As the golden flames burnt through Mequik's body, she slowly disappeared from everyone's perception together with the presence of her Pathway.
As far as Negary understood, Eternal Heat's flames were sacred flames derived from his Pathway, which, as his name suggested, burned eternally. Even if this was only Mequik's clone, the flames would follow the connection between the clone and the original to reach her, which would damage more than just a clone.
〖 To set up this trap, Mequik was even willing to receive such an attack? 〗
〖 Or was Red Tears' attack so sudden that Mequik couldn't react to it in time? 〗
Negary took notice and kept this question in mind. Details were very important, as grasping such details would make it possible for him to predict how an entity would act, as well as how the other party would react when they came into contact with his plans in the future.
Regardless, the fact that Mequik had given up on the Great Magus affirmed the other Righteous Gods that something crucial was truly on Lisa's body. Because if not, Mequik didn't need to get rid of the Great Magus so quickly; her earlier forceful extraction wouldn't have given her much information on his Pathway, even if he was about to go out of control, it would have been better for her to take him with her.
The fact that Mequik had given up on the Great Magus and even fed him to Lisa meant that she held the artifact inside Lisa's body in higher regard compared to the Great Magus. Perhaps she hadn't left at all, only pretending to do so to bide her time.
The mass of vitality mana made from the Great Magus' body didn't enter Lisa's body at all, a red glow had manifested around Lisa to stop it from going in. At the same time, some fluctuations could be felt, Negary sensed an unfamiliar aspect of reality opening up, then felt the Divine Artifact inside Lisa's body being stimulated.
Negary's gaze turned towards the bloody tear that appeared at the corner of Lisa's eye, trying to discern more of Red Tears' capabilities.
〖 Earlier when Red Tears shrieked, she used sound as the catalyst to deliver some sort of force that stimulated my soul structure, but since my soul was the world virus, its structure was firm enough to only be slightly shaken 〗
〖 On the other hand, even Mequik's Pathway was disturbed by that attack, showing that Mequik's weakness might be with her soul. If Eternal Heat had used a soul attack, Mequik might have been injured more severely 〗
〖 With that observation, Red Tears' Pathway could be closely related to the soul. The fact that she rejected the Great Magus' vitality flow means that Red Tears couldn't really handle life-related attacks. After all, the so-called Withered breeding process didn't concern Pathways too heavily, anyone with a bit of research regarding the Principles of life would be able to reverse it without much issue 〗
〖 In other words, while I can easily devour the Great Magus if I was in Red Tears' situation, Red Tears has no means of dealing with it, proving her shortcomings regarding life-related Principles. It was because Mequik understood this that she discarded the Great Magus and handed him to Lisa 〗
〖 The other Righteous Gods also knew this since they didn't try to block the Great Magus' vitality flow, their goal was to force Red Tears to give up on her previous advantage 〗
Negary quickly analyzed the clash of wits that went into that short exchange.
It truly must be said, there was meaning behind the actions of every Righteous God. Having reached the point where they were able to manifest a Pathway, although their thought processes couldn't be said to be completely foolproof, it was at least coherent and had their own order, unless they were the same as Concealed Demise who followed a chaotic Pathway.
In that case, Red Tears must also have her own plans. She was a conceptual being created from a cursed ritual; for the sake of revenge, a certain woman sacrificed everything and created Red Tears. Afterwards, she had been captured and experimented on by a witch, then became the worshipped totem of some tribes, exerting a lot of effort to eventually reach the level of a Pathway Entity.
She was rooted in a certain phenomenon that occurred to women. As long as this female-specific occurrence still existed, she would not die. She could also borrow this occurrence to rapidly move between places, and she was now taking advantage of this phenomenon, hoping to take the Divine Artifact inside Lisa's body and leave.
Negary wasn't the only one who noticed Red Tears' attempt to leave, or rather, the other Righteous Gods understood what Red Tears was trying to do much better than he did. As Red Tears was a living being manifested from a phenomenon, her existence wasn't weak, but her characteristics made it near impossible for her to comprehend life-related Pathways.
This matter had always been her flaw, and she was hurriedly trying to obtain the Divine Artifact and leave in order to make up for this flaw.
"I can't just let you take that and leave" on the other side of the hall, a middle-aged man openly stated this. A sort of force that compelled living beings to dance seemed to be imbued in his voice.
In Negary's eyes, this middle-aged man was a gigantic ocean fish. From his head to his back, numerous boney spikes protruded in a straight line, his jaws capable of opening up to an impossible degree, a pair of razor-like long fins had grown from his sides, while tiny intercepting tentacles could be seen below his body.
This was Eulogy of the Ocean Depths' true form. The middle-aged man that he had taken over had also been completely modified, while he still appeared human, he would turn into a mer-human monster as soon as he touched seawater. Even now, his body was giving off a nauseating stench of fish.
Without anyone noticing, several arcs that carried the aura of life had extended from the Mana Fetus and connected to Eulogy of the Ocean Depths. The Divine Artifact that was originally going out of control began to calm back down.
In the past, it was Eulogy of the Ocean Depths and Mequik who killed the Scion of Life together. He was able to steal the authority of life of this world from the Scion of Life, and by using this advantage, he was able to silently connect to the Divine Artifact while appearing like he hadn't done anything.
On the other hand, Negary had also acted following Eternal Heat. As the golden beads converged, they manifested two eyeballs, one imbued with the power of Error, the other imbued with the power of Impurity.
The eyeballs simultaneously unleashed two rays of energy that were attracted to a golden bead that was shot out at the same time. They began to spin around the golden bead to form a forward spiraling projectile that radiated a dangerous aura.
Thanks to his various experiments, although Negary was still unable to fuse the powers of Impurity and Error, it was no problem for him to utilize them.
This attack was the result of all his research, which Negary called the [Ray of Obliteration], the most destructive attack in Negary's arsenal.
Being targeted by the golden flame and Negary's [Ray of Obliteration] while the Divine Artifact was being restrained by Eulogy of the Ocean Depths, immediately giving up and retreating seemed like the best choice that Red Tears had.
『 Anote! 』the name of a God was spoken by Red Tears through Lisa's mouth, followed by the sensation of being probed and stolen from that appeared in Negary's mind.
Anote was similar to Mequik, a unique name with a singular meaning. As soon as anyone heard it, they would recognize it to be The Unreachable Gate's name.
〖 Has he allied himself with Red Tears? 〗
