Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 727: Chapter 593: Choice (Thanks to Time-Covered Memory, the Alliance Leader_1)

When the last body fell into the pool of blood, no one was left to stand in Huai Shi’s way.

He stepped onto the final, red-stained stair.

Huai Shi finally reached the summit of the tower, where a high-altitude gale blew in his face.

In the gale, he saw a solemn and sacred hall resembling a temple, a vast square before it, and the teenage girl who had been waiting for a long time.

Her golden hair streamed in the air like burning flames.

She leaned on her Stone Tooth Sword, gazing at Huai Shi, who had come from afar.

In the sky above her, a huge sun that did not belong here burned fiercely. Using the Bronze Sun Wheel, decorated with countless engravings, as its vessel, the projection of Tezcatlipoca, The First Sun, manifested here. It burned tyrannically, covering the whole square.

At this moment, she wore no armor and lacked her usual youthful vibrancy and modern air.

Cloaked in a sacred robe and wearing a gemstone-studded crown, her bare face and arms were traced with bloody emblems and totems.

This was Smoke Mirror’s shadow on Earth, the agent of The First Sun, Tezcatlipoca’s High Priest.

Lizard Eckmok stood there, fully armed and waiting for her enemy.

”Are you ready to defeat me?”

She lifted her gaze, looking at Huai Shi, his body half-stained with blood.

”No.”

Huai Shi sighed. He looked down at the gashes on his chest and arms, and the metallic scars formed after the Silver Blood Potion’s healing.

He was a spent force.

Facing Lizard Eckmok, the Noble Blood Descendant of the American Genealogy and the future leader; she was fully armed to the teeth and possessed the geographical advantage. He truly had no certainty of victory.

Even if they were of the same rank, her skills and experience rivaled his own, not to mention the countless Border Relics she carried. Let alone that Bronze Sun Wheel hovering above her head, covering the whole square. Just sensing the tyrannical Source Substance and divine power emerging from it every moment, one could understand how terrifying its hidden power was.

”Actually, I’m almost out of strength. I’m barely able to hang on physically, but I have less than a third of my Source Substance remaining...”

Huai Shi candidly informed her of his condition and earnestly pleaded, ”So, could you please do me a favor here, let me off the hook, and allow me to pass?”

Liz looked at him, expressionless.

She wasn’t angered by such shameless words; perhaps she already knew her opponent had never possessed the mindset of a warrior.

”I’m sorry, Huai Shi. Work is work.”

With her palm on the Stone Tooth Sword, she responded indifferently, ”Moreover, besides work, there’s also a personal grudge.”

”...I really have no retort to that,” Huai Shi said with a bitter smile. ”Believe me, I’ve suffered greatly too, in every sense.”

”Is that regret?”

”Utterly so,” Huai Shi nodded sincerely. ”Do you need me to apologize?”

”Apologies are useless.”

”Still, I want to apologize.”

Huai Shi scratched his head, looking awkwardly at the woman before him, and tentatively said, ”Sorry? Can you forgive me? I think we get along well, and if given the chance, we could surely become best friends.”

Liz did not reply.

Instead, the Stone Tooth Sword in her hand subtly twisted an arc on the ground. Sparks scattered from the friction between iron and stone, the sharp stone teeth now aiming at Huai Shi’s throat, primed to strike.

Apologies are useless. Even if Huai Shi were to kneel here and offer his body to the God of Flaying as atonement, it wouldn’t change Liz’s determination. So, enough with the idle talk. She didn’t want to hear any more.

In the deathly silence, Huai Shi’s expression gradually stiffened. After a long while, he sighed helplessly, ”As God’s agent on Earth, facing the laments of so many, can you remain indifferent?”

”Smoke Mirror is not a merciful god; don’t get it wrong, Huai Shi.”

Liz scoffed. ”In the First Epoch, once people on Earth started to waver before Hell, the sun would fall. Tezcatlipoca transformed into a jaguar, killing everyone in the world... One of its names was Necoc Yaotl, meaning ’Enemy of All Sides.’ Unbelievers could not be saved, and even believers might not survive. The Wind of Impermanence shows no favor to the mortal world, let alone Hell.”

She said indifferently, ”God will not bestow mercy here.”

”But what about as Liz?”

Huai Shi took a step forward and asked again, ”Lizard Eckmok, as a Sublimator, a human with a compassionate nature, have you really never felt a shred of pity in your heart?”

”No.”

Liz coldly raised the Stone Tooth Sword. Pausing between each word, she told him, ”So, Huai Shi, please spare me the drivel. If you want to get past here, it’s simple. There’s only one way: kill me. Or, it’s all the same if I kill you... I will personally escort you to the Underworld.”

”Alright.”

The last trace of softness in Huai Shi’s eyes slowly faded, his gaze turning solemn, ”Then, as you wish, Liz. Lizard Eckmok.”

He raised the Sword of Virtue in his hand, but the Sword Blade rapidly collapsed, vanished without a trace.

He took the first step forward, facing her cold gaze.

”Liz, you truly are an opponent I cannot defeat unless I give it my all. But even if I were to defeat you, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have any strength left. I must conserve this strength for something more important.”

”So, I leave the choice to you—”

Once again, he took a step forward.

Stepping into the Sun’s radiant glow, barehanded, he walked step by step towards the teenage girl blocking his way.

”I will pass through here next, but I will not fight you,” Huai Shi told her, looking into her eyes seriously. ”If you think what I’m doing is meaningless, then kill me here. I won’t resist.”

The first step, the second step, then the third step...

He stepped into a frenzy of murderous intent, letting Death Perception engulf him. Huai Shi gazed calmly at Liz, calmly accepting this burden of rage and hatred.

Forward.

Step by step...

Without any hesitation.

”You truly are unrepentant, Huai Shi.”

In the silence, Liz’s eyes gradually turned colder. ”How foolish, to stake victory on the mercy of others.”

”Sorry, I have no other choice,” Huai Shi said calmly, moving forward. ”But Liz, you still do.”

”Right now, there’s a chance in front of you. You can choose to save them, as I do, or let them fall into the Abyss. You can choose to build your Heaven upon wails and Hell.”

For a moment, Liz seemed to waver.

But quickly, her gaze hardened like iron, with no more weakness or hesitation, only coldness remaining.

”This is Hell, Huai Shi... why seek mercy here?”

She murmured softly, uttering her final pity, ”This place is beyond saving, just like you... You must face reality!”

That instant, the Stone Tooth Sword vibrated violently, roaring aloud.

The jaguar spirit ascended from within it. Borne by Liz’s Source Substance, it flowed through the Mystic Ritual, as endless smoke soared toward the Bronze Sun in the Sky Dome!

”Oh, Wind of Impermanence, I beseech you to bring down disaster!”

Liz proclaimed, looking up to the world ahead, ”The brilliance of the mortal world ends here; eternal darkness is born from night—”

Thus, the endless flames of light seemed to gain substance, cascading from the sun overhead, converging in countless strands, twining around the Stone Tooth Sword’s Sword Blade!

It turned the ancient Sword Blade scalding red in an instant.

In Liz’s hands, it hissed fiercely.

Death Perception corroded Huai Shi’s innards like never before, making his Soul tremble as he felt the divine might coursing through the Sky Dome above.

It was unequivocally a trace of a God, a reflection of a Miracle on Earth.

When the brutal light flames dissipated, the Bronze Sun Wheel in the Sky Dome then revealed a solemn mirror surface ground from Obsidian. The eternal darkness of the mirror seemed to reflect this world’s end and future.

But within that darkness, a majestic silhouette emerged.

A colossal and withered skeleton sat in the midst of the Sun Wheel, silent and desolate, as if it had died alongside the old world.

But now, upon Liz’s summoning, green flames ignited in the pitch-black eye sockets.

A streak of crimson coalesced, like the last glimmer of dusk.

It fell from the fingers before its knees.

The blood-light touched the fracturing Sword Blade, causing the Stone Tooth Sword to wail and tremble, overwhelmed.

Revealing endless, brutal ferocity—

”’Receive your just deserts, Huai Shi!’” Liz bid farewell amid her fury, ”This is the last glimmer you shall see!”

That moment, the Stone Tooth Sword fell, striking towards Huai Shi, barely an arm’s length away.

Darkness descended upon the world.

The Bronze Sun Wheel shattered thunderously. The boundless power vested in this sword drowned everything in death.

—Miracle Imprint: Fall of The First Cause!

This was a reenactment of the end of the First Epoch. Tezcatlipoca extinguished itself, indulging in brutality, and infused this sword with the afterimage of that epoch’s destruction, transforming it into a dim light that obliterated all.

This was the final mercy granted by the deity to the mortal world.

Before the endless darkness arrived, this was the last ray of sunlight!

And in that instant, Liz’s pupils reflected the lonely figure striding forward, calmly meeting death.

And... the murky tide of the sea following him!

Incredulous.

These were phantoms from the past, drawn by redemption, and the enduring scars of a redemption once achieved.

Innumerable figures gathered, a procession stretching beyond sight, covering heaven and earth, a tide vast enough to engulf the world.

From different places, different species, even from different eras, those Souls yearning for redemption followed the solitary figure.

He walked forward alone, unaware that millions walked with him.

In the fleeting residual light, faces both strange and familiar were revealed to Liz, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Amidst those diverse throngs, faintly recognizable phantoms emerged—wearing the uniform of Ivy Vine!

The fallen in this conflict, patients grievously wounded and comatose, and the poor Souls lost to Hell’s assimilation.

But now, those outlines that should have sunk into Hell’s deepest depths stood behind Huai Shi.

They stood blocking Liz’s path.

They watched her silently, and with those millions, walked towards the annihilation gifted by the god before them.

You pack of... fools!

Liz lowered her eyes in sorrow as the Sword Blade struck down.