I want to be a faded person for life

"The hybrids will flee immediately after a brief resistance, and you will meet a witch who can help you become stronger."

Melina's guess made Xiangzi feel a little creepy.

"The weak Faded Ones cannot resist the influence of the Mad Fire. You will still accept the commission to deliver the letter, but you will not be able to send Miss Irena to the Round Table Hall."

"After you leave, those hybrids will return to the bridge and torture Miss Irena in the most brutal way possible to complete this sacrifice."

"You will meet Irena again later, but not as the Finger Witch, but as the Mad Fire Witch possessed by Mad Fire."

Melina's voice was almost flat, but Lord Morn was horrified by the content.

"Mr. Edgar, if you found your daughter's body and the hybrid's hatchet on the bridge after recovering the treasure, what would you do?"

The impoverished lord gripped the long shaft of his halberd tightly, and the blood vessels beneath his skin twisted.

"I swear to find all those involved in this matter and kill all the hybrids and Chapolili's followers who escaped."

Melina nodded.

"Of course you will do that."

"And at the end of revenge, under the guidance of those people, I will reunite with my daughter, who has been tainted by the insane fire."

The tone in which the one-eyed girl narrated the incident was so cold it could be described as cruel.

"You will die at the hands of the Fader and your own daughter, completing the final piece of this sacrifice in despair."

"This is probably the complete prophecy of Chapolili. Despair and chaos. This is what is called madness."

After revealing the other party's plan, Melina suddenly turned her head and met Xiangzi's eyes with a very serious look, and there was even a hint of pleading in her tone.

"Toyokawa Shoko, please promise me."

"Never let your heart turn to madness."

Xiangzi had never seen Melina with such an expression before. He subconsciously took a step back and forced a smile.

"Why would I want to do something crazy like that? Even if you didn't say it, Melina, there would be no such possibility."

Xiangzi didn't understand why the other party kept worrying about this issue. He remembered that the one-eyed girl had said the same thing to him when they were on the bridge.

"Xiang, promise."

Melina didn't intend to let her go and took another step forward.

Xiangzi was almost forced into the sea, and she raised her hands helplessly to block it in front of her.

"Okay, I promise."

"I will never be tempted by evil, let alone have anything to do with that kind of thing. Is that all I need?"

Melina's expression relaxed and her tone returned to her usual coolness.

"Remember what you said."

Xiangzi avoided falling into the sea and decided to say something to ease the embarrassment.

"Actually, Chapolili's predictions aren't that big of a deal, are they? They were all wrong, weren't they?"

"She didn't predict your appearance, nor did she predict that I would enter Stonewell in search of the light, nor did she predict that we would destroy all the arrangements at the Sacrifice Bridge... If you think about it carefully, she's a completely lousy prophet."

Melina's mouth curled up in an almost invisible arc.

"That's right. Your and Ms. Deng's actions...are completely beyond her predictions."

What Xiangzi didn't notice was that Melina was the only one who didn't mention her name.

"Well, now that we've guessed the other party's plan and broken the so-called prophecy."

"Let's resolve this matter as quickly as possible, even if it means reuniting Miss Irena with her father sooner."

The girl rang the spirit bell and summoned the spirit of the pure-blooded knight Dolan.

Then, she used the power of blessing to exchange for a staff and added magical effects to her hound Fang and Edgar's Lost Knight's Halberd.

Conspiracies and intrigues are really annoying; it's more straightforward to speak with swords and magic.

Chapter 43: Morn's Tomb of Lamentation

This is a small island located deep in the ancient city of Morn, separated from the northernmost part of the Weeping Peninsula.

It is a tomb that has existed since ancient times and contains forgotten warriors.

Passing through the stone archway of the cemetery, the tragic ruins appeared before Xiangzi and the city lord Edgar.

There were corpses everywhere.

The bodies of human soldiers, hybrids, and nameless warriors who had long since dried up were scattered all over the island.

The orange embers were burning on the ground, but they were gradually extinguished because all the corpses of creatures parasitized by the insane fire were destroyed in an extremely brutal manner.

It was like a hurricane blowing through a rice field, leaving only a mess on the ground.

Only one figure remained standing in the center of the island—a strange hybrid.

It was about three meters tall, like a lion standing up, with a red mane and muscular body, and its elbows and joints were covered with brown-red hair.

At the end of its long tail grew two deformed and short fleshy wings, which were obviously not enough to support such a huge body and fly into the air.

The weapon in the hybrid's hand...

Xiangzi narrowed his eyes.

Is that a sword?

If it was a sword, it was too big - rough, heavy, and made of countless swords melted and welded together, its shape was like a tombstone made from the melted corpses of swords.

Yes, it’s more like a tombstone than a sword.

Xiangzi remembered the treasure of More City described by Edgar, a greatsword forged by the hero of the fallen country who collected weapons from his entire clan.

“…Is that it?”

Xiangzi felt it necessary to confirm something.

Edgar nodded slowly.

Before entering the stone archway, Edgar had shared information about the "Sword Skeleton Greatsword", the treasure of Moren City, with Xiangzi.

It is said that those who wield this weapon will inherit the power and skills of the Destruction Clan, will ignore physical damage, and will fight until they bleed to death.

The lion-like hybrid turned its head and stared at the two people and one spirit who broke into the place with its scarlet eyes, grinning to reveal its sharp canine teeth.

There was no sign of the hybrid's eyes being parasitized by the fire of insanity. They were neither ulcerated nor turned into a strange orange-yellow color.

"Edgar, you're here as expected."

Instead of attacking outright like his kin, the hybrid spoke.

Blood flowed like streams from the grooves and cracks of the greatsword, and it seemed that all the hybrids and human soldiers on the island had died at its hands.

"...At this point, I won't say anything like, 'You're being instigated by Chapolili, so if I lay down my sword, I'll let you go.'"

"I am still the lord of Morn City. You have violated the law and committed a serious crime. You deserve death. There is no room for compromise."

Edgar spoke in a low voice, raising his bright silver knight's halberd and slowly spinning it above his head.

"You haven't changed at all."

The lion hybrid praised.

"All the hybrids in Morn City are dead, and I'm the only one left. At this point, I don't want to discuss right or wrong with you. I don't care whether the suffering and torture my fellow tribesmen have endured was your intention or not."

"I simply want to use this weapon for revenge, just as the previous owner of the Sword Skeleton Greatsword challenged King Ge Fulei thousands of years ago."

He raised his weapon and aimed it at the girl following behind Edgar.

"You too, the nameless lost knight, are my target of revenge now that you are standing here."

"I have no opinion."

Xiangzi responded with a rapid shot of pyroxene magic gravel.

The hybrid suddenly lowered its body and crawled down like a real beast. The pyroxene block flew over its head and hit the big tree surrounded by tombstones in the center of the island.

The tree trunk shook, and dead autumn leaves and broken twigs fell down.

Edgar did not miss this opportunity. He gathered his strength with his spinning halberd and chopped it down on the city lord's head as he jumped.

With a clang, the lion hybrid blocked the city lord's double-handed jump attack with the hilt of the sword raised with one hand, and the huge force threw his body out.

Edgar took five or six steps back on the ground before he could steady himself.

Dolan's spirit came forward with a big laugh, and Edgar obviously recognized this beautiful and crazy female knight.

Judging from the act of summoning Dolan's soul with ashes, the Faded One who controls her is most likely Lord Greg's enemy. However, from the moment he chose to conceal Irena's identity as a witch, he had already betrayed Stonewell.

Dolan, the Knight Commander of Stonewell, is stronger than Edgar, but he is completely suppressed by the lion hybrid in terms of strength. After several collisions, he is forced to retreat continuously.

The lion hybrid's attack method was somewhat unpredictable. He pulled the heavy sword behind him, held the tip of the sword with his left hand, and with a swift thrust, he knocked Doran's helmet off.

If it weren't for the ashes spirit, this attack would have caused serious damage to Dolan.

Two consecutive brilliant sword strikes forced back the lion hybrid that continued to pursue him, and Xiangzi finally saw some clues from his attack.

Although Xiangzi was originally just an ordinary high school girl, she has experienced countless actual combats and tried various weapons, and now she is undoubtedly a master in this field.

"That was... a spear."

Xiangzi murmured softly, then cast magical protection on both Edgar and Doran's armor.

Dolan and Edgar looked at each other and switched places.

The lion hybrid gripped the end of the greatsword with both hands, spun around, and swung it up. Edgar tried to hold the weapon horizontally, but couldn't withstand the force and flew backwards several meters.

If the weapon had not been strengthened by magic, the halberd would have been broken by this blow.

"This time it's Warhammer."

Xiangzi once again noticed the change in weapons.

However, this time, Lord Moren obviously did not use brute force to resist. He even jumped up before the big sword hit him to relieve the force.

The pure-blooded knight seized the opportunity and cut his wrist with the serrations on the side of the greatsword, and swung out two wide blood blades in succession. Edgar flew backwards and just avoided the area covered by the blood.

Perhaps because of their large size, or perhaps because of the hair and scales on their bodies, most hybrids do not wear armor or more clothing.

The lion hybrid instinctively sensed something was wrong and could only grab the sword, holding it upright with both hands, blocking it in front of itself and began to charge.

"This time it's a shield... a shield strike or a shield charge?"

Xiangzi vaguely sensed a flaw in the so-called inherited skills. When the opponent switched weapons, he would fall into a brief state of stiffness.

It was as if the lion hybrid itself was not a master of multiple weapons, but needed to pause and complete the steps of casting a spell before it could skillfully use the moves of different types of weapons.

——If I were facing the enemy head-on, it might be difficult to notice this.

The lion hybrid who temporarily switched to shield mode failed to completely block the blood blade, and his arms, back and abdomen were all burned bright red.

Suddenly his pores began to bleed violently, and the blood that rapidly gushed out of his body almost exploded into mist, but the lion hybrid did not feel seriously injured at all. Without any hesitation, he knocked Dolan, who had no time to dodge, away.

Chapter 44 Common Sense

This time the collision was particularly heavy. Doran, who had given up on defense after performing the Blood Slash, was hit in the chest and abdomen by the lion hybrid using his sword as a shield.

The multiple protruding blades on the Sword Skeleton Greatsword directly smashed through Doran's breastplate, causing fractures and tearing off most of his skin and flesh.

If she were still in her past human body, Dolan might have died on the spot, but as a spirit of ashes, she could still make a final counterattack even after suffering such a heavy blow.

The female knight let out a shrill, manic laugh, and her severely injured chest cavity quickly lost blood at a rate dozens of times faster than before.

It could almost be described as an explosion, with waves of blood and countless blades hidden within them, all occurring almost face-to-face.

At this distance, there is no way to avoid Doran's blood explosion.

Dolan lost more than 90% of her blood in less than half a second. She almost turned into a mummy and instantly dissipated back into the state of ashes. It would take at least a day before she could be summoned again.

The lion hybrid was swept away by the blood wave and rolled several times before it stabbed its sword into the ground and slid a distance to stabilize its body.

The hybrid's sturdy chest collapsed, his arms and several fingers bent in strange directions. Wounds from the inside out tore through his flesh, exposing bones and wriggling internal organs. Even his left eye was pushed out and tilted to the side by the raging blood from within.

His mane and body were completely dyed blood red, and a large amount of blood came out of his eyes, mouth, and ear holes, forming a pool of blood on the ground.

But soon, the pool of blood began to shallow, and blood flowed upstream along the grooves and cracks of the sword.

This ancient sword with thousands of years of history began to beat as if it had gained life, bursting out with a powerful heartbeat.

The hybrid's broken arms and fingers were fixed with a blood-scab-like substance and twisted back into the correct direction. The exposed bones and internal organs seemed to be covered with a strange breastplate by the blood clots.