"From the moment we boarded the ship, everything was already destined... We are all... we are all... dust... dust thrown behind by the wheels..."

No one responded.

There was no one left who could respond to her voice.

Bodies were strewn everywhere. Almost all the passengers were already dead.

Huai Shi instinctively positioned Lily behind him, on guard against Baba Yaga. Yet he did not see Lily rush forward in a frenzied attempt to avenge her brother, as he had anticipated.

Baba Yaga just stared blankly at it all.

After a long, long time, crimson tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. Slowly, she lifted her hands, covering her aged face, unable to suppress the despair and sorrow in her heart.

"Why... why is it?" She choked out, her voice hoarse, "Who can tell me why this is happening!"

"My husband, my daughter, my everything... God, isn't taking all of this enough? Why must you also take him away from me!"

"Tell me!"

She cradled her brother's ashes. Facing the broken walls and the cruel, dark Sky Dome beyond, she screamed, "Why is all this happening!!"

The world was silent.

Only the sound of burning flames and her broken sobs could be heard.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!"

She scrambled up from the ground, stepping over shattered debris, tears of blood streaming down her face. She looked up at the Sky Dome and shrieked, "I curse you! I curse you all! One day, you will die amidst ambitions so vast that even this world cannot contain them! I curse you... Can you hear me? Can you hear me!"

No one responded.

In the deadly silence, she seemed to finally understand something and lowered her head wearily.

"At least, I won't become your plaything... Never... Never!"

She glanced back one last time at those Artificial Humans, at Huai Shi, and at Lily behind him, her expression something akin to pity.

She gently shook her head, then leaped.

Silently, she fell into the tranquil Blood Sea, slowly sinking into the darkness beyond what the naked eye could see.

She melted away without a sound.

In the deathly silence, no one spoke.

Huai Shi looked down at her incredulously. He watched until her numb face disappeared into the deepest darkness, still unable to believe Baba Yaga had chosen suicide.

Had she gone mad?

"She's definitely gone mad." Ai Qing tapped the armrest. "But the reason for her madness is a different story... Moreover, you'd better worry about yourself."

Ai Qing lowered her eyes, gazing intently at the countdown on the status bar of the Character Card.

Penalty for Oath Breaking 0:03.

The countdown: 3, 2, 1...

In that instant, Huai Shi's eyes widened in shock. He staggered to the ground, watching as silver circuits slowly emerged on the back of his hand. They seared his flesh with a sizzling sound...

An unprecedented agony and craving struck him.

It nearly crushed him in an instant.

The angry roars of countless people echoed in his ears, transforming into a dark tide that submerged his Soul, inch by inch.

"Paracelsus... kill... kill that deformed creature... at all costs... kill! Kill! Kill!"

A multitude of frantic voices resonated in his mind, instantly draining all his strength, causing him to convulse violently on the floor.

Like an epileptic seizing.

In a daze, Huai Shi felt his consciousness being drawn out by an invisible force and hurled into the darkness. The wind howled past his face.

The fall seemed endless.

After an eternity that felt long enough to obliterate consciousness, he finally crashed down to the Abyss Bottom.

Prostrate beneath the pale altar.

Holy light shone down from above, sprinkling over his body like sulfuric acid poured evenly onto a vampire's skin. It made him scream in agony, his Soul in turmoil.

From within the burning holy flame, the gaunt Archbishop held his Scepter. He slowly turned, looking down at the screaming Huai Shi, and said in a cold voice, "Don't always disappoint, Abraham. Go fulfill your mission!"

Each of his words was like an Iron Hammer, striking what remained of Huai Shi's consciousness. They tormented his will, causing the vampiric part of him to swell rapidly, bringing with it a deep-seated discipline and mission.

He said,

"—Go kill that damned Heretic!"

"No!"

Amidst his convulsions, Huai Shi lifted his face, smeared with mucus and saliva. He offered the Archbishop a remorseful smile.

"Sorry, I refuse."

In that instant, the Archbishop's brow furrowed in disappointment.

The holy light departed.

Huai Shi was abandoned in the Abyss.

And then, Ai Qing saw—

The last Player sitting opposite her revealed a ferocious smile from within the shadows.

She threw the dice she held.

When Huai Shi opened his eyes from his stupor, he saw Lily's pale face and felt a pang of hunger.

Then, he felt excruciating pain in all his limbs and joints.

As he struggled to lift his head, he heard a crack in his neck, as if something were about to break. Laboriously, he lifted his arms, seeing his fingers shriveled like dry twigs and his arms riddled with cracks.

Like wood incinerated to cinders.

Silver, law, mission—everything Abraham had once believed in was crumbling. Bit by bit, he was being killed from the inside out, inch by inch, in God's wrath.

From within.

Leaving no corner untouched.

Perhaps this was the redemption Van Essen had hoped for.

Huai Shi could clearly sense the design hidden within the Vampire's Mark. Through his superficial knowledge of Metallography, he could perceive the essence of this miracle.

The Silver Keystone had forged a miracle out of darkness.

It had almost ingeniously constructed a power of Alien Species, endowing it with unparalleled lethality. From its very day of birth, it was destined for destruction.

It only needed a gentle nudge from above. Then, this flimsy construct would collapse like a pile of sand, dissipating into nothingness under the cleansing of the Silver Alloy infused into the bone marrow.

In the end, only a silver-white skeleton remained.

This was the final Penalty for Oath Breaking.

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