Chapter 5423

With a fingertip as black as midnight ink, Soul Devourer traced the archaic grooves embossed on the Ritual Manual’s lid. He whispered syllables older than kingdoms, and living shadows spiraled from his hand-coiling around the book, striking its golden glow like snakes against glass.

A sharp hiss-“zzz-zzz”-cut through the air. Pages fluttered on their own, then flared open. Lines of ancient script, each a narrow blade of light, burst forth and assembled in the sky as a single titanic sigil that radiated a suffocating, holy pressure.

“Shatter!”

His roar cracked across the gorge. He slammed the Ritual Manual against the boulder, palm first.

Golden scripture met the older sealing glyphs in an explosive collision. For one heartbeat, the two forces twisted together then the whole of Celestia City quaked. Fissures ripped through the earth, and stone chips rattled down like hard rain.

The runes on the boulder warped, splintered, and died. Their frail light was devoured piece by piece by roiling black mist.

An instant later, a detonation-deeper than thunder-ripped through the canyon. The monolith disintegrated, revealing the lightless throat of the Netherworld Abyss.