Who is he referring to?

  Although he is not the true embodiment of lust, being worshipped by others at the very least puts him at the level of a great demon, a status that ranks highly across the entire galaxy.

  For ordinary people, it is meaningless to get caught up in the differences between great demons and deities.

  Even the weakest among them are worthy of a personal intervention for at least planetary-scale corruption, or to launch an expedition that could outright annihilate an entire star system.

  For them, conducting a mass ritual involving hundreds of billions of people directed at their deity is merely a tiny fraction of their long lives, while an ordinary person is just an insignificant decimal in that vast number.

  Those who can be remembered by such beings, or rather, things, are not something anyone from a decapitation squad could ever hope to encounter.

  However, it is clear that the other party has not provided a specific explanation for that statement.

  Their form solidifies further, indicating that more attention is being directed here.

  Although the offerings are clearly insufficient to allow the other party to manifest further into the physical universe, the great demon is not an ordinary subspace demon.

  For them, having obtained a specific coordinate and breach, they can easily tear through the thin veil separating the real universe from subspace. With the great rift now cutting across the galaxy, this has become much easier than usual.

  Nonetheless, it seems the other party does not intend to descend here.

  Before becoming a perceivable and concrete existence, they came to a halt.

  Aside from Zhang Ge, even with the protection of the cross, everyone else is currently unable to take effective action.

  But what would it matter if Zhang Ge could act? Should he try to blow the great demon's head off with a plasma pistol? Or press the elevator button? The demon could just as easily press the entire elevator back down if it wanted to.

  He might as well pretend to be completely still: if worse comes to worst, you can just stab me, you wouldn’t know I’d become invincible if I died. Does a great demon really plan to take an ordinary person as a collectible?

  It’s as absurd as if the Earth’s leader personally went to the moon just to pick up a specific rock from its surface.

  And to be honest, even if the four of them were tied together and squeezed for oil, it probably wouldn’t be enough to fuel the few seconds of the great demon’s spontaneous descent.

  "Ascalon."

  He raised his hand, and a long sword that appeared completely unrelated to the color of sin descended from the void. This sword looked plain and unremarkable, with no decorations at all; it resembled the most ordinary single-handed longsword, at best slightly retro in design.

  But "Ascalon" as a name was entirely different from its ordinary appearance.

  This name comes from Christian mythology, referring to the dragon-slaying weapon used by Saint George, the saint who killed the evil dragon.

  So, who is Jesus's sheath?

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  If what He said is true, then this is an ancient relic from at least the 1,000-year-old era of Old Terra, and it is an ancient relic associated with the Emperor, so ancient that aside from Zhang Ge, the others present knew nothing of this name.

  Not to mention, just the three phrases used to describe Saint George's dragon-slaying symbolism: "The annihilation of beastly nature by humanity, the protection of the weak by mankind, the innate sanctity of the human heart"—these alone are enough to convey the significance of Ascalon.

  Simply taking this sword out and placing it at the center of the altar caused the figure of the opponent, which had nearly solidified, to vanish completely.

  It seemed that was not all; even the subspace corruption phenomena within the cave were cleared away, or rather, drained.

  As the six circular rings dimmed, the illumination flares still hanging in the air replaced the previous pink glow, becoming the new source of light in the cave.

  The other three naturally regained their normal mobility.

  Surviving a direct encounter with a great demon and receiving a gift in return—such an experience... for people like them, it would be akin to voluntarily seeking out the Inquisition, where even the inquisitor would feel you were wasting his time and provoking trouble.

  However, despite the absurdity of the experience, one thing was beyond doubt.

  Zhang Ge raised the plasma pistol in his hand, letting the searing plasma burst strike the altar.

  The altar, stripped of its subspace evil energy, was merely an ordinary stone platform, instantly burned to gas and magma, but Ascalon, which was embedded in the altar, remained completely unharmed, still suspended in mid-air despite losing its support.

  Seeing this, the political officer, who had replaced Zhang Ge at the control panel, reached out and pressed the elevator button without even suggesting that Sister Amelia pick up her two-handed sword that had fallen to the ground.

  Zhang Ge did not feel the urge to investigate what was happening—there was no doubt that if he did, it would be seen as a deliberate act of seeking death.

  "It seems you'll have to use the laser gun for a while," Zhang Ge said to Sister Amelia.

  But at the moment, no one was in the mood for jokes.

  They were not afraid of death, but who among the three could guarantee that they would not fall after facing a great demon? This was not a matter of willpower; it was purely a question of the vast difference in strength.

  It was like when the Imperial Guard was directly controlled to attack the Emperor; the gap was so great that even if the mind remained uncorrupted, it would not matter.

  Such concerns reached a peak in the following moments.

  After running for a while, the elevator slowly came to a stop, but as the doors opened, what lay before them was still that cave.

  "Impossible, the depth measurement data was consistently decreasing just now..."

  By the end of his statement, Pastor Ryder could hardly convince himself.

  The political officer was silent for a moment before speaking:

  "If we can return to the position, I will request an examination of myself. Although the influence of subspace demons is strong, it is not beyond the Empire's capability to handle.

  Until then, I will be responsible for containing this sword."

  This statement was essentially a self-imposed death sentence.

  For an ordinary political officer, direct contact with a product of a great demon, even after examination showed no signs of corruption or if the readings were within reasonable limits, would likely still result in being eliminated for precautionary reasons once Ascalon was confirmed as a product of the great demon.

  It goes without saying that if he were truly tainted, but in another scenario, if it was confirmed that there was no corruption, as long as the political officer remained tight-lipped about the other members of the execution squad—Sister Amelia was a combat nun, Pastor Ryder was a national church pastor, and Zhang Ge was merely an inconsequential soldier in the countless ranks of the astral army.

  The court would likely not bother to conduct a thorough investigation—it wasn't that they didn't want to, but the Empire was constantly facing far more serious issues, and they needed to make the most of every single moment.

  Even if there were indeed a few landmines buried that would explode years or even decades later... in a situation where there was a time bomb in your house that would blow up the entire building ten minutes later, would you choose to spend nine minutes defusing those landmines first?

  Moreover, they had only brushed against the shadow of a great demon's avatar; it was not serious enough to evade the scrutiny of the court.

  However, just as the political officer made up his mind to approach the sword and placed his hand on it, he found himself unable to move further.

  Because... he couldn't pull it out.

  An indescribably awkward tension quietly spread in the charged atmosphere. After he visibly exerted himself several more times to no avail and glanced over, Pastor Ryder and Sister Amelia exchanged glances, each trying in turn, but to no avail; they too could not budge the sword an inch.

  Until Zhang Ge placed his palm on the hilt of the sword.