Yama Rising

Qin Ye carefully inspected the map.

The largest cities on either side of Delaware Bay were Cape May and Dover, encircling Delaware Bay alongside the New Jersey islands. In the underworld, the location directly corresponding with Delaware Bay was none other than the Great Blue Hole Abyss!

It was a tailor-made passageway for Kraken!

"Tezcatlipoca has been released by me and the three death gods are most likely furious as a result. They're going to deploy all of their troops to ensure that the final display of the divine miracle isn't going to fall flat on its face..." Qin Ye pointed a certain spot on the map and said, "This is most likely where everything is going to happen..."

The excitement in his voice suddenly died down here, and he continued in a hesitant manner, "... Send your troops to those cities right away, I want constant reports on the surrounding few major cities."

"Yes," Benson immediately replied as he carefully inspected Qin Ye, and after a long hesitation, he finally said, "There's nothing wrong with your logic, but why do I get the feeling that you're not very confident?"

Qin Ye didn't reply, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Benson's instincts were very accurate. Just now, he had suddenly thought of something.

It was still something to do with Philadelphia.

He cast his gaze into the night with a contemplative expression. There was something that he had overlooked: why hadn't the people in Philadelphia set off yet?

He could vaguely sense the power of four death gods, three of which were very familiar, namely Fernando, Brando, and Arlot, as well as one that he was unfamiliar with.

Two days had already passed since that night at Saint Peter's Church, and Philadelphia was nothing more than an empty shell now. If they only wanted to divert the attention of their enemies, it would suffice to leave only a single Yama-King here, while the majority of their forces should be guarding Delaware Bay. Were they not afraid that he would resurface to foil their plans?

Why was it that not only had the number of top-end powerful beings here not decreased, it had increased instead?

There are 11 to 12 days left at most before the conclusion of the grand script of death. Are they that convinced that I won't be able to see through their ruse and determine Delaware Bay to be the site where everything unfolds? Am I missing something here?

After pondering the matter for a long while, he shook his head in a defeated manner.

He couldn't make sense of the situation.

Seeing as that was the case, the only thing he could do was focus on what he was currently doing.

He sat down and his aura slowly disappeared, remaining as still as a stone statue. He closed his eyes and instructed, "Send out 1,000 of your troops, and make sure that they're the ones at the lowest cultivation ranks among your forces. Get them to pretend as if they're naturally occurring spirits with no sentient will and conduct surveillance over every corner of Philadelphia."

For some reason, he couldn't help but shake this sense of unease.

"Yes!" Benson replied with a respectful bow, then said in a hesitant voice, "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, have you considered the possibility that the Freemasonry and the church would clear out all of the Yin spirits in the city in this situation?"

A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye's face upon hearing this.

He was certain that the church and the Freemasonry definitely wouldn't exterminate all of the Yin spirits in the city.

Throughout Philadelphia's three-century-long existence, countless Yin spirits had gathered in the city, making it extremely difficult and costly to eradicate all of them.

With four Dukes in the city, no matter how many low-grade Yin spirits there were, they would be no different from pesky flies. It was most likely the case that only the Yin spirits at or above the Anitya Hellguard level would attract any attention and be killed just as a safety precaution. Furthermore, Philadelphia wasn't even going to be the site of the final showdown.

All of the Yin spirits above the Anitya Hellguard level would've either already been placed into designated hunting areas by the government or possessed human hosts to live in the mortal realm, so there wouldn't be any of them left in the city to be cleaned up.

Among all of the countless Usonian natural spirits, it wouldn't be a strange sight at all to have a few native Usonian Yin spirits dispersed among them.

"Rest assured." Qin Ye spread his fingers, and several faint blue Yin energy threads silently extended out of his fingertips.

"My servants will be constantly looking after all of you."

………………………………………………….

On a certain island in the Caribbean Sea of the underworld.

This was a small island shaped like a flower, but all of the merchant associations of the underworld knew that it definitely wasn't as beautiful a place as its outward appearance suggested. This was because the island was the stronghold of the three Caribbean death gods!

Several dozen classic Spanish galleons that were most popular during the Age of Discovery were tearing through the waves on the surface of the sea with brown skeletons hanging all over them. The ship at the very front was over 200 meters in size and was inky-black in color, creating a stark contrast with its pristine white yet tattered sails.

On the sails were drawn a design that appeared to depict a lunar eclipse. However, it wasn't a lunar eclipse, nor was it a moon. Instead, it was a black pearl.

At the forefront of the ship stood an imposing Yin spirit at the Marquess level. Extremely dense Yin energy was flowing out of his entire body and surging through his surroundings, and perched atop his fingertip was a messenger bird.

The Yin spirit was essentially a skeleton covered in a layer of deathly pale skin, and under his membrane-like skin were bright red chunks of flesh. He was wearing pirate captain's clothing from the republic era, consisting of a long robe with golden edges and dark wooden buttons. To cap off the pirate image, there was a skeletal owl perched on his shoulder. This was none other than one of the three Caribbean death gods that had appeared during the last international conference.

The messenger bird was chirping quietly as he listened intently, and several seconds later, he raised his hand to allow the messenger bird to fly away. He then took a deep breath before turning around. The sailors on the ship had been extremely rowdy and boisterous just a moment ago, but they had suddenly gone quiet.

The Caribbean Sea was the most chaotic region in Usonia's territorial sea, but it was also the largest trade route in Usonia! It was said to be the golden trade route of the western hemisphere, and even though Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa were no longer overseeing this place, all of the ship captains here had climbed to their positions through countless battles and skirmishes.

Their reputations were supported by the weight of the lives they had taken.

The skeletal ship captain took a deep breath, and his robe flapped in the sea breeze as he called out in a loud voice, "Everyone!"

His raised hands were trembling from excessive excitement, and he roared in a rousing voice, "During our lifetimes, everyone looked down on us. Here in the underworld, even though we've declared independence and seized control over the coastline of the Caribbean Sea, those ignorant and stubborn leaders on the world stage continue to look down on us! They called us maggots, they called us ants... I'll never forget how we were humiliated during the last world conference!!"

His voice was rumbling like thunder, and he was injecting all of his Marquess level power into his voice, causing the fleet of 60 ships to sway and teeter.

"But I'm telling all of you now that this is our time! We're going to show the entire world through our actions who the ruler of this new world is! Sail with me to Delaware Bay and witness our ascension to godhood! The glorious name of the Black Pearl will go down in the history books for the rest of eternity!!"

Dead silence.

In the next instant, thousands of skeletal sailors on all of the ships erupted into a raucous commotion, raising their weapons high up into the air as they roared, "For the new age!"

"Our three leaders will stand at the top of the world!"

"We will be the next clan of royalty!"

"We'll forever follow in your footsteps!!"

Yin energy erupted like a tsunami, and even the surface of the sea was undulating violently in the face of the terrifying wave of Yin energy.

The skeletal captain standing at the front of the black Pearl raised his hand high up into the air, basking in the waves of thunderous cheers that were washing over him, as well as the scorching killing intent and the fierce desire for a better future exuding from every single one of his crew members. Netherfire erupted into the sky in pillars of flames, presenting a spectacular sight to behold out at sea.

From here onward, I, Leoric, will create a new era!

The 60 warships were carrying 65,000 Yin spirits, among which were three Marquesses, 25 Counts, as well as countless Barons, Viscounts, and Knights. These forces had been accumulated over the span of three centuries, and it was the trump card of the Caribbean Sea!

All those who looked down on me and belittled me... The Cathayan Underworld, the three pillars, all of the underworlds in the world... Just you wait! In 10 days, you're going to witness the birth of a miracle!

Amid the rumbling commotion, he made a quieting gesture like an elegant conductor, and the commotion quickly died down.

"Look." He pointed toward a certain direction, and all of the sailors cast their eyes toward that direction. It was also right at this moment that Yin energy erupted from three of the ships in the fleet, permeating through the area like ink and staining the sea in a radius of several kilometers black.

A skeletal sailor's mouth gaped open slightly before gaping open further and further. After several seconds, he was standing rooted to the spot with an astonished expression, and only after a period of stunned silence did he exclaim, "My god..."

He wasn't the only one, all of the skeletal sailors were completely stunned by what they were seeing. Directly beneath them, the seawater was like a mirror, reflecting a scene in the mortal realm.

They didn't know which city this was, but they could see that countless men and women wearing black and white robes were converging from all directions.

The surrounding tall buildings were all draped with banners of the Slumber of the Sea and the Stars, and promotional flyers of Death God Dax were flying all over the place.

"Everyone," Leoric declared in a grand voice. "All of these are my followers. With these followers, I'll be able to make a breakthrough to become a Duke and stand at the very top of the entire underworld! I've tasted humiliation from all of those people who looked down on me like ants, and I'm going to repay them a thousandfold!!"

He lowered his voice as he continued, "Now, it's time to ready your cannons and draw your swords! The 60-ship fleet of the Caribbean Sea is attacking in full force! If anyone dares to stand in opposition to us, tear them to shreds!!"

BOOM!! Yin energy erupted to connect the 60 ships into a unified unit, and they sailed toward Northern Usonia as a formidable force.

Amid the thunderous commotion, Leoric returned to the captain's cabin.

He was no longer facing his men, so he didn't need to conceal his emotions any longer, and a grim look appeared on his face as he strode into the cabin before closing the door.

There were two other Marquesses seated in the room.

One of them was a black skeleton wearing a rotten robe worn by Europa nobles in the 14th and 15th centuries, and his inky-black skull was completely bare save for a white curled wig.

The other one was also a skeleton with a head of blonde hair but only half a skull, and she was wearing a dress with a belt tightly fastened around her waist.

As soon as Leoric strode into the room, he picked up a bottle of gin and downed it in one go before hurling it into the corner, where the bottle shattered into pieces. "Curse those useless idiots! How did they manage to allow Tezcatlipoca to get away? He was completely sealed and powerless!"

His chest was rising and falling violently as he paced rapidly back and forth in the cabin. Yin energy was rising up before dissipating incessantly all over his body, and the netherfire in his eyes had turned a scarlet color.

"How did those incapable idiots manage to become Dukes? This world is so unfair that it sickens me to the stomach!" he roared as he slammed a fist onto the table. "If we still had Tezcatlipoca held captive and could force him to acknowledge our identity, even if our parent god reawakens, they'll have no choice but to accept us, but now, we have nothing! We went to so much effort to capture Tezcatlipoca, yet he was allowed to escape just like that by those idiots!"

The blond skeleton opened her hand fan and replied, "It was all because of that high-grade emissary from the Cathayan Underworld."

"Fuck!" Leoric crushed the globe beside him in a fit of rage as he spat through gritted teeth, "It's the Cathayan Underworld again! Why are they so intent on humiliating us?! All their King Yanluo knows how to do is talk shit! We had to kill our way up through the ranks! How are we inferior to trash like him in any way?! We must exact our revenge on him for the way he treated us at the last international conference!"

"Allowing your anger to get the better of you is the most foolish thing you can do right now!" the black skeleton harrumphed coldly. "All of our followers all over the nation are already beginning to gather in Cape May, and the Freemasonry will buy us 10 days of time. If we don't resolve this matter in 10 days, the Usonian government will intervene, so our priority right now is to figure out what to do."

Leoric was seething with fury as he scratched at his own deathly pale scalp before replying in a hateful voice, "Why didn't they tell us before this that there was a high-grade emissary from the Cathayan Underworld in Philadelphia? What were they doing before this?!"

A long silence ensued, following which he raised his head, and a hint of insanity surfaced in the netherfire in his eyes. "Tell them that if they encounter any emissaries from the Cathayan Underworld again, kill them on sight! We'll take responsibility for everything!"

"Calm down!" the blond skeleton exclaimed in a panicked voice. "This is one of the four pillars we're talking about here!"

"So what?!" Leoric spat through gritted teeth. "This is the new continent! A new era is about to emerge here, and we are going to be the rulers of this new era!"

He then cast his gaze out the window at the countless devout followers being reflected on the surface of the sea. After taking a deep breath, he continued, "In addition, tell them to speed up the proceedings."

He turned to the two skeletons in the room as he declared, "The final act of the grand script of death will be enacted in one week! I can no longer wait to ascend to godhood... When that time comes, I'll be taking a good look at the horror on the faces of all of the people who dared to humiliate and insult us. Anyone who dares to stand in our way will be killed! I don't care what pillar they are, understood?!"