Chapter 3684: Unicorn, Snake, and Sword

While Stella was puzzled by that shadow, pure white light enveloped Ellie's entire body. The unicorn-shaped white light gradually shrank in volume, and then, from within that white light, a small figure similar to the shadow appeared. She bent down to pick up the curved arc on the ground, and then flew up once more.

"Hmm?"

Iluna, holding her sword with both hands, was so surprised that she even turned her head to the side in this critical moment. The figure flying over was no longer a unicorn, but a young girl wearing a white robe that looked like it was woven from flowing moonlight.

Her waterfall-like white hair had glowing, moonlight-colored highlights at the tips, and her irises were a rare, pale silver-gray, like the purest moonstone. The loose robe wrapped around her slender body, and the white sash at her waist was clearly made of unicorn hair.

She was barefoot, and the skin on her feet, arms, and cheeks was nearly transparent and pearly white, so delicate that not a single pore could be seen, and it even emitted a faint, natural white light. It was as if she had stepped out of a fairy tale, or as if a legendary sprite had flown into reality.

Under the astonished gazes of Iluna and Stella, the girl gripped the black curved arc and approached the Ouroboros black ring once again. This time, the power erupting from the black ring was neutralized by the white light appearing around the girl. Holding the curved arc in human form was far more convenient than biting it in unicorn form.

Thus, 【Death】 was thrust directly into 【Rebirth】. Then, the girl gave a light flick with the curved arc in her hand, and the 【Rebirth】 ring floating in front of the black ring was sent flying away.

With one ring missing from the three-ring resonance state, Iluna felt the resistance at the tip of her sword suddenly lighten at this moment. She could not spare the time to be surprised by Ellie's human form again; the thunder exploding from the tip of the 【Night Watcher】 sword blasted a huge gap into that black ring, and then the combined power of Grace and Helen completely disintegrated this strange Ouroboros black ring.

Without needing a verbal reminder, Iluna and the Red Butterfly twins coordinated tacitly to launch an attack together at the mass of flesh that was gradually evolving a new form from the split-regeneration.

The rupture of the outer black ring caused it to lose its final protective barrier, and the departure of 【Rebirth】 caused it to lose its means of restoration. This time, there was no power left to hinder Iluna. The silver sword, wrapped in lightning, pierced the center of that mass of flesh.

The crimson sunlight erupted immediately with 【Night Watcher】 at its center. The great power of the sun burned a large hole directly into the center of that mass of flesh, and the thunder that exploded afterward completely burned that mass of flesh, which Iluna found incomparably dangerous, into charred remains.

A faint, indistinct sigh seemed to echo in her ears. The 【Fool】 ring disappeared due to the demise of its user, and the Ouroboros black ring completely turned to ash. Confirming that the enemy had been thoroughly eliminated, Iluna finally landed on the ground, panting.

The "Lover" now only had some charred residue falling from the sky. When Stella supported Iluna, Iluna still said:

"Go find it, see if that 【Fool】's..."

Boom—!

Black light engulfed the position where Stella and Iluna were standing. The power of that instant even made people in the distant battlefield feel a palpitation of the heart.

Darkness, boundless darkness, completely shrouded this doomsday battlefield in the next instant. All sounds and light were suppressed; all that people could hear was the hissing sound of snakes.

This power was not the darkness that devours everything, but the destruction that seemed to want to bring everything to an end. In the snowfield covered by darkness, the monsters that were about to be eliminated by the Ringed Shushi suddenly grew in size and launched a counterattack with even more violent power.

The Ringed Shushi who had been to the temple all understood:

"Mr. Snake has appeared! He actually left the temple! Oh no, over at the Lover's side..."

On the plank road on the mountainside of the snowy mountain, the four candidates who were fighting each other in the late-night wind and snow stopped their spellcasting simultaneously. The people chosen by fate looked toward the direction of the battlefield. After staring at each other for a moment, Mr. Mortis and the old man Zarathustra immediately returned toward the battlefield, and the two cultists followed after hesitating for a moment.

In the nearly shattered basin, a middle-aged man with snake pupils and a pale face stopped in the darkness beside the ashes of the "Lover." Compared to what was seen in the temple last time, his face now looked more like a snake's; "having no nose" was his greatest characteristic.

He did not look at the position that had just been engulfed by black light, but looked further away. Amidst the fluttering dance of the scarlet red butterflies, Iluna and Stella, supporting each other, appeared together.

"Mr. Snake!"

Stella, who had met the other party, recognized who this was at a glance. The figures of Grace and Helen, holding hands, finally appeared again. And this time, it was no longer a clone; the main body of the Angel-level relic 【Red Butterfly Twins】 appeared here directly.

The snake pupils sized up the twins holding hands and asked:

"You had already escaped the cage of fate, finding a path of life that did not originally exist from a fate destined for destruction. Since that is the case, why would you voluntarily step into a more dangerous movement of fate and meddle with the power of an Ancient God?

After being liberated from your original fate, as long as you stayed away from the story of the *Whispering Poem*, there would be nothing in the entire material world that could threaten you. But why, of all things, would you let yourselves wear the shackles of fate once again?"

The twins' voices appeared overlapping, as if producing an echo:

"Fate is everywhere; no one can escape."

"There is some truth to that."

The man without a nose nodded. His right hand inside his black robe pointed downward, and thus, from that pile of "Lover" residue, black ashes floated upward.

Grace, Helen, Iluna, and Stella all saw the ferocious and twisted faces of a man and a woman from those ashes. On the two faces were complete hatred, fear, and pain.

The black ashes finally formed an illusory ring in front of the snake-faced man. After he reached out and touched it, it turned into a solid ring:

"The two people, entangled by the curse of fate, loved each other, yet hated each other because of their respective secrets. He loved her, yet hated her; she loved him, yet ultimately destroyed him with her own hands. The two of them chased each other, yet destroyed each other, ultimately becoming tightly connected in the trajectory of fate, never to be separated again, forming a perfect ring.

Yes, this is the perfect fate of destruction. And do you know what is the most perfect part?"

He asked toward the direction where the girls were. Iluna was just about to speak, but she saw a hand press onto Grace's shoulder. The Red Butterfly twins heard a new instruction, and thus left here together. Xia De replaced their position, standing beside Iluna.

The appearance of the demon, the mutual devouring of Valentin Halonin and the Baron, and even the appearance of Mr. Snake tonight—none of the current events had exceeded Xia De's expectations:

"The most perfect part is that I guessed that Baron Samir, who kept saying he wanted to meet the 'Lover,' definitely had a problem. Although I didn't know who was going to finish whom in the end, I guessed they would merge into one, so I prepared the fate of 【Shattering】 on the Baron's chair in advance."

The snake nodded, his left hand gripping that black ring, and his right hand taking a black broken sword from his sleeve:

"You did indeed discover my plan in advance. The fate of 【Shattering】 destroyed their tight connection, thereby suppressing the powerful power they were originally going to display, skipping the most difficult battle stage of the fifth act of the story at an almost zero cost.

But 【Shattering】, yes, it just had to be 【Shattering】. After they embraced each other, they 【Shattered】 from within despite having 【Rebirth】. Devouring the self, self-destruction, yet welcoming a new birth because of destruction, and then destruction again—this is the most perfect destruction. So close to the posture of the Ouroboros, so perfectly interpreting the impermanence and repetition of fate.

I originally did not anticipate this point either, God-Awakener. Humans often say that fate is fair to everything; I only now acknowledge this point. Mr. Ring, to actually treat me so fairly on this stage."

The black broken sword, transformed from a small part of the demon's essence, touched that black ring, and thus the ring melted into that broken sword.

The sword body grew amidst the twisting black light. Xia De could tell that the "Mr. Snake" appearing at this moment was not the main body; his main body still had not been able to escape the seal and leave the temple. But the power of the figure holding that sword was becoming increasingly close to the purest "destruction" because of the fusion of the demon and the ring.

Xia De asked:

"I am curious, why on earth would that demon agree to separate its essence and sacrifice itself for your big plan tonight? From the very beginning, it knew that if it appeared tonight, it would definitely be destroyed, right?"

The snake raised the black sword in his hand. At that instant, Stella's hair stood on end; the white-haired girl almost felt her consciousness about to stagnate because of the light of that sword.

The snake replied:

"This is very simple. To release that thing that you and I both know about, besides using a weapon to cut the seal, isn't there another way?"

Xia De understood:

"Yes, as long as the doomsday arrives, the seal will naturally break... It gave its power to you. If you win, the doomsday that failed to descend in the First Era will arrive, so the demon's goal can also be achieved."

"God-Awakener, in the story of the fifth act, you gradually found a way to deal with me, and also gradually learned to comply with fate and resist fate. But now you have still walked to this step. I am facing you, and I have forged a weapon one step ahead of you. The essence of the weapon demon, the fate of destruction closest to the original intention of the Ouroboros created by mortals themselves, and then there is this sword of destruction."

The snake-faced man prepared to swing his sword, but he immediately stopped his action.

There were not many things in this darkness that could emit light: Xia De's body, the ring in Stella's hand, the dark golden scales Iluna had already manifested, and 【Night Watcher】. And at this moment, there was one more thing that could emit light, or rather, two.

The girl with pale silver-gray pupils, who looked like she had stepped out of a fairy tale, came to Xia De's side barefoot, holding the white ring she had picked up from afar. The ownerless ring bloomed with increasingly bright colors as it approached Xia De.

She looked up at Xia De, and in her pale silver-gray eyes was a somewhat shy expression:

"This, offered to you." ===== CHAPTER 3685 =====