The moment the Ultimate Lord appeared on the battlefield, the outcome was inevitable.
The gaunt old man, his expression grim and his methods ruthless, obliterated countless demon creatures with a flick of his wrist.
Michael, watching from the sidelines, jumped up in excitement.
“Woohoo! I leveled up!”
His celebration was cut short as he coughed up blood, collapsing to the ground.
“James, come here!” Michael wheezed, his voice trembling. “It seems I have another dying message to deliver…”
He couldn’t understand. The old fool had clearly broken through to level 990 or above, yet he was still stuck at level 899.
It wasn’t fair!
After clearing the battlefield, the gaunt old man turned to Michael, his gaze cold and dismissive.
“Idiot.”
“You are you, and I am I.”
Those words struck Michael like a bolt of lightning.
He wasn’t Terenas!
From this day forward, he had nothing to do with Terenas!
Michael, a cunning individual, immediately grasped the implications. He grabbed James’s hand, his voice filled with fervor.
“James, I didn’t have a choice in my past life, but in this life, I’m going to be a good person!”
He might have been the leader of the First, Third, Fourth, and Sixth Demon Cults, but he knew, deep down, that he was a good person!
To be fair, those Demon Cults had been practically defunct by the time he took over.
His leadership had been a meaningless title.
And all he had done in his past life was run away.
This time, if he had a choice, he would be a good person!
Terenas approached Shadow Ten, his head bowed slightly.
Shadow Ten’s emotions were a tangled mess.
Terenas had been his favorite student, like a son to him. He had even planned to entrust the Blood Sea Corps to him.
He had never imagined that Terenas, the student he had placed so much faith in, would betray humanity, turning against his own comrades.
Nearly three hundred years had passed.
Darian was dead, now existing as Shadow Ten.
Terenas had also died once, but now he was alive, even stronger than before, an Ultimate Lord.
Fate was a cruel mistress.
Shadow Ten snorted, his voice laced with disapproval. “The crimes you committed, even as an Ultimate Lord, still warrant… death!”
Terenas kept his gaze lowered, his voice respectful. “Your student has already died once.”
“You are not my student.”
“Can the comrades you murdered be brought back to life?”
“I don’t know.”
Terenas took a step forward.
A cold wind swept through the battlefield, and the Blood Shadow, previously restrained by Shadow Ten, suddenly broke free. It charged towards Terenas, its blood-red long knife aimed at his heart.
“Move!”
Shadow Ten instinctively tried to push Terenas out of the way, wanting to take the blow himself.
But he had forgotten that Terenas was an Ultimate Lord, far stronger than him.
Terenas stood his ground, allowing the Blood Shadow’s blade to pierce his chest. *Swish*
The long knife tore through Terenas’s body, leaving two gaping wounds.
The Blood Shadow pulled back the blade, striking again and again.
Terenas didn’t fight back, nor did he utter a word.
The Blood Shadow, as it attacked, unleashed a torrent of curses.
“Fuck! Fuck!”
“Go to hell!”
“Son of a bitch!”
“Motherfucker!”
With each strike, its vocabulary expanded, its insults becoming more creative.
It had clearly learned the art of verbal abuse from Calderon.
“That’s a lot of pent-up anger,” Mike said, leaning forward in his rocking chair, his brow
furrowed.
Something wasn’t right.
Richard had been on the verge of losing control before.
And this battle had pushed him over the edge, transforming him into a Blood Shadow.
But Terenas’s arrival had changed something.
Richard had regained some semblance of awareness, even if he was now a cursing, slashing
maniac.
Moreover, the crimson hue surrounding Richard was fading, while blood-red markings appeared on Terenas’s face.
“This is a bold move,” Mike said, impressed.
Shadow One looked at him, surprised. “Fourth Bro, you understand what’s happening?”
Shadow Three nodded. “It’s not surprising that Fourth Bro would understand.”
“Indeed,” Shadow Four agreed.
“What are you guys talking about?” Mike asked, looking at his three Shadows. “I’m impressed because I don’t understand.”
The Shadows: “…”
“Fourth Bro loves to joke.”
The significance of this event wasn’t lost on the Shadows.
Blood Shadows had always been a major problem for the Guardian Shadow.
Why had Mike contacted Pecker, seeking a way to improve the Guardian Shadow members’
food supply?
Improving their living conditions could stabilize their mental state, preventing them from becoming Blood Shadows.
But those were just temporary solutions. They could delay the inevitable, but they couldn’t solve the problem entirely.
If this experiment succeeded… Blood Shadows would no longer be a threat!
The Shadows held their breath, their gazes fixed on the battlefield below, not wanting to miss
a single detail.
…
“Take that, you backstabbing bastard!”
“You like slashing people, huh? Does it hurt? Does it hurt?!”
Richard Sterling continued his assault until his long knife was dull and chipped, then he
paused, gasping for breath, regaining his strength.
Terenas, his body riddled with wounds, looked down at his mangled form, his expression
impassive.
“Pathetic.”
“Terenas, you dare talk back to me?!” Richard Sterling roared, pointing a trembling finger at Terenas’s face. “Three hundred years ago, forty-six battles, big and small, and I saved your ass twenty-four times! And how did you repay me? You stabbed me in the back!”
Mike nodded slowly, listening to Richard Sterling’s rant.
Terenas had betrayed humanity, killing a human Chief as a gesture of loyalty to the Abyss.
And according to the information Mike had received, Richard Sterling hadn’t died in the Blood
Sea Abyss.
The truth was clear now. Richard Sterling was the one killed by Terenas.
Richard Sterling, his sanity partially restored, was consumed by rage.
“Tell me! Why did you kill me?!”
“I investigated the Chiefs around me,” Terenas replied calmly. “You showed signs of siding
with the Abyss, so I chose you.”
“Kiss my cock!” Richard Sterling exploded. “I was on an undercover mission!”
“Terenas: “…”
Richard Sterling, on an undercover mission, had been targeted by the traitorous Terenas, who
had killed him as a gesture of loyalty to the Abyss, easing his own guilt.
As they spoke, the last vestiges of crimson faded from Richard Sterling’s body. He
transformed into a shadow, falling into slumber.
Shadow Ten approached, retrieving Richard Sterling’s shadow. He looked at Terenas, his expression a mixture of anger and sadness.
“Instructor, you needn’t worry about your student’s sins.”
Terenas smiled faintly. “I will bear my own sins.”
He took a few steps forward, and a phantom image of the Temple of Truth appeared in the sky
above the Abyss, as if about to open.
The gaunt old man, his expression grim, stood beneath the Temple of Truth, his raspy voice
echoing through the Abyss.
“I hereby swear…”
“If the Blood Shadows problem cannot be solved, I will forever relinquish my chance to
become a God.”