The Righteous Player(s)

“How do I put it…” Annan explained to Elle subtly, “This grumpy man from the Destruction School is quite easy to read.”

Once you get the idea, you can tell what’s coming just by the way things are heading.

The fundamental concept of Destruction Wizard was the theory of deterrence.

Their magical power was extraordinarily immense, capable of easily shattering city walls, breaking mountains, and leveling cities. However, they typically opted for the quietest and least destructive type of magic, provided it could achieve their goals.

This was to maintain their own “composure” to uphold “deterrence.”

This was because the Destruction Wizards did not possess defensive abilities that matched their destructive power.

Without the convenience of terrain tools like fortresses, airships, or high towers, they would typically find themselves in the awkward situation of having a “kill radius of ten kilometers, and a casting radius of one kilometer”.

For this reason, the Destruction Wizards had developed another sub-school of spells.

Just like Idol School had the distinction between the “Law of Similarity” and the “Law of Contagion”.

Some Destruction Wizards had specialized in Instant Death Spells, also known as the so-called “silent destruction”.

Annan had used Arthur’s body to experience his fighting method in the Witch Hunt Nightmare. Back then, Arthur’s combat approach was to first release his floating cannon, followed by endless aerial bombardments.

And now, naturally, Annan would not possibly forget Arthur’s combat approach.

However, since Celecia left Arthur in the “Silver” Ship to keep an eye on it, he didn’t witness the scene where Elle turned into an angel. Then, he was already sucked into the nightmare without warning and without receiving any information at all.

In his opinion, Elle was merely an ordinary ritualist because she didn’t even have a curse vessel with her.

This meant she had no curse. Naturally, she couldn’t possibly be a transcendent being.

There was no flaw with Arthur’s logic.

Yet subconsciously, he overlooked another possibility. Besides ordinary people, the ones without curses could also be deities and saints.

They had switched to covenant. The power behind it was much more stable, naturally eliminating the need for a vessel to bear the curse.

So facing such a cute girl who was not even a transcender, Arthur had still chosen to be quite the gentleman, opting to use an instant death spell to erase her in a flash rather than burning her alive.

The specific cause of death was the brain being instantly melted into a pulp

The spell he intended to use later was the Instant Death Spell called [Heart Stopper], which was even more common.

Because that was the most powerful spell against humans that a Silver Rank Destruction Wizard could cast. It only required a pure red ordinary glove to crush a person’s heart from a distance.

This was a nearly irresistible powerful curse.

Even a Gold Rank transcender could only be immune to this spell through elemental power. If a Gold Rank transcender was attacked without warning, he would be killed instantly.

However, this spell had many restrictions. For instance, it could only be used once every 13 days. The target must be within perceptual range. No third person could obstruct it. At the moment of the curse, both individuals had to make eye contact.

This was just an Order Magic. Using it would not increase the erosion rate. As long as the magic hit, even a strong individual who could survive without a heart would be instantly and severely damaged.

However, there was only one flaw.

This was a preparation made with Arthur as the hypothetical enemy.

As an angel with two realms of “Skeleton” and “Betrayal”, Elle had the special ability to reflect Instant Death.

Had it not been for Annan wanting to coax more information from Arthur, right after the handshake, Arthur would have been dropped dead on the spot.

Ironically, Annan didn’t retreat to keep “herself” safe but to try to keep Arthur alive for a longer while due to the death spell reflection.

After Arthur also died, Elle asked quietly in her heart.

[Are you not afraid, Annan?]

“What are you afraid of?” Annan said with some surprise.

[He holds no grudge against you, nor does he harbor any hatred towards you… but he can still think of killing you without any guilt. In his view, his actions are even justified. Such a twisted person is nearly a monster, isn’t…]

“There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Annan sighed, “You are too naive, Elle. It’s not just innocence now, it’s almost weakness.”

[But…]

“It’s just a mundane interaction.” Annan, using Elle’s body, revealed a smile as compassionate as a Madonna. “It’s nothing more than strangers killing each other for the sake of [victory].”

“He wants to dominate this nightmare, and so do I. But only one person can reign over everything… So I ask you, Elle—who do you trust more? Or rather, who do you think, if given the chance to handle this, could let more people survive?”

[It can only be you, Annan. He seems to only care about Miss Celecia and Lucia, so…]

“Forget it, it would be too much of a bully to ask you like this.” Annan smiled and didn’t ask any further questions.

“Elle’s” emerald green eyes became dark and deep under the lightless night sky.

After Arthur died, the sky became darker.

The surrounding street lights crackled with electricity.

It was only 9 p.m. then, but that should have been considered the final round. Aside from Longjing Tea, most of the other people had probably already died.

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the alley.

Longjing Tea’s figure flashed past outside.

“Here!”

“Elle” piped up.

Soon, Longjing Tea followed the sound and came over.

He saw Elle in a white robe standing alone deep in the alley, while Arthur lay on the ground, his left hand stretched forward as if saying, “Don’t stop.”

He breathed a sigh of relief.

“I saw you guys disappeared for too long, I thought you were attacked or went crazy…” Longjing Tea complained, “It scared me, so I hurriedly followed.”

“It’s not a big problem. It’s all expected.” “Elle” lowered her head, glanced at Arthur’s body, then looked at Longjing Tea, showing a gentle and kind smile, “You are the only one left now. Do you want to do it yourself?”

“If you do it, will it not hurt?”

“I don’t think there is much difference.”

“Then, I’d better do it myself.” Longjing Tea said simply, “I will leave the rest to you, boss!”

After he said that, he raised his gun, turned on the safety, and pointed it at his forehead.

The next moment, the magic bullet was activated — it shattered Longjing Tea’s head.

Such a clean death shocked Elle deeply.

[How did he face death with such courage?]

“This is where Arthur and I differ, Elle.” Annan said leisurely, “What Arthur seeks is merely to save himself. Although he appears graceful and calm, it’s to conceal his nature as a failure — back then, he swore to become a significant figure of the Gold Rank. But now, he doesn’t even mention it at all.”

“His confidence has already been shattered. He’s just trying to deceive himself.”

“But Longjing Tea and the others are different. It’s precisely because they know… no matter by what means, I must win; what I want is a perfectly benevolent and righteous victory. Therefore, under any circumstances, I will never flee—”

That’s why they still choose to believe in me between life and death.

That’s why they entrusted me with the hope of escaping this nightmare.

Before Annan could finish, the deepening night had already bared its fangs.

From top to bottom, the night swallowed everything in the world.

When Annan opened his eyes again, he woke up in a Déjà vu room.

This was something he had seen in the Gallery Nightmare.

It was Elle’s bedroom.

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