Do you all know the future?

Chapter 53: Lying Down and Winning

"No, no... I am still useful, I shouldn't be a sacrifice, no... I am one of the few believers in the Lord, no..."

Noticing his body's reaction, Duke Ryan panicked. The evil energy that had just been cleansed by the Holy Blood was now binding him again, and his inner laws were shaping him.

He appeared to be refuting the maid, but in reality, he was trying to prevent himself from collapsing. He could feel the surging power within him, a mighty force infused by the gods.

"Evil gods never have any believers who are not worth sacrificing for, and neither do gods. Believers are just raw materials in their eyes, some precious and some not. Believers whose plans fail are simply failed raw materials in their eyes."

There is no good god, not even Margaret, who is not a benevolent deity. Her calm tone stated a fact that shattered Duke Ryan's defenses.

"No, no, I don't want to become a vessel for God..."

The wolf's claws pounded against the dark blue glass dome, but it couldn't tear open the protective barrier made of divine power. Despair slowly crept onto its beast-like face.

"Activating the scroll is no longer up to you. The gods can't hear your prayers. Look at how suitable your body is for divine descent. Perhaps with a bit of luck, you can make the gods descend to earth in divine form."

The maid watched the struggling Duke Ryan and listened to his desperate cries, reminding her that the Duke Ryan was now a lamb to the slaughter.

There was no room for regret, and no power to change anything. The only thing he could do was watch helplessly as the gods burned his soul as they descended.

“I don’t want to be a sacrifice. The sacrifice is clearly Loran. I am not the sacrifice. Lord, descend upon Loran.”

With his hands clapping against the dark blue protective shield, Duke Ryan looked at his unconscious son and, in desperation, prayed in fear.

Someone responded to him; Loran had been awakened by Duke Ryan!
"I, Dad..."

As soon as Lorraine woke up, she felt her father's loving care, and her face immediately darkened, showing no joy at surviving such a disaster.

"Lorraine, come quick, save me!"

With no help available to his wife and Diane, Ryan pinned his last hope on his son who had just woken up.

"Who is this monster? Mom, are you alright?!"

The scene had just ended too quickly; Loran's memory was still stuck on the moment her father drugged her mother. Gasping for breath, she took a few quick steps to her injured and weak mother's side.

It's not that he doesn't recognize Ryan, he just doesn't want to pay attention to this worthless thing, Ryan, who's already laughing himself to death the moment he wakes up.

"It's alright. He's just exhausted from magic and physical strength. He'll be fine after a rest. Don't worry about me. That's your father. He misused the Divine Descent Scroll and has been cursed by the gods."

Isabella waved her hand, her expression grave, because the crisis was not over yet. Ryan was going to die, but the séance was not over.

"I am your father, Loran, I am your father, Duke Stuart! Come and save me! Even if you have a divine intervention, you will not survive!"

In times of desperation, Duke Ryan would resort to any means necessary, and it was only when his own safety was at stake that he would speak recklessly, without even considering what he had just done to Loran.

He also came up with a reason to threaten Diane and the others, which was exactly the same as Isabella's concern: the gods who descended were basically all demigods, and none of the people present could defeat them.

“I don’t have a cultist father, but what he said seems to make some sense.”

Loran glanced at Duke Ryan with disdain. What Duke Ryan said did make sense, and he was somewhat convinced.

"Yes, right? Think about it, can you even defeat a descending demigod? You can't! Please save me!"

Duke Ryan seized the opportunity and pleaded loudly, abandoning all pretense of power and noble pride.

He was afraid of death, terribly afraid of death. The thought of his soul dissipating after death filled him with anxiety and helplessness.

"Ms. Margaret?"

Isabella looked at the maid with a puzzled expression, but the maid remained calm and composed, seemingly unaffected by Duke Ryan's words.

“He’s right. We can’t defeat the descending demigods, but we really don’t have the ability to break through the gods’ protective barrier. We can’t save them.”

The maid refused decisively, but her expression remained calm. She had clearly stated that she couldn't handle the demigod's arrival, yet she remained composed, which gave Loran confidence as well.

"impossible……"

Duke Ryan pounded on the shield, the defense he had just been so proud of now becoming his prison.

Under his pounding, the azure passport became thinner. He struck even harder, banging his head against it, wanting only to break through the shield as soon as possible, completely unaware that the beastly transformation on his body was increasing, even more severe than before.

Not only did its upper body turn into a wolf, but its lower body also turned into a wolf, and not just any wolf, but a wolf covered in countless fleshy tusks and teeth.

"Disgusting!"

Diane glanced at it, and a feeling of disgust and malice welled up inside her, a feeling that resonated with Loran and Isabella.

"Evil gods are the opposite of order, and are inherently disgusting. Those who maintain order are bad people, but that doesn't mean those who oppose order are good people. Extraordinary people should not be superstitious about gods and demons."

The maid was giving Diane a lesson: gods and evil spirits are just bad and worse; if you believe their nonsense, the Duke Ryan before her will be the one to suffer the consequences.

"You liars, look! The shield is broken! I've shattered it! You're nothing but swindlers! What do you know about gods? You know nothing!"

The morbid and hideous wolf tore through the god's shield. He laughed heartily, having escaped death, and looked arrogantly at the crowd, mocking their lack of ability.

His voice came from countless mouths on his body, but Duke Ryan, who was speaking, did not find it strange at all; on the contrary, he was very proud of himself.

Unfortunately, he only saw pity in everyone's eyes, not a trace of fear or surprise, only heartfelt disgust.

"Are you jealous of me? I've accomplished what you couldn't, and I seem to have become even stronger now. One or two angels can't stop me anymore!"

It was also the fel energy that affected his emotions. Duke Ryan seemed to be stung by Diane and the others' gazes, and he started shouting and screaming like a madman, unleashing fel energy all over his body.

"I really don't understand the Lord of Devouring. Why hasn't he descended yet?"

The maid had anticipated this, and her brows furrowed slightly. This gesture pleased Duke Ryan even more, because he had defied the maid's judgment, which meant he had "defeated" her.

"What about the Lord of Devouring? I'm free. I broke the protective barrier of the Divine Descent Ritual, the ritual has stopped, and I've returned to normal..."

Before he could finish speaking, Duke Ryan's gaze went blank, and his body underwent even more severe deformation. He developed more mouths on his body, but none of them had lips; instead, they were covered in dense, unsettling wolf teeth.

A vast and imposing aura emanated from the wolf's body, creating a heavy sense of oppression that inspired feelings of reverence and boundless fear.

"Master, watch closely. This is the moment when the descending deity is at its weakest, having just merged with its new body. You only need to use the divine magic of light to touch it gently like this..."

The maid was unaffected by this aura. She released the light gun she had conjured, which pierced the night sky like a rainbow. The wolf with its mouth full of teeth was stabbed through by her, and a lot of green blood splattered out. The wolf's eyes remained blank, as if frozen in time.

"Ms. Margaret, finish him off now!" Isabella urged, staring at the motionless, twisted corpse. The terrifying pressure dissipated, and everyone was still somewhat shaken.

"No need, he's already dead."

For a hundred years, maids have been professionally killing evil gods. They've seen the drama of evil gods descending countless times and are very familiar with it.

Dealing with a normal strongman might take some effort, but with an evil god, she could simply follow the proper procedures and handle it cleanly and efficiently, precisely severing the tentacles of the evil god's descent.

"However, he is not quite dead yet!"

After Isabella's reminder, the maid realized that there was still something left to deal with. She threw out a ball of divine light, which struck the wolf's corpse, and the forces of light and darkness clashed.

A ball of eerie blue soul fire burst forth from the mutated, twisted wolf corpse, heading straight for the window in an attempt to escape. The maid waved her hand, and a barrier of holy light blocked the window.

The soulfire struck the holy light with a crisp clanging sound, and the soulfire's light dimmed slightly.

"You've intercepted the Devourer's currency. What do you think we should do with it?"

The maid withdrew her hand to ensure the soul fire could not escape, and then questioned Diane and the others.

"Loran, save me, save me..."

The ghost made a sound and rushed towards Loran. It was the soul of Duke Ryan. He had just been dealt with too quickly by the maid because of the arrival of the evil god, so he was lucky to keep his soul.

Faced with the Holy Light, Duke Ryan instinctively chose the person most likely to save him, his son Loran. He didn't hear Loran self-destruct after falling into a coma, and was also the easiest to fool.

"Save you? Saving you means you'll hurt me?"

Facing the charging Ryan Soulfire, Loran didn't hesitate to ignite his elemental fire, preparing to send his father's soul to annihilation.

Loran was even a little excited. Who knows how much resentment he harbored before his soul was scattered in his previous life? Now he wanted to burn Duke Ryan and let Duke Ryan experience the feeling of his soul being scattered.

You can't do this, I'm your father!

Although not as terrifying as the Holy Light, the elemental fire of Loran still injured Ryan's soul form upon contact.

"Isn't my dad An? When did I ever have a father like you?"

A loving father and a filial son, both sold twice in two lifetimes. Loran's eyes shone brightly as he looked at his father, whose spirit form was now burning even more fiercely, directly towards Ryan.

"what……"

Ryan was burned by the elemental fire, screaming in agony. The pitiful sound gave Loran a strange sense of pleasure.

"I'm not your father yet!"

Diane slowly walked over, and upon hearing Loran's words, her face darkened as she quickly retorted that Loran was spouting nonsense all day long, and that he had just been self-destructed by Isabella and his future was uncertain.

"It's only a matter of time. For now, let's send my own father away. Since he has joined the cult, he can no longer be regarded as a human being. Ms. Margaret, please use the Holy Light to deal with this cultist."

Without a shred of emotion, Loran was probably the one among everyone present who most wanted his father dead, without exception. It was a pity he wasn't a paladin and couldn't use Holy Light, otherwise he would have used Holy Light without hesitation to burn Duke Ryan to ashes.

"Don't burn him to death!"

Isabella, speaking from Loran's side, said that her gaze was still fixed on the mutated wolf carcass, which dissolved in the holy light, and her worries gradually subsided as well.

She had killed a god. The maid had accomplished a kind of god-killing. Even now, Isabella couldn't believe how the maid had done it, killing the descending god so easily.

Under that oppressive force, she could barely breathe, so she couldn't believe that the descending gods had been repelled. Looking at the wolf corpse, she was constantly afraid that the wolf's body would come back to life.

"Madam, you still love me! Please save me! For the sake of our past relationship, spare me..."

Hearing his mother's words, the flames burning in Loran weakened slightly, giving Duke Ryan a chance to catch his breath.

“The Stuart family has many secrets. Killing him will bury these secrets. Loran, torture him until he spills the secrets.”

Isabella patted Lorran on the shoulder, telling him not to be so murderous; he hadn't even inherited the estate yet, and killing someone was too inelegant.

"He doesn't seem like the type to reveal secrets; on the contrary, he'd deliberately hide the truth just to stay alive!"

Loran's murderous intent surged. He didn't care about the secrets of the Stuart family; he only wanted Duke Ryan dead, to make this smiling tiger, hypocrite, and cultist vanish without a trace.

"No, keep me around. I'm still useful. I know many secrets—secrets of the Devourer, secrets of the Stuart family, and secrets of the political arena..."

Duke Ryan, engulfed in flames, possessed an extremely strong will to survive. His fear of annihilation outweighed everything else; he was willing to do anything to avoid being completely destroyed.

"I do not need!"

Loran already has a stepfather, and her status as a divine child clings to a powerful figure. This is more important than anything else, and the maid's actions further prove her importance as Diane.

"Setting up a soul-searching spell is troublesome, but it's worth it. I think it's better to let him repent for his sinful life in this way."

Isabella suggested it, and Lorraine's initially irritable and reluctant expression turned into eagerness. Seeing Diane's confused expression, the maid explained it to him.

"Soul Search can obtain all the memories of a ghost, but the price is the ghost's demise. Preparing this spell requires a lot of materials and is generally only used on important people. The ghost will recall all its experiences in its life, accompanied by great pain, and finally perish in wailing."

The maid glanced at Isabella in surprise. This woman was really ruthless to come up with such an idea.

"I'll tell you everything, just don't search my soul, I'll tell you anything!"

"Sorry, we don't trust you anymore. I personally think soul searching is more effective!"

In Isabella's eyes, Duke Ryan's actions were unforgivable. He was a cultist who neglected his children. If Duke Ryan had only hated her for her infidelity, Isabella wouldn't have been so angry. After all, people are hypocritical.

Duke Ryan is utterly inhumane when it comes to his children. Isabella is a vampire, not a saint. In this situation, the only option is to kill her!

"I understand!"

Lorraine felt relieved; his mother's attitude wasn't much better than his. He grabbed Duke Ryan's ghost and put it into a porcelain bottle.

"Now it's quiet!"

Loran sighed with emotion. Having been reborn, she had relied on her stepfather to resolve the hidden dangers posed by her biological father. Although she didn't understand what had happened during her coma, it didn't matter.

He's a player who wins without lifting a finger!
(End of this chapter)