Chapter 1012: Hidden Sanctuary Beneath the Vatican

Ethan had seen it with his own eyes: a four-winged angel had tortured the Monkey King without the slightest hint of mercy.

Ever since that day, he had instinctively stayed on guard whenever those so-called "feathered ones" were involved.

After returning, he had also discovered that Shatterstar had disappeared without a trace.

According to Vasuki, a great demon had once appeared here. Judging from what Uncle Jed and the others had described, he was most likely referring to the eight-winged angel they had encountered. Yet after that battle, every single angel had vanished, including the eight-winged one.

Uncle Jed had also told him that no one had ever seen Ethan’s latest mech again, and Shatterstar, a machine far too massive to simply disappear, had somehow vanished as though it had never existed.

Ethan had already searched the entire planet with his senses and found absolutely nothing, which was why he had come to Vatican City.

He wanted answers: How had these angels crossed from the Divine Realm into Earth? And how had they become intertwined with so many ancient legends that existed on this world?

Were these angels truly outsiders... or had they somehow originated on Earth itself?

Following a narrow underground tunnel, Ethan continued deeper beneath the city. The passage twisted endlessly through the earth, forcing him to walk for what felt like an eternity before it finally opened into an enormous chamber.

Golden light flooded the cavern, and an immense hall stretched before him, magnificent enough to resemble a forgotten palace buried beneath the world.

At its center stood a radiant statue of a twelve-winged angel.

Lined up on either side, like loyal attendants standing before a king, were rows upon rows of eight-winged angel statues.

At first glance, they all looked nearly identical, and Ethan couldn’t distinguish one from another, though he assumed each represented a different individual.

The strange energy signature he had sensed earlier originated from one of those eight-winged statues, but it was incredibly faint, almost as if it were fading with every passing second.

He carefully examined each statue, but aside from that lingering trace of power, nothing seemed unusual.

"Don’t waste your time looking. If you’d arrived even a little later, you wouldn’t have sensed anything at all."

A calm voice suddenly echoed through the hall, and Ethan’s body tensed instantly. His senses swept toward the twelve-winged statue, searching for whoever had spoken. Nothing.

"Who’s there?"

He locked eyes with the towering statue, but it remained perfectly still.

Then, a tiny head slowly peeked out from behind the statue’s golden crown, and the little figure stretched lazily before climbing into view.

’Little bald monk...’ Ethan narrowed his eyes. It was Vasuki.

What unsettled him wasn’t Vasuki’s appearance, but the fact that he couldn’t sense him at all.

His spiritual perception now extended far beyond Earth itself, reaching into the surrounding void. Yet despite standing only a few dozen feet away, Vasuki remained completely absent from his senses.

It was as though he simply didn’t exist, and so even his perception had limits.

"What are you doing here?" Ethan asked.

Vasuki casually leaped from the fifteen-meter-tall statue and landed beside him without making a sound. He glanced toward the eight-winged statue Ethan had been studying.

"The same thing you are. I just got here earlier. The residual energy on this statue is almost gone."

"Residual energy?" Ethan immediately caught the important part.

"That’s right." Vasuki nodded. "More accurately, these statues are vessels. They’re the mediums those great demons use to descend into Earth."

Ethan frowned. "You mean... those bird-people never came here in their true bodies? They descended through these statues instead?" He turned back toward the angel statues, surprise flashing across his face.

"Exactly." Vasuki folded his hands behind his back. "I’ve killed lesser demons before. After they’re destroyed, their bodies eventually revert into lifeless plaster statues."

’So that’s what happened...’ His "lesser demons" were probably the two-winged or four-winged angels.

But that immediately reminded Ethan of the battle in the Extreme South. He had killed several two-winged angels there as well. When they died, all of their remaining power had rushed into their heads before disappearing.

Afterward, Uncle Jed had insisted they tear off the angels’ wings. Then everyone had roasted them and eaten them. The meal had greatly increased Ethan’s strength. A strange expression crossed his face.

’Surely... they hadn’t been eating plaster.’ No, that wasn’t possible. The flesh had tasted completely real, with the texture and smell of ordinary meat. There was no way it had been stone.

Then what exactly had happened? The question lingered in his mind, but neither of them had an answer.

"Come on." Vasuki turned toward the exit. "I’ve been waiting here for several days already. They’re not coming back. There isn’t any point staying."

Ethan gave the twelve-winged statue one last long look before following him out of the underground sanctuary.

As they walked, Ethan quietly studied the little monk’s back. The more he learned about Vasuki, the more mysterious he became.

He wasn’t the cold, emotionless demon hunter described in countless legends; if anything, he felt surprisingly human.

The hardest part to accept, however, was that Vasuki wasn’t human at all: he was a giant serpent who had taken human form.

Once they emerged back onto the surface, Vasuki suddenly glanced toward Ethan’s forehead. "You’ve awakened Divine power?" His gaze seemed to pierce straight through Ethan’s skin, as though the hidden Divine Shard concealed within him were completely visible.

Ethan hesitated briefly before nodding. "I have."

"Ah." Vasuki merely grunted in acknowledgment before lifting his eyes toward the sky.

"The world really has changed." His voice carried an unusual heaviness. "Divinity-tier beings are still allowed to remain here. Is that because the world wants us to help resist what’s coming... or because it wants to make sure none of us escape?"

His words struck Ethan like a hammer. ’So none of us escape...’ He had never considered that possibility.

Ever since the laws of the world had changed and anyone who survived the Ascension Tribulation could no longer leave Earth, Ethan had assumed there was only one explanation.

The place Energy Users were meant to ascend to was the Divine Realm. Now that the Divine Realm was invading, the world’s laws had deliberately trapped its strongest defenders here, forcing them to remain and fight for Earth’s survival. That explanation had always made perfect sense.

But Vasuki’s theory shattered it, hinting at something far darker, almost like a conspiracy hidden beneath the world’s very laws.

The more Ethan thought about it, the less certain he became.

If the world truly knew destruction was inevitable, shouldn’t it allow at least some of humanity’s strongest powerhouse to leave? They could preserve their civilization somewhere else and ensure humanity survived, even if Earth fell.

Unless... the world’s laws genuinely believed there was still hope.

A heavy pressure settled over Ethan’s chest, and he suddenly wished more than ever that he could find Morzan.

There were too many questions, and only that mysterious old man seemed capable of answering them, but Morzan appeared only when he wanted to.

Even with Ethan’s senses spanning the world, he couldn’t even detect someone like Vasuki, so finding Morzan on his own was probably impossible.

Would he simply have to wait until the old man decided to show himself again?

"Come on." Vasuki’s voice pulled him back to reality. "The tide of the world isn’t something either of us can fight alone. For now, all we can do is move with it."

Ethan looked up. "Where are we going?"

"For the first time in a long while, I sensed a disturbance from the Underworld today." Vasuki slowly rose into the air. "Right now, it’s the only world still directly connected to Earth."

Without another word, he flew toward the horizon.

Ethan stood still for only a heartbeat, then the uncertainty weighing on his heart was replaced by anticipation. At last, there was another lead to follow.