Chapter 1144
The Death of Thomas (Third Update!)
At this moment, the melting old assassin suddenly looked up.
In that instant, a strong premonition of death struck his heart. It was like wearing thin clothes while a chilling wind, accompanied by a torrential rain, swept towards him.
He looked up in the direction of the sense of crisis, only to see an incredibly sacred and radiant Majestic Deer.
That was—Eivass.
His appearance was like Eivass, only more majestic and solemn. There were faint black and gold patterns on his face, which looked like barbaric rituals.
He was also draped in a Cardinal’s black robe, which was filled by his bulging muscles, making it look like a tight-fitting suit.
On his head were incredibly huge antlers. One antler was as majestic as a halberd, while the other looked like it had been cut off before, being more than half smaller than the other. These antlers exuded a warm luster like white jade, and there were also faint black and gold auspicious cloud patterns on them.
Sin thorns hung from Eivass’s back to the ground, covering his entire body like a cloak woven from thorns.
As the Majestic Deer moved forward, the surroundings became brighter.
It was as if a new sun was running on the ground, its boiling heat and the radiance like the midsummer sun made everything around blur. In contrast, the Majestic Deer itself appeared somewhat dark within that brilliant light. It was like the wick of a candle.
“What is that…?”
“Thomas” mumbled.
He could of course recognize Eivass’s face—as a top assassin, he wouldn’t forget his target’s appearance. Even if the other party disguised themselves, he could directly recognize their true identity.
But this sacred and radiant posture…
For a moment, Thomas felt unable to accept it. Perhaps it was the price paid to the “White Rainbow Secret Record” that had completely incapacitated his already aging brain… He always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
But at this moment, his seasoned body, acting faster than thought, launched an attack—
Time froze again.
Eivass’s sense of time was infinitely extended.
And at this very moment, he clearly saw—the old Thomas, almost turned into mud, was burning with an ethereal silver-white flame, and a rainbow light, containing seven colors and with a brilliant silver shell, rose straight up from his body and ascended into the sky!
However, this time, it did not penetrate the sun. In fact, it was too far off.
Because his resolve was not enough, and the price he could pay was also not enough.
The next moment, time resumed its flow.
The previous feeling of stagnation served as a prompt. Eivass immediately turned and leaped, narrowly dodging four God-Slaying arrows that were shot consecutively.
At the same time, Eivass opened his right hand—
This was a new ability he had obtained simultaneously with the three arrows that had been shot into him, causing black patterns to appear on his body:
[Current Conversion Rate 60%: The Sin Eater Beast can condense light or fire into the wooden parts of longbows, short bows, lances, and greatswords, and turn sin thorns into steel.]
Combined with what he had previously obtained, he could make the sin thorns into indestructible Holy Weapons with properties of toughness, sharpness, and penetration… Eivass already knew how to correctly use the power of the Sin Eater Beast.
As holy flames ignited, golden-red flames condensed into a longbow in Eivass’s right hand.
And a slender golden light turned into a string.
He did not release an arrow, but merely drew it back—within the bow that was instantly full, a pitch-black sin thorn that grew from Eivass’s palm twisted itself to become a spiral arrow.
Eivass released his grasp lightly.
The spiral arrow whizzed out with a hum.
Like a swarm of hornets rushing towards him, accompanied by the arrow’s flight, Thomas, who was melting and degenerating into some inhuman form, was instantly pierced through the chest by the sin thorn arrow!
The power of the sin thorn instantly spread within his body.
The sin thorns embedded in his body absorbed Path Power and grew rapidly, black thorns piercing through his flesh and growing out. And absorbing the sins from his soul, white flowers grew from the thorns—that was the Worry-free Lily, which could be made into “washing water” to completely wash away a person’s Path level.
The old man’s raised gun barrel fell limply, and then his arm was also devoured by the activated sin thorns… These sin thorns, like rabid dogs, gnawed at his body, causing his flesh and blood to melt away rapidly like falling into a grinding mill.
At this moment, Eivass suddenly had an epiphany.
Why could the “dates” that grew from his sin thorns heal Amber Compaction Syndrome caused by Twilight Path deviation? Why could the Worry-free Lily grown from the Illuminator’s sin thorns be made into [Regret Potion] that dissolved a person’s Path level…
—Because that was originally the ability of the Void Path!
It was this that dissolved the power of the Origin River, thus dissolving the excess power of the Twilight Path and cleansing the level of Extraordinary beings…
At this moment, the old man’s pupils also instantly regained clarity.
Without the influence of surplus Path Power on his mind… without the inextinguishable fire of love and hatred, without the self-burning impulse of devotion, without the madness of having to live no matter what, without the perverse engraved heart—Thomas instantly realized what he had done wrong:
His grandfather was right; he was never a pure Cirlex, nor a qualified assassin.
Because he simply didn’t have such a strong sense of devotion.
He had never truly understood the spirit of an assassin, merely “adapted” himself to this need.
Just as assassins learned a degraded version of Shadow Stealth by imitating Shadow Demons… he had also learned a degraded version of devotion by imitating his grandfather.
He constructed a “perfect Thomas” in his heart, and then did what that person would do… Because of the emptiness in his heart, and because he had no ideals, he could actually transform into any form… Ultimately, he adapted better than his family members, becoming the only assassin to reach the ceiling of the Sixth Tier.
Stealing scales and feathers…
He finally understood why the Lord of Scales and Feathers was the Pillar God of Path Adaptation.
Because it was nothingness, it could “adapt” to the powers of other Paths.
But he had obtained the power of other Paths through this method… yet he was also seduced by the Path deviation brought about by Path Power of other Paths. Since he had no level in those Paths to begin with and had not undergone the corresponding trials… he couldn’t even realize when he had become someone else.
In a trance, the old man seemed to see the Lord of Scales and Feathers waving at him—even though he had no idea what the Lord of Scales and Feathers looked like, he just felt that the person standing in front of him was the Lord of Scales and Feathers.
However, he no longer had the chance to enter the Dream Realm.
There was no time to be glad that Eivass was not dead; everything was still possible.
Master Thomas, who finally regained clarity on the verge of death, only had time to express his final realization before his body and soul were completely devoured by the mad sin thorns:
“Be careful of Path Power! It can confuse the mind—”
His soul was completely dissolved by the sin thorns, not even becoming Eivass’s experience. Just like Professor Moriarty.
Eivass first calmed the frightened citizens with his radiance, telling them not to run around to avoid stampedes.
He looked at the sin thorns on the ground, which had returned to a calm state, with a complex expression and responded in a low voice, “Ah, I’ve known that for a long time.”
He looked at the sin thorns silently and tried to devour them. After taking a bite, he found the taste acceptable, so Eivass slowly devoured the remaining sin thorns.
After all, leaving them here would only devour others who came into contact with them. Only his body as a Sin Eater Beast could safely house these dangerous sin thorns.
Did Candlemaster… do the same? Eivass suddenly had such a thought.
The good news was that the conversion rate had indeed increased, but not by much. Only a little over 3%… bringing Eivass’s conversion rate to 63%.
This meant that the old man truly had no unforgivable Great Sins. At his age, the sin thorns converted from his soul were only one-ninth of those of Professor Moriarty.
He did not know what complex psychological activities had flowed through Thomas’s mind at that moment.
But he could know that Thomas was being influenced and invaded by the power of Twilight… and his final kind warning to Eivass—although it was useless, just like the information gap between him and his granddaughter, it was long overdue.
Although it is said that a person speaks kindly when they are about to die… such a disjointed behavior and speech seemed to prove that he had been lured by some “thought.”
—It infiltrated the mind, making people firmly believe that what they were doing was right, thereby subtly twisting others’ will.
Not many people would fairly and objectively question and scrutinize themselves. Nor could many people remain sober forever.
The whisper of the void…
Was it because of the Ouroboros Ring’s progress, the power of the Wall of Balance had weakened?
Eivass clearly realized that the power of the Tenth Origin River was seeping into the Material Realm. The “Void Invasion” that had been rare in the past decade was now occurring several times a week…
“What are you going to do, Ah Huan…”
Eivass, who had returned to human form, only with strange black imprints appearing on his antlers, looked at the sun and murmured softly.
However, Thomas, who had been tempted by the void, had given him a reminder.
He needed a mirror to remind himself whether what he was doing was right, whether he had gone too far… and whether he was still the original himself.
For example… his lover, Isabel.
—Wasn’t the Pillar God of The Path of Beauty a Twin mirror?
