the sunlight appeared stained beneath its glow.
Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away within Lebanon
BOOOOOOOM!
The entire world shook violently as the Heaven Plundering Prison rippled as enormous cracks exploded across its lightning barrier and Fulgur’s domain crumbled violently before a massive tear ripped straight through the endless storm clouds from below.
The very sky split apart.
Another gigantic pillar of violet light ripped upward from the domain, piercing into the real worlds and reaching the heavens while Damian’s furious roar echoed throughout the entire planet.
"COOOOOORRRRRRRRBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!"