Chapter 380: Dead, But Not Dead
Chapter 380: Dead, But Not Dead
"Winston? Why is he calling?" Andrew frowned and turned to Raziel.
While this fellow no longer had a brain, the latter was still a Supreme-rank powerhouse with immense mental ability after all. Perhaps enough to comprehend information that wasn't surface level.
Raziel adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. "Let's hear what he has to say."
Andrew picked up the communications device and asked knowingly, "Oh~ It's Division Chief Winston. You don't sound too good, and why are you using someone else's communications device? Did something happen?"
While speaking, he glanced at the massive crater in the distance that was enveloped in a massive cloud of dust.
Although Secret Rite Tower had quickly set up a temporary third layer barrier to block out the vision and thoughts of ordinary folk, someone of Andrew's ability and level could still see it clearly.
From his point of view, the entire 67th Avenue was in ruins, devoid of any signs of life.
It was plain that Winston had been seriously hurt at the frontlines...
Winston's voice was still ragged and wavering. "Enough of this useless chatter… The Truth Union hasn't sent any reinforcements to the battlefield at all. Are you all trying to cut off all ties with Secret Rite Tower?"
Andrew could hear the hidden anxiety in Winston's voice and smiled calmly. "Has the battle between Joseph and Wilde been over? Personnel dispatched by us are just to clean up the battlefield. Does it matter if they are early or late? As for cutting ties… This isn't something for you to decide, Winston. If it really does happen, who do you think would end up worse off?"
After falling silent for a moment, Winston said, "Joseph will win... Boss Lin said so himself."
Andrew was surprised before he heard Winston continue. "You heard correctly. I can tell you that Secret Rite Tower sent personnel to find out about Boss Lin's thoughts regarding this battle, and I was the person in charge for this mission."
Andrew instinctively turned toward Raziel, who lifted up his glasses and nodded. "He's not lying."
"Hahaha..." Andrew broke into laughter. "So, this is how Secret Rite Tower treats a loyal knight. How laughable. How do you reckon Joseph would think if he knew he was being used as a disposable tool?"
Winston replied coldly, "I don't know what he would think, but he must win. If he dies due to the Truth Union's inaction, do you think you can escape responsibility?"
"Whoa," Andrew scoffed. "He's a part of Secret Rite Tower. What does it have to do with me if you people don't save him?"
Winston snorted. "Originally, nothing. But I guess I've gotten you involved now... How do you think Boss Lin would think if he knows that you were aware of this but refused to send anyone to find Joseph?"
“…”
Even if he really disliked Joseph, a fellow who wasn't purely devoted to Boss Lin, perhaps it was precisely this that Boss Lin was rather passionate about changing him.
In other words, if the bookstore owner could turn Joseph from being a noble, righteous, selfless knight and finally bow down to become a devout believer, it would indeed be worthy of killing time.
This was probably something that would bring joy to him. And for an existence like Boss Lin, finding joy was probably the most important thing in his life.
Perhaps this was Boss Lin's sadistic hobby?
Alright… Though he really disliked Joseph, as a follower and believer of the Lord, anything that could make the Lord happy was Andrew's first priority.
He let out a sigh and said slowly, "Fine. I'll send someone to search the battlefield. But it would only be limited to just a search."
On the other end, Winston seemed to heave a sigh of relief. After what seemed like a long pause, he gave an awkward thanks and hung up the communications device.
Andrew glanced at the communications device in his hand and imagined the image of the burly armored knight, Winston. Goosebumps formed all over his body and he switched off the communications device in disgust.
"Secret Rite Tower is quite bold to even willingly give up a Supreme-rank seed. But based on my current sense, even if Joseph is truly alive, I'm afraid things would develop as they think," commented Raziel.
Andrew nodded and activated his communications device again.
He didn't care if Joseph could really survive, but that old knight's life was, to a certain extent, related to Boss Lin's inclinations. Andrew couldn't be as perfunctory as before and had to send forth someone reliable.
He scrolled through his address book—
Prima Sandra.
This young lady was the new Head of Medicine that Andrew had personally promoted. She had replaced her older sister, who had just been recently sent out from here and was temporarily in a vegetative state. At the same time, she had been blessed by the bookstore owner as well.
In terms of ability, or status, this was entirely foolproof.
He immediately dialed the number.
——
Prima was in the laboratory, busy making adjustments to her elixirs.
She was deeply engrossed and was biting the tip of her pen as she tried her best to calculate the ratio formula and the possible consequences of adopting the special characteristics of the ingredients. Her expression was one of extreme focus.
The laboratory, located near the surface, had the highest level of clearance. No one except Prima herself, Andrew, and Hood were allowed to enter and disturb her.
Fluctuations from the battlefield many miles away didn’t catch her attention, nor did the several underground and ear-piercing alarms that were closer. It was only when the loud and shrill ringtone sounded from the communications device did she manage to peel herself away from her elixirs.
—Having witnessed what Prima was like in her laboratory for the first time, Andrew had forced the young lady to set this ringtone on her communications device to allow her to break free from her experiments when she was deeply engrossed.
"Ah!" Prima looked up with a start, dropping the pen in her hand from fright as she fumbled to connect the call.
She was rather anxious upon realizing it was a call from her superior and she stammered hurriedly, "Vi-Vice-Chairman!"
It's Chairman! Andrew grumpily corrected in his heart. Nevermind... Now isn't the time to harp on it.
Andrew quickly said, "Pick a few doctors and apothecaries from amongst your subordinates. I will also assign some combatants to you. Lead them to the battleground on 67th Avenue and search for survivors. Take note that the Law of 'Eventuality' scattered from the death of a Supreme-rank covers that place. Equip protective gear and take safeguard measures."
While it was said to be a search for survivors, in truth, no ordinary transcendent being could have survived being in the middle of the battlefield.
But for the sake of Secret Rite Tower's face, he absolutely couldn't say that it was just to find Joseph.
Alright! Prima thought to herself as she nodded vigorously.
T-This is probably my first assignment since taking up the post, right?
Then, as she recalled that Andrew had asked everyone to pay attention to A16 Manor, a strange hunch stirred within her. "Is this mission related to Boss Lin?" she asked cautiously.
Andrew's reply was succinct. "Yes. So you have to do your best, understand?"
Prima's heart skipped a beat, and she turned to look at the book that Boss Lin had given her—Primordial Tome of Potions.
Boss Lin had once said that the study of medicine was to create one's own value!
She took a few deep breaths to adjust her mental state… This isn't just my first mission as Head of Medicine but one related to my savior, the great existence, Mr. Lin. That means to say, it's time to prove my worth to Boss Lin!
"I'll give my all!" said Prima as she pumped herself up.
——
On the other end, a question had popped up in Andrew's mind after he ended the call.
Come to think of it, though the Lord personally judged it to be Joseph's victory, is Wilde, that conniving black magician that terrifies so many, really dead?
Raziel suddenly answered, "Dead."
Andrew turned around, only to hear Raziel add on, "But not dead."
“…”
Andrew had a complex look on his face at this moment. Gazing through the hole in Raziel's head, he really wondered what exactly was going through the latter's mind.
Raziel, however, wasn't bothered by Andrew's menacing gaze. He just looked toward the horizon and muttered, "Augustus...
"The Giant King that even the Path of Flaming Sword couldn't make bow down. Yet now you are finally forced to answer the calling of fate and step into the vortex of strife. It's probably only a matter of time before you walk down from the throne, right?"
Andrew couldn't understand these murmurings, but at this moment, when he looked into Raziel’s eyes, he didn't seem like a praise bot whose head had been hollowed out but the true 'Ethereal Wisdom' that had created the entirety of Norzin.
——
When death approached…
Wilde fell on his back. A sensation of being burned alive by a raging inferno engulfed his body. Such pain almost exceeded his limits until he began to forget this pain.
While resisting Joseph's final attack, his physical body had disintegrated bit by bit, and at this point, it was nearly completely gone.
The black magician had tried to sacrifice himself to Boss Lin once more at this moment, trying to use this move to escape one more time. However, he suddenly recalled the last time he had done this.
Boss Lin's response to him sacrificing his own life was… rejection!
That's right. Only by refusing would the sacrificed life be separated from samsara and resurrected in the human world.
At the same time, this meant that Boss Lin had rejected Wilde's act of sacrificing himself, which was, in a sense, refusing Wilde to be a subject of his divine kingdom. It meant that there was a problem with Wilde's loyalty!
"My…my loyalty…How is that possible…"
Wilde's eyes widened, and he suddenly lost his voice.
Indeed, there was an aspect where he hadn't been sufficiently loyal and could in fact be considered an extremely blasphemous act.
And that was, he had sacrificed himself because he wanted Boss Lin to reject him and use this to defeat Joseph.
In this world, how could there be a devout believer that is unwilling to enter the realm of their god and even actively wish to be rejected by their Lord? More so to use this in a bid to fulfill a personal wish?
Oh god, what have I done?!
Wilde belatedly realized why Boss Lin had been on Joseph's side in this battle.
No! Could it be... I wanted… I still wished… No… Could this be Boss Lin's treatment of me…
Wilde struggled internally. Pain and extreme regret washed over him as he reached out, hoping to hold onto something.
But he no longer had any hands.
In more scientific terms, he was vaporizing. The process ought to be an extremely painful one, but as even his senses disappeared, the pain was irrelevant.
In the final frame of his fading vision, he saw Joseph fall to the ground as well.
The old knight's body was also in tatters, his eyes filled with unwillingness and anger, yet bright like the gleam of a sword in sunlight. Unfortunately, Wilde's vision quickly dimmed, and he only saw half of his opponent's body turn into ashes.
Oh well... Is this... my eventuality?
Wilde was powerless to change anything. Though extremely unwilling, he gradually let go and sank into the suffocating darkness of death. His vision was pitch-black, and all that surrounded him was silence...
Suddenly—
"Wilde."
A familiar voice pierced through the nothingness of death and entered his ears as if were an illusion.
"My disciple."
The voice was clearer now. This voice, as if passing through layers of dreams, crossing over mountains and seas, directly entered Wilde's ears.
It was intimate and all so familiar.
Wilde's eyes jerked wide open. Darkness surrounded him. It was pitch-black in all directions, making it impossible for him to get his bearings.
Wilde couldn't feel his limbs nor any sensation in his hands and feet. It even made him wonder if he truly existed.
Only a circle of ancient characters that seemed to be casually written floated around him, blocking the surrounding darkness.
"T-Teacher...?"
Wilde, or what little thought that was left, could barely recognize who was calling him…
'Ancient King of Sacred Sound,' 'Black Emperor,' 'Dragon Linguist,' 'Last Descendant of Giants'... All sorts of titles given to this great transcendent being. He was a living history book as well as the black magician Wilde's teacher—Augustus.
"Teacher..." Wilde was suddenly at a loss when he spotted a green dot of light glowing in the distance that was gradually increasing in brightness. Without even thinking, Wilde ran in that direction. After what seemed like an eternity, he arrived and grabbed the latter in this endless dream.
Flap, flap, flap—
The small pair of wings on this letter immediately retracted, as if it were a docile messenger pigeon.
This method of sending messages… It's indeed Teacher!
As soon as Wilde had this thought, the wings disappeared and the letter lay quietly in his hand—Wilde couldn't be sure if it was his hand.
On top of the letter was a golden jewel in the shape of a scarab.
This is… the ring that Teacher wore?
Before Wilde was able to react, he was sucked into the eyes of the golden beetle as Augustus' voice still echoed in his ears...
"Godspeed, my final disciple."