After passing through the barrier of the material world, Bologg once again stepped into the etheric realm. Standing on the cracked, broken and collapsed ice sheet, Bologg could see from this cruel scene the madness of the devils fighting each other.
, in this final decisive battle, each devil devoted its full strength and vowed to put the other party to death.
What surprised Boluogo was that the turbulent ethers actually calmed down as time went by. Apart from the devastation that had not yet healed, the ether world seemed particularly peaceful, as if the battle between devils had already begun.
It ended some time ago.
Did they decide the ultimate winner?
Boluogo moved forward in confusion, subconsciously clenching the sword and ax in his hand, even though the sword and ax in his hand was already full of fatal cracks.
In the final blow to kill the Silent Man, Boluogo devoted everything he had to detonating the core of the Light, and was able to break off the Silent Man's crown and completely shatter his existence.
In the endless stream of light, the figure of the Silent Man disappeared and disappeared, the lava raged, the volcano erupted, the excess ether overwhelmed reality, and the entire island where the two were fighting also embarked on a complete destruction, turning invisible.
The dust particles dissipate.
In this massive destruction, as one of the belligerents, Boluogo himself was also affected to a certain extent.
The Silent One's desperate counterattack left a series of terrifying sword marks on Bolog's body. Although Bolog was already the crowned one, this injury was not enough to kill the ethereal body, but Bolog
Ge was still greatly affected by this. His ether intensity dropped a lot, and he was a little depressed and exhausted.
Even the ten-horned crown above the head was broken into cracks at this time, and the broken residue floated on the left and right sides of the crown, like pieces of solidified light spots.
Boluogo thought that maybe this was the price for killing the crowned one.
Fortunately... everything is coming to an end.
Boluogo moved forward steadily, crossing the broken ice fields and crossing the melting, yet unfrozen lake. His feet waded through the shallow water. As he moved forward unswervingly, the black storm was silent.
The ground stood before Bologo's eyes.
There was no sound of wind or ripples in the ether. The pitch-black storm was like an illusion, standing in the ether world like an unfathomable black hole, eating up all the light and all the hope.
Boluogo stopped in front of the dark storm and raised his head with great effort. He could see thousands of ghosts flying silently along the rotation of the storm.
"Secret source?"
Boluogo was puzzled.
Obviously, what stands in front of Boluogo at this moment is the secret source incarnated by the eighth person. But now, the blazing white sacredness is no longer replaced by absolute darkness, as if the secret source has emerged from the dispute.
He failed and became a slave of the devil, and was corrupted and degraded.
Boluogo knitted his brows together and stepped into the dark storm without saying a word.
In an instant, countless darkness gathered. They surrounded Boluogo, wrapped around him, and blocked Boluogo's vision. But strangely, Boluogo did not feel any air flow on his body.
There is no moving touch, not even the slight feeling of coolness.
nothingness.
This is the only feeling that the dark storm brings to Bologe. The black airflow seems to have no entity at all. It takes away all the light and all the senses. Bologg's eyes are filled with darkness, and he can only rely on
With his own will and a sense of direction that has become unreliable, he moves forward slowly.
In the hazy darkness, Bologg couldn't help but think of the evil he had faced in this world, the Darkness of Annihilation. But unlike the Darkness of Annihilation, the pitch-black storm did not harm Bologg himself.
Doubts filled Boluogo's mind. He tried to summon the ether to dispel the darkness in front of his eyes, or to control the ice under his feet and erect a few signposts to prevent himself from getting lost in the storm.
But at this moment, Boluogo was surprised to find that the surrounding ether no longer listened to Boluogo's call. They seemed to have minds, hiding from something, and quickly escaped from here, so that in this world full of ether
Here, such an etheric vacuum actually formed.
not only that.
As Boluogo moved forward, Boluogo was keenly aware that the operation of his own alchemical matrix was also becoming slower, as if there were layers of soul scars covering it, putting heavy shackles on it.
, immobilizing Bologo's alchemical matrix.
Little bits of light flickered from Boluogo's eyes and disappeared into the darkness.
Boluogo was stunned for a moment, and looked up, only to see that his ten-horned crown was continuously extending cracks, collapsing into shining fragments.
The light is fleeting, like a faint spark.
Boluogo just watched quietly, not noticing any external interference. The ten-horned crown gradually disintegrated and collapsed, and all the light disappeared in the darkness.
Very strange...
Before doing this, Boluogo would have felt panic and confusion, thinking that there was someone in the darkness who was far more powerful than the crowned one and was launching an offensive against him. It might be Hill who was devoured by the original sin, or it might be someone who had returned.
Visitors from outer space.
No matter who the enemy is, Boluogo will be like a duelist, gripping his sword and ax tightly, arching his body, ready to kill the powerful enemy emerging from the darkness at any time.
But at this moment, Boluogo's heart was unexpectedly calm, with no tension or anger. Even the collapse of the crown could hardly cause any ripples in his heart.
In the dark, an inexplicable feeling emerged from the bottom of Boluogo's heart. As if he had a premonition of what would happen next, Boluogo accepted all possibilities calmly.
So Boluogo continued to move forward. This time he no longer stubbornly determined a certain direction, but just moved forward blindly. He understood that no matter where he went, he would reach the end, just like fallen leaves always return to the earth.
Passing through the dark curtain, Boluogo came to the heavy and round table.
This place seemed to be in the eye of a storm. Countless darkness surged around the round table, spinning silently and continuously. Vaguely, Boluogo could feel many eyes peeking out from the darkness, like ghosts.
Looking at the world.
The ghosts were whispering, not discussing some evil conspiracy, but arguing over an unknown fate.
Boluogo let go of the sword and ax in his hand, and the sword and ax fell to the ground without making any sound.
It was still that dark premonition, some kind of wonderful tacit understanding and consensus. Boluogo knew that he no longer needed weapons to fight, and there was no battle waiting for him.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands in confusion. It was strange that there was obviously no light source here, but in the darkness, Boluogo could strangely see his body clearly, and the god-like body of the crowned person followed.
The broken ten-horned crown disappeared altogether.
There were scars on Bolog's hands, and there was dirt in his fingernails. He looked extremely worn and tired. More importantly, Bolog found that his hands had turned black and white.
Not only Boluogo's hands, but his body, everything around him, and everything he saw had lost their own seriousness and turned into a grayish-white light, like a black and white movie, inexplicably solemn.
The feeling spread silently.
"welcome."
In the silence, Hill's voice sounded, smiling and waving to Boluogo.
"It's been a long time coming, Boluogo."
Boluogo glanced at Hill, and then looked at Hill's side. The iron thrones stood around the round table in turn, and on each iron throne, there was a familiar person sitting.
figure.
Belphegor, Asmodeus, Mammon, Beelzebub...
Boluogo was surprised to find that the devils who were supposed to die appeared in front of him again. They were sitting on the throne with smiles. Some devils waved to him, some turned their heads in disgust, and some
The devil had no reaction, and...
And a devil Bologger had never seen before.
He looked no different from an ordinary person. He was wearing the same black robe as other devils, and his face looked very ordinary. There was nothing memorable about him, as if he would be forgotten in the blink of an eye.
He didn't speak or make any movements. His eyes were empty and he stared blankly ahead. After an unknown amount of time, his dull and hazy consciousness finally seemed to respond. He turned his head stiffly and showed an ugly smile to Boluogo.
meaning.
Bologg knew who he was. The moment he saw him for the first time, Bologg knew his existence instinctively.
The eighth person.
"Please take a seat, Boluogo."
Hill stretched out his hand to signal, and then Bologo noticed that there were a total of ten thrones surrounding the round table, eight of which were occupied by the seven-headed devil and the eighth man.
Boluogo sat on the empty seat, and his position happened to correspond to the last empty seat in front. It seemed that that was the main seat of the round table, where the protagonist of this mysterious meeting was, but there was nothing on the throne. What?
nothing.
Looking around, the devils are also in black and white, like statues that were carved by craftsmen and then came to life. They exchanged glances with each other and whispered like ghosts.
Some devils were full of expectations, some were dismissive, and some were silent.
Boluogo took the initiative to break the calm, "Is the dispute over?"
Hill replied, "So be it."
"Who's winning?"
"At the moment, it looks like it's me," Hill smiled and glanced at the devils proudly, "No one has any objections."
Hill won, completely. Even though the expressions of the devils were different, none of them denied it, and there was not even a movement of resistance. It seemed that in this black and white world, everyone was deprived of the supreme power.
The power and even the will of the secret source materialized and became the silent eighth person.
"But we still have a lot to do before we can move on to the next step."
Hill took a deep breath, as if this would be an extremely heavy topic, while Boluogo waited patiently before his voice sounded.
"Brogo, I want to end the continuation of original sin, and I want to save mankind's destiny from this curse."
Boluogo nodded slightly and asked, "What should I do?"
"It's simple, come with us to destruction."
Hill spread his hands, and there was a trace of sadness in the smile on his face.
Boluogo's heart felt inexplicably heavy. He had long expected such an ending, but when it actually appeared in front of him, his calm heart still rippled and fell silent.
Hill continued to explain, "In fact, looking back now, what is truly terrifying is not the alien visitor, but the original sin he carries. This power is like a plague, tempting and cursing all the minds that come close to it.
In the final analysis, the alien visitor was just another, bigger slave. But at the end of his life, he chose to use himself as a container to accommodate this original sin, and to take this terrible power away from Aurora and bring it with him.
I came to this barren land in an attempt to seal it away forever."
Boluogo was slightly surprised and said, "So the aliens are not exiled sinners?"
Hill affirmed, "It seems that he is not a sinner but a self-exiled hero."
"So, do we want to repeat the journey of the aliens?" Bologo asked cautiously, "Gather this broken power back together, stuff it into a container, and then... seal it and exile it."
Boluogo's voice paused. No matter how dense the mystery was at this time, he had already seen the truth clearly.
container.
The only one who can be regarded as a container is myself at this time.
He broke through the system of aliens and became the crowned one who transcended mortal nature. And this kind of self, the soulless self, is the existence that can accommodate this heavy original sin.
The atmosphere became heavy, and no one spoke... From the beginning to the end, only Boluogo and Hill were talking. Absolute silence fell in this black and white world, just like the silent movies of the early years, with thousands of dead silences.
Emotions surged.
"The cycle goes back and forth, over and over again."
Hill narrowed his eyes and chanted in a low voice, as if he was telling an ancient spell.
Boluogo lowered his eyes and looked directly at the table in front of him... His eyes were not here.
"Want to play a game of chess?"
Suddenly, Hill said, this was not a suggestion. As his voice sounded, Lin Lie's Othello chess pieces appeared on the huge round table.
Hill stretched out his hand, holding a white chess piece in the void across a long distance, and moved forward.
Boluogo was stunned for a moment, then reached out his hand in coordination, grabbed a black chess piece across the void, and moved forward to face Hill's offensive.
"Are you afraid of death? Bologger."
Hill tilted his head and held his hands, as if the death that followed was just a light and unreal thing to him.
"Maybe."
Boluogo said hesitantly, "I have been an immortal for so long that I have become numb to death and despise the God of Death. But when death comes again, I will inevitably feel panicked."
"You're not usually like this, savior," Hill seemed to be mocking him, "Don't you always talk about the so-called devotion?"
"Death is a heavy topic and I need some time to prepare."
Boluogo smiled mockingly, "If you die in battle, that would be an easy thing to accept."
The battlefield was changing. One second the soldiers were still charging, and the next second they might have been shot and fell. Looking back now, that was a good way to die. It was fast, fatal, and had no room for maneuver, instead of the current situation.
Like this, it gives you room to make a choice and tests the fragility of human nature.
Hill held the chess piece and captured Bologo's chess piece, "It doesn't matter, Bologo, everything is futile in the face of death. No one can face death calmly."
Boluogo asked, "What about you? Hill, aren't you afraid?"
"Afraid of death? I was really afraid of death before. I was terribly afraid...but I'm not afraid anymore."
Hill said mysteriously, "Do you want to know why this is?"
"Why?"
"It's very simple. All my friends are dead," Hill said in a very light tone. "The friends who love me, the ones I love, all the friends I know are dead long ago. Even my sacred
The city of Remgateton was also lost in nothingness."
"I have no connection with this world anymore, so when I face death, I feel surprisingly calm. What's more... I'm already dead, Boluogo."
Hill rubbed his face vigorously and made various weird expressions, "I am a devil, but not a devil. My consciousness and jealousy are combined into one, like two sides of the same body, some kind of evil isomerism."
The body is the same.
King Solomon Hill died a long time ago, and all that is left alive now is just a stubborn ghost."
Hill took a deep breath, and then let out a long sigh, "Life will inevitably come to an end. Facing that cruel ending, death is like a punctual guest. He always
Will arrive on time."
Boluogo responded, "But similarly, in the face of death, we will continue to pray, praying for some kind of supreme existence to save us and give us hope...even a kind of comfort after death."
Hill asked, "Do you mean the so-called gods?"
Boluogo held the necklace on his chest, rubbed the ring cross, and held it tightly, trying to warm the cold metal.
He did not respond to Hill's words, but asked innocently.
"Hill, do gods really exist in the world?"
Hill laughed heartily. He had rarely seen such a stupid side of Bologg, as well as such an innocent and ridiculous look.
"Because of human beings' fear of death, they have embodied this fear into the God of Death, and in order to combat this fear, we have created so-called gods to believe in."
Hill said quietly, "Don't you think this is ridiculous? Boluogo."
Boluogo understood Hill's words and nodded in approval, "Is that so? The God of Heaven and the God of Death have the same origin. They both originate from human beings' fear of death."
"Sadly, absolute death does exist in this world."
Hill said as he moved his gaze and looked at the vacant throne at the head of the round table.
Boluogo also followed his gaze and saw that the vacant throne had been occupied by a mysterious being at some point. He was tightly wrapped in dark robes and outlined a rugged and thin body. Under the hood,
His pale skin was revealed, his eyes hidden in the shadows.
Burlogo wondered, "Is he real?"
"Does it matter whether he is real or not?" Hill stretched out his hand, wanting to touch the mysterious existence, "He can be anything.
The god of death who brings the end, or the messenger who leads us to heaven... He is just the incarnation of a certain meaning, a materialized existence born from our thoughts."
Hill moved his eyes away from the God of Death and picked up the chess pieces again. As the chess pieces rose and fell, Boluogo was forced into a desperate situation.
"You lose, Boluogo."
With just one more step, Hill would be able to kill Bologg. Seeing this, Bologg sighed helplessly.
"I have practiced seriously, but maybe I'm really not good at this thing."
"Nothing, it's just a chess game."
Hilton paused and suddenly said, "The so-called original sin... no, I don't think we should use the word original sin, which has an obvious sense of good and evil, to describe it. It would be better to say the power of God? What do you think of this description?"
"It's very old-fashioned, but very vivid."
Hill argued, "There is no other way. The limit of human imagination is this. We attribute the incomprehensible and beyond imagination to the so-called gods."
"Back to the topic, the so-called power of God is just a pure power, but this power will affect those humans who try to master it. If they follow their desires, this power will turn into original sin and make everything suffer.
cycle.
If you reject desire and get rid of the bad nature of mortals...then it will transform into what is called virtue."
Hill said, looking at the silent eighth man, who still had the same empty and godless posture, "Unfortunately, the eighth man only converted part of the divine power into virtue, so you and I don't know
, what would it look like if the power of God was really completely liberated."
"Of course, the so-called original sin and virtue are just our names for the positivity and negativity of this power," Hill repeated again, "Human beings also have the limitations of their own cognition, don't they?"
"so?"
"So I want to leave it all to you."
Hill opened his hands as if to embrace Boluogo from a distance, "If you choose to sacrifice yourself, then the broken original sin and virtue will be reunited, and the power of God will be reset back to the original chaos, and will no longer be able to affect the world.
Every cent."
Boluogo added, "But similarly, once the power of God is observed and touched by humans, it will be distorted by humans' own will, just like you and the aliens from the outside."
Immediately afterwards, Boluogo murmured, "If...if you choose to perish."
"Then everything will happen again, the devil's strife, the pain of life, nothing will change."
“What about choosing liberation?”
"I don't know," Hill shook his head and regretted, "At least in our understanding, most people are addicted to their own desires."
Boluogo was silent for a while and said with emotion, "What a difficult choice. Even if we choose to sacrifice ourselves, we can't guarantee what kind of choice our successors will make. And if our successors choose to perish, then our sacrifice will be in vain."
Meaningless.”
"Yes, but don't you think it's interesting? Put all your chips on humanity," Hill laughed sickly. "The fate of mankind is not determined by you and me, but by mankind itself."
Hill teased Boluogo's nerves and shook his mind, "So, Boluogo, do you want to refuse?"
"reject?"
"Yes, refuse to dedicate yourself. Instead of placing your trust in that illusory successor, it is better to believe in yourself, just like a dictatorial monarch."
Hill grinned wantonly like a devil. He looked at Boluogo's soul, the incomplete and empty interior.
"It doesn't matter if you refuse, Boluogo, I will give all my power to you, and you will win the final victory, dominate all power, and become the leader of all evils.
You will become the next alien visitor, the big devil who controls destiny. You can harvest the souls of the world to satisfy yourself, and no one will be able to stop you then."
Hill imagined the beautiful but desperate future, "You can also try to resist the influence of original sin and stubbornly stick to the so-called original intention... But to be honest, in fact, the moment you refuse to devote yourself, your original intention is gone.
It's shaky, isn't it?"
His voice became deeper, like a group of snakes entangled in the dark, rubbing their scales.
"Just like me, just like them."
Hill's fingers passed over the devils, "The moment they surrender to desire, they are already dead. What survives is just the personified desire, just like me now, a wonderful identity."
isomer……"
"However, this can also be regarded as a form of immortality. The continuity of your consciousness is not interrupted. You can deceive yourself. You are still Boluogo Lazarus, the savior of the world. You will use this supreme power to
, to create your ideal and beautiful world.”
Hill clasped his hands together and felt that everything was wonderful.
"Bologo, will you sacrifice yourself for that weak hope, or will you follow your own desires and become the master of the world?"
Boluogo didn't respond. He lowered his head, rubbed the shining ring on his finger, and paced repeatedly in the corridor like a clerk waiting for notification.
Vaguely, Boluogo noticed a faint ether on the radiant ring. He subconsciously touched this barren power, and then, a faint light lit up from the radiant ring.
I saw a pair of haloes appearing on Jie's body. They contracted and expanded rhythmically, turning into waves, and then, like squinting eyes, they turned into a straight line.
Boluogo laughed inexplicably. Obviously, this was the change in the aperture in Aimu's eyes. I don't know what she thought, but she actually added this kind of thing. At this moment, it seemed that Aimu was really here, heading towards
Wink at yourself...
The smile on his face froze, like broken ice, crumbling step by step.
Boluogo covered his face with his hands, and time seemed to have stopped at this moment. Darkness spread silently, and madness brewed and grew in the silence.
After an unknown amount of time, faint sobbing sounded.