Yama Rising

DuPont and the bishops slowly departed, and the soles of their expensive shoes clicked rhythmically on the ground as they did so.

However, Edward wasn't in a hurry to leave. Instead, he slowly strolled through this magnificent church as he began to reorganize his own thoughts.

He had to constantly check for holes in his own logic and reasoning in order to be able to keep up with the ever-changing situation.

He didn't attack me because it would be unbefitting of a Duke and Master Mason like him to do so, and most importantly, he didn't want to make any further enemies for himself when the situation in Philadelphia is so tense. I bet he would never have guessed that I would be the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

An amused smile appeared on his face, and he quickly departed from the church before hailing a taxi to Cathaytown, which was where Matthew was living.

"Tonight is a good time to strike..." he murmured to himself as he looked up at the sky. It was 3 PM and the sky was already filled with dense dark clouds. It was going to be a stormy night, the type that Yin spirits loved the most.

………………………………………………..

A burst of door-knocking rang out, and the figure immediately shuddered upon hearing this as he lay curled up in his bed with his blankets acting as a cocoon around him. He pulled his blankets even tighter around himself as he asked in a trembling voice, "Who is it?"

A voice rang out in response from outside. "We were sent by the sea and the stars."

Matthew faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately jumped out of bed to open the door.

The interior of this apartment was quite dimly lit, but there was just enough light to see everything inside. However, a vast expanse of inky darkness had appeared outside the door, making it appear as if it were midnight outside.

Six figures were standing amid the dark Yin energy, all of whom were wearing black cloaks, and two specks of netherfire lit up under the hood of the cloaked figure at the forefront as he said, "May you be blessed by the death gods."

All of the strength seemed to have been drained from Matthew's body as he collapsed to the ground, then grabbed tightly onto the figure's cloak as he said in a voice that was on the verge of sobs, "You finally came! I knew the three death gods wouldn't abandon me!"

The six figures didn't say anything as they drifted straight into the room. Looking at the messy room and the bunched-up blankets, one of the cloaked figures couldn't help but chuckle with amusement. "Is there really a need for you to be so terrified, Matthew?"

Matthew had already returned to his bed and curled up into a ball with his blankets around him, exposing only his face. He looked around like a mental asylum escapee as he replied in a trembling voice, "I can sense that he's already here! That terrifying being has already reached this city, and I'm certain that he's looking for me!"

"Matthew! Don't be such a coward!" an intimidating figure scolded in a cold voice. "Don't forget that you are also an evil ghost! Our master still hasn't completely ascended to godhood so you're still not an underworld emissary, but that's only a matter of time. You're bringing dishonor to my master by acting like this! Pull yourself together!"

A smile appeared on Matthew's face, but it was a smile countless times more hideous than a grimace as he chuckled, "Hehe, you make it sound so easy. Do you know what it's like to face a truly insurmountable being? Whatever that thing is, I can sense that it's even more powerful than our three masters!! Do you understand what it feels like to be targeted by a monster like this? In the past, I was able to hide in the Masonic Temple, but now, I can only hide in Cathaytown! Are you now aware of how unsafe this place is?!"

Matthew was yelling like a deranged man at this point, and the leader of the cloaked figures made a pressing motion with one hand, upon which Matthew's voice immediately died down. Yin energy spread from beneath the cloaked figure's feet, and he drifted over to Matthew as he said, "Master DuPont has already arrived in the Masonic Temple in person, and even so, we still sent the six divine envoys of the Caribbean to protect you. There is one Marquess and five Counts among us, and if any danger arises, we can directly contact Master DuPont at any time. What else could you possibly want? Stay here and be quiet. If you weren't so important to us, you would've already been wiped out of existence just now for screaming at a Marquess."

He waved a hand through the air, restoring Matthew's voice, and Matthew gritted his teeth with a frustrated expression before pulling his blankets down over his own face in silence.

Thus, peace and quiet returned to the room, while the six figures vanished as gusts of Yin wind.

Time slowly passed by, and at 6 PM, the toll of the bell rang out across the entire city.

It still wasn't dark outside yet, but everyone indoors had switched on their lights.

At 8 PM, the storm that had been brewing the entire day finally cascaded down as a torrential downpour.

9 PM... 10 PM... 11 PM... 12 PM... Right on the stroke of noon, the television in the room suddenly lit up.

Matthew immediately sat up on his bed and began to tremble uncontrollably as he stared at the television.

He's here! He came for me after all! Is he unable to sense that there's a Marquess and five Counts present or is he so powerful that it doesn't even matter to him?

"Don't panic!" A series of figures emerged in the room, and six pairs of netherfire appeared out of thin air to stare intently at the television.

The television screen was filled with static, but it soon cleared up, depicting an earthen building.

At the foot of a gigantic locust tree, a woman with disheveled hair was strumming a lute while singing in an extremely resentful voice. "You're reveling in joy, while my gut is wrenching from pain... Separations are always so long while reunions are so short..."

As her voice rang out in the room, the air temperature inside became lower and lower. Matthew was already biting his blankets between his teeth as hard as he could while trembling incessantly.

Right at this moment, a bright red eye suddenly lit up beneath the hair of the woman on the television screen. A deathly pale face then extended out from beneath the disheveled hair, revealing a set of black teeth as the woman reached out toward Matthew from within the television screen. "I'm here... for you..."

"What powerful resentment!" A stunned voice rang out from one of the cloaked figures. "And she's a Cathayan evil ghost! Why?! Request reinforcements right away!!"

A messenger bird immediately flew out and at the same time, all of the windows swung open in unison, allowing the fierce winds and torrential rang outside to gush into the room. However, right as the messenger bird was about to fly out of the room, it seemed to crash into something and was reduced to ashes amid a sharp screech.

"A restriction has been set up around this place!"

"How is that possible?! We haven't sensed anything! Who could've set up a restriction while completely avoiding our detection?!"

"When was the restriction set up? Is there a high-grade emissary of the Cathayan Underworld here in Usonia? Why weren't we notified about this?!"

"Damn it! Protect Matthew at all costs!!"

The six cloaked figures instantly appeared out of thin air to protect Matthew from the intruder, only to discover that as they were staring at the television screen, Matthew had already been constricted tightly by his own blankets as if they had a mind of their own! The blankets had completely constricted his mouth so he was only able to let loose muffled screams of panic into the blankets.

At the same time, his bed had transformed into a bottomless abyss that was on the verge of completely devouring Matthew!

There was no time to think and six whips flew through the air in unison, wrapping tightly around Matthew's arms before the six cloaked figures attempted to hoist him upward with all their might.

However, it was all to no avail!

"Damn it! What kind of monster are we dealing with here?!" The leader of the cloaked figures was also beginning to panic at this point. "My Marquess level power has been completely devoured! This is definitely not a level of power that a Marquess should possess!!"

Crack! Matthew's bones were creaking and groaning from the constricting whips, and he was frantically screaming into his blankets as he continued to be pulled downward. One of the cloaked figures looked around with a grim expression before suddenly declaring, "I don't care who you are, your actions are placing you in direct conflict with the Freemasonry, do you understand?!"

No response.

At this point, the bed had completely transformed into a gateway leading to the abyss, and countless tendrils of Yin energy had wrapped around Matthew's body, pulling him downward with immense force.

"You are provoking the entirety of Usonia right now!"

"Let him go and we'll satisfy all of your conditions!"

"If you dare to touch him, you'll be facing the wrath of the three death gods!"

They had completely failed to anticipate this.

Brando had told them to remain vigilant and had even granted them the right to directly contact him for reinforcements, but they had thought that they would be facing only a Baron at the very most. After all, Dukes were extremely rare even in the entire world.

The leader of the cloaked figures was gnashing his teeth together with audible force and the veins on the back of his hands were bulging as his fingernails dug into the center of his palms.

It was clear that the assailant was someone far too powerful for them to oppose.

Furthermore, it was a high-grade emissary from the Cathayan Underworld! They had only just returned to the world stage and they were already meddling with the new continent's internal affairs?!

"Let me reiterate this: you are directly provoking the death gods of the new continent!" he roared in a thunderous voice.

"Is that right?"

Right at this moment, a nonchalant voice rang out behind all of the cloaked figures, and time seemed to have suddenly come to a standstill.

Immediately thereafter, all of the cloaked figures swiveled their heads around 180 degrees, yet before they even said anything, they were greeted by the sight of the most spectacular scene they had ever witnessed and also the last scene they were ever going to witness.

A young man had appeared behind them.

He was wearing a black dragon robe, and his long hair was dancing erratically amid the fierce stormy winds. A sword had already been drawn in his grasp, and it was shimmering with rippling light that illuminated the entire room.

The netherfire in the eyes of six cloaked figures abruptly sprang up to three meters tall upon seeing this, and they were completely rooted to the spot at the sight of this incredible scene.

Half a second later, one of the cloaked figures' legs gave out from under him, and he collapsed to the ground as he murmured, "You're... the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo! How is this possible?! This doesn't make..."

Whoosh!

A cold streak of light flashed through the room like lightning.

Six heads were decapitated at once before dissipating into Yin energy amid anguished cries.

"You should be honored to have died by my hands."

In the next instant, Qin Ye abruptly vanished from the room, and at this point, the bed had already completely devoured Matthew as well, so the room was empty again.

After a long while, countless dull thuds suddenly rang out from outside the room.

The sound was audible across the entire area of the roof and the walls, as if there were countless monsters stomping all over the place. Close to 20 seconds later, one of the windows was violently shattered, following which a massive figure appeared in the room.

It was a werewolf that was over three meters tall!

It had to remain in a hunched-over position so that its head didn't plunge through the ceiling, and golden nether flames were burning inside its pupils. Countless wisps of Yin energy were drifting out from between its sharp fangs, and its entire body was covered in coarse black fur, concealed beneath which were countless dark red runes.

Meanwhile, around a dozen more werewolves had already poked their heads into the room with fearful looks on their faces.

"M, Master Brando, this..." One of the werewolves began to speak in an incredulous voice, only to be abruptly cut off by a thunderous roar of fury from Brando.

"Find him!!! Go and search for him right now!! Bring him back to me even if you have to flip the entire city on its head to find him!! At the same time, send people to St Paul's Cathedral right away! Don't worry about the ramifications in the mortal realm, I'll take care of all of that. Surround St Paul's Cathedral and protect the Rift of Time!! If anyone dares to approach the cathedral, kill them on sight no matter who they are!!"

One werewolf after another disappeared into the stormy night.

As for Brando, he reverted back to his human form before pacing back and forth in the room in an extremely agitated manner. He gritted his teeth as he cast his gaze toward the space beside him. "Well?! Have you found anything yet?!"

Countless gusts of Yin wind converged from all directions, forming a figure wearing a black suit.

This was a handsome man who appeared to be around 26 or 27 years of age with a pale complexion and bright red lips. His blond curls trailed down the sides of his face as he shook his head in response. "I haven't managed to determine who the intruder is. I can sense the aura of the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo lingering here, but that's impossible. We haven't received any notification that the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo has arrived on our continent, and there's no reason for him to be interested in our continent right now, so there's no way he could've arrived here in person. I suspect..."

He paused momentarily before licking his own lips as he continued, "That the rebels or a certain opposing death god is behind this. One of those parties captured Matthew and is now trying to pin the blame on the Cathayan Underworld."

Brando gnashed his teeth together with a furious expression. "What do we do now?"

"You made the right choice," the man replied as he combed his fingers through his long hair. "The person who's captured Matthew will soon come to know the secret that we've been hiding for several centuries, and once that happens, he'll go to that place for sure. All we need to do is to wait for him there."

"And then?" Brando asked with a murderous expression.

An icy tone crept into the man's voice as he replied, "You know I don't like violence, so it would be best if we could settle things peacefully, but if not, then we kill them! This is an all-important step and we can't allow anyone to get in our way! For this goal, us vampires have even resorted to standing on the same side as filthy beasts like you! Anyone who dares to intervene will be killed!"