The town across the street completely disappeared in the darkness. The two wizards who had barely completed the spell collapsed on the ground, almost exhausted. Xiu left the stunned Eric behind and chose to return to the city without hesitation. When paying the light element in the palace, the Consul looked at the amount of light Xiu had taken out with a pale face. When his subordinates whispered a few words to him, the last trace of blood on the Consul's face disappeared. The Governor was also surprised when he saw so many boxes. After a brief surprise, he praised Xiu greatly. In contrast, Eric was reprimanded by the Governor for not collecting the light. The Governor stripped Eric of a feather and gave it to Xiu as a punishment and encouragement.
Eric only had two and a half feathers left. Although he didn't know what would happen if he lost all his feathers, it wouldn't be a good ending. The Governor was forcing them to collect light, and Du Ze felt a little sympathetic. Did these Celestials really not realize that excessive oppression would bring them short-term benefits but also destruction?
That night, the Third Heaven's Consul rebelled. He gathered a large group of people and tried to kill the Celestials. The reason for the Consul's fall was simple and sad. He had endured for so long in the Third Heaven, and the death of his son was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Xiu told Du Ze all this the next day. Du Ze's headphones were out of battery when the rebellion happened. After listening to Xiu's retelling, Du Ze finally understood why Eric was so moved when the Consul yelled at them with a sly expression. He could even imagine how the Son of God, who advocated light, would feel when facing the Consul who had fallen because of his son's death.
The rebellion ended before midnight. Most of the Fallen in the Third Heaven were ordinary civilians, with warriors accounting for only a small number. The strongest were only at the level of great swordsmen, and they were no match for the Heaven Clan, which was at the level of full sword masters. Compared to the annihilation of the Fallen, only 1/6 of the Heaven Clan's guards died, and on the next morning, a group of new Heaven Clan guards made up for the losses.
Didn’t we agree to be each other’s angels? How could you, the Celestials, violate the rules and add more people?
"A guard died in the second heaven before, and a new one came the next day." Compared to Du Ze's restlessness, Xiu seemed particularly calm. "We must get rid of them all at once."
Well, the cute master has already noticed this and has taken it into account in the plan. Du Ze decided to be a silly cute reader and leave the important task of eliminating the Governor BOSS and saving the world to the cute master.
After finishing breakfast in the lifeless palace, a Celestial Clan guard appeared and informed Xiu of the next itinerary: except for the First Heaven which had become a place of death, the carriage team had already traveled through all the heavens, so they would bypass the Second Heaven and return along the same route, which meant that their next destination would be the Fourth Heaven.
Xiu didn't seem surprised to hear this news. After the Celestial Clan guards left, he smiled at Du Ze. "I promise, when we get to the Fourth Heaven, that guy will still let us collect light."
"Since the First and Second Heavens have not paid tribute to the Light, there are still quite a few freight wagons that are not filled. You are going to make up for the missing parts from today. This is a full license for collection." The Governor said this while sitting on the main seat as the Fourth Heaven's executive officer looked hesitant and had a pale face.
The Lord of Meng is really good at predicting things. Du Ze wanted to kneel down. Was it an illusion? He felt that the Governor also wanted them to force others to rebel against the Celestial Tribe.
The Governor authorized it readily, and Xiu agreed readily, and they soon set out on the journey of complete collection again. This time Eric did not follow, and he did not even participate in the usual main plot. Du Ze only met Eric once when he arrived at the fourth heaven. The Son of God who just got off the carriage looked very haggard. His expression reminded Du Ze of a trapped beast, who wanted to break out of the cage but was reluctant to give up his abundant life, so he could only wander around in confusion.
Without Eric's interference, Xiu's plan went smoothly. The Fourth Heaven had been over-requisitioned by the Consul before, so when Xiu requisitioned it again, the backlash was even more swift. At first, there was a rebellion every three towns, and later it became a rebellion in almost every town. By now, Du Ze took a quick look around and saw that there were at least three thousand Fallen who surrounded him and Xiu. They were attacked by this group of Fallen while they were still on the road. Mengzhu's behavior of collecting as he went along had probably forced the entire Fourth Heaven to revolt.
Under the overwhelming number of people, the Consul's men only held out for a moment before all of them were killed. He transformed into a silver dragon and protected Du Ze under his huge wings. He did not leave or hide, but just lay there, allowing the Fallen to chop him with weapons. The weapons scratched on the silver scales, making a harsh sizzling sound. Du Ze, who could not see outside, was a little anxious. He missed Old John very much at this moment. The loyal mechanical puppet would definitely help the Master at this time. He hadn't seen Old John for a long time. The last time they met was five days ago. Has Old John been kept in the space ring by the Master since then?
After Xiu finished the dragon language magic, the war was over. No matter if there were hundreds or thousands of people, they would be wiped out from this world in a moment by the gray light under the huge gray magic circle. The battlefield was empty, with only a few corpses of the Consul's men left. Xiu rested for a while - the number of large-scale magic used today even made him feel tired - then grabbed the treasure chest containing light and took Du Ze back to the palace.
Before landing from the air, Du Ze saw some kind of anomaly in the palace below. It seemed that a rebellion had occurred here not long ago. The bodies of the fallen were everywhere, and occasionally there were one or two bodies of the Celestial Clan. Du Ze and Xiu soon found the Governor and Eric in the main hall. Opposite them was kneeling the fourth heaven's executive officer, who was shaking like a sieve.
"Sir... I really didn't know this would happen..."
Seeing Xiu coming back with the light, the Governor sighed and praised Xiu with an attitude that the corpses in the hall were just irrelevant decorations: "You did a good job today. Continue to the fifth heaven tomorrow."
After hearing what the Governor said, Eric couldn't stand it anymore and exploded.
"Haven't you noticed?" Eric glared at the Governor. "What you're doing is only going to make more and more people rebel against you - and sooner or later they'll kill you!"
He said it out! My old enemy actually told me the truth so directly! ?
"Heh." Du Ze heard Xiu sneer beside him. What shocked Du Ze even more was the Governor's reaction. When the Governor heard Eric's words, his face darkened instantly.
"You think these inferior creatures can cause us harm? Nonsense." The Governor looked down on him. He waved his hand and transferred one of Eric's feathers to Xiu. "You didn't complete your mission today either. You should learn more from him."
Du Ze... Du Ze suddenly felt that he was too naive to worry about the luminous experience being awakened. The arrogance of the Celestial Tribe was deeply rooted in their bones and was simply incurable. Facing such a governor, Eric didn't know what to do. He looked at the governor, then at Xiu, and finally closed his eyes as if giving up and said nothing more.
The governor was in a good mood after receiving the light, and spared the executive officer of the fourth heaven, but the executive officer at this time was just an empty shell. Almost all the people in the fourth heaven died in the rebellion, and the Celestial Clan sacrificed about 1/4 of its guards - the number of warriors in the fourth heaven was several times more than that of the third heaven, and there were also several swordsmen and magicians. As the number of heavens increases, the number of creatures living in them will increase, and their strength will become stronger and stronger. Du Ze can foresee that there will definitely be multiple gods of law and gods of war in the highest-level eighth heaven. According to Mengzhu's plan, as long as the eighth heaven is forced to rebel, the current Celestial Clan guards will not be able to resist at all, and this copy will be basically opened.
However, Du Ze was wrong. Xiu had never thought that the eighth heaven would make another breakthrough. In the fifth heaven, Xiu had already forced the governor and his party into death.
After being authorized by the Governor in the Fifth Heaven, Xiu carried out a complete expropriation of the villages and towns along the way as usual. The conditions in the Fifth Heaven were much better than those in the previous Heavens. Once all the light was taken away, the psychological gap of everyone was also very large. Therefore, Xiu only went to a few places and was counterattacked by all the creatures in the Fifth Heaven. Facing a large number of fallen people, Xiu did not choose to fight this time. He flew back to the palace with Du Ze and pulled the hatred of everyone in the Fifth Heaven over.
Seeing Xiu coming back like this, the Governor had to face the rebellion of the entire Fifth Heaven before he could even start a fight. The rebellion lasted from the afternoon until the evening, and Du Ze, Xiu, Eric, and the Governor were always protected in the carriage by the Celestial Guards. As time went by, the commotion in the distance became smaller and smaller. When the moon climbed to its highest point, the Celestial Clan paid a heavy price and finally quelled the rebellion of the Fifth Heaven. At this moment, less than half of the Celestial Clan was left.
The Governor let out a sigh of relief and was ready to settle the score with Xiu, but the moment he turned around, he happened to meet the scarlet eyes of the silver-haired young man, and he was stunned involuntarily.
In the night, even the corners of Xiu's mouth were tinged with blood. He clapped his hands, as if welcoming a more exciting performance.
“It’s not over yet.”
魔法的光在黑夜中亮起，杜澤再次看到了那熟悉得不能再熟悉的大魔法陣，這一次不是在空中，而是在地上！像是有一只看不見的手在他們對面的空地用心描繪出工整的灰線，當最外圍的大圈首位連接的那一刻，魔法陣的符文由外到內依次亮起了灰光。層層疊疊的光芒如同淺淺起伏的波浪，模模糊糊地顯現出無數個黑影，那些黑影越來越明顯，越來越實體化。待所有符文都亮起時，出現在所有人面前的是數不清的堕落者，久許不見的老約翰站在最前方，一臉笑容地向他們揮手打招呼。
杜澤呆滞地轉動眼球，一眼掃過看不到盡頭的堕落者，所有的人他都有印象，他們根本就是之前在征收過程中被修用大魔法陣消滅的堕落者——等等，杜澤突然想起一個很關鍵的事，他怎麽能忘了，銀龍最擅長的是，空間魔法。
——那個巨大灰色魔法陣根本不是什麽攻擊性的法術，而是傳送魔法陣！
“你……”艾利克怔怔地看着這一切，他的聲音帶着一種難以置信的幹沙：“原來沒有殺他們……嗎……”
“我為什麽要殺死他們。”修反問道，似是對提問者的最大嘲諷。
激動的心情像一壺剛燒開的水，沸騰得要溢出來。杜澤忍不住伸手抓住了修的袖角，這個人沒有動手殺死任何民衆，他所做的僅僅是用魔法将堕落者轉移，一點一點地彙聚力量。
伸出的手幾乎是在瞬間被對方察覺到了，修反客為主地抓住杜澤的手攥緊。杜澤注視着兩人交握的雙手，炙熱的溫度從修的手心傳來，再也不複當初的冰冷。
這就是他所相信的修，雖然有些睚眦必報，但再也不是那個會恣意殺害他人的《混血》主角。
被魔法陣傳送而來的堕落者毫不猶豫地和最外圍的天族侍衛撞在了一起，厮殺聲再次響徹了夜空。老約翰穿過戰場來到修身邊，機械傀儡一向被神塔當做無生命的物體，所以不管天族還是堕落者都沒有對他出手。
“小主人。”老約翰笑眯眯地對修說：“我已經按你的吩咐将裝備分發下去，他們經過簡單的訓練，已經基本能上手了。”
杜澤望着堕落者身上五顏六色的護甲和武器，打心底地為天族點上了蠟燭。擁有侏儒血統的萌主絕逼是能批發神器的存在——就算不是神器也是亞神器！還記得當初武器大賽那說好了只是試手之作的銀劍嗎？哪怕一個裝備神器的普通人打不過一名劍聖，但十個、一百個、一千個呢？被修傳送過來的堕落者快要上萬，更別說天族現在已是疲憊之師。
戰争的天平已經明顯向堕落者那邊傾斜，總督顫顫巍巍地指着修：“你、你想做什麽……！？”
“和你想做的一樣啊。”修毫不掩飾他的殺意：“将所有人逼反，讓他們殺死‘我’想殺的人。”
即使修沒有明确說出對象是誰，但在場人不約而同地将目光集中到了總督身上。被所有人矚目的總督更加焦慮，他望着前方的混戰，又望向了天際，從來沒有像這一刻如此希望見到光明——只要天一亮，天族的援軍就會來了。
然而修不會給總督機會的，天族一個接一個地倒下，魔法陣卻還在源源不斷地傳來新人，終于，第一個堕落者沖破了侍衛的防線，他看了看圈中的四人，毫不猶豫地選擇了最光亮的總督作為首要攻擊目标。
“快、快消滅他！”
在周圍侍衛的幫助下，那名堕落者很快就被處理掉了，但越來越多的堕落者将要沖破防線。一連被攻擊了好幾次，總督終于放下驕傲，向修求助。“你只是想要通關對吧！我把羽毛給你，你快将這些人弄走！”
咦……？杜澤覺得總督剛剛那句話有點奇怪，但說不出哪裏不對。修定定盯了總督一會，然後咧嘴而笑：“聽起來是個不錯的提議。”
總督呼了一口氣，眼見天族侍衛戰線崩潰得越來越快，總督不再遲疑，将他絕大部分羽毛都交給了修。此時修的羽毛數量比總督和艾利克加起來還要多，毫不意外的，修已經達到通關的要求了。
但是在總督希翼的目光中，修并沒有将堕落者送走，總督忍不住提醒道：“你怎麽還不……？”
“那确實是一個好提議。”一絲嘲諷像是一道漣漪迅速劃過修的嘴角。“但是，我有答應嗎？”
總督徹底呆住了。杜澤打心底感到深刻的同情，這種近乎誘騙的行為太有反派的範兒了，一般情況都是主角一方被小BOSS欺騙然後怒吼“你怎麽會出爾反爾！”，現在的情況卻是小BOSS被萌主逼得想要嘤嘤嘤地指控“你怎麽可以這樣！”。杜澤覺得自己一定是壞掉了，他為什麽會覺得倍兒爽呢？
在談話間，戰鬥已經進入白熱化的階段，無論是堕落者還是天族都在拼命。一直沉默的艾利克終于開口了：“快停手吧，你已經達到目标，不要再制造無謂的犧牲了。”
“呵……”修輕笑了一聲。“你又想‘濟世救人’了嗎？”
“在救人的不止你一個，聖子大人。”修的聲音似嘆息似嘲諷，他伸出手，指向了交戰的天族和堕落者。
“你救的是這群天族，而我救的是那些被天族主宰的生靈。”
聽到修的話，艾利克碧綠的眼睛中點燃了怒火。
“這樣逼迫他們、利用他們與天族殘殺，你居然說是在救人？！”
“沒錯，我是在利用他們。”修毫不猶豫地承認了。“但你想說将光明交給他們、讓他們停止戰鬥即是救贖嗎？”修笑了。“光明神殿的聖子閣下，你将光明交給他們是為了消除他們的怨氣，于是他們便會感恩戴德直到天族下一次的征收；你讓他們停止戰鬥是為了減少他們的犧牲，于是他們便會在黑暗中活到天族恢複元氣之時。”
“與其說你在救贖那些平民，不如說你在保護這些天族。”修瞥了一眼不知所措的總督。“即使你用劍指過他，但你從來沒有真正想過殺死他；即使你想要幫助這些平民，但你從來沒有想過讓其他生靈颠覆天族的統治。”
“因為在你的認知裏，天族是‘好’的——他們可是光明神的使者。”
“……！”
艾利克大約是想反駁什麽，然而一名新沖進來的堕落者打斷了他。那名堕落者同樣掃了一圈，然後攻向了此時羽毛數量最多的修，卻在半路被老約翰阻攔了。對于這位為他們提供了裝備的褐發男子，堕落者保持了一定的敬意，他停下了腳步，有些不解地望向了老約翰。
“離天亮還有一小段時間。”老約翰指了指不遠處的運貨馬車，和藹地建議道：“如果我是你，就在天族的援兵來臨之前将戰利品搬走，而不是去招惹一些不該招惹的人。”
那名堕落者有些遲疑，不過當他認出他的攻擊對象是那個只用一個大魔法陣就可以消滅所有人的銀發青年後，他非常果斷地轉身跑向運貨馬車。
當一輛運貨馬車被掀開，光明照亮了半個夜空時，戰場出現了詭谲的停頓。所有堕落者直勾勾地望向光芒的來源，哪怕天族用武器砍在他們身上也舍不得移開目光半晌。
“為了光明。”
不知是誰喊了出來。所有堕落者都快瘋了，他們雙眼噙滿淚水，像一群撲火的飛蛾咆哮地向光明沖刺。“為了光明！”
天族的戰線全面崩潰了，僅剩的天族侍衛被瘋狂的堕落者吞沒。所有人都沖向了馬車隊的第三縱隊，随着越來越多的運貨馬車被掀開，那明耀的、溫暖的光照亮了每一張因狂喜而哭泣的臉。
在光明之下，修微笑地對艾利克說出了最後一句話。
“你所維護的一直都是‘光明’，我維護的不只是‘光明’，這是你和我的本質區別。”
“今天是第幾天了？”
正在幫維爾拉綁頭發的愛莉絲想了想，回答道：“一個星轉了。”
“他們怎麽還沒回來？”伊諾克哀嚎一聲，望着城門口的馬車群開始出瞎主意。“不如我們明天混進那些戰車裏，最近幾天不是都有一些戰車出去嗎？”
“什麽時候走？”
伊諾克驚悚地看向搭話的莫爾，他本想開個玩笑，但沒想到莫爾竟然當真了。更讓伊諾克驚悚的是，雷切爾也是一臉認真地贊同道：“我觀察了他們的交班時間，在黎明前的那段時間行動最适合。”
與他們相隔一段距離的金龍萊昂也頻頻看向這邊，似乎非常有意向一同參與這個計劃。
阻止這個瘋狂計劃的是突然開敞的城門，一群駕着戰車的天族侍衛簇擁着一輛馬車飛了進來，伊諾克的眼睛最尖。“咦？這不是今天出去的人嗎……杜澤！我看到杜澤了！”
As soon as Du Ze got off the carriage, he saw the short-haired thief running towards him. He wanted to say hello, but he was stunned after seeing something.
"——Who is this brother with silver hair?"
Xiu was too lazy to bother with Enoch, the fool. He opened the space ring and released Old John. Now, except for Mor, who had seen the silver dragon, everyone else knew that the dragon with silver hair, red eyes and ear fins in front of them was Xiu.
Enoch couldn't help but pull on Verla's sleeve. "Xiu, Xiu, what's going on?"
"Demons, undead, humans, elves, beasts, dwarves, and dragons." Verla counted carefully, "It seems that the eight major races are almost all there."
“We’re still missing the Celestial Tribe.” Alice added with a smile on her sister’s behalf.
Enoch slightly closed his wide mouth. "Well, Master Thief always feels that in the near future, I will see Brother Xiu become a Celestial Clan..."
As they were talking and laughing, a member of the Celestial Clan came over respectfully.
"Master Xiu, please follow me. We are about to go to the Ninth Heaven to conduct the ordination ceremony. Under the patron saint of the God of Light, you will become the new governor."
Emma and the others can finally go to see the arrogant BOSS of the God of Light! Du Ze felt a little moved, like a daughter-in-law who has finally become a mother-in-law after many years of experience. The Celestial Tribe dungeon is almost becoming a series in his lifetime.
"Wait a moment."
When the group was about to leave, they heard shouting from behind. Du Ze turned around and saw the Golden Dragon Lion running towards them. The middle-aged man looked very anxious because he couldn't find Eric.
"Where's Eric?" Leon became more and more anxious, and his voice involuntarily became a roar: "Why didn't he come back!"
There was only one carriage coming back, and there was no one else besides Du Ze and Xiu. Xiu glanced at Eric's contracted partner, and there was a dark red in his eyes.
"Why are you questioning me - do you think I killed him?" Xiu drew a space blade and pierced through Leon in the blink of an eye. "You see, I can't touch your Son at all. He is still alive and well down there."
"Maybe you will be able to see him again." Xiu slowly smiled, with such a malicious arc, like a child catching a fish from the water and throwing it to the ground, watching it struggle to die bit by bit in the mud.
"However, it is unknown whether the Eric you saw is the Eric you know."
The Son of God who has pure faith in light is destined to never leave the Celestial Clan copy.
******
******
Do you understand?
Even if it is very similar, it is just "similar", not "is" - there is only one Xiu in this world.
He is different from me, different from who I am now and who I have been, so stop looking at him in a special light.
Do you understand?
——【Black Box】