Chapter Thirty-One: The Idol of the Evil God

The Star Spirit Empire also tested the sealing technique passed down to Ael, ultimately discovering that those who practice the Twilight Path are best suited to perform this art, followed by practitioners of the Void Path. Purifying psionic energy remains as before, strongly repelled by this kind of evil force, and if handled carelessly, may injure the other's soul.

Because there are few members who walk the Twilight Path, the Nerazim honorably took on this burden, rescuing innocent lives corrupted by the dark gods.

Meanwhile, on Midgard, S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered a mysterious statue in Essex County, Massachusetts, northeast of New York State.

The statue was found inside an abandoned church. Essex County police encountered an accident while driving and arrived at this long-deserted church.

Hyral hurriedly entered the building before him; the sudden thunderstorm had caught him unprepared, and he could only take temporary shelter inside. He had originally set out with another officer, but his companion, Macoff, abruptly complained of stomach pain and insisted on getting out of the car. Hyral had no choice but to pull over.

Unexpectedly, after waiting for dozens of minutes, Macoff was nowhere to be found. Worried that something had happened, Hyral grabbed his firearm and searched all around.

But misfortune struck: as soon as Hyral left, a thunderstorm suddenly descended. He wanted to return to the patrol car to escape the rain, but the downpour dramatically reduced visibility. After retracing his steps for ten minutes without finding the car, he had to keep moving in the same direction, hoping to return somehow.

He pressed on for an indeterminate length of time, until a flash of lightning revealed a building ahead. He dashed toward it and, upon entering, discovered it was an abandoned church.

Despite its derelict state, the church offered shelter from the wind and rain. Hyral didn’t hesitate and rushed inside.

The church seemed to have been abandoned for years; thick dust covered the pews. Yet Hyral’s expression remained tense and alert.

As soon as he stepped inside, he felt a gaze fixed intently upon him. Hyral heightened his vigilance and called out loudly, “Macoff, is that you?”

Macoff, the colleague with stomach pains, was unlikely to be the one watching him, but Hyral needed to break the eerie atmosphere pervading the church.

Approaching the pulpit, aided by lightning flashes, Hyral finally noticed what set this church apart.

Unlike most churches dedicated to Jehovah, adorned with crucifixes, this sanctuary bore the sculpture of a strange creature. Hyral studied it carefully: the statue roughly resembled a human form, but its head was like an octopus, with numerous tentacles. Its body was carved with scales, massive clawed feet, and a pair of elongated wings on its back.

The moment he saw the statue, an instinctive discomfort welled up inside him. Shaking it off, he dismissed it as mere unease at the sight of such a monstrous figure.

“Is this a cult’s church? Why have I never heard of any cults around here?” Hyral thought, the bizarre statue naturally leading him to suspect some heretical sect, for it was truly grotesque.

As he reached the pulpit, the sensation of being watched grew stronger. Hyral disengaged the safety on his handgun; if this was indeed a cult’s headquarters, there might still be some members lurking about.

Following his intuition, Hyral slowly moved behind the strange statue—and there he witnessed a scene that sent chills through him.

His teammate, Macoff, stared wide-eyed in his direction. The gaze he’d felt was coming from Macoff, but the state of Macoff’s body—head separated from his torso—told Hyral his partner was dead.

Yet what terrified Hyral most was not Macoff’s death. Macoff’s corpse was contorted into an unnatural posture, limbs twisted in ways no human could achieve, a strange smile frozen on his face. In Macoff’s right hand, he clutched a small statue identical to the one behind him. Judging by the bloodstains and the scene, Macoff had apparently used the statue to slice open his own throat and twist his limbs into that grotesque position.

But how could that be possible? Hyral forced himself to calm down, examining the scene carefully by lightning’s glow. He preliminarily determined it was the primary crime scene, but the manner of death was so bizarre he could not believe his colleague had suddenly committed suicide, nor that such a scene could result from suicide.

The thunderstorm severely interfered with Hyral’s communications equipment. Unable to contact headquarters, he could only remain onsite and guard the scene.

Once he no longer felt any other eyes upon him, his nerves eased. Exhaling deeply, Hyral sat aside, gradually losing control of his consciousness and drifting into sleep.

While he slept, the smile on Macoff’s face slowly widened, the bloodstains on the strange statue gradually vanished, and the statue slipped from Macoff’s hand, floating over to Hyral’s grasp. Macoff’s corpse, meanwhile, resumed its normal appearance—the terrible contortions disappeared, though the massive gash remained on his neck, now impossible to attribute to the statue.

When Hyral awoke from his slumber, the first thing he noticed was his own hand tightly clutching the strange statue. The shock instantly brought him to full alert, and the memories of the previous night flooded back.

“How did I fall asleep? No—what’s the story with this statue? Am I going to be suspected of killing Macoff?” Hyral looked up, blinking in disbelief.

Macoff’s body was no longer twisted; his head and torso were reunited, leaving only the deep wound. Hyral could hardly believe it.

“Was it all just a hallucination? But what about this statue? This place is truly cursed!” Hyral muttered under his breath, quickly pulling out his phone to call the station. He felt sunlight from outside—the storm had passed.

“Hello! This is Hyral! Macoff is dead!…”

Several hours later, a squadron of police cars surrounded the abandoned church. Hyral, as both the first discoverer and the prime suspect, was taken back to the station. Macoff’s body was sent for forensic examination, while the strange statue, unnoticed by everyone, remained in Hyral’s hand.