Yama Rising

Tezcatlipoca replied in a solemn voice, "It's the Spear of Longinus."

I see!

Countless pieces of information were beginning to rise up to the surface in his mind, arranging themselves into a complete picture, and that final piece of information completely sealed the deal for Qin Ye.

The Spear of Longinus was a holy artifact of the church, and with the complex relationship between the Freemasonry and the church, the Freemasonry would've had to have expended an extremely steep price in exchange for obtaining the Spear of Longinus on loan. That price would be far more than donating 100 large churches. In fact, there was a very good chance that they would've had to have opened up the proselytization rights of some nations to the church.

He had heard from the second King Yanluo that there were many ordinary divine artifacts in this world, but all of those were below creation-grade divine artifacts. However, every single artifact had its own unique properties, and the most special of those divine artifacts was the Spear of Longinus.

It existed for the sole purpose of slaying gods. If it were to pierce into someone's body, as long as that being wasn't above the Yama-King level, their death would be sealed. None of the gods in Heaven or the underworld were exempt from this. Thankfully, this spear was currently in the mortal realm and wasn't in the possession of any death god.

"So this is the first time that a death god has ever held the spear." He slowly closed his eyes as he quickly arranged his thoughts, bringing everything around to a full circle.

The three death gods of the Caribbean weren't satisfied with their current status. They wanted to become true death gods, so they sought someone out to write this grand script of death for them.

Qin Ye was under the impression that the Plumed Serpent God was likely to be the writer of this grand script of death.

Aside from him, who could have such an in-depth understanding of Aztec Mythology?

Who would have the courage to devise a plan to lure Kraken to Philadelphia, then slay it to save the entire city? There were very few people in the world who would dare to provoke the six kings!

Aside from him, who would write Tezcatlipoca into the script? Surely no one else had such a vendetta against Tezcatlipoca!

However, there was no concrete evidence to support all of this, so Qin Ye set this train of thought aside for now. From here onward, the three death gods began to search for investors, and they found the Freemasonry in the end. Both sides had something they needed from one another, and thus, a collaborative relationship was formed. After that, the Freemasonry sought out the church to borrow their Spear of Longinus in order to fulfill the script.

With the Spear of Longinus in their possession, they traveled to Aconcagua to shatter the seal placed on Tezcatlipoca's statue and capture him for the next part of the script. Qin Ye had heard that there were supposed to be many gods in a state of slumber in Usonia, and this was most likely where that notion came from.

These events had most likely taken place a century ago or even earlier than that. After capturing Tezcatlipoca, they began to strip him of his power and use human bones to construct that church, building it on top of a Yin Yang Mezzanine. In doing so, they would be able to draw upon the vast Yin energy seeping out of the Yin Yang Mezzanine to restrict Tezcatlipoca. In order to completely conceal all of this, the First Usonian Bank had to disappear, and that was how Matthew Conn came into existence.

Of course, he was a special case. No one had anticipated that an anomaly like him would arise, and it was exactly because of him that Qin Ye was eventually able to see the true face of this grand script of death.

Barring any mishaps, the Spear of Longinus was going to arrive in Philadelphia within a month, following which Kraken would be lured to the city through the Delaware River. Then, right before everyone's eyes, the three death gods were going to use the Spear of Longinus to slay Kraken. Of course, all of this had to happen in the mortal realm, and that would spell the conclusion of the entire grand script of death.

With that in mind, Qin Ye turned to Tezcatlipoca as he said, "I have one final question: how powerful is the church?"

"Not very powerful at all." Tezcatlipoca's answer came as a huge surprise to Qin Ye.

His brows furrowed slightly as he said, "I may not be overseeing the affairs of the mortal realm, but even I've heard that the seven cardinals of the church are all Dukes."

Tezcatlipoca replied in a calm voice, "What you don't know is that the seven cardinals are merely clones of the pope. The pope has already lived for several centuries and is said to be an advanced Duke that's only one step away from transcending beyond the Duke level. Through divine endowment, it's not a difficult task for him to split himself up into seven clones. As for the drawbacks to this, I don't know the details, but the drawbacks are most likely quite significant. Think about it this way: if they really were that powerful, then there's no way they would have agreed to lend the Spear of Longinus to the Freemasonry."

Qin Ye nodded in response. The church was definitely going to send people to oversee the conclusion of the grand script of death.

They had to ensure that the Freemasonry wouldn't take the Spear of Longinus outright. In fact, the one to use the Spear of Longinus to deliver the final blow would most likely be someone from the church rather than a member of the Freemasonry.

Handing over the spear for the three death gods to use directly was a completely different matter from letting them borrow the spear but not even allowing them to touch it.

Qin Ye's eyes narrowed slightly as he mused to himself, "In that case, Fernando most likely didn't just come to Philadelphia because of the chaotic situation here. Instead, the more important task for him is to oversee the usage of the Spear of Longinus. That's certainly not a bad thing. At the very least, we've already met and worked with one another on one previous occasion."

Everything made sense now, but there were still those lingering questions.

To intercept or not to intercept? How could he intercept?

If he were to decide to do this, then he would be facing immense opposition without a single ally on his side.

Even though only one of the church's cardinals was present in the city, they had far too many witch hunters and church followers, so it would be extremely difficult to take the Spear of Longinus away from them.

That wasn't even taking into account the fact that the three death gods and the Freemasonry were definitely going to be involved as well. How was he supposed to bypass all of them and slay Kraken right before their very eyes?

Looks like it's time to call daddy!

He cleared his throat before pulling out Fate, then gently stroked it as he asked, "Fate, Fate, in my hand, who's the most powerful of them all? Would you be able to summon him to me?"

Fate remained completely still and silent.

Fuck! This thing's absolutely useless when I need it!

Qin Ye scratched his own head in a frustrated manner. He really didn't want to pass up this opportunity, but if he wanted to secure an opportunity for himself to slay Kraken under such complex circumstances, he would need at least several thousand people to help him divert the attention of this opposition!

Even with the entire Dusk Legionnaire deployed, we would still only be a group of less than 20. No, I can't use them as distractions, I need to use them as instantaneous teleportation devices. They are going to be my final trump card here!

Before he knew it, he had already subconsciously decided to intercept the grand script of death.

It would be far too painful to pass up an opportunity like this!

Just as he was scrambling for a plan, he suddenly raised his head before casting his gaze forward with a stunned expression.

There's someone calling me!

"How is this possible?" he murmured to himself with a stunned expression.

Tezcatlipoca could also hear the voice calling out from the darkness, sending ripples surging through space like the water of a lake.

Initially, the voice was very indistinct, but it quickly became very clear, as if the owner of the voice were standing right next to Qin Ye.

"Esteemed emissary of the Cathayan Underworld, please heed my call! Your loyal servants are pleading for your help..."

Who the hell is that?

"Someone's calling you from within Limbo" Tezcatlipoca cast a contemplative gaze toward the boundless darkness. "It's a directionless call, which means even the caller doesn't know whom its call will reach. Does your Cathayan Underworld have followers on the new continent?"

Qin Ye shook his head in a perplexed manner.

"Are you going to respond to the call?" Tezcatlipoca immediately asked. "If so, shall we part ways here?"

"Sure," Qin Ye replied with a hint of a smile on his face. "I look forward to meeting you again."

Tezcatlipoca's expression changed ever so slightly upon hearing this, but he didn't say anything in response and vanished into countless specks of light.

Looks like he doesn't really dare to accept my olive branch...

A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye's face. This was only to be expected. After all, he was currently working with the Plumed Serpent God.

However, it didn't matter if he accepted the olive branch or not.

In fact, it didn't even matter if he died or not. If he did, then so be it. If he survived, then perhaps he could be useful as leverage against the Plumed Serpent God someday. In any case, it made far more sense to spare him than to kill him.

He was a god who had lost almost all of his power, what did it matter if he lived or not?

"Now then, let's see who it is that's calling me." He cast his gaze deep into the darkness, then flew straight into the vast expanse of nothingness as a streak of black light.

………………………………………

The area was surrounded by rocks with patterns typical of the Aztec style engraved upon them. There were also many totem poles, and at the top of each pole was a ball of burning netherfire.

This was a square stone room with gold plastered all over the ground. Atop the altar at the very front of the room were four sun symbols, and at the very center of the altar was a small paper cut-out in the shape of a human. At this moment, a group of Yin spirits was huddled around the paper cut-out, chanting incessantly, and the cut-out was dancing in mid-air above the altar.

Five minutes passed by, then 10 minutes... In front of the altar were three Yin spirits in native Usonian clothing, and after 12 minutes had passed by, the elderly man that was seated at the center of the trio heaved a long sigh before rising to his feet, then shook his head with a forlorn expression.

He seemed to already be very old, as evidenced by the liver spots all over his body, and he was wearing a hat woven out of colorful woolen thread. The main color scheme of his attire was green, and he was wearing a kilt woven from feathers while his upper body was completely bare. The young man and woman on either side of him immediately helped him to his feet, and a dark-skinned Yin spirit asked in a hopeful voice, "Was there any response, Grand Elder?"

The grand elder seemed to want to muster up a smile, but was unable to do so in the end, and he merely patted the dark-skinned Yin spirit on the head in a benevolent manner before leaving the room.

"Grand Elder!" Standing beside the dark-skinned man was a silver-haired woman, and she bit down onto her own lower lip as she asked, "Have the gods abandoned us?"

"Can you not tell whether the gods have abandoned us?" The grand elder finally drew to a halt in the doorway, and his hunched-over figure cast a long shadow under the golden light spilling in from outside, giving him a pure and holy appearance as he said in a resigned voice, "Our city and village have already been razed to the ground by the Eagle Warriors, while the surviving netherworldly citizens were captured and taken to the rulers of the new continent to be devoured. Is the answer to your question not obvious already? However..."

He turned around and tapped his cane against the ground with a resolute expression. "We cannot give up on ourselves. We are trying to reach emissaries from other underworlds, and it's the only thing we can do right now, but we're facing Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa. Even if we manage to draw a Count to this place, what good would that do us?"

The dark-skinned man gritted his teeth as he replied, "At the very least, we can flee to the mortal realm?"

The grand elder smiled and replied, "And what do we do after that? Without pure Yin energy to sustain us, our desire to kill will only become more and more intense, and we'll inevitably begin hunting living humans. After that, we'll become vengeful spirits and be hunted down by the church."

"Is there no way for us to survive then?!" the silver-haired woman sobbed. "Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa have gone insane! I don't want to stay here anymore! Every single second of every day, we're constantly having to fear for our lives! I'd rather die than continue to live like this!"

"You've already died," the grand elder said in an indifferent voice, then departed with a forlorn sigh.

However, right at this moment...

BOOM!!!

The paper cut-out had already fallen onto the altar, but it suddenly rose up again, and netherflames erupted up to several meters tall from its body!

Immediately thereafter, an unspeakably powerful burst of Yin energy erupted within the room, forming a vortex that was around three meters in size within the span of just a few seconds. An indistinct humanoid figure could be seen within the vortex, and in the next instant, a young male voice rang out.

"Who is calling me?"