Chapter 264

Contrary to his nickname, the Fourth Apostle, Raven, is a rather sunny and energetic young man who walks briskly, always has a smile on his face, and can quickly strike up a conversation with anyone, even becoming sworn brothers with them.

It's as if she might be wearing a flashy short-sleeved floral shirt, flip-flops, sterling silver earrings, and sunglasses at any moment, waving enthusiastically to everyone on a sun-drenched Hawaiian beach: "Hello, everyone, my dear handsome men and beautiful women!"

—The feeling.

Right now, that cheerful and sunny face is filled with anger.

With a single wave of its arm, the crow unleashed divine power, and a massive phantom appeared behind it.

He gripped a heavy greatsword in both hands, its surface reflecting the cold gleam of metal. The tip of the sword plunged vertically into the ground. His golden-white divine robes were spotless, his back was straight, and his expression was solemn, like a holy knight taking a nap with his eyes closed.

Two wings folded up, partially obscuring the face. Two wings drooped down, covering the bare feet. Two other wings extended for tens of meters, and when they flapped upwards, white feathers fluttered down like snowflakes.

It was the legendary six-winged seraphim Gabriel, who was in charge of judgment.

As His closed eyes suddenly opened, everything began to change.

His golden eyes were stained with crimson blood, his smooth long hair and white feathers quickly turned black from his head, and the halo above his head seemed to be stained with ink. An ominous dark aura soared into the sky.

The Judgment Sword shimmered with a faint light, drifted to the raven's hand, and solidified into a tangible Judgment Sword.

Because of its corruption, the sword lost its former holy luster and became filled with the smell of blood, making it appear even more ruthless.

The crow drew its sword with a clang, channeled its divine power into it, and leaped into the air, roaring as it charged toward the Fifth Apostle!

His question was sharp and piercing: "I thought that even if you were blind, you wouldn't harm White, let alone truly betray humanity. I was wrong. You are an incurable demon! I should have killed you the moment we met!"

The Fifth Apostle channeled divine power into his arms, crossed them, and held them in front of him. The moment they collided with the sword light, a crisp sound of weapons clashing rang out.

He looked at the crow, said nothing, and a clear hint of mockery flashed in his eyes.

Enraged by this, the crow roared and increased its attack speed. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of sword lights intertwined into a net, raining down on the Fifth Apostle!

The two powerful forces clashed, leaving afterimages as they exchanged blows. The specific movements were difficult to capture with the naked eye, and the afterglow of the explosions was like lightning and thunder.

Bang!

The Fifth Apostle was sent flying backward by the impact of the attack, and his figure disappeared into the rain the next second.

The crow's heart skipped a beat, the hairs on the back of its neck stood on end, and it turned around hastily, only to meet the Fifth Apostle's cold gaze, cast against the backlight, followed by the latter raising his fists high—

boom!

This strike carried immense force, and the crow was slammed into the ground like a cannonball.

The impact exploded outwards, and the land around him cracked outwards like a tortoise shell, with dirt flying everywhere!

The rain poured down, covering the smoke and dust, revealing the figure of a crow half-propelled on the ground, its hands holding a sword.

He was panting heavily, his blood was churning, his arm was completely numb and trembling uncontrollably, and he could barely hold the sword.

At this moment, the crow felt extremely cold, because it sensed a real killing intent in this move.

He looked up and glared at the Fifth Apostle with disappointment: "You have truly betrayed everyone..."

"..."

Lightning streaked through the dark clouds, illuminating half the sky with a deafening roar, and then rain poured down.

The Fifth Apostle did not continue his attack, but lowered his head and stared at the raven's indignant face, the mockery growing stronger.

He seemed regretful that he hadn't been able to kill the other man, saying, "I've never been on the same side as you, so how can there be any betrayal?"

He then raised his hand, but slowly moved it to the left, aiming in another direction.

The crow glanced over and saw White exposed to the heavy rain. It suddenly realized what it had forgotten and hurriedly swooped over, shouting, "Stop!"

The Titan's power did not descend, as if it had been suddenly suppressed.

The crow picked up Xie Xubai, tilted its head back, and its pupils contracted again.

Suddenly, the Fifth Apostle's body underwent a strange change, like a malfunctioning computer screen, its surface began to shake unstablely, flashing several snowflake patterns, and there was also a tiny crackling sound of electricity.

Starting from his feet, the distorted and chaotic data stream, like termites, gnawed at flesh and blood, spreading upwards.

Not only the Fifth Apostle, but also the Titan phantom behind him let out a deafening growl.

As if enduring immense pain, He struggled frantically, the hundreds of chains on His body rattling like surging waves.

Suddenly, a chain snapped and crashed to the ground like a mountain collapsing, causing the earth to tremble.

Then came the second, the third, the fifth, the tenth...

As more and more broken chains crashed to the ground, more and more parts of the Fifth Apostle's body became digitized, from his feet to his legs, from his hands to his shoulders.

His temples were bulging with veins, cold sweat seeped from his forehead and mingled with the rain, his fists were clenched as if he were enduring inhuman pain.

His gaze remained calm, he looked at nothing, and silently gazed at the distant horizon.

Finally, at some point, only a lone chain remained on the Titan phantom.

The iron chains were clearly unable to hold back His massive body; they were so taut that they trembled and groaned under the strain.

The Fifth Apostle was no longer in sight; instead, a humanoid data stream had taken its place, with only one eye retaining its original shape.

In the final moments, that eye moved back from afar, and through the drizzling rain, it seemed to land on Xie Xubai.

goodbye.

His eyes seemed to say goodbye.

The crow blinked again and found that the Fifth Apostle was gone.

The bizarre transformation process suggests that the person involved fled when things went wrong, or that they were collected and integrated by the system.

The crow didn't know what to say, and could only sigh softly, "Why bother?"

He looked down at the unconscious White.

The young man was soaked to the bone, seemingly still trapped in some nightmare, his fingers still stubbornly clenching.

His slender, handsome face appeared even paler after being washed by the rain, and water droplets trickled down from the corners of his eyes, silently seeping into the mud.

When the crow touched Xie Xubai's skin, it found it terribly cold. It quickly used its divine power to erect a spatial barrier to block the rain and then used a prop to summon flames to warm the person.

But this consolation was of no use.

If Crow wasn't mistaken, just as he arrived, something on White's body was shattered by the Fifth Apostle; it was most likely the artifact bestowed upon him by the Goddess of Fate.

The reason why artifacts are considered artifacts is that they are difficult to damage to a certain extent. With prolonged use, they will become bound to and merge with one's soul, becoming a part of oneself and increasing one's strength exponentially. They cannot be stolen by others and may even be reborn along with the player.

However, conversely, once the artifact is damaged, it will severely injure the player's body, and even damage the very essence of their soul.

Augusto's destruction of the artifact must have been orchestrated by the system.

The crow couldn't help but curse angrily.

Considering that conventional treatments might not be able to repair the damage to the artifact, he recalled the Judgment Sword and asked Gabriel for instructions: "Thank you for your help."

Gabriel lowered his scarlet, cold eyes.

A radiant white divine light condensed from His sword of judgment and poured down upon White the next second.

With divine blessing, the youth's heartbeat finally became strong and vigorous, his face gradually regained its rosy color, and divine power surged and gathered, his progress towards godhood starting from 96% and gradually climbing upwards.

Not far away, a dazzling beam of light shot straight into the sky.

The spatial barrier sealing the thirty levels of the Black Tower has finally been breached by the players, and the teleportation channels have been restored to normal operation.

A cacophony of voices rose from afar, and war drums thundered across the desolate plains torrential rain.

The players charged forward against tens of thousands of skeleton soldiers with unstoppable momentum. Several tentacles swarmed out, dragging the panicked Great Lord out of the sky. In the fierce battle, the latter gradually lost the upper hand and screamed as he was torn to pieces.

As time passed, more and more people sensed the presence of the two crows and rushed over. Upon seeing White, who was half-dead, their expressions changed drastically.

The fierce wind and torrential rain lashed the ravaged land, and a deathly silence spread.

.

Outside the cave, thunder and rain raged, but inside, tranquility and peace prevailed.

There were hundreds of players here, seemingly oblivious to the fighting outside, sitting motionless by the campfire, listening intently.

The warm firelight shone on them, and every face showed the same gentleness and piety.

On the stone in the very center sat a young man dressed in a white robe, with the Roman numeral "1" embroidered on his left breast. He had a book open on his knees and was reading aloud its contents in a soft voice.

"*Robert Frost told me that there are two paths in the yellow woods, but unfortunately I cannot go both at the same time."

"I stood at the crossroads for a long time, gazing at one road as far as I could."

"I know the path stretches on endlessly, and I fear I may never be able to turn back."

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference in my life."

After he finished speaking, he stopped and tilted his head back as if observing something.

Someone nearby asked, "My Lord Apostle, what's wrong?"

Young man: "It's not that something has happened, it's that things have been happening all along, and now the time has finally come for us to face it."

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, still confused and puzzled. Then, the young man suddenly slammed the book shut with a dull thud.

As if a switch had been flipped, everyone was startled, as if waking from a dream, and their unfocused pupils regained their focus.

The quiet cave suddenly became noisy.

"What's going on?"

"How did I get here? Where is this place? No, who are you all?"

"I only remember... yes, Messiah! It's Lord Messiah! The current First Apostle! He led us straight to the thirtieth floor of the Black Tower!"

"I remember now!"

As the crowd regained their senses, they all looked at the young man with eager admiration. However, Messiah shook his head, ignoring everyone and exuding a cold indifference that kept strangers at bay. He then got up and walked into the crowd.

Seeing this, the others quickly made way, but one young man remained seated, head bowed in silence, his expression lost in the swaying light and shadow, seemingly oblivious to the Messiah before him.

Such rude behavior provoked everyone's anger to rise rapidly.

Someone nearby was about to reprimand him when they saw Messiah kneel down as if praying before a statue of God, leaning against the young man's legs, looking up at him: "I can feel the anger, unease, and sorrow brewing in your heart, which are growing stronger like a storm. Are you alright?"

The young man looked up and met Messiah's worried gaze, as if scrutinizing something. After a long while, he said, "I'm fine. May I ask, is the Bone Pen of the Goddess of Fate with you?"

If anyone else obtained the legendary artifact of destiny, they would try to cover it up and deny it no matter what.

To everyone's surprise, the Messiah simply nodded and said, "Yes."

With an unbelievable submissiveness, he stared intently at Xie Xubai, sighing as if relieved: "Perhaps you don't know, but I've been waiting for you for a long time."

"Thankfully, you finally came."

Author's Note:

*From "The Road Not Taken"