◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones. or 500 Collections
◇ You can read 90 chapter ahead on P@treon of which 10 are free Chapters. if you're interested: patreon.com/Heroicverse
------------------------------------------------
That night.
The night sky, like thick ink, poured down, completely engulfing the entire World.
Even the Moon had hidden its tracks; only the howling cold wind swept through the streets and alleys, letting out a shrill wail.
In the distance, the church of the Dark Church glowed with a dazzling fire, standing out starkly in the dead of night.
So Officer Misty Knight didn't have to exert any effort; she successfully used the cover of the dark night, like a silent Shadow, to approach the church.
As she drew closer, her steps became lighter and more cautious, each movement careful, for fear of making a sound.
Finally, she quietly reached the front of the church.
The heavy church doors remained tightly shut, separating the inside and outside into two completely different Worlds.
Officer Misty Knight bent slightly, pressing her ear tightly against the door, trying to catch any clues from within.
Initially, the conversations inside were faint, like whispers drifting from a distant abyss.
But in an instant, the voices grew more agitated, numerous voices intertwining, and she could vaguely make out phrases like "Eternal, the Gods are Coming."
Just as she was listening intently, a shrill scream suddenly rang out, "Ah, everyone wake up, for the sake of me once being a sheriff, please help me…"
Officer Misty Knight was instantly shocked, her eyes wide, that familiar voice like a heavy hammer, striking hard at her heart.
Because she had already identified the owner of this voice; it was none other than Eric, the "informant" who had provided her with clues earlier that day.
In an instant, a strong sense of unease surged within her like a raging tide, as if a cold, invisible hand was tightly gripping her heart, making her breath quicken.
With no time to ponder why Eric had been captured here, Officer Misty Knight knew that if she delayed even a step further, Eric would surely lose his life.
Her eyes instantly firmed, and without hesitation, she pulled out the Colt Lawman Revolver from her waist; even though she didn't have a search warrant at the moment, she had no choice but to act immediately.
Immediately after, Officer Misty Knight used all her strength to violently ram into the church doors.
"Bang—"
The doors burst open with a crash under the impact, raising some dust.
Officer Misty Knight rushed in with her gun, however, the sight before her instantly froze her in place.
Officer Misty Knight confirmed that she was not a rookie, brainless, and only knew how to act recklessly.
And in her past career, she considered herself to have witnessed many strange, even terrifying, oddities.
Such as superheroes, Vampires, Titan Behemoths, Kaiju, and so on…
But to this day, she had never seen such a bizarre sacrificial ritual as the one before her!
Inside the somewhat eerie grand dome of the church, nearly a hundred figures of varying heights swayed.
They were densely packed around the center of the church like ghostly Shadows.
And all these people were draped in wide black cloaks, like a group of specters wandering within a graveyard.
Officer Misty Knight also noticed from some of the figures facing the door that all their faces were smeared with a spiral-shaped red pattern, either with blood or some kind of red pigment.
That pattern, illuminated by the firelight, gave off an extremely evil and terrifying feeling.
All these people also held a candle in their hands, gathered around a simple sacrificial altar, over a meter high, shaped like a fire cabinet.
They chanted incantations, their voices low or agitated, intertwining into a chillingly eerie melody.
And on the sacrificial altar, a naked figure, tied firmly in a kneeling position, was wailing with eyes full of terror and despair.
This person, of course, was Eric!
Eric's eyes were wide, filled with endless fear, cold sweat and tears mixed together, constantly sliding down his cheeks.
His body trembled violently like a candle in a strong wind, due to extreme fear and pain.
And in front of Eric, a cultist, completely shrouded in a cloak, was holding a sharp dagger, skillfully and cruelly flaying Eric's chest.
The dagger scraped across the skin, making a subtle, hair-raising sound.
Normally, perhaps no one would hear such a sound, but at this moment, whether it was due to fear amplifying her auditory sensitivity or not, even though she was more than ten meters away at the doorway, Officer Misty Knight still clearly heard this sound.
Blood gushed continuously from the wound, rapidly pooling into a dark red puddle on the sacrificial altar, emitting a pungent, bloody smell that ordinary people could not detect.
Despite Eric's constant desperate pleas and wails, the flayer remained oblivious, his movements showing no sign of stopping.
From the shape of the flayed part of Eric's chest, it was clear that it was the spiral symbol representing Nall, worshipped by the Dark Church!
At this moment, two cultists, also dressed in cloaks, stepped forward, one of them dipped his finger into the blood pool, and then began to carefully draw the spiral pattern on the face of the cultist opposite.
Their focused expression was as if they were performing an incredibly sacred and solemn ritual.
"Officer Misty Knight, save me… Please save me, I don't want to die here!!"
Eric saw Officer Misty Knight burst into the church, and a light of hope instantly ignited in his eyes; he shrieked hysterically, his voice hoarse, broken, and trembling from extreme fear and despair.
Officer Misty Knight quickly aimed her pistol at the flayer, while simultaneously pulling out her badge and shouting angrily:
"Stop all of you, or I'll shoot!!"
Her voice echoed through the church, attempting to intimidate this group of mad cultists.
However.
Everyone in the church, whether it was the figure who was flaying or the nearly hundred figures surrounding the altar, seemed to be under a stasis spell, ignoring her warning.
They remained immersed in the frantic ritual, chanting incantations, their eyes fanatical and glazed over.
"Damn it, these lunatics!!"
Officer Misty Knight cursed in a low voice; at this moment, she was in an impossible situation.
Leaving aside the issue that she had no law enforcement authority in Paterson City, just looking at the Colt Lawman Revolver in her hand, with a mere 6-round capacity, it was completely useless against the nearly hundred mad cultists before her.
These guys were clearly cult fanatics who weren't afraid of death; in their eyes, death might even be a "glory."
Thus, her pistol was practically useless at this moment, even less deterrent than a baseball bat.
Because even if she fired, she could at most kill 6 people, and afterwards, no matter how heinous the crimes these cultists committed, she would be tried by the local court for abuse of power due to her lack of law enforcement authority.
And just as Officer Misty Knight found herself in a dilemma, two figures slowly emerged from the back of the church.
One of them actively pushed back the hood covering his head, revealing a face that was none other than Deehar, whom she had seen earlier that day.
"Welcome, Officer Misty Knight, I am delighted that we can continue our previous conversation so soon…"
Deehar's lips curved into a sinister smile, his face devoid of the panic one would expect when a secret is exposed, instead filled with madness and recklessness, his eyes gleaming with fanaticism, as if he had already fallen into a state of frenzy.
"Since you are so eager for answers, I will make an exception today and reveal all the mysteries to you… But before that, we need to complete the necessary sacrificial ritual first!"
Deehar said, taking a few steps forward, not even glancing at the pistol in her hand during the entire process.
"No, I will never let you succeed."
Officer Misty Knight glared, shouting, and then quickly aimed her gun at Deehar in the back, attempting to threaten these cultists into releasing Eric.
But she never expected that just as she raised her gun, the tall figure who had been standing beside Deehar suddenly shot a black spiderweb from beneath his wide hood.
The spiderweb spread out like lightning, firmly sticking Officer Misty Knight to the wall behind her.
Officer Misty Knight's body was tightly bound by the spiderweb, unable to move, her face filled with disbelief.
"WTF? What the hell are you?"
Officer Misty Knight's eyes widened, her heart filled with shock and confusion.
If it weren't for the obvious height difference between the person opposite and Spider-Woman, she would have almost shouted Spider-Woman's name on the spot.
Because in her impression, it seemed that only Spider-Woman in the entire New York area had the ability to shoot spiderwebs.
But the problem was, Spider-Woman, who represented justice, would certainly never collude with these cultists who enjoyed indiscriminately killing innocent people.
So the question arose, if this guy wasn't Spider-Woman, then who exactly was this mysterious person who could shoot spiderwebs?
Officer Misty Knight tried to calm her mind, frantically thinking, while desperately struggling.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break free from the spiderweb's binding.
The black spiderweb seemed to be forged from steel; the more she struggled, the tighter it wrapped around her.
"Give up, stop struggling, you won't break free."
Deehar's face held a mocking smile; he stepped forward, slowly closed the church doors, and then leisurely walked to Officer Misty Knight, saying with a grin:
"As you can see now, this sacrificial ritual is a small gift dedicated to the Dark God Knull…"
Deehar tilted his head slightly, a fanatical expression on his face, seemingly envisioning some terrifying "beautiful" future.
Officer Misty Knight seemed to foresee the terrible things to come, and while continuing to struggle, she angrily roared:
"No, you damned cultists, you will definitely be brought to justice!!"
Her eyes burned with rage, staring fixedly at Deehar.
If looks could kill, then the latter would probably have been riddled with holes by now!
"Brought to justice?"
Deehar scoffed, curling his lip in disdain, "Fool, let me tell you, there is no right or wrong in this World, only Life and Death!!"
Her voice began to grow sharp and frantic, echoing continuously throughout the church.
She slowly spread her arms, as if to embrace the entire World, or perhaps the Darkness within the church, "And blood and abyss are the true, unchanging underlying colors of this Universe, Eternity…"
While the two were speaking, the flaying work at the altar not far away had already been completed.
Seeing this, Deehar temporarily abandoned Officer Misty Knight, stepped through the crowd, stopped in front of the altar, and suddenly spread his arms, saying to all the believers present in a high-pitched and frantic voice:
"Ladies and gentlemen, the great Dark God Nall has descended His sacred and powerful force upon the Earth through the Void Knight."
"The Gods are Coming… Close your eyes and feel it well, the ancient prophecy is about to be fulfilled in the torrent of blood and Fire."
Everyone's eyes grew fanatical with her words; they seemed to have already seen the terrifying moment of the so-called "Gods' arrival."
"As long as you sincerely pray to My Lord Nall, willingly turn away from the Light and embrace the Darkness, you will gain the powerful ability to control 'living Darkness' bestowed by the Gods!"
Deehar's voice grew more and more high-pitched, and his emotions became increasingly agitated; he spoke while waving his arms, frantically inciting the emotions of the surrounding believers.
"We are all the chosen ones, the Dark Church will surely rise, and the God we believe in… will finally regain His freedom!"
"We desperately long for our God to break His chains, to come from the Darkness to our side, and lead us against the Light…"
"So, we will do this in His name, offering blood and brains to the great Dark King…"
"Finally, when the Gods arrive, we will be able to join the Gods as loyal servants, we will gain new life in the abyss, and become one with the Darkness, Eternal!!"
Deehar's voice reached a crescendo, his body trembling slightly from excessive excitement, "What an honor, what a fortune… The Gods are Coming!!!"
"The Gods are Coming!!!"
"The Gods are Coming!!!"
A group of cultists, their faces filled with mad joy, raised the candles in their hands and chanted "The Gods are Coming" in unison with Deehar.
The uniform and frantic shouts echoed continuously within the church, making Officer Misty Knight's eardrums ache and sending a shiver down her spine.
At this moment, as Deehar waved her arm, the noisy sounds in the church suddenly fell silent; she stepped to the altar, looked at Eric, who was terrified and already too scared to speak, and a sinister smile appeared on her face.
"Eric, I know you must be in great pain right now, I understand that feeling of powerlessness in despair, don't worry, I can help you find release from your suffering…"