Passing through the corridor, they walked onto the city walls.
From a bird's-eye view, bloody water clung to the city walls, flowing down through various gullies. Fortunately, the city had impressively high walls, so the tide could only retreat in frustration... but was that really the case?
Don't forget, the existence entrenched here is the so-called 'Queen'... Last time he came as a guest with ulterior motives; this time, his identity as an enemy was clear. Thus, this ghostly domain would be filled with hidden killing intent everywhere.
Suddenly, a bit of light gradually added to the horizon. Such a thing was truly rare in this ghostly place—it was the moon... A corner of the moon was revealed, spilling onto the river of blood. With the river's surface as the boundary, a silver moon and a red moon reflected each other symmetrically.
"It's really strange; this moon appeared so suddenly..."
Linge looked up, staring at the distant moon, and whispered softly, "Do you think it was always here, just obscured by something before?"
"It's not important."
Little Red Riding Hood shook her head. What she was looking at was the ground—at the blood moon in that pool.
"She devoured the 'Profound Darkness,' so she can swallow light. This isn't anything strange..."
"Hmm..."
The girl always liked to speak this way, and Linge had already grown accustomed to it. However, he felt that this time, she hadn't grasped the main point.
What a pity; his own inspiration had cut off as well. Even if he pulled his hair out until he was bald, he probably wouldn't be able to figure out why.
Walking on the city walls felt like patrolling the city once again. Although the buildings appeared bizarre and grotesque at this moment, fortunately, he couldn't sense any living beings at all.
Even so, what should be disgusting was still disgusting. At times like this, he needed conversation to adjust his mood.
"That so-called 'Queen'... you definitely have a relationship with her, don't you?"
Linge took the initiative to find a topic, and this was a question he had long suspected the answer to.
The wooden plaque left in the forest about searching for relatives, and the letter left by the grandmother in the small hut in the rain, all hinted at the girl's broken family state.
Moreover, that wooden plaque had long since rotted. The feeling the girl had always given him was not that of a relative-seeker... but more like an avenger.
In the widely circulated story of Little Red Riding Hood, the characters are 'Little Red Riding Hood', the 'Wolf', the 'Hunter', and the 'Grandmother'. Setting aside the 'Hunter' who has no corresponding figure yet, only this 'Grandmother' is very suspicious... Heh, Linge shook his head at this thought.
Had Herluth not told him the Queen's love story before, he would probably be ninety-nine percent certain by now.
"Her..."
Little Red Riding Hood murmured softly, looking up at the castle deep within the city.
"These things... I'll tell you after everything is over, okay?"
The girl's tone carried a bit of earnestness, but Linge didn't quite buy it.
"Of course you can. Just like before, I don't need to know anything. I just have to listen to your 'mm-hmm's' without knowing what you're trying to express, and then impulsively jump out to help you on my own..."
Before his nagging was finished, his sleeve was grabbed. Linge turned his head.
He saw Leike's gaze fixed on her feet. She seemed to have finally made up her mind, saying slowly... "I'm sorry."
"..."
Seeing this, Linge scratched his hair.
"What are you apologizing for? You don't seem to have done anything wrong to me..."
Yes, strictly speaking, the girl had been helping him all along the way.
But Leike's expression didn't change because of his words.
"Fine, I accept the apology and respect your privacy until you are willing to let me know everything."
Linge sighed helplessly and continued:
"But I have a condition..."
"What?"
The girl hadn't realized she had already slipped into Linge's verbal trap.
Linge slowly extended his index finger before her... "As payment for helping you all this time—well, rounding it off—promise me one thing!"
"A fair trade."
Leike nodded, agreeing with Linge's words.
"Then... what is your request?"
"Well..."
Linge pulled his sleeve away, turned his hand to grasp the girl's palm that was left hanging in the air, and pulled her along as they continued forward, saying slowly:
"Naturally, it has to wait until everything is over before I can say it..."
The two kept walking forward. The buildings on both sides were entangled with fleshy threads, leaving only one path.
Walking further, they discovered this was the path leading to that garden. Approaching it and looking closely, those flowers were all withered, yet a few stubbornly remained, as if they hadn't been struck by the disaster... and deep within the garden was the entrance to the castle.
As they walked forward, the main gate opened naturally, as if it had been waiting for a long time.
"I have an uneasy feeling."
Saying such a thing was only natural.
The door opening meant their movements were already known; someone was waiting for them.
But Linge wasn't uneasy because of fear; it was as if he had been overlooking something all along. This feeling of an unresolved problem made Linge very worried.
Walking along the expensive carpet, the doors kept opening without obstruction.
It was as if the host was displaying their hospitality... but this felt more like a 'Hongmen Banquet'.
After successive turns through stairs and intersections, they finally arrived before a door. This was a unique gate, magnificently decorated, and looking down the hallway, this single door seemed to have taken up a lot of space for its renovation.
"Someone is already waiting inside..."
The girl gripped her knife tightly before the door.
"I hope he didn't smash any load-bearing pillars just for the sake of aesthetics."
After saying that, Linge pushed open the door... "..."
Without being the butcher, it's hard to avoid being the meat. The world is just like this; if your claws and teeth aren't sharp, you risk being served on the dining table.
Food! The most important thing in the world is food!
If food is scarce, people will covet the food of others, and so wars are fought.
As the war intensifies, large numbers of men leave production to join the army, being ground into a meaningless meat grinder. They go to their deaths, but they need to eat. And if the lords above don't distribute food, what can they do?
Either they forage from the enemy, or they take from their own people. As for the means... for the sake of survival, morality is not worth mentioning.
But the soldiers' situation is ultimately okay; after all, they only need to use force to solve most problems. Whereas the old, weak, women, and children have much more to consider in turbulent times... War or natural disasters can easily cause land consolidation, population loss, and other serious issues. Once commoners encounter such calamities, they find that the life they painstakingly built is nothing in the face of this torrent!
Disaster... hunger... selling off... exile... exchanging children... reclaiming land... hunger... debt... hunger... hunger... hunger... They are clearly of the same kind, yet they are divided into classes based on status, as if different classes mean different species... If you are not the butcher, you are the meat. If you are not at the table, you will be on the plate.
So, possess wisdom... possess power... use them as limbs to climb those high steps of power, to become the top of the food chain!
This is... evolution.
"Only by standing at the peak... can one avoid being targeted by anyone... avoid being eaten by anyone..."
Inside, only a raspy voice echoed. It could vaguely be identified as a man's voice.
Walking through the doorway, they discovered that the fellow was Herluth.
Linge almost didn't recognize him because his back was hunched, his exposed skin was entirely ulcerated and covered in pustules, and his clothes were no longer elegant, as filthy as if picked from a trash heap. His fingertips brushed the edge of the dining table as he spoke slowly.
"So why don't you understand? Clearly, as long as you followed me, you could have eaten your fill..."
Following Herluth's gaze, all the crystal lamps on the ceiling turned on. This sudden brightness caused a momentary whiteout, but they quickly recovered.
They saw a huge long table before them, surrounded by chains.
And on it, the one whose skin had been sliced away to reveal the muscle, whose tendons and bones had been picked to cause the loss of mobility... Herluth seemed to be both crying and laughing, the corners of his mouth curling up in a way that was both cruel and like a wail.
"Tell me, why is that... Polo?"
This question revealed the answer. The feast laid out on this dining table was none other than Polo.
Seeing this scene, Linge turned his head. He had intended to maintain a relaxed appearance in front of the girl, but in the end, he could only manage a forced smile. He said softly, "Wait a moment, I'm going to handle some private matters."
"..."
The girl seemed to express her agreement with silence. Immediately, Linge walked forward and said:
"Whether humans, birds and beasts, plants and insects, no matter how large or small the living creature, their pursuit is not merely to stay alive."
Linge shook his head. He walked to Polo's table, sizing up the other's body, and found that besides the stripped skin, his lower abdomen was also flat.
At a preliminary judgment, the other party was still alive, but for a male, such an insult was truly terrible.
It was a truly cruel scene, but now that things had come to this, how could Linge himself not be responsible?
"All life is too insignificant. Any individual is negligible to the world. So we must live, so we must reproduce, not hesitating to kill each other to produce the superior. Because only in this way can we, in our insignificance... leave a brand upon this world."
"I see... so my theory wasn't wrong... so my actions were all correct..."
As if finding salvation in Linge's words, Herluth clutched his head and crouched at the foot of the table, letting out bursts of low, ragged laughter.
The laughter seemed to pierce through time, making him recall his childhood... "Back then, there was an old black dog at home. Ever since I could remember, that old dog was missing a leg."
Herluth explained slowly, and Linge listened patiently. Only Leike walked to the table and gently touched Polo's nose... the latter seemed to twitch slightly.
"Thinking back now, it really was a majestic dog. It would bark fiercely at outsiders, and no matter how tall they were, it never backed down."
As he spoke, Herluth slumped onto the floor, looking at Polo.
Then, he looked toward Linge.
"However, it's hard to curb reproduction in a poor family, to the point that another child was eventually added. For the sake of that child's nourishment, that black dog was cruelly slaughtered."
Linge simply listened, not intending to interrupt.
"I was largely unwilling, but for people, food means everything. This is perhaps what they call a necessary sacrifice."
Herluth looked at Linge as if reminiscing about something.
"Then, that child was born—a younger brother, tiny and wrinkled... Actually, I disliked him very much when I was little, because I kept thinking back then that if he hadn't been born, wouldn't the dog have stayed alive..."
Hearing this, Linge looked away. He realized that Herluth was associating him with something.
"Later, as I grew older, I rarely stayed at home. I would often wander the streets begging everywhere. That little guy was still very thin; whenever I came home, he would come running over, skipping and jumping. Then he would fall, and time after time, he would stand back up... He clearly only needed to crawl slowly and that would be enough. Even if it were slow, couldn't he still reach his destination?"
Herluth seemed to be asking a question, but Linge appeared to avoid it.
"Even so, even if he fell and ended up covered in bruises, he would only sit there smiling foolishly... Truly a stubborn, stupid fellow, wasn't he?"
"..."
Linge kept his eyes closed, refusing to answer the question.
Herluth didn't expect any response from him either, but asked to himself:
"So, for the survival of the tribe or the family, the weak should offer everything to the strong... Is this kind of thing really right?"
These words seemed to refute Linge's previous answer, but Linge didn't feel any particular way about it, because most of what he had said before was nonsense anyway.
Herluth continued to mutter in a low voice... "Is it really right... really right... right...?"
"...Ugh!!"
Disgusting... Disgusting...! So disgusting!!
Herluth kept dry-heaving there, but the mistakes that had already occurred were branded onto the soul, unchangeable.
"..."
Seeing this, Linge couldn't help but be moved.
"Right or wrong, different answers can be given from different perspectives. Alright, are you finished with your story? If you are, then take your own life."
With a clang, his blade fell to the ground. Cold words accompanied the man's deathly still gaze.
He was the eagle, the one who spread its wings and brought death... the death announcing eagle.
It was as if he were delivering the final judgment!
Moonlight shone through the stained-glass window, illuminating the faces of everyone present.
It was truly heavy, accompanied by malice and hatred.
"I refuse."
Herluth simply shook his head. He stood up and looked at Linge, speaking unhurriedly.
"Do you know? Most of the so-called 'Apocalypse Knights' were actually just trash before they met His Majesty."
"I have no interest in knowing."
Linge didn't want to hear it. If there were an option, he would be clicking'skip' frantically.
"...I just want to say, it's not that we abandoned the world, but that the world abandoned us. For this reason, we would rather raise the flag of rebellion and place all our hopes in the 'King,' and those thousands of living beings are sacrificed for this very purpose."
After experiencing several major ups and downs, Herluth's mood was unexpectedly calm.
"Are you trying to say they should all be grateful for that?"
Linge retorted, "However, perhaps it is precisely their resentment that led to my birth. If that's the case, I cannot ignore their pleas, simply because this is my purpose for existing."
The sword's edge closed in on Herluth, a horizontal blade cutting through the air soundlessly.
"Though saying it like this is a bit self-righteous... Herluth, count up your sins!"
At this moment, the blade in Herluth's pupils grew larger and larger.
"Only now... are we counting sins..."
He barely moved, as if he had given up thinking. He felt that dying under Linge's sword like this seemed quite alright.
Only... if the sins of mortals are judged by justice and law, then how should the evil deeds of gods be sanctioned?
God... A blood-red barrier abruptly expanded from there. The heavy sword struck it, chipping off pieces of magic crystal.
"What did you say... Could it be...?"
Within the domain that had not yet completely shattered, Herluth stared wide-eyed at Linge. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and gritted his teeth.
"I see. It's those 'remnants' accumulating together, and the brands stored deep in their souls used this to devour each other and grow stronger, until finally calling Him here..."
"What... are you saying...?"
Linge hurriedly pressed for an answer, but Herluth's aura changed drastically after he spoke. Linge had to steady his mind and face him seriously.
"Since it's like this, I absolutely cannot let someone like you get another step closer to His Majesty!"
A blood-shadow swept out—it was Herluth's giant axe, heading straight for Linge's face. Linge pulled back Black Slash to meet it.
With a boom, the direct collision of heavy weapons brought no small backlash to both of them. And just this brief contact made Linge realize that Herluth had become much, much stronger.
But one must know that all changes in the world have a reason... "Kebro... is it?"
Linge looked up slightly. His gaze swept from top to bottom, not with disdain, but with pity.
But his compassion at this moment was already meaningless to Herluth.
Now, Herluth's eyes were bloodshot. He was already a vicious beast, with only hatred breeding in his soul.
And this hatred was not directed at Linge.
"Yes, he is still tightly connected to me right now... I probably can't get rid of him..."
Herluth looked at Linge quietly, his gaze bearing some resemblance to Kebro's, as if he wanted to pierce through Linge's soul and trace back to the source.
"That so-called god... he told me to tell you that the people of the world are not so sinful that they cannot save themselves; it is all because of your mistakes that they cannot find release... Therefore, we don't want grace, we want freedom!"
Linge didn't listen to these words anymore; listening was useless. He chose to speed up the process, wanting to slay Herluth right now!
Black cold light fell like an evil dragon's arrow, slashing down furiously. It collided with the axe blade, sparking a shower of fire, and embedded into the opponent's neck, blood flowing incessantly.
Unlike the distracted Herluth, Linge was serious. He truly wanted to kill his opponent, and the blade was already pressing against the other's cervical vertebrae. With just a little more force, it seemed he would succeed.
As the moonlight spilled over his face, Herluth's expression remained normal. Even in a desperate situation, he still maintained that calm.
Perhaps, this was... resolve.
Unlike Kebro, who needed a long prayer, he only needed a short sentence... "I am willing to offer this body to break the barrier before me!"
The Incantation Domain condensed into one. This did not seem to be a cage for a trapped beast, but rather blood-red threads blooming from a single point, gradually spreading.
A massive spiritual pressure surged. Clearly, let alone Linge, even a god here would be unable to stop it.
Just then, a blood-shadow covered the area. An abyssal mouth opened, dragging half of Herluth's body, smashing through the window, and falling outside.
The silver radiance outside the window spilled around the two people remaining here.
Looking down, one could vaguely see the corpses of a man and a dog submerged in blood.
"Polo... it was a good fellow. From just a brief contact, I knew it was related to you."
Seeing this scene, Linge felt empty inside.
"Mm..."
A very simple response, just lacking a bit of decisiveness.
The girl could sense that Linge wanted to talk, but she had no experience in comforting others, so she could only respond with silence in this situation.
However, for Linge, this was enough. Perhaps he just wanted someone to talk to.
"Herluth... he's truly impressive. Although his malice was undisguised, he was also willing to show kindness to those around him... People are probably complex and multifaceted like that. Only... if he really wasn't wrong, then who was the one in the wrong..."
Leike closed her eyes and listened to Linge's words. His confusion and weakness were undisguised, yet it seemed excessively sentimental.
"Was the mistake mine... or is the whole world wrong? But if there really are gods and buddhas looking down on the world, then the mistake should be theirs..."
Before he could finish, this great philosopher who had yet to be recognized by the world was grabbed by the girl and led toward the door.