Endless Debt

After passing through the barrier of the material world, Blogo once again stepped into the etheric world, standing on the cracked, broken and collapsed ice field. Blogo could see the madness of the fight between the demons from this cruel scene. In this final battle, each demon devoted all its strength and vowed to kill the other.

What surprised Blogo was that the surging and manic ethers actually calmed down with the passage of time. Except for the devastation that had not yet healed, the etheric world seemed particularly peaceful, as if the battle between the demons had ended some time ago.

Did they choose the final winner?

Blogo moved forward in confusion, subconsciously tightening the sword and axe in his hand, even though the sword and axe in his hand were already full of fatal cracks.

In the last blow to kill the Silent One, Blogo devoted everything, even the Light Burning Core was detonated by him, so that he was able to break the crown of the Silent One and completely shatter his existence.

In the endless stream of light, the figure of the Speechless One disappeared, the lava raged, the volcano erupted, the excessive ether crushed the reality, and the entire island where the two fought was also completely destroyed, turning into invisible dust and dissipating.

In this massive destruction, as one of the warring parties, Blogo himself was also affected to a certain extent.

The desperate counterattack of the Speechless One left a series of terrifying sword marks on Blogo's body. Although Blogo was already the Crowned One, this injury was not enough to kill the etheric body, but Blogo was still greatly affected by it. The strength of the whole person's ether dropped a lot, and his spirit was a little sluggish and exhausted.

Even the ten-horned crown on his head was broken into cracks at this time, and the broken debris floated on the left and right of the crown, like pieces of solidified light spots.

Blogo thought, maybe this is the price of killing the Crowned One.

Fortunately... everything is coming to an end.

Blogo moved forward steadily, crossing the broken ice field and the melting but unfrozen lake. His feet waded through the shallow water. As he moved forward unwaveringly, the black storm stood quietly in front of Blogo.

There was no sound of wind, nor any ripples of ether. The dark storm stood in the ether like an illusion, like an unfathomable black hole, swallowing up all the light and all the hope.

Blogo stopped in front of the dark storm and raised his head hard. He could see thousands of ghosts flying silently along the rotation of the storm.

"Secret Source?"

Blogo was puzzled.

Obviously, the one standing in front of Blogo at this moment was the Secret Source incarnated by the Eighth Person, but now, the blazing white holiness was no longer there, replaced by absolute darkness, as if the Secret Source had lost the dispute and became a servant of the devil, thus corrupted and degraded.

Blogo frowned and stepped into the dark storm without saying a word.

In an instant, countless darkness gathered, surrounding Blogo, wrapping around him and blocking his vision, but strangely, Blogo did not feel any air flow surging on his body, not even the slight coolness.

Nothingness.

This was the only feeling that the dark storm brought to Blogo. The black air flow seemed to have no entity at all. It took away all the light and all the senses. Blogo's eyes were dark and he could only move forward slowly with his own will and his unreliable sense of direction.

In the hazy and empty darkness, Blogo couldn't help but think of the evil of this world that he had faced before, the darkness of annihilation, but unlike the darkness of annihilation, the dark storm did not hurt Blogo himself.

Doubts filled Blogo's mind. He tried to call up the ether to dispel the darkness in front of him, or to control the ice under his feet and erect several road signs to avoid getting lost in the storm.

But at this moment, Blogo was surprised to find that the ether around him no longer obeyed Blogo's call. They seemed to have a mind, avoiding something and quickly fled from here, so that in this ether-filled world, there was actually such an ether vacuum.

Not only that.

As Blogo stepped forward, Blogo keenly noticed that the operation of his alchemical matrix was also becoming slower, as if there were layers of soul scars covering it, putting on heavy shackles, making Blogo's alchemical matrix unable to move.

A little light flashed in front of Blogo's eyes and disappeared into the darkness.

Blogo was stunned for a moment, looking up, and saw that his ten-horned crown was constantly extending cracks and collapsing into pieces of shining fragments.

The light was fleeting, like a weak spark.

Blogo watched quietly, without noticing any external interference. The ten-horned crown was disintegrating and collapsing little by little, and all the light disappeared in the darkness.

Very strange...

Before, Blogo would have been panicked and confused, thinking that there was a powerful person far superior to the crowned one in the darkness, attacking him, maybe Hill who was swallowed by original sin, or a returning alien.

No matter who the enemy was, Blogo would be like a duelist, holding his sword and axe tightly, bending his body, ready to kill the powerful enemy who appeared from the darkness at any time.

But at this moment, Blogo's heart was unexpectedly calm, without tension or anger, and even the collapse of the crown could hardly stir up 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 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 about 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 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.

There were scars on Bolog's hands, and there was dirt in his nails. 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, Bolog."

Boluogo glanced at Hill, and then looked at Hill's side. Iron thrones stood around the round table in turn, and on each iron throne sat a familiar figure. 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 devils turned their heads in disgust. The devil had no reaction as well...

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 instinctively knew of his existence.

The eighth person.

"Please take a seat, Boluogo."

Hill stretched out his hand to signal, and only then did Bologg notice that there were 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 and the protagonist of this mysterious meeting, but there was nothing on the throne. What? nothing.

Looking around, the devils are also in black and white, like statues carved by craftsmen and then come to life. They exchange looks with each other and whisper like ghosts.

Some devils are full of expectations, some devils are dismissive, and some devils are silent.

Boluogo took the initiative to break the calm, "Is the dispute over?"

Hill replied, "Sort of."

"Who's winning?"

"It looks like it's me at the moment," 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 or even made any move of resistance. It seemed that in this black and white world, everyone had been deprived of the supreme power. The power, even the will of the secret source materialized, becoming 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 as his voice rang out.

"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?"

"Quite simply, join us in our demise."

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, yes, he was 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 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 films of the early years, with thousands of dead silences. Emotions surged.

"The cycle goes around, 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 frivolous and unreal thing to him.

"Maybe."

Boluogo said hesitantly, "I have been an undead 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 one. In general, giving you room to make a choice 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, to death...but I'm not afraid anymore."

Hill said mysteriously, "Do you want to know why this is?"

"Why?"

"It's very simple. My friends are all dead," Hill said in a very light tone. "The friends who love me, the ones I love, and all the friends I am familiar with are all dead long ago. Even my sacred The city of Raymond 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 now all that is left alive is 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 end, Death is like a punctual guest. He always Will come 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 didn't respond to Hill's words, but asked innocently.

"Hill, do gods really exist in the world?"

Hill burst out laughing. He had rarely seen such a stupid side of Boluogo, 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 to look 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, and his eyes were 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 looked 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 checkmate Bologo. Seeing this, Bologo sighed helplessly.

"I have practiced seriously, but I may not be really 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?"

"Very corny, but very graphic."

Hill argued, "There is no way. The limit of human imagination is this. 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 person, who still had the same empty and godless posture, "Unfortunately, the eighth person only converted part of the divine power into virtue, so you and I don't know , what will it look like if the power of God is 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 this up 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. "

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.”

"Yeah, but don't you think it's interesting? Put all your chips on humanity," Hill laughed sickly. "The fate of humanity is not determined by you and me, but by humanity 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 examined 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 and rubbing their scales in the dark.

"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 Blog Lazarus, the savior of the world. You will use this supreme power to create the beautiful world of your ideal."

Hill clasped his hands together and felt that all this was wonderful.

"Blog, will you sacrifice yourself for that faint hope, or follow your own desires and become the master of the world?"

Blog did not respond. He lowered his head and rubbed the shining ring on his finger, pacing repeatedly in the corridor like an employee waiting for notification.

Indistinctly, Blog sensed a faint ether on the shining ring. He subconsciously touched this poor power, and then a faint light shone from the shining ring.

A pair of halos appeared on the ring. They contracted and expanded rhythmically, turning into waves, and then like squinting eyes, they turned into a straight line.

Blogo laughed inexplicably. It was obvious that this was the change in the halo in Amy's eyes. I don't know what she was thinking. She actually added this thing. At this moment, it seemed as if Amy was really here, winking at her...

The smile on her face solidified, like a broken ice surface, collapsing step by step.

Blogo covered his face with his hands. Time seemed to stop at this moment. The darkness spread silently, and madness brewed and grew in silence.

After an unknown amount of time, a faint sob sounded.