[BL] Daily Disposable Persona

108: High School Student 16

"Ah! Praise be to you! Great R'lyeh—!"

"We've waited for thousands of years! At last—you've finally reappeared from the bottom of the sea! Oh Great Lord of R'lyeh! Your power will lead us out of the darkness to victory in the higher dimensions!"

"Our great heavenly father and savior!!"

Cultists in black robes danced around the altar hand in hand. Their faces were as happy as if they were celebrating the New Year.

Everything happened with incredible speed. From the first change of the ocean and sky to the appearance of R'lyeh in the world it only took a few minutes.

In that short amount of time, it wasn't possible for the satellites monitoring Earth to collect much information, let alone evaluate it and respond.

"Whew—" Zong Yan let out a breath.

Even for him, the moment he saw the black city he felt the mental pollution that pierced straight into his head. But since he'd activated the Night Watchman card, he was able to keep a firm gaze on his target. He didn't move his eyes away, and felt a deeper level of psychic damage.

No, this wasn't good.

Zong Yan remembered Professor Darwin's description of the king of R'lyeh in biology class.

When deciphering the jade piece of R'lyeh, the linguistics professors at Miskatonic University sensed an unparalleled curse contained within it.

Once R'lyeh was reborn into the world, the Great Old One would drag the entire planet into his dream.

That was why Cthulhu must never be allowed to awaken.

The Night Watchman gripped the handle of his black umbrella so tightly that blue veins were visible in the backs of his hands, striking against his pale skin.

The elegant aristocrat of the fog suddenly leaped into the air. A swirl of black shadows flowed from the island like a woven bridge, gathering under his feet. The shadows lifted the Night Watchman into the air.

The Night Watchman moved with lithe and uncanny footsteps. Each time he lifted his feet, shadows instantly formed below him, paving a delicate, wraith-like staircase in the air for him to tread.

As he climbed higher and higher, gusts of wind whipped at his gray hair. The ribbon that tied his hair was torn away. His scarlet eyes were sharp.

"Look there!"

Many of the islanders who didn't have time to take refuge saw this amazing sight and fell to their knees in fear. "What darkness! Has God abandoned us? Is Satan about to open the gates of Hell and return to Earth?"

Naturally the Night Watchman didn't hear any of this. By now he'd climbed a hundred meters into the air and was just barely at eye level with the first level of the palace of R'lyeh.

"I have to hurry... If I can mobilize enough shadows, I'll be able to... return R'lyeh to the bottom of the sea."

Zong Yan fought to catch his breath.

He didn't have enough San value to activate another S-rank daily disposable persona card. The Night Watchman was an A-rank card able to mobilize the power of nature, and that might barely be enough. Fortunately, when R'lyeh returned to the surface, dark clouds blocked out the sun, and now the entire surrounding ocean was dark. Zong Yan could try to command all the shadows within a hundred miles to peel back the waves, returning R'lyeh to the ocean floor.

But it was too much of a strain for him. If... if only the Lord of the Gate were here...

Zong Yan was stunned by his own thoughts, but he didn't have any time to examine why this idea occurred to him. He quickly returned his focus to the sea in front of him.

"O shadows... Obey my command!"

The Night Watchman opened his black umbrella. Thousands of shadows swept up from the sea, rushing into the air, bearing sea water with them into the clouds. The countless shades converged into a vast, majestic curtain.

Such a large-scale mobilization of power consumed an enormous amount of energy and will. The Night Watchman's hands began to shake. Sweat dripped from his forehead.

His long gray hair streamed behind him, dancing and tossing in the wind, while the storm gusted around him, roaring with fury.

Suddenly his eyes narrowed.

On the central platform atop the palace of R'lyeh, a man slowly emerged.

His upper body was naked, his skin was the color of wheat, and his long hair was dark green.

Even from a distance, the Night Watchman could see the tyrannical cruelty in the man's dark golden eyes.

Zong Yan couldn't help but remember when he lived in R'lyeh, when he'd called this god his "elder brother", and how the evil god had treated him.

Did an evil god have feelings? No, but an evil god certainly wouldn't mistreat his own half-self.

"C..."

He opened his mouth, but a second later the evil god lifted his hand.

In an instant, millions of shadows woven with mysterious green fog shot into the air. They stabbed directly at the Night Watchman hovering in the sky.

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The author has something to say:

Mr. C is online again!

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TL Notes:

There's too much atmospheric interference - 因大气团过于密集 - "The atmospheric mass is too dense" - I'm not certain what "atmospheric mass" was so I tweaked the language. Optical satellites can't see through clouds, but satellites that use other wavelengths don't have that problem

hundred miles - 百里 - hundred li - A li is an ancient unit of distance approximately equal to 500m, about the same distance as a customary mile

You can find the master list of transliterated names and titles in Chapter 0 - TL Notes. New in this chapter:

Yellowstone National Park - 黄石国家公园

Tokyo - 东京

Hiroshima - 广岛