355: Is my underworld a place ruled by evil gods?

"Choose!"

Chen Yu let go, allowing Bato to collapse onto the ground.

She leisurely licked the sugar stains from her fingertips, her white dress spreading across the blood-stained floor like a white poppy blooming from rotten soil.

"Will you wear the royal robes and live as a dog, or..."

A chubby little hand suddenly pressed against the boy's chest, causing the skin over Bato's heart to bulge eerily.

The translucent outline of a Bone-Corroding Vine demon insect wriggled beneath his skin, the movement of its legs clearly visible.

"Let this little cutie burrow into your heart," Chen Yu said with a tilted head and a smile, revealing two sharp little canines.

"It can eat you into an empty shell within three breaths!"

The boy froze like a stone statue. The antennae of the Bone-Corroding Vine demon insect scraped against his ribs through his skin; the itching sensation carried a piercing pain that shot through his bone marrow to his limbs.

Yin Shu withdrew his light blade by half an inch and flicked his gauntlet, sending a scroll of an imperial edict hitting the ground with a "thwack."

The beast-hide scroll rolled to Bato's hand. The moment it unfurled, the four gold-embossed characters for "Abyss Church" suddenly glowed with divine runes. The light stung the boy's eyes with intense pain, causing tears to stream down uncontrollably.

"Sign it with your blood," Yin Shu said, his voice flat.

Chen Yu's toe kicked the boy's trembling knee as she said impatiently, "Hurry up, the little bug is getting hungry."

Bato's blood-stained hand tremblingly touched the edict. The beast-hide scroll erupted in ghostly green flames, sizzling as it scorched his skin.

An incoherent wail escaped the boy's throat. The Bone-Corroding Vine demon insect in his chest seemed stimulated by the flames, writhing excitedly under his skin with such force that even his ribs ached.

"I'll sign..."

Bato roared, pressing his bloody finger onto the end of the edict.

As soon as the golden-red beast blood soaked into the scroll, the bulging shadow of the insect in his chest vanished instantly, and the piercing pain receded with it.

Chen Yu clapped and laughed. "Good boy, that's more like it!"

She reached out to pull up the exhausted Bato, her fair fingers gently brushing over the wound between the boy's brows.

The mangled, bleeding flesh actually healed at a visible rate, eventually leaving behind only a faint, light-red mark.

"Remember this," Chen Yu whispered, standing on her tiptoes to get close to Bato's ear. Her soft voice was coated in honey but hid arsenic within.

"Your life was granted by the god. Every brick beneath the throne..." She tapped lightly on the boy's chest.

"...is buried with the eggs of the Bone-Corroding Vine."

The boy's pupils shrank to pinpoints, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

Yin Shu swung his light blade, snapping the iron chains on Bato's feet with a "clack," and his gauntleted hand hoisted the limp boy up.

Chen Yu hummed an off-key nursery rhyme as she skipped outward, her snow-white skirt sweeping across the shattered eyeballs of the jailers on the floor, picking up a small dark-red stain.

"Let's go! Good doggy." Her youthful voice echoed through the bloody air of the dungeon, lingering for a long time.

"We're going to be late for the coronation ceremony."

...The archway of the Orc Palace was stained with blood, and the Behemoth Royal Family flag hanging from the lintel was blackened by smoke.

A few strands of charred lion's mane were still tangled around the edges.

Chen Yu dragged Bato by his iron chain into the hall; the boy's staggering steps dragged across the polished floor tiles with a grating sound.

Every step landed on uncleaned blood scabs, leaving dark footprints behind.

The "ministers" standing on both sides of the hall were few and far between.

At the front of the left row was an old count of the Vulture Tribe, most of his feathers gone and a bandage wrapped around his forehead.

Three days ago, he had tried to contact the soldiers outside the city and had three ribs broken by a Guixu Walker.

At the very front of the right side was a female Shaman of the Snake-men Tribe. Her scales had lost their luster, and her hanging hands were twisted together inside her sleeves. Her younger brother had been shot dead at the city gates just yesterday for "refusing to submit."

Yin Shu stood guard at the hall door with his light blade over his shoulder, the uncleaned green spots on his black armor shimmering with a ghostly light.

As his gaze swept over the ministers and nobles, none dared to look up, and even their breathing became shallow.

"Stand straight."

Chen Yu stopped before the throne and kicked the back of Bato's knees. The boy fell to his knees with a "thud," the dull sound of his knees hitting the floor tiles echoing through the hall.

The White-Haired Loli turned and hopped onto the armrest of the throne, her right hand patting the gilded lion-head carving while her index finger toyed with the gem in the lion's eye.

"Almost everyone is here. Let's begin."

Old Buck entered through a side door carrying a beast-hide edict, his limp leaving uneven tracks across the hall.

When he reached Bato, he deliberately pushed the edict closer to the boy's face.

The jagged edge of the scroll scraped against Bato's chin—it had been cut by the edge of Grom's battle-axe.

"Read."

Chen Yu swung her legs, the hard candy crunching in her mouth.

Old Buck cleared his throat, his raspy voice spreading through the hall. "By the decree of the Abyss Church, Bato, the Fifth Prince of the Behemoth Tribe, is hereby established as the new king of the Kingdom of Barbatos."

"From this day forth, he shall inherit the royal bloodline and rule over all tribes of the nation..."

Bato's head was bowed very low; his trembling shoulders were clearly visible.

When the words "to serve the Abyss Church for all eternity under the supervision of the Guixu Walkers" were read, his fingernails dug deep into his palms. Droplets of blood fell onto the floor tiles and were instantly absorbed cleanly by magic.

The process was so simple it was almost perfunctory.

Having no crown, Chen Yu pulled an iron ring set with green gems from her robe and snapped it directly onto Bato's head.

This had been picked up from Rex's spoils of war; it was originally a collar.

"Kowtow to your new god," Chen Yu said, pointing her toe at the empty space above the throne.

Floating there was the bone-tablet insignia of the Abyss Church, its ghostly green light projecting onto Bato's face and dyeing his pupils an eerie green.

Just as Bato's forehead touched the floor tiles, a rustling sound suddenly came from the left.

The old Vulture Count hobbled forward a few steps with his cane, feathers falling constantly. "Your... Your Majesty! This subject has a matter to report."

Chen Yu raised an eyebrow and slid down from the armrest, circling the old count. "Oh? Does the old fossil have something to say?"

"Yes, yes!"

The old count nodded hurriedly, his cloudy eyes glancing at Yin Shu's light blade. "Now that the beast god... the beast god has long been unresponsive, the kingdom's turmoil has been settled entirely thanks to the Abyss Church."

"This subject believes that the Abyss Church should be established as the state religion."

As soon as these words were spoken, a collective gasp filled the hall.

The female Snake Shaman snapped her head up, her scales bristling, but she quickly lowered her head again upon meeting Chen Yu's gaze.

Seeing this, the old count became even more excited, his cane tapping rhythmically on the floor. "We can all see clearly that there must be a true god protecting the Abyss. Such world-destroying power is certainly not something possessed by orcs.

"We are willing to follow the new god and disregard the old god who has abandoned us."

His words spoke to the hearts of all the orcs present.

Grom's Bear Tribe, Rex's Blood Lion Tribe, Morton's Priest Corps... these former power-holders had been wiped out until not even bone fragments remained. The Abyss Church, which had accomplished all this, must surely have a terrifying evil god standing behind it.

Now that the beast god was slumbering, rather than clinging to an ethereal old faith, it was better to latch onto a new, powerful patron.

This was the consensus among all the survivors.

Chen Yu smiled and patted the old noble's bald head. "Interesting. What do you think, Your Majesty?"