Father and son—one lying down, the other sitting.
Amid the countless trajectories etched by fate, this was an all too common microcosm: you stood to welcome his birth, lifting him high; and he would sit beside your bed in your old age to see you off.
Doctor Black Cat had said that having family talk to Mr. Aisen often would help gather his consciousness back together, aiding in his awakening.
Usually, Richard was quite talkative. He was optimistic and bright, treating everyone around him with genuine warmth. Yet sitting here, when he needed to exercise his eloquence to the fullest, he had turned strangely wooden.
After uttering, "I still have to take you to the pastry shop, Memphis," Richard lapsed into a long silence.
The person lying before him was undeniably the closest kin in his life, yet when he lowered his head to study his face, every feature seemed somehow unfamiliar.
Thinking back, the memories in Richard's mind of warm family moments and parental companionship were fleeting at best.
He had long grown used to a father who locked himself away in his study; whether he was at home or not made no real difference—in fact, Richard had barely felt any presence at all.
Still, while some roles required cultivation, management, and effort to maintain, other roles came naturally endowed with sanctity and inherent reality.
Between lovers or married couples, a prolonged absence could easily blow the so-called beauty of the past away with the wind; once each grew accustomed to their present life, returning to the past seemed almost unnecessary.
Yet the role of a parent could sometimes demand exaggerated sacrifices, and at other times be excessively simple.
Simple enough that as long as you were still alive, I was a child with a parent.
From childhood through his youth, Richard had lived happily. He never felt he had to grow withdrawn, nor did he harbor resentment or envy. He was fine, and had always been fine.
Until... Memphis appeared before him, sharing the same dormitory and the same tent when going out on missions.
Back then, both Captain Neo and Karen liked pairing Memphis up with him.
How should he put it?
Even though Richard had never felt aggrieved deep down, when the role of a father shifted from "as long as he's alive" to "a father accompanying you and protecting you," he had felt an almost overflowing sense of fulfillment and happiness.
Having once forgotten the flavor of such a cake, tasting it again made him reluctant to let go. Thus, he sincerely hoped the baker would stay healthy forever, never again driven to shut down shop under the torture of illness.
To that end, he hadn't hesitated to make endless trips to the accessory shop next door, buying belt after belt—broken after every single use—to give as gifts.
"Phew..."
Having sat for a long time, Richard checked the time. He needed to head over to the communications unit to assist Daina with archiving today's communication logs.
Behind the curtain, Purr sat on Kevin's back, watching Richard depart.
"Oh, looks like our 'Young Master Aisen' recognized Memphis's identity long ago. Tell me, how did he figure it out?"
"Woof."
"True enough. It's his own father, after all."
"Woof."
"Mm, and Little Tangli's Arte family bloodline."
"Woof."
"That's right. Little Richard brought Karen straight home the very first time he met him."
Back then, Karen had been merely a humble servant in an ordinary Inquisition office, while Richard was the scion of an esteemed Jurist lineage—a vast disparity in status. Later, Richard had unhesitatingly gifted his family's ancestral spell scroll, the Key to the Rubik's Cube, to Karen.
Thinking of this, Purr's brow suddenly furrowed.
"Say, do you think Little Richard ever suspected the relationship between himself and Karen?"
Kevin remained silent, momentarily unsure what to make of it.
"Woof?"
"Sigh, that seems quite possible. If I remember right, one reason Little Richard liked visiting pastry shops was that the Arte bloodline in him seemed very thick, especially after being enhanced and developed by Little Jerry—he needed the power of Goddess Mills's believers to help soothe it.
"Besides, he helps Karen oversee intelligence work. He ought to have noticed something even more easily."
Earlier on, Alfred had suggested inducting Richard as a believer as well, but Karen had rejected the idea. Consequently, Richard had one foot inside the inner core and one foot outside... one could say he was half in the dark and half in the light.
Even Vic and Leon had sensed early on that Karen had a tight-knit inner circle. Could Richard really have felt nothing at all?
In the end, Purr could only draw an ambiguous conclusion:
"Our Little Richard has grown up."
"Woof, woof."
"You mean the way he sat down and walked earlier?" Purr blinked. "It really is similar. Hehe, so he's been learning from and imitating his older cousin all along."
At that moment, Mr. Aisen, who had been lying comatose in the hospital bed, opened his eyes.
"Oho, he's awake!"
Doctor Black Cat immediately hopped onto the bed, looking at her Little Karen's maternal uncle. Strictly speaking, Aisen and Purr could even be considered distant relatives... though distant to the point of absurdity, since by technical lineage, Purr and Karen were distant relatives as well.
Mr. Aisen glanced to both sides, and finally turned his eyes to Purr, asking:
"Where am I?"
Unfortunately, Purr had always been a mischievous ruiner of tender moods:
"Stop acting. You were already jolted awake the moment Richard called you Memphis."
Mr. Aisen was momentarily struck dumb, making no attempt to deny it.
"So why didn't you open your eyes for your son just now? He would've been thrilled."
Mr. Aisen sighed, a bitter smile showing on his face.
"Sigh... Just now, I was so embarrassed I wished I could faint all over again."
...
"Are you sure you want me to do this?"
Holding the sapling in his hand, Daliwenluo looked at Neo with some trepidation.
Neo snapped, "How many times do I have to say it? Do you not understand human speech?"
"But..."
"There are no buts. If you don't do as you're told, when we get back I'll tell Alfred that you took advantage of lulls in the fighting to organize your Bald Faction out here, scheming to go back and stage a coup against him."
"You can't do that," Daliwenluo said with a frown. "I haven't gathered enough power for a coup yet."
"No, I quite enjoy watching the two of you clash, and I'd love to see you tossed into horse manure again."
"What fun is a one-sided slaughter?"
"I don't have the patience to watch you two stall in a stalemate. I just want to skip straight to the end and see the outcome."
"Fine."
Daliwenluo nodded, directing the sapling to branch out until it touched Neo's body.
Impatient, Neo raised his right hand. His nails lengthened, slashing open two wounds across his shoulders. The vines entered through the incisions and began spreading through Neo's body.
"Oh... sss... ooh!"
Neo groaned—a sound of pain, yet imbued with strange pleasure.
The vines sinking into his body were like chains penetrating his interior, tangling around his joints. The sensation was like steel rods scraping against his bones while steel spikes were driven in.
"Ready?" Neo asked.
"Ready."
"Remember, if I lose control in a moment, you're responsible for suppressing me."
"I'll try my best."
"Don't try your best. Because if you fail to suppress me, the first thing I'll do once I lose myself is kill you and drain every drop of your fresh blood."
"Understood."
Neo began walking down. Shackled by the vines inside him, his movements appeared somewhat uncoordinated; his steps were uneven, and several times his hands and feet moved on the same side in an awkward gait.
They were situated at a battlefield deep in the Zuomaisi Mountain Range. A brutal clash had erupted here a few days prior; though the site had undergone a preliminary clearing, residual bloodstains and worthless enemy body parts were still scattered everywhere.
"In my name, cleanse the glory of blood. You are the vessel of all things, the legacy transcending all..."
Accompanied by Neo's murmurs, blood from the ground, the crevices between rocks, and the shattered corpses turned into flecks of crimson mist, stripping away from their resting places and gathering spontaneously toward him.
Neo offered no resistance whatsoever, opening wide his gates in unconditional acceptance.
He advanced as he absorbed, like an old farmer harvesting a bountiful field.
A recently ended battlefield was naturally the favored haunt of bloodthirsty aberrant demons, rich in the crimson that so enraptured them.
Neo's skin took on a dark red hue, and his eyes seemed to be layered over and over with blood.
Daliwenluo held one end of the sapling, trailing behind as if escorting a prisoner.
"Screech, screech..."
"Screech, screech..."
Bats emerged from the shadows cast by Neo's passage, fluttering into the air. Their numbers swelled, and before long, they formed a tornado-like vortex swirling around him.
Daliwenluo's vision gradually blurred, yet his grip on the sapling tightened.
Atop a distant peak, Karen lowered the military monocular in his hand.
Daliwenluo was his man after all, so when Neo approached him for this, the head of the Bald Faction had immediately reported the matter to Karen.
Standing beside Karen, Muri asked in confusion, "Why didn't Vice Head Neo come straight to you to provide protection?"
Karen replied, "Because he knew Daliwenluo would tip me off, and he knew even better that I would come even without being notified. But he simply refused to ask me directly."
"What stubborn pride."
"Heh." Karen gave a small laugh and raised the monocular again. "Indeed. In his mind, our relationship seems forever frozen on the day he recruited me into his Whip of Order squad as an auxiliary member."
"Then it seems Vice Head Neo himself is reluctant to step out of that past."
"No, truthfully, I'm not very eager to step out of it either."
Muri immediately lowered his head, knowing he had spoken out of turn, but Karen had no intention of taking issue with it.
Through the lens, the bats around Neo grew ever more numerous, and the tornado they formed swelled ever larger—so large that even across such a distance, it was clearly visible without a telescope.
"Go notify the nearby patrol squads to keep their distance. Also, garrison outposts in the vicinity are forbidden from conducting any reconnaissance here."
"Understood, Commander."
Muri went to deliver the order.
After he departed, Philomena appeared behind Karen.
Without turning his head, Karen asked, "What is it?"
"Mr. Aisen has awakened."
"Good, I understand." A weight lifted from Karen's chest, yet he felt little relief, for ahead of him, a new boulder was rapidly expanding in size.
Philomena looked in that direction too, puzzlement in her eyes. "Has he lost his mind?"
To draw and absorb such an enormous amount of blood power from a fresh battlefield ruin all at once—how could he possibly withstand it?
Even with their Commander's profound foundation, he likely couldn't bear such power, could he?
"When was he ever sane? That lunatic."
Karen's gaze darkened slightly. Every time Neo set out to stir up trouble, he managed to create a scene beyond Karen's expectations.
Philomena asked, "Is this a secret technique he obtained from Kevin?"
"I don't know, but most likely yes."
"You..."
"I intentionally didn't ask. I was afraid that if I asked Kevin beforehand, I'd end up stopping him. I even foresaw that I'd regret it right about now."
Philomena fell silent.
At last, when the dark crimson bat tornado expanded to a point where it could barely hold together and teetered on collapse, Neo finally halted his steps. Raising both arms high, he began chanting a somber, ancient prayer once more.
Behind him appeared an enormous phantom figure dressed in black formal attire, mirroring his posture.
Daliwenluo distinctly heard the words echoing from Neo's direction:
"Hahahaha! I told you long ago, if you want greater power, you must open everything unconditionally to me! As long as you believe in me and obey me, I will grant you anything you desire!
"Oh... I love this place! Fresh battlefield ruins! You intentionally told them not to sweep it too clean, didn't you?
"Very good. I like it very much.
"Why does our race of bloodthirsty aberrant demons constantly meddle in secular affairs and manufacture wars? Because only through warfare can we be granted the finest gifts of blood!
"In this era, securing such a banquet table must be exceedingly difficult. You pulled it off! Splendid, truly splendid!
"Let the sacrifice begin!"
The bats began plunging downward one by one, swooping into Neo's body as if in an orderly line. From a distance, it resembled a dark crimson river washing over him, without a single droplet wasted or splashing out.
Soon, Neo's body had clearly reached its limit, yet only a fraction of the bats in the sky had been absorbed; countless more circled above, poised to descend in tandem with the vanguard.
The phantom of the bloodthirsty aberrant demons' ancestor behind Neo began guiding the remaining bats toward itself, causing the shadowy form to condense and solidify at a pace visible to the naked eye.
Daliwenluo stared wide-eyed at the spectacle. He knew the situation was dire. If this continued, Neo would undoubtedly slip into madness and lose himself, for the phantom was already attempting to seize control of Neo's body.
Neo hadn't even had time to consume much of the lavish offering; the vast majority would be claimed by that phantom. Once its power grew, it could turn around and overpower its host.
Daliwenluo couldn't fathom why Neo had chosen such a foolish path to power. Wasn't this blatantly hurtling toward oblivion?
Right now, Daliwenluo wanted to retreat. He considered Neo's loss of sanity inevitable, and the binding restraints he had prepared in advance would never hold once the man completely lost his mind.
He couldn't afford to survive the battlefield only to die out here after the war was over; he needed this second life of his to reunite with his beloved family.
Yet he couldn't leave, knowing that, barring the unforeseen, Karen was watching nearby.
"Keep going, keep going... Yes, just like that. Keep going! Trust me, anything you desire, I can grant you! Keep going, hold on, your goal is my goal, we are united, we are one..."
Enticing whispers poured ceaselessly from the phantom, and Neo's mouth was gradually syncing with the words.
Daliwenluo quietly rubbed the sapling, ready to make his move.
Just then, he sensed someone arriving behind him. It was Philomena.
"The Commander says there is no need to intervene."
"Understood."
Since Karen had issued the command, the burden fell completely from his shoulders.
The phantom of the ancestor slightly raised its head, looking at the two standing before it, and spoke: "Surely you two have desires in your hearts as well..."
A leaf appeared between Daliwenluo's brows and unfurled, its veined imprint spreading across his forehead to stabilize his mind and resist the phantom's bewitchment.
Philomena raised the Blade of Nightmares horizontally before her, narrowing her eyes to screen out the seduction.
"What lovely little creatures, hehe."
The phantom paid no further mind to provoking these two outsiders, focusing instead on absorbing the bats that whistled downward. In the past, this host had resisted even drinking human blood to get a taste; this time, who knew what had provoked him into abandoning all caution?
A feast served on a silver platter was something the phantom would naturally accept. Perhaps after tonight, it would possess a fresh avatar in this world once more.
In the distance, Karen remained where he was. He had sent Philomena to relay the message while staying put himself.
This was not to save face for Neo, but because Karen worried that if he approached now, the ancestor phantom might provoke him directly—and Karen didn't want his hunger addiction stimulated as a result, which would make the aftermath truly impossible to manage.
As for worry, he had felt some earlier, but now he was no longer concerned. While he believed Neo might indeed play himself to death one day, it wouldn't happen in such an amateurish way. If Neo were truly to lose himself like this, it would simply be dying of stupidity.
Sure enough, a sudden shift occurred at that moment.
Neo, who had his eyes closed and appeared almost completely taken over, abruptly snapped one eye open. From that eye radiated an intense brilliance of Light. Immediately after, the phantom of the Mad Pope manifested, standing directly opposite the ancestor phantom.
"You... you two..."
In this instant, the ancestor felt the crushing weight of office politics. There were only a few occupants in this brain to begin with, yet they could still form a clique and gang up to plot against him!
Before the ancestor phantom could react, the Mad Pope phantom crossed his hands and chanted:
"God said, let there be light."
In a flash, radiant Light blazed forth, violently melting the ancestor phantom like a wax statue. The melted liquid dripped onto Neo's body and was absorbed directly by him.
At the same time, because bats continued plunging into the ancestor phantom from above, it simultaneously condensed as it melted. Meanwhile, Neo, continuously absorbing the "melted wax," constantly channeled power into the Mad Pope phantom to sustain its existence.
Among the three, a dynamic equilibrium had actually formed.
Neo couldn't directly absorb the battlefield ruins' power, but he could absorb the power after it was refined by the ancestor phantom, and then split the spoils with the Mad Pope... The ancestor had effectively been reduced to a mere power converter, selflessly chewing the meal while the nutrients were passed down to the organs below for absorption.
Currently, both Neo's and the Mad Pope's auras were rising steadily. But if all went as expected, near the very end, Neo would intentionally let the ancestor keep a share for himself to bolster its aura as well, restoring the three-way balance once more.
Karen subconsciously pursed his lips. It struck him as utterly absurd, yet coming from Neo, such an absurd method somehow felt completely normal:
"Could this be considered... self-produced and self-consumed?"
Chapter 816