Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 726: Chapter 592 The Only Answer_2

”If you wish to duel, to resolve our conflict once and for all, I am willing to accommodate you. Michel, as long as you challenge me, I will respond, no matter how many times it takes. But before that, I have one question—”

Across the vast distance, the Great Grandmaster, arms folded on the bridge, asked, ”If you win and obtain this piece of Hell, what will you—no, what will the Ivy Vine and the American Genealogy you represent—do?”

”A foolish question.”

Michel sneered but didn’t hide his intentions. ”Of course, we’ll do what one does in every Hell: explore and redevelop, then dismantle, control, and exploit it. Even the Astronomical Society cannot make us hand over this power willingly, Mikhail. One day, we will accomplish what the Ivory Tower could not. We will completely disassemble this power, thoroughly devour it, and turn it into a weight on the other end of the lever to lift a weight ten million times heavier!”

”’Is that so? Truly fitting for the cradle of American capital to always calculate so carefully...’” The Great Grandmaster sighed. ”Regarding your words, I have no doubt. I believe the American Genealogy and you have the ability and the time to achieve this.”

After a brief pause, he suddenly asked, ”But Michel, do you know why I’ve always looked down on you?”

”’Don’t speak as if there’s anything in this world a narcissist like you would approve of,’ Michel scoffed. ’I knew thirty years ago, Mikhail. The reason you seem so reclusive isn’t some nonsense about being withdrawn; it’s because you think everyone but you is an idiot. Do you respect anyone at all, Mikhail!’”

”’Indeed not, but the reasons for my disdain vary.’ The Great Grandmaster responded frankly, ’Sometimes, I look down on many people because they are truly foolish. But you, Michel, what I despise most about you is that you’re always so smart.’”

”’No, perhaps ’cunning’ would be a more appropriate term. You always know when to advance or retreat, how to analyze pros and cons, and how to gain the richest rewards with the smallest investment. Back then, everyone, including yourself, thought you were the most outstanding student under our teacher. That’s why you hate me so much. My actions always seemed far inferior to yours, yet I consistently ended up above you...’”

”’You’re spouting such nonsense again!’ Michel suppressed his rage, asking coldly, ’When you’re on your high horse, of course you have the authority to judge everything. But there isn’t just one truth in this world! When will your dismissal of others ever be enough?’”

”’Perhaps my views are biased and wrong too, but I won’t change. And there’s at least one thing I can be sure of,’ the Great Grandmaster concluded decisively. ’In your eyes, everything can be quantified. Perhaps for the average person, such a view isn’t wrong. But when a person is bound by such thinking, they are already cut off from the pinnacle of Alchemy. That is your greatest failure, Michel. When will you understand?!’”

Under the Halo’s embrace, the Dome Giant raised his eyes and proclaimed, ”Miracles are called miracles because they are not bound by common sense and cannot be measured by numbers!”

”’When you pray, it will respond.

When you suffer, it will descend.

When the end arrives, despair will cease...

When everything comes to an end and all things in order return to nothingness, that peaceful outcome is the true embodiment of a miracle.’”

”’See clearly, Michel! Today, I will give you the last lesson our teacher failed to provide!’”

The Dome Giant raised its palm, aiming it at the Hell below—the Town of Dusk, shrouded in beauty and lament.

Infinite Source Substance gathered in the Halo above Atlas’s head, colliding and transforming into fierce thunder. Countless small miracles clashed within, roaring as they constructed the rudiments of a vast Mystic Ritual.

It was an outline that, at some unknown point, had already enveloped the entirety of Hell.

Like an Alchemy Furnace, it continuously extracted the sediment and Source Substance from Hell, transforming them into illusory flames that enveloped everything.

It swallowed all that seemed beautiful, causing the Perpetual Core to halt abruptly.

The Heavenly Kingdom was no more.

From its very foundation, it began to correct all that lay before it!

”’MIKHAIL—!’” Atop the Great Pyramid’s altar, Michel roared in fury, ”What are you doing? Are you betraying our agreement?!”

”’I am doing what is right,’ the Great Grandmaster’s voice came through. ’I’m sorry for breaking the pact between the Ivory Tower and Ivy Vine. You can consider me to have cheated; this duel is your win. But what I must do will not stop.’”

”’Enough!’ Michel, on the altar, vomited blood, his fury uncontained as he lifted his gaze. The Great Pyramid ascended in rage, flinging thunder as if it were a war chariot filled with all the world’s destructive forces, crashing headlong into the Dome Giant, now just an arm’s reach away.

”’—What the hell are you doing to my spoils of war!’”

”’Ha! Do I even need to answer that?’ the Great Grandmaster laughed.”

Bearing the vast Mystic Ritual on its back, the Dome Giant raised its head. Its eyes blazed with divine light, and its majestic voice echoed between heaven and earth.

”’Huai Shi, you tell him! In the face of all that lies ahead, as the guardian who cherishes life most, as the guide of all growth—as the Soloist—what should you do!’”

”’Kill, destroy, and annihilate.’ In the final climb, amidst the battle, on the road paved with blood and corpses, Huai Shi gripped his sword blade. He answered calmly, taking step after step towards the end. This was the only answer. ’—Exterminate everything!’”

”’Have you completely lost your mind?!’ Michel’s eyes widened, unable to contain his grief and rage. ’Do you know how precious it is? What are you thinking? Are you sympathizing with a bunch of dead people? With phenomena that brought this upon themselves, long since assimilated by Hell? Even for someone with a moral obsession, this is too preposterous!’”

”’Do you realize the kind of power this is? How large a Correction Value it can create in the Current Circumstances! How many living people could be saved because of it?! Huai Shi, why are you so obstinately misguided!’”

Standing in a pool of blood, the silent young man who had been moving forward paused slightly. He looked up at the sky, as if not understanding why someone would ask such a simple question.

”’Why?’ he asked. ’Because someone is crying. Because I heard it.’”

Silence. Sudden and total.

High in the sky, within the furious Traloc, Michel’s eyes widened in shock.

Unbelievable... Such a simple reason...

In this silence, however, sharp laughter suddenly erupted—so mad it was as if the one laughing was clutching their stomach, unable to straighten up. They were overcome with mirth.

”’Haha, hahahaha, HAHAHAHAHA! Can you see it, Michel? This is the decisive difference between the American Genealogy and the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy... No, between merchant and hero!’ Clasping the projection of *Les Misérables*, the Great Grandmaster laughed as he declared, ’—The path to redemption lies therein!’”