Chapter 859
Consume My Remnants
The time frozen before Alistair gradually resumed its flow.
The Butterfly of Blazing Flame was about to launch a flame charge that would destroy everything—and if it were to sustain heavy damage, it would unhesitatingly detonate itself, obliterating everything around it.
And the King of the Wild Hunt, without a trace of mercy, raised his blade towards his colleague… He also held absolute loyalty towards Alistair.
Yet, as Alistair watched the Butterfly of Blazing Flame charge forward without reservation… In that instant, Alistair once again felt a surge of intense jealousy.
The Butterfly of Blazing Flame, Leah.
The most unique Beast of Sin, the other half of Yulia…
She could always accompany Eivass… Among all the Beasts of Sin, and even all Illusion Cards, only she could utilize it and manifest it along the Path of Devotion. Without hesitation, without needing to think, she could fight for Eivass with all her heart.
“…How nice.”
This time, Alistair did not suppress her jealousy.
She took a deep breath and completely released her restraint on the essence of the Path of Love.
Alistair did not twist open the glass bottle and drink the soul within… because she didn’t know if it would take effect immediately.
To be safe—
She directly pierced her own chest with the index finger of her right hand, tearing open a wound!
She thrust the glass bottle containing the liquid soul into the wound in her heart, and then crushed it with her finger!
“Let me… be whole again!”
Alistair gazed at the angel, screaming hysterically.
Feeling her shriveled soul rapidly filling up, Alistair felt entirely uncertain.
Because she had no idea if her plan would succeed.
But if she wanted to [Beyond] fate, to [Beyond] the current predicament—there was only one chance.
Even if only for a moment—
Please, Candlemaster…
Bless me!
It must succeed!
“For this…”
Accompanied by a whistling cold wind, a simple yet ancient and ice-cold scythe suddenly appeared in Alistair’s right hand.
That was—Death of Withering.
A scythe with a special ability against undead beings like the Child of the Moon.
This was the first time Alistair had used it.
…And the current Eivass was clearly not a Child of the Moon.
The reason for taking it out was simple—
Alistair turned the scythe’s blade and gently pressed the reverse edge against her own neck.
“【—My Sacred Number is 11, the number of those belonging to us】”
The voice of the Ring Heavenly Envoy echoed in Alistair’s heart.
The prophecy, already clear, now became even more so:
Devotion is three, Transcendence is eight. The sum of their numbers is eleven.
Love is one, Void is ten. The sum of their numbers… is also eleven.
“Those belonging to us” referred to Eivass and Alistair!
“【—To the Fool, I am 9; to the upright, I am 8, and also 1 within 8】”
For the Fool unable to break free from reincarnation, the Ouroboros Ring of repeated cycles meant eternity; for “the upright Eivass,” His existence merely signified being surpassed—it was merely one of the most “desire-filled” Sacred Numbers on the Transcendent Path!
“【—My hidden name shines like the midnight child is the sun】”
The Son of Hengwo was the Xi Tian Si, and that was also her separated old self.
And the “radiance” separated by the Ring Heavenly Envoy was Eivass!
“【—Spread your wings, summon all the radiance within your heart—Come to me!】”
The Ring Heavenly Envoy’s voice boomed like thunder, like heavenly music.
—From the very beginning, the Ring Heavenly Envoy had not hidden his purpose.
Since the Host had not terminated this ritual, it meant he was still in control. In other words, the Candlemaster wished for this Ascension Ritual to reveal the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s true nature…
That was why the Candlemaster had appeared and said that to Alistair.
“【—I just came to see you, Alistair】”
“【—Perform well… this ritual may be crucial for you】”
…It was indeed crucial.
Alistair realized something.
—The essence of Eivass’s desire for devotion was, in reality, “Void.”
Before the separation, Eivass had been completely unaware of this. This sense of void was, in itself, a part of his personality.
But after separating into two sets—Love and Transcendence, Devotion and Void—their shortcomings at the personality level had become so clear…
When Eivass suppressed his inner “desire for love,” he was actually continuously strengthening the desire for void within him.
That increasingly selfless divinity was, in its essence, self-annihilation!
If he could not face this incompleteness—if he continued to be driven by “emptiness” in his devotion, and by “desire” in his transcendence, then both his devotion and transcendence would inevitably be incomplete!
How could he advance further in such a state? How could he break free from this fate?
Sacred Number Eleven.
That was the non-existent Origin River, and also the non-existent Sacred Number.
Sacred Numbers themselves possessed power because they corresponded to Origin Rivers. Therefore, Sacred Number Eleven signified power “beyond the Origin River,” or power “not belonging to the Origin River.”
Sacred Number Eleven meant freedom.
Unconstrained, unbound… This was the power the former Wing Heavenly Envoy had pursued, and which the Ring Heavenly Envoy was still pursuing.
Power that transcended the Pillar God and Origin River systems, power that belonged entirely to oneself!
“Only… devotion driven by the Soul of Transcendence is the true Sacred Number Eleven.”
Alistair murmured softly, “I seem to… have had such a day.”
—It was in the very beginning…
When he had not yet tamed the Shadow Demon, when he fed the demon with pain.
During his first Ascension Ritual, when he cut open his throat and sacrificed his life…
…When did I forget the original intention of the Shepherd’s Method?
From when did the Shepherd’s Method become merely a means to cultivate Summoned Beasts, to cultivate subordinates, and to enhance their power?
Was I…
Any different from the Shepherd, from the Ring Heavenly Envoy?
“Eat in silence, my lamb…”
Alistair’s voice was trembling and low.
Tears streamed down her eyes involuntarily.
She didn’t want to be forgotten.
She didn’t want to disappear.
She wanted to become a Phantom Demon.
She wanted to become a Beast of Sin…
Alistair breathed in the air of “life” so genuinely, so greedily. She yearned to live from the bottom of her heart, and from the bottom of her heart, she was jealous of all life that could exist so naturally…
—And precisely because of this.
The more painful the nurturing, the stronger its effect.
Since there was only one chance, to ensure she could completely overwrite the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s Shepherd’s Method… Alistair unhesitatingly gambled everything she had.
As the charging Butterfly of Blazing Flame and the King of the Wild Hunt collided, Alistair unhesitatingly pressed down on the scythe.
This would be the first life claimed by [Death of Withering].
“Consume my remnants… and then, become one with me.”
“Be whole again, Eivass—
“—I am the Holy Communion, this is Mercy.”
At this moment, Alistair truly understood…
What “Mercy” was.
Her gaze became compassionate, yet tears continued to fall.
“Consume all of me… drink it down like sweet wine—!”
As Alistair chanted with a trembling voice.
The next moment, Alistair completely transformed into an ice sculpture soaked in blood.
Then, it shattered abruptly!
The blood-soaked ice fragments did not scatter on the ground as they shattered.
Instead, they suspended in the air in a manner that defied physics, condensing into countless brilliantly radiant crimson pearls.
These pearls, as if possessing life, flew towards the angelic Eivass and became one with him once more!
