"..."
'My lord, just be direct. I'm a noob — I truly know nothing.'
Cheng Shi was numb. All he could do was shake his head.
The giant skull apparently hadn't expected a real answer either. He continued:
"She... stripped away... a part of... Her own body... and used... redundant... divinity... to nurture... these four... offspring."
"!!!"
Cheng Shi was stunned.
'What?'
'Isn't that just... plant propagation?'
'You gods use such a down-to-earth thod of reproduction?'
'But... if that's true, then doesn't it an Prosperity's four children were originally part of Her?'
'So what was Prosperity assimilating all along?'
'Pooping it out just to eat it again?'
The giant skull saw Cheng Shi's shock and nodded:
"Indeed... they were all... once part of... the Mother of Prosperity.
But after... each grew... independently... they beca... different from Her.
You should know... before finding... the correct... path... Our paths... are not... singular.
She originally... intended... to use this thod... to create... a second self... then a third... a fourth... and fill... the universe... with copies.
But later... She discovered... these offspring... were too weak... They couldn't... grow into... what She... envisioned.
So She... continuously... devoured... old offspring... to strengthen Herself... then bred... new ones... creating possibility.
Dizel... was born... under that fear... and betrayed... Her.
Until... Le Le'er... foolishly... leapt into... the Sea of Desire... Only then... did the Mother of Prosperity... realize that... the offspring She raised... were of... wildly varying quality... completely unable... to et... Her standards.
From that point on... She completely... changed Her goal... shifting to... self-prosperity... through assimilating... the universe."
!!!
Hearing this, Cheng Shi suddenly realized that the answer to the lord's first question might lie within these very words.
"So You're saying — Truth didn't use Dizel's soul because his soul is, to a certain extent, linked to the Mother of Prosperity? Perhaps even deeply bound?
But Prosperity is already dead...?"
Wait!
Halfway through, a flash of inspiration struck Cheng Shi like lightning:
"I understand! You an — Prosperity's fall has impacted Dizel's soul!
After all, he was once part of Prosperity. So when Prosperity vanished, he too began to... wither?
And this withering could very likely affect the Truth who consud him! Am I right, my lord?"
Though his hypothesis hadn't been confird yet, Cheng Shi's gut told him this was the answer. He rembered Dizel himself saying that both he and Le Le'er had developed problems.
And that problem was likely the fatal consequence of Prosperity's self-destruction!
This Herald's soul was withering because it had lost its root and source!
The green flas in the giant skull's eyes blazed for an instant. He nodded:
"Exactly so... a soulless body... is far less... affected... than the soul itself.
Therefore... whether it's... Dizel... or that wretch... Le Le'er... They are... both nearing... Their end."
Cheng Shi's heart lurched at those words.
'Doesn't that an the Gift of Sores I just obtained is about to lose its power and beco worthless scrap?'
The thought made his expression collapse. Of course, "collapsing" on a skull just ant the bone color turned even paler.
The giant skull noticed his reaction and added in a leisurely drone:
"In the... temporal dinsion... that mortals understand... They will not... wither... that quickly."
'Huh? It won't beco scrap? Oh good. That's good.'
Cheng Shi let out a huge sigh of relief — but his expression imdiately froze. He went rigid.
Because he suddenly realized the lord on the Bone Throne wasn't making idle conversation. He clearly already knew that Cheng Shi had obtained the Gift of Sores, had found Dizel's soul. So...
What was He getting at?
Last ti, the new Corruption authority had been confiscated. This ti... they wouldn't confiscate the dagger too, would they?
'That is absolutely NOT happening!!!'
'I tricked so many people to get this back! How can you just confiscate it!'
'Even capitalists can't treat people like workhorses every single day!'
'Workhorses need feed too! And this dagger looks mighty fine as feed — exactly my favorite flavor!'
Cheng Shi panicked. He desperately wanted to protest, to make his position clear. But he didn't dare. So he could only mutter ekly:
"My lord... You don't exactly seem like... You'd find a dagger very convenient to use... right?"
"..."
The green flas in the giant skull's eyes froze. He let out a cold snort and, without so much as asking Cheng Shi's permission, dumped everything from his personal storage space onto the ground beneath the Bone Throne.
The scene was painfully familiar. Cheng Shi's fighting spirit crumbled and he gave up resisting.
'Take it. Take it all. Workhorses deserve to slave away their whole lives. Finally find sothing nice, and before it's even warm — no, it was never warm — the boss takes it.'
'No wonder capitalists should all hang from lampposts. Deserved. Truly deserved!'
Cheng Shi watched listlessly as the lord rummaged through the pile, extracting the Gift of Sores from the heap of miserable, unsightly items. The mont the dagger — housing Dizel's soul — erged, it seed to sense sothing terrifying. It let out a shrill scream of fear.
"Death!
What are You going to do! You can't treat
this way!
I am a servant god of Life! You cannot treat
this way!"
The trembling roar startled Cheng Shi. He looked up to see the dagger-form Dizel instantly revert to its withered-branch-bearing-fruit shape. But under the shroud of Death's power, all the vines were unable to spread outward — locked in a tiny space, squeezed into a shriveled ball of tendrils.
The lord upon the Bone Throne regarded him coldly, snorted, and declared:
"Dizel... you no longer... belong to... Life... nor are you... a servant god.
You are nothing... but a... pitiful... oathbreaker... and blaspher... unworthy... of compassion.
Prosperity... took away... Garuda... and you... as Her... offspring... must pay... with your life.
Therefore... your destination... can only be... death."
When the word "death" dropped like a hamr blow, the giant skull's eyes lifted past Dizel to fix on Cheng Shi. The wild dancing of green flas in those sockets genuinely startled him.
This lord was great in every way — just a little too... grudge-holding.
Over a single Garuda, He'd enslaved Le Le'er's divinity and now He was going to kill Dizel.
Anyone who offended Him was truly...
'Hm? Wait!'
In that very instant of locking gazes with the giant skull, a sudden burst of divine inspiration struck Cheng Shi. Sothing clicked. His eyes glead with a spark as he snatched up the Bone Servant Le Le'er's Ring from the pile of junk, clamping it in his jaw. He clacked his mandible excitedly, looking up at the lord.
His skull was stuffed, rendering him speechless. But his ecstatic manner said it all:
'Work! Make him work, my lord! Make Dizel work for You too!'
'Let him and Le Le'er work for You together!'
In this mont, having caught the scent of profit, Cheng Shi was beside himself with excitent. But what he'd completely forgotten was that inside this very ring, a remnant soul of the Screaming Earl was still waiting to die.
...
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