The Ring術士 of the Sun Church, who had encountered the Clown on the shore, deliberately shifted the battleground to the ice surface, gradually approaching the members of The Society of Truth. The Ring術士 of the Truth Society certainly didn't want to engage with them, so the ice continued to expand towards the distant lake surface until the entire group was gathered in the center of the lake.
The march Moonlight illuminated the lake surface, and spiritual light flickered in the moonlit night. To Xia De, standing by the lake, this scene was both tranquil and eerie.
Xia De finally found the whereabouts of Joey Barton. This gentleman, who should have been located between The Society of Truth and the Church's team, had somehow fallen unconscious at the edge of the lake's ice, lying alone under the moon, his life unknown.
As the battleground moved further away, people got further and further from him, and this was an opportunity for Xia De.
“Be careful, don't move around recklessly.”
Xia De pulled open his coat and tucked Mia into the large pocket on the inside of his coat, near his chest. After re-buttoning it, his left chest seemed to bulge.
He held the youthful immortality leaf in his mouth, curled his fingers, and let the Red Butterfly that flew back perch on his finger. As the Red Butterfly disintegrated into specks of light, the light entered Xia De's chest, and he felt the power from the whisper element.
The essence of the Red Butterfly's power was distortion and sorrow. Xia De had to use this power as quickly as possible to prevent the element from affecting him.
Taking out his mask and putting it on, and after preparing his casting materials, Xia De walked out of the forest, bent over and cautiously. Looking up and seeing a group of people fighting fiercely under the moon, he jogged onto the ice surface:
“Raglai's Leap.”
He moved silently on the ice, with the night, thin fog, and illusions collectively helping him conceal his tracks.
Soon, Xia De arrived beside Barton. The shadows of the vast mountains covered both of them, and the gentle lapping sound of the lake in the night wind brought a sense of peace.
“Barton, Barton!”
Xia De gently patted his face, and Joey Barton's swollen eyes gradually opened. His pupils constricted, and his gasping for air looked like the last struggles of a dying person.
“It's me, John Watson. Come with me quickly, they're fighting over there.”
“The Truth Society found a nail of resurrection and wanted me to determine the other party's death date. But that was someone the Church had been watching for a long time. The Church deliberately let the Truth Society's professors discover him, so they could capture all the professors who came to Mi Fort this time.”
Barton was panting heavily. Xia De reached out to help him up, but unexpectedly, the middle-aged man suddenly pushed, shoving Xia De aside.
Buzz~
And in the spot where Xia De had been crouching, the metal rhode cards stuck in the ice vibrated continuously.
“Who?”
Xia De turned to look behind him. Moonlight spilled across the smooth ice. The four-armed Clown, without a shadow, stood with his back to the Moonlight, surrounded by the white mist characteristic of the Gap, with four weapons simultaneously pointed at him.
“A third Clown? Do I get a share too?”
He frowned and stood up, putting The Witch's Ring on his right hand. The sense of power surged again, and even The Witch's Light Ling Rune became restless.
“Hee hee hee ha ha ha...”
Amidst the crazed laughter, the Clown disappeared into the Moonlight, and in the next second, he raised the black short knife and stabbed at Xia De's neck from behind him.
The clear yellow longsword illuminated the shadow, and his turning and spinning slash left a brilliant display of light and shadow in the thin fog. As the yellow Moonlight sword was shattered, Xia De's figure also disappeared from his original spot, then reappeared above the Clown's head:
“Moonlight Greatsword!”
He gripped the greatsword with both hands and slashed down, while the Space Stabilization Aura prohibited spatial movement. The downward potential energy combined with the downward kinetic energy caused Xia De's greatsword to strike the Clown's head, but the opponent turned into a wooden carving:
“Substitute?”
Manic laughter came from the left, and a red nose ball flew like a cannonball. Xia De, who was prepared, shot out a rhode cards. The card immediately disintegrated into a pile of small paper scraps upon contact with the nose ball, scattering with the night wind.
The Clown's metal rhode cards reflected the Moonlight, shooting towards Xia De like a swarm of bees. Xia De quickly threw out his entire deck of rhode cards as well. Against the night wind, 53 rhode cards left trails of afterimages in the air, and then the two types of cards collided on the ice at extremely high speed. The paper rhode cards were imbued with the light and shadow of Red Butterfly, and streaks of Red Butterfly phantoms flickered overhead, directly confronting the Clown's cards. A fine sound emanated from the air, like an instrument playing in the high-altitude thin fog.
And below the rhode cards clashing in the air, Xia De clapped his hands together and then sharply pulled them apart:
“Moonlight Slash!”
Bathed in Moonlight, a slanted holy silver light blade slashed forward. The tall, thin Clown laughed as he raised his gun, and the bullet, capable of creating cracks in space, perfectly negated Xia De's full-power strike.
“It seems...it's not that strong.”
Xia De thrust with his sword held in both hands, simultaneously stepping forward nimbly. In the next second, accompanying the thrusting motion, Xia De reappeared behind the Clown. As the opponent twisted his waist in a bizarre motion to turn and block with his short knife, the black chains from Xia De's sleeve surged out like a python.
At the same time, the second Moonlight Greatsword summoned by the 【Blade of Disordered Time】 stabbed out from the void. The Clown's black short knife quickly parried and blocked that greatsword, then blocked Xia De's second thrusting sword downwards.
As their weapons clanged, the Clown threw a red nose ball at Xia De with his left hand, intending to force him to retreat, but it was blocked by the 【Origin · Silver Moon】 among the rhode cards flying everywhere.
Clearly, the power of the Gap nail was not enough to decompose the all things are impermanent card.
The Great Sin Chains wrapped around the Clown's left hand and quickly spread over his entire body. The chains restricted movement and extraordinary abilities, and the metal cards clashing in the air immediately lost control and fell to the ice.
The Clown still wanted to resist the power of the sin chains, but when the Red Butterfly landed on his shoulder, his movements paused strangely for an instant.
“Grace and Helen's power is really useful.”
Taking a deep breath, under the Moonlight in the valley, amidst the falling cards, Xia De lunged forward, gripping his sword with both hands, and cleanly slashed from upper left to lower right:
“Ha!”
Another curved light mark appeared in the moonlit night, and the blade, after descending, directly cut into the ice. As Xia De laboriously pulled the sword back up, the Clown's manic laughter finally stopped.
The head fell, the painted head rolled a few times, and finally lay still, face up. It rolled from the shadows of the mountains into the Moonlight, its face still maintaining a crazed expression.
Xia De walked over with his sword, gripped the hilt with both hands, aimed at the head, and plunged it down. After the Moonlight Greatsword pierced the skull, it was nailed to the ice. The Outsider and the Clown had no grievances, but keeping the dead away from the world of the living was something the living should do.
And on the distant ice, the fighting still hadn't stopped, indicating that he had only killed one of the Clown's clones.
“Barton, let's go hide in the woods first.”
He didn't pick up the sword again, but let it disperse into silver light particles and disappear from his hand.
Xia De turned to look at Joey Barton, who was astonished by the recent battle and only now came to his senses. He saw Xia De standing on the ice, bathed in Moonlight, and saw Red Butterfly phantoms fluttering around him. For a moment, he didn't know how to express his feelings:
“I never expected you to be so powerful.”
He shook his head, laboriously leaning on the ice to stand up himself. He stood in the shadows, looking at Xia De who was outside the light and shadow, standing in the Moonlight:
“You are one of the few good people I know, but I cannot go with you.”
Lowering his head, Joey Barton's tone was full of apology.
Xia De frowned slightly. Barton seemed a little different from a few hours ago:
“No, I'm not asking you to come with me. The personnel the Truth Society sent to Mi Fort, even if not all of them are wiped out this time, there won't be many left. I want you to join the Church, and we can still be friends.”
This was Xia De's most satisfactory outcome.
But this middle-aged man, who looked like a disabled child, still shook his head:
“The scholars of the Truth Society are not good people, but the Church also won't let me do what I want to do.
Watson, you're right, I probably do have special powers. the moment I looked at the Clown with my eyes, I saw his origin, I saw the Gap shrouded in white mist, I even saw him fall into the deepest part of the Gap, the True Death.”
“You saw it? That's where the dead are supposed to go, but what does that have to do with you leaving with me?”
“Watson, that body of water illuminated by the Nether Moon is a place that appeared in my dreams.”
Barton's voice was low, and Xia De had a very bad guess:
“So...”
“I might be able to find her.”
Barton lowered his head. Xia De couldn't see his face in the shadows of the mountains.
“And then...”
“Bring her back. The dead, revive.”
It was indeed a bit cold on the late autumn lake.
Barton's voice was very calm. He lowered his head, painstakingly limping out of the darkness, looking at the mask on the young man's face under the moon:
“Yes, I want to bring the dead back.”
“That's impossible.”
“Is it really impossible?”
Barton raised his palm, then lowered it again:
“I am the Chosen One of death.”
He said softly, the meaning in his eyes was something Xia De could not understand:
“Watson, what would you do if the treasure in your heart left you?”
Xia De touched his chest and felt something very soft, which was Mia. He couldn't imagine Mia leaving, so he didn't answer the question.
“There are many things that only I can do. I'm sorry, Watson, I know you want to guide me to the right path, but there are still many things I want to do. Destiny has not treated me fairly, so I will treat myself fairly... The happiness of life must be fought for by oneself... Don't follow.”
He suddenly waved a hand at Xia De, and a black, giant shockwave actually shattered a large area of the ice, directly sending Xia De flying from the lake to the shore, but Xia De was not injured.
He climbed out of the mist on the shore and saw Barton running towards the people fighting on the ice.
“How did he suddenly become so powerful? Didn't he only have one Destiny Ring?”
The whisper came on the wind, Xia De took a few quick steps and stepped onto the water. Ripples spread under his feet, while Joey Barton had already entered the battlefield in the center of the lake's ice.
“Barton, come with us, you'll find even greater power!”
Professor Johnson shouted loudly, but he had to face the madly shooting rhode cards.
“This man is not right, he might be a Chosen One!”
Iluna immediately shouted loudly. At the same time, the Sunlight Gun in her hand finally pierced the chest of the Clown in front of her. The long spear, shining with golden lightning, bloomed in the thin fog. When Iluna jumped high and threw it towards the last Clown, the limping Joey Barton actually voluntarily stood in front of the Clown.
A black robe flashed in front of him like an invisible curtain in the mist, completely blocking the Sunlight Gun.
Everyone stopped. The Ring術士 of The Society of Truth gathered together, not understanding what Barton wanted to do. The Church's team, due to their larger numbers and stronger abilities, dispersed around to prevent anyone from leaving the battlefield.
“Barton, what are you going to do?”
Iluna asked in a deep voice. She had met Joey Barton when she used the alias “Mary Watson” with Xia De, and knew he was a good person, so she didn't immediately act.
“Lady, we seem to be of the same kind.”
The Clown behind Barton put his hand on his shoulder, laughing gleefully, without the slightest hostility towards Joey Barton. As thin vapor mist surged, a Ring術士's Destiny Ring appeared behind them both.
The white mist escaping from the Gap quickly surged towards the crude Destiny Ring, and Xia De finally reached the edge of the shattered ice.
“You want to absorb the power of the Gap?”
The professor whose Destiny Ring had Red Butterfly rust stains asked:
“Barton, have you seen our research materials? We are more professional in integrating relic power, come with us.”
“I'm sorry, Professor, I won't go with you either. I want to delve into the Gap, break the boundary between life and death, and retrieve my lost treasure.”
He was indeed still a Ring術士, but his Chosen One talent was developed to its extreme, so much so that when he activated the power of the Gap, Xia De even felt that Barton was a part of the Gap at that moment.
“Breaking the boundary between life and death at this time, do you want to destroy the Gap?”
The middle-aged man behind Iluna asked loudly. He seemed to be the captain of this team, and Xia De had just glimpsed that he was an Eight Ring.
“Barton, do you know what you're doing?”
“I've always known, yes, always known. Destiny has not treated me fairly, but I won't complain about it. I just think that since I've seen hope, I will never give up. Everyone, please step back and let me take this Clown as a sacrifice.”
But no one retreated. Everyone was looking at him under the Moonlight.
Joey Barton also looked at everyone. He stood with his back to the Moonlight, shadows on his face. And the childlike shadow at his feet was being covered by another suddenly appearing, huge shadow:
“Sorry.”
