The Righteous Player(s)

There was no shame or guilt whatsoever.

There was no resistance or anger.

The youth with white hair and white clothes, pale and frail, appeared like a ghostly apparition, possessing no such thing called ‘self-esteem’.

In other words, when he altered himself into undead, all his self-esteem and glory were completely shattered at that time. 𝒷𝓮𝒹𝓃ℴ𝓿𝓮𝓁.𝓬𝓸𝓂

“A life full of regrets and embarrassment. Living without purpose. Like some kind of joke… just clowning around.”

The youth whispered, breathing deeply.

“I—”

He paused slightly and slowly exhaled a cold breath.

Centered around the Eternal Duke, the surrounding wheat field suddenly sunk in, like it got hit by a blast of air. In no time, frost set in, turning the golden field a frosty white.

Like talking with a mouthful of smoke after taking a puff, the youth’s voice turned raspy. A chilly breath slipped out from between his lips.

“I have been ‘dead’ a long time ago.”

When the “eternal” turned to “skeleton”, when the Eternal Tower turned into a tombstone, and when he became Him, Midas’ heart completely died.

“It doesn’t matter even if I’m beaten until I vomit blood. It doesn’t matter if my head is stepped on. Even if you cut open my stomach and take out my internal organs… Even if you pour feces and urine on me, I will pretend ignorance. I can still show you a smile.”

The pale youth said, showing a student-like and somewhat shy smile, “Look — the smile looks just like this.”

He said, unable to hold back his laughter.

“I’ve played the roles of my father, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather… but also my son, my grandson, and my great-grandson. I’ve been doing this for 200 years.”

“That’s not all.”

He whispered, “I sacrificed [honor], [dignity], [dream], [family], [peaceful rest]… and finally sacrificed everything I got. In my sacrifice to nothingness, offering ‘dignity’ is the least painful thing for me.”

His heart had already died.

Annan realized this profoundly.

Opposite Eternal Duke, the girl with blond hair and a white dress put her hands behind her back, looking at him with pity and silence.

That was the calm gaze when looking back after seeing everything. Condescending, as calm as a screenwriter reviewing a script.

“No reaction, Frostwhisper.” The youth sighed, “I truly didn’t expect you to enter this nightmare. Of course, maybe I did think of… [Destiny is the Wheel of Divine Transporter]. I know that saying too. But… well… who really knows?”

He said and paused.

Then, the Eternal Duke spoke again, “Actually, when I first saw you, I already had a premonition. So at that moment, I wanted to kill you… But in the end, I just took away the book.”

“But you finally knew everything… saw everything clearly, and came to me.”

“Yes, I’m going to stop this.” The blond girl squinted her eyes and made a sweet and soft voice in the moonless night.

“Elle… no, Angelo. I’ve asked you many times.” “Elle” asked word by word, “It’s almost midnight. Let me ask you again…”

“Do you trust me?”

There was a brief silence.

Three seconds of pause felt like an eternity.

Then, Elle gave the answer.

[Yes.]

She firmly and decisively gave her final answer.

[I believe in you — no matter what hardship I encounter, no matter what situation I am in… no matter what the situation is, no matter what anyone says, no matter what I go through — I will believe in you.]

Angel of Betrayal, uses the honorific title for her pope.

That wasn’t out of respect for the pope, but rather reverence for a trustworthy elder.

“Let midnight come then, Elle.” Annan said, emphasizing each word, “I swear… you’ll be safe and sound.”

As he spoke, the chimes of midnight had already begun to ring.

But—

“Elle”‘s eyes gradually overflowed with rainbow-colored brilliance.

It was a light that burned like a candle

This time, time didn’t flow backward.

Beside Elle, the world was instantly illuminated by a rainbow’s glow. The light was like ribbons, embedding “deep” within this world, soaring upward like “wings”.

Facing all these, the youth with white hair and white clothes opposite him just sighed deeply.

“This is ridiculous.” He whispered, “A deity who doesn’t act like one. A human who doesn’t seem human. A betrayer who is not like a betrayer. A secret keeper who is not like a secret keeper.”

“Angelo, you are my angel, my daughter… You were born because of me. How can you fight against me with that power?”

As he spoke, the young boy’s pale face suddenly shattered like broken porcelain.

What was revealed in the cracks was a gray color that was not consistent with Elle.

However, that amount of light was several times or dozens of times that of Elle.

Just by exposing a gap, the light in it was enough to illuminate the “dark night”.

“We are all born on this earth, going through the cycles of birth, aging, sickness, and death.”

“Elle” took over the conversation and replied in a leisurely voice, “But we will leave the earth eventually.”

“We will no longer age. We will no longer get sick. We will… no longer die.

“We came from the wilderness of nothingness and marched toward the kingdom of all things… If human beings can reach where they are now, we have sacrificed and given up more than you in the past. We will eventually be more in the future than you are now.”

“Until the farthest future, we will eventually abandon everything we have now. Everything in front of us will become history.”

“But that’s not a betrayal—”

—That’s the immortal bird, reborn in the fire.

Elle’s voice gradually became filled with heavy echoes.

The next moment, a rainbow-colored angel rose into the sky.

Then, she descended to the ground instantly, like a shooting star.

Eternal Duke merely raised his left hand. A gray light, reminiscent of a demon, emanated from his fractured skin, halting her in the void.

The same truth of rainbow and gray, upon contact, clashed and then merged—

The entire nightmare collapsed and was reconstructed, half a colorful fairy tale and half a gray mime.

But in the end, the light overflowing from Eternal Duke was superior.

His voice was tinged with echoes and a high-pitched metallic sound.

[Angelo, I betrayed everyone!]

He boasted.

A gray, absurd monster pressed down, rumbling and collapsing a corner of the sky. The entire world felt like a shattered specimen jar.

It looked like an abstract figure of a boy, half crying and half laughing. The side of his face that was laughing constantly shifted its appearance, while the crying half just quietly shed tears.

The sharp, roaring sound echoed like thunder, engulfing the entire world.

[But you have not been betrayed by everyone!]

[We walked the same path, and I have gone further than you — you can’t say no to me!]

“Is it really… so?”

“Elle” suddenly smiled after hearing this.

She didn’t cast Angelization.

Instead, he just whispered one sentence.

—Merely one sentence.

That was what she once said to Annan.

“Dreams are the poison that makes good people confused and evil people mad.”

At that moment, the gray demon stopped.

Annan was still chanting, “Those who ignore morality for the sake of their dreams, those who go beyond the law for the sake of their dreams, those who betray their loved ones for the sake of their dreams…”

“I curse you.”

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