387: I am forged by divinity, my mortal body astounds the gods.

Crack!

That distinct crack on the Bishop Puppet's dark-gold chest was incredibly jarring.

But it didn't care at all.

As an extension of the Elder's will and the manifestation of rules, its body was merely a vessel.

Damage was meaningless.

Its mission was purification.

And this woman who had returned from 'nothingness,' this existence that should have been completely erased, was the most serious provocation to the rules of 'purification.'

It had to be corrected.

Light flowed across the Bishop Puppet's dark-gold body.

The power of rules that had just been severed by Li Hanyue, the force locking onto her true spirit, condensed once more—and it was ten times stronger than before!

It intended to wipe away this error, along with every trace of her existence, from the very source!

The sword light Li Hanyue had just regrouped began to shatter inch by inch the moment it touched this power.

Her consciousness, which had just struggled back from the void, was once again dragged into endless darkness.

It was over.

This time, it really was the end.

She could clearly feel her Soul, her name, and every concept of her existence in this world being forcibly dismantled by an irresistible force, turning into nothingness.

The brand that had once protected her had exhausted its last bit of strength in that final, desperate strike.

She had no more trump cards left.

She didn't even have time to take one last look at that fool.

Darkness completely swallowed her... Deepest part of the Mining Area, Emergency Shelter.

Zhao Linger held Lin Fan tightly in her arms, her eyes brimming with tears as she watched the dot of light representing Li Hanyue's life fade away once more on the monitor.

Despair gripped her throat again.

Just then, she suddenly let out a short cry of alarm.

Scalding.

The body in her arms, which had been as cold as a corpse, began to heat up rapidly without warning.

It wasn't the warmth of life returning.

It was the searing heat of a volcano that had been dormant for ten thousand years suddenly erupting.

It was the terrifying high temperature of a piece of scrap iron being thrown into the Great Furnace of Heaven and Earth to be forged.

Zhao Linger felt like she wasn't holding a person, but a sun about to explode.

Her fair palms were instantly scalded red, and the smell of something burning even wafted into the air.

But she didn't let go.

Gritting her teeth, she used all her strength to hold him even tighter.

She didn't know what was happening.

But she had a strong intuition that this was Lin Fan's... last chance... Lin Fan's deep sea of consciousness.

This place was no longer a void.

It had transformed into a vast, boundless golden ocean formed by the convergence of countless motes of faith.

"Protect Lord Lin Fan!"

"The Kindling is Indestructible!"

"Please... wake up!"

The prayers of three hundred Souls and the cries of three hundred death-sworn hearts whipped up monstrous waves in this ocean.

All the light, all the voices, and all the thoughts surged frantically toward the center of the ocean.

Toward that pile of gathered, dim Soul embers.

Boom!

When the final wisp of the light of faith merged into it.

Those embers were completely detonated!

They were no longer burning; they were undergoing a world-shaking fusion!

On the System interface, the line of golden text erupted with unprecedented brilliance.

[Gathering the faith of all living beings, forging a Mortal body... Godhead!]

...Inside the shelter.

Lin Fan's eyes, which had been closed for so long, suddenly snapped open!

What kind of eyes were those?

No focus, no spirit.

Only a deep, pure golden sea of light that seemed capable of swallowing everything.

In that sea of light, countless faces were reflected.

There was the one-armed giant, the blood-soaked warriors, Fatty Zhang collapsed on the ground, and the tearful Zhao Linger... Every person from Kindling, their resolve before death, their deepest despair, and their final prayers all became the scenery within his pupils at this moment.

He didn't get up.

He didn't even breathe.

He merely moved his parched lips slightly.

A voice so calm it carried no emotion resonated in every corner of the Mining Area and echoed in the hearts of every survivor at the same instant, without passing through air or any other medium.

"I am here."

The moment the voice sounded.

On the battlefield.

The power of rules that the dark-gold Bishop Puppet was using to completely erase the last sliver of Li Hanyue's true spirit suddenly froze.

Time seemed to have been paused.

Those runes representing 'termination' and 'deletion' just stood still in mid-air, eerily suspended.

And Li Hanyue's true spirit, which was about to dissipate like a candle in the wind, was gently enveloped by a warm yet overbearing power.

That power was incredibly gentle, yet it carried an irresistible will.

It forcibly halted the process of 'erasure.'

It picked up the 'concepts of existence' belonging to Li Hanyue that were being dismantled, pieced them back together one by one, and then steadily pulled them back into this world.

The Bishop Puppet's body, composed of absolute Order, suddenly jolted.

This was the first time since its creation that an unparseable command appeared in its core logic.

A 'threat' signal lit up for the first time.

It didn't come from a physical level.

It was... a higher-dimensional will.

An absolute will that transcended the rules set by its master!

For the first time, its movements showed a human-like stiffness.

That featureless head slowly turned, locking onto a position other than its target for the first time.

The small, inconspicuous Emergency Shelter.

However, before it could perform any analysis.

That voice rang out once more in the depths of every existing Soul.

This time, the calmness was gone.

In its place was an ancient, unquestionable majesty.

"You have overstepped."