Zhao Xishi lurked in the shadows, the corner of her lips curling upward.
Peak-level matches weren't just about raw combat power. Unless you were facing an opponent like Hong Lin, everyone had to play at least three rounds of mind gas first.
She watched Ji Yue and Cheng Shi slowly draw together, back to back, and sneered inwardly:
"How cautious. Too bad you never considered that the very closeness between you would ultimately write the ending of your betrayal."
Ji Yue knew Zhao Xishi was nearby. She was also trying to figure out what kind of trap the Historian had laid to dare face two opponents at once — especially when one of them had already killed her in this very Trial.
Cheng Shi's nerves were wound even tighter than Ji Yue's. He was terrified this Torchbearer would fly into a rage and put a spear through him. Of course, he knew that as a Torchbearer, she would never actually kill him — but a single strike could sound the attack horn for the lurking Historian, making their situation even more precarious.
So Cheng Shi stayed on high alert. Shadow Cheng Shi prowled through the surrounding darkness, scanning for any trace of the Historian.
But Zhao Xishi had designed this setup. She wouldn't let herself be exposed so easily.
The distance between the two kept shrinking. Before long, they bumped together, back to back.
Once they'd confird their rear was clear, Ji Yue didn't relax — her frown only deepened. Cheng Shi mirrored her, his expression growing increasingly uneasy.
Regardless of what the two of them were thinking, Zhao Xishi knew the mont she'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
From her concealed position, she silently clapped her hands. In an instant, every mory thread dormant in Ji Yue's mind snapped taut at once, dragging those discarded mories from the depths of oblivion back into the Purgatory Bishop's consciousness.
Scene after scene replayed. mory after mory resurfaced. In that mont, Ji Yue finally rembered everything!
She rembered what it truly ant to be a Torchbearer. She rembered the face of the man who had stood before her, passionately declaring, "Among all those seated upon their lofty Divine Thrones — why can't one of them be ?"
Her eyes first glazed with confusion, then blazed with towering battle intent. The long spear she'd been pointing outward suddenly thrust backward, and from the void that split open above her head, an endless deluge of [War] weapons ca pouring down.
The Purgatory Bishop had made her move — but her target wasn't Zhao Xishi. It was the Fate Weaver!
Cheng Shi jolted with alarm, but his reflexes were sharp. He deflected the spear's butt with his scalpel, imdiately threw himself into a roll, and began dodging the rain of [War] weapons while cursing:
"Ji Yue, have you lost your mind?!"
Ji Yue's eyes burned crimson. She gave a cold, humorless laugh:
"Lost my mind?
Cheng Shi, when you erased my mories, did you ever think I might get them back one day?!
You dared to deceive
— now die!!"
As she spoke, the torrent of blades and spears raining from the ancient battlefield in the void grew even more ferocious. Between the falling weapons, there wasn't a single gap left. Cheng Shi's expression twisted with alarm. Seeing no way to dodge, he detonated a cloud of smoke screen and hid within it, shouting at the surroundings:
"Zhao Xishi, you've been waiting here for ?!
Fine, fine, fine — and Ji Yue, you're an idiot too! Can't you see this is the Historian's sche?!"
"So what if it is?
You made your choice — now own it!"
Ji Yue said nothing more and simply kept attacking.
Cheng Shi's expression turned deadly serious. From within the remnants of smoke, nearly shredded by the endless rain of blades, he spoke in a cold voice:
"Since you refuse to see reason, don't bla
for fighting back.
I'll deal with you first. Zhao Xishi can die a little later."
With that, Shadow Cheng Shi moved — and his opening strike was lethal.
Just like when he'd fought Zhao Xishi, the shadow appeared behind Ji Yue without warning. Two pitch-black hands clamped around her throat, as if the next second would send this Purgatory Bishop — whom he'd personally resurrected — back to the Fishbone Hall.
But Ji Yue showed no fear. She clenched her teeth until blood seeped from the corner of her lips, and then her silver hair stood on end, refracting blinding light before exploding into a roaring inferno of flas.
She was on fire!
Just like Qin Xin before her, Ji Yue burned from head to toe.
'It seems the founder of the Torchbearers gave his Fire Seekers quite a bit of private tutoring.' Cheng Shi's gaze sharpened. He wrenched Ji Yue's neck, snapping it, then imdiately retreated — but the flas clung to him like maggots burrowing into bone, crawling along those dark arms all the way to Shadow Cheng Shi's chest.
Shadows might not feel temperature, but they certainly feared the light.
The radiance from the flas nearly incinerated Shadow Cheng Shi entirely. Cheng Shi burst out of the smoke screen and saw his shadow reduced to ashes. His eyes widened with fury as he roared at Ji Yue, who was struggling to her feet:
"You really won't stop until one of us is dead?!
Zhao Xishi is right out there — kill , and do you think you'll survive alone?!"
Ji Yue's snapped neck slowly nded under the nourishnt of the flas. Her entire body blazed like a furnace, yet her eyes were cold as an abyss. She looked at Cheng Shi and spoke word by word, every syllable dripping with bone-deep hatred:
"I never cared about surviving.
Co and fight!"
With that, a howling firestorm swept toward Cheng Shi. The destruction of Shadow Cheng Shi had already dealt him severe damage, and despite his best efforts to dodge, the storm still scorched half his body.
The titanic force of [War] sent him flying. He slamd into the ground, coughing up blood, barely clinging to life.
And at that mont, Zhao Xishi — who had been biding her ti in the shadows — furrowed her brow slightly.
'Sothing isn't right. Not right at all.'
A Fate Weaver who'd fought his way through a gauntlet of Chosen Ones at 0221's Experint Ground couldn't possibly be this weak.
To put it generously, the Purgatory Bishop could be considered a peak player — but in the true upper echelon, her na didn't even register.
Even Zhao Xishi herself had been able to outmaneuver Ji Yue, let alone Cheng Shi, who'd carved a path through multiple Chosen Ones. So the mont Cheng Shi hit the ground, she knew this was far from over.
'This liar is definitely faking his defeat!'
Ji Yue had arrived at the sa conclusion. Her approach toward Cheng Shi visibly slowed as she cautiously surveyed her surroundings, wary of whatever trick he had up his sleeve.
Seeing that his opponent wouldn't take the bait, the supposedly incapacitated Cheng Shi simply sat up and spat in Ji Yue's direction.
"So now you're being 'steady,' huh? Tch — showing off amateur tricks before a master."
As he spoke, Shadow Cheng Shi — the very one they'd all just watched burn to nothing — reappeared behind Ji Yue and locked her in a vice grip. At the sa ti, Cheng Shi raised his hand and launched three thunderbolts straight at Ji Yue's horror-stricken face.
The Purgatory Bishop might have seen her own end coming, but she showed no fear. She faced the lightning head-on and, without a shred of hesitation, detonated herself. For a split second, thunder and fire intertwined, bleaching everyone's vision white and leveling the entire block!
Zhao Xishi wasn't spared either. She snapped her eyes shut with lightning reflexes, but was still blinded for an instant. When she forced her stinging eyes open, she found nothing in the alley but Ji Yue's charred corpse — Cheng Shi was nowhere to be seen!
Where he'd been standing, only a thick streak of blood trailed through the air, flung outward — but the person it belonged to was already gone!
He'd run!
Zhao Xishi blinked in surprise — then was overco with elation. She locked onto the remnants of Cheng Shi's aura and gave chase.
That single instant of "blindness" alone could have put her in lethal danger. In this ga, there were countless abilities and talents capable of unleashing devastating area attacks. If the Fate Weaver had followed up with an indiscriminate barrage during that window, she could very well have died.
But the Fate Weaver hadn't!
Why?
The only explanation was that the collision of thunder and fire had wounded him too — wounded him so severely that he had to disengage and tend to his injuries first!
He couldn't be sure that his battered body could defeat her, so he'd made the steady choice and retreated.
This was perfectly consistent with everything Zhao Xishi knew about Cheng Shi. And so she knew her mont had co. Every piece of her sche had been building toward this final act — the fisherman reaping the spoils. The snipe and the clam had fought until one was dead and the other crippled. There was no way she'd let her prize slip away. This ti, the Fate Weaver would not leave this Trial alive.
Was what Jie Shu said true or not?
Was the Fate Weaver truly the key to what lay beyond this world?
Once she had his corpse, every question would have its answer.
"I'm about to catch you, Fate Weaver."
Reviews
All reviews (0)