Wasteland Echoer.

Chapter 694 Advancement! Ordinal Rank 2: Abandonment (Part 2)
"Hehe..." A hearty "hoho" laugh came from Ato's throat.

This sound was neither as ethereal and terrifying as before, but rather carried a uniquely human sense of dominance and satisfaction.

However, a chaotic light and shadow, like a malfunctioning light bulb, kept flashing in the underground space of the "magnificent building".

Black, crimson, azure, deep purple, and bright—various colors intertwined and shifted. Countless energies, emanating from other dimensions and beyond, burst forth and transformed into pythons whose colors defied description in any human language, quickly coiling around Wright and Ato.

"What...is this? It feels like...it doesn't seem to be hostile towards me." The red magic power in Wright's body remained absolutely abundant, but the superb observation and reaction abilities he had just achieved with "Burning Black Vision" were instantly erased. Even the "Dark Touch" that had just pierced Ato's body had somehow curled back into his body.

However, Wright could still feel the flow of magical energy within his body, and the various "inherited" skills had not disappeared. The "Dark Touch" that had been with his body for many years still existed... But it seemed that these strange lights and shadows and "pythons" had a function similar to "magic suppression." As long as they existed, no magical energy, including skills that relied on them, could be used.

It seems that Ato, who has now regained his human body, is facing the same "dilemma".

“What exactly is going on, Ato? You should know something, shouldn’t you?” Wright took two difficult steps forward, as if walking through a swamp of slime.

However, Ato wasn't as flustered as Wright. He simply looked himself up and down at his pure body, his eyes sweeping over Wright, who always considered himself human, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face. He said:
"Your power, under the arrangement of fate, flows from this broken, sinful body of mine to your pure heart. Sin and evil are not the place for power; only hope and the future can. Wright..."

“I accepted the Lord of the Night’s arrangement and obeyed the Creator’s command… This time, I came to Nebusk for only one purpose: to transfer all the power within me to you, so that you, carrying the wishes of all of us Lost Ones and ‘Alien Monsters’… may forever move forward.”

Ato's eyes regained the deep, dark black they had been thirty years ago. It seemed that John's transformation of his body had finally ended, and he no longer needed to exist as a monster.

The surrounding energy, deliberately released by Ato and passively received by Wright, constantly stirred up sparks that burst forth and then vanished. Just like the scene in Wright's first dream when he first came to this world, they constantly gathered and dissipated, gathered again and dissipated again, and finally all of them poured into Wright's throat.

This time, however, Wright no longer felt suffocated, but rather a long-lost sense of comfort and freedom.

Ato's magical source power was not as domineering, fierce, and evil as he had expected; instead, it was exceptionally gentle, comfortable, and satisfying. The "power of inheritance" of the red magical source power transformed Ato's originally domineering power into a new power that Wright's body could accept and absorb, completely merging it into a host of ancient powers.

Soon, accompanied by an untimely, comfortable groan, the two luminous "pythons" that were wrapped around Wright and Ato fell to the ground, turning into sparks that flew like raindrops before completely merging with the air.

In addition to the already abundant flame and dark magic power within Wright's body, there was now a new "plant-based" power radiating pure purple light.

At this point, the three magical sources of fire, darkness, and vegetation coexisted stably within Wright's body, achieving a symbiotic state.

At the same time, as the last ripple of energy disappeared from Atho's body, the image shown by the "Prologue: Deception" began to appear before Wright's eyes:
A portly man, adorned with jewels, clutched gold in his hands, a cigar dangling from his mouth, standing tall and proud like a true Putoan gentleman. But beneath this "luxurious" exterior lay the perilous trap of desire; the dragon that had bestowed the gold upon him was now drooling, waiting for the man to fall into its trap and meet his doom.

"This is... Ato's [Deceitful] class power... So, does this mean my [Orderer] class has completely replicated all the abilities of the [Deceitful] class?" Wright exclaimed in surprise, pushing aside the illusion before his eyes and staring at his own hands unconsciously.

He used a little of the [Deceitful] class ability "Puppet Making," and in an instant, a dark shadow more than half a person's height appeared on the blood-stained ground in front of him.

"This is not a replica, but... an inheritance. The powers within me that symbolize sin and evil, refined by the karmic fire of the red demonic source, have been transformed into the power of [Order] needed by the Creator and the Gods." Having transferred all his power to Wright, Ato, now appearing exceptionally weak, spoke in a feeble voice:

"Fate, this is the power of the 'Wheel of Fortune,' the power upon which the Creator relied to create this universe. At least, so far, no human or god has been able to escape His control... But, in you, I see a light called hope."

"The Five Great Empires... At least the Crusaders have completely lost the chance to revive their civilization. The Putoa are trapped in their broken and decaying lands, and even this mere existence is a luxury. As for the Eventre, they have long since perished in that dusty, icy plain... 'Ray Page' told me that you and Dark will keep heading east until you reach that 'Dragon Kingdom' flowing with gold and honey, right?"

“Eastward…” Dark murmured.

In truth, he wasn't sure if he and Dark could truly traverse the ice plains and rift valleys, continuing their journey across the vast "Eventlay Wasteland," devoid of resources and even life, until they heard the true voices of the dragons and saw the "Kidanris" kingdom that the Crusaders and the Genie people spoke of. Although he harbored no affection for Atho, and was even angered by his forced summoning to this wasteland, as Atho explained, "everything is a cause and effect ordained by the Creator." All events simply occurred according to the logic and procedures laid out by the Creator.

All connections are governed by a grand cause and effect established by the Creator, and all cause and effect are for the continuation of civilization.

Perhaps, in the eyes of the Creator, casting the "heartless virus" upon humanity was merely a small punishment for our arrogance. He did not anticipate that the disaster would erase the kindness and order inherent in human nature, endlessly amplifying the darkness and chaos hidden deep within our genes, created by the Lord of Night.

Now, He may have regretted it. After all, humanity is a mirror of the Creator. If humanity displays evil, greed, stupidity, sin, and darkness, then the Creator will certainly not be kind, restrained, wise, just, or radiant.

The existence of the wasteland world is merely a fleeting farce in a perfectly executed performance, and Wright is the only "Order" chosen by the Creator, and the only one with the ability to end the wasteland era.

Now, Ato has completely completed the task of "transferring" all the power within him to Wright. His body has long since returned from the terrifying octopus monster to the appearance of an ordinary, lost human being.

At this moment, his entire body was covered with deep, bone-revealing wounds. His chest, back, and face were all burned from the missiles and rocket launchers fired at the city of Nebsk.

These wounds had long since turned black and emitted a foul, fishy smell of sulfides mixed with blood.

Even the cyborg heart that belonged exclusively to the Lost Ones was now half destroyed by the impact of the bullet, revealing a broken part where machinery, bone, and flesh intertwined. And the core, which should have emitted a blue glow, was now emitting a gentle, beautiful, yet sorrowful pale green due to the constantly dissipating "life energy."

“Humans cannot resist fate, can they? Athos. So, since I was forcibly dragged into this world by you… by you and the Creator, I cannot resist my own destiny either. Just now, before the power of the ‘Burning Black Vision’ dissipated, I saw a pitch-black gap between the five parallel magic source cores. And just as I was about to examine it closely, those five originally compact cores began to move in a strange geometric way.” As Wright spoke, the red magic source power between his hands emitted strands of exceptionally “gentle” pitch-black “light.”
“When the sequence cores of ‘Inspiration,’ ‘Wisdom,’ ‘Pain,’ ‘Hope,’ and ‘Battle’ came to a standstill, I realized that what was in that crevice was none other than the black sequence core belonging to ‘Abandonment.’ So, my magic source power level has already been raised to Sequence 2: Abandonment, right?”

“That’s right.” Yato nodded slightly, but at this moment, his body was already weak to the limit. After his strength was completely transferred, he had no strength left to stand up. He could only kneel down on one knee, as if he were performing the highest ceremony for the great Emperor Crusde, barely keeping himself conscious.

After pausing for three to five seconds, he forced a voice and said:

"You are only one step away from the first stage: Confusion, and the next step after the first stage is demigod. It's a pity that after seizing that part of the power of the 'Universal Energy Evolution Platform,' I can only possess the power of a demigod temporarily, not permanently. Otherwise, I could have helped you take it a step further. Perhaps, this journey to the East in the future will be the Creator's final test for you."

“I…can I ask you one last question, Ato?” Wright slowly approached Ato, half-squatted down, and said softly.

“Of course,” Yato said, his eyes closed and his head slightly bowed.

"Do you regret it? From participating in 'Ode to Machines,' to being turned into a 'New Human' by John, to taking control of the 'Chaos Group' as a monster, and finally, according to fate, all of this was given to me. Do you regret it?" Wright asked in a calm but slightly sad voice.

“Living in this wasteland, whether we are humans, the Lost Ones, or those ‘monsters,’ we have no right to regret. In this world filled with despair, choice is a gamble, and a mistake means death; there is no room for regret. All I know is that everything we do is for that ethereal yet undeniably real thing,” Ato replied.

"what?"

"Peace."

Before Wright could even ask further questions, almost at the same moment the words fell, Ato's human body could no longer be sustained. Accompanied by the sound of something taut and then instantly shattering, the human body, along with the extradimensional space that had been briefly created by the magical energy around it, completely shattered into a pile of fragments utterly isolated from life force.

Immediately afterward, as the last wisp of Ato's power entered his body, Wright's body began to swell rapidly, and his originally flesh-colored skin was instantly covered with a layer of fur and scales belonging to a wild beast.

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