Chapter 161 Ascension in Broad Daylight (Part Six) You are the only one among the three worlds...

In the dazzling white light, that floating gray wisp appeared exceptionally small, yet also remarkably conspicuous, much like the smoke signals used in classical times to mark the approach of enemies.

Golden eyes flashed in the eternal night. Icaria locked onto her target, her body suddenly paused, her toes touched the ground, and her body instantly transformed into a golden speck of light and disappeared. The next instant, a scorching energy wave roared down, knocking down countless flying rocks and bricks, and the exposed steel bars resembled the intestines exposed when a person was disemboweled and on the verge of death.

"Good reaction. After being locked up for so many years, it seems you haven't had your most important thing cut out along with your brain."

The energy cannon rapidly disintegrated, and nerve tendrils wrapped around an arm that had transformed into a human. Li Yueyuan landed on a distant high-rise building, stretched her shoulders, and raised an eyebrow in surprise: "You still had the leisure to save you while fighting that person. It seems you've finally learned your lesson and know to find a good master this time."

Icaria appeared on another rooftop, still wearing a baggy blue-gray-white striped prison uniform, the sleeves casually rolled up to reveal his horribly thin wrists. His expression was indifferent, showing neither the joy of finally being free nor the resentment of being mocked and ridiculed. His tone was flat, devoid of joy or sorrow.

Please do not block the way.

"The same stubbornness."

Looking at that somewhat familiar face, Li Yueyuan clicked his tongue, followed his gaze to the gray fog in the distance, and shook his head. "Ha, [Justice], another stubborn guy."

The sarcasm dissipated, and Li Yueyuan seemed to suddenly lose interest. "Was saving those people your personal wish, or an order from that god?"

"There is no difference."

"Tsk, I really don't understand."

Li Yueyuan let out a cold laugh, her skin gleaming with an unnatural coldness. She raised an eyebrow, her gaze carrying a hint of the disappointment and frustration of an elder looking down on a hopeless junior.

"Back then, the central AI's surveillance hadn't spread throughout the city, and the lower city hadn't shrunk to its current state. After the resistance rose up, it was unstoppable, and even once attacked the central computer room in the upper city. But in the end, it failed because of betrayal, and your comrades were slaughtered. You yourself were treated as the first sealed object and suffered torture day and night. Why don't you hate it?"

"Why don't you hate this city? Why don't you hate the descendants of the traitors? Why don't you hate the humans born from sucking your mother's blood? Even after so many years, when you saw the first traitor, you didn't question me, didn't question me about why I stabbed you in the back?"

Those golden eyes were clear and bright, and the overly familiar expression within them awakened long-buried memories. In a daze, Li Yueyuan seemed to see Sylvia, with tired yet soft golden eyes, entrusting her offspring to her with a certain determination. Years later, she personally made those similar yet different golden eyes tremble in pain.

Over the years, whenever she thought of Sylvia, she would imagine the scene of meeting those golden eyes again, but she never thought it would be a scene of... peace.

"I've thought about it before."

Icaria didn't hide anything, and was even somewhat surprised by her own calmness: "But I have more important things to do afterward."

Initially, it was about connecting with the fragmented world consciousness to pass on its unique qualities to future generations amidst the erosion of the gray fog; later, it was about wanting to follow that great and benevolent being; and then...

Swallowing back the inappropriate thought, Icaria looked at his old friend, the once spirited scholar and deputy leader of the rebel army who stood on the podium holding the Silver Moon Medal, the highest achievement in humankind. Now, he was full of resentment, and the exposed parts of his body were over 90% cybernetic.

Regardless of any resentment, in the days and nights tormented by pain and nothingness, Icaria did indeed have a question she wanted to ask this person who was once both a teacher and a friend, but is now a stranger:

"Does the promise you made under the sun still stand?"

"certainly."

Li Yueyuan curled the corners of her lips, creating an expression that was both a smile and a cry: "Perhaps the Eternal Night is not night at all, but rather a terrifying sun—a sun betrayed and dead, but one day someone will avenge her!"

As the last syllable of "revenge" was uttered, Icaria blinked rapidly, and a wave of eerie blue energy crashed down, destroying the figure and the rooftop he stood on like a hurricane, revealing the building's dilapidated interior, like a birthday cake with a piece violently ripped out.

A little further away, a blazing white light slid down from the sky, illuminating tall buildings and alleyways, briefly creating a deeper shadow in the pitch-black night. A figure gleaming with a faint golden light emerged from it, and the ferocious, canine-like phantom behind it quickly disappeared.

"Ah, I see."

Li Yueyuan narrowed his eyes, and the thin data cable behind his head floated up, arcs of electricity flashing constantly, so much so that the sound carried a distinct crackling sound of electricity:

"I knew the seal on the upper city wasn't broken. How did that being manage to rescue you? Turns out there was no rescue at all. You were reduced to cutting off your tail to survive. How pathetic!"

"Do you know that if you do this, and you can't return to your original form afterward, you'll be entangled with this filthy and disgusting curse for the rest of your life? You were once a human who touched the 'perfect'!"

Icaria remained unmoved. Knowing so many secrets meant he had naturally crossed the line between humans and gods.

Therefore, after the exercise failed, the treatment he received was very "grand". Not only would people be sent to cut off his spirit body at regular intervals to prevent his physical power from recovering and breaking the seal, but the being who claimed to be the master of the human mind also personally placed a curse on him.

[The Blasphemer: The Dog of Breaking Oaths] - Disloyal, betrayal, hypocritical, those who stray from the right path, turn away from the gods, and thus turn away from the fruits of wisdom.

Because of this curse, Icaria's original body is in a state of delirium for many years. The offspring that was cut off for "reuse" also lost their intelligence due to the curse, leaving them with almost only the most primitive instincts.

For a former leader of the uprising and an elite of humanity, this was undoubtedly a very vicious and extremely humiliating curse.

Icaria's true form is currently sealed, so it's impossible for her not to receive the message if she forcibly breaks free.

However, while Icaria's true form was sealed away, the blasphemous curse was divided and grew along with each of the separated sub-bodies. Its characteristic was that it was a unique echo of the soul. But who can say that a curse set by a god specifically for a mortal is not unique?

Icaria successfully "smuggled" herself out of the seal by using the anchor of the curse, and forcibly took the curse under her control with the help of another god.

To put it somewhat inappropriately, Icaria abandoned the original traits that were sealed by the Lord of the Sea, and forcibly embedded the curse into the gap of the "traits".

Such a daring act of deception would naturally come at a price. If he cannot regain his true nature, he will forever live like a tightrope walker, coexisting with the curse day and night, constantly suppressing its backlash until his death.

This is not much better than the torment that had been agonizing day and night before, and may even be worse. Without the nourishment of his original qualities, he is like a cut flower in a vase. If he is not careful, the vase will fall and his life will be swept away from the flower's roots by the water.

So much so that even Li Yueyuan, who had killed him without hesitation, spoke of him with genuine anger.

Icaria did not respond to the question in the other's eyes that seemed to say, "Have you entrusted yourself to the wrong person again?" Li Yueyuan would not understand what loyalty meant; he had given his all to that god.

Moreover, this plan to bypass the seal was originally his own idea. His god craved manpower, and he could not tolerate sitting in a cage, waiting for charity or destruction he had never fought against.

However, some words in Li Yueyuan's words bothered him, and he frowned slightly: "Perfect?"

"You, foolish 'justice,' that ridiculous experimenter observing love, were once candidates for 'perfect' humanity—unfortunately, three hundred years ago, humanity's foolishness brought about a great catastrophe and pollution, and three hundred years later, humanity's foolishness has caused it to lose the chance to embrace eternity!"

Icaria once again used the shadows to dodge the attack, resolving yet another question in her mind: "So, your personality changed drastically after you entered the central control room because of the 'perfect' human?"

"The legacy of the sun is tainted by the shadow of a curse; pitiful justice wavers in solitude; and artificial love is proven hypocritical by fate..."

Li Yueyuan murmured, her eyes flashing with electricity, her limbs twisting and splitting, as hundreds of guns and cannons sprang into existence and fired wildly. The booming explosions accentuated the fanatical madness that tinged her previously stiff expression.

"Why, why are you so selfish? You had the chance to cross the line and become eternal, yet you abandoned it for all sorts of ridiculous reasons?! Why!"

The confusion vanished, and Icaria stopped responding. Amidst the intense bombardment, he approached the patch of gray fog. Suddenly, he paused, his golden eyes looking upwards through the explosions and smoke, gazing at the eternal night that had stood for ages.

The light rain suddenly stopped.

The raindrops that were falling just a moment ago seemed to have been paused by someone outside the screen, frozen in mid-air, or as if they had fallen into another parallel universe, where a comical silence appeared at the intersection of time and space.

"Pop".

A sound like a bubble bursting came from the darkness, the "pause" disappeared, and the rain of light continued to flow freely. However, Icaria seemed to have suddenly changed her mind. When her figure emerged from the shadows again, it was not towards the distant gray fog, but towards Li Yueyuan's back with a dark golden gleam!

"Finally, he's starting to act like a leader."

The guns and cannons behind Li Yueyuan turned 180 degrees almost instantly and opened fire fiercely. Using the recoil, he dodged and grabbed the dark gold. His stiff face also turned 180 degrees in the air, and his eyes shot out two laser beams!

"Did you sense that the other was gradually weakening, so you wanted to do something, to offer the enemy's head to your god?"

Icaria remained calm. He was usually a man of few words, but the dark gold longsword in his hand trembled and hummed as if it could not bear the insult to its master, its fighting spirit surging.

“You’re not in good shape right now, and you won’t need this sword much for the upcoming battle, so I’ll lend it to you for now.”

The man, kneeling on one side, respectfully extended his hands, but the god, disguised as a human, did not let go. As the man looked up in confusion, the god seized the opportunity and flicked his forehead with his finger. "I need you, but this body of yours is the original body. I went to great lengths to save you, not to let you die. Don't let me find out that you don't value your own body, understand?"

"……I see."

His grip on the knife hilt tightened. The gunfire illuminated his calm eyes, which held neither fear nor trepidation. His god had bestowed upon him a weapon and made a promise: He would watch over him from the clouds, and He would be with him on his journey.

"I knew it! Why have you been nagging me for so long without doing anything?"

The spirit world.

The believer's vision was transmitted through the faith link, and Du Yu suddenly realized that the trembling silver figure opposite him was very frank:

"You are the only one in the three worlds who has not wavered—the only 'perfect' human being."

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Author's note: Li Yueyuan, a highly recommended Sylvia.

*Quoted from the poem: “Perhaps tonight is not night, but a terrifying sun.” — Alejandro Pizarnik, “Night” (with minor word modifications).

——

I'm writing the final chapter. I'll see if I can finish it and release it all at once tomorrow or the day after. [glasses]