Once the affection level is maxed out, the rivalry begins!

As Bai Ze galloped across the land covered with spider lilies, the surrounding environment changed as a result.

Wherever the white knight went, thorns sprang up, taking over the space occupied by the flowers.

The holy light stretched his shadow long, like a shadow descending upon the earth, enveloping the soil, from which filthy, poisonous insects crawled out, tearing the continuous blood-red flowers to pieces.

Amidst the faint, sacred hymns, the beautiful crimson petals withered and fell one by one.

The burning butterfly of death scattered sparks, only to be pierced, bound, and crushed by the living thorns.

Bai Ze nocked an arrow and shot it again. The swift lightning tore through the much thinner swarm of butterflies and pierced the chest of the Lord of the Underworld.

The girl's body was lifted by a tremendous force, soaring into the sky like a light bird, before being shattered into blood and gore by the ensuing shock.

However, the otherworld and the swarm of butterflies did not disappear.

"Tsk."

Bai Ze curled his lip in displeasure.

This is where the trouble lies. While he can resist the effects of the Death Butterfly in his possessed state, as an anomaly that materializes the myth of the afterlife, no one would believe that the opponent would easily descend into the underworld.

Sure enough, the scattered blood foam seemed to flow backwards, coalescing back into the girl's body.

"Outsider, I have come to understand the power you have displayed—"

She was speaking when another arrow pierced her neck.

But before the blood could spill onto the ground, it returned to the body. The Lord of the Underworld pulled out the arrow and continued his previous words:

"But I hereby refuse to die; shall I reconsider my initial proposal—"

The thorns that stretched to her feet sprang up like whips, twisting the girl's head 360 degrees.

"Return the bride, and I'll let you and your companions leave—"

The pale holy light gnawed at her body like a swarm of insects, leaving the girl riddled with holes.

"This deal is pretty good, isn't it?"

Bai Ze, who had come on horseback, lowered his longbow, and the Blade of Judgment swept across like a wing, the silver-white sword light severing the girl's head.

"Can't you even listen to what people are saying?!"

Enraged by her regrown head, she was instantly sliced ​​into pieces by a dense net of swords.

Even using the Judgment Blade with the [Fantasy Collapse] property, can't you completely kill her?

While relentlessly ravaging the Netherworld Lord's physical body at a speed that tore through the atmosphere and created ring-shaped sonic booms, Bai Ze pondered where the problem lay.

The storm stirred up by his sword swung outwards from him in all directions. Suddenly, a paper crane struggled against the airflow and broke into the sword's encirclement.

"I am Xia Xingzhi. Everyone has been evacuated to the edge of the other world."

Bai Ze paused his offensive, allowing the paper crane that emitted the detective's voice to land on his shoulder.

"That humanoid shape is just an empty shell, Aze, go and stir up that river we saw earlier!"

She didn't know what technique she used to convey the message she had deduced.

"I already know the mythological archetype behind this unusual mapping—the guide named the village Hirasaka, and the lord of the underworld manifests in a female form. Coupled with the omnipresent spider lilies and the rivers that traverse this other world, she is the master of the underworld, the feminine goddess of the dead, and her name is Izanami!"

In mythology, she married her brother and died after giving birth to their child. Her brother then went to the underworld, where the dead reside, to search for Izanami.

He was scared away by his sister, who revealed the face of a dead person and was covered in maggots. He really failed to be a proper sister-complex.

The goddess, who resented her brother, became yandere and decided to take the lives of a thousand people every day, thus bringing death into the world.

Of course, the anomaly is never the myth itself, but a distorted reflection of the legends compiled by humans. Therefore, this Lord of the Underworld only inherited the original's gloomy and yandere characteristics, and actually planned to force an innocent girl to engage in yuri.

"That river is the true form of the anomaly; go and destroy the Underworld!"

After the detective's shout was conveyed, the paper crane burned to ashes.

The resurrected Lord of the Underworld finally changed his expression drastically.

Once her true form was revealed, she could no longer hide. The crimson river behind her suddenly surged, churning up a torrent of blood.

That was a river of blood, representing the gathering of all death, threatening to engulf the drastically altered landscape of another world like a flood.

However, the white horse neighed as it stepped onto the dead river, traversed the flood as if walking on flat ground, and then rose up from the ground!

Bai Ze, who once greatly admired the ability to fly, finally obtained it while riding!

He rode his white horse and lightly tapped the water surface that had covered the original riverbank a few times, leaping into the air.

The pale light, like a cold sun, shone down on the entire otherworld.

Looking down at the red spots spreading across the land, Bai Ze placed the Judgment Blade, shaped like a longsword, onto the golden longbow and drew back the bowstring like a full moon.

"Stop! I won't stop that child anymore, you can leave!"

A girl in white with red eyes rose from the river of blood, pleading in panic.

Is it too late to talk about reconciliation now?

Bai Ze released his grip.

Then, a meteor fell from the sky.

White light intertwined to form a massive tail flame, and the Arrow of Judgment trailed a spiraling band of light like a dragon or snake, crashing down like thunder.

The illusory arrow of light pierced through the atmosphere, leaving a crooked, pitch-black trail in its wake, like a branch piercing into the space of another world.

Like a meteorite falling into the sea, after a brief delay, the roar resounded throughout the heavens and the earth.

The blood-red floodwaters suddenly burst open, and the arrows that had been advancing along the way pushed them aside to the sides, revealing the riverbed hundreds of meters wide.

The arrows that parted the floodwaters sank into the riverbed soil without hindrance, followed by streaks of white light that shot out like sharp swords and rapidly expanded.

A storm that tore apart all matter spread with radiance, blasting the entire river and the air apart!

The Lord of the Underworld, who coexisted with the Yellow Springs, let out a mournful cry like the wailing of the dead, and the entire sky of this other world burst open with black cracks as if it were about to shatter glass.

Finally, the crack, having expanded to its limit, tore open the sky.

With a crisp sound, the otherworld was swallowed into the collapsing Yellow Springs.

The eroded reality recovered from its distortion, and as the darkness in his vision dissipated, Bai Ze was already standing on the solid ground of the performance hall.

However, the audience and band members were now lying scattered on the ground. Xia Xingzhi, looking exhausted, supported her unconscious sister on the stage. She looked up and forced a smile.

"It was a success... and no one died as a result of the anomaly."

For someone with such a malicious ability as the [Chain of Sins], this was certainly a remarkable miracle.

However, it wasn't truly without casualties—the cult members who had been petrified by him remained at the site of Bai Ze's battle with the Lord of the Underworld. Naturally, a group of them were first shattered by the aftershocks, and then the remainder were swallowed by the rising tide of the Dead River. They were then affected by Bai Ze's final attack, resulting in their total annihilation.

Unfortunately, in the end, we still don't know the Trinity Order's motive for kidnapping Xia Yunli to get close to the Lord of the Underworld.

However, this time it wasn't entirely fruitless.

Bai Ze picked up the miniature doll of the black-haired girl from the ground.