Endless Debt

Great Rift, Mist Abyss Fortress.

While the war outside was in full swing, this ancient fortress located deep in the mist still remained quiet, like a dead building without any life at all.

There were crystal drops of water hanging on the dark rocks, and the ground was covered with dust. There was a breeze passing by, making deep sounds in the porch, as if there were invisible ghosts walking here.

At the huge glass dome in the atrium, the Shadow King sat in the center of the glass dome as always, looking at the thick sea of ​​fog rolling below.

This time, the Shadow King did not pick up the fishing rod to fish. He put his hands on his knees and simply admired the scenery and the endless rolling sea of ​​fog.

Under the noble mask, his withered body was aging. He looked away from the sea of ​​fog and turned to his hands.

The hands were like rotten wood, without the slightest trace of blood, and the flesh and blood were all withered, like the bark of an old tree, tightly attached to each other, as slender and fragile as craggy bones.

The Shadow King's eyes were cloudy, and his hands changed in a daze. They were no longer in this dying posture, but fists full of strength and youth, like iron walls.

That's not the case...I'm not like that...

Looking at the sea of ​​fog below, the Shadow King could see his ugly face reflected on the glass. He knew clearly that this was not his original face, and this was not his true self.

His soul is trapped in this dying body.

Facing this desperate situation, most people will gradually become numb and helplessly accept this fact.

But the Shadow King is different. He still has not stopped resisting until now. He refuses to die like this. This is far from his end.

The Shadow King keeps himself angry all the time. He knows very well that once the anger in his heart is extinguished, he will be like those people, numb and accepting this cruel despair, and eventually become a walking corpse in the darkness.

Footsteps sounded, and a shield guard came over carrying a dinner plate. He looked very stressed and looked at the contents of the plate nervously.

When they reached the outer edge, the guard stopped and waited patiently. After a while, another footsteps sounded.

The Shadow King is not alone. The third seat behind him has been guarding him loyally. There is a cold and oppressive atmosphere under the silver armor. The third seat takes the dinner plate, and the shield guard wants to get rid of some kind of burden. , he saluted the two of them, and then quickly left this dark place.

The Shadow King asked, "How is the situation now?"

"Everything is going well. We have surrounded the alchemy workshop and captured the Immortal Heart. It is only a matter of time."

The third seater checked the dinner plate and made sure there was nothing abnormal. He held up the dinner plate, bent down and handed it to the Shadow King.

The Shadow King took off the cover on the dinner plate, and a piece of scarlet flesh was placed under it. It looked like it had just been cut off from a certain body. It was extremely vital and was still squirming.

The third chair said, “We also found some unexpected surprises.”

"What?"

"A Utopia Seed, but it has already been activated, but if we can kill its host before the Utopia Seed is completely consumed, we should be able to use the Utopia Seed a second time."

The third seat is very concerned about the Utopian Seed. The Immortal Heart can only extend the life of the Shadow King, but the Utopian Seed can give the cold reality the possibility of a "miracle".

What the Shadow King needs most now is a miracle.

"Fantasy?"

The fantasy species obviously caused some memories of the Shadow King, but the burden brought by this withered body was too great. Even thinking about it would cause extreme pain, like some kind of torture.

The Shadow King grabbed the scarlet flesh, and at the moment of contact, tiny mouthparts appeared on the flesh, biting the Shadow King's palm.

Bite through the rotten skin, but there is no blood under the wound, only a thick, dark slurry, which makes people wonder what the Shadow King's body is made of.

The Shadow King skillfully pressed the flesh and blood to his chest, and the flesh and blood struggled to merge with the Shadow King. In the past, it was the only one that could eat others, but now it is being swallowed by the Shadow King bit by bit.

After merging with flesh and blood, the Shadow King's own pain was relieved a lot, and even his muddy consciousness became a little clearer.

"There are more and more impurities..."

The Shadow King raised his injured palm, and scarlet fabric could be seen under the wound. They were sewn together to heal his own wound.

He is as old as an old man whose physiological functions have reached the limit, but he relies on the evil flesh and blood and possesses a terrible self-healing power. The two contradictory qualities of decline and resurrection coexist in the Shadow King.

All this is not without cost. The Shadow King can clearly feel that his own madness is getting stronger and stronger, and he is being eaten away by evil bit by bit.

If the Immortal Heart is implanted, the Shadow King will have a head-on confrontation with the evil evil, and either tame it or be swallowed up by it.

Thinking of these, the Shadow King did not feel the slightest fear in his heart. In his opinion, his victory was destined.

The same was true for the third seat. He trusted the Shadow King blindly. Then he wanted to say something, but before he could say anything, a red light flashed in the darkness under the helmet.

The Shadow King noticed something strange about the third seat and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I met an unexpected guest, Lebius Lovisa," the third seat added, "but he is only one person and cannot affect the situation."

"Lebius Lovisa..."

The Shadow King whispered the name. He had never faced Lebius in person, but from later information, Lebius left a deep impression on the Shadow King.

"I remember him, the one who turned the tide of the war during the time offensive... He even almost killed the red dog."

The Shadow King believed that the third seat could handle this operation, but at this moment, strange emotions arose in his heart.

Suspect.

The Shadow King didn't know what he was suspecting, but soon the imperceptible flaws quickly magnified in his eyes.

"He's alone, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"Don't have any partners around?"

"Yes."

The answer from the third seat was extremely positive, "My rank is higher than Lebius. Although I use control objects to participate in the battle, if you want to avoid my sight, you must at least be of the same rank as me. "

The third position is the fourth stage defender. As the rank that is about to touch the glory, the condensers of this level are also relatively rare in the order bureau, and they all bear important responsibilities.

Of course, the same is true in the King's Shield Guard. The third seat's task is to protect the safety of the Shadow King. In order to carry out this, even in the fight for the Immortal Heart, he only used the control object to assist from the side.

Except for the bad luck of the third seat, there is no chance that he will encounter the defender.

"Is this so..."

The Shadow King thought about it. If the situation was true, Lebius had obviously violated the regulations of the Bureau of Order, and Lebius in the intelligence was not a person who would violate the regulations.

What kind of thing would make Lebius make such a choice?

The Shadow King thought about it. The third seat moved very quickly. Logically speaking, even if the Order Bureau responded, it shouldn't be so fast, let alone sending only Lebius.

"Has the Utopian Seed been activated?"

The third seat replied curtly, "Yes."

At this point, a vague guess gradually took shape in the Shadow King's mind, and he spoke with no emotion in his voice.

"The wish caused by fantasy is most likely to go back in time."

"Time travel?"

Even though the Third Seat completely trusted the Shadow King, he still couldn't help but look suspicious when he heard about the time reversal.

"Lebius' most outstanding achievement was his attack on Red Dog during the time offensive of the Secret War. Although he failed to kill him, he also shattered the time offensive.

The reason why the Order Bureau can defeat the King's Secret Sword is that there are a group of people in the Order Bureau who are not affected by time chaos, and Lebius is one of them..."

There is no need for the Shadow King to continue talking, the third seat has already thought of the reason for all this.

The Utopian Seed triggered a time regression and attracted the attention of the Bureau of Order, which sent Lebius to investigate.

This can explain why Lebius was the only one to go out, and why he was able to find the alchemy workshop so quickly and accurately...

The third seat recalled Lebius's bold attacks during the confrontation. As a ruler, he did not lead his pack of wolves and did not care about his own safety at all, repeatedly putting himself in dangerous situations.

An uneasy feeling arose in the third seat's heart, not because of the weirdness of time rewinding, but because he realized that he might not be able to take back the Immortal Heart.

The third seat does not allow such a possibility.