A sudden heat swept through the hall, as if a strong sunlight had penetrated the roof and was moving above the crowd, and with the appearance of this invisible heat, all the gas lamps and candlesticks in the hall seemed to be inexplicably disturbed and suppressed, but became rapidly dimmed, as if sinking into the shadows.

However, the Annihilation Cultists in the hall did not react much to the presence of the heat, only to look up at the dome above the hall after a slight commotion.

Richard also raised his head, his gaze swept between the ornate curtains, chandeliers, and roof paintings above the assembly hall, and saw that they seemed to be illuminated by invisible sunlight, and the light and shadow of light and shadow slowly moved on the surface of the dome, and then, at last, the "sunlight" gradually converged to the center of the dome, and revealed its presence there—

It was a sphere, like a burning sun, with a floating flame on the surface, releasing scorching light and heat, and at the same time showing an illusory and transparent texture, which seemed to be just a projection, and then the small projection of the sun slowly lowered in height until it came to the high platform in the center of the hall, in front of the saints.

Richard heard the muttering of muttering in a low voice nearby, and some of the believers were whispering their dissatisfaction - the messengers of the alien gods became more and more arrogant, and even avoided the notification process when they came to this sacred assembly hall, and some believers said that the assembly hall should not be open to the messengers of the alien gods at all, and their appearance itself meant the defilement of this sacred place.

But the voice of the saint suddenly rang in everyone's head and ears, interrupting the whispered hum in the hall: "Ah, it's our 'ally' who has come. ”

As his words fell, the small projection of the sun that had descended in front of the high platform gradually faded away from the glowing shell on the surface, and the light-like "shell" became dim and transparent, and the true face inside appeared in everyone's field of vision.

A sphere of strangely shaped flesh and blood and countless curled tentacles, with countless eye-like structures embedded between the tentacles on the surface of the sphere—the children of the sun.

The projection slowly stretched its tentacles in the air, eyeballs turned in all directions, and almost at the same time, an illusory figure appeared below the sun heir.

It was a human, dressed in the gold-rimmed black robes of the Sun cultists, representing the priestly class, and wearing a golden mask modeled after the sun - the projection of the sun priest landed on a high platform in the center of the hall, standing in front of the saint as if he were a spokesman.

The Sun Heir in mid-air let out a low, muffled tremor that seemed to be mixed with countless cascading whispers and noises that were incomprehensible to human intelligence, and it sounded dizzying.

The figure in the mask of the golden sun, who landed in front of the saints, immediately spoke, relaying the vague tremors: "I can feel that you don't welcome me. ”

The saint raised his eyes, "I hope you understand that this is the meeting place of the Holy Lord, and for a long time we have not allowed believers or messengers of other gods to set foot in such a sacred place—but rest assured, our sincerity to cooperation will not be affected by this." ”

"It's okay, I don't care," the projection of the Sun Heir slowly stretched out in the air, continuing to emit a low, muffled tremor, and the Sun Priest who appeared with it immediately began to translate, "We can leave the differences of faith to the next era, the dusk is approaching, and those of us who have been abandoned by the Deep Sea Age must first learn to coexist." ”

"Yes, learn to coexist—when all things are reshaped, there will be a wide enough world to accommodate our differences," the saint said in a deep voice, "and you have come to emphasize this to me?" ”

"No, ally, I'll talk to you about the losses we suffered in our last operation," said the masked Sun Priest, "I wanted to come to you during the day, but the abominable pseudo-sun always hung high in the sky, and now that it has fallen, I am here."

"We have lost many of our people, precious people, who have not been able to return to their places of refuge by the flames of the usurpers in that great forest woven by the Dream of the Nameless, and whose souls have not been able to return to their place of refuge."

"We are also deeply sympathetic and disturbed by the misfortunes of those who have been left behind by the Sun," said the saint, his bones clattering and shaking as if to express some kind of dissatisfaction, "but it is not only you who have suffered setbacks...... No one thought that 'his' power would be there—after all, not so long ago, the ship was still far north, and no one thought that 'he' would intervene in this matter, and that your followers had already taken action, and that it was unreasonable and reckless for you to ask us for it. ”

“…… We don't ask our allies," the Sun Heir in mid-air was silent for a few seconds, the light that permeated it seemed to subtract a little, and it whispered vaguely, and the priest on the high platform immediately began to translate, "but we want to make it clear that we are willing to cooperate with your actions in the Dream of the Nameless, but if you turn this 'cooperation' into unilateral use, then our cooperation will be over." ”

"I understand what you mean, messenger," the saint said in a deep voice, "rest assured, we will not turn a blind eye to this incident, just now we have decided to launch a counterattack against the followers of the usurper, and one of our next goals is to find the heretic who has attacked the remnants of the sun and our brethren, and capture her and her demons - she is powerful and insidious, but we are willing to take some risks to avenge the 'remnants' who have died." ”

"We don't care if you're really acting to avenge them, or what you're going to do against those powerful and weird 'usurper followers,'" the golden-masked priest relayed the words of the Heir of the Sun, from the high platform, "Don't forget that our original and fundamental goal - the Dream of the Nameless One has what we each need, and that we are willing to cooperate frankly and wholeheartedly, we only care about this matter and nothing else." ”

The saint was silent for a moment, then the spikes of his bones clicked to convey a friendly attitude: "Yes, we take what we want...... All we need is the tree. ”

The Sun Heir slowly lowered his height, and the countless eyes embedded in the tentacles stared silently at the brain wrapped in the bone cage on the high platform: "We only need the sun. ”

The "heat" that shrouded the assembly hall began to recede, and the figure of the Sun Heir floating in mid-air and the Sun Priest who landed on the high platform began to fade and dissipate, and after just a few seconds, the two uninvited guests left the sacred assembly hall.

The hall was silent for a while, and the gathered Annihilation Cultists breathed a sigh of relief, and Richard also felt his pounding heart gradually calm down—perhaps because his heart had been beating too fast just now, and he even felt a slight throbbing pain in his chest.

He had palpitations.

Even if it was only a projection that came here, it was a projection of the Son of the Sun—a monster like a demigod that had been separated directly from the essence of the "true Sun God", whose very existence was a deadly source of pollution for mortals, and the people in this hall ...... In the end, it has not yet broken through the category of "mortal".

Perhaps only the "saint" present can compete with the so-called "son of the sun".

"We shouldn't have opened this place to the messengers of the gods," someone said in the crowd, not too low, "and their 'sunlight' came in and became more and more emboldened." ”

"That 'heir' gives me a bad feeling," another voice also came into Richard's ears, "we can't understand its mind and true intentions, and every time we need a masked priest to act as an interpreter - no one knows how much more disturbing information is hidden behind those translations, when its eyes look at us...... It's not at all like the gaze of an intellectual creature looking at other sapient beings. ”

"The 'remnants of the sun' gave me the same feeling, and I didn't feel any reason or emotion from them...... After all, it's still a monster that was abandoned in the last era...... It has long been degraded in the dark......"

A low discussion began to spread through the hall, and the suppressed emotions were rapidly resonating, but at this moment, the voice of the saint suddenly sounded in everyone's head, instantly interrupting the communication of the annihilation cultists: "Quiet. ”

The hall fell silent.

“…… I know your concerns," the saint's voice continued, with a soothing power, "but we need their power. ”

"Saint," said one of the Annihilation Cultists closest to the High Stand, "the Son of the Sun, and the 'remnants'...... Do you think they will really keep their promises? ”

The saint was silent for a few seconds.

"I've never believed in the 'promises' of the Xenomorphs, because they were born out of oaths from the beginning, but at least they have no reason to break until they get what they want," he said slowly, "just as we need them, and they need us—in the planetime woven by the Dream of the Nameless, those Xenomorphs can only ally with us. ”

The voices of doubt are gone.

The chiming bell strikes at the right time.

Bell - bell - bell - bell -

The mechanical clock hanging on the high wall at the end of the assembly hall chimes melodiously.

“…… Let's put an end to these topics, the time is approaching, and the Dream of the Nameless is about to connect to the reality dimension," the voice of the saint quickly drew everyone's attention, "Prepare for the dream, the dreamers who are dreaming tonight are coming forward, ready to touch the skull of the dream. ”

Standing in the middle of a group of black-robed men, Richard reacted quickly, and when he looked up, he saw that several other compatriots were already walking towards the high platform, including Dumont, who had come to look for him during the day today.

He hurried forward, too.

At the same time, several low-ranking cultists in gray robes entered the hall - they were pushing a cart with many runes and cast from a special heavy alloy, which was covered with a bloodstained black cloth that seemed to be covered with something.

"Push the Dream Skull to the high platform." The saint ordered.

The low-ranking cultists pushed the cart to the platform in the center of the hall, and two of them grabbed the black cloth from the cart and prepared to lift it.

Richard swallowed subconsciously - even though it wasn't the first time he had touched the Dream Skull, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

That strange thing, every time you come into contact with it, you will feel a kind of soul-penetrating ...... horror, no matter how many times it is experienced, this horror does not seem to be able to adapt.

Firm conviction and devout faith could only help him to make up his mind to touch the thing, but it could not erase the impression of the terror itself and the instinctive tension of the moment.

Then, two low-ranking cultists lifted the black cloth.

The "Dream Skull" on the cart also came into Richard's sight -

It was a black one, as if carved out of wood...... Goat's head.

(End of chapter)