Inner Destroyer

　A large cruise ship exploded and disappeared.

　More than 2,000 people were hypnotized, 400 people had their organs removed, and at least 100 people died before they could be rescued.

　The loss of property and human life is incalculable.

　If this is considered a lone wolf terrorist attack, then the damage caused by Professor Vanstra with the power of just one person is simply unbelievable.

　And this was because he was preoccupied with his lower body, not intentionally causing damage. The people and things he lost were simply "used up" as consumables, so it wasn't considered "too serious."

　Fortunately, as Qi Xing had said before, this world's ability to sustain itself was surprisingly strong. Despite all the criticism, even though Samael had only created a replica of the universe, even if she were to be knocked down by Yego's divine fist and locked up in a dark room, this world would still be able to survive, maintain its own discipline, and continue to develop and change on its own.

　In this world where people are kidnapped, hypnotized, and attacked by alien monsters every now and then, and where on average one person in each grade in each school disappears or becomes disabled every year due to sexual incidents, there are of course already established practices for dealing with the issue.

　In order to treat the rape victims and allow them to return to normal social life, the "Association" must cooperate with governments of various countries. First, they are sedated and their bodies are treated while they are asleep. Then, parapsychological techniques are used to reset their personalities back to the state they were in a few days ago.

　Basically, as long as they're not dead, haven't suffered serious injuries, and haven't been locked up in the "inner world" for too long, most people can still be rescued and return to their normal lives... basically.

　The main two thousand people who did not directly participate in the deep rituals, after treatment, basically do not remember what suffering they had suffered before.

　However, those who directly participated in the ritual in the deep world, especially the forty girls who had been hypnotized and abducted by the professor a few days ago to become components of the Osiris resurrection ritual, had been forced too deeply into the roles of the "inner world" and it was likely that none of them had a chance of being saved.

　As for the Singaporean magical girl Wenlan who went to capture Professor Vanstra five days ago but was hypnotized instead... she died in the depths. When the "inner world" collapsed, not even her body... not even a single belonging was left behind, and she had no way to take it back to her family and friends.

　"If she died in the 'Inner World', not even her body would be left behind. No one would know what kind of end she had suffered. If she had no companions, she would even be considered missing forever."

　Normally, Artemina seemed a little silly to the nuns, as if she had nothing in her head. But at this moment, she revealed some desolate sadness.

　"This is the end of a magical girl. Even if she's forgotten, there's nothing that can be done about it."

57

　With that, Artemina returned, carrying her own report, to announce the sad news to her fellow members of the Magical Girls' Mutual Aid Society.

　As for Elaine, after communicating with the Japanese government, she returned to her hotel room, sat at the desk by the window, and silently wrote an email to the Vatican.

　"In summary, the nature of the evil ritual performed by Professor Vanstra on the cruise ship has been determined."

　"Having the entire ship's two thousand-plus people participate in a festival celebrating Osiris' resurrection was simply to fix the mythological nature of the 'Inner World' in a corresponding direction; harvesting other men's organs wasn't the most essential component of Osiris' resurrection ritual."

　"The goal of his ritual is to play the role of Osiris himself, resurrect from his mummified state, and cure his erectile dysfunction. This process requires an actor who can play the goddess Isis. In his opinion, an actor who can play the goddess of magic is also a magical girl, or at least a young girl with magical talent."

　The keyboard made a clicking sound, but her mind was not as neat and orderly as the sound, and the report she wrote was actually a bit chaotic.

　"The forty young girls hypnotized by Professor Vanstra have been examined and found to possess minimal magical talent."

　"As to why Professor Vanstra lingered on the cruise ship for several days, repeating the process of dismembering and mummifying innocent male victims dozens of times in an attempt to resurrect them, it's currently impossible to determine. However, it's speculated that he might have been hesitant to perform the Osiris resurrection ritual on himself the first time."

　Because he is afraid, the professor will test whether the ritual can be performed correctly before actually dismembering himself and mummifying himself for the resurrection ritual.

　This is a reasonable approach. It's normal.

　But just as Samael had said, Professor Vanstra was a hopeless coward. If he'd been more determined and had simply gone ahead and performed the ritual himself, it would have been a matter of life or death. Regardless, it wouldn't have dragged on for days, leading to Qi Xing catching up and beating him up.

　Everything would not be like this now.

　"It's still unclear why Professor Vanstra knew how to perform ancient Egyptian resurrection rituals based on the Book of the Dead. However, considering his pact with the devil, it's possible the devil simply imparted this knowledge to him, making it difficult to trace."

　Professor Vanstra can be considered a parapsychologist. Many parapsychologists are involved in occult research... but most of them delve into new age mysticism, neo-paganism, or supernatural science.

　The ancient Egyptian magic in the "Book of the Dead" is too ancient, at least it is from before the Common Era. Parapsychologists rarely play with it to this extent, right?

　She continued typing the report. If she didn't finish it quickly and send it to headquarters in Rome, they would likely grow increasingly anxious and panicked while they waited. It was just a matter of writing a few lines; for Elaine, who was adept at administrative tasks, it would be effortless… but now she was typing slowly, taking forever to finish, and her sentences were a mess. The thought of herself made Elaine bite her lip.

　"What on earth am I doing now?"

　It was Qi Xing who asked her to escape from the cruise ship with the civilians.

　Others will also think there is nothing wrong with this. A hero is someone who voluntarily stands up and sacrifices for others.

　Even though this was the case and this was not the first time she had lost a colleague, Elaine felt a strong sense of exhaustion and resistance for no reason.

　The last time, when Elaine saw the exorcist nun like her being martyred, she just felt sad and a little uncomfortable.

　Why is her heart so restless this time?

　This could be Qi Xing's fault, or it could be thanks to him. Perhaps it was because, having been by his side for a few years, he'd seen "Leip Zhenren" pull off all sorts of atrocities and still manage to pull off victories and come back to life.

　So even now, after watching the cruise ship explode, even after she'd returned to Tokyo and claimed to have given up hope, she couldn't help but long for Qi Xing to survive, dreaming of that hope. This was truly embarrassing and inconsiderate, and it disgusted her.

　(Hurry up and finish the report. Just write that Qi Xing went missing during the mission.)

　Sometimes, Elaine herself felt that she was a woman with a troubled mentality.

　However, just as her fingers were tapping on the keyboard, about to finish the report - she heard the electronic lock of the hotel room open and the door handle turned.

　Now was not the time for room service. Besides the waiter and Elaine, there was only one person with the key card to this room. The pistol immediately fell out of Elaine's sleeve, and she gripped it tightly, but her heart was pounding.

　"who is it?"

　It's possible that this was just a villain who came to kill Qi Xing's assistant out of spite after learning of his disappearance. Or perhaps there was a more evil person trying to do something even more cruel to her.

　"If you don't speak, I'll shoot."

　Yet, for some reason, Elaine didn't feel any fear at all. It was as if she knew and believed from the bottom of her heart who would push the door open next.

　“Do not be afraid.”

　Qi Xing pushed the door open and came in. His weathered face was full of calmness. He said slowly,

　“I was dead, and now I am alive forevermore.”

　After the final fierce battle and a trip to the spirit world and the underworld, he was now ragged and almost naked, with several wounds on his body, stained with blood.

　Elaine stared at him in shock for a few seconds before she stepped forward and kicked him hard.

58

　A kick in the leg! "You're not dead yet, why didn't you call me first? And you're still kidding me!"

　Alas, this nun is so unlovable.

　Qi Xing's muscles were so strong that they couldn't be hit by light weapons. He wasn't one of those useless protagonists who, no matter how much they practiced, would still get hurt by a woman's pinch. So he calmly let Elaine kick him.

　But before he could continue speaking, Elaine kicked him and hugged him, sobbing and crying directly on his chest. Tears rolled down her ocean-like blue eyes and dripped onto Qi Xing's tattered clothes.

　Ugh.

　Well, this friend is quite nice.

　"Don't cry. Isn't he still alive?"

　Unfortunately, Qi Xing didn't dare to reach out and touch the girl's head like some male protagonists in harems, so he had to open his arms in a cross shape and let Yilian continue to hold him, saying helplessly,

　"And I successfully defeated Satan? That's such a big accomplishment, what's wrong with me making a joke?"

　"Defeated... You really won?!" Elaine took a deep breath before her tears stopped. She took a step back and wiped her red eyes, feeling both happy and surprised. "How did you survive that situation?"

　“It’s complicated.”

　Having said that, Qi Xing did hesitate for a moment, weighing the possible consequences of trusting Elaine and the disaster that might be caused by remaining silent here... Then he decided to be honest.

　No matter what, he had to let Elaine know what kind of person he had with him, otherwise it would be too irresponsible to Elaine.

　"Come out, Samael."

　He gave the order.

　As soon as he finished speaking, flames and strong winds exploded under his feet.

　"what's wrong?"

　As always, the shadow of the Demon King, dressed in gothic lolita clothing, emerged from the flames, giggling non-stop and looking very happy.

　In an instant, Elaine, who had just been in a state of emotional reunion, froze. She stared at Samael in shock for a long moment, then turned to look at Qi Xing with a look of despair.

　"No, no, no," Qi Xing quickly waved his hands, "I didn't do anything wrong with her. Just listen to my explanation first."

　At this point, it's okay to tell others, and there's no point in hiding it from Elaine anymore - and the point is, it's very low-class - so Qi Xing simply poured out everything at once, saying that he was a time traveler with a transmigrated soul, what he had seen at the bottom of the universe before, and what Samael had said there.

　Anyway, Qi Xing needed a brain from a different camp besides Samael to help him analyze whether Samael's words were credible.

　The technical term for this is confirmation bias, and one of the implications is that you can’t choose just one source of information to investigate.

　Of course, Qi Xing was indeed worried about whether telling the nun that the creator god of this world was an idiot would cause too much mental shock and adverse consequences to Elaine - but to his surprise, although Elaine was shocked, she did not seem to have her worldview shattered.

　"In short, you want to tell me that the Marcion school's theory is actually correct?"

　After hearing this, Elaine covered her forehead and sighed in despair.

　"Christ, please don't play such a joke on us, okay?"

　The Marxians, as Elaine has mentioned before, are an early Christian heresy from two thousand years ago. They believe that the God of the Old Testament, the God of law and justice, created the world. Because He is devoid of love, He simply exercises His authority over the world through His established laws and His truly invincible power. He is violent, vulgar, capricious, and indiscriminate, with no distinction between good and evil.

　Markovians do not believe that the God of this world is "bad." He did create this world and has ownership of it. But it is also He who has made this world a place of suffering.

　The God of a foreign land, the God of the New Testament, Christ, the Son of God, is a God who shows love to the world. He does not owe the world anything, but he voluntarily comes to preach so that those who follow him can be liberated and leave this world of suffering, cesspool and mire, and go to the paradise of a foreign land.

　This Gnosticism faction, which too much denies the importance of the human world and the present life, was naturally criticized as heresy by the mainstream church more than a thousand years ago and has long been out of fashion.

　But as an elite exorcist nun, Elaine has of course learned everything and knows a little about everything.

　"Since you already know that I am the Almighty God, why don't you worship me as your Lord?"

　Samael's shadow hovered at Qi Xing's shoulder height like a ghost, and he asked her with a wicked smile.

　"Vade Retro Satana"

　But Elaine made the sign of the cross with her right hand, instantly forcing Samael's phantom back. The demon's shadow reassembled nearby, sneering at the nun.

　Ultimately, Samael remained a prisoner of the Black Throne. Without the "Inner World," without silver coins, and without any human contractors, the most she could do in the mortal realm was conjure up illusions.

　"I'm not so easy to believe the devil's words."

　Elaine said coldly, raising her head proudly,

　"Even if Marcionism is right, so what? Do you think I'll hold my head and scream in horror, saying my faith is shattered? At least my faith won't allow me to bow to the almighty evil god himself."

　"I saw that you were quite broken before Qi woke up."

　"Those are two different things."

　No, that's not right.

　As soon as she finished her rebuttal, Elaine realized deep down in her heart that this was actually the same thing.

　"I believe in the carpenter who died on the cross, not because of his omnipotent power, but because he knew that the impulses of men are greater than his own.

59

　The truer love and justice will guide me forward. An idiot like you who only has power cannot do that."

　As always, she spoke ruthlessly and viciously.

　"You are too arrogant, devil, and my God hates this kind of thing. He will definitely teach you a lesson in some way, and it will be very blackly humorous and you will never forget it."

　In an instant, Qi Xing almost began to worry that Samael would suddenly lose his temper because of these words.

　Fortunately she didn't.

　Seeing that both sides were unafraid of each other and were confronting each other, Qi Xing quickly stepped in, standing between these two troublesome people who were not very feminine, and raised his hand to block them: "Stop it, no trouble, change the subject."

　Just being caught between the two of them was probably enough for him.

　024: Aspiration to Become the Ultimate Strongest

　The nun held high her faith in the evil god. The Holy Cross was her light, and the evil dragon could never dominate her.

　But Samael never took these little nuns seriously. In the eyes of the God of this world, they were just ridiculous puppets imitating the behavior of "foreign gods".

　Both sides showed no fear of each other and confronted each other head-on.

　Qi Xing quickly asked them to change the subject.

　Change the subject?

　He probably thought that if he changed the subject, the two of them would stop arguing.

　But if we don't change the subject, the nuns and the devil may still be busy with their battle of faith, and Qi Xing can hide outside the circle of fire;

　He himself asked to change the topic, and the focus was about to shift to him.

　"You! How dare you say that!"