Tick!
The silver pocket watch stopped turning.
All the hands returned to the original starting point, completing the final cycle.
The dagger stabbed into Hive's heart.
That silver pocket watch lay quietly in his arms like an offering for a sacrifice.
Yvette crossed her hands, devoutly closed her eyes, and made a gesture of prayer. Spiritual power surged around her, forming a giant ring. "This is the ability I specially developed for you, Ring of Time—Ring of Aeolus!"
In Greek mythology, there was such a story.
Aeolus's son, Sisyphus, was the smartest man in the human world, boasting that even the wisdom of the gods was far inferior to his.
Relying on his clever mind, Sisyphus founded the Kingdom of Corinth. Later, he even grew so bold that he used a scheme to deceive and kidnap Death, causing the human world to lose its order. No one would die, thereby incurring the wrath of the gods.
In the end, to punish Sisyphus, the gods thought of a brilliant method.
That was to order Sisyphus to push a huge round boulder all the way from the foot of a mountain to the summit. But because that boulder was far too heavy, every time he had not yet reached the summit, Sisyphus would exhaust all his strength, causing the giant stone to roll down from the summit.
Thus, Sisyphus's punishment was.
Day after day, year after year, constantly repeating it, endlessly pushing the giant stone.
Sisyphus's life was slowly exhausted in such futile and hopeless labor, until the end of death.
Hive was like Sisyphus.
They both believed themselves clever, able to toy with everything in the world in the palm of their hand, but they did not know what grave consequences their recklessness would cause.
Sisyphus deceived and kidnapped Death, causing the human world to have no more death. Having lost the fear of death, humanity lost infinite possibilities and became muddleheaded walking corpses.
The gods punished Sisyphus by making him endure endless torment.
Ring of Time—Ring of Aeolus!
It was a high-level technique she had specially developed, borrowing the power of Fullbring solely to give Hive the punishment he deserved, endless torment just like Sisyphus.
There were four necessary conditions to cast the technique.
Condition One: The person enduring this technique had to be in an absolutely weakened state. Otherwise, once they used Reiatsu to counterattack, it would cause backlash from the technique. Depending on the severity, the caster would lose several decades or even over a hundred years of lifespan.
Condition Two: The entire technique process was extremely complicated and required a starting point, a passing point, and an ending point, three complete time nodes. Each time the pocket watch hands completed one cycle, one time node would be recorded.
Condition Three: The "time nodes" recorded by the pocket watch needed to leave a deep impression in the subconscious mind of the person affected by the technique.
Condition Four: The complete technique needed to construct a perfect closed loop. Otherwise, it would cause the logical chain to collapse.
The three activations of the pocket watch all symbolized three time nodes.
And finally, to complete the entire cyclic technique, by using Haschwalth to strip away Hive's ability and make him reach an unprecedented weakness, all the conditions of the cycle were fulfilled.
"Repent for your sins in eternal torment."
Directly beneath Yvette's prayer, a huge python appeared.
The enormous serpent's body coiled around Hive, then the giant serpent swallowed its own tail in one bite, forming the cyclic symbol of the Ouroboros.
"Aeolus... huh?"
As Hive neared death, he behaved unusually calmly, no longer as violent and ferocious as before. He only quietly looked at Yvette, and a slight smile slowly appeared on his face, containing expectation and hope, as he asked, "Then I... am your... Sisyphus?"
Yvette fell silent for a moment. A ripple finally appeared in her calm gaze. She nodded slightly and softly said, "Yes, you are my Sisyphus."
"My dear mother..."
A faint light appeared in Hive's eyes, carrying a certain hopeful look, and he asked again, "If I were not what I am now and had never wanted to devour you, would you... acknowledge me?"
"Perhaps... I would..."
Facing those pure eyes, Yvette's heart was in chaos for a moment, and she did not know how to answer.
"That is enough..."
Hive slowly closed his eyes, as if he had put down all burdens. "This answer is already enough for me."
The ring formed by the Ouroboros gradually shrank, almost swallowing Hive.
At the instant before he disappeared.
Hive suddenly opened his eyes, used the last bit of strength, and asked, "If there truly is another life, Mother... would you still be willing to accept me?"
Yvette was stunned, frozen for half a second.
By the time she reacted, Hive had already been swallowed by the Ouroboros, carrying his final regret and not hearing that answer.
...
...
...
Drizzling rain, hazy mist.
Hive suddenly shook, as if waking from a nightmare. A trace of fear remained on his face, his pupils stayed as small as needle tips, and he trembled uncontrollably.
Before he could think about whether that nightmare was real or false, a sharp fist wind swept over like raging waves.
Smack!
Hive's head was blown apart by one punch.
The atmosphere shook and raised rolling gales. The force of the fist swept across the ground, plowing out a hundred-meter-long trench.
Bucky wore the metal knuckle duster and maintained the posture of punching, staring fiercely at him.
Almost subconsciously, Hive, who had lost his head, threw a backhand punch toward Bucky, but the familiar feeling of déjà vu, the same scene as in the nightmare, made his heart suddenly palpitate with panic, and then he froze directly in place.
"Good chance!"
Peggy discovered an opening. Although she did not understand why, she still activated Fullbring, and Dirty Boots stomped hard on the ground, rushing toward Hive amid roaring air waves.
Boom!
The enormous impact was like a train, directly smashing Hive's body apart. Countless parasites scattered out, spilling all over the nearby swamp.
"No... impossible!"
Hive gathered all the parasites, instantly fused and recovered into human form. Those nightmare images flashed through his mind, and a terrifying guess gradually surfaced.
But the next moment, that man appeared.
The man wore a white military coat, draped in a snow-white pentagram cloak, and his five fingers were like a giant mountain, coming from above with rumbling thunder and covering his forehead.
He once again experienced that pain of the soul being torn apart. His Fullbring was forcibly stripped out, and not even a trace of spiritual power remained.
Then once again.
His heart was pierced by a dagger, he was swallowed by the Ouroboros, and he fell into boundless darkness.
"I....."
Hive gasped heavily, appearing once again in the drizzling rain, while in his eyes, the gradually approaching fist was reflected.
Bang!
Once again, his head was blown apart.
From Bucky punching his head apart, to Peggy kicking his body apart, then to being stripped of his Fullbring, everything seemed to be replaying. No matter how he struggled during the process, the result would never change.
Hive suddenly understood.
So it turned out that he had already died long ago. Now he was merely receiving punishment, just like Sisyphus, who had committed a sin, constantly repeating it, in an endless death cycle.
"This is my punishment?"
Hive slowly closed his eyes, and a bitter smile crossed his face. "Ring of Aeolus, as expected of a technique specially developed for me, my dear mother."
He neither belonged to life nor to death. He was like a superposition of both, forever unable to reach the truth of death.
This was... the cycle of time!