PFC Chapter 4531 The Darkest Night (59)
Chapter 4531 The Darkest Night (59)
Chapter 4531 The Darkest Night (Fifty-Nine)
As Schiller and his party reached the cliff, heavy, dark clouds loomed over the horizon. In such weather, the sea was not clear, but rather exceptionally deep, making the waves crashing against the cliff appear even paler. A gust of wind blew by, carrying a salty, fishy smell.
They walked all the way to the top of the cliff, and when they looked down, the sea was bottomless. It was hard to imagine that there was land below, as if it were a dark pane of glass separating two worlds. If they looked down, perhaps they could touch another sky.
"Could it be underwater?" Jason frowned; this was clearly the worst-case scenario. Humans fear the ocean far more than the sky, especially since this sea looked so ominous.
Just as they were all looking out to sea, suddenly, a group of people dressed in black robes ran out from under the cliff. Before anyone could see what was happening, they formed a circle on the beach, chanting something. The leader was holding a book.
"Oh no!" Constantine exclaimed, "The Book of Ibon?! Quick, stop them!"
With a "bang," Victor fired, hitting the leader, but without interrupting the ceremony. Jason then fired as well, knocking down another person, but still without much impact.
The cliff was too high and the distance too great; firearms weren't powerful enough, and a group attack wasn't feasible. Barry simply grabbed those with guns and used his Speed Force to bring them down. Amanda fired several shots, taking down several mysterious figures, while the others engaged in a chaotic battle with the group.
The investigation team had an overwhelming advantage and dealt with everyone in just a few minutes. Just as Schiller was about to go down and check on those suspected cultists, a deep chime came from the direction of Gotham Cathedral.
Everyone turned to look, and the sound of the bells carried further and further away. Schiller glanced down at his watch; now was not the time to ring the bells, and the pattern of their tolling was not that of a death knell.
Constantine screamed first, clutching his head and kneeling down, his fingers digging into the soil until blood quickly seeped out. Jason tried to help him up, but was pushed away. After Constantine stood up, he turned and looked towards the Atlantic Ocean like a walking corpse.
“Barry!” Schiller called out. Barry quickly pulled Constantine into the Speed Force, but then he himself couldn’t get out either.
"Boom-thump-thump-"
"We've fallen for their trap!" Jason shouted. "The summoning ritual wasn't on the beach at all, it was in the church! There's something wrong with the bells!"
The sky suddenly darkened, and a fierce wind howled across the cliff, making it difficult to stand. The ground began to tremble, as if a powerful earthquake had occurred, and huge whirlpools churned in the sea. A colossal shadow, like a black hole, appeared below the cliff.
The last glimmer of light was swallowed up, and everyone witnessed a total solar eclipse that wasn't actually a total solar eclipse. The day of etched light had arrived.
“I’ve always known that the strangeness in my eyes wasn’t an illusion; I always see these things before others. It’s always been that way, without exception.”
The tolling of the bells pounded in my brain, and I could even tell from the intensity of the pain what kind of monster they had summoned—death, darkness, and something unbearable to look at. The Indians were right; we should stay away from the sea.
As the total solar eclipse occurred, I felt my soul leaving my body, and the itching in my eyes became unbearable. Just as I reached up to touch my eyelids, I caught a glimpse of my friends collapsing out of the corner of my eye.
Of course I will not accept this. When I choose to abandon my past glory and embark on a more arduous and dark path, I never intend to bow down before any god. I have always been this way, without exception.
The notes churned my brain, bringing forth more hallucinations, more like dizziness than pain. I would rather have that tearing agony, for that would have brought me back to my senses. This dizziness, however, felt more like a wonderful poison, tasting so pleasurable.
Just as I was about to become completely absorbed in the ritual, a soft 'click' pulled me back to reality. I knew the ritual had worked. Those who had cursed me would surely help me as well. God of a Thousand Faces, let me see for you what kind of monster lurks beneath the sea—may the lurking chaos protect him.
I put on the mask, the tuft of black feathers swaying before my eyes. Suddenly, the song of the Native Americans rang in my ears, as if from a distant time and space, carrying an indescribable sorrow and desolation. The souls of the Native Americans have never left. In my hazy vision, my feet sank into the red earth, the reflection of the firelight blurred and indistinct, and the tolling of bells echoed through the sky and the earth.
In the boundless sea, a gigantic, black void, as if trying to hollow out the earth, was slowly rising. I began to dance, following the steps, and heard the priest chanting His name—'Curse of Shekun'.
“Finally.” Victor slapped his thigh, stood up, and began pacing around the study. “The name is finally out. It wasn’t for nothing that I’ve read this far.”
Victor continued flipping through the pages, but when he saw what came next, his eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Wait a minute, how come it's a bad ending?!"
“Of course it has to be a bad ending,” Constantine said. “We don’t have the power to directly reverse the fact that the sun is going out, but we can work on the causes.”
Victor raised an eyebrow and said, "So that's why you called us here. You also want us to write a bad ending?"
“That’s right.” Constantine nodded and said, “I asked you to save the man, but you made the investigation a complete failure.”
“Tell me more,” Jason said, clearly already having an idea.
"To reiterate, directly altering the outcome of the sun being extinguished would require far too much energy, and I'm not entirely confident I can succeed. However, changing the cause while keeping the outcome the same is much simpler."
"You mean, the fact that the sun was extinguished was done by that so-called Cursed Xie Kun?" Victor frowned. "But what's the point? Doesn't it matter who did it?"
“That’s different,” Constantine said with a smile. “What the Curse of Xie Kun brought was just a total solar eclipse, and a total solar eclipse on a mystical level, not a total solar eclipse that everyone can see.”
Victor was taken aback. He was a complete idiot when it came to mysticism and still didn't quite understand. Jason, however, had already grasped the point. He explained, "Although they are both mysterious entities, their scientific understanding is different. The mastermind behind extinguishing the sun clearly understands physics. It can directly exert a decaying force on the sun, causing it to rapidly evolve into a black dwarf, thereby achieving the goal of extinguishing the sun. But the Outer Gods can't do that."
Why not?
"This system is highly mystical, a very pure form of mysticism. They don't know who they are, where they are, or what they are supposed to do. All the disasters they bring are due to their mystical nature, which is clearly completely unscientific."
"so?"
"Therefore, the disasters they bring are entirely on the mystical level. Outer gods cannot physically extinguish the sun because they do not have that function. If we change the reality to the fact that the eternal night is caused by the disasters brought by the Outer gods, then the sun that was originally extinguished on a physical level will become a total solar eclipse in the mystical sense."
Jason pointed to the top of his head and continued, "In other words, the reason why the sky is still dark is not because some behind-the-scenes force that controls the power of death has accelerated the evolution of the sun, but because some Outer God has descended."
Victor suddenly realized and said, "No wonder you wouldn't let us write about the mastermind behind it all."
“Because that’s dangerous,” Constantine said. “If we went head-to-head with him, we wouldn’t need the Graylight Ring to change reality. We’re taking this indirect approach to play to our strengths and catch him off guard, without alerting him first.”
"But even if we use the power to alter reality to summon an Outer God, he'll still try to extinguish the sun. What if he succeeds again if we don't create some scenario to resist him?"
“That’s the problem,” Jason said. “If Outer Gods occupy the occult sun, will it affect the real sun?”
Victor looked at Constantine. Constantine said, "That depends on the status of the Outer God, of course. Actually, the one we invited is not an Outer God, but an Old One, but equally powerful. More importantly, it is known as the 'God of Death' and the 'Primordial Darkness'."
"It sounds a bit like the mastermind behind everything," Victor said after thinking for a moment. "They're all associated with death and darkness."
“That’s right. That’s exactly what we need,” Constantine explained. “While the mastermind can use physical means, his death power is clearly still a power of mysticism and rules, and at a very high level. Only the corresponding life force can counter it, but we have too little life force that we can control.”
"Instead of seeking the power of life to restrain him, it would be better to seek out the power of darkness and death from another system to clash with him and compare who is stronger. Although the power of death of the mastermind is from a local school and has a very high status, it may not be stronger than the god of death from another system."
"why is that?"
“Because mysticism has to be mysterious enough.” Constantine tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest. “Sometimes, people are afraid of mysterious beings that can significantly interfere with the real world, like the mastermind behind extinguishing the sun on a physical level. But these beings also have a fatal weakness, which is that they are not mysterious enough.”
"Because of their strong connection with the real world, they have transformed into beings that resemble 'living things,' more like intelligent life forms that wield powerful magic."
Victor and Jason both nodded. That was the impression this mastermind gave them; he didn't seem like a mysterious being, but rather like a powerful sorcerer who used the power of death as a tool to achieve his evil ambitions.
“That’s certainly not mysterious enough,” Constantine said. “It makes his death power just power, not a truly mysterious rule. The power of the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones lies in the fact that they are truly mysterious beings. They have no agency, no intelligence, and they don’t even truly ‘exist.’ This makes their attributes closer to rules, like the laws of nature, something that no tangible life can directly look at.”
"Therefore, the clash between the two sides does not necessarily mean that the mastermind will win. Even if he gains the upper hand, it doesn't matter, because as long as he cannot fully understand the Outer Gods and the Great Old Ones, he cannot shake the sun that is already shrouded in the rules of the Great Old Ones."
Jason seemed thoughtful. He said, "It's like putting a combination lock on the sun?"
“That’s right,” Constantine said. “Until the Cursed One abandons his compilation of the Sun, the mastermind cannot directly influence the Sun in his own way, unless he can fully understand the Great Old Ones.”
"Can't he?" Victor asked.
“I would like him to try,” Constantine said, standing up. “The depths of the stars have been too peaceful for too long—it’s time to fire another shot.”