A Sword of Light materialized in Neo's palm. Normally, when this blade condensed, it extended outward, destined to impale Lango's body—and indeed it did. The Sword of Light punched through Lango from back to chest, stabbing upward at an angle.
Yet the impaled Lango suddenly burst backward, dissolving into a spattering substance like liquid mercury that instantly formed a cage, trapping Neo just after his ambush.
At the same time, the two scimitars slung across Lango's back flew backward on their own, executing a blindingly fast, strangling slash.
With a thud, Neo's head hit the ground, while his headless corpse remained standing where it was.
A ripple appeared off to the side, and the real Lango stepped out, his hands held open as the two scimitars flew automatically back into his grip.
He looked down at the decapitated Neo, whose body had turned into a doll—save for the doll's head lying on the ground.
A ring of light appeared, and Neo's figure emerged from behind.
In their opening clash, each had severed the other's stand-in puppet.
Lango flicked the scimitars in his hands. "I truly didn't expect someone like you to be hiding on Mipos Island."
Neo replied, "As Light remnants, we naturally have to hide somewhere you orthodox churches would never think to look. What else am I supposed to do—wait around to die?"
"The island is crawling with my people now. You can't escape. Perhaps we can sit down and discuss terms?"
"What terms?"
"Surrender your body, and I will sign a soul contract with your spirit. That way, you can still maintain your sense of self."
"I know plenty of unscrupulous merchants, and I even consider myself quite rotten, but I truly never imagined someone in this world could be as black-hearted as you."
"Sounds like you refuse?"
"You're welcome to signal your people and summon your Samsara forces—those Lost, along with your lucid priests and soldiers. Call them all over. But can you be so certain there isn't a spy from another church among them?"
"What if there is? Harboring a soul of Light—is that really so serious?"
"To the church as a whole, of course it isn't. Although Samsara is badly crippled right now, it wouldn't be wiped out outright like those minor churches just for getting entangled with Light remnants. But making trouble over it and demanding an explanation from Samsara by handing you over alone—I'd say that's entirely feasible, wouldn't you? After all, anything tainted by Light is taboo to all orthodox churches. Do you think the current Samsara would bear the collective pressure of every orthodox church just for you? Everyone loves to see a head roll."
"You make a good point." Lango nodded, spreading his twin blades and sinking slightly into a crouch.
Neo held out his hands. A Sword of Light condensed in his right hand, while a Shield of Light took shape in his left.
Lango smiled faintly. "You seem to be at a disadvantage."
"I don't care much for carrying weapons. They feel like baggage."
"Heh."
Lango's figure began to blur, leaving only an afterimage in his wake.
Neo braced his shield forward and angled his body sideways. Lango appeared right there, hacking furiously with both blades. Moving at blinding speed, his strikes blurred into a barrage of blade shadows that surged like a savage dragon roaring relentlessly at its prey.
Neo retreated steadily while maintaining the barrier of the great shield before him, in no hurry to retaliate. The sight looked remarkably like the subordinate he always loved to tease.
Lango's slashing speed continued to climb. Gradually, a phantom with a piercing gaze materialized behind him, gripping scimitars and moving in near-perfect unison with Lango.
Cracks began spreading across Neo's great shield. Even as Neo poured Light power into it without pause, he could not halt its imminent collapse.
Silently, he counted down: Five, four, three, two, one!
The massive shield shattered.
Neo lunged forward abruptly. Lango let out a low shout; one scimitar cleaved ahead while the second blade swept diagonally toward the sky. In an instant, terrifying lightning gathered upon the second scimitar and crashed down toward Neo.
Yet after leaning forward for only a fraction of a second, Neo snapped sideways—the lunge had been nothing more than a feint.
Boom!
The surging power of thunder slammed into the ground. Realizing his strike had missed, Lango immediately slashed horizontally, sweeping the residual lightning toward Neo at his flank.
However, Neo fell back once more, having no intention of forcing a close-quarters clash. His retreat was decisive.
"Roar!"
A low growl erupted beside Lango as a massive azure lion condensed right where Neo would have been, jaws agape, having waited for Neo to walk straight into its mouth.
Lango shook his head. "Fighting like this takes the fun out of it."
Unfazed, Neo flicked his left hand and condensed another Shield of Light.
"There's something I should tell you in advance." Lango resumed his opening stance. "My reserves of spiritual energy are far richer than you can imagine. If you try to turn this into a battle of attrition, you'll only lose all the more miserably."
"Talk about sheltered. Heh, I've seen reserves far richer than yours. If there's ever a chance, I'll introduce you."
"Very well. If the opportunity arises."
The azure lion melted into armor, adhering to Lango's body to form a suit of cyan light plate.
Then, Lango charged at Neo once more.
Neo braced the massive shield before him again.
Just before they collided, Lango released the scimitar in his left hand. In an instant, the cyan armor detached from his body, turning into a living suit of armor that caught the falling blade, darted past, and swept diagonally behind the great shield.
Lango himself held the remaining scimitar and struck down against the shield before him.
Bang!
The great shield shattered.
Lango's eyes narrowed. This time, the shield had broken a little too quickly.
Neo burst straight through the shower of fractured light. Behind him, the phantom of the Mad Pope emerged, driving his Light power to its absolute peak. The Sword of Light grew so dense it resembled molten magma.
Lango brought his scimitar down against the blade, but his weapon was snared by a fierce pulling force. Neo capitalized on the momentum, slamming his shoulder forward while gripping the Sword of Light with both hands, aiming to run Lango clean through.
Three layers of defensive barriers flared before Lango—sacred relics he carried—yet under the assault of Neo's greatsword, all three dissolved instantly.
A sharp hiss escaped Lango's throat. The scimitar in his grip unraveled into an aged, gray arm that clamped onto the Sword of Light, halting it by sheer force!
Hum!
The next instant, the cyan-armored figure appeared behind Neo with scimitar raised, hacking down with savage force.
A smile touched the corner of Neo's lips. His fingers twitched, and the restrained Sword of Light instantly unleashed radiance several times brighter than before—and detonated!
Boom!
Lango was blown backward, while Neo used the force of the blast to tumble away, evading the armored figure's strike. As terrifying flames of Light scattered everywhere, control over the armored figure was disrupted, preventing it from pursuing Neo.
When the dust cleared, Lango stood there, his expression calm despite the lingering embers flickering over his clothes.
The cyan-armored figure broke apart again, reattaching to Lango as armor to extinguish the residual flames and mend his wounds, preventing the flames of Light from invading his body any further.
Neo felt no need to keep up appearances. Crawling out of the rubble, he brushed the dust from his clothes and spat a mouthful of "bright red" blood onto the ground.
Wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, a faint mockery gleamed in his eyes.
The gray arm on the ground turned back into a scimitar and flew to Lango. Catching it, he slotted the two blades together—not with both edges facing outward, but interlinked edge-to-edge, forming a smooth arc.
The arc gave off a peculiar sheen, revolving autonomously before Lango.
"Honestly, I've always looked down on people weighed down with gear," Neo shrugged, mocking him. "Think you're special just because you've got point coupons?"
"I never stopped you from using them too." Lango was unfazed by the taunt.
"No, I prefer relying purely on myself."
"Do you think that helps you improve faster?"
"No, it just feels better."
"To each their own, as long as it suits you."
Lango held his hand forward, and the arc immediately froze in place.
"Guide the departed, lead the lost, light the lantern for wandering souls; let all chaos, darkness, and the unseen enter Samsara to seek their rebirth.
"Great God of Samsara, grant your gracious permission: open the Gate of Samsara to ferry them across!"
Hum!
A door manifested before the arc.
When Lango turned his gaze toward Neo, a door appeared behind Neo as well.
Creak...
Creak...
Both doors swung open at the same time.
In Neo's vision, the door before him instantly grew towering and immense, filled with majesty and mystery.
A duel of mental spells?
Neo cracked his neck gently. Heh, using this on me?
Placing his hand over the left side of his chest, Neo began, "Great God of Or—"
Wait, wrong one. Try again.
Neo cleared his throat twice and resumed chanting: "O Great God of Light, please..."
...
Lango manipulated the arc, driving the mental assault forward.
"Rayan, this body you want is extraordinary."
The consciousness belonging to the Light soul answered, "I'm curious, Lango. Why didn't you keep fighting him?"
"Because I sensed danger."
"Yet I felt you held the initiative and the upper hand."
"And yet none of my traps lured him in. This fellow possesses immense combat experience and is exceptionally skilled in close quarters. What's more, I have a premonition that he laid some trap for me right from the start. Rayan, don't forget, I spent a long time as a soul body; my perception is far keener than an ordinary person's."
"Lango, he is no match for you. I'm certain of it."
"Of course. But right now, I still need to be careful. I don't want to break my seal; this body might not hold up. Besides, I have no desire to end up like the Lost on this island."
"That's the worst-case scenario. Things won't get that bad. I have faith in your control, Lango."
"Yet that is the outcome I must avoid at all costs. I know you're impatient, Rayan."
"Yes! Such a pure aura of Light! This body is crystalline through and through. I need it! I want it! If I claim it, I will have a new vessel, and my power can be unleashed properly. You would gain an extra assistant—a living assistant forever bound to your command, unable to break free. As you know, the soul contract we signed puts you in control. I cannot disobey your orders, and you will never need to worry that I might abandon or betray you. Right now, I only want to feel what it's like to have flesh and blood again, and the longing is unbearable!"
"I'll grant your wish, Rayan. I will."
"Very well. Still, your mental spell doesn't seem able to trap him. He's walking out."
...
A path appeared beneath Neo's feet—guidance from the God of Light.
Following the path, Neo stepped through the Gate of Samsara.
Calls suddenly drifted from behind him—former friends, comrades-in-arms, the living, the dead... Neo ignored them all.
"Captain, why didn't you come find me and save me?"
Karen's voice came from behind. Neo still didn't turn back, merely waving a hand dismissively as he corrected, "Call me Squadron Leader."
Behind him, Karen immediately corrected himself: "Squadron Leader."
"Call me Commander."
Behind him, Karen adjusted again: "Commander."
"Sigh, I hope you're still alive, though odds are you're dead," Neo murmured with a sigh. "I'll see once I get back—check if there's any big news from the temple. If you died, it'd probably cause quite a tremor. Still, I do hope you turn up alive before me again. Otherwise, who else would I exchange all those secrets I go hunting for with? Without someone to trade with, secrets lose all their fun. Alas."
"Neo."
Elisa's voice sounded behind him.
Neo smiled. "Call me a few more times."
"Neo, Neo, I miss you so much."
"I miss you too, Elisa. When I finally play myself to death, I'll come see you. But not right now. To keep things fresh for when we truly meet again, and to keep my genuine feelings from being spoiled by a dress rehearsal, I won't look back at you this time."
None of the illusions and temptations, none of the worldly turmoil, none of life's myriad entanglements could delay Neo in the slightest.
A path where looking back meant eternal damnation was walked by Neo as though he were merely taking a post-dinner stroll through a garden.
No curiosity, no lingering attachment—lucid, decisive.
In truth, this was also a kind of numbness, one that left him feeling somewhat helpless, perhaps even repelled.
Richard was the lucky one after all: down a bottle of mental hallucinogen and he could drift off into a daze, floating on air. When bored, he could be bored; when happy, he could be happy; when beaten, he could cry out in pain; his inner world could be sensitive, yet gentle.
Neo had already forgotten what that felt like. The moment he tore off his own face to craft a mask of his own, certain things were destined never to return.
Ahead on the path, a figure emerged—the Mad Pope.
His presence was much like the phantom of Diss beside Karen; standing there, he offered Neo the final guidance.
"There really was no need for you to come out. I inherited your bloodline out of nowhere anyway," Neo said, clearly ungrateful for the gesture. "I'll thank you first, and then—please step aside."
The phantom of the Mad Pope vanished.
As he kept walking, a splash of black appeared on the path ahead. Against the pure white road, these mottled patches of black looked glaringly stark.
"My heart forever belongs to Order," Neo said in a low voice. "Yet when I wield the power of Light, I must focus."
On the path, the black dissipated, leaving only pure, gentle white.
Neo continued forward until, eventually, he came to a stop.
"Tired. An exit should be up ahead."
With those words, the light of an exit appeared before him.
"Tired. Don't feel like walking any farther. Come closer."
And with that, the exit drew right up to him.
Neo took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and continued to mutter to himself:
"That guy will definitely strike the moment I step out of the door. He probably expects this spell won't trap me either, so he'll wait for me to walk out all pleased with myself and drop me into the real trap. Sigh, and he brags about his rich spiritual reserves. Heh, true abundance is like Karen's—never bothering with all these fancy tricks, just grinding you down through pure attrition. I used to call his fighting style stupid, but looking at it now, that really is the only way to leave zero openings.
"So... once I step out, the door collapses to stun me? And then he takes advantage of the interrupted spell to launch a sneak attack? Yeah, that sounds about right.
"Well then... bring it on."
Neo stepped through the gate. And then, the instant he returned to reality—
Boom!
The gate collapsed.
Terrifying spiritual power and Samsara aura turned into a chaotic countercurrent, sweeping directly toward Neo. He felt as though he were standing at the very eye of a storm.
At that exact moment, Lango moved. Drawing a scimitar from the arc, his speed pushed to the absolute limit possible in this state, he appeared right before Neo.
Neo raised a barrier of Light almost purely on instinct.
Bang!
The scimitar pierced through the barrier.
Neo instinctively began to retreat, trying to open up distance.
Threads of blood misted from the pores across Lango's body; his speed had reached the breaking point of his current state.
He was somewhat astonished by Neo's combat prowess—that even under these circumstances, Neo could produce such reactions on instinct alone. But this was as far as it went.
Lango thrust the scimitar forward. Across that brief span, both executed a blindingly fast clash of speed against speed.
The outcome was Lango's victory, because he successfully drove the scimitar into the left side of Neo's chest, right where his heart lay. Seizing that final fraction of an opportunity, he gave a smooth twist, boring a hole straight through Neo's left chest.
Lango smiled.
Neo smiled too.
Chapter 458