Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1529 This is Our World
The letter was clearly caught off guard by the sudden attack, but his body still reacted automatically and avoided the shot.

"Hmph." Lu Ning sneered, while the letter writer could only smile bitterly.

His magic is very strong. As a special kind of magic that can lock in cause and effect in advance, most powerful magic has no chance to fight back in front of him. This requires enough experience to deal with it. And Lu Ning just happens to have enough experience in fighting against causal magic for some reason.

Now he knew that his shallow magic was probably not enough to stop them.

"He's not specifically targeting me, but anyone who's going to attack a Soul Writing Master. Vanessa, leave this to me. You handle Wild Plague, okay?" Lu Ning asked.

"No." Vanessa's tone was deep. Being overwhelmed by emotions twice in such a short period of time had left her in a very bad mood, which was even reflected in her armor, where green miasma was spreading outwards.

After saying that, she disappeared on the spot. Just as the letter was about to stop her, her hand moved involuntarily, intercepting Lu Ning's casual thrust with a dagger.

"Isn't your mission to stop me?" Lu Ning said with a sneer. "So you're planning to get involved in the problems over there?"

The letter felt the pressure, and Lu Ning added another layer of pressure to it: "By the way, you can also release your ability and regain your freedom, but whether you can release it with a single thought or if you need to make some preparations... I'm keeping an eye on it."

Upon hearing this, Xinzhi swore that if he had a third chance, he would never face this saint again.

"Soul Master, think of a way!"

“Of course I’m thinking about it…” the Soul Master replied while keeping an eye on Vanessa’s movements. “But she can evade all my spell attacks. This kind of spell, which is like a prophecy, can actually be kept on her body as a status spell? That’s really beyond common sense. Apart from your causal lock or bombarding her with a large-scale spell that she can’t escape, it seems that no spell can be effective.”

"Can't this status spell be removed?" The letter was being torn apart by Lu Ning's sword at will. His physical skills were already inferior to hers, and if this continued, he would have to quickly remove the spell from his body.

“He can’t handle it. Every spell that is meant to be used on someone has a trajectory.” Lu Ning pressed the letter back a step with her sword, then unleashed a burst of lightning that covered half of his face in dust. “And as long as there is a trajectory, I can see how he launches his attack.”

"What bad luck."

The letter writer sighed, then suddenly reached into his pocket, pulled out a large pile of papers, and threw them at Lu Ning.

These ordinary letters were, of course, mostly burned by lightning, leaving only a few remnants floating in the air.

"Lu Ning, that's a plague," the pharmacist whispered in his mind.

"It's clear that this is what the Plague Apostle excels at."

Lu Ning didn't blink, but simply slashed through the ashes with her sword and continued attacking the letter. The letter dodged backward and said, "This is a piece I made myself, not a very good one... Plague, 'Homesickness'."

"Before you die, you can introduce yourself to me." Lu Ning stepped forward without any politeness.

"Violet City is not the homeland of any of us, yet the feeling of dying far from home is an inevitable fate for almost everyone, even heroes. Fear—here dwells the god chosen by the King of Fear. I use this as a medium to pray that the King of Fear will unleash his power here, so that everyone here will be gripped by fear of the plague, and ultimately, the thought of returning home will overwhelm everything..."

“That was truly a plague that was like a blessing. But people were ultimately overwhelmed by the fear of not being able to return, and in the end, they really died in a foreign land, wasn’t that right?” Lu Ning finished the rest of the sentence for him.

"Those who yearn for home have nowhere to return. These clues I've collected are letters left by those who can never return, even you—"

Even if it were me?

The words on the letter suddenly stopped. He saw the aura emanating from Lu Ning, seemingly trying to repel everything around her. At the center of the wave, the sword in Lu Ning's hand was transforming from a cold light into a dull silver.

The "homesickness" plague, created by the letter paper, was naturally very powerful, not much less effective than "deus ex machina." Lu Ning knew very well that she had been infected. The intense longing surged from her heart, which she had never suppressed before. It was so urgent that she could hardly control her rationality anymore and used delaying tactics to wait for Vanessa to make a decision first.

As the sword light began to fade, another nameless aura began to grow in Lu Ning's palm, clinging to the sword.

"Ah... I have never suppressed this desire, but I still want to thank you for awakening it. After all, it takes a strong enough stimulus for me to pick up those mottled fragments from the shadows of oblivion."

Words that the letter couldn't understand came out of Lu Ning's mouth. He instinctively sensed something was wrong, as did the Soul Writing Master behind him. The two of them simultaneously cast a defensive spell on the letter.

A layer of impact absorption shield and a layer of magic absorption shield, and the letter paper couldn't even protect the Soul Writing Master anymore. He pressed one hand on his cuff, letting the pre-written paper hidden there burn itself, while preparing to take out another one to write a protective "pre-ordained cause and effect" for himself.

"Thank you for your help. I will then stake everything on reminiscing about the past!"

The darkness replaced the light in an instant. Although it was not yet nightfall, the letter still felt the desolation of approaching dusk.

It wasn't a spatial slash, but he saw that the light of day was cut off. The distinct cut blocked the sunlight from the world he was in. Everything was slowed down by an unknown amount at this moment. He could even see a black and red snowflake slowly rotating as it rose in front of him.

That was death, a death of utter silence. Xinzhi almost truly believed he was dead, yet he felt a sense of calm about it, and instead longed to look at Lu Ning, to see what that sword strike had truly looked like.

But then, as if taking a deep breath to bring the air to a complete stop, the radiance was exhaled, and the almost stopped world was released again. He stood in the world once more, while Lu Ning made a gesture of sheathing her sword.

The letter writer felt something being cut off from his body. Just now, during that moment when he couldn't see the sword, something must have been taken away by that sword.

After Lu Ning sheathed his sword, he walked directly towards the Soul Writer. Just as the letter writer was about to step forward to stop him, he felt his fingers pass through a phantom and did not touch Lu Ning.

"Ok?"

When he realized the problem, Xinzhi also saw a small piece of paper sticking out from his cuff. It was the "predetermined cause and effect" that he had originally burned, but it was still intact on his cuff.

Meanwhile, the Soul Writer on the other side frowned. He couldn't understand what Lu Ning had done. She had only swung her sword once, with great momentum, but it hadn't caused any destructive consequences. Then, she walked towards him without intercepting the letter.

"What kind of magic is that?" he asked.

"It's very tiring, but I can use it two or three more times. That's the good thing about status spells. As long as my willpower can hold up, I can keep using them, right?"

The effects of homesickness were still lingering, making Lu Ning's actions more impulsive.

—The power of "Dream Returns to the Past" was so great that she felt a desire to rely on this move to overcome all obstacles in her path. She was certain that even the Soul Writer couldn't dodge this attack, but the Pharmacist's body would also be overloaded. Lu Ning took another step forward, the faded luster of the sword in her hand returning, a sign that "Dream Returns to the Past" was losing its power. "Hmm..." The Soul Writer glanced at the current state of the letter again and asked, "He's basically crippled by you now, isn't he?"

"Yes, you're planning to end up like that too? I can grant your wish, you guys are all damned anyway... tsk."

Lu Ning covered her forehead. Once the battle was over, she needed to get the pharmacist to research a corresponding drug for "homesickness" as soon as possible, otherwise the reaction would be quite severe, and she was almost unable to control her emotions.

But at that moment, a huge impact suddenly erupted in the battle on the other side, and the Pure Divine Kingdom, which was right at the center of the impact, was gradually shattering.

The two "Wild Plague" weapons were already locked together. In the struggle, Wild Plague, as a god, undoubtedly had the advantage, but Vanessa was not far behind.

"Your power... is nothing special."

"After all, it hasn't transformed in that direction."

After exchanging a single sentence at close range, the two simultaneously exerted force to shake each other off.

"What? Are you angry and embarrassed after breaking free from my emotions?" Huang Yi asked with a smile.

"Pretty much. First you, then that Soul Writing Master. You guys really love to instill emotions in others. Thanks to you, I don't even know whether I should laugh or cry now!"

"It seems that emotions have a complex effect on you."

Vanessa switched to rifle mode and fired several shots in quick succession, while Wild Plague instantly teleported elsewhere, drew his skeletal saber, and unleashed a gust of wind that sent Vanessa flying.

"Hmm? Not dodging? You weren't moving very fast just now."

Vanessa merged into the black and red earth the moment she hit the ground, then appeared behind Plague, slashing down with her backhand. Plague slightly shook her head, surprisingly not dodging, and took the blow head-on.

Lu Ning, observing from the sidelines, clearly saw that neither of them sustained any damage. Although Judgment Island used the same rating system for weapons and for the Doomsday Core, they were not equivalent.

Neither the Plague nor Vanessa's attack power exceeded the level of the containment object's ferocity, so no matter how they attacked each other, they could not inflict any damage.

Vanessa was the first to notice this, but Plague soon followed suit.

“This fight will never end…” Huang Yi said with a smile.

"is it?"

Teleport, draw your sword, shoot, then teleport again.

Vanessa unleashed her full power in her attacks, and even though these attacks failed to cause any damage, the sheer force of them still distorted Wildfire's movements. Wildfire didn't shy away from this high-speed, close-quarters combat; she landed hits on Vanessa far more often, requiring Vanessa to instantly teleport back and launch another attack each time.

"You still can't understand?"

"Understand? Your feelings? What gives you the right to lecture me with your failed experiences just because you took a few steps forward?" Vanessa roared angrily. "Because you failed to protect the Minute Church? Because Veronica, the Pharmacist, everyone died? It's your business to reverse things, and you want to punish me for your mistakes?"

A verdant ring took shape beneath Vanessa's feet. The weapon in her hand had been honed to its limit in her battles with the gods, but Vanessa's gaze was fixed on the face that was exactly like her own.

"If you want to become a god, go back to your world and do your thing. This is our world, and we decide its direction, not yours, some god from another world! If that's what you want to show me, then I'll prove it—"

As Vanessa uttered her last words, a warm, moist aura emanated from her body.

The Fountain of Youth bestowed blessings, which undoubtedly demonstrated the stance of the gods in this world.

Wild Plague finally lost its advantage, and the two became evenly matched. Even though their bodies remained unharmed, external objects would still suffer damage upon impact. Wild Plague no longer used the Bone Saber; this weapon, forged solely from corpses, could not withstand such intense combat.

"Rebuttal?" Vanessa pressed on. "Your attitude? Your pursuit? Your regret? Your future?"

Wild Plague kicked Vanessa away, then instantly teleported to the edge of the forbidden zone before she could return, opening his arms to devour the rest of his divine kingdom. However, Vanessa gave her no time, following up with a slash that struck Wild Plague in the chest, leaving a sizable gash.

A small die flew out from inside, and Vanessa hurriedly caught it in her mouth, quickly moved it away, and returned to Lu Ning's side.

"Pharmacist, is this it?! I can sense its special power in the plague!"

Lu Ning reached out and took it, immediately reading the item information of D13.

She squeezed it hard, only to find that she couldn't break it with her strength; this prop was probably more sturdy than she had imagined.

"Yes. It was this that summoned this god." Lu Ning glanced at the Wild Plague. The Wild Plague had already stopped. It seemed that she didn't need to do anything about devouring the forbidden zone. The power activated by Vanessa was permeating the colorless space, and the Fountain of Youth had already infiltrated a certain amount of its power into the world through its blessing.

That's right, since she's not a god from their own world, she naturally wouldn't welcome her.

"Do you know how to get rid of her?" Vanessa asked anxiously.

"You were so firm just now, but now you're worried?" Lu Ning laughed. "Don't worry..."

The spell that touched the stars unfolded in her hands, but this time it wasn't to attract the stars' attention, but to send this obviously dangerous item into the starry sky.

The plague did not stop her; she simply watched silently as Lu Ning cast her spell, and then looked at Vanessa.

"Then... don't lose all of these."

The dark red rain rose into the sky, enveloping the plague, and rushed towards more distant places.