Chapter 375: Gluttony, Helplessness

Beelzebub did not die; it even had the leisure to savor the feeling of being stirred by a sense of crisis, causing its authority to instinctively condense from obscurity.

This proved that it had evaded the youth savior, who had once crossed the veil of concepts, disregarding all laws, authority, and means, and wielding a terrifying perception that defied all logic.

One must understand that, in the latter stages of the other’s growth, even the mighty Calamity God would actively fragment itself, hiding within countless layers of Historical Echoes, the Slit World, the vast cosmic expanse, microscopic dimensions, and the Sea of Truth—only to be traced by fate, locked on by intuition, forced to confront the flames of Levatin, fighting until annihilation.

But now…

This savior, having transformed, had become decrepit, weary, silent, like ashes, no longer carrying the warmth of the past, dull enough that even a damaged apostle could not perceive her.

Indeed, just as the Lords had said, the instant of yesterday’s fleeting brilliance was her final afterglow; to reclaim her past power, she would have to relinquish the suppression of Pure White and truly fight for her life.

Otherwise, she would be nothing more than burned firewood, a dead and silent furnace, forever stripped of the terrifying intuition that could pierce through countless conspiracies, an intuition even more irrational than foresight and impossible to deceive.

How delightful is that? Without this exceptional existence, the Disaster group would immediately consume the perfect fruit brewed through countless world lines, abandon this intractable world, move on to new civilizations, and commence a new evolution.

And thereafter,

Even if they encountered characters like this savior again, the Disaster group, having absorbed all their nutrients, would no longer face defeat.

The Beast of Love’s heart surged with emotion; it delighted in simulating the emotional mechanisms of beings, but unfortunately, its gluttonous side was overwhelmingly strong, such that the half-hearted visions of humans popping champagne lasted only a few seconds of satisfaction before being devoured by the craving for the other’s flesh and blood.

Yet despite this, it made no move, unleashed no hint of killing intent, but instead drew its senses tighter, allowing the black lines writhing in its eye sockets to decay and slide down, no longer distributing flyers, like a weary employee succumbing to the lingering heat of late summer, sitting outside the shop, lost in idle reverie.

Chu Yuanying had indeed grown weaker, but killing her was utterly wishful thinking.

That young hero, who had relentlessly battled thirteen Calamity Gods and driven the Disaster group to the brink, who had harvested everything from his own side in the posture of a predator, had forged too many incredible miracles; even in his current frailty, it was impossible to simply kill the other party.

The best and luckiest outcome would be to force Chu Yuanqing to burn out all her power prematurely, but that would only cause her to merge with Pure White, to embrace myriad blessings in her final moment, and return at her peak bearing the ideals of the masses, dragging all the Lords to perish alongside her.

Even Lucifer, the Apostle representing pride within the Beast of Love, had to admit that during Chu Yuanqing’s prime, even without the authority of the thirteen Calamity Gods, she could thoroughly crush the Disaster group and seize half of the Calamity Gods without difficulty.

And that half consisted of crucial mainstays—many planets, civilizations, and transcendental sources consumed by the Disaster group, nurtured over countless years—essential to the final ultimate evolution, absolutely not to be lost.

Moreover, who could be certain that this savior, upon reclaiming power and authority, would not ascend to an even higher and more terrifying realm under the shock of true death? Just as the Martial God Technique leapt from nothing to existence, the Disaster group was unwilling to gamble on this possibility.

Therefore, at this very moment, it curled up inside a ridiculous puppet, playing the part of a lowly, impoverished worker in human society, its goal to liberate the Disaster group through another form, to fulfill its grand vow.

“Chu Yuanying, you have not only weakened, but you also possess a flaw—a flaw even more obvious, more conspicuous, and more vulnerable than before.”

The Beast of Love retracted the increasingly viscous malice in its decayed eyes and chuckled silently.

“Hello, may I ask if this is where the merchandise is picked up?”

Pei Xiaotong tilted her head and lowered her gaze at the Dream Weaver Rabbit puppet sitting idly in the chair. Hanging from her arms were many shopping bags; she was eating ice cream, her pink lips stained with chocolate, looking quite adorable.

Beelzebub’s train of thought was interrupted. After a moment of silence, it restrained the urge to turn and look at Chu Yuanqing, who concealed herself with a perception incantation, methodically recalling memories before saying in a formal tone:

“Twinkling Dream Weaver Rabbit, may I ask which keychain the customer prefers?”

Pei Xiaotong shamelessly and confidently uttered the slogan:

“Godly Qing is great, no need for further words.”

This quirky slogan was the outcome of online votes for the milk tea store’s collaboration, each idol participant receiving a unique slogan by popular choice.

The Beast of Love smiled warmly and said:

“There is only one keychain of Chu Yuanqing left here; please take good care of it.”

Pei Xiaotong was exceedingly delighted. She had visited three shops and bought three milk tea sets, finally completing a set for Honey Qing. Suppressing her impulse to shout “Hooray!”, she happily expressed her thanks.

“Big brother who plays Dream Weaver Rabbit, you are so kind.”

“…Excuse me, do you need a gift bag?”

“Yes, do you have a bag with Honey Qing’s image on it?”

“We don’t have that here anymore, but we still have Tang Liuli’s.”

Pei Xiaotong was not too disappointed; she nodded and said,

“A cat one? That’s pretty cute too, thanks.”

The little girl took the collaborative merchandise from Beelzebub. She tugged at her collar, feeling the stifling heat and the sweat forming on her forehead, thinking that the employees wearing the Dream Weaver Rabbit plush costume must be unbearably hot.

Thinking of this, Pei Xiaotong simply handed a cup of iced lemon tea to the other party, took a flyer, then hurriedly said goodbye and went to meet Honey Ling, completely unaware that her own promotion was right inside this milk tea shop.

Inside the shop,

Chu Yuanqing glanced back at Beelzebub thoughtfully. For a moment, she sensed something strange, but that unusual feeling was like a memory swiftly corrected by the Sea of Truth, leaving only a subtle trace in her chest.

For some inexplicable reason, her attention was drawn to the stranger wearing a Dream Weaver Rabbit plush costume, like a lighthouse veiled by thick fog and storms, its light flickering in and out of her mind, sometimes surfacing, sometimes fading away in her memory.

Beelzebub’s body stiffened; it tried hard to maintain calm, like a mortal standing face to face with a demon, not daring to breathe. Even its terrifying monstrous outer shell was carefully covered by a mimicry layer, imitating human skin and posture.

At this moment, the Beast of Love, accustomed to mimicking and entering human form, chose to abandon all control and understanding of emotions, turning itself into the most base and lowly species, regaining a deathly calm undisturbed by the collapsing sky.

Beelzebub’s disguise was perfect. As such an apostle, it could house disaster aura and power deeply in the subordinate dimension of [Amahl], meanwhile inheriting the extreme authority of original sin. It was an alternative conceptual species; sensing its disaster aura alone would never reveal it.

Sure enough, Chu Yuanqing only glanced at it a few times before looking away, and after buying milk tea and leaving with a group of little idols, she never looked back again, apparently unaware of its true identity.

Half an hour later,

The Beast of Love’s shattered pupils twitched as they healed; chunks of flesh moved, black worm-like lines spinning and cleansing several strands of deep red light. It diligently continued its “work,” relying on the large crowd flow to plant the seed of the “Holy Communion.”

But this time, when the swirling red light touched the other party’s fingertips, it miraculously lingered and froze, then disintegrated under some incredible force.

“Gluttony, Beelzebub.”

In a daze, thoughts froze.

The passerby’s mask shattered, revealing their true face.

The girl lowered her eyes and looked over, her beautiful pupils infinitely magnified in Beelzebub’s consciousness, deep and serene emerald light, as if bringing eternal peace.

—[Divine Control].

The condensed magic essence, like poison, forcibly pierced the soul’s intertwined layers, clearing away to deeper essence, pouring in weights tipping toward destruction, darkening the vision.

—[Mask].

Tang Liuli’s pale fingers brushed the plush costume’s head; the costume together with its flesh was crushed amidst expanding spikes, the twisted reality replaced with pure vacuum.

At Beelzebub’s location, besides the yet-to-be-delivered merchandise and flyers, only a cup of fully melted iced lemon tea remained.

“What a nuisance.”

The girl slightly frowned; this plush costume was only a sliver of herself, eradicating it was like using a drop to dry the sea. She sighed inwardly, withdrew her magic essence, and left the milk tea shop.

Xie Qingxuan watched the approaching person and consciously withdrew [The Power of the Titan], normalizing the other’s presence. In front of her sat Honey Qing in a wheelchair, and beside her was the seriously-faced Kirimi Miyuki.

“Is it resolved?”

Tang Liuli shook her head.

“Not completely; Sea City was in danger. You should go, as ‘The Power of the Titan’ might have had a way to capture existence and completely eliminate Beelzebub.”

“Right now… no one knew how much of its mark had spread.”

Beelzebub, the Beast of Love representing gluttony, was one of the strongest apostles under Amahl, whose power was closely related to gluttony. Besides stirring the gluttonous desires of all living beings, it also possessed many terrifying abilities.

The most chilling was the ability called “Holy Feast,” which could turn the Mark of Gluttony into food, allowing one to eat someone alive anytime by spreading it.

Simply put, it could create a cup of lemon tea or a box of fried rice from hundreds of thousands of miles away, and once consumed, the person marked by the Mark of Gluttony would be devoured alive in an instant; it was quite eerie and terrifying.

This was still the “elegant” method, involving certain rules; when Beelzebub was truly hungry, it could increase its power output and directly chew in the void, eating its prey.

Most people couldn’t remember clearly, but for Tang Liuli, who had gone through the cycle thousands of times and seen the same Calamity God and apostle methods numerous times, she had plenty of information about Beelzebub in her mind.

And because of this,

As Tang Liuli stepped onto Nanjing Street, observing from the perspective of Divine Control, she noticed the deep red in the souls of some people and immediately remembered that this was Beelzebub’s Mark of Gluttony. She strolled while searching for its true form.

Eventually, near the bubble tea shop linked to “Dazzling Stage,” she saw a dozen people marked with the Mark of Gluttony and narrowed down the general area.

Beelzebub’s disguise was very good; Divine Control could not see through its true nature. The souls of the disaster beast and humans were completely different, yet it had carefully woven a layer of disguise using human souls, with almost no flaws.

However, while observing multiple targets and using a wait-and-see strategy, it still revealed itself for a moment when marking with the Mark of Gluttony.

Xie Qingxuan shook her head.

“It’s difficult; it was not a bishop who had been patched up and could not use any power, but an apostle who controlled gluttony, able to sense the power of similar concepts, and its existence was harder to shake or capture.”

Tang Liuli was the most suitable person to deal with the avatar of gluttony. Her Divine Control had strong control and could even try to read memories and search for information, which was something her own blessing could not easily do.

“In any case, its avatar had no memories, was very cautious, and should have been in a poor state, like a Calamity Seed just hatched, afraid and unable to launch a large-scale ‘Holy Feast’.”

Tang Liuli analyzed.

“Additionally, Beelzebub would specifically stay in the store linked to the ‘Dazzling Stage’; it seemed to have too strong a purpose.”

“I suspected it was not simply hunting but wanted to swallow a large number of ‘Dazzling Stage’ fans at a crucial moment, which should be directly related to the performance in two days.”

This was easy to guess; otherwise, it was hard to explain why such a formidable apostle would sit in a bubble tea shop shouting ‘Bling Bling Dream Weaver Rabbit’ all day long.

Kirimi Miyuki felt heavy-hearted; for the current world, an apostle of a Calamity God was still too much to handle.

Moreover, this was only because Chu Yuanqing had kept them at bay; otherwise, it was hard to imagine how many more powerful and complete apostles would have escaped.

The Pure White Witch sat in a wheelchair, looking tired with her eyes slightly closed, her golden gaze shimmering softly. The Mercury Blood inside her flowed slowly, and each bit of magic essence felt heavy and hard to use.

Beelzebub, she had forgotten.

In her memory, there weren’t many powers on the conceptual side, but the Light of the Soul was enough to erase them.

Besides, using Gungnir one more time should have been able to eliminate Disaster Relief in the same way, through the cause-and-effect chains locked by fate.

Unfortunately, after awakening Eternal Intertwined Fate, she could have woven a spell directly without a stage, just like the Spiral Demon Sword, creating an Eternal Spear that could lock onto causes and effects.

But now, she had to leave it to the Countermeasures Bureau to handle.

The green-eyed cat crouched down to touch Honey Qing’s hair and comforted her:

“I have already told Dream Weaver Rabbit; just believe a little in the magic girls of this era.”

“Although everyone had not had the chance to grow yet, many people’s Patronus Magic in the Countermeasures Bureau was far more amazing than the usual blessings. There must be a way to solve this.”

Kirimi Miyuki softly comforted her, knowing how cruel and powerless it must have felt for Chu Yuanqing, who once fought against the Calamity God, to lose her powers and even her hard-earned instincts.

Chu Yuanqing remained silent, her delicate hand tightly gripping the flyer. Her knuckles were so white from holding on that she could hardly manage it. A little pressure made her shiver uncontrollably, causing the flyer to slip from her grasp and flutter away in the wind.

The flyer for the three performances of the “Dazzling Stage” spun in the air a few times before landing close to the wheelchair, not making a sound.