“If I had to guess, there might be some kind of secret realm operating behind the scenes. I've seen plenty of things like that before.”
“I've never been able to find it anyway, and neither could the old bag.”
With that, the Sword-man plunged himself into the ground, hilt pointing straight up. It was hard to tell whether his posture was sincere or just shameless.
“Well, you two, a promise is a promise. I'll start groveling now.”
The Sword-man's listless voice echoed from the longsword.
“Oh, right. The old bag... I mean Pops, should be making preparations already.”
“Take your time. Just wait for the Anomalies to show up and eat them at your own pace.”
“Once you've had your fill and recovered, we'll make our way up.”
He paused, his tassel swaying gently.
“Ultimately, our goals are aligned.”
“And, well... you guys have already killed me twice anyway...”
A rare trace of embarrassment crept into his tone, though he quickly masked it.
“The old bag and I spent four eras gnawing away at that City of the Sky Lake business and couldn't even make a dent. But with you two here, I'm feeling incredibly confident!”
He still spoke with his usual flippant attitude, but there was an unexpected gravity underlying his words.
“So, vent your anger all you want, just don't actually break me.”
“Hack me, smash me, stomp me, kick me—do whatever you like, you two. I can take it.”
Evans looked down at the sword standing upright in the ground, his mouth twitching. For a moment, he didn't even know where to begin retorting.
“From what you just said... the Anomalies that are going to respawn here are all your compatriots?”
“And you're just going to let me swallow them all?”
“Compatriots? You're overthinking it.” The Sword-man fell silent for a moment, his tassel drooping before swaying back up.
“My true brothers-in-arms as this Sword Immortal are either in the Deep Abyss or in the hands of the City of the Sky Lake.”
A wry chuckle came from the hilt in the ground. The longsword seemed to be reminiscing, his tone turning unusually serious.
“When we regained our senses this era, the vast majority of the Anomalies had already been controlled by the City of the Sky Lake.”
“I had to risk my life to launch several raids just to snatch some of them back.”
“So, my actual compatriots aren't going to be easily destroyed, let alone appear here.”
“As for the things that will manifest next... they're just some plants, pots, and pans. Eat them as you please.”
Ren Yi, who had been hovering in midair, took in the vast, empty space and chimed in quietly:
“This place is practically limitless. How do you expect him to eat them? Just sit and wait for them to slowly materialize out of thin air? Besides...”
His tone carried a hint of contemplation.
“Since Anomalies still appear on the surface, it means that even you guys can't capture all the Anomalies in this place.”
“However...”
As the Sword-man reached this point, Evans opened his mouth, but before he could speak, his body suddenly froze.
“What's wrong?” Ren Yi immediately noticed the anomaly.
“I feel... a bit strange.”
Evans replied, his eyes growing somewhat vacant as he took an involuntary step forward.
Black liquid seeped from the soles of his shoes, spreading silently across the grayish-white ground.
The youth's form dissolved like ink dropped into water, blurring, spreading, and dispersing from the edges to reveal the shapeless, viscous black True Form beneath.
The mass of black liquid hovered in midair, its surface rippling with countless tiny waves, like a lake struck by pebbles.
Then, he began to draw it in.
Nothing was visible to the naked eye, and no physical objects were pulled into his body.
Yet, Evans's volume expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a dry sponge absorbing water and swelling.
Ren Yi shifted his gaze from Evans to the surrounding rock walls.
The grayish-white, wrinkled crusts were undergoing a transformation.
Their once-plump texture was slowly shriveling up, like an orange peel stripped of its moisture.
Their color shifted from grayish-white to grayish-yellow, and then to a withered, dark brown.
Tiny fractures emerged on the surface of the rock walls, spreading in all directions like a spiderweb.
Those crusts were losing something.
It was as if the energy supporting their very existence was being drained away.
Along some channel that Ren Yi could not perceive, it was being sucked into Evans's expanding mass of black liquid.
“Sword-man.”
Ren Yi's voice wasn't loud, but every word carried an unquestionable gravity. “What's going on here?”
Evans's condition seemed to be improving, so Ren Yi didn't stop him for the moment.
“I don't know.”
The Sword-man's voice was stripped of its usual playful banter, replaced by a genuine confusion.
“I've never seen anything like this before.”
He paused, a hint of speculation entering his voice.
“But a thought just occurred to me.”
“Spit it out.”
“I always used to think that S-002 was a cage designed to control Evans.”
“Even though the timing pushed back further with each iteration, why did every world reset happen shortly after he lost control?”
“But did S-002 really break on its own?”
The Sword-man's voice sounded as if it were coming from far away, each word carrying a delayed realization.
“Could it be... that Evans was hollowing it out from the inside, bit by bit?”
“Just like... what's happening now.”
As he spoke, his blade slowly rotated.
It pointed first at the slowly expanding mass of black liquid, then at the surrounding withered rock walls, and finally back to the black liquid.
Ren Yi fell silent for a long time, hovering motionless in midair like a thinking sculpture.
“So you're saying,” he began slowly, “this place—the crustal structure of this world—is essentially the same thing as S-002?”
“Or rather, something of the same origin?”
“I don't know,” the Sword-man answered honestly.
Ren Yi didn't press further, choosing instead to ponder in silence.
The Sword-man suddenly spoke up, his tone turning slightly odd, as if hesitating over his next words.
“You don't need to worry about us having any designs on Evans.”
He said, his voice calm and steady.
“The world of the past has been completely destroyed. I don't believe there is any chance of bringing it back.”
Ren Yi turned to look at him.
If he had a face, he would probably be wearing a very subtle expression right now.
The cloud of white mist shifted slightly, and the Sword-man got the distinct impression that he was smiling.
It was a smile carrying an inexplicable quality, part understanding, part sigh of lament.
“You're quite attached to the past world,” Ren Yi remarked, his tone neutral.
“Speaking of which, you mentioned earlier that whoever helps you deal with S-001 and S-003, you would acknowledge them as your master.”
“The only one who seems capable of pulling that off is Evans.”
“But now it seems... you're not loyal to any specific person, but to your world?”
The Sword-man's blade trembled slightly.
“No,” he replied flatly. “An oath is just an oath.”
“I simply think we're fellow sufferers sharing the same plight.”
“Oh, wait. Saying that makes me sound a bit too self-important.”
“Evans... he is the biggest victim at the hands of my ‘former master.’”
With that, he fell silent.
Quiet descended upon the vast, empty space, broken only by the faint, tide-like sounds of Evans's expanding black liquid.
Both Ren Yi and the Sword-man fell silent. It wasn't the awkwardness of having nothing to say, but a tacit understanding.
Their goals had always been aligned.
They both knew they had to walk the path ahead together, and they knew that at this critical juncture, any further probing would be a waste of time.
The City of the Sky Lake.
Ren Yi silently turned the name over in his mind.
For Evans, this name likely brought up an even more complex mix of emotions.
As for Ren Yi, he had never set foot there.
It was like tasting a dish he had never tried before—unsure if it would be sweet or bitter, but having to swallow it regardless.
Ren Yi condensed his form, his tentacles hanging quietly like a real, weightless cloud.
Darkness lay overhead, and the withering earth stretched out below.
Ren Yi slowly withdrew his perception to his immediate surroundings, as if closing his eyes.
Just wait. It's almost time.
Rate on N.U.
