Sensing the murderous glint in the middle-aged man's eyes, the face of the Black Mist twisted in pain and fear, stammering out a broken question.
"You want… to kill him?"
Each word carried a different tone, some male, some female, some old, some young, immediately plunging the atmosphere into an eerie strangeness.
"In your current weakened state, if you destroy his living soul along with him, there's an 80% chance… you'll vanish completely as well."
The middle-aged man lowered his gaze and replied calmly, "The ancestor already foretold this."
"But he… will die too!"
The dark phantom let out a sinister chuckle. "What a… righteous man."
"Using someone else's child to replace your own son and defy fate, and now you want to kill him? Truly… laughable."
"That's why I became a swindler, to constantly remind myself… I'm not a good person."
The man chuckled softly, taking one last puff of his cigarette before crushing it out. "Whether he hates me or not is up to him. I only did… what I wanted to do."
"I won't… let you succeed!"
Suddenly, the Black Mist surged violently!
An intensely oppressive aura erupted and spread, like facing a fierce beast such as Old Tiger with bare hands at close range. A suffocating sense of helplessness, weakness, and impending death hung over everyone, plunging the entire hospital into silence.
"The ancestor said, after enduring the catastrophe of the age's end, even if you do resurrect, the thing that comes back… won't truly be you."
"It will be a newborn and ignorant Heavenly Demon!"
As the black soul burst out in resistance, the middle-aged man sneered coldly.
"Are you afraid? Afraid of disappearing?"
"I won't… let you succeed…"
The black soul repeated the words again and again, its oppressive aura growing heavier, throwing the hospital into chaos.
No one knew what was happening, but the terrifying pressure, like facing a natural predator, was so intense that their instincts screamed at them to run.
Inside the hospital room, blue mystical patterns began flowing across the middle-aged man's body, forming a majestic barrier of light that sealed the space.
When that blue light appeared, the black soul began melting away like ice cream under the scorching sun of the coldest winter day.
"I won't… let you succeed…"
The strange incantation kept repeating. A volatile aura started leaking out. Blood streamed from all seven orifices of Rowen's face, his body beginning to collapse under the pressure of two overwhelming forces.
But after thousands of years of being sealed, the weakened black soul had no way to confront the exorcist who had inherited the title of "Millennium."
Faced with the terrifying spiritual explosion, the black soul was using all its power just to defend itself. It had no strength left to protect Rowen's spirit.
The middle-aged man's expression didn't change. Ignoring the pain on Rowen's face, he extended his hand, and a translucent, azure-blue gem appeared in his palm.
"Break!"
A surge of blue light instantly scattered the black mist like a gust of wind sweeping dust from a road, completely obliterating the Black Mist.
As the last wisp of black smoke dispersed, what was revealed to the middle-aged man was Rowen's defenseless soul.
From an outsider's point of view, a faint illusion of light floated out of Rowen's body. His expression was as peaceful as a newborn, but a dense, black, oily shadow clung to his chest.
Staring at Rowen's out-of-body soul, a trace of reluctance flickered in the man's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by resolve.
"If you want to hate me, then hate me, Rowen. I owe you… far too much."
As he spoke, the azure-blue gem began to spin faster and flew straight toward Rowen.
That boundless spiritual light, capable of destroying even an outer-world Heavenly Demon, caused Rowen's soul to begin crumbling like sand the moment it came close.
But just then, when Rowen should've already lost consciousness, his eyes suddenly snapped open. Black shadows appeared around them, and his pupils glowed crimson.
"I… don't want to die!"
"No! Impossible! How could…?!"
The middle-aged man froze in place, unable to believe what he was seeing in those vacant, lifeless eyes.
Facing imminent destruction, the black soul made a desperate choice, it fused its own soul with Rowen's.
If Rowen had been its sealing vessel before, now the two were truly one, indistinguishable from each other.
The benefit of this was obvious: once they became one, the seal no longer restricted them. They could now unleash their full power to fight back.
However, the downside was critical: by choosing to actively fuse, the black soul had surrendered full control, handing over life and death completely to Rowen.
Once Rowen regained consciousness, erasing it would be effortless. If Rowen harbored a desire for death and chose not to resist, it would be just as helpless.
Such was the unreasonable nature of this power.
"Why?" The middle-aged man asked in confusion.
"There's no real reason. If there must be one… it's because I believe that he, or rather, it, doesn't want to die either!"
The face of the Black Mist gradually overlaid Rowen's face. The two of them opened their mouths simultaneously and spoke the same words.
This wasn't just the will of the black-soul Heavenly Demon. It was also the only thought left in Rowen's mind.
Pū chī!!!
As the words fell, a withered arm suddenly thrust out from beneath the white blanket, and the closed five fingers, like sharp blades, pierced the middle-aged man's heart and burst out through his back.
Rowen's calm expression trembled slightly. The protective spiritual light that should have blocked the attack dispersed at the last moment, allowing his arm to easily penetrate the man's body.
"Ugh!"
A muffled grunt escaped. The pain of having his living soul torn and devoured surged through the middle-aged man. Only now did he understand why so many of his predecessors had marked this matter as paramount in ancient texts.
This kind of power, once unrestrained, was comparable to a calamity of the end times!
But…
"This is enough!"
The middle-aged man grinned, took a half step back to pull out his arm, and leaned against the wall. "Power itself has no good or evil; good and evil only come from its wielder. Compared to falling into your hands, even if it means death, the one who suppresses his instincts without even realizing it, he is without a doubt more fit to wield this power."
"You've been tricked… Heavenly Demon!"
"..."
The black smoke seeping into Rowen's soul suddenly froze. The next moment, it let out a mad roar and lunged toward the middle-aged man.
While dodging the attacks, the man chuckled and said, "What we feared and chose to seal wasn't you, Heavenly Demon."
"It was only the power you possess."
"To solve this hidden threat once and for all, the only way, was to find someone else to wield it."
"Our thousand-year-long preparations only strengthened your identity as a being. And for someone like you, disappearing is even harder to accept than death."
"So… kill me. Use my living soul… as his first nourishment."
Shuā!
The sharp tendrils of the Black Mist halted just inches from the man's forehead. The Heavenly Demon suddenly realized: it had already fused itself with Rowen. It could still maintain its consciousness only because Rowen was too weak, forcing it to consume him in stages.
But now they were truly one! And Rowen was in complete control.
Once Rowen absorbed a living soul and grew stronger, it would have no more chances left.
"Despicable human!!"
"No. You're just too stupid."
The middle-aged man laughed, then suddenly stepped forward. Cracking and popping sounds echoed from his body.
"You destroyed your own meridians?!"
Under the horrified and despairing gaze of the black soul, the middle-aged man collapsed to the ground, vomiting blood.
His semi-spiritual soul slowly floated out from his body, his expression serene, with a faint smile on his face.
"This is my first… and last bit of power, Rowen."
"Live on. Your life… shouldn't end here!!!"
Pop!
The semi-transparent soul, along with the Black Mist, was instantly swallowed into Rowen's own translucent soul. As a ripple of soul energy burst outward, everything in the hospital room fell silent.
…
"Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon)? Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon)?"
A gentle voice called out, waking Rowen. He opened his eyes with a dazed expression, ignoring the white cape swaying in front of him.
"Was all that… a dream?"
Rowen silently clenched his fists. That vivid sensation was clearer than any memory he'd ever had.
And in his memory… the scene of the middle-aged man sacrificing himself never existed.
"Outer-world Heavenly Demon… Could it be that my transmigration is connected to it as well?"
After a brief moment of thought, Rowen's eyes regained clarity. He calmly glanced at the familiar uniform in front of him and asked,
"Kalifa? Why are you the one here?"
Hearing this, Kalifa, formerly of CP-9, now a CP0 agent, breathed a sigh of relief. She gestured for the doctors to stay back and replied:
"Chief Zero is here too, currently surveying the battlefield… If possible, Admiral Soryu (Azure Dragon), the Gorōsei, and that man both want to know, who killed Vice Admiral Garp?"
"I don't want to repeat myself."
Rowen stood up. The surroundings were already completely locked down by CP0. Bald Zero stood on a large chunk of the golden city's ruins, arms crossed and expressionless.
"The Gold Emperor threatened us using the entire Golden City. Vice Admiral Garp, to protect the people, voluntarily submitted to control."
"He… is a Hero!"
(End of Chapter)
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