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Chapter 794: Lankulos' Final End (Part 2)
Chapter 794: Lankulos' Final End (Part 2)
"..."
The White-Robed Pope remained silent.
"The Honing Empire..."
"The Honing Empire is doomed. All the people in the south have been infected by the Second Ancestor's blood poison, and it's you who's suppressing their demonization. Once you're sealed, the people of Honing will all turn into demons, and the northern lands of the Saint Soul Lant Pope will also be affected!"
Lanki answered impatiently.
He helped Lashier speak the answer.
"..."
Lashier's laughter abruptly stopped, ignoring the blood he was coughing up.
The piercing laughter ceased in the square in front of the Blood King's Palace.
"No... impossible..."
A myriad of scenes and visions flashed through Lashier's trembling pupils.
"You're the prey, I'm the hunter. It's impossible for it to turn out like this..."
Lashier slowly, completely, understood.
Why had Lankulos caused such a ruckus in the Saint Soul Lant Theocracy?
Why had he been backstabbed by Saint Sigri, second only to him?
Why had he indiscriminately slaughtered the provinces of the Honing Empire before coming here, pretending to be crazy?
There was only one answer to all of this: Lankulos had played right into Lashier's hands.
"By the way, Lashier."
Lanki seemed to have remembered something and turned to the third ancestor, asking a question.
"Why did your True King abandon you?"
Lanki looked at the closing stone pillar that held the third ancestor, Lashier, with concern.
The last time, he had heard Lashier say that if it weren't for the First Ancestor, the Blood True King, abandoning them, they wouldn't have lost.
"..."
Lashier's crimson eyes gradually became vacant, then completely insane.
"No!!! Lankulos, I'm going to kill you!!!"
Lashier screamed hoarsely.
Lashier Duke was dragged into the intertwining stone pillars, his anger fueling his desperate struggle. His eyes were bloodshot, his veins popped out, and foam flecked the corners of his mouth.
"What's with the rush?"
Lanki crossed his arms and sighed in confusion.
The interlocking stone pillars, like the doors of a prison, emitted a dull sound as they slowly closed under Lanki's magical push. The green and scarlet irises reflected each other's figures, gradually obscured by the darkness.
Lashier's voice also gradually faded away.
At the same time, Blood Moon City trembled violently, forcing Lanki to steady himself. He looked up at the sky.
Above Blood Moon City, the lands of the Honing Empire that had not yet perished were shrouded in miasma, with demons dancing wildly.
Although it was once a brilliant sunset, at this moment, the overcast sky covered the entire Honing Empire.
The doomsday turmoil left by the Blood Clan arrived as scheduled.
Lanki looked up, his gaze piercing through the distance. He saw the sky shrouded in gray and crimson, a lifeless, dull sun hanging in the sky, devoid of warmth and light.
"Lanki, let's go."
Talia spoke to him in his mind,
"It might be a long wait, but I'll be with you."
She knew that what awaited them was another grueling battle.
But since Lanki had chosen to experience it personally, this was his cultivation and trial.
As Lanki's always diligent teacher, she would supervise him to the end.
"Let's begin the final journey north."
The figure of the White-Robed Pope disappeared from the Blood King's Palace.
When he reappeared, he was in the ruined capital of the Honing Empire, Saint Trick.
Lanki flew towards the distant north.
He had done his best to clean up the south.
But starting from the central north of the Honing Empire, it was still a living hell at this moment, and further north, the lands of the Saint Soul Lant Empire were the last untouched pure land, untouched by the abyss of demonization.
The demon army was surging towards that direction, their numbers overwhelming.
He had to finish Lankulos' final battle.
...
Several days later.
Hells Rhine Province, northern border of Honing.
The blood of countless lives stained the Oberlon Canal red.
In the distant hellish battlefield.
A lone figure was still bathing in the blood of countless demons, holding off the majority of the demon army's offensive for the Saint Soul Lant Empire.
At this moment, he had long lost his former elegance.
The once-holy white robe was stained with blood and mud, turning black and red. His arms, which held the staff, were covered in scars, and his silver-white mask had shattered completely, revealing the face that could no longer maintain its disguise.
Blood constantly seeped from the corners of his mouth, mixing with the stains on his body.
Above him, the sky remained gray and dead, and the land was scarred and ravaged.
The Pope stood resolutely, blocking the mouth of the abyss.
No one knew how long he had struggled in this hell, how many demons he had slain.
His lifespan had long exceeded its limit, and he had become an undead.
The rules of the undead side were slowly eroding his will, but his remaining sanity told him that he had to continue holding off the demon army.
The body of the undead was slowly deteriorating, rotting, and crumbling. Under the broken skin, his flesh and organs were blurred, and every breath he took was accompanied by piercing pain. Even more terrifying was the soul-devouring curse.
But every time he used a spell, he could save tens of thousands of innocent lives.
"A super-spec magic user has been detected! Rearguard, halt!"
The entire army lined up and shouted, their voices piercing through the dead silence.
Following the sound, Lanchi saw a group of figures riding on silver-armored warhorses.
Their armor shone with a silver glow, their lances gleamed, and their banners fluttered in the wind.
They were the Saint Soul Lant Temple Knight Legion from the north, an elite force that had once sworn to follow the Saint Soul Lant Pope to war.
And at the forefront of the legion was—
She gripped the hilt of her sword, her amethyst eyes filled with hesitation, her light-colored hair billowing in the wind like a dazzling banner.
Seeing this figure, Lanchi felt a moment of relief.
With Sigri there, holding off the next few waves of magic users should not be a problem.
But the next second, as the Temple Knights discerned the figure of the magic user, they also understood who this super-spec magic user was.
"Full army formation!"
"Why has Pope Lankulos turned into a magic user as well?!"
The Temple Knights' faces were filled with disbelief and terror.
They breathed in the blood-stained, chilly air.
From the magic user's attire, there was no doubt that he was the Saint Soul Lant Pope.
Those eyes, once as gentle as jade, now emanated an eerie green glow, and the deep-set sockets seemed like two pitch-black abysses, ready to suck in people's souls.
How could this be the beloved Pope they once knew? He was clearly the most terrifying monster!
Even though they understood that the Pope's fall was a tragedy, seeing him in this state, they still felt a heart-wrenching pain as if their hearts were being torn apart.
"Quick... fall back..."
The knight commander shouted tremulously, his voice cracking.
The Silver Armor Knights retreated in an orderly manner, their silver lances and spears aimed at the White-Robed Pope.
The Berserker magic users would cause their original strength to surge, and if it was the Pope who had turned, then he would be invincible! Now, it all depended on whether Sigri could defeat him once again.
"Sigri..."
Seeing this, the Pope's eyes were filled with a sense of relief, and the last bit of strength he had been exerting finally dissipated.
He squinted, his vision blurry, and muttered her name.
His field of vision flickered and dimmed.
"... ..."
He saw Sigri sobbing, crying out his name, and running towards him.
But before she could even touch him.
The Pope's body reached its limit in the prolonged battle.
As his skin cracked and peeled, his flesh and blood turned muddy and rotten, and his organs shattered, even his noble head turned into a cloud of black mist under the curse's corrosion.
Sigri's arms closed on empty air, and only scattered ornaments remained.
"No, noooooo..."
She knelt on the ground, her mind blank, tears streaming down like broken pearls. Her helpless hands tried to gather the Pope's shattered remains, but they slipped through her fingers like sand.
Sigri seemed to be repenting and pleading, constantly muttering something.
But Lanchi could no longer hear her.
Lanchi watched helplessly as his body disintegrated and turned to dust before his eyes.
He could only stand there as the darkness enveloped his vision, and Sigri disappeared from his sight.
The immortal eternal punishment curse ensured that his soul remained eternal and indestructible, but it also robbed him of his senses...
...
When consciousness regrouped, Lanchi found himself in that bizarre space once more.
To be precise, this could no longer be called a "space."
There was no light, no sound, no trace of any physical existence.
He still lingered in this world, yet he couldn't touch or see anything physical, nor could he exchange senses with any entity.
He would drift eternally in this realm that death couldn't touch.
All he could see was endless darkness, as if it wanted to devour his soul entirely.
Lanchi stood in the mist, this time without any reaction, but he seemed to be pondering something.
Talia understood what Lanchi was thinking.
"This ending is too cruel for Sigri."
Talia couldn't forget Sigri's last moments, and her heart ached.
She knew Lanchi felt the same.
Even though this was the best possible outcome in the Blood Moon Badlands, it was still a tragic ending.
From now on, Sigri would have to bear the pain that Lankulos endured throughout his life.
"Sometimes, living is a punishment, and death is the only relief."
Lanchi shook his head.
He really wanted to know what Sigri and Lankulos had said to each other at the end.
But he had used up the chances with Taberius' Mirror, and he wouldn't be able to hear what Sigri had said.
Unless, after this shadow world, he could obtain a shadow-weaving recording relic left by Kaliyela.
"Well, this is all predetermined history from tens of thousands of years ago. Even if Lankulos felt guilty towards Sigri, there's nothing you can do to help him, is there?"
Talia tried to console Lanchi, speaking to him.
Unlike Lankulos, Lanchi had her with him in this dark space.
Even at this moment, she could share her senses with Lanchi and ease his loneliness.
"That's true."
Lanchi agreed.
"But thinking about it carefully, Lankulos met two Heaven's Mandate True Maidens in his lifetime, yet neither of them had a good ending. What a regret."
Talia also sighed with emotion.
Sigri was like a ray of light in Lankulos' life, giving him the motivation to live during his most confused moments, understanding his heart thoroughly. For twelve years, she was both Lankulos' most trusted person and the one who trusted him the most. She was almost like another Lankulos, and when it came to entrusting his life, he could only turn to her.
She wondered, if there truly was a connection in their next lives, and they met again after tens of thousands of years, who would Lankulos choose...
"But this was Lankulos' life, and only he could evaluate whether it was regrettable or comforting. Ending the Blood Moon Badlands and fulfilling his lifelong wish was a form of peace in some sense."
Lanchi shook his head.
"Why must human life be so fleeting?"
Talia witnessed Lankulos' ending, and her heart was filled with sorrow.
Now, she didn't want to accept the fact that her little apprentice was human.
If he agreed, she wanted to transform him into her own life-bound familiar, sharing her life with him.
"I always feel that Lankulos' story isn't over yet. If the dream I had in Pariyah, the Flower Capital, is related to the Blood Moon Badlands, then after Lankulos became a ghostly wraith, he would meet another very important woman..."
Lanchi mused, deep in thought.
But the memory of that dream was too fragmented, and he was forgetting it.
If the real Lankulos had used the Taberius Mirror three times and, after using it up, had reproduced the process and ending of the third simulation in the real world, ending the Blood Moon Badlands, then Lankulos would have turned into that black mist wraith, wandering the world, perhaps lingering in places that felt familiar, waiting for someone to save him.
"I think I remember."
Talia recalled how, after she and Lanchi had bought two cycle jade beads in Pariyah, the Flower Capital, Lanchi had fallen asleep on a bench by the Selene River, leaning on her.
Lanchi had a long dream.
In his dream, their roles were reversed, and Lanchi had become a black mist wraith familiar, silently accompanying her as she sat on a throne.
Later, when they were in Pariyah using Kaliyela's shadow-weaving to record cards, they had a similar dream.
"I dreamt that Lanchi had turned into a black mist wraith, lingering in the Principal's Office of the Inferno Corridor Academy."
"And he met a little gray cat that could see him."
"But that's just an impression." Talia added.
The two of them couldn't come to a conclusion.
...
Lanchi and Talia were experiencing the world that Lankulos saw after using the Immortal Eternal Punishment on himself.
Sometimes they chatted, and sometimes they were quiet.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, the simulation in the Taberius Mirror accelerated, and time flew by. Yet, even when time passed quickly, it still felt like an eternity.
All they could do was wait for Tamisha to pull out the energy source and rescue them from outside the mirror.
"I wonder how long we'll have to wait this time." Talia said, not panicking even after a long while. "By the way, now that you've thought about returning to the shadow world, how will you bring a final conclusion to the Blood Moon Badlands?"
As long as there was an end in sight, it wasn't so terrifying.
"I've fought three times already; I know exactly what to do with my eyes closed. Without a doubt, the Ninth Ancestor, Marquess Bernhard, will be the first to fall." Lanchi confidently reviewed his strategy.
This time, he had asked Tamisha to pull out the energy source in the Central Energy Room after two hours, and he estimated that it should be about time. Both he and Talia had been waiting for quite a while.
"Wait, are you planning to go to the Demon King's City, Nakalis, to seek help?" Talia suddenly realized that without the ability to use ninth-tier power, Lanchi wouldn't be able to use the Immortal Eternal Punishment.
So, the remaining option was to seek assistance from powerful demons, which was also in line with Lanchi's style as a great summoner.
He would leave the rest to others once he had played his part.
"Of course, I'll have to ask Merogass for help. I wonder if she'll think I'm being too forward if I go to her right after our previous meeting." Lanchi confirmed Talia's idea.
He firmly believed that heroes should fight in their own unique ways.
Even without the power of the ninth tier, he would show the vampires that he had influence and connections.
"No, no, no! I can't stand that scorpion-tailed demoness, Merogass! Just thinking about her makes my skin crawl." Talia shuddered at the thought of the demoness with the scorpion tail.
Just as they were passing the time with their usual chat, a faint sound broke the silence.
It wasn't a telepathic voice.
Instead, it was a substantial sound that suddenly pierced through the darkness, rousing his consciousness.
The sound was so full of life, so soft, like a kitten jumping onto a carpet.
"Do you think it's Tamisha?" Talia wondered, as if she had glimpsed a little gray cat jumping into the pitch-black void from far away.
In the blink of an eye, it disappeared.
"I think so." Lanchi replied, looking around.
But before he could see where the little gray cat had gone, the darkness of the space flickered and dimmed.
"Did you see the little gray cat, too?" Talia asked in surprise.
So, it wasn't her imagination!
According to the results of the third simulation...
Lankulos, after having been a ghostly wraith for a long time, would see a mysterious little gray cat?
"Yes." Lanchi affirmed.
"Even though the negative effects of the Immortal Eternal Punishment in the second and third simulations are the same, why didn't we see the little gray cat in the second simulation but did in this one?" Talia was puzzled, unable to understand where the little gray cat had come from.
"In the second simulation, the outcome might have been the annihilation of civilization, with most of the creatures in the world perishing. But in the third simulation, the world is reborn, and most of the creatures in the north survive, so there is someone destined to save Lankulos..." Lanchi speculated.
Before they could finish their discussion, the world became illusory and flickering.
This void seemed unable to sustain itself.
A silver beam of light pierced through the layers of darkness.
In an instant, the endless darkness was shattered by this dazzling light.
The chains and curses that bound Lanchi were also dissolved one by one, and he regained control of his body and could move again.
"..."
Lanchi stepped out of the Taberius Mirror and once again found himself in the deepest part of the underground of Inferno Corridor Academy, a place that felt like a distant memory.
This was a transparent little room enveloped by the starry night sky, with sparse starlight providing just enough light for him to see his surroundings.
However, the space inside the central chamber was vastly different from the rest of the school.
The hallucinatory walls devoured most of the light and echoes, leaving only the sound of a hot pulse.
Feeling the beating of his heart, he also knew that he had come back to life once again.
The trial of the Hanging Duke required him to travel back and forth between life and death, and only by experiencing death could he obtain knowledge of the future from him.
"Welcome back." Tamisha, holding the energy line in one hand, said to him.
To her, only a short time had passed.
But the phantom still had that expression.
"It's you..." Perhaps it was the bright light of the Central Energy Room, or perhaps it was because he had just stood up, but Lanchi felt a little dizzy and stared blankly at Tamisha, whose appearance reminded him of a gray cat.
Lanchi stood in front of the Taberius Mirror, hugging the little figure of Tamisha, who asked, "Why are you looking at me and smiling?"
"Tamisha... I may need your help again in the distant future." Lanchi walked up to Tamisha and hugged her tiny figure, asking for her help.
"What do you mean?" Tamisha tilted her head, looking up at Lanchi and asking.
She didn't quite understand the concept of time and numbers.
"You'll understand later." Lanchi smiled and replied to Tamisha.
He knew that Tamisha's offer to hug him was her way of showing concern.
"You'll have to protect me."
"Okay, I'll protect you." Tamisha relaxed and counted to the largest number she knew, "My promise is valid for a hundred thousand years, as witnessed by the Goddess of Fate."
She held out her pinky finger and hooked it with the phantom's, making a promise.
(End of Chapter)
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