The Black Crow coughed up mouthfuls of tainted blood, the crimson stream running along the grooves of his crow mask. He stared blankly at the Swindler before him, who had shielded him from all the harm. He was not surprised that someone had come to save him; what stunned him was that the person who showed up was actually Igola, the one he had clashed with the most.
Something suddenly occurred to him, and he hastily turned to look around.
"To your disappointment, Yaxiu didn't come back with us," Igola said calmly. "After giving him the necessary intel, I told him to keep going with Gwen after the Silver Lantern..."
"But when Mr. Yaxiu learned that Mr. Igola was coming back to protect you, he had me come along as well." Gwen quickly finished bandaging the Black Crow. His body could not be directly affected by sorcery spirits, so she had to treat his wounds conventionally. "He said he could handle the Silver Lantern alone."
"In every sense of the word, I believe he has the confidence," Igola remarked. "I even felt we would only get in the way of him 'subduing' the Silver Lantern, so it was better to come back and save a crow so eager to throw his life away."
"But why did you come back?" the Black Crow could not help asking. "I clearly said I would hold out against Tanomu—"
"Did you think that by hiding your face, hiding your eyes, and distorting your voice, you could conceal your thoughts from me—the Swindler from the Blood Moon, a Sanctuary sorcerer of the mind faction?" Igola sneered. "You concealed yourself so well, yet throughout these past days, haven't I made you cry whenever I wanted you to cry, and laugh whenever I wanted you to laugh?
"So when you wanted to die, how could I not know?"
Blood seeped from the Swindler's pupils. In his field of vision appeared an illusory Godslayer Yaxiu, who swiftly cut down the Black Feather sorcerers in the distance outside Sanctuary protection. "When you said goodbye to Yaxiu, you didn't even say 'see you again.'
"More often than not, it is precisely because no time to meet again is set that a parting becomes a farewell forever."
The Black Crow said dejectedly, "I just didn't want... I just..."
Igola said, "You just didn't want to drag us into your grudge with Mercury Trojan? Well, I didn't want you to drag us into the Silver Lantern's conspiracy either. Strange—I've only ever heard of people taking on the greater burden themselves while leaving the lesser burden to their friends. How did it end up the opposite with you, dumping the greater burden onto us while you kept the lesser one for yourself?"
The Black Crow fell silent, but his newly staunched wounds tore open again. His emotions were clearly in turmoil, his shoulders even trembling faintly, and some other liquid seemed to trickle down inside the mask. Gwen hurried to treat the wound on his chest with an emergency hemostatic patch, a faint look of surprise flashing across her face.
"Do you know what you did wrong?"
"I do," the Black Crow said, his distorted voice tinged with a sob.
"Where were you wrong?"
"I was wrong to presume to entrust stopping the Silver Lantern to you, while I hid here throwing my life away against Tanomu, using death to run from responsibility..."
"No," Igola said. "You were wrong not to believe in Yaxiu."
The Black Crow froze.
"To deal with the Silver Lantern, he truly is enough on his own. And second, you were wrong not to believe in me."
Igola took a step back, and Gwen immediately helped the Black Crow to his feet. The three of them stood close together.
*Aow!*
The Swindler opened his mouth, and a silent scream reverberated through the hall. The farther the distance, the greater the damage. Even though the Black Feather sorcerers were all huddled inside Sanctuaries, they were still affected to some degree. While a Sanctuary could screen out high- and low-frequency ultrasound and infrasound, after Igola advanced to Three-Wing, his Mind Shriek could inflict lethal harm within normal sound ranges as well!
The Black Feather sorcerer closest to Mercury Trojan immediately turned around and wrapped his arms protectively around her head. Mercury Trojan crouched down, opening her mouth while covering her ears with her hands. Even so, blood still trickled from her nose.
"You are the finest killing tool," Igola said, resting a hand on the Black Crow's shoulder. "And I am the person best at using tools."
He glanced at the Black Crow's injuries. "Did Gwen fix you up?"
"A few ribs aren't mended yet," the Black Crow replied, reversing his grip on the Grey Fox blade. "It won't get in the way."
"Then, before Yaxiu returns," Igola said leisurely, "let us twist off Mercury Trojan's head first and kick it around like a ball."
"Is that really necessary?"
Mercury Trojan's voice rang through the hall. "Your Excellency Igola, do you truly believe that you, a single Sanctuary sorcerer, plus a crippled Judgment Retainer, and... well, my most capable subordinate, Miss Gwen, can pose a threat to me?
"I am not denying your capabilities. Tamashi can barely count as one Sanctuary combatant, and Miss Gwen counts as 0.5. Even with you added, that makes only 2.5 Sanctuaries.
"Whereas I..." Mercury Trojan lifted her head slightly as four young sorcerers formed a human wall before her, each deploying their Sanctuary. "...have four Sanctuary sorcerers I rely on most: Daoqiong, Mojilong, Koneva, and Nandatuo. Not to mention the Black Feather Guard I painstakingly nurtured."
The Black Feather Sanctuary sorcerers she named glared fixedly at Igola and the Black Crow. Had it not been for Mercury Trojan's orders, they would have charged forward like rabid dogs to tear apart these insolent fools who dared disrespect Her Eminence.
"On paper, you hold no advantage," Mercury Trojan said smoothly. "In that case, why must we keep fighting? Can the minor misunderstanding between us really outweigh the fate of Senluo, or your own lives?"
A minor misunderstanding... Igola raised his brows and smiled. "Since you have the advantage in numbers, why not pull us up by the roots and finish us off completely?"
"I never fight over petty grievances. What good does killing you do me? I'm going to other countries anyway, and we will almost certainly never see each other again. Why not clear up the misunderstanding and go our separate ways?" Mercury Trojan said. "We can retreat back to the floor above. You can hold this place, or go down to find Your Excellency Yaxiu. We won't disturb you at all, and the moment a new void portal passage appears, we'll leave immediately."
Because Tamashi had destroyed a near-perfect void portal passage, Mercury Trojan had indeed been furious. But she had suffered far too many blows lately: the Thousand Wishes Inheritance was snatched away, her authority had been usurped by someone dropped in from above, and the realm of Senluo she had nearly unified was about to turn into a Boundless Purgatory... Failed investments, bankrupt company, industry winter—virtually every piece of bad luck had struck her all at once. Inside, Mercury Trojan had grown numb.
Having endured so much hardship and suffered such massive losses, her mental fortitude had only been tempered further. She had swiftly processed the trouble Tamashi caused her and made the most rational choice: endure.
Had Tamashi been alone, Mercury Trojan naturally wouldn't have bothered with such nonsense and would have simply beaten the Black Crow to death. But Igola not only possessed the credentials to negotiate with her; he also possessed the wisdom to do so.
While the Swindler bore a grudge against her, it was by no means an irreconcilable feud unto death. More importantly, the Swindler and his companions were currently at a disadvantage, or at least lacked any guarantee of victory. Fighting out of desperation would be one thing, but now that she was actively yielding, would the Swindler really insist on playing an uphill battle where the odds were overwhelmingly against him?
Igola looked somewhat swayed as well. "Yet how do I know you aren't calling reinforcements down? If that happens, we'll be trapped in the Silent Spiral, unable to even run."
Hearing that Igola was genuinely willing to negotiate, the Black Crow's body gave a slight tremor, but in the end he said nothing, only speeding up his recovery. Gwen stroked his back gently, clearly much closer to him now.
"Ordinary sorcerers cannot pass through the trials of the upper floors," Mercury Trojan said. "If you are truly worried, you can go to the floor above while we remain here. That way, we will be blocked by you below, unable to reach the surface to summon reinforcements.
"As for whether we would head down to obstruct Your Excellency Yaxiu, you need worry even less. We have already demonstrated ample sincerity just now—we did not hinder you from going after the Silver Lantern."
"Indeed, you practically welcomed us to go after the Silver Lantern." Igola frowned. "That's why I find it so strange. You didn't hinder the Silver Lantern, nor did you hinder us. What in the world are you trying to accomplish? If you only wanted to enter the Silent Spiral to open a void portal, you could have completely seized the Silent Spiral in advance. Why let the Silver Lantern go ahead first?"
"Secrets make a person more charming," Mercury Trojan said. "Your Excellency Igola surely understands this truth."
"...Wait."
The Black Crow clutched his head at this moment and murmured softly, "There seems to be someone else... Tanomu isn't the highest authority here. Above her, there's another mastermind behind the scenes..."
Hearing the Black Crow's words, the Black Feather sorcerers looked bewildered one after another, some even showing signs of a headache. Mercury Trojan started, and memory came rushing back to her—right! She never wanted the Silver Lantern to unleash the world-ending sorcery procedure, so why had she ordered the Four Pillar Cult to guard the Silent Spiral and let the Silver Lantern reach the bottom floor unhindered to construct it?
She remembered now: she had lost supreme leadership. The Four Pillar Gods had parachuted someone in to strip her of her authority. Throughout these past days, she had been acting entirely on that person's instructions.
That person... that person... who was it?!
"Vichy!" The Black Crow finally dredged the name from the mire of his memory. "He went to the bottom floor too! The Four Pillar Cult has designs on the Silver Lantern!"
"Mercury Trojan!" Igola barked. "You still have an ambush down below?!"
"This isn't my—"
Miracle: Mind Thrust!
The instant Mercury Trojan responded reflexively, Igola whistled softly. His voice condensed into a blowdart that pierced through the Sanctuary, shooting straight toward Mercury Trojan's head amidst the crowd!
*Snap!*
A tremendous crackle of electric current exploded in the air. Mercury Trojan collapsed onto the ground in fright, staring at the web of cracks punctured into the lightning curtain before her.
"A defensive miracle inside a Sanctuary?" Igola remarked calmly. "You truly are the most cowardly, life-clinging creature I have ever seen."
"Your Excellency Igola." Mercury Trojan took Daoqiong's hand and pulled herself to her feet, her voice chilling. "I have already displayed ample goodwill."
"Not just now. From our first night arriving in Senluo, from when we started hunting the Silver Lantern, from the afternoon we hurried to the Dead City—every single time, you displayed ample goodwill," Igola said. "Which is why I know your goodwill tears easier than toilet paper.
"Dealing with someone like you leaves no room for negotiation or compromise. Blood and fire are the only things fit to tear your face apart!" Igola said with utter disgust. "Clear up misunderstandings? Actively yield? I can't be bothered to guess your thoughts, but you would never just give up. You would only keep brewing schemes to damn us beyond redemption! Since it's going to end in a fight anyway, why beat around the bush with you?"
The Black Crow nodded repeatedly in deep agreement.
Mercury Trojan was so furious she could almost cry.
This time, she genuinely just wanted to flee! She had no desire whatsoever to entangle herself any further with Igola, Yaxiu, or Tamashi! She only wanted to escape crumbling Senluo, start anew in another country, and waste no more energy harming anyone!
Yet not a single one of them would believe her!
Tamashi had insisted on killing Charlin and collapsing the void portal passage, when letting them leave would have been the greatest gift to Senluo. She had proactively yielded and offered multiple options, yet Igola didn't choose a single one, insisting on fighting them to the bitter end!
In Mercury Trojan's eyes, she and Igola ought to have been the same kind of people: rational actors who relished tactical maneuvering and viewed 'combat' as a last resort! Only with overwhelming odds or when left with no other choice would they ever resort to such a barbaric method as fighting!
Yet even the Swindler, who loved playing tricks more than anyone, refused to sit at her card table and flipped it over instead to start a free-for-all brawl!
"What I hate most," Mercury Trojan gnashed her teeth in anger and desperation, "are self-righteous fools like you!"
"I, on the other hand," Igola said leisurely, "love conceited clients like you the most."
With a sonic boom from the ground being kicked, the Black Crow danced once more across the hall of spilled wine, blood, and corpses. But this time, not only did starlight flutter around him, but fleeting phantoms paved his way forward!
Chapter 712