Life Game In Other World
Chapter 1255: Divine Favored Angel (Large - for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 1255: Chapter 1255: Divine Favored Angel (Large Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

"What is that?"

Standing behind the orange barrier, Christos lifted his head to look overhead.

The stars and moon in the sky had vanished without him realizing when, replaced by a faint purple mist shrouding the firmament. Within this hazy mist, a grand city suspended upside down in the sky came into Christos’ view.

This city was almost identical to Dawn City beneath Christos’ feet. Within it, there was the ruined Glorious Palace, the towering statue of Ellenska, and even the city center, now a wasteland with only the Dumel National Cemetery standing solitary.

It was as if the heavens had become a mirror, reflecting the city on the ground upon the sky.

Or it seemed as though the world’s most meticulous engineer had precisely replicated this splendid city in the heavens with ruler and compass.

The city still glimmered with lights and gentle breezes, yet there was no sign of life.

No, that was not entirely true.

A thought crossed Christos’ mind as he turned his gaze toward that "Inverted City," focusing on the Dumel National Cemetery standing there as well as the two blurry silhouettes atop the cemetery, obscured by purple mist.

"Is that ’K’?"

To avoid harming civilians during the battle, K had used supreme power to recreate a city in the sky, turning it into the battleground.

Such an act was an awe-inspiring combination of mercy and terrifying strength.

——

The Inverted City

"Welcome to my city."

A gigantic crimson hand slowly swept across the sky, blocking the golden-brown-haired man’s upward view. Then, accompanied by a majestic and vast voice, the crimson hand suddenly descended.

Boom—

Numerous golden rays enveloped the golden-brown-haired man, forming a hazy barrier.

The barrier momentarily resisted the crimson hand’s descent but shattered within an instant under its overwhelming force. The colossal hand pressed down again.

But that brief moment of resistance was enough for the golden-brown-haired man to react. His body turned into a streak of light, dashing away from the top of the Dumel National Cemetery.

Boom—

The immense hand landed atop a towering building before it paused, lifting itself up to glance at the golden-brown-haired man.

By then, the man had already put some distance between him and the hand. Floating above the ruins, he surveyed the surroundings.

The city before his eyes bore no significant difference from when he first encountered it.

The buildings, lights, streets, greenery—all seemed the same. From one glance, he could still vaguely see the towering walls encircling this magnificent city.

At first glance, the city was almost indistinguishable from the real Dawn City.

It was so compelling that, when he spoke earlier, he hadn’t noticed that the city had slipped into an eerie silence at some unknown point.

No, to be precise, there was indeed a definite moment of change.

The "exploding brilliance" was not only intended to draw his attention but also to cover up everything happening around him—to mask the process of him being drawn into this "Inverted City."

The fragmented soul shadows had emerged to "taunt" him, also distracting his attention, making him subconsciously overlook the changes to the space around him.

"Child, once again you leave me in awe,"

He looked toward the owner of the crimson hand, toward the towering, majestic Crimson Giant, and slowly raised his hand. "Creating a city from nothing in the void—such ’might’—is this the ’grace’ bestowed upon you by the one behind you?"

Brilliant golden radiance poured from his hand like an exploding ribbon of light, surging densely in all directions.

"You remain as ’merciful’ as you’ve always been. While mercy and justice are indeed virtues of a Federal Investigator,

"I told you long ago that such false ’mercy’ would eventually be your downfall, your Achilles’ heel."

The surging radiance almost completely drowned his figure.

"You sacrificed immense power to construct this city to avoid harming mortals. But what about yourself? You’ve wasted what little ’sacred gifts’ you had left.

"Even with all your sacred offerings intact, you might not harm me. How do you plan to defeat me after squandering so much?"

As he spoke, his body shot upward like a meteor.

Suddenly, pale purple light spread across the surrounding sky, covering the firmament.

The golden "meteor" stopped moving once it reached a certain height in the sky.

Though the radiance around him showed he was still flying upward at great speed, his relative distance from the ground below would not widen any further.

"Teacher, this is my city,"

He Ao raised his hand, slowly pulled a massive blood-red blade from his chest, and said, "The simplest and quickest way to leave this city is to kill me. Whether it’s ’wasteful’ or not, we’ll have to find out, won’t we?"

The primary ability of "Daytime City Building" could actually be summarized in a few words: "Envision a city in your mind, then ’mold’ it into being in the gap between dream and reality."

At this moment, both he and the golden-brown-haired man appeared to be suspended in the skies of Dawn City. In reality, they were in a dimensional pocket-space.

The size of this space depended on the city He Ao envisioned and the offerings he could provide to sustain the vision.

As the ability of the "Dream Phantom," the power ceiling of "Daytime City Building" surpassed both the "Usurper God" and "Grace of Life" abilities.

As long as sufficient "sacrifices" were provided, it could create an entirely Angel Tier city—a city capable of trapping an angel.

In fact, the energy provided by the three cubes exceeded He Ao’s expectations.

Initially, he estimated that the energy contained within the three cubes might be around double what the cube possessed by the Starlight Worshipers’ leader, Motoc, held.

He had previously seen Motoc sacrifice that cube to the Lord of the Starry Sky in exchange for grace, so he’d made an educated guess.

However, the sacrifices made by the Order Church and the Starlight Worshipers incorporated remnants of souls. To a Divine Being, these remnants were also "delicious" offerings. Thus, He Ao inferred that actual energy from those cubes for "sacrificing" might have been slightly diminished.

But in the end, the energy from the three cubes turned out to be 50% more than he’d estimated.

This led He Ao to realize that the Order Church likely never fully activated the cubes’ complete power.

The remnants of souls bound together within the cubes resisted the act of "sacrificing," expending energy in their struggle to avoid being offered up.

Yet once He Ao reached an agreement with them, in exchange for their cooperation, they fully surrendered their energies without resisting, granting him far greater power than expected.

Those who sought more power failed to obtain it, while someone who desired less received far more than anticipated.

It was an ironic turn of events.

"You’re as stubborn as ever,"

The golden-brown-haired man sighed deeply as he heard He Ao’s words from above the sky. "You refuse to understand the futility of trying to crack an egg against a stone."

He Ao lifted his head to the golden light above and spoke calmly, "My father once taught me, that no matter how cruel the plight, there’s always a chance for change."

Leaving this city didn’t only require killing He Ao. Waiting for the city to exhaust its energy and collapse on its own would work too. The rate of depletion depended on the strength of the enemy confined within the city.

But killing the creator of the city was undoubtedly the fastest and easiest method.

The rising meteor in the sky came to a halt, suspending itself midair as it gazed down at He Ao. "And that’s why your father is dead."

The golden radiance burst forth from within the golden-brown-haired man’s body, taking shape as translucent crystalline fragments glowing with bright, golden light. These crystalline pieces quickly converged into a burgeoning bud-like form, surrounding and encasing his body in mere moments.

"But I’m still alive."

He Ao gripped the blood blade in his hand tightly and leapt skyward, slashing directly toward the radiance in the heavens.

Twisted, chaotic thoughts exploded across the heavens and earth.

Buzz—

The moment the blood blade struck the golden "crystal bud," it violently trembled.

The bud instantly blossomed wide, releasing warped power that collided against He Ao’s crimson body, hurling him away.

A giant composed entirely of crystal emerged slowly from the brilliance. Its neck bore a hovering dodecahedral crystal emanating faint yellow light.

Just by gazing upon the giant, He Ao could hear endless "hymns" resonating in his mind. Unlike the chaotic ravings, these hymns were orderly and harmonious.

They whispered softly within his mind, seeping into his soul, trying to lead his thoughts and will to revere and yearn for "Order" and the exalted God of Order.

This seemed to be the "angel true body" of the golden-brown-haired man. It was also his mythical form, the embodiment of his ultimate power.

The oppressive feeling emanating from this mythical form stood in stark contrast to the "fake angels" He Ao had encountered previously.

Lowering its crystalline head, the dodecahedron naturally rotated as it observed He Ao below. "Your strength..."

His ritual was one step shy of completion. At this moment, the mythical form wasn’t initiated by himself but formed through the grace of the God of Order—putting him in the state of a "Divine Favored Angel."

The power of a Divine Being allowed him to drink the secret medicine first, followed by conducting the ritual. It filled the gap required to ascend into a higher existence, enabling him to briefly wield the true power of an angel before fully completing the ritual.

Of course, this also meant the mark and corruption of the Divine Being were permanently etched onto him, and even his mythical form bore traces of the Divine Being’s influence.

Moreover, maintaining this angelic state required an initial "transformation" phase. That earlier "crystal bud" had been the process of his transformation.

He hadn’t bothered reinforcing the bud’s defenses further since it was already resistant to most attacks below the Angel Tier.

What he hadn’t expected, however, was that He Ao would exploit the God of Chaos’s power as a "crowbar," using it to cleave the bud apart with a single strike.

This forced him to emerge prematurely before his angelic form had fully stabilized, weakening his strength considerably from its ideal state.

Lowering his head, the crystal giant stared intently at He Ao and repeated, "Your power intensity feels off."

"As long as it can be used, it’s not ’off,’" He Ao retorted calmly, tightening his grip on the blood blade.

From beginning to end, his "teacher," the current chief of staff for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, operated from one incorrect assumption—that He Ao had sacrificed the cubes to the Divine Being, who returned grace to him.

No matter how close the relationship with the Divine Being or how advanced the secret technique employed, sacrificial acts always involved losses. Additionally, the Divine Being would claim a portion for itself as commission during the process.

Even if the Divine Being refrained from claiming anything and returned everything fully, part of the power would inevitably be lost through the process.

This was an immutable part of sacrificial exchanges, meaning the grace returned would always pale in comparison to the original offerings.

But He Ao’s "Secret Contract" sacrifices had one key difference this time.

These "offerings" were presented to him directly and visibly.

The resulting losses were almost negligible.

The golden-brown-haired man’s estimation of the grace He Ao received and the actual power He Ao wielded weren’t even remotely on the same level.

A lifetime of experience left veterans like his teacher with solid advantages in most battles, but when met with exceptions like this, their experience could also leave them blind to the truth.

"Your strength indeed surpasses my predictions a little, but only slightly,"

The crystal giant in the sky observed He Ao, then lifted a hand.

At the apex of the firmament, faint purple light began to gather. Within moments, an overwhelming golden brilliance surged forth like a raging sea, engulfing everything within several kilometers.

Slowly, the crystal giant clenched its hand.

Precise, orderly geometric lines began to appear in the void. These lines quickly converged.

The purple brilliance in the sky, along with the mirage of the true Dawn City suspended in the air, flickered briefly.

On the ground below, roads, buildings, trees, grass—everything visible to the naked eye—seemed to compress under some invisible force. In an instant, they appeared to be sliced into countless neat layers of crystalline fragments, shattering as they piled up.

Simultaneously, the radiance spread across He Ao’s body.

He saw his hand begin to shimmer with crystalline light as his ring finger transformed, as though submerged in water, into layers upon layers of luminous, crystalline shards.

The shards slid off one by one, falling onto the crystalline-covered ground below with a crisp sound.

Shattering into pieces.

Glancing at the golden radiance surrounding him, He Ao swung his arm sharply, gripping the crimson blade in his hand. Chaotic energy flared violently, pushing back the encroaching radiance and halting the crystalline transformation of his body.

However, the ring finger that had turned to crystal, along with some external structures of his body, had been permanently "erased."

Even as he invoked the War God’s power to attempt regeneration, he couldn’t reproduce a new ring finger.

He lifted his head, his gaze scanning the crystalline wasteland of shattered structures around him.

If this wide-scale attack had been unleashed in the real Dawn City, every life within several kilometers would have been annihilated in an instant.

In a sense, his "teacher" wasn’t exaggerating.

He Ao tilted his head upward, staring at the crystal giant above.

From the beginning, he had placed three markers on his teacher. Throughout their confrontation, however, he’d been unable to hear any surface thoughts, only the endless hymns of Order.

But he’d known all along that mind reading wouldn’t work on someone with as much experience as his teacher. The ability, Ease Thought, was not limited by the opponent’s state.

Even so, he still only had one shot.

He raised his head, gripping the blood blade tightly, and bellowed, "Meteors!!!"

The faint purple heavens instantly turned blood-red. Countless meteors, ablaze with flames, emerged from the void, descending like an apocalyptic storm toward the crystal giant in the sky.

Yet the true Dawn City continued to constrain the scope of his power.