Sylin drove the dagger into his throat without piercing the windpipe. Instead, he drew the dagger downwards to his waist.
He cut through his dense shirt, drawing a straight line of blood that neatly divided his upper body into two halves.
Ashe’s face changed, “You’ve changed your mind.”
“Yes.”
Sylin threw away the dagger, pulled his long hair back to his ears, regained his elf-like elegance, his expression calm, his voice gentle, “Imprisoning you is just my naive wishful thinking. You are the ‘Touch’ that Heath summoned with great effort. You even escaped from Shattered Lake Prison, how could I possibly imprison you?”
“There are too many accidents in this world. As long as the Four Pillars are still watching you, accidents are enough to penetrate all my arrangements.”
“I can’t imprison you, I can’t kill you, I can’t hand you over to the Heresy Court, and I can’t even delay. The power of ‘Touch’ may allow you to escape at any time.”
“So, I came to a conclusion.”
The elf extended his middle finger and index finger from both hands like hooks, inserted them into his chest along the blood line he just cut.
“It must be now, it must be here, it must be me.” Sylin stated calmly, “I want to purify you.”
Ashe tilted his head slightly, “In my understanding, ‘purification’ is similar to ‘healing’…”
“Purification means to drive out impurities, destroy invaders, and annihilate parasites!” Sylin’s green eyes were getting brighter, as if emitting light, “And you, the incomplete ‘Touch’ that dwells in Heath, are the target to be purified!”
“I was originally going to use this miracle to destroy Heath … but I could never dare to, I was always afraid, that’s why I became Heath’s puppet, that’s why I made so many mistakes. Touch, I thank you, you gave me an opportunity to atone.”
Ashe squinted his eyes, “But won’t you kill me this way? Once I die, the ritual will be completed—“
“Therefore, I used this forbidden miracle.”
Sylin was glowing.
His green eyes, his blood, his black hair, his skin, every color on him was glowing brilliantly, he was just like… he had turned into an oil painting.
“Not only ‘you’, but all the arrangements of the Four Pillars on you, all the marks engraved by Heath on your body, will be completely banished without a trace. Everything that does not belong to this body will be thoroughly purified.”
Ashe took a deep breath, “Sylin, you are just a Two-winged Gold Sorcerer, do you have such a great ability?”
“Of course I don’t, but… the Virtual Realm does.”
Sylin suddenly showed a faint smile, “You attended my lecture on ‘Ancient Ritual Factions’ the day before yesterday, didn’t you?”
Ashe’s pupils shrank, “Forbidden ritual…”
“There was actually one thing I didn’t say at that time.” Sylin looked like he was giving a live lecture, “If you force a Two-wing Sorcerer to be a sacrifice by special means, you can pray for a full strike of a Four-wing Sorcerer at most.”
“But if a Two-wing Sorcerer voluntarily performs the highest-level forbidden ritual, this sincerity will be recognized by the Virtual Realm, and even the power… beyond Four-wings can be prayed from the Virtual Realm!”
“Under the protection of the Blood Moon Supreme, the Four Pillars can give you a ‘blessing’ at the Four-wing level at most.” Sylin showed a happy smile, “Fate still favors me. In Caimon City, only I can just right remove you, the ‘Touch’.”
Ashe’s thoughts turned quickly and hurriedly tried to persuade, “We don’t have to get to this point of life and death. Since I now know you are also forced, I won’t bother you anymore in the future. Actually, I plan to leave the Blood Moon Realm, why don’t you help me leave the Blood Moon? This way, when I leave, you don’t have to sacrifice your life, it’s a win-win for everyone, how about it?”
“Touch, what do you think I am?”
Sylin sneered, “President of the Elf Rights Association? Councillor? The hidden mastermind behind the bandits? A professor? A self-interested scrounger? A cowardly immortal?”
“I’m 203 years old this year. When I was born, the Blood Moon Tribunal hadn’t started yet; after I came of age, I participated in the foreign hunting festivals; I’ve traveled throughout the Blood Moon Realm, witnessed the destruction of old cities and the rise of new ones; all the suffering and entertainment in the world, I have seen and even experienced.”
“Do you actually think I would hesitate to give up this dying life?” There was mockery in Sylin’s eyes, “If it weren’t for death’s inability to resist Heath’s command, if it weren’t for the law prohibiting suicide, I would have long wanted to step into Blood Moon Heaven!”
Ashe was taken aback, “Immortality disease? Do you wish for the Lamp of Hope to extinguish inside of you?”
“Immortality disease? No, I don’t have a Lamp of Hope in my heart, because there is something warmer and more beautiful than it.”
Sylin revealed a smile, behind him was the majestic and beautiful Blood Moon. The light of the Blood Moon gently draped over him, as if a deity was blessing him.
“I have long wanted to perish together with Heath, but I can’t resist Heath. I have always been waiting for this opportunity, I don’t seek revenge, I just want to prove…”
“I still deeply love this Blood Moon.”
“Ritual Miracle Origin Prohibition of Virtual Color Painting.”
Sylin’s hands, penetrated in the middle by a blood line, violently pulled apart, his chest was torn open like a curtain!
What came into Ashe’s view was not the fresh red blood and purple guts, but colors!
Vibrant colors, gushing from Sylin’s chest, flooded Ashe like a river!
“The flower language of iron Begonia and lotus is loyalty,” he said softly.
At this time, what suddenly came to Ashe’s mind was Valcas since Sylin wasn’t voluntarily hunting Ashe, why would the failed assassin Valcas be despised and hated by Sylin?
Sylin didn’t despise him because Valcas failed the mission.
He despised him because Valcas ‘wanted to’ complete the mission!
Just now, Sylin had said that the reward for Valcas’s mission was ‘reunion with his biological child’.
By accepting the mission, Valcas indicated that he hadn’t repented and still wanted to rebel against the laws of the Blood Moon Realm! For the Blood Moon believer Sylin, this was an unforgivable mistake laws are the will of the gods, rules are the desire of the gods, Valcas was tantamount to blaspheming Sylin’s faith!
“In my death, when the skinning twins strip my skin, when the scarlet handmaidens draw my blood, when the priests of the night shadow sort my bones, when the blessed angels guide my soul…”
Sylin closed his eyes, softly reciting a prayer for himself.
He thought he would see the messenger who would guide him, but what came to his mind was a sealed page.
A young Sylin sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, watching a baby elf clumsily crawl towards him, making a gesture to be held. He smiled and held the baby in his arms, wiping the drool from the baby’s mouth with a handkerchief.
“Read after me, Val-cas.”
“Valcas?”
“No, I’m not Valcas, I’m Sylin.”
“Sylin?”
“Yes, you are Valcas, I am Sylin.”
“Sylin!!~”
“…And I will reunite in the promised land.”
With the last splash of color, the elf scholar’s robe lightly fell onto the carpet, devoid of its wearer.
The moonlight fell on the pure white fabric, reflecting the purest blood color.
In the vast study, only Ashe Heath was left.
Without the supply of arcane energy, the tree that trapped Ashe quickly wilted and decayed, turning into fragile debris at a touch.
Ashe looked down at his own hands, his eyes filled with confusion.
“It seems… I’m okay?”
Sylin drove the dagger into his throat without piercing the windpipe. Instead, he drew the dagger downwards to his waist.
He cut through his dense shirt, drawing a straight line of blood that neatly divided his upper body into two halves.
Ashe’s face changed, “You’ve changed your mind.”
“Yes.”
Sylin threw away the dagger, pulled his long hair back to his ears, regained his elf-like elegance, his expression calm, his voice gentle, “Imprisoning you is just my naive wishful thinking. You are the ‘Touch’ that Heath summoned with great effort. You even escaped from Shattered Lake Prison, how could I possibly imprison you?”
“There are too many accidents in this world. As long as the Four Pillars are still watching you, accidents are enough to penetrate all my arrangements.”
“I can’t imprison you, I can’t kill you, I can’t hand you over to the Heresy Court, and I can’t even delay. The power of ‘Touch’ may allow you to escape at any time.”
“So, I came to a conclusion.”
The elf extended his middle finger and index finger from both hands like hooks, inserted them into his chest along the blood line he just cut.
“It must be now, it must be here, it must be me.” Sylin stated calmly, “I want to purify you.”
Ashe tilted his head slightly, “In my understanding, ‘purification’ is similar to ‘healing’…”
“Purification means to drive out impurities, destroy invaders, and annihilate parasites!” Sylin’s green eyes were getting brighter, as if emitting light, “And you, the incomplete ‘Touch’ that dwells in Heath, are the target to be purified!”
“I was originally going to use this miracle to destroy Heath … but I could never dare to, I was always afraid, that’s why I became Heath’s puppet, that’s why I made so many mistakes. Touch, I thank you, you gave me an opportunity to atone.”
Ashe squinted his eyes, “But won’t you kill me this way? Once I die, the ritual will be completed—“
“Therefore, I used this forbidden miracle.”
Sylin was glowing.
His green eyes, his blood, his black hair, his skin, every color on him was glowing brilliantly, he was just like… he had turned into an oil painting.
“Not only ‘you’, but all the arrangements of the Four Pillars on you, all the marks engraved by Heath on your body, will be completely banished without a trace. Everything that does not belong to this body will be thoroughly purified.”
Ashe took a deep breath, “Sylin, you are just a Two-winged Gold Sorcerer, do you have such a great ability?”
“Of course I don’t, but… the Virtual Realm does.”
Sylin suddenly showed a faint smile, “You attended my lecture on ‘Ancient Ritual Factions’ the day before yesterday, didn’t you?”
Ashe’s pupils shrank, “Forbidden ritual…”
“There was actually one thing I didn’t say at that time.” Sylin looked like he was giving a live lecture, “If you force a Two-wing Sorcerer to be a sacrifice by special means, you can pray for a full strike of a Four-wing Sorcerer at most.”
“But if a Two-wing Sorcerer voluntarily performs the highest-level forbidden ritual, this sincerity will be recognized by the Virtual Realm, and even the power… beyond Four-wings can be prayed from the Virtual Realm!”
“Under the protection of the Blood Moon Supreme, the Four Pillars can give you a ‘blessing’ at the Four-wing level at most.” Sylin showed a happy smile, “Fate still favors me. In Caimon City, only I can just right remove you, the ‘Touch’.”
Ashe’s thoughts turned quickly and hurriedly tried to persuade, “We don’t have to get to this point of life and death. Since I now know you are also forced, I won’t bother you anymore in the future. Actually, I plan to leave the Blood Moon Realm, why don’t you help me leave the Blood Moon? This way, when I leave, you don’t have to sacrifice your life, it’s a win-win for everyone, how about it?”
“Touch, what do you think I am?”
Sylin sneered, “President of the Elf Rights Association? Councillor? The hidden mastermind behind the bandits? A professor? A self-interested scrounger? A cowardly immortal?”
“I’m 203 years old this year. When I was born, the Blood Moon Tribunal hadn’t started yet; after I came of age, I participated in the foreign hunting festivals; I’ve traveled throughout the Blood Moon Realm, witnessed the destruction of old cities and the rise of new ones; all the suffering and entertainment in the world, I have seen and even experienced.”
“Do you actually think I would hesitate to give up this dying life?” There was mockery in Sylin’s eyes, “If it weren’t for death’s inability to resist Heath’s command, if it weren’t for the law prohibiting suicide, I would have long wanted to step into Blood Moon Heaven!”
Ashe was taken aback, “Immortality disease? Do you wish for the Lamp of Hope to extinguish inside of you?”
“Immortality disease? No, I don’t have a Lamp of Hope in my heart, because there is something warmer and more beautiful than it.”
Sylin revealed a smile, behind him was the majestic and beautiful Blood Moon. The light of the Blood Moon gently draped over him, as if a deity was blessing him.
“I have long wanted to perish together with Heath, but I can’t resist Heath. I have always been waiting for this opportunity, I don’t seek revenge, I just want to prove…”
“I still deeply love this Blood Moon.”
“Ritual Miracle Origin Prohibition of Virtual Color Painting.”
Sylin’s hands, penetrated in the middle by a blood line, violently pulled apart, his chest was torn open like a curtain!
What came into Ashe’s view was not the fresh red blood and purple guts, but colors!
Vibrant colors, gushing from Sylin’s chest, flooded Ashe like a river!
“The flower language of iron Begonia and lotus is loyalty,” he said softly.
At this time, what suddenly came to Ashe’s mind was Valcas since Sylin wasn’t voluntarily hunting Ashe, why would the failed assassin Valcas be despised and hated by Sylin?
Sylin didn’t despise him because Valcas failed the mission.
He despised him because Valcas ‘wanted to’ complete the mission!
Just now, Sylin had said that the reward for Valcas’s mission was ‘reunion with his biological child’.
By accepting the mission, Valcas indicated that he hadn’t repented and still wanted to rebel against the laws of the Blood Moon Realm! For the Blood Moon believer Sylin, this was an unforgivable mistake laws are the will of the gods, rules are the desire of the gods, Valcas was tantamount to blaspheming Sylin’s faith!
“In my death, when the skinning twins strip my skin, when the scarlet handmaidens draw my blood, when the priests of the night shadow sort my bones, when the blessed angels guide my soul…”
Sylin closed his eyes, softly reciting a prayer for himself.
He thought he would see the messenger who would guide him, but what came to his mind was a sealed page.
A young Sylin sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, watching a baby elf clumsily crawl towards him, making a gesture to be held. He smiled and held the baby in his arms, wiping the drool from the baby’s mouth with a handkerchief.
“Read after me, Val-cas.”
“Valcas?”
“No, I’m not Valcas, I’m Sylin.”
“Sylin?”
“Yes, you are Valcas, I am Sylin.”
“Sylin!!~”
“…And I will reunite in the promised land.”
With the last splash of color, the elf scholar’s robe lightly fell onto the carpet, devoid of its wearer.
The moonlight fell on the pure white fabric, reflecting the purest blood color.
In the vast study, only Ashe Heath was left.
Without the supply of arcane energy, the tree that trapped Ashe quickly wilted and decayed, turning into fragile debris at a touch.
Ashe looked down at his own hands, his eyes filled with confusion.
“It seems… I’m okay?”
