Faced with this sudden predicant, Ansel's smile grew more pronounced—a smile rarely seen by Seraphina or Ravenna... An unsettling, sinister, inhuman grin.
Ansel was... elated.
For fate to have reached this point undoubtedly ant It had deployed Its key trump cards, save the protagonist. The force hidden in the enigmas was likely driven by fate, providing a trail to follow.
Moreover, what brought Ansel a twisted joy was... this sense of gradually cornering fate, forcing It to abandon Its lofty indifference and rationality. It was not about controlling everything, but being compelled to counterattack under Ansel's offensive. This direct confrontation... made Ansel's heart, which had grown increasingly calm during these peaceful, even tender days, beat violently.
He loathed fate, constantly yearning to overco, defeat, and destroy It. Above this desire arose a craving unknown even to Seraphina, Ravenna, or Ansel himself.
Ansel gripped the chain blade at his waist, slowly approaching the portal.
With the Head of Wind belonging to Seraphina, Ansel lacked crucial investigative abilities. Everything beyond the portal was unpredictable, the ethereal wavelengths entirely different. Without entering, no information could be gleaned.
The blood flas were now within arm's reach, the portal resembling a fierce sun just beyond his grasp. For Ansel's current self, perfectly withstanding these flas briefly posed no problem. So... should he enter?
If this severe information asymtry persisted, fate's subsequent moves would undoubtedly leave Ansel in predicants like the present, struggling to cope.
A gamble was necessary.
The young Hydral exhaled slowly. Summoning Ravenna now would be unreasonable, and while Evora needed to be dealt with, it wasn't yet ti to reveal himself. He still had other options.
"... I never thought I'd use this thod again," he chuckled softly, his hand slowly covering his face.
In the next mont, the Abyss descended.
All fleeing adventurers instantly felt the essence of the world, the origin of the extraordinary, the existence encompassing all elents, equivalent to the world's information flood... had descended.
Even for just an instant, they all sensed that maddening, terrifying power.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the black-haired youth in the sky. His figure had sohow transford into... an indescribable black substance, writhing and dancing like an irregular shadow. This blackness plunged directly into the unabated sea of fire, crashing into the portal that no one else dared approach!
Space, matter, order... As he entered the portal, Ansel could sense how terrifying the blood flas surging from the other side were. Though far from the Source Fla, they could still incinerate many elents and concepts.
He had reached the other side, but... was there only this sea of fire composed of pseudo-Source Fla?
Ansel, in his peculiar state, successfully broke through the false sea of Source Fla, but he sensed no other presence. At least the previous magma world had volcanoes; here there was only an endless sea of fire?
No, the source of that power...
Calculating the ti, Ansel rapidly traversed the sea of fire. The all-consuming blood flas extinguished upon contact with the black substance surrounding him, as if neutralized. But while the blood flas were endless, the black substance seemingly pouring from Ansel's body couldn't regenerate.
However, Ansel had found his target.
Amidst this vast, endless pure destruction, there was a single, barely perceptible ethereal fluctuation.
"... A palace."
In the sea of fire, Ansel saw a dilapidated palace. His gaze froze instantly.
This was indeed a relic of the Sky-Conquering Dynasty. Under normal circumstances, adventurers could have made a fortune here.
But the unexpected had occurred. She... was here.
"E-V-O-R-A."
Yes, at the end of the palace, upon the decrepit throne, Ansel saw... Evora, half her body charred flesh, half blood-fla and bone, deford and grotesque.
This anomaly... was indeed triggered by her. She survived because, under fate's guided coincidence, she found an important treasure of the Sky-Conquering Dynasty?
On the ruined throne, Evora seed to be in deep slumber. The eyelids on her intact half of her face suddenly twitched twice.
Having obtained crucial information, Ansel had no reason to stay, nor could he remain any longer.
The endless blood flas... were abnormal.
Though incomparable to the Source Fla and not strong enough to annihilate everything below god-tier, the sheer quantity was too bizarre. The gravely injured Evora couldn't possibly have ignited such vast feasting flas.
But now wasn't the ti to ponder these things. Enjoy exclusive chapters from My Virtual Library Empire
The black figure slowly faded, then "flowed back" to the portal's entrance. Not returning, but rewinding like reversed footage, effortlessly passing through the portal back to the original plane, to the position where he had been floating.
Upon his return, little of the black substance remained on his body.
The remnants quickly dissipated... as if evaporating into thin air, or perhaps, directly seeping into Ansel's body.
The young Hydral maintained his posture, hand to his forehead. His normally sea-blue eyes were heavily stained with black. The color of the Abyss seed poised to overtake Ansel's eyes but was forcefully suppressed. As he panted incessantly, it finally receded bit by bit.
anwhile, in the ruined palace, the pitiful human form finally opened her remaining eye. That deep red orb seed to capture traces of the black figure's remnants, containing two starkly opposing emotions — fury and ecstasy.
"Ansel... Ansel!"
She roared hoarsely, but no one answered in the shattered palace and endless sea of fire.
Then, the woman's eyelid slowly fell, beyond her control. Briefly awoken from slumber only to lose consciousness again, she muttered with utmost ferocity and hatred:
"Kill him... must... kill them all!"
Ansel, returning from the portal, was unaware he'd missed a chance to communicate with Evora. Even if he knew, he wouldn't have cared. He had carefully tid everything, not only to prevent the feasting flas' incineration but also to guard against fate's traps, avoiding scenarios where the portal might close imdiately after his entry, trapping him forever.
The youth hovered in the air, briefly lost in thought.
His risky plunge through the portal had confird — fate had given Evora a chance to survive, allowing her to stumble upon the Sky-Conquering Dynasty's ruins while adrift in the realm of confusion. She had prolonged her life through unknown ans, though the cost seed... severe. Why she opened the portal and the origin of the endless blood flas remained mysteries.
Still, this was far better than complete ignorance.
Ansel exhaled softly, occasional flashes of ominous black still crossing his sea-blue eyes. He turned, preparing to return to Red Valley City and determine his next move based on intelligence from Shadewell.
But as he looked down, his expression froze slightly.
The blood flas... had engulfed the entire land beneath his feet, and in the distance, Red Valley City had been swallowed as well.
... Terrible.
Ansel suddenly realized sothing. In a few flashes, he appeared above Red Valley City, his gaze fixed on a particular spot.
That was where he had set up the protective barrier. Now, only churning blood flas remained.
Those six lucky ones had ultimately failed to escape death's scythe.
Ansel silently surveyed the sea of fire below. He didn't bla Valrhona's people; expecting them to save ordinary people while barely managing to save themselves... that was overestimating adventurers' moral standards. After all, Ansel hadn't explicitly ordered them to do so.
But he should have reacted. The mont the sea of fire poured down from the sky, he should have realized and told Valrhona's people to take those civilians with them as they fled. If he had just said that... they might have had a chance to survive.
But Ansel didn't. At that ti, his mind was consud by his ga of chess with fate. He was so pleased, even elated, at forcing fate to reveal one of its trump cards that he completely overlooked those ordinary people.
Now... there wasn't much regret.
If it were Seraphina or Ravenna, they would probably feel regret, but Ansel didn't.
If he had to express any thought, one idea did flash through the young Hydral's mind:
— If only Marlina were here.
If it were her, I wouldn't have to consider these things.
*
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