Rain

"I'm leaving." On the fifteenth floor of the Silent Spiral, Igola, who was covered in bandages, showed little surprise upon hearing Black Crow say those words. Reclining against a pile of clutter on the carpet, his smooth golden hair had been tied up by Gwen, revealing the nape of his neck like white silk. His broad-shouldered, slender-waisted torso was bare, while a curtain was casually wrapped around his lower half. Coupled with the injuries covering him from head to toe, as he had put it himself, he looked "practically like a ruined doll that still has to take on clients." Gwen held a small knife, scraping away stroke by stroke the flesh on Igola's body that had been charred by the thunder-water arrow storm before using the Water Therapy sorcery spirit to regenerate his flesh and blood. She had to be extremely careful, as the Swindler could not afford any more blood loss. His face was as pale as paper, yet he remained completely composed through what amounted to the torture of death by a thousand cuts—mind sorcerers were adept at severing their own perception of pain. Many people believed the mind faction was primarily used to deceive others, but mind sorcery was more often used to deceive oneself. Deceiving oneself that it did not hurt, deceiving oneself that one did not care—as long as the lie lasted long enough and ran deep enough, it was as if one could truly grow accustomed to loss and parting. The Swindler's lips moved slightly. Many words seemed to brew in his throat, but in the end, they formed only a single question: "Leaving right now?" Black Crow stood up. He still wore his cloak and mask. Though he had just been through an intense Sanctuary battle, to him it was merely a slightly torn outfit and a heavier stench of blood. His injuries were worse than Igola's, if anything, but in his career as a samurai, this didn't even rank in his top five. Although he could not use sorcery spirits to heal himself, Black Crow had always been skilled at treating his own wounds. Clenching muscles to stop bleeding, setting broken bones by hand—he could even use needle and thread to stitch up damaged internal organs from outside his body... Unlike Igola, Black Crow was remarkably low-maintenance. Not only could he tend to his own injuries, but he also didn't make a sound throughout the entire process. As if he truly could grow accustomed to pain. "Leaving right now," Black Crow said, flexing his wrists. "I've basically regained my mobility. With my mental art, the Four Pillar Cult on the surface won't be able to detect me." "Why the rush?" Gwen asked in surprise. "And where are you going, Mr. Tamashi?" "To find Tanomu." Black Crow said calmly, "I was the one who let her go, so hunting her down is my responsibility. Every second she remains free, the threat to innocent people grows. Perhaps someone has already fallen victim to her by now. "I don't regret sparing her, and I am willing to bear all consequences. The moment she left the Silent Spiral alive and regained her freedom, my punishment officially began—this time, not for revenge, nor for justice, but because this is my sin. Only with Tanomu's blood can my soul return to freedom." Igola suddenly sneered. "You make me feel so guilty, Mr. Samurai. It's all my fault for dragging you down; otherwise, the wicked Mercury Trojan would have been executed on the spot by you." "No," Black Crow said. "I did not mean to blame you." "Yet you're blaming yourself so much for saving me, talking about punishments and consequences—doesn't that mean saving me was a crime?" Igola said languidly. "Ah, I feel so guilty too! Wait a moment, and I'll come along with you to hunt down Mercury Trojan!" "All right, if you truly feel guilty," Black Crow said. "You're well-suited to be a White Crow." The Swindler slowly pulled back his exaggerated smile. After staring at Black Crow for a good while, he replied expressionlessly, "I'm not a follower of Slay All Crows." "Nor do you feel guilty," Black Crow said. "And you have no need to feel guilty either," Igola said. "Wiping out Mercury Trojan is the responsibility of the Harp Sun Alliance, the responsibility of sorcerers—the responsibility of anyone except an ordinary person like you. You have no sect, no followers, and nothing you need to protect. No matter how great a threat Mercury Trojan poses, it has nothing to do with you. The higher one's status, the greater the responsibility. You are a crow as lowly as dust; there is no need at all for you to feel guilty over failing to protect world peace. Telling that to anyone would only invite laughter." "I can't outtalk you," Black Crow said. "But I know what I must do." "Are you truly content with that?" Igola said. "You could clearly leave Senluo with us, go to a new realm, and start a new life, never having to run around just to survive or stay entangled in hatred. You could have plenty of friends, a new home, and even rebuild your Slay All Crows... You're only one step away from the future, yet you insist on trapping yourself in the past?" "I'm not content," Black Crow said, "nor have I given up. "I may be parting ways with you, but this isn't farewell forever. Once I kill Tanomu, I'll come find you; or after you settle down, you can return to Senluo to look for me. There are still countless possibilities in our future. As long as there is a chance, we will definitely meet again. "When Yaxiu asked me to come along, I was truly happy." Black Crow lowered his head and looked at his palms. "When I saw that you had come all this way specifically to rescue me, I was so happy I wanted to jump for joy. I know I let down your expectations. You went through so much hardship to find me, yet in the end I'm running off on my own. "I don't dare beg for your forgiveness, but..." Black Crow looked at Igola and Gwen and spread his hands. "That's just how we are in Slay All Crows. Besides, even if I'm ninety-nine percent at fault, don't you share one percent of the blame for treating me as a friend?" Gwen and Igola both froze for a moment. Then the Swindler snatched up a bronze wine flagon and threw it right at him. "You didn't pick up on any of his virtues, but you picked up every single one of Yaxiu's bad habits." "I happen to like this virtue of his—when something goes wrong, don't look for the fault in yourself, blame others first." Black Crow caught the bronze flagon and said softly, "Apologize to the others for me. I'm truly sorry for causing you all so much trouble during this time." "Aren't you going to wait for Mr. Yaxiu to return?" Gwen asked. "If I wait for him to come back, I might really not be able to leave." Black Crow shook his head and turned to go. "It took me quite a while just to steel my resolve earlier. "Besides, the longer it drags on, the deeper Tanomu will hide. The sooner I give chase, the more likely I am to catch her." Gwen gave Igola a meaningful look, signaling for the Swindler to make Black Crow stay. As long as they stalled until Yaxiu returned, or if Igola appealed to reason and emotion, they might sway Black Crow's resolve, convincing him to abandon the bright future of hunting Mercury Trojan and join everyone in pursuing a vulgar life of luxury and dissipation. However, Igola merely looked at Black Crow's departing back and sighed softly. The Swindler knew it was impossible to dissuade Black Crow. In that ultimate choice, Black Crow had defied his creed and let Mercury Trojan go in order to save Igola. This showed that Black Crow had already forged his own path; he was using his own life to reinterpret what "Slay All Crows" meant, rather than remaining a blind zealot of Slay All Crows as he had in the past. Once faith became shackles, ruin was only a matter of time. Yet he had merely reinterpreted his faith, not abandoned it completely. Therefore, he inevitably had to continue pursuing Mercury Trojan to attain inner peace, and would never surrender his conviction for the sake of comfort. Faith was unearthing divinity from humanity. "Perhaps," Igola murmured, "not all fish are meant to live in the same sea..." Gwen asked, "Mr. Igola, do you really not care that Mr. Tamashi is leaving?" How could he care? He had only needed him as a friend before because he was still useful. Now that he was off to chase Mercury Trojan, he had no utility left, and naturally was no longer a friend... Igola coughed, feeling a sour ache churning in his stomach. He called out softly, "Black Crow." "Hm?" Black Crow turned around before the mist door. "See you next time." Igola tapped Gwen on the shoulder, gesturing for her to wave with him. Black Crow paused, then waved back vigorously. "See you next time—!" BOOM! Suddenly, heaven and earth convulsed violently, and the hall seemed on the verge of collapsing at any second! Gwen immediately threw herself over Igola, unfolding her wings to lift the Swindler into the air. But right at that moment, a massive chasm ruptured across the hall. No matter how hard Gwen tried to fly, she couldn't take off; instead, as if slammed by an invisible torrent, she was swept straight into the fissure in an instant! The moment Gwen plummeted into the chasm, Igola dragged his mangled body forward in a desperate dash and grabbed Gwen's wrist right at the edge, keeping her from falling! He spread his void wings as well, attempting to leverage atmospheric pressure to pull Gwen up, but she felt as heavy as a mountain. No matter how much force Igola exerted, he could not haul her up even an inch! "Black Crow—!" Igola bellowed. "Get over here and help me!" He turned his head, only to see that where Black Crow had stood was dead center in the chasm. The eerie, grotesque Slay All Crows samurai was already nowhere to be seen. The Swindler's mind went numb. He had thought Onewa was the greatest crisis of this adventure, yet they had run into Mercury Trojan leading the Black Feather Guards; and after temporarily fending off that dire menace, heaven and earth were suddenly tearing apart in the Silent Spiral. Were they the unluckiest people in all of Senluo? Yet when Igola looked up, he saw countless people far more unlucky than them falling from above. Four Pillar sorcerers, Alliance sorcerers, combat sorcerers, healing sorcerers, logisticians, archers, messengers, sappers... thousands upon thousands of Senluo people poured ceaselessly from the fissures above, plummeting toward the cracks below. They spread their void wings, commanded sorcery spirits, and activated miracles, employing every trick in the book in an effort to resist this inescapable fate, but in the end, they could only vanish like drops of water into an ocean, streaming down into the Silent Spiral. People were falling like rain. Igola stared at the sight, his fingernails digging so hard into Gwen's wrist that they nearly embedded into her flesh. Gwen winced in pain, yet didn't make a sound, enduring the agony as she gripped Igola's wrist in return. ... On the eighteenth floor of the Silent Spiral, a gravely wounded Yaxiu opened his eyes to find himself held in Silver Lantern's arms. He subconsciously slapped a Joy Sword onto himself. His memories rapidly flooded back, horror surfacing in his eyes, and he grabbed Silver Lantern's shoulder, whispering, "Silver Lantern, Weixi, he is—" Yaxiu choked on his words. Because Silver Lantern didn't pay him any attention at all. And as he followed her gaze toward the sky, he was similarly struck dumb by the scene before him. A colossal chasm torn through the heavens was raining people incessantly. Viewed from afar, each person was reduced to a black speck, like a shower of falling refuse. And their final destination was also a fissure, yet an impossibly narrow one. Yaxiu turned his head to see a slit roughly a finger wide opening in the ground, looking like a groove in the floor. In such a narrow crack, it was naturally impossible for a person to squeeze through. Therefore, what squeezed inside were no longer people. Those swept down began to melt in midair. Their arms, thighs, torsos, heads—everything dissolved into water, converging into a curtain of liquid that poured with precise and brutal certainty into the narrow slit. Yaxiu couldn't hear any screams, only the rushing sound of water. "What's... down below?" Yaxiu asked dazedly. This was already the eighteenth floor of the Silent Spiral, the lowest floor any Senluo sorcerer could reach. Theoretically, there was no "below" anymore. "It is destination, home, death, and darkness," Weixi said, closing the notebook while keeping a close watch on the still-silent gods, explaining in passing: "It is also the Void Realm."