Chapter 530

"Damn it, your blood is weird. What exactly are you?"

The demon's voice woke Xia De up. The long hallucination corresponded to reality, but it was less than two seconds; even Iluna and Difa didn't have time to react.

The mind returned to normal, allowing the runes flashing with spiritual light on the 【Chain of Sin】 to return to normal, but the pitch-black color seemed to indicate that the chain was a bit different.

Darkness's right hand seemed to have encountered a natural enemy, quickly letting go of Xia De's shoulder and retreating.

But the consequence of doing so meant that the black chain piercing through his arm was also pulled to Darkness's side.

Priest Augustus's blessing disappeared, and the 【Dark Box】 ended its out-of-control state because its power had been devoured. The surroundings returned to the internal environment of the Dark World. Xia De covered his right shoulder, seeing that the silver light on the right side of his body had extinguished, and half of his body seemed to have melted into the darkness.

But in the blink of an eye, the abnormal half of his body recovered. The influence brought by devouring the dark power disappeared completely; it was even as if he had adapted to the darkness because he had devoured it. His vision was even wider than when the blessing was still there; he could now see almost completely in the darkness:

"Priest Augustus's blessing is really good. I must thank him specifically after I get out."

Xia De thought.

She was chuckling.

Darkness's arm retracted, wriggling and transforming into pus, "spitting out" the rune chain that had pierced through his arm. Xia De, whose spiritual energy was suddenly full, leaped forward, broke through space again with 【Lagley's Leap】, and appeared in front of Darkness. He slashed down with his sword. This time, Darkness only had to lift his right hand to grasp Xia De's Moonlight Greatsword.

Debris of the silver moon drifted into the mouth in his palm, and the huge suction made it impossible for Xia De to move. But the abundance of spiritual energy allowed Xia De to maintain the existence of the Silver Moon Greatsword for a long time. The demon, having been injured successively by the Weakened Angel Potion and the 【Chain of Sin】, was only barely suppressing him this time.

At this moment, the ritual base array composed of thirteen light spots had moved from Darkness's feet to his waist and abdomen; the Chosen One ritual was about to be completed.

"Hamilton, what level are you exactly?"

In the radiance of the Moonlight Greatsword, Darkness's scarlet eyes stared at Xia De and finally asked this question.

"What do you think?"

Although the suction made it impossible for Xia De to retreat, he could at least let go of his sword and then hug the opponent's hand. The 【Demon Hunter Seal】 touched the demon's mouth, and Darkness wanted to retreat as if he had been scalded, but behind him was the black stone pillar, and the 【Chain of Sin】 that surged out again tightly bound Xia De's hand to his right hand.

Darkness opened his mouth and spat a mouthful of black smoke at Xia De. The black smoke covered half of Xia De's face, and with a rustling sound, half of Xia De's face crystallized completely.

But it didn't matter; Xia De's goal had already been achieved.

"What?"

Moonlight fell, and the 【Blade of Twisted Time】 summoned a second Moonlight Greatsword.

The right hand hosting the demon was firmly hugged by Xia De and could not leave at all. The moonlight passed through his wrist, and the entire right hand fell toward the ground along with the falling moonlight. But before it could be tracked and entangled by the 【Chain of Sin】, the right hand turned into a pool of pus, escaped from the gaps in the chain, and landed on the crystal ground under their feet with a *splat*.

The 【Gift Box of the Gods】 on Xia De's back had opened a gap when he was knocked flying just now. At this moment, the box was squeezed open by a force invisible from the outside, as if the 【Dark Box】 had just lost control, and a black shadow suddenly darted toward the ground as well.

"My demon power!"

In extreme pain, Darkness kicked Xia De, who was close at hand, toward the distant ground, covered his right wrist with his left hand, and howled miserably. But the ritual was still continuing; having a demon attached to one's body was not a necessary condition for the ritual.

"Is the current situation normal? Are you sure it's not the demon on you trying to bewitch you and occupy your body right now?"

Taking advantage of the demon's brief separation from Darkness, Xia De, half of whose body was crystallized, tried hard to squeeze out a voice with half his mouth, his non-crystallized eye staring directly at the fading red glow in the opponent's eyes:

"Your talent is darkness, not a demon. Don't be deceived by the demon."

After being kicked by the opponent, Xia De also felt very uncomfortable. In addition to the crystallization of his body, he even felt something crawling onto his shoulder and crawling toward the box on his back.

After applying the "False Immortality" state to himself, he stood up slowly, and the crystals spread rapidly toward the other half of his body.

"Xia De!"

The two girls, who were severely injured due to the dark impact just now, supported him from behind, and the three of them looked at Darkness in the heavenly light together.

"No, I was not deceived. No one can deceive me!"

The pitch-black pus on the ground flew up automatically. Darkness, whose expression was distorted by pain, stretched out his right arm, and the pitch-black pus precisely docked with the bleeding arm, merging bit by bit in the twisted darkness.

He could have rejected the demon with Xia De's sword during the Chosen One ritual, but he chose to merge with the demon once again.

"Are you really going to use the demon's power?"

Xia De looked into his eyes and asked one last time:

"Are you sure you are right?"

"I never believe in good or evil, right or wrong; I only believe in myself. With power, I can define good and evil myself."

Darkness, floating in that strange heavenly light, although pale, also looked directly into Xia De's eyes. He frowned, really answering Xia De's question seriously, pondering the meaning of these words:

"No matter what tier you are, don't even think about stopping me."

"I don't believe in good or evil either; good and evil are defined by humans themselves. But having done so many bad things, betraying your own organization for power, slaughtering ordinary people who witnessed you, spreading demon power to twist others' souls, and turning yourself into this terrible appearance, is all this worth it?"

Xia De asked.

"Of course it's worth it. When I was a teenager, I pushed my cousin who knew my privacy secrets off a cliff; in my youth, I murdered my brother for an inheritance; after becoming a Ringed Shushi, for the sake of the demon's power, I poisoned that 2nd-tier Ringed Shushi who trusted me with a potion. Do you think I would feel guilty? No, I don't have such emotions, because everything can be discarded. Do you understand darkness? I understand. I will eventually walk alone; I only believe in myself."

"But in my opinion, darkness is not this kind of thing."

Xia De wanted to refute:

"Darkness is just darkness, the most profound natural phenomenon capable of swallowing everything. It is you who gave darkness your thoughts. Your darkness is not pure; you are about to be swallowed by darkness."

Darkness's arm was reconnected, and the scarlet light in his eyes was relit. Their eyes met:

"Be afraid!"

The emotion of extreme fear surged into Xia De's eyes again. Even after experiencing the fear in Terror Castle, this strike containing the power of an Ancient God still made his heart tremble.

Thinking about it carefully, this moment seemed somewhat familiar. It seemed that not long ago, he was also standing with two ladies in the darkness, but at that time someone had said another sentence...

The soul was touched, and the long-dormant power was trying to revive. This was an impulse, a strange impulse. Xia De understood the power he was seeking. Priest Augustus was right; what defeats darkness is not light, but the courage when facing darkness.

He knew he was only one step away from a brand-new miracle, and he was not lacking in spiritual energy. He was only lacking the final touch, the touch that would push him to touch that great power.

The ritual base array composed of thirteen light spots rose completely, reaching the top of Darkness's head. The phantom of the black robe merged with the 6th-tier Fate Ring, and the power of the true Chosen One of Darkness swept over.

With a muffled *pop*, all the crystals on Xia De's body exploded, along with his skin and his clothes. In the cracked traces revealed, there was the divine golden radiance that lit up because of touching the power of the Ancient God. The power of darkness washed over him. Xia De blocked the two girls behind him, and the radiance in the cracks on his body dragged out a golden flame-like luster toward the back. He touched the dice in his pocket and smiled:

"As long as you don't regret it yourself."

Darkness stared at Xia De's eyes, wanting to know what he was going to do at the last moment.

Xia De narrowed his eyes and then bent over suddenly—

"Balance!"

Iluna appeared right behind Xia De's head, her eyes replacing Xia De's position to look at Darkness.

The world was eerily silent for a moment.

Overhead, Darkness's Fate Ring melted and transformed into a black robe dotted with golden light spots.

The second Chosen One had officially appeared.

Pinching the dice in his pocket, Xia De pulled Iluna and Difa back. The three of them did not attack Darkness, and Darkness did not attack them either.

He fell back to the ground, and that beam of pure white heavenly light exploded in the air. With a thunderous boom, in the sky of the Dark World, eerie black lightning kept striking the ground, as if the world was also celebrating the appearance of the second Chosen One.

He laughed wildly in this profound darkness, and the sound spread directly throughout the entire darkness.

The black robe transformed from the Fate Ring draped over him, thirteen light spots merged into his body, and the power of the Ancient God was poured into his soul from the distant void. The talent and knowledge that had long existed in his soul were pushing him toward a higher peak:

"Success! Fate is indeed on my side!"

Black pus flowed from his right palm, spilling the disgusting black liquid onto the crystal ground. The pus climbed up the giant black pillar from the ground, and at the same time, it also made the pus spread continuously to the surroundings like a spring.

In the blink of an eye, the clearing in the crystal forest was covered with pus. And outside the forest, amidst earthquakes and mountain roars, black crystals spread toward the entire domain with the crystal forest as the center, and crystal stone pillars pierced through the ground one by one.

Iluna turned around and took the golden balance floating behind her. The golden light formed a circular zone, carving out a circular area to accommodate the three of them amidst the gurgling pus.

Darkness's human form was severely injured by the Church's Ringed Shushi, and his Demon's Mouth form was severely injured by Iluna and the 【Weakened Angel Potion】. But he did not enter the third form, the half-body demon form, but instead let the Human Pus cover his right half of the body, entering the Human Pus demon form, and gradually merged with the giant black pillar behind him.

"He wants to devour the corpse of that ancient demon. Don't worry, he was affected by my gaze at the last moment. Don't look at him laughing happily now; the power he is displaying is even more terrifying than mine was at the time, but this is the power of an instantaneous soul sublimation explosion. I bet that within half an hour, he won't be able to use power above his own 4th tier. As long as we stop the Human Pus from helping him devour the ancient demon and thereby recover from my restraint, we will have won this time."

Iluna reminded in a low voice, and Xia De also said in a low voice:

"Don't worry, I'll open a Mythic Domain in a while to let him see the world."

"Mythic Domain? Didn't you tell the lady that you aren't a God-Invoker?"

Difa was greatly surprised, but Xia De said again:

"It's not that snowy Mythic Domain. I have my own Mythic Domain, related to darkness and courage, but it hasn't taken shape yet. It's impossible for one person to have two Mythic Domains, so this proves again that I am not a God-Invoker."

The rule that "one person cannot have two Mythic Domains" didn't actually exist; it was just that Mythic Domains were difficult to learn and master, and the possibility of a Ringed Shushi mastering two Mythic Domains was almost non-existent.

The surrounding darkness became even denser with the pus gurgling under their feet, and the profound darkness seemed to want to swallow everything here.

The three stood within the circular area supported by the Chosen One power of 【Balance】, but Xia De didn't care about this darkness; instead, he took down the box he was carrying, opened the lid, and looked inside:

"Before that, I need to confirm one thing."

"Meow~"

The little orange cat, as if in fear, curled up into a ball in the corner of the 【Gift Box of the Gods】. Seeing Xia De looking at it from above, it raised its head, looked at him with its large amber eyes, and let out a very aggrieved cry.

Iluna and Difa also saw the cat, and although they had guessed the source of the cat's cry just now, Xia De still couldn't believe it:

"When did you sneak..."

He was stunned again, seeing Mia in the box as if she were biting something. He first looked at his own hand, confirmed that all three rings were there, and then asked hesitantly:

"Mia, you... this ring... where did you get it?"

"Why can't I use my power? Where is my Fish-Training Ring?"

Darkness in his demon form suddenly shouted, so Xia De understood why he didn't enter the half-body demon form.

Without the 【Fish-Training Ring】, the Human Pus demon could not speak through the Demon's Mouth, and therefore could not transform into the half-body demon right hand that possessed a certain degree of autonomy.

The Ringed Shushi himself was severely injured, the right hand was reconnected causing the Demon's Mouth to be temporarily not a threat, the half-body demon could not appear, and the Dark Chosen One talent was suppressed by Balance.

Although he had completed the most critical ritual and obtained the status, Darkness now only had the final form of Human Pus available to use. And because of the Weakened Angel Potion, Darkness in the Human Pus form didn't seem to have overwhelming power.

At this time, it had been only four minutes since the Steel Right Hand left. Although Xia De and the ladies were all injured, it seemed that they were the ones who had the upper hand.