Leo said, “In Dragon Valley.”
Ning Busan: Your social circle is quite wide!
Leo said gloatingly, “With how bad-tempered those dragons are, they'd want to slap a passing dog twice just for looking at them. The God of Light wouldn't dare easily enter Dragon Valley, or he'd definitely get ganged up on!”
Ning Busan sized Leo up from head to toe, his tone filled with disbelief. “Then how are you not dead yet?”
And size difference aside, was it really fine to leave a mermaid in Dragon Valley?
Even a single breath from a giant dragon could probably blow her away.
Ning Busan asked, “Are you sure Lilian won't have any accidents there?”
“You're worrying too much,” Leo said. “Demogor dug a huge pool for her himself, and he basically grants her every whim.”
Ning Busan was startled. “Demogor...”
The Dragon King, Demogor—also known as the legendary Elemental Dragon—was a demigod who commanded countless believers in the human world.
And Ning Busan's Dragon Clan card, Augustus, was Demogor's biological brother from the same clutch.
Leo said, “Demogor is extremely protective of his own, so you don't have to worry at all.”
Ning Busan asked, “What do you mean by protective of his own?”
Leo let out a dry, guilty laugh. “I told Demogor that the mermaid is your brother's partner. He believed it, hook, line, and sinker.”
Ning Busan: ?
Are you out of your mind?
Ning Busan asked, “Is the Lock of Causality with you?”
Leo shrugged. “I didn't take it.”
Hearing this, Ning Busan didn't believe him.
Leo said, “With me acting as a target to draw the God of Light's fire, it's much safer for Lilian to keep it with her in Dragon Valley.”
Ning Busan stared at Leo for a few seconds, still unconvinced.
So, he took matters into his own hands.
“Let go! What are you doing?” Leo desperately shielded his breastbone, shouting in exasperation, “Let go! Let go of me!”
Ning Busan cleanly popped his breastbone off and reached into his pitch-black chest cavity to search.
The two clumps of soulfire in Leo's eyes flared violently in grief and indignation. “Do you have no shame at all?”
Before long, Ning Busan felt something. He pulled it out, his eyebrows raising slightly as he looked at it.
He weighed the object in his hand. “Whose heart is this?”
“Whose else could it be?” Leo said through gritted teeth. “Of course it's my heart!”
“Oh...”
Ning Busan stuffed it back in, rummaged around a bit more, and after confirming that the Lock of Causality wasn't on him, popped the breastbone he had just detached back into place.
Leo snapped angrily, “You are way too forward!”
Ning Busan said, “I ask, you answer.”
“The God of Light wants the Lock of Causality to seal the God of Darkness. Why are you competing with him for it?”
“Was my acquisition of the Crown of the Divine King also part of your plan?”
“What on earth are you trying to do?”
Faced with this barrage of questions, Leo answered everything without holding anything back:
“The Lock of Causality was left for you. When the Silver-Crowned God awakens within your body, you will go to Dragon Valley to get the Lock of Causality and suppress his consciousness.”
“Don't underestimate the God of Light. Do you really think he needs the Lock of Causality to seal the God of Darkness? He wants it to suppress the Silver-Crowned God as well.”
“The battle between light and darkness is about to begin, but the God of Light will never hand the authority of creation over to you. Only by obtaining the Crown of the Divine King can you possess the power to oppose a True God.”
Ning Busan looked at Leo, crossing his arms with a sharp gaze. “So, everything you've done is for my sake?”
His heart felt as if it were split in two.
One half was dominated by Louis's persona, trusting Leo unconditionally; the other half was controlled by his own reason, maintaining a constant state of calm and suspicion.
These two mindsets intertwined and clashed, forming a delicate balance that made him unable to trust Leo completely, yet unable to reject him entirely either.
“Louis,” Leo said quietly. “When you turned back into a godhead fragment, I was right there.”
“I watched you disappear with my own eyes. Not even a corpse was left behind.”
His voice was light, but it struck Ning Busan's ears like a heavy drum, making his heart tremble.
“The God of Light knew I witnessed everything, but he didn't kill me. To this day, I still remember the way he looked at me—like looking at an ant that could never stir up any trouble.”
“I thought to myself back then, even an ant should do something. I couldn't just let you die in vain without knowing why.”
As Leo uncovered this scar from the past, there wasn't much of an emotional fluctuation in his voice.
Yet, the calmer he was, the more unsettling and heavy it felt.
Ning Busan was silent.
A quiet stillness spread between them.
After pondering for a long time, Ning Busan still said softly, “You should know that I am not the Louis you knew.”
“Of course I know,” Leo said. “You are him, yet you aren't. You aren't him, but you are his continuation. That is why, on behalf of fate, I lean toward you.”
Ning Busan didn't know what Leo had gone through after Louis vanished, but he had certainly met with some extraordinary encounter.
Ning Busan asked, “Do you possess the authority of destiny?”
“I don't,” Leo shook his head. “If I had the authority of destiny, the God of Light would have targeted me long ago. Why would he have waited until now to notice me?”
“If you don't have the authority of destiny, how did you manage to foresee the future, make plans in advance, and even scheme against the gods?”
“Because I am a Seer,” Leo said. “Seers are omnipotent.”
Ning Busan: “...”
Ning Busan pointed at the teleportation array on the ground and asked, “Where do you plan to go?”
Leo said, “The God of Light and the God of Darkness are about to go to war. I'm going to the Undead Realm to lay low.”
Ning Busan said quietly, “Seers are omnipotent. Since you're so powerful, why don't you just go and kill the God of Light and the God of Darkness directly?”
Leo's demeanor instantly shifted. “You're actually asking me—a weak, fragile little skeleton who can't lift or carry anything, is easily bullied, and shatters at a touch—to go throw my life away in front of the gods?”
“Heavens! Louis, are you even human?”
Ning Busan kicked him into the teleportation array. “Get lost—”
And so, Ning Busan was left entirely alone in the desert.
In truth, Ning Busan had planned to return to the Dawn Empire, but just as he was about to leave, he heard Hecate's call.
Fine, back to Hell first then.
...
Heaven, Divine Realm.
Michael walked with heavy steps to the center of the divine temple and knelt on one knee. With his head bowed, his silver-white hair fell across his forehead, obscuring his dim eyes.
Michael's voice carried deep self-reproach. “Father God, I failed to fulfill your command to bring back the undead, nor did I obtain the Crown of the Divine King. Please punish me.”
The God of Light's figure loomed indistinctly on the high platform, surrounded by radiant light, making it impossible for Michael to see his expression.
After a long silence, the God of Light's voice finally rang out, calm and indifferent. “Michael, you have already completed your task.”
Michael looked completely bewildered. “What did I do?”
The God of Light's voice remained calm, yet it carried a deeper meaning. “You served as my eyes.”
Rate on N.U.
