Those were words that contained no transcendent power.
They were neither secrets from before the second era nor knowledge about the Otherworld.
They were rely the repeated vows of the pact Elle had once made.
In the final mont of the gallery nightmare, the dying Elle and the newborn Angelo cried out their first scream—
With Annan’s chanting, above the already shattered grey sky, more cracks appeared. Like glass being smashed... Iridescent light spilled out, turning into chains that bound the two-faced grey giant above.
Those were chains ford from the oath and curse of the "pact."
It was those chains, not Annan’s chanting itself, that caused the grey youth’s action of raising his fists to smash down to halt...
"—I curse you, to be eventually betrayed by your own dreams. You shall exhaust your talents, wither in spirit, beco deserted by all... until you finally betray your dreams.
"I also curse you... The dreams you betray will beco your greatest curse, your deepest nightmare. They will entwine around you for life, for abandoning them, and you shall awake from nightmares... forever regretting everything you’ve forsaken."
Annan sighed softly, "This is... Elle’s pact."
It was a curse unknown and unseen by anyone.
—Except Annan, the keeper of secrets.
Even the Eternal Duke couldn’t hear the content of these secrets.
Until now.
More iridescent chains erged from the fissures above the sky, binding the grey giant.
It was a curse that descended from the "past."
The half face of the youth that smiled blazed with anger, roared thunderously, while the other half that wept continued to cry quietly... without making any resistance.
Many glass-like iridescent chains pierced through the cracks. So many cracks that the grey sky itself was dyed with rainbow colors...
"This is your own power... Midas."
And "Elle" rely lifted her head and sighed softly, "Angelo is indeed your creation. It is precisely because of her unique relationship with you that this curse can so clearly reflect back upon you... connected as if by an umbilical cord."
The "Umbilical Cord of Angelo" sought in the gallery is the artificial organ connecting man to god.
It was originally the Eternal Duke’s contingency for occupying Angelo’s body, but it had bound Him so tightly to Angelo— even to the extent of transcending ti, tracing back to the beginning.
If other gods "betray others for their dreams," with the power held by Angelo, this curse could not be fully bound to them.
But Elle—or rather Angelo was different.
Or rather, it was different for the Eternal Duke at this mont...
Because the Eternal Duke had abandoned his original body.
—Yes.
It was in Elle’s body that the nightmare was inhaled... Thus, this was a curse that Elle’s own body cast upon herself.
But at that mont.
The grey, giant shadow that could only show its upper body in the entire sky, roared again in fury:
[Traitor—]
[There is no—]
His roar was like thunder, rumbling loudly.
The grey giant demon’s right fist suddenly exerted force and broke the iridescent chains binding its right arm in an instant, slamming them heavily to the ground:
[—dream to speak of!]
Like a tsunami.
The entire earth was torn apart by the shockwave, lifted straight up like a tide. The dust was shaken into the sky, stirring up a sandstorm-like yellow dust cloud.
And at that mont—
The force of the earth was suddenly crushed by an invisible power, and the Rock Strike Technique rose before Elle.
A corner of the sky suddenly turned deep red.
The burning, massive teor, slanting down dragged by Arthur with a piercing howl, smashed toward the grey demon’s shadow.
The centaur girl wielding a gigantic bow shot out a dazzling arrow.
The Sword Saint, cloaked in a light garnt, after a long ditation—suddenly opened his eyes and unleashed an attack that seed to unfold the heavens and the earth.
These were support attacks from other purifiers.
But for the skeletal lord who had already revealed his true divine form, these attacks were aningless.
He simply roared in fury, sweeping away all the attacks with his right arm as if brushing chess pieces off a board.
The deep grey brilliance, bursting like a supernova, effortlessly annihilated these attacks.
But above in the sky, more rainbow chains pierced through the void and struck his right arm.
The tips of these chains were sharp and elongated spikes. As they drove into the body of the demon god, scenes of "the past" flashed before Annan’s eyes.
—Those were the mories of the skeletal lord... or to say, the Eternal Duke, being devoured by truth.
Witnessing those mories... finally, Annan let out a deep sigh.
So, that’s how it is.
In that case.
Midas’s struggle had already beco aningless.
Selicia, who chose this mont to launch an offensive, must have seen it along with the Centaurs...
—Seen the skeletal lord’s ultimate downfall.
"...Are you still wondering when you began... to ignore morality for your dreams, to overstep the law for your dreams, to betray your loved ones for your dreams?"
"Elle" gazed at the giant bound by chains and asked again.
That was not a "word bullet" ant to attack the skeletal lord.
It was simply... an "answer" intended to resolve his doubts.
"It is destiny... a destiny that has been set. Of course, it can also be called the [Fruit of Finality]."
The skeletal lord knew nothing of Angelo’s covenant;
Angelo was also unaware of the skeletal lord’s past.
It was precisely this kind of coincidental brush past... that led to this very scene.
"Perhaps you yourself have forgotten... what your true dream was in your youth."
The rainbow chains further assaulted from the fissures in the sky.
They pierced his limbs, wrapped around his arms... slowly but resolutely dragging the grey demon god towards the ground.
Finally, the demon god crashed to the ground with a thunderous fall.
Only then did they see why the grey demon god wore such ornantation.
He was clad in majestic platinum armor, while the twisted, tornted faces of countless souls flowed across the surface of the armor like drifting clouds. From afar, they almost ford a grey bas-relief.
—Those were the souls of giants encapsulated within the skeletal lord’s own body.
The ancient giants were not Transcendents... These flowing souls ford the foundation of the skeletal lord’s ascension to godhood.
Through the "Falling of a Nation" ritual, he attached [The Death of an Entire Nation] to his body’s surface. The dead thus obtained souls of a mobile and Transcendent nature, equivalent to the silver rank... With the skeletal lord as the "nursery" and the spirits of a nation as fill, the Eternal Duke had the potential to ascend to godhood.
But this was no blessing for the departed.
It ant they would suffer endless tornt even after death. The pain they endured was the skeletal lord’s testant to the principle of "betrayal."
However, against these delicate and fragile rainbow chains that tugged at him, the skeletal lord, vested with "The Death of an Entire Nation," felt incredibly powerless.
Disbelief overflowed from his eyes.
[This is impossible... Your truth cannot be more perfect than mine!]
[My life is filled with betrayal! I have already betrayed everyone and been betrayed by everyone! And you—
[—You don’t even dare to betray a single person, Elle! You haven’t even grasped the skin of betrayal!]
[You’re not even prepared to be a Transcendent, how dare you walk the path of the Transcendent?]
"...So that’s what you think,"
"Elle" sighed deeply. "You really...
"Have you delved deeper than Elle?"
She slowly approached, the dust stirred up by the fallen demon god’s body parting at her sides, not a speck tainting her white dress.
Soon, "Elle" reached out her hand and pressed it against the forehead of the grey demon god.
"If you’ve truly forgotten... then let show you."
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