Shrouded Seascape

It was daybreak. The perpetually dark Subterranean Sea had welcomed its first-ever daybreak. There wasn't any sun up high, but a radiant light pervaded the entire Subterranean Sea.

The eyeballs all over Charles shriveled and retracted. The many different deformed organs all over Charles' tentacles and even his shadow receded slowly into the enormous rope on the ground.

Charles was human once more. He looked around before staring blankly at the bright sky. The jet-black rock layer above the Subterranean Sea had turned out to be of an earthen yellow color rather than jet black.

"What what the hell is going on?" Charles muttered to himself.

Thud, thud, thud

A series of dull thuds echoed incessantly behind Charles. He turned and saw the Divine Light Order followers, whose eyes were sealed with wax, sprawled out on the ground. Clearly, the warm sunlight was poison to them.

This was just the beginning. The same dull thuds rang out from every single ship of varying sizes around the platform. Millions of Divine Light Order followers went limp and collapsed to the floor with smiles on their faces.

Charles watched them die for a while until his eyes suddenly filled with fear; he had just recalled something. He looked down at the Pope, who was on the verge of death, and lifted the latter off of the ground, asking, "Does does this light illuminate only this sea region?! Answer me! Hurry up!"

The Pope's lips parted into a smile as he replied, "Hehehe, you've grossly underestimated the power of a god if you think that His light will illuminate this sea region alone."

"Damn it all!" Charles raised his right fist and smashed it into the Pope's face.

The Pope only had the upper half of his body remaining, so Charles' punch sent him flying quite easily. The Pope tumbled on the ground as if he were a broken doll.

"It's the entire Subterranean Sea!" Charles' hoarse roar reverberated throughout the platform. "The entire Subterranean Sea! The entire subterranean sea is now enveloped in sunlight! Do you not have any idea how many people will die because of what you did?!

"The measly ten million or so people of the Albion Isles cannot compare to the entire Subterranean Sea! You've essentially wiped out every single human being here!"

The Pope's head drenched in his golden blood twitched ever so slightly. Soon, an aged voice drifted out of his mouth as he said, "Yes, many people will die, but what does that have to do with me?

"As long as He breaks out, it's going to be worth it no matter the casualties."

Charles' eyes were bloodshot, and he quivered violently. He almost lost control of himself due to the extreme anger that pervaded his heart.

Charles had always considered himself a selfish person, but he couldn't remain indifferent in the face of the possibility that humans might soon become extinct throughout the Subterranean Sea.

Buzz!

Charles' prosthetic limb transformed into a chainsaw, and a buzzing noise reverberated as it spun. Charles then wasted no time and started walking toward the Pope.

"You"

Charles was interrupted mid-sentence and just as he stepped forward. The enormous rope in the middle of the concentric rings had lashed out to stop Charles, transforming into a dazzling ray of light that struck Charles in the back.

The Pope looked up with great difficulty, and tears streamed down his face at the sight that appeared right before his eyes. He couldn't stop himself from crying as he stammered, "L-Lord I've finally seen you, and you're a thousand times more beautiful than I had ever imagined."

Charles' chainsaw slowly came to a halt. Filled with grief and indignation, he turned around and looked up to find a luminous sphere suspended in the bright sky.

The luminous sphere looked extremely similar to the sun on the surface world, but it wasn't the sun at all. It was the Light God, the Divinity that the Foundation had created.

Charles instantly noted a stark difference between the Light God and the Sun. The Light God emitted a seven-colored light, and it wasn't actually that bright. The Light God's rays were gentle and soft; it was extremely comfortable on the skin.

The Light God's size was very difficult to estimate with human eyes. At times, the Light God would appear to be merely as huge as a ping pong ball, but there were times when He'd appear to be a gargantuan star.

Meanwhile, the enormous rope that had pulled Him out was absorbed by the radiance.

Charles squinted, seeing something hazy right on his eyelids. He wiped it away and saw that it was an orange ribbon of light. Charles rubbed it gently, and the ribbon melted away, dispersing into the nearby light.

Charles was mistaken. It wasn't a ribbon at all; it was the Light God's divine light.

The divine light of the Light God was tangible and could be touched. The same "ribbon" had landed not just on Charles' ocean but on the vast sea as well. As expected, they immediately vanished and dispersed into sunlight upon making contact with anything.

There were multiple colors of the "ribbon," and Charles estimated that there were seven different colors. As he looked around and examined the embodiment of sunlight, Charles couldn't help but recall Saint Acolyte Kord's words when they first met in Sottom.

"Captain Charles, you might not understand since you have not joined our Order. Our religious texts detail everything about the Sun God. The Sun God's divine light manifests in a spectrum of colors, seven colors to be exact. It can soothe one's heart and also provide warmth. The light in the Mirrorbox has only a singular color and is far too glaring. There is nothing similar to be compared between the two."

Charles stared right into the Light God in the sky and muttered, "So he didn't lie"

The next moment, the Light God's divine light intensified. The corpses of the Divine Light Order followers floated up slowly and drifted beneath the giant fireball in the sky.

Their clothes fell off, and they converged at one point, transforming into a colossal ball of flesh. The colossal ball of flesh contracted and expanded as more and more corpses gathered.

Then, a cacophonous din of creaking metals rang out. Every single ship throughout the ocean and even on the seabed gathered beneath the Light God. Even Island 68, which was attempting to leave, couldn't escape and flew toward the Light God.

Soon, the steel softened and transformed into a unique gray steel. The gray steel was melted once more, and it enveloped the colossal ball of flesh. In no time, a tall and slender humanoid figure manifested beneath the radiant Light God.

The humanoid figure was so tallit seemed taller than most mountains. In fact, only its lower half was submerged despite the ocean depths. The humanoid figure was simply too tall for it to submerge completely.

The humanoid figure didn't really resemble humans as its arms were too tall to the extent of touching its feet, while its palms were extremely large. For some reason, however, there wasn't a sense of incongruity when its features were combined with its radiant sun-like head.

In fact, the humanoid figure's proportions looked perfect.

The Light God wasn't done just yet. He rotated and looked to His right. Then, He lifted His enormous, skeletal-like hand gently, and a black streak of light flew toward him from somewhere in the distance.

The black streak of light didn't seem to be carrying anything with it and was simply darkness itself. The black streak of light floated over to the deformed back of the Light God and transformed into a black cape.

"God! God!! I'm here!" the Pope roared from the platform.

The Light God cast His "gaze" upon the Pope, and the Pope rapidly recovered his fleshly body. In just a second, the Pope was standing once more with complete limbs and without any injuries.

He was completely naked, but he didn't seem to care about that as he could barely suppress the joy in his heart.

"God! Take me with you! I'll go wherever you go! I'll always be with you!" the Pope shouted excitedly at the Light God standing in the ocean. Right now, he wasn't a 130-year-old old man but a 10-year-old child.

Fortunately, the Pope's shouting didn't fall on deaf ears. He received a response, and a sense of weightlessness overcame him as he flew toward the palm of the Light God.

The Light God's simple movement of turning around created massive waves that crashed against the platform, causing it to sway violently.

The Light God took a step with his submerged legs and started walking toward the exit to the surface.

Charles stood at the incredible sight in a daze. He couldn't do anything except watch as the Light God left for his destination.

However, the Light God abruptly turned around and returned, puzzling Charles.

Does He want to kill me? The one who decided to oppose him? Charles thought, but he truly had no idea what was about to happen.

Soon, the Light God appeared in front of Charles. Then, the Light God bent down, and the massive luminous sphere, which was the Light God's head, blotted out the sky from Charles' point of view.

Just as Charles thought that the Light God was about to obliterate him, a glowing orb drifted slowly over to Charles. The glowing orb was tiny and was about the same size as a grapefruit, but there seemed to be something inside of it.

"Ah! I know this smell! Mr. Charles, is that you? Are you outside?" A sweet and familiar voice echoed from inside the glowing orb.

Charles' heart beat wildly against his chest as he stared intently at the glowing orb right in front of him.

Just then, the Pope standing on the Light God's shoulder shouted, "Child! Have you already forgotten what I told you? Webelievers in the benevolent Light Godabsolutely do not lie!"