Chapter 153: Offering

The highest observation platform beneath the glass dome of the Xinhai City Convention Center.

On ordinary days, standing here allowed one to overlook the entire prosperity of Xinhai City.
But at this moment, rain poured down in torrents.
The glass curtain, battered by the storm, sealed the world away into a lonely island.

Beneath the dome, however, hell itself was awakening.

From the directions of Exhibition Halls A, B, C, and D, four dark-red bloodlines as thick as giant pythons crept upward along the engraved patterns on the floor.
They pulsed, letting out wet “gurgling” sounds, as if transporting some warm, living nourishment.
In the end, they all converged at the exact center of the platform.

There, no traditional pentagram or hexagram was drawn.
Instead stood a massive blasphemous magic array, formed from countless interlocking sigils, covered by a hemispherical shell of reinforced glass.

Six figures clad in black robes stood at the six vertices of the array, their hoods pulled low.
They had not lit candles, nor placed offerings— because within the blood channels beneath their feet, thick, sweet-smelling red mist was continuously seeping out.

Low, hoarse voices rose from beneath the dome.
The sound was not loud, yet it carried a penetrating force that made the very dust in the surrounding air tremble and quiver.

Six hooded silhouettes with indistinct faces stood suspended there like statues.
Within the semi-transparent blackness, faint and strange glimmers of light flickered intermittently.

They were like three small animals that had wandered into a giant beast’s lair by mistake, frightened into huddling in a corner.

And those adults who normally shouted and threw their weight around… those thugs who knew only how to hack and slash— now found themselves pressed closer and closer by that chilling aura, yet still dared not leave.

Gulp.

Tiger Brother, usually lawless and fearless, was now swallowing hard.
His eyes—always fierce—were locked onto the blood pool at the center of the array, watching the mass that churned and bubbled endlessly, his gaze filled with instinctive terror.

“B-Brother Long… Brother Hai…” He lowered his voice, afraid of disturbing the robed figures.
“Don’t you think… this setup… they’re planning to slaughter us all like pigs and dogs…?”

The three top dogs of the Chicheng Gang—normally so domineering— were now all cowering in the corner like rats on a banquet table, neither daring to approach nor willing to leave.

Smack!

Before he could finish speaking, Tiger Brother was slapped hard on the back of the head.

“What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!”

Brother Long withdrew his hand.
Though he was scolding his subordinate, his own face was pale, and his voice lacked its usual confidence.

“What do you mean, ‘those things’? Those are enlightened true immortals! Watch your mouth!”

He tugged at his collar, trying to make himself look calmer.
But the hands gripping the railing so tightly—his knuckles bleached white—betrayed him.

“Use your brain. With this kind of spectacle…”

Brother Long raised his head, gazing reverently at the sky-shrouding dome above.

“Can’t you tell?”

As if to confirm his words—

Boom!

A bolt of lightning tore through the heavens.
The flash turned everything beneath the glass dome stark white.

At the center of the array, the originally foul-smelling, boiling blood pool suddenly stilled.

An overwhelming, suffocating stench of blood erupted— a scent mixed with musk, rot, flowers, and something utterly indescribable.
Just inhaling it made one dizzy and restless.

“It’s coming…!”

Brother Long clutched the railing, his eyes bulging.

From deep within the blood pool, an arm slowly emerged.

It was an incomparably slender arm.

It rose gracefully from the blood, like the birth of Venus herself.
Yet as it grasped the edge of the platform—

The once flawless skin suddenly split open, revealing clusters of purple eyes!

Those eyes swirled with maddening desire, their pupils vertical, as if mocking the world itself.

“Hiss—”

At this sight, Tiger Brother and Hai Brother felt no fear at all.
Instead, they stared blankly, gasping like men possessed.

“So beautiful…
So perfect…”

Just a single arm was enough to make them want to kneel and lick in worship.

However—

“Tsk.”

Just as the arm was about to fully support itself and step into reality, it seemed to lose some vital anchor.

The limb began to melt, turning into a puddle of foul-smelling purple sludge, sliding back into the blood pool.

That intoxicating pressure vanished along with it.

“Ah? That’s it… gone?”

Brother Long froze in place, still half-crouched like a ridiculous clown.

What happened?
Where was the immortal?
Why did it retreat after barely showing itself?

Sure enough—

The leading black-robed figure slowly spoke.
From beneath the hood, his voice held no disappointment, only cold detachment.

“Using only such turbid… offerings… to construct a vessel capable of bearing that Great One— was it still too forced?”

He turned around.
Those pitch-black eyes looked toward the three Chicheng Gang leaders.

“Mortals.”

“Y-Yes! We’re here!”

Brother Long jolted, not daring to care about dignity anymore.
He scurried forward, nearly kneeling.

“M-Master… no, sir! Was there something that went wrong?”

“Went wrong?”

The robed man cast him a cold glance.

“I sensed it just now. One of the key sacrifices we regarded as crucial is rapidly fading.”

“That magical girl we deemed essential… did not fall asleep as planned, nor did she become a lamb to be slaughtered.”

“What?! That succubus brat didn’t go down?!”

Brother Long was aghast, wiping cold sweat from his forehead as he hurriedly explained:

“That shouldn’t be possible, sir! I repeatedly instructed my men— we put a full dose of high-grade sleeping pills into all the sushi and drinks!
Plus the spores of the [Siren Jellyfish] you released— even an elephant should be out cold!”

The black-robed man did not blame him.
Instead, he analyzed calmly.

“This merely proves that even the weakest magical girl possesses resilience far beyond ordinary humans.”

“I had intended for the followers below to capture her alive and bring her to this altar— to use her pure yet spiritually potent flesh as the vessel for the Great One’s descent.”

At this point, a trace of regret seeped into his tone.

“A pity… since she cannot be captured alive…”

The black-robed man raised a hand.

A mass of murky black light gathered at his fingertips.

“Then we will have to kill her, and directly extract her soul to fill the final gap in the ritual.”

“Though a damaged soul is inferior, it should still suffice to allow the Great One to send down an incarnation.”

“Kill her?”

Brother Long froze, not yet processing the words—

Pew—!

An extremely sharp whistling sound ripped through the air, even overpowering the eerie chanting.

A blindingly brilliant cherry-pink light appeared!

BOOM—!

The light arrow struck and detonated instantly!

Terrifying spiritual energy erupted from the impact point.
The solid marble floor shattered under the blast, and countless fragments mixed with the shockwave flipped everything around it into the air.

“Cough—cough—!”

Brother Long was blasted away, crashing heavily to the ground.
It felt as though his organs had shifted out of place.

Clutching his chest in agony, his ears rang with a piercing whine.

“Xiaohu… A-Hai…?”

He looked toward where the two men had been standing.

There— where two hulking figures once stood— only a deep crater remained.

At its edge lay scattered, unrecognizable chunks of flesh… and half an arm blown clean off—

Tiger Brother’s arm.
The wrist still wore his favorite gold watch.

“Ugh—!”

Overwhelming fear and nausea hit at once.
Brother Long dropped to his knees.

Dead?
Just like that… gone?
Not even whole bodies left behind?!

…What brutally crude spiritual energy.

The leading black-robed man, however, seemed utterly unmoved.
An invisible barrier shimmered before him, blocking the destructive blast.

He slowly turned his head, those ink-black eyes fixing on the ruins near the entrance.

The other five robed figures followed suit, their gazes snapping in unison toward the same direction.

Tap. Tap. Tap…

Crisp footsteps echoed through the settling dust.

As the smoke dispersed, four figures—like goddesses descending— appeared before everyone’s eyes.

At the very front stood the girl holding a crystal longbow.

Her skirt was scorched and disheveled by smoke, but fury burned fiercely in her eyes.

“Trying to kill me?!”

Lin Yu slowly raised her bow, the arrowhead pointing straight at the robed leader.

“Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Before the words even finished— her fingers released.

The light arrow shot forth instantly!

Whoosh—!

The arrow tore through the air, aimed straight at the robed man’s brow.

“Hmph… a petty trick.”

The robed man didn’t even lift his eyelids.
He merely waved his hand casually.

Weng—

A mirror glowing with eerie purple light appeared before him.

The arrow—powerful enough to obliterate reinforced concrete— did not explode.

Instead, like a beam of light, it was reflected back!

What did it feel like to have your own full-power attack rebound at you?

“What?!”

This time, Lin Yu’s pupils shrank violently.

She didn’t want to know.

But the onrushing aura of death froze her in place, leaving her no time to dodge.

The reflected arrow detonated less than half a meter in front of her!

It’s over…
Am I going to blow myself up?!

Bang—!

A dull impact echoed—

But the pain she expected never came.

Lin Yu instinctively opened her eyes.

A massive shield stood firmly in front of her.

Behind it stood that tall woman— holding a heavy shield worthy of a fashion magazine cover.

“Ice Sister?!”

Lin Yu’s eyes went wide.
She pointed at the shield, her voice cracking.

“Wait—didn’t you say you didn’t bring your transformation device?!”

“I wanted to give you a chance to practice.”

Chen Bing calmly withdrew her shield.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to prove yourself to us?”

Her cherished catchphrase rang out once more—

“You’re still far from ready.”

At the same time, behind them, Ye Ye Cocoon completed her equipment deployment.

Two enormous obsidian mechanical arms materialized out of thin air, floating at her sides.
Blue light flowed along the arm-guards, forming a handsome blocking stance straight off a magazine cover.

The contrast between such violent mechanical beauty and the petite girl in a frilly dress was strikingly aesthetic.

“About this last one…”

Ye Ye Cocoon flexed the mechanical fingers, producing crisp ka-ka sounds.

“This enemy is beyond what you can handle.”

“…Damn it. You should’ve said that earlier.”

Lin Yu couldn’t help complaining as she dropped to the ground.

Though being treated like a rookie was frustrating— she had to admit…

With these veterans standing beside her, she felt incomparably safe.

“Hey, I really wasn’t lying.”

Li Qing stuck out her tongue innocently.

“My [Crimson Fox Fang] is way too big. Security would’ve confiscated it for sure~”

“…………”

The black-robed figures finally grew solemn.

Those concealed eyes fixed on the magical girls— no longer ignoring them.

“Arrogant… magical girls.”

And at that moment—

Brother Long, who had been sprawled on the ground, finally snapped out of his terror.

“Aaah—ahhh—Xiaohu! A-Hai!”

Like a madman, he clutched that severed arm.
His eyes bloodshot, blazing red, he roared at the robed man:

“Master!
Aren’t you a god?!
Hurry—kill them!
Kill those damn witches!
Avenge my brothers!!”

“Avenge?”

The robed man looked down at him coldly.
There was no pity in his eyes— only the indifference reserved for disposable tools.

“Since your desire for vengeance is so strong…”

He slowly extended a finger and gently pressed it against Brother Long’s bulging forehead.

“Then I shall… grant your wish.”

“What… ugh—!”

The next second, an extremely bizarre energy surged through that finger, pouring wildly into Brother Long’s brain.

“AAAAAAAH—!!!”

Brother Long let out a scream of unimaginable agony,
which quickly degraded into hoarse roaring.

Crunch… crunch…

Bone-chilling sounds rang out.

His body began to swell violently, like a balloon being pumped full of air.
His expensive suit burst apart instantly.

His spine bulged grotesquely, ripping through the skin on his back as four jointed, bristled limbs forced their way out.

Purple energy surged along those limbs.

His facial bones twisted and elongated, his jaw splitting into sharp mandibles.

In just a few seconds—

That once all-powerful Chicheng Gang boss had completely transformed into a horrifying half-human, half-spider monster!

ROAR—!

It crouched on the ground, six eyes blazing with insane red light, corrosive saliva dripping from its mouth.

“Go.”

The black-robed man withdrew his hand, as casually as driving off a vicious dog.

“Tear them apart.”