My Goddess is Good at Pretending

Chapter 125: Artificial Hell Core

"I’ve seen the holy light before, but what’s with this purgatory light? My eyes! Argh!" Zi Xuan covered her eyes as the holy light became too bright.

"..." Everyone was already wearing special sunglasses as if they had expected the outcome.

At that moment, the Hell Trial’s spiritual roots and energy flows were purified of any evil energy. The high-level purification spread throughout the entire realm to the tiniest of cracks.

The sky of blazing blue flames died out, and the Hell Trial’s temperature gradually decreased. The volcanoes, seas of fire, and rivers of lava subsided. The black mist in the air dissipated, and the atmosphere slowly changed.

It was no longer the death zone of hell but a hot vulcanoes realm.

Ely forced the realm core into submission. Countless hell creatures vanished into ashes, unable to be resurrected again due to the evil energy absence.

"That’s a bit surprising since you only partially acknowledge the Evil God as your owner. Was it because of his fall? Whatever it is, I will seal you or possibly destroy you." Ely discovered the connection between the core and its original owner was weak.

The realm core was a living artifact, and its relationship with its original owner was terrible. She saw an opportunity to forcibly sever the connection.

The Evil God couldn’t fully control the entire secret realm in his hands because he was nothing more than a soul remnant. So, her task went unhindered.

Ely wished to conquer this Artificial Hell Realm Core. She could always seal or destroy it if she couldn’t do it.

After all, this floating red gem was an SSS Rank artifact. It might be like her other God-tier weapons and artifacts... she could hardly control them, but this one was evil.

*Crack*

"!!!" The Artificial Hell Core flinched as its body cracked due to fierce purification.

Its primary core was nurtured by evil energy. Regardless, it would soon change its nature because of this strange devil’s super scary purification.

The Artificial Hell Core originally wanted to fight back. However, it soon fully severed its relationship with the almost-dead Evil God because it didn’t want to be crushed by this overbearing devil.

Its primary core had also exhausted many resources and energy due to the continuous mass extermination in the past week. Rather than fighting in vain, it was far better to surrender honorably.

That was what the Artificial Hell Core thought before surrendering to the overbearing devil. The challengers won.

"You, moron! Coward! Traitor!" The Evil God exclaimed in rage.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t get any closer even though the purgatory light had died down.

*Thud*

The Evil God fell to the floor, half charred. The Hell Trial, and maybe his entire Artificial Hell Realm, lost a lot of evil energy because the core got purified to its neutral state.

"Phew..." Ely wiped her sweat and breathed a sigh of relief after the core declared its submission.

She was happy because her skills were super effective against evil. Any evil beings in this realm were greatly damaged by her greater purification light, including the Artificial Hell Core and the Evil God’s soul remnant.

"It’s cracked..." Ely observed the red gem floating on her palm.

"It’s okay. It can self-repair." Yuuki came closer.

"Alright then. We should get out of here first." Ely looked at everyone, then she swept her hand to the side.

She found it so convenient. She couldn’t converse with the Artificial Hell Core but could understand its emotion. This core would also do what she asked, and she could always trigger the virtual screen to understand it better.

Ely then gave her command to it, and it brought everyone out.

The scenery suddenly changed. Everyone left the Hell Trial and returned to the Artificial Hell Realm. The sky was no longer blue but fiery red. Nevertheless, it was still a hot hell.

*Plop*

The Artificial Hell Core spat out a small red key and left it in its new owner’s hand.

"What?" Ely was astonished when she saw the red gem suddenly release an object on her palm. She picked it up, and it was a red key the size of her thumb.

"Unlike the private dimension of our world. We have a small world inside the core that must remain outside the realm. This world’s secret realm or personal realm has its core inside and remains forever in its secret realm. The key core holds the authority to command its realm upon the recognition of the realm core." Yuuki explained a bit about her understanding of the secret realm in this world.

"Oh, so we can take the key out, and this is the key to governing this secret realm?" Sylvia was curious.

"Yes, but the core doesn’t always manifest key core in the form of a key... Seeing how easy it is for Ely to conquer it, this thing either has a hidden agenda or is too afraid of her." Yuuki pointed at the floating red gem.

"Hmm..." Evelyn gave a judgmental stare at the red gem.

"!!!" The Artificial Hell Core then vanished with a poof. It had to repair its cracked body before anything else.

"It fled!" Rafaela gasped in surprise. It was the key to their exit!

"It just goes somewhere in this Artificial Hell Realm to repair its core body." Ely reassured her disciples. She still held the red key.

"I’ll borrow it for a bit." Sylvia took the red key from Ely’s hand.

"Hey! What are you trying to do?" Evelyn tried to prevent Sylvia, but she was one step too late.

"Hmm... How do we use it?" Sylvia held the key and stared at it intensely. She tried to use it, but it gave no response.

"That’s useless. The core only listens to Ely’s commands." Yuuki shook her head.

"Key, return." Ely said her command.

*Poof*

The key vanished from Sylvia’s hand and reappeared in Ely’s grasp.

"..." Ely glanced at the red key for a few seconds. She felt the Artificial Realm Core was quite subservient to her and incredibly weird.

No God-tier weapons and artifacts were so submissive like this, which made her suspicious.

Even so, she didn’t need to think about that now. The Artificial Hell Realm incident was considered over. However, they should handle the mastermind of everything, namely the Evil God.

Ely pointed at the half-burnt ghost on the floor. "What should we do with him?"

"Purge the evil! Bring him to the purgatory!" Zi Xuan exclaimed excitedly. It was the right decision to follow this holy maiden because this girl was amazing and talented. She knew this holy maiden could fulfill her request!

"Who is this ghost again? Why does it keep following us? I thought we left her behind in the Hell Trial." Sylvia scratched her head as she had forgotten about this ghost girl.

"I am Xi Xuan. Holy maiden, I found your talent truly extraordinary. Today is your lucky day. This saintess appointed you to be my follower." Zi Xuan floated closer to the holy maiden and stretched out her hand.

"Saintess? Why do I need to be your follower?" Ely tilted her head slightly.

"That’s because we’re fated. Worship me as your teacher, and I shall never let you suffer. I am an Immortal Saintess and would like to give you the opportunity to follow me." Zi Xuan spread her arms wide.

[Zi Xuan (FV: 5600) | 12th Rank Mid Stage]

[Favorability: 77%]

[Talent: 5 Stars | UR]

Ely checked Zi Xuan’s status screen one more time. The favorability was pretty good, and this ghost girl was probably a saintess from the upper realm.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Immortal Saintess. I appreciate it very much, but I’m afraid I need to decline your offer. You may offend my Goddess Master, and I’m not sure you can withstand her wrath." Ely refused politely. Nevertheless, she could see an opportunity from Zi Xuan that she could not miss.

"!!!" Zi Xuan gasped as she recalled that intimidating six-winged Goddess. She put her fingers together and felt worried. She looked right and left restlessly. "Ahaha... Forget it. I was impressed by the holy maiden’s talent. Please don’t take it as an offense."

’Zi Xuan. If you are a saintess from the Divine World, then we are probably fated to meet. Nice to meet you. My name is Ely.’ Ely attached a telepathy talisman to Zi Xuan and then spoke via telepathy.

’What? You know my real name!? Can you recognize me? How did it happen!?’ Zi Xuan widened in shock.

’That’s one of the blessings that my Goddess Master bestowed upon me. Are you my Goddess Master’s acquaintance? I already guessed that you are also from the Holy Mountain.’

’Mm, yes. You’re right... Then, keep my name a secret. ’

’Okay. You may have a difficult and complicated situation. However, we are not in a good situation either.’

’Alright, I’ll help you. In exchange, you must also help me when the time comes.’

’Did you mean it?’

’Yes, I am the girl of her word. It’s a deal.’

Ely and Zi Xuan had a secret conversation. They then shook their hands to seal the deal.

Zi Xuan was happy as she would receive Ely’s help, and indirectly, she would drag the Mysterious Goddess to her side. They would unseal her body from that cold coffin soon.

On the other hand, Ely was also happy because Zi Xuan would help her. The ’help’ that she desired was neither light nor easy. She would make this Immortal Saintess work and help her a lot.

Everyone was confused about what was happening, but they only took it for granted. They knew Ely had just recruited that ghost.

"Damn, it..." The Evil God groaned in pain. He never expected that the holy light of purification would harm him to this extent.

The shadows of several people soon surrounded him. He looked up, and they then did many inhumane beatings on him.