Eldritch Horror Theatre

Was the truth finally revealed?

The ”fallacy” couldn’t last forever, and the comparison had finally exposed its flaws?

Even if only for a brief moment, it really did seem that way at first glance.

A Fei, whom he had valued so highly on this journey, was thoroughly outclassed by the counterpart the Lord of Intellect had cooked up. Now biting the dust, he was being forced to transform into a Shadow.

Just as the Lord of Intellect had said, the error was being corrected... and it would eventually be corrected completely, because A Fei couldn’t hold out much longer.

But that was only at first glance. One should never let someone else dictate their train of thought.

Fu Qian figured that as long as one was willing to use their brain, the situation could easily be much worse than it appeared. Was a shift really occurring between the true and false A Fei? Was it possible the problem actually lay with the observer?

Based on his earlier conclusion, there were actually two explanations for the real A Fei suddenly turning invisible.

The simplest explanation, of course, was that A Fei himself was becoming a Shadow. But if the observer was the one turning into a Shadow, wouldn’t the exact same thing happen?

In other words, something was wrong with the King of the Abandoned Prison. He was the one turning into a Shadow.As for why?

Fu Qian cast a glance a short distance away.

It was a spot slightly lower than his current position—a theoretical blind spot.

At first glance it appeared completely empty, but a closer look at the shadowy contours revealed someone sitting there.

Not only was this figure silently watching the battlefield, but they were sitting in his exact posture.

...

The Lord of Intellect wasn’t satisfied with merely hand-crafting a cricket to toss into the fighting bowl. Instead, every single fallacy in this entire place was being corrected by ”absolute correctness”?

Not bad. Quite ambitious.

Given this special discovery, Fu Qian highly praised the Lord of Intellect’s ambition.

As for how he had spotted such an inconspicuous Shadow?

Simple. The angle.

During the split second when the two A Feis shifted states, Fu Qian realized he had experienced a momentary skew in his vision.

Tracing that angle backward, the observer’s position was slightly offset from his own—they would be sitting exactly where that Shadow was.

So right now, aside from the two A Feis facing off, there were also two Kings of the Abandoned Prison?

And earlier, it wasn’t the true and false A Fei shifting; he was the one with the problem?

Because of the bizarre connection between the Shadow and the main body, he had momentarily slipped into the Shadow’s perspective?

If one wanted things to be logical, this was a far more reasonable explanation.

There was even more evidence to support it now. From the shifts in the shadows, he could tell that when he looked over, the Shadow was looking back at him.

Moreover, its posture wasn’t particularly guarded, nor did it carry much hostility.

Oh?

So this was the benefit of cultivating one’s character and being kind to others?

Compared to the two A Feis still engaged in brutal hand-to-hand combat, this scene was almost a bit too harmonious.

In that moment, Fu Qian realized something: the relationship between an absolutely correct entity and its original wasn’t necessarily diametrically opposed.

Was it possible the two A Feis had started fighting the moment they met simply because A Fei had already been fighting this entire way, hacking at anyone he saw, rather than because of the Lord of Intellect’s orders?

If that was true, then his strategy—using A Fei as a sword to bulldoze everything in their path while he remained behind the scenes to avoid karma—had not only achieved excellent results but had seemingly spared this Depth 3 spacetime fallacy from a catastrophe.

After all, if two Kings of the Abandoned Prison started fighting, which A Fei was real and which was fake wouldn’t even be a question worth considering anymore.

”I wasn’t wrong, was I? You figured it out quickly, as expected.”

Right on cue, the Lord of Intellect made his appearance.

”I didn’t put your opponent in there. You brought them in yourselves.”

”You yourselves are wrong, and that is why there is a right.”

...

Just as he had thought.

But if that were the case, the power associated with the drop point was undoubtedly even more bizarre.

The Lord of Intellect had shown up to personally explain, proving Fu Qian’s guess correct. Although the absolutely correct entity was born from his power, its deepest connection was to the main body.

It was akin to an error-correcting mirror image. It reflected not just one’s form of existence, but also their inner demons and sins, which was why it inherited their behavioral style.

”That is also why you surprised me. It’s as if you knew all this from the start, maintaining an unreasonable level of restraint all along.”

The Lord of Intellect continued to marvel, pointing directly at Fu Qian’s behavior.

”That’s not what you said earlier. Back then, you implied this behavior was completely meaningless.”

But the backhanded flattery didn’t dull Fu Qian’s memory; he directly punctured the contradiction in the entity’s words.

”Because I was curious to see if you knew the meaning behind your actions.”

Unfortunately, the Lord of Intellect remained stubborn, completely refusing to admit he was stalling for time and casually tossing out a secondary excuse instead.

”How should I put it? In a broad sense, I suppose I knew. After all, my original intention was just that the scene might be a bit more harmonious.”

Fu Qian didn’t mind. He even magnanimously satisfied the other party’s curiosity.

”You don’t seem worried at all that I’m stalling for time? Or do you think this fragile balance can last much longer?”

Instead, it was the opponent who felt guilty. The Lord of Intellect fell silent for a moment before pointing toward the King of the Abandoned Prison’s Shadow.

”Of course not. I’m very clear on my own situation. As far as the world is concerned, my errors are far greater than A Fei’s.”

Fu Qian shook his head, even withdrawing his gaze from the Shadow.

...

He did agree with the Lord of Intellect on that point. It truly was a fragile balance, far from being as simple as ’no hostility means no fight’.

Right and wrong were inherently incompatible.

And the mastermind behind the scenes could never truly avoid karma. Even if he did nothing and just sat here, the final conflict would inevitably arrive.

In fact, he genuinely believed what he’d said about his errors being greater.

The Mechanical Remastered King of the Abandoned Prison was a blasphemous freak handpicked by the Serpent of Destiny.

Especially according to the Fruit and Sugar Theory, he could no longer be described as an ordinary fallacy. He had practically walked right into the crosshairs of the entity standing before him.

Correcting Transcendent Tier fallacies was the Lord of Intellect’s core ambition.

There was even reason to believe that without this factor, the absolutely correct version of the King of the Abandoned Prison wouldn’t have been so easily ”woven” into existence.

”You possess quite a bit of self-knowledge on that point. Even I didn’t expect the effects to be this good. A Fei... It’s a pity that your tool man with the ridiculous name won’t last much longer.”

Sure enough, the Lord of Intellect quickly acknowledged Fu Qian’s special constitution, even taking a moment to mock his naming skills.

”Furthermore, I tend to believe your heart isn’t as calm as it appears on the surface. There’s a reason for your current posture—perhaps to lull your opponent into a false sense of security and find an opening to end me directly... What a pity. I suggest you give up on that idea.”

He then didn’t forget to speculate on Fu Qian’s true motives from a human perspective, intending to execute the person and condemn the heart.

”Sigh... A mediocrity will always be a mediocrity. Even if you manage to steal a bit of true scripture, it’s hard to change your own limitations.”

But Fu Qian merely responded with a light sigh, turning his gaze toward the battlefield.

”My reason for not moving is simple. I believe my tool man will win.”