The mont Gerald locked eyes with Annan, he realized sothing was amiss.
Contrary to his expectations, the other party was not devoid of emotions...
Within the vision of "Consciousness Judgnt," he could see it clearly...
Not only did positive emotions exist in Annan, but neutral ones were also present.
All negative emotions were distinctly missing.
At a glance, Annan shone like the sun in the sky, radiant and brilliant.
It almost blinded Gerald’s dog eyes.
Damn it—
He almost cursed out loud.
—If you have neither tension nor fear in your heart, and have never even felt such emotions, why then do expressions that suggest otherwise flicker across your face?
And why are the timings always so spot-on...
Just who are you performing for??
And at that instant, Gerald realized the true identity of the other person—
If it’s not a lack of all emotions, but only the absence of negative ones, then theoretically, it is indeed possible...
The direct descendant of the Duke of Winter possesses a Transcendent talent known as the "Heart of Winter"; and within the church of the Lady of Silence, Goddess of Darkness and Denial, there is a ritual to inscribe the Reversed Inscription.
If these two abilities are combined, one would achieve the effect of "lacking negative emotions."
But such a possibility is even less likely than encountering a god.
Gods occasionally walk the earth, but this example, that of being the only one in the entire world...
It is said that the family curse of the Winters stems directly from the grandmother, derived from the blood of a True God. The curse latent within their lineage is hard to resolve, and newborns struggle to survive past the age of seven... which is why they are only nad at that age.
Now, the only bearers of the Blood of the Frigid Winter left are from a single line, the last four people—the current Duke and his three children.
...There might only be three left now.
And among them, there is only one minor.
Ivan Ri’s third child, Annan Winter!
That’s right...
Gerald finally realized why Annan had looked so familiar to him at first sight.
A few years ago, he had the fortune of seeing Lady Storm’s visage—aside from an entirely different deanor, Annan and his sister Maria Ri bore an almost identical resemblance in their childhood!
...But how could he possibly be here?
When had he been marked with the Reversed Inscription, crossed the Mist, traversed the Dark Sea, and journeyed alone for thousands of miles to reach the enemy nation of Noah...
...And then disguised himself as the son of an Earl about to be exterminated?
What is he plotting?
Why have I encountered him?
Gerald was filled with despair.
Thank goodness he hadn’t killed Annan, otherwise once Maria found out... no matter where Gerald fled, she would chase him down and kill him.
The more pressing issue was, he found out he actually couldn’t beat Annan.
Although it was partly because his power as a Soul Reaping Wizard was completely sealed, he indeed found himself at an absolute disadvantage in front of two young Bronze Wizards...
...But, there was still a chance for a turnaround.
"Wait—"
Gerald imdiately opened his mouth.
—Yes, he planned to surrender to Annan and offer his loyalty.
This was the best strategy for a turnaround!
If you can’t beat them, join them.
As a Soul Reaping Wizard, he could change people’s hearts and wills silently and unnoticed; he would definitely be more useful to the other party... Whether they were exiled with plans to reclaim power later, or had so espionage sche in the Noah Kingdom, he was certainly much more useful than the Bronze Wizard Salvatore!
As long as they let him perform the ritual, then—
The next mont, an intense sense of laziness flooded Gerald’s mind.
His thoughts began to stagnate, and his sense of ti was gradually diminishing.
...to... advance... to... gold...
"Heh."
Annan chuckled softly. The dim grey light in his eyes slowly dissipated, and Gerald suddenly froze on the spot, completely motionless.
What a strange person...
Annan’s gaze flickered.
If Annan was not mistaken, that guy had just been about to surrender.
He must have recognized his identity. After all, as a silver-rank Wizard, he should have so self-respect... The identity of an Earl’s son could certainly not fool him, but the son of a Duke was a different matter.
—That won’t do.
Annan swore that when Gerald tried to surrender, him interrupting wasn’t just about craving the experience points Gerald could offer.
Annan simply felt from the bottom of his heart... that it wasn’t cool enough.
Even killing Gerald, he felt, was not thrilling enough.
"This is the first Transcendent battle to officially showcase supernatural powers to the players!"
So Annan would not accept a surrender.
The possibility of leaking his identity was a minor issue... It would only make the players think that there were clues and depths to be explored on Annan, and it would also get the players to help him search for the backstory of "Annan."
The most critical part was the "character setting." In order to maintain his reputation as benevolent, cool-headed, kind-hearted, and decisively wise, Annan regretfully could not let Gerald utter his surrender.
"You say if he surrenders and you kill him anyway, wouldn’t your heart be unkind?"
That wouldn’t do, I am a good kid now.
I have to hurry up and kill you.
Annan thought calmly, as a frosty chill swelled from his body once again.
The frost marks on the ground that had not yet lted beca pronounced again, spreading across the earth and towards Gerald as Annan advanced.
This ti, Annan effortlessly pulled Gerald into the range of the frost nova.
The bodies of silver-rank Transcendents are incredibly robust. Or rather, they have a very strong resistance to curses.
Annan’s frosty air did not kill him instantly... So he had to use the extre cold of the curse to grab Gerald’s throat and seal his eyes, ensuring that even if he woke from the control of the Lazy Eye, he couldn’t utter a word or open his eyes.
"Regardless of what you want to say to , whether you wish to threaten or beguile , my answer is the sa."
A determined look appeared on Annan’s face as he uttered in a clear and frosty tone, "My answer is to refuse.
"For the people who follow . For my friends, my seniors... For my subjects, and even more for myself. I cannot accept the possibility of being tainted by the likes of you, a dangerous, cold-blooded, and despicable coward!
"I suppose these black fires were also what you sold to the Viscount! The people who attacked , you sent them too—now buried in my ice, entombed in your own fire, this is the end you deserve!"
Annan spoke forcefully, fabricating cris and fitting them upon Gerald’s head.
By this ti, Gerald had regained consciousness.
His first thought was:
- How did Annan find out?
Afterward, his second thought was a strong desire to live.
Whether to take control of Annan, or to shout out his secret, making it public to force him to turn against Salvatore...
He just needed to open his mouth!
But those ten seconds of frost had already begun to necrotize Gerald’s organs; his mouth was blocked, he couldn’t open his eyes, and the previously announced attack ti had also passed.
He no longer had any possibility of counterattack, he could only silently stretch his neck towards Annan, his body constantly making crunching noises—it was the sound of his bones gradually cracking.
Unfortunately, I can’t let you get up to exchange wordy blows with ...
Annan looked emotionlessly at Gerald who, despite snarling and struggling, still clung to life, attempting to make a soundless accusation, while continuing to maintain the frost nova.
If it weren’t for his far superior mana, at this point, he probably would have exhausted the safe zone’s mana, bordering on loss of control...
Annan even had spare energy to muse to himself.
The suppression of silver rank over bronze rank was clear.
Unless one could destroy all the Curse Bindings of the opponent, if a regular Wizard ca, he really wouldn’t be able to kill the enemy even if he emptied his mana...
Moreover, Wizards don’t gain physical attributes when they level up.
If it were a silver-rank Swordsman class, would it be even more difficult to deal with?
anwhile, Annan’s verbose rhetoric continued unabated, serving to "fill the occasional downti outside the intense combat" to enrich the scene and storyline, avoiding several seconds of silence:
"...I am not killing you rely for justice and truth. I do it for myself, and even more for my friend—Salvatore. Although he did not tell why, he said there can only be one of them left between him and you. Thus, I choose to help my friend unconditionally."
His implication was a hint to Salvatore: It’s about ti you tell your story, my friend.
And Salvatore’s face clearly showed hesitation.
"Let do it, Tan Juan," he finally decided after much thought, speaking softly.
Annan abruptly snapped to attention, looking back sharply.
- You’ve been slacking off since you got the capital, dare to leech experience?
"...Do you need to kill him personally?"
"No, that’s not necessary..."
"I could just kill him, without obtaining his Curse Binding, right?"
Salvatore looked at Annan sowhat strangely: "Of course. But you have no feud with him, and killing him won’t bring you any benefit...
"Because I need to obtain his Curse Binding—I will compensate you for this later."
"How could there be no benefit?"
Annan replied without hesitation.
I want the experience—isn’t that enough?
But unfortunately, this reason couldn’t be shared with Salvatore.
Luckily, Annan had anticipated this and thus he reached into his cross-body bag, pulling out his carefully prepared "excuse for hogging experience."
- A blood-stained kitchen knife.
As if realizing sothing, Gerald’s struggles suddenly quickened.
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