Yama Rising

After making his decision, Leoric gritted his teeth and pulled a hollow golden box out of his pocket. He then took a deep breath and cast his gaze toward Kraken before opening the box.

A streak of silver light immediately shot up into the heavens, then exploded like resplendent fireworks in the sky.

Orel, Dalton, and Erza immediately turned their attention toward the explosion of silver light in the sky. They knew that the appearance of this signal would herald the conclusion of everything.

The grand script of death that had been ongoing for over a century was going to draw to an end here.

"From now on, I will be the only death god in the Caribbean Sea!"

………………………………………………

At the same time, Qin Ye also saw this signal from the underworld.

The situation in Cape May was very chaotic, but it was also quite simple and straightforward.

The followers were gathered on the shore, witnessing this supposed divine miracle, and the three death gods of the Caribbean Sea were refraining from unleashing their trump card from the get-go so this scene could forever be engraved into the minds of their followers. They were prolonging this "divine miracle" to show everyone that the god they were worshiping truly existed, and only then would the followers be completely devout to this new religion following the slaying of Kraken.

With a base of followers, they would have a foundation, and over the course of time, it wouldn't be impossible for them to develop a brand new religion.

"Yama-King Qin!" Benson called out in an urgent voice.

They were currently standing atop the peak of a pyramid with hundreds of Yin energy screens all around them, displaying the perspectives of all of the Yin spirits they had sent to Cape May and Philadelphia. Just as Qin Ye had anticipated, the opposition had made no effort to exterminate the Yin spirits in the two cities. Over the course of history, countless Yin spirits of native Usonians and new Usonians had gathered here, making it far too costly and time-consuming to exterminate all of them.

Thus, none of the Yin spirits they had sent to the two cities had been harmed.

Qin Ye shook his head as he quickly swept his gaze over the Yin energy screens around him. "They won't be able to last much longer. With the forces that they've gathered, there's no way they'll be a match for Kraken! They'll only be able to last one more hour at most, which means that they must slay Kraken within this hour or face certain defeat!"

They were challenging a god, and as such, there was always the risk of being defeated.

Benson's brows were tightly furrowed as he said, "That flare they just set off should be a request for reinforcements. Are we still not going to act, Yama-King Qin?"

"No!" Qin Ye immediately replied. The higher the stakes, the clearer his mind functioned. All of his tension, anticipation, and excitement worked to fuel his concentration as his gaze skimmed rapidly over one Yin energy screen after another. "Where are their reinforcements coming from? The only trump card they have that's capable of killing Kraken is the Spear of Longinus, which means that this request for reinforcements is going to lead to the arrival of the Spear of Longinus on the battlefield!"

Where is it going to be? Where will it attack from? How will it attack?

Those are the things that he had to think about, and he definitely couldn't afford to strike prematurely here. For the three death gods of the Caribbean and the Freemasonry, this act was drawing to a conclusion, but for him, it was only just beginning.

He was frantically trying to track down the Spear of Longinus, but there were too many screens in front of him, and he didn't know where to start.

Every single one of these screens had the potential to hold the scene that he was looking for. All of a sudden, a thought occurred to him, and he abruptly turned his gaze toward the collection of screens depicting the city of Philadelphia.

Is it here?

As soon as he turned his attention there, his eyes immediately lit up, and he quickly expanded one of the screens.

That particular screen was depicting a church in Philadelphia.

Having done his homework on the city of Philadelphia, Qin Ye immediately identified the church to be Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church.

It was situated on the outskirts of the city and was a rather obscure church with lush greenery all around it. However, at this moment, all of the canopies of the trees around the church were burning with netherfire in the night!

To the left, a series of dark shadows were hidden among the trees, while to the right, there were countless black shadows hanging from the branches.

It was an extremely ominous and forbidding sight.

Qin Ye continued to inspect the image with an intense gaze, and he discovered that there were two figures situated at the top of two tall buildings on either side of the church.

On the left was Brando, who was seated on a large chair. He had already taken on his werewolf form and there was a cigar in his mouth. He seemed to be seated in a very casual and leisurely fashion, but his seven blood-red eyes remained firmly fixed on the church.

On the left was a half-bat, half-human being, standing atop the roof of an apartment building like a stone statue. Countless bats were flying around him like dark clouds, surveying the surrounding area.

"The two Dukes have situated themselves at Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church... Why is that?" Qin Ye murmured to himself with a thoughtful expression. "The three death gods of the Caribbean are battling Kraken, yet not only have the two Dukes not gone to reinforce them, they're protecting this church instead. Why are they doing that? What in Philadelphia could be worthy of the presence of these two Dukes?"

He watched the Yin energy screen with an intense gaze as he continued to murmur to himself, "It has to be something even more important than the battle unfolding at Cape May!"

What could it be?

The most important thing unfolding in Cape May was the display of the divine miracle, and the only thing more important than that had to be... the Spear of Longinus!

Everything suddenly clicked in his mind as a flash of enlightenment surfaced in his eyes.

He had never been able to shake the feeling that something was wrong, and he finally understood what the problem was now.

"The Spear of Longinus must pierce into the body of a death god in order to slay it. However, I've been under a false assumption this entire time... Perhaps the spear doesn't have to be held by someone. Perhaps it can be pierced into Kraken's body through some other means given the right opportunity!"

He stared intently at the image on the screen, and his breathing began to accelerate. In the image, both Brando and Arlot looked up into the sky in unison. With their eyesight, they were naturally able to clearly see the silver flare in the distance.

In the next instant, the gates of the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church slowly opened, and boundless holy light spilled out from within the church.

A person was standing within the holy light like a golden angel.

It was Cardinal Fernando!

He was wearing a giant box on his back, and behind him was a massive arcuballista!

"The spear can be used as an arrow!" Qin Ye exclaimed.

"There are two battlefields, one of which is in Philadelphia, while the other one is in Cape May. The battle taking place in Cape May is attracting everyone's attention, and they're taking advantage of that to fire the Spear of Longinus from Philadelphia, passing over New Jersey to deliver a lethal blow to Kraken in Delaware Bay! No one could've anticipated that the Spear of Longinus would be in Philadelphia rather than Cape May..."

He cast his gaze toward Benson, and Benson seemed to have sensed his gaze as he looked back at Qin Ye.

He placed a hand on Benson's shoulder as he said in an urgent voice, "Send your troops to Cape May right now and help Kraken hold on at all cost!!"

Benson closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. "Don't forget your promise."

This was their final struggle. For the sake of survival and a better future, they were going to make a final stand.

Goosebumps had been raised all over his entire body, and even he didn't know whether he was excited or scared. He made his way over to the pyramid, then raised a hand as he called out, "Brave warriors!!"

All of the Yin soldiers of the resistance army had already gathered at the foot of the pyramid and were eagerly waiting for battle.

"For our future, for our family and friends, for survival, I need all of you right now!"

His voice began to shake with emotion as he continued, "Perhaps we won't be able to come back, but we now have the chance to fight for the survival of our people! My brothers, my friend, come with me!!"

He shot forth as a streak of light, heading directly toward the Yin Yang Mezzanine up above.

As he rushed up into the sky, the Yin soldiers down below let loose a thunderous collective war cry, and the netherfire in their eyes was flickering erratically.

It was finally time to bring their lives in this bleak purgatory to an end. This was the goal that they had been striving for all along, and they were willing to sacrifice their all for it!

Countless streaks of light erupted all around the pyramid, rising up into the heavens like a reverse waterfall of radiance.

Not far away, all of the surviving Yin spirits of the resistance army were gathered, and they were knelt down on the ground, praying devoutly with all their might, hoping for the light of day to finally pierce through the night.

Qin Ye's robes were flapping incessantly by the wind swept up by the rising streaks of light, but he paid no heed to that as he turned his gaze back toward the screen.

He couldn't afford to strike recklessly here.

His forces were far inferior to the opposition's forces, so if he were going to strike, he had to make sure to make it count.

However, even after learning the fact that the Spear of Longinus was going to be fired from Philadelphia, there was still a lingering issue, which was that there were four Dukes currently in Philadelphia.

They were Fernando, Brando, Arlot, and an unknown being.

Qin Ye was certainly nowhere near as powerful as the second King Yanluo, so if he wanted to take the Spear of Longinus from them, he had to lure them out.

There's no way they'll continue to sit around idly here given the urgent situation in Cape May! Kraken may be unable to kill the tens of thousands of Yin soldiers it's up against in the short time, given that they have the assistance of a military formation, but what if Kraken is being assisted by the resistance army with the Wumu Military Formation at their disposal?

The balance would be instantly tipped in Kraken's favor, and one of the four Dukes in Philadelphia would be forced to provide reinforcements!

Meanwhile, all he had to do was prevent the launching of the Spear of Longinus. If he could do that, then the death gods of the Caribbean, the Red Eagle Navy, and the Black Shirt Navy would be doomed against Kraken!

No one knew what was happening in the underworld, and in the image depicting Philadelphia, Fernando was walking along up ahead, while a friar in a tattered linen robe was following along behind them. They were followed by hundreds of reverends and priests, all of whom were standing around the arcuballista.

This was a massive arcuballista that was around the same size as the church, and it was constructed entirely from gold. Fernando took a deep breath before opening the box on his back in a careful manner, revealing a rusty spear sitting at the center of the box.

He placed the spear onto the arcuballista in a respectful manner, then sliced open his own arm and allowed his blood to drip onto the spear. In the next instant, all of the rust on the surface of the entire spear slowly fell away, following which bursts of dazzling golden light erupted from it, and it was aimed directly at Cape May!