Like a drop of ink falling into clear water, Sirio's heart blood, aided by the two Arrays working in concert, instantly suffused the milky white Holy Power upon contact.
Priest Sirio's voice, chanting the prayer, resounded once more.
The milky white Holy Power around Rachel's abdomen instantly turned bright red. Simultaneously, an extremely condensed aura of Hell shot out from the Array below.
In the blink of an eye, it had surged into that mass of crimson.
The next second, the luminescent orb at Rachel's abdomen seemed to take on a life of its own, starting to pulsate slowly and rhythmically.
"Success!" Sirio cried, delighted at the sight.
He immediately flipped to the next page of the pitch-black tome on the stone altar. Looking at its contents, his voice changed to a strange language unknown to all present.
"Is Lord Sirio now reciting the language of Demons?"
The cultists present listened with open envy to this unfamiliar language.
The language of Demons was something only high priests could learn.
Sirio, however, paid no attention to the others' thoughts. His gaze was fixed intently on Rachel, suspended in midair—or more precisely, on the glowing orb in her abdomen.
As his voice grew increasingly intense, a black mist suddenly burst from the opened page toward Rachel.
"Ugh... Ah..."
The moment the black mist merged with the orb of light, Rachel, who had been unconscious, suddenly snapped her eyes open.
Her screams of agony did not stir any emotion among those present.
A smile of anticipation even touched Sirio's lips.
Accompanied by Rachel's cries, the luminescent orb in her abdomen finally began to stir.
Drawn by the black mist, the crimson orb of light gradually moved downwards, as if in childbirth.
Shortly afterward, a blood-colored flesh orb, radiating red light, suddenly appeared from beneath Rachel's skirt.
Guided by an unknown force, the flesh orb quickly descended onto the throne.
As for Rachel, who had lost all Holy Power and was no longer of any use, she fell heavily to the ground, her fate unknown.
"Success!" The faces of the cultists present flushed with excitement.
Praise Hell!
Watching the crowd's revelry, an unusual glint flickered in Sirio's eyes.
"Master, how much longer until the Demon God descends?"
Heloise looked at the flesh orb on the throne, puzzled. This was so different from the vessel she had imagined for the Demon God.
Stroking the alluring woman's blood-red hair, Sirio asked Heloise softly, "Heloise, do you really want to see the Demon God?"
"Master, if you wish to see the Demon God, then I, too, wish to see the Demon God!"
Looking at his fiercely loyal subordinate, Sirio's eyes twinkled. "Thank you, Heloise!"
"What?" Before Heloise could grasp what Priest Sirio meant, she suddenly found herself unable to control her own body.
"Master, why… why can't I feel my body anymore?"
Heloise's panic-stricken voice received no answer. She could only watch helplessly as the revered Priest Sirio lifted her body and slowly approached the throne behind him.
Seeing no surprise on Sirio's face, she seemed to realize something. Her pupils contracted in disbelief as she looked into Sirio's eyes beside her.
"You turned me into a blood wraith—was it all for today?"
Her incredulous question was met with his scoff. "Did you think gaining Strength comes without a price?"
"Heloise, let me tell you a secret! I, too, desire the Demon God's powerful vessel..."
Sirio's words made Heloise shake her head in disbelief, her gaze falling upon the nearby flesh orb.
"You're insane! How could we possibly stand against the Demon God?"
"If it were in the Human World, I would indeed be helpless! Alas... it cannot cross over!"
Standing before the throne, Sirio concluded mockingly, then pressed Heloise's body against the flesh orb on it.
As blood-red light flickered from his hands, Heloise's body gradually merged into the flesh orb.
Seemingly nourished, the slowly growing flesh orb instantly ballooned to several times its original size.
"Priest Sirio has offered Heloise as a sacrifice to the Demon God!"
The cultists, accustomed to sacrificing others, panicked at this scene.
This isn't right... This is so different from the previous sacrificial ceremonies! Looking at each other, they were all at a loss.
Meanwhile, some of the smarter cultists had already begun to slowly inch toward the door.
Sirio turned around. Seeing the panicked cultists, he burst out laughing.
"Thinking of running now?"
SNAP!
With a snap of his fingers, a massive boulder crashed down at the doorway, completely sealing the exit.
Their escape route cut off, the cultists present descended into utter panic.
Some of the bolder ones, looking at Sirio before the stone altar, questioned loudly,
"Priest Sirio, what are you trying to do?"
Sirio merely met this with a sinister smile and lightly snapped his fingers again.
SNAP! With that sound, countless blood-red filaments shot out from the surface of the enormous flesh orb behind him.
The blood filaments twisted and danced in the air, swiftly rushing towards the cultists, who were already in disarray.
"You fools! Weren't you always so devout to the Demon God? Why are you shrinking back now that you're needed?"
Standing before the throne, Sirio watched them desperately avoid the blood filaments. His smile vanished, and he chided them with a hint of dissatisfaction.
After all, their evasion was also wasting his time.
Although the cultists below wished to curse Sirio aloud, the blood filaments, now terrifyingly close, left them no opportunity to even open their mouths.
Despite their frantic attempts to dodge, the cultists were increasingly hemmed in by the multiplying blood filaments, finding no place to hide.
In mere moments, the Array was strewn with desiccated corpses.
And the flesh orb, nourished by the flesh and blood of so many cultists, had grown into an enormous entity.
Its once blood-colored and supple surface began to slowly morph into a hard, black carapace.
The flailing blood filaments also turned to ash and vanished into thin air.
"Just as I thought," Sirio mused aloud, "it has matured so quickly!"
The transformation of the giant egg on the throne made Sirio turn around in excitement.
"The light has waned, and wickedness has arrived.
"I, Hell's devout believer, have prepared Your vessel.
"O Demon God from the depths of Hell, hear Your believer's summons and descend upon this place!..."
As Sirio chanted, the ground of the Array erupted with an intense red light, which swiftly transformed into boiling magma, belching thick black smoke.
Moreover, the space above the throne seemed to shatter like glass, instantly covered in clear cracks.
CRACK! With a sharp sound, space itself fractured, revealing a world overrun with lava.
Before Sirio could clearly see the other side, a scorching beam of light erupted, pierced the spatial rift, and struck the giant egg on the throne.