Come On, A De-Let's Kill a God Together

A De ran wildly through the rainy night.

But he wasn't running steadily because he had lost an arm and couldn't maintain his balance. So every few steps he would stumble and fall, then get up awkwardly and continue running.

It's almost here.

The Hunter Statue with blood healing is right in front of me.

"Why must we be in such a sorry state?" the Saint's voice echoed in his mind again. "We should have been in a much more noble position."

"Shut up!" A De roared.

"Why resist?" A De's face was half ferocious and half calm. "We're about to wake up from a boring dream."

"This isn't a dream!" A De roared. "I'm not like you! Not like you!"

"Heh, you can no longer distinguish between dreams and reality." The Saint shook his head. "What you are pursuing now is nothing but an illusion, it has no meaning whatsoever."

A De gritted his teeth and ignored the Saint.

Because he could feel his consciousness fading and his body losing control.

The personality known as "Saint" is rapidly eroding his sanity. He used to be able to resist and try to make the voice disappear, but now he can't.

He couldn't do it after recalling what he had done a month ago.

"Children from poor families often dream of being rich and having enough to eat. They sleep in drafty houses, enduring the biting cold, but they refuse to wake up, because once they do, everything in their dreams will truly be just a dream." The Saint continued speaking slowly through A De's mouth. "And you are that child now, but unlike him, you don't have to face the biting cold. If you are willing, the whole world will bow down to you."

"... I don't want any of this bullshit world!" A De couldn't hold back any longer and roared again, "I only want Wei Ke! I only want Wei Ke!"

The Saint clicked his tongue and said leisurely, "It seems you're still missing one last bit of biting cold wind before you're fully lucid."

A De was unaware of the biting cold wind, nor did he care.

He knew Wei Ke was dead, but he still wanted to find Wei Ke's body because they had said they would live together and die together.

So after finding Wei Ke's body, A De decided to kill himself, snapping his own neck as he had bitten off his arm earlier, in order to kill the "Saint" in his heart.

He wanted to be the only hunting dog in the entire Sacrificial Ground to die alongside the Hunter.

"A very dreamy idea." The Saint could see through A De's intention and said with a smile, "It's like that child who sees a big piece of cooked meat in his dream and can't wait to go up and enjoy it, but it's destined to be in vain."

"You can't stop me!"

"Stop you? Why should I stop you?" the Saint said. "I just want to say that you can't do it, just like the child who has never eaten meat can never smell the real meat in his dreams."

"You're talking nonsense!"

"I'm not making this up," the Saint said with a smile. "Didn't you notice that you tried it once a month ago?"

... Have you tried it once?

"Look at the path beneath your feet, and think about what you are about to do," the Saint said. "You will feel a sense of déjà vu."

After the Saint finished speaking, A De felt a wave of dizziness.

Just like when I was with Yi Weina before.

He felt that the road beneath his feet was so familiar.

Every tree and every rock face is so clearly visible.

It was as if he had been here before, and more than once.

A De suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Because he saw a sharp claw mark on an old tree in front of him.

And that claw mark...

He lowered his head and looked at his claws.

"Do you remember now?" the Saint said with a smile. "This isn't the first time you've walked this path, not even the second or third time, but... countless times."

Before A De could even figure out what "Saint" meant.

With a loud "boom!"

Another bolt of lightning illuminated the night.

In that fleeting moment of blinding daylight, A De found himself standing before the Blood Healing Statue.

Beneath the statue, a person has their back to him.

That's... Wei Ke!

A De recognized the figure from behind, and for a moment his mind went blank.

Wei Ke... is he still alive?

As he had done for many years, A De couldn't help but rush towards Vic upon seeing Wei Ke.

In the lingering white light, Wei Ke did indeed turn his head, looking at A De with a mixture of shock and delight.

"A De, are you all better?" Wei Ke smiled and reached out his hand to him.

And A De, as always, stretched out his claws and let out a joyful cry.

At that moment, he was like a child who saw delicious food in his dream.

He watched as Wei Ke's smile froze, and then his figure vanished with that brief flash of white light.

A De realized that what he had extended were not furry little claws, but sharp blades capable of cutting through rocks. And what he was emitting was not a joyful cry, but a roar capable of shattering a person's internal organs.

Before him lay a skeleton severed in half.

The scars on his bones were exactly the same as those on his claws.

A De's mind went blank.

"Do you remember now?" the Saint said with a smile. "A month ago, you didn't abandon Wei Ke. Instead, you caught up with him after waking up and then killed him with your own hands."

A De's body began to tremble as more memories flooded back.

He saw Wei Ke lying in a pool of blood, half of his body severed, and driven by an uncontrollable impulse, he went forward again, and then...

"You ate him," the Saint said.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

A De knelt down in front of Wei Ke like a madman, clutching his head tightly, his sharp claws digging deep into his flesh.

"Hahaha, do you remember now?" the Saint said cheerfully. "You ate all his flesh and blood, leaving not a single bit."

"Shut up! Shut up!!!" A De roared.

"This is absorption." The Saint didn't stop. "Only after that did you acquire all his qualities and memories, and only then did you truly replace him."

"Shut up! You're the one controlling me! You're the one controlling me!"

In despair, A De exerted all his strength, trying to rip off the head and take the damned Saint with him to be buried with Wei Ke.

But then he realized that his arms, which could easily split rocks, were now completely powerless.

His body was refusing to commit suicide.

"I control you? Yes and no." The Saint said slowly, "Because I am you, and you are me, remember? This is our mission... Open your eyes and look around."

...around?

A De slowly turned his head to look around the statue.

Then another bolt of lightning struck.

In the Pale World, he saw countless skeletons around the statue, almost identical to the one before him.

At that moment, even more faces and names flashed through A De's mind.

"Do you remember now?" the Saint said slowly. "We've been doing this for the past hundred years."

"This is the mission of the Saint."

"More than one Wei Ke?" Yi Weina's voice trembled. "What does that mean?"

"To be precise, 'Wei Ke' is just a symbol, the goal of the Saint," Bai Wei said calmly, walking in front of Yi Weina. "Over the past hundred years, the Saint have sought out countless ' Wei Ke's, leading them down the same path."

"You mean..."

"Yes," Bai Wei said. "A De, that is, the Saint, his encounter with Wei Ke was not an accident, but a template, a mature template. The entire Wildfire Sect operates according to this template. You should know what this template is. That guy just told you."

"The beasts devour humans and then replace them," Yi Weina whispered.

"Yes." Bai Wei nodded. "For a hundred years, the Wildfire Cultist has been learning how to become human, because their leader was also learning how to become a god. Becoming a god is different from becoming a human; it requires more effort and more 'knowledge.' Saint are the means by which they learn about the outside world, and they are the most advanced form of that means."

Yi Weina shook her head, her face pale. "I still don't understand. If that's really the case, why did A De lose his memory?"

"Because once you have memories, it doesn't count as learning anymore," Bai Wei said. "Do you know? The Courage Hall is full of Hunter corpses, brought there by the lowest-ranking Wildfire Hounds."

"... the lowest level?"

"Yes, because these hounds betrayed their Hunter out of fear in the Trust Hall," Bai Wei said calmly. "Therefore, they are destined to be unable to understand the noble virtue of trust, and can only become the lowest level of believers."

Yi Weina's eyes widened as if she had just remembered something. "Then what we saw in Hall of Valor..."

"They are the mid-to-high-level believers, and can even become Chief," Bai Wei said. "Because these hounds passed the test of the Trust Hall without knowing it, they also have this quality, and their status in the Wildfire Sect will naturally be higher."

Yi Weina's fist clenched tighter and tighter. "Then the Saint..."

"It's the one who makes it to the end," Bai Wei said. "Wildfire wants to become a god, and to become Him, it naturally needs the best. Whatever the quality, it has to be the best. Without a doubt, the quality of being willing to choose the Blood Healing Statue for a sick hound is the most worthwhile to devour. So every goal of the Saint is to lead the Hunter it values to the Blood Healing Statue, but even that is not enough. God needs far too much 'knowledge', so it has to repeat this process constantly, so much so that it has repeated it for a hundred years."

Bai Wei paused.

"This is the truth about Saint."

Yi Weina's body trembled uncontrollably.

She thought about how, over the past century, the "Saint" had killed one outstanding person after another, like Wei Ke, all for the sake of so-called "knowledge".

And she, or rather they, including her grandmother and all the successive generations of the Senro Saintess, actually became its accomplices.

"Why did they do this?" Yi Weina was on the verge of collapse. "Why did they do this?!"

"Because Wildfire is a creature that is both insecure and arrogant." Bai Wei raised his head, using [Gazing] to look at all the Hunter Statue in the Sacrificial Ground. "Wildfire has a very complicated feeling towards its former master, Senluo. It disdains Senluo's arrogance and stupidity, yet it fears Senluo's power. So it tries every means to understand and learn all the qualities that Senluo admires, but it also adds the most irresistible trait of devouring. It's roughly the idea that 'no matter how excellent or powerful you are, you will eventually be eaten by me, so I am at the top of the food chain.' This is why so many excellent 'Wei Ke's' can only be eaten by 'A De' in the end."

Bai Wei explained it in great detail, and Yi Weina finally understood everything.

"So that's why you said A De's awakening is irreversible?" Yi Weina whispered. "It will definitely become Saint?"

"Of course, because it was originally Saint, A De was just the last of its countless journeys." As he spoke, Bai Wei sensed something and looked up at the night sky.

The rain had stopped, but the dark clouds hadn't dispersed, and thunder lurked within them, constantly roaring.

But the roar was different from before; it was very rhythmic, like something breathing in the clouds.

"It's about to become Him," Bai Wei said softly.

Yi Weina's body trembled as she understood Bai Wei's meaning.

Wildfire is becoming a god. That means A De and Wei Ke... are both gone.

Yi Weina wanted to cry, but she had already run out of tears, so all she could do was let her shoulders sway weakly.

Is everything coming to an end?

Senro, A De, Wei Ke... it's all coming to an end.

A sense of indescribable powerlessness welled up in Yi Weina's heart, so she asked Bai Wei one last question.

"Since everything is already predetermined, why did you come here in the first place?"

"Because I'm betting on the last possibility."

Yi Weina paused, then asked, "The last possibility?"

"Yes." Bai Wei felt the powerful consciousness rapidly awakening and said softly, "The last possibility."

Beneath the blood-themed statue.

The Pure Silver Wolf opened its newly grown arms and embraced the sky with abandon.

He had completed the final step, his feet resting on the corpses of countless Hunter, and the confusion and struggle in his eerie green eyes were gone.

"Finally, I understand everything," he said with a soft laugh. "This feeling... is wonderful."

He laughed wildly, and the thunder seemed to move in sync with his breathing.

The world is already in his hands.

That's what he was thinking.

Then he heard footsteps behind him.

He didn't need to turn around; he knew who it was.

"You've finally arrived." He transformed back into Wei Ke's appearance, turned around with a smile to look at the newcomer, "Father Ulu."

"Yes," Bai Wei stopped and replied with a smile, "You've come at the perfect time."

"What are you doing here now?" the Saint said with a smile.

"How should I put it? I'm here to advise you against becoming a god."

"Oh?" The Saint raised an eyebrow. "How do you persuade him?"

"Come on, A De." Bai Wei extended his hand to the Saint and said, word by word, "Come with me and kill God."