Chapter 176 - The Greater Threat (1/2)
While the war in the Tempest Cliff gradually unfolded as its climax got closer and closer, a different thing was happening in the Celestial Plane, with a figure in a white dress speeding through space as she traveled towards a certain direction. On her hand was a dark orb that radiated an aura that was at the epitome of evil, an aura that could be akin to what could be felt at the core of the underworld.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
This figure was none other than Shirohana, Kurohana's divine clone that was tasked to help Nix, the Hallmaster of the Hall of Greater Divinity, with the possible demon problem the Celestial Plane was going to have. At this moment, she had just landed on the ground in front of the Hall of Greater Divinity, clutching the orb she held tightly as she muttered a few incantations while walking.
Swoosh!
In an instant, a white light covered the surface of the orb, making everyone that was in the Hall of Greater Divinity, who had felt an ominous aura from her a while ago, go back to what they were previously doing. With her not attracting the attention of everyone, she then made her way towards Nix's office, taking only a few minutes to arrive.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Shirohana knocked on the door a few times, with each knock having a lot of force behind it. Due to the amount of force exerted, the sounds that were made could be heard from a decently far distance, which made some of the gods in the Hall of Greater Divinity look at her with a confused expression.
”Who is it?” Nevertheless, this was enough to attract the attention of the person on the other side of the door, who answered the knock before opening the door, revealing Nix, who had joined Shirohana while picking weapons quite some time ago.
Seeing Shirohana in front of her office door, Nix could not help but be slightly surprised as her eyes widened. While looking at her, Nix could not help but think to herself, 'It has only been a few hours since she left Misha's plane to subdue the two Lesser Gods consumed by the demons. With that amount of time, was she actually able to obtain any information from them?'
While Nix was looking at Shirohana in a slight daze, Shirohana took the initiative to enter the office as she gradually pushed the door open before walking in. Nix, who had only snapped back from her daze after Shirohana had entered the room, could not help but let out a soft sigh before lightly smiling as she closed the door.
Not long after, she sat behind her desk, looking at Shirohana, who sat across her desk. While looking at her, she could not help but notice the white orb Shirohana was holding, prompting her to point at it and ask, ”Shirohana, what's that?”
”This is something related to the two Lesser Gods,” Shirohana replied with a light sigh before placing the white orb on the desk. ”I've obtained a lot of information from fighting them, with the most important piece of information in that orb right there.”
”Hoh?” Nix could not help but place her hand under her chin in slight curiosity as she looked at the white orb that was placed on her desk. She looked at it from different angles, wondering what was unique about the orb as she asked Shirohana, ”Let's save the orb for later, since you say it's the most important piece of information. Did you find out what type of sin possessed the two Lesser Gods?”
”From their fighting style, it was actually quite obvious, with them connecting through their private parts and all that,” Shirohana answered her question as she scratched her head. Not long after, she added, ”Anyways, it's the sin of [L.u.s.t] that had possessed the two. If you think about it, it kind of made sense since those two are a couple.”
”How about the grade?” Nix questioned further before adding, ”Did you find anything about the level of sin we're up against?”
Click.
After Nix asked her that question, Shirohana snapped her fingers as she muttered a few incantations in a hasty manner, with a few wisps of energy coming out of her mouth before being absorbed by the white orb on the desk.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
In a matter of a second, Nix hastily found out that the orb was not purely white at all. Not only that, she hastily found out that the white light that covered the orb was also something that Shirohana had purposely done as an ominous aura emanated from the now dark orb, covering the room in an atmosphere that made the two feel like they were in the depths of the underworld.
It did not take long for Nix to sense this aura, hastily making a few gestures with her hands as she covered the dark orb in the desk with a translucent barrier, limiting the aura of the orb to the desk it laid upon. After doing so, she scrutinized the dark orb, eventually noticing that in the center of the dark orb was a dark sigil that was extremely familiar to her. While looking at the sigil, it invoked some dark memories from her past, a past that was filled with hardsh.i.p.s and incessant fighting.
After reminiscing about those bad memories for a while, Nix hastily placed them on the back of her mind as she could not help but look at Shirohana and ask, ”You do know what this is, right?”
”How could I not? I was also in the First Divine Demon War, remember?” Shirohana replied with a light sigh. ”Anyways, it's the Demon's Mark I've obtained from the two. I was actually surprised that it was that condensed.”
”It would take me a while to find out what grade this sin is, but it would allow me to alert the Immortal Verdict Wielders and possibly even the Supreme Guardians about this matter, reducing the impact the demons would have on the Celestial Plane,” Nix said after Shirohana replied to her question, grabbing a pair of black-rimmed glasses before wearing it as she started to lowly mutter some abstruse incantations.
While muttering, Nix used a strand of energy to connect her mind with Shirohana's mind, allowing her to continue talking with her as she examined the Demon's Mark.
”Do you have any guesses as to what grade the sin in this Demon's Mark might be?” Nix asked through the strand of energy, with Shirohana replying not long after, ”I made a rough guess while I was on their island, I hope it's not real though.”
”What do you mean by that?” Nix could not help but ask, sensing the faint aura of fear surrounding Shirohana.
”Deified Sin.” At the very moment she had uttered these two words through their connection, Nix could not help but stop in her chanting, looking at Shirohana with slight shock as she could not help but shout, ”Deified Sin?! You do know that the strongest sin we've come across in the First War is a Unified Sin, right?!”
”Of course, I know that,” Shirohana let out a long sigh as she responded. She then added, ”That's why I don't want the Demon's Mark inside the sin to be of that grade.”
Hearing Shirohana's reply, Nix could not help but let out a sigh as well before returning to examine the orb, saying through the strand of energy, ”A Unified Sin is already at the level of a Greater God. A Deified Sin would already be at the level of an Immortal Verdict Wielder. Would the Celestial Plane even be able to handle that?”
”I don't know. I don't know at all.” As Shirohana replied to her question, she could not help but recall the memories of the First Divine Demon War in her mind, remembering the grueling experiments and sacrifices she had seen and done in order for the Celestial Plane to survive the onslaught of demons. And that onslaught was only led by a Unified Sin!
At the very moment she finished reminiscing, Nix had already finished examining the dark orb on the desk, dispelling the barrier that surrounded it before casting a shroud on the surface of the orb. Shirohana looked at Nix, wondering as to what grade of sin was in the Demon's Mark, only to find out that a frown was on Nix's face as she radiated an aura of slight fear.