American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

Chapter 356 The Twilight of the False God and the Color of Blank Paper

With the pronouncements of Hughes and Lucifer, Kang rose from the throne of time.

His scarred face bulged with rage, and the entire High Temple seemed to hum with his roar.

"Ahhh! How dare you judge the eternal order with your lowly gaze!"

He raised his left arm, covered in mechanical parts, high above his wrist, where the core device representing the authority of time emitted a blinding blue light.

"I, Kang, will grant you endless death! You two blasphemous creatures, may you forever taste the bitter fruit of your arrogance in the cycle of time!"

With his announcement!

Time was forcibly rewound to just a few minutes earlier!

In Kang's vision, the two blasphemers who had just revealed their true forms would revert to their disguises, kneel before him again, and utter those hypocritical lines once more. Then, he would erase their existence when they were at their most triumphant! He had used this tactic countless times, eliminating countless enemies, and even another Kang himself; he had never failed.

However----

Time has indeed reversed.

The shattered glass automatically repaired itself, the scorched floor returned to its original shine, and even the priests whose eyeballs had been blown out by the divine power stood up again, their eyeballs intact as if nothing had ever happened.

However, there were two people who were not reset.

One is Xiu En, which hangs high in the sky as blazing as the sun.

The other is Lucifer, who stands on the ground with an abyss-like elegance.

Their time seemed to exist independently of the world's timeline, watching everything around them rush backward like a slideshow.

Because of the existence of the locked armor, whether it's Shuen's divine version or Lucifer's modified version, its core function is to anchor the user's existence to the present moment.

Any causal weapon that attempts to modify its past or future will be directly ineffective.

For them, the time loop was nothing more than a replay with poor special effects; clearly, Kang's time reversal had no effect on Shuon and Lucifer.

"How is this possible? This is impossible! How can you be unaffected?"

Looking at the two completely unaffected figures, Father Kang fell into self-doubt.

Lucifer looked at Kang and shook his head.

"Your taste is absolutely terrible."

He looked at the incongruous white armor worn by Father Kang, a combination of papal robes and power armor, and showed a look of disgust as if he had seen something dirty.

"Oh! Look at your outfit."

Lucifer's voice reached the ears of every Saint Duma Knight in the temple.

"White symbolizes purity and holiness, yet you've inlaid it with pipes that symbolize enslavement and violence. This aesthetic of a nouveau riche rural entrepreneur is the greatest insult to the identity of God!"

As he launched his vicious critique, he unfurled wings of hellfire energy. Countless seductive and suggestive mental fluctuations emanated from these wings, sweeping across the entire temple.

"Don't you feel ashamed to follow such a false god who can't even understand himself?"

This is a large-scale bewitching array that covers the entire temple!

Lucifer chose to corrupt their faith, which had already been emptied from their minds!

"Clang!"

The Templar Knight commander closest to him dropped his energy halberd to the ground.

He stared blankly at his hands, then at the stunned Holy Father on the throne. For the first time, a thought crossed his mind: "Who am I? Where am I? Why should I listen to this guy with questionable taste in clothes?"

Then, the second, the third —

More and more Knights of St. Dumas laid down their weapons.

The logic of absolute loyalty that had been forcibly instilled in their minds began to collapse on a large scale under the impact of Lucifer's demonic logic that aesthetics equals justice.

Everyone began to subconsciously feel that Lucifer was right.

It's really shameful to follow a God with such poor taste.

Lucifer did not even forget his own kindness.

He diverted a portion of his mental energy, transforming it into a black protective shield to help Xiu En firmly protect the hibernation pods containing the children behind the throne, ensuring they would not be affected during the upcoming stage demolition work.

Looking down at the knights below who had turned against him because of a few words, Kang's anger once again overwhelmed his reason.

Since time control is ineffective, let's use force to our advantage!

"Traitors! You all deserve to die!"

He roared once more, and the defensive systems on both sides of the throne activated in full force, dozens of hidden energy cannons simultaneously extending and aiming at Shuen and Lucifer. The energy of the cannons began to converge.

However, a golden streak of light, countless times faster than his energy cannon, had already arrived before him.

It is Xiu En.

He was too tired to watch this farce anymore.

"It's noisy."

Then, a powerful solar golden crow punch slammed into the Time Throne, which was protected by multiple energy shields, where Kang was located!

Father Kang's energy shield was instantly melted through like a thin sheet of paper in front of the golden fist.

The blazing divine fire enveloped the entire Throne of Time.

Kang let out a piercing scream as his white armor, along with his mechanical body, began to melt.

At this moment, time became meaningless to him, the master of time.

Because he is locked in this eternal present, scorched by divine fire, enduring endless suffering.

As Xiu En watched Father Kang scream in agony amidst the golden divine fire, yet unable to die due to the lock of the laws, he felt as if he were watching a cheap plastic doll being slowly roasted over a flame, emitting a nauseating burnt smell.

"Wasting food."

He frowned and came to a conclusion.

He had completely lost interest in tasting this false god himself. But Xiu En realized that the Time Throne supporting Kang was the true energy core of this divine kingdom.

It's like a strangely flavored but energy-rich battery candy.

In the spirit of not wasting anything, and also in order to end this boring farce as soon as possible, Xiu En opened his mouth.

A golden vortex formed in his mouth.

The throne, along with the ceaseless flow of time energy within it, began to be pulled by a force, eventually transforming into streams of blue-gold energy that were continuously swallowed by Xiu En Whale!

"No! My throne! My order!"

Father Kahn let out a desperate wail, but his voice, along with his presence, was rapidly diminished in this eclipse of the sun.

As the core energy was devoured, the entire divine kingdom began to tremble violently.

The rotating mechanical crosses in the sky stopped spinning, their power supply interrupted.

The incessant prayers from the city's loudspeakers have been replaced by static.

The lights of countless floating structures began to flicker, as if they might fall from the sky at any moment.

A false divine kingdom sustained by a single energy source immediately revealed its fragile nature once its energy supply was cut off.

"Oh, it seems the main course has already been served."

Lucifer watched with great interest as Shuen carried out the demolition, then turned his gaze to the broadcast control console in the center of the temple.

"Well then, it's my turn."

He swayed and landed in front of the control panel, his fingers tapping away, his will immediately corrupting the underlying logic of the entire broadcasting system.

The next second, his voice reached everyone's ears through speakers that were located in every corner of the world.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the Council of St. Dumas, and poor believers. I am your new friend, Lucifer Morningstar, or you may call me Satan."

"I apologize for interrupting your prayer time. However, your Pope Kang is temporarily unable to host the program due to a minor interior renovation issue. Therefore, I will be filling in for you and bringing you a gospel talk show."

Commoners and knights all over the world were stunned. They listened blankly to this completely unfamiliar voice, at a loss for what to do.

Just as Lucifer's talk show began, two powerful wills filled with rage locked onto the temple from two different directions!

"Traitor! Devil! Release the Father!"

A silver-white figure, wielding a greatsword engulfed in blazing energy, burst through the shattered dome of the temple! It was none other than the Holy Son Kang, who had just finished patrolling the lower city and rushed back after receiving the highest alert!

Upon seeing the Holy Father being burned by divine fire on the throne and Hugh eating, he rushed towards Lucifer, who was broadcasting, without thinking. In his eyes, this guy spreading heresy was the real culprit!

Meanwhile, the third Kang, who had been monitoring the entire world in the form of a Holy Spirit and was suspended high in the sky, finally realized what was happening.

"Level A ideological contamination source detected! Activate highest-level purification protocol!"

A mental shock pierced Lucifer's soul!

"Oh? Have the other two lead actors finally decided to come on stage?"

Despite being attacked from both sides, Lucifer's smile grew even brighter.

Faced with the slash from the Holy Son Kang, Lucifer's black winged shoulder armor automatically unfolded, transforming into a massive energy shield composed of countless layers of hellish runes, blocking the greatsword.

"when!!"

With a loud bang, Sheng Zikang felt the immense recoil force making his arm go numb.

The mental shock, upon touching Lucifer's soul, was like plunging into a deep sea filled with lies and pride, failing to even create a ripple.

Trying to use mental attacks against the King of Hell?

This is tantamount to competing with the sun to see who is brighter.

Lucifer even had the leisure to continue his performance on the radio.

"Did you all hear that? This is another incarnation of your Pope, Mr. Son Kang. Look at his charge—completely devoid of tactics and aesthetics, utterly savage and reeking of brute force. And that Holy Spirit Kang in heaven is even more capable of nothing but petty mental attacks; he doesn't even have the guts to show himself in person."

He turned to the side, dodging another sweeping attack from Saint Kang, and at the same time used his mental power to directly deflect the second wave of mental spikes that Saint Kang had launched a sneak attack.

"Is this the Trinity you believe in? A tyrannical and incompetent ruler, a reckless and impulsive brute, and a cowardly lurking in the sky. Oh God, this combination is even worse than my worthless brothers."

His voice was broadcast throughout the world, and countless believers and knights who were in a state of confusion began to think under Lucifer's influence. In particular, those Templar Knights who had just been turned by Lucifer subconsciously felt that what he said made a lot of sense!

Hugh completely ignored this. He was focused solely on devouring the Throne of Time, along with the order and energy of the Council of Saint Duma that it embodied.

As the last wisp of temporal energy was completely devoured by Hugh, the enormous throne that had supported the reign of Father Kahn for centuries finally turned to dust and vanished without a trace.

The divine kingdom has entered its twilight.

Deprived of its core energy supply, the entire world wailed. The false twilight in the sky shattered, revealing the universe shrouded in crimson nebulae. Floating steel cathedrals, losing power, crashed to the ground like falling meteorites, trailing long plumes of black smoke, triggering violent explosions and fires.

At the same moment, the Holy Son Kang and the Holy Spirit Kang, who were easily suppressed by Lucifer, also experienced a sharp drop in power due to the loss of their energy source. The Holy Son's energy sword dimmed, and the Holy Spirit's omnipresent spiritual impact became as weak as a breeze, also materializing and falling to the ground beside Lucifer.

They roared in defiance, but were eventually bound tightly by two black chains that Lucifer casually conjured, and were thrown into a corner of the temple like two spoils of war.

Lucifer's talk show also came to an end.

He turned off the radio.

Just then, Ivy, the sunflower that had been sitting quietly on Xiu En's shoulder watching everything, gently moved her leaves.

Her roots sensed the deepest evil within this temple.

Following Ivy's guidance, Shum and Lucifer's gaze passed over the Templar Knights lying on the ground, their faith crumbling, and finally landed on the human matrix behind the throne, composed of countless transparent glass cylinders.

Ivy stopped waiting. Her small sunflower body emitted a soft emerald green light, and countless slender golden vines spread out from her body, cutting through the glass cylinders.

The thick, green nutrient solution had spilled all over the ground.

One after another, emaciated children with tubes inserted into their bodies fell out of those jars and landed softly on the floor.

They looked to be between ten and fifteen years old, their skin frighteningly pale from prolonged lack of sunlight.

They didn't cry, they didn't shout, they didn't even show any expression. They all stared blankly, their eyes like a piece of white paper that had been completely wiped clean, leaving nothing behind.

Their brains were extracted, their memories formatted, and their personalities erased. They were biological materials, capable of maintaining minimal physiological functions, waiting to be thrown into the reactor.

Looking at these pure yet empty souls, Xiu En felt as if something was blocking his chest, which made him uncomfortable.

Lucifer, who had always maintained a cynical attitude, also put away his smile. A complex expression, a mixture of disdain and pity, appeared on his face.

What he detests most is this kind of foolish behavior that completely stifles possibilities.

These children, who should have had emotions and desires, who should have experienced deception, betrayal, greed, and pride—and then fallen into hell because of their sins, to be judged by him or some other similar lord of hell.

And now, they have nothing left.

"It was painted the most monotonous white by an idiot with no sense of aesthetics."

Lucifer commented in a low voice.

"Unforgivable."

Ivy's vines, like the gentlest cradle, lifted each child, cleaning away the tubes and filth from their bodies. The breath of life, like a warm spring breeze, caressed their pale skin, repairing their ravaged bodies.

But this can only heal the physical body.

Their souls remain a blank.

Lucifer frowned and walked over.

"You can't do it like that. They're too clean, disgustingly clean. You can't create any masterpieces on a blank sheet of paper."

As he spoke, he extended his right hand, and a small cluster of hellfire, as dark as the night, ignited at the tip of his index finger.

He sang in that seductive voice.

"God said, 'Let there be light.' But I said, 'Let there be thinking.'"

He gently placed the cluster of hellfire between a boy's eyebrows. The black flames disappeared, and a glimmer of curiosity flashed in the boy's empty eyes. He began to roll his eyes, surveying this unfamiliar world, and examining Lucifer before him.

This is the blessing of the King of Hell.

The seeds of doubt.

It will not bring power or knowledge, but it will give these children the right to think independently, to distinguish lies, and to choose between depravity and elevation.

Seeing Lucifer's actions, Xiu En also walked over and stretched out his hand, a golden ball of light, like a miniature sun, condensing in his palm.

"I think it's not enough to just think. They also need to know what's right and what's wrong."

He gently pushed the golden orb, and it exploded, transforming into billions of gentle golden specks that floated into each child's body.

This is a blessing from the sun god.

The scales of good and evil do not force them to do good, but when they make choices, they make them clearly feel the weight of their actions, making them instinctively drawn to the light and abhorring the darkness.

Finally, there's Ivy.

As she looked at the children who had finally gained a little bit of life, a verdant light emanated from her, transforming into fluttering leaves with golden patterns, which then affixed to the hearts of each child.

"You! You must relearn to love this world."

This is a blessing from the god of nature.

A resonance of life.

It allows these children to rediscover the feeling of the wind, the flow of water, and the fragrance of the earth, reconnecting them with this newly reborn world, enabling them to be loved by all things and to love all things in return.

Under the triple blessing of sacredness and taboo, the children's originally empty eyes gradually became filled with color.

Some of them had a black flame of doubt and curiosity that belonged to Lucifer flickering in their eyes.

Some eyes held a golden light that represented order and kindness, belonging to Xiu En.

In some eyes, the vibrant green of life, full of tenderness, was reflected in Ivy's eyes.

They looked at the three gods before them. Although they could not speak yet, their eyes were already filled with affection and trust.