386: Your belief is my guiding light.

Marked.

When that familiar power of Laws, carrying the sense of judgment, locked onto her firmly, Li Hanyue's heart actually calmed down completely.

There was no fear.

No resentment.

She only felt a bit of regret.

Regret that she couldn't take one more look at that fool waking up.

"Stop it!"

In the channel, it was Fatty Zhang's sobbing roar.

"Charge! Everyone charge! Buy time for Sister Hanyue!"

"Damn it, even if we die, we'll bite a piece of its skin off!"

Dozens of remaining Xin Huo Members, carrying the intent of certain death, launched a charge once again from the various collapsed tunnels.

They were like moths to a flame; knowing that destruction lay ahead, not a single one retreated.

The [Bishop Puppet]'s dark gold body remained motionless.

It didn't even make any extra movements.

That invisible Death Force Field expanded outward for a moment.

Puff. Puff. Puff.

The dozen or so warriors charging at the front had their bodies disintegrate directly in mid-air, turning into the most insignificant dust without even letting out a scream.

This was the gap between the divine and the Mortal.

Numbers and will were meaningless before absolute Laws.

However, Li Hanyue moved.

She didn't run.

The moment she was locked onto by that terrifying will, the Sword Essence in her body actually burned frantically at an unprecedented speed!

Her sword was not meant for running away.

The cold sword light bloomed once again.

This time, it was more brilliant and more resolute than before!

Her entire being transformed into a stream of light, human and sword as one, piercing straight toward the crowned head of the [Bishop Puppet]!

"Don't go!"

"Sister Hanyue!"

The tragic cries of the survivors were left behind her.

The [Bishop Puppet]'s featureless face finally showed a hint of a reaction.

It slowly raised one of its arms.

That arm was not made of flesh and blood, but was composed of countless complex, dark gold Law Runes. Its movement in raising the arm was incredibly slow, yet it seemed to trigger the Law of the entire space.

It wasn't attacking.

It was passing judgment.

At the end of the arm, its five fingers spread open, palm aimed at the sword light rising against the tide.

An invisible concept representing "Ending" and "Erasure" condensed in its palm.

Li Hanyue could clearly feel her existence being "stripped" from this world.

Her sword light began to dissolve inch by inch at a distance of ten meters from the opponent.

Her person, her Soul, every trace of her existence was being forcibly cleared by an incomprehensible and irresistible power.

This was Divine Punishment.

"Brother Fan..."

In the moment before her consciousness fell completely into darkness, the face that flashed through Li Hanyue's mind was still that man's.

It's over.

Everything is over.

In the ruins of the Command Hall, before the communication console, Fatty Zhang watched as the light dot representing Li Hanyue's life signal rapidly dimmed on the screen and finally went out completely. He slumped to the ground as if all his strength had been drained.

"No..."

Deep in the Mining Area, inside the Emergency Shelter.

Zhao Linger held Lin Fan's cold body and saw that desperate scene through a small monitoring screen.

Tears fell silently.

Hanyue... is also gone.

Their last line of defense, that woman who had just stood up to carry everyone's burden, had disappeared just like that...

Despair, like the deepest darkness, swallowed everyone.

"Why..."

"Why is it like this..."

"Lord Lin Fan... please wake up..."

The remaining Xin Huo Members watched as that dark gold deity instantly obliterated dozens of their companions, and watched as their last hope, the Sword Immortal Li Hanyue, turned into nothingness.

The bloody courage in their hearts was completely extinguished.

In its place was endless grief and confusion.

Why does God not open his eyes?

Their belief, their guardian deity, had fallen and never risen again.

And now, even the guardian who held the sword for him had passed away as well.

"Protect Lord Lin Fan..."

A blood-soaked warrior knelt on the ground and used his last strength to let out a murmur like a sleep-talker.

This murmur was like a spark.

It ignited the deepest obsession in everyone's hearts that had never been extinguished.

"Protect Lord Lin Fan!"

"We... can still fight! For Lord Lin Fan!"

"He pulled us out of Hell; we cannot let him be erased like this!"

"Kindling... Kindling is Indestructible!"

"Please... wake up!"

Intentions of grief, despair, or prayer rose up from every corner of the Mining Area and from every dying heart.

These thoughts were as weak as dust.

They could not shake the [Bishop Puppet] in the slightest, nor could they change this desperate situation.

But they penetrated the boundaries of matter, crossed the barriers of space, and converged toward the same source.

That silent deep sea of consciousness belonging to Lin Fan.

Here was a void.

After burning the "True Self," nothing was left here.

No light, no darkness, no time, no space.

Only an absolute silence representing "The End."

Lin Fan's consciousness should have dissipated forever in this silence.

However.

A speck of light abruptly appeared in this void.

It was the purest thought of a Kindling member before death: "Protect Lord Lin Fan."

Next came a second speck, a third... "Please wake up!"

"Kindling is Indestructible!"

"We are the shield!"

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of light specks appeared out of thin air.

They were beliefs, prayers, the most precious things that three hundred people who had died once could offer.

These light specks turned into warm currents and surged toward the center of this void, toward those almost invisible... Soul Embers.

They were like spring rain, moistening the earth that was parched to the extreme.

Thread by thread, strand by strand, they re-aggregated those "ashes" that were about to dissipate completely.

Inside the dim shelter.

Zhao Linger was weeping while holding Lin Fan.

Suddenly, she felt something.

The body in her arms, which was so cold it lacked any breath of a living person, seemed to have a trace of imperceptible change.

Was it an illusion?

She couldn't believe it, and only subconsciously held him tighter.

The Mining Area battlefield.

After erasing Li Hanyue, the [Bishop Puppet]'s objective was complete.

It locked onto the last aura in the deepest part of the Mining Area that made its master feel angry.

It took a step.

It was going to perform the final purification.

However, at the moment it raised its foot.

Its body, composed of absolute Order, stalled for a moment without warning.

It was as if a line of unparsable garbled code had been entered into a precision instrument.

Its movement stalled for only 0.01 seconds.

But in that 0.01 seconds.

In that space it had "erased."

A cold sword light actually lit up again from "nothingness"!

Li Hanyue was not dead!

When Lin Fan finally burned his True Self and removed the shackles, that "will" that transcended the Law had left an ineradicable brand in the deepest part of her Soul!

This brand allowed her to keep a trace of her true spirit Indestructible at the moment she was "deleted"!

"Slash!"

A clear shout rang out from the void!

The [Bishop Puppet] seemed completely unprepared for this turn of events, and its body, which had just resumed operation, had no time to make any reaction.

That sword light, carrying a tragic desperation to counterattack, slashed fiercely at the same spot on its chest once again!

Crack!

This time, it was no longer a shallow white mark.

A clear crack appeared on the dark gold divine body!

And in Lin Fan's deep sea of consciousness.

In the Soul Embers re-aggregated by the rain of belief light, a tiny spark finally ignited once more.

His completely darkened System panel flickered violently at this moment.

[Warning! Unknown high-dimensional energy detected: Power Of Faith!]

[Host Soul Origin 99.9% annihilated; conventional restoration paths have failed!]

[Analyzing Power Of Faith... Emergency construction of a unique restoration solution...]

[Solution construction successful!]

A brand new set of golden text slowly appeared in the center of the panel.

[Unique restoration path opened: Gathering the beliefs of all living beings, forging a Mortal body... Godhead!]