I Can't Believe This Victory Settlement (Third Update)

When Lily finished killing the lone Child of the Moon and slowly crept back to the hall in the shadows, she was suddenly startled.

Why is there white ash everywhere?

She had just left the hall not long ago, and some of the Child of the Moon had already been killed by the Earthbound Spirit.

Lily roughly guessed that it must have been the young master's doing.

Because she had noticed that Iver had inquired about haunted inns near Eagle Cape Village and prepared the materials used to seal the Paradox Flame Butterfly... she felt that Iver might have gone to catch a ghost.

And it really did happen...

However, that kind of death was not complete for the Child of the Moon.

As Supervisor Cornelius stated, it's difficult for Earthbound Spirit to directly harm the Child of the Moon. The Child of the Moon he kills are usually those weak newborns. After all, their souls are far too fragile... A direct attack on the soul bypasses the Child of the Moon's immortality, pulverizing them.

The rest were mostly Child of the Moon killing each other while trapped in hallucinations.

The deaths caused by this kind of killing without finishing blows are not terrible—although they fall to the ground and lose their breath and heartbeat, they are not truly dead as long as they have not bled completely out.

Even if they are turned gray and white, they can still be awakened if enough blood is splashed on them at this time.

Even if the sculpture is destroyed by supernatural forces and reduced to ashes, a new Child of the Moon can be created by combining a certain amount of ashes with the corpses of other extraordinary beings on the Path of Love. This can also be considered a form of rebirth.

Furthermore, if there is enough ashes, one can be resurrected directly through a ritual... but that would make the Child of the Moon a multi-in-one entity.

Only newborns would feel fear about this.

Because they lack the common sense of being monsters, they still see themselves as the dead from the past, and therefore fear physical death.

To completely kill the Child of the Moon, their ashes must be soaked in holy water from the Dedication Path, or other liquids from other paths. Alternatively, they can be burned to death with flames and light, or their souls can be directly attacked and killed— Child of the Moon who are burned to death will skip their immortality and not become statues, but will directly turn into ashes, just like the old man who died after being attacked by Earthbound Spirit.

Such ashes cannot be used to create new Child of the Moon, nor can they be resurrected.

Lily was mentally prepared—a large number of Child of the Moon would inevitably gather in this hall, and their level would undoubtedly be higher than Child of the Moon who had escaped. And this was bound to be a fierce battle.

But in the end, the Child of the Moon sat alone in the hall.

She was a green-eyed woman with beautiful, long, flowing black hair and wearing glasses.

She sipped the Blood Wine alone, her expression indifferent and aloof.

Opposite her sat another woman who looked exactly like her. Black smoke billowed from her body as she stared at them with malice... Apart from not wearing glasses, she seemed no different from the other woman.

She was holding another girl in her arms. The girl was looking in Lily's direction, with a Fox, gentle, fake smile that Lily knew all too well.

Lily, relying on her intuition, almost immediately recognized the identity of the "other Bayard" who wasn't wearing glasses.

That is...

" —Miss Shadow Demon?" "How could this be..."

Upon witnessing this scene, the first to be bewildered and astonished... was the Shadow Demon in Lily's shadow.

Without a doubt, she also sensed the other party's identity.

"Thank you for your hard work, Alai. You've saved me a lot of time."

Iver smiled and raised a glass of wine to Lily: "Thirsty? Want some? There's no blood in this."

Her face held a mischievous glint that only she and Lily could understand.

Lily quickly realized what was happening.

He walked over helplessly, took the red wine from Iver's hand, skillfully opened the bottle for Iver, and poured two glasses—it was a type of red wine that had become extremely rare and expensive due to the wars in the empire.

Iver was probably too lazy to open the bottle himself, so he just left it there while waiting for Lily to come looking for him...

Lily casually remarked, "What are you doing, Mr. Gray? Oh, by the way, I've already killed the ban..."

"That would be great."

Iver said casually, "So now there are six confirmed dead—we've won again."

"... Six people?"

Lily, on the other hand, was somewhat surprised. "I thought you... you killed them all."

"One of them missed. He ran too fast, there was nothing he could do."

Iver gave a meaningful smile, "But it's fine to let him live... he's a talent. Killing him might diminish his potential."

—I understand, young master is tempted again.

Lily thought to herself.

Lily was now all too familiar with that expression—it was the same expression Iver had when he went to see Mr. "King." It was an intense desire that screamed, "I see, I want, I have."

However, with such a brief encounter, how could the young master have discerned the other party's true identity so quickly...? Such investigative ability is truly remarkable.

Lily sighed inwardly.

"...really."

The shadow demon in Lily's shadow sighed, seemingly somewhat bewildered. "This is... Promotion Ritual."

It had vaguely sensed something was wrong when it heard about "promotion opportunities," but it simply refused to believe it.

And now it has finally been confirmed.

The hatred, pain, and confusion in my heart... were all false. And the desire for revenge was also false.

Just thinking about it makes the hatred I feel when I see "Beard" so close to me seem so absurd and ridiculous.

—Looking at that Shadow Fiend, it knew that it had already devoured Bayard in the future. Otherwise, the silhouette created by the Shadow Fiend would not have any color.

If the person it conjures has color, it means it has already devoured the other and completed assimilation, incorporating the other into itself.

In other words, he had already completed his revenge in the future.

There are now three Bayards here.

Beard as the Child of the Moon; Beard resurrected as a demon; Beard becoming a Shadow Demon and returning to the past with his master...

Past, present, and future. Intertwined, this contradiction and pain made Shadow Fiend feel as if his no-longer-existent brain was emitting a painful buzz.

But in that very instant, as her desire for revenge faded, a new sense of confusion arose in her heart...

Look at the terrifying and chilling demonic posture of "my future self"—compared to "Beard" beside him, who really looks like the monster? "You guys should be leaving soon, right?"

The Child of the Moon, Bayad, suddenly spoke up, "And then we never saw each other again."

She gazed at the girl, her eyes filled with longing.

"If what you say is true, and you have already killed six Ascended Ones... then even the New Moon Ritual should be completed by now."

The Shadow Demon Bayard rumbled in a low voice. "Or is there some other mission you have to do here?"

"There is indeed one more."

The girl answered.

She looked at the Child of the Moon, a stunning smile on her face that startled the Shadow Demon.

She slowly walked over and hugged the Child of the Moon from behind.

She leaned close and whispered in my ear, "My master..."

"—May I kill you?"

Miss Bayard, who had her back to Iver, smiled upon hearing this.

That was a smile that appeared incredibly calm and composed, a smile that came from having already guessed and been mentally prepared.

"Sure."

Without turning her head, she turned her back to Iver and said softly, "We already agreed on this before."

The Shadow Demon, who witnessed this scene, felt his non-existent brain violently shaking.

It felt as if it had missed something important.

Another "self" appeared in Lily's shadow at that moment. She entered so smoothly and naturally that she forced the Shadow Fiend into a corner.

The Shadow Fiend finally realized why this person's shadow was so attractive and why he had instinctively crawled inside... like a puppy that had seen a new doghouse and ran in on its own.

"I have an idea."

The future self said, "I know you want to kill 'Beard' once, and so do I. But I can no longer devour her."

"Haven't you already devoured her once?"

The Shadow Demon scoffed, "You still want to eat me? But I'm fake; once you eat me, I'll just be air."

"No," the other self calmly replied, "I have not consumed Bayard."

"In the history I experienced, she was the one who offered herself to me willingly. That's why I stopped using the name Bayard and almost never used this body again."

"...What?"

The Shadow Demon was stunned.

"We went through a lot and eventually even became friends. Her self-sacrifice ended my revenge and finally calmed the raging anger in my heart. I regained my rationality, but I was also freed from the Wrath Brand and therefore could no longer become stronger."

The future Shadow Fiend calmly said, "However, my revenge has not ended properly."

"I think this may be my only chance in this life. The merciful Twin Mirrors allows me to connect with my past self... to connect with both of my past selves at the same time."

"Even if everything is fake, the experience left behind will be real—I think that's what Twin Mirrors is trying to say."

"...never mind."

Shadow Fiend was silent for a moment, then sighed, "Do as you please."

It felt itself gradually merging with another version of itself.

The Shadow Fiend is formless, without a body, a name, or color. Only a void of rage burns fiercely.

But now, it senses the cold and empty heart of another version of itself.

But now, within that place... it seems to vaguely sense a warmth that shouldn't exist.

It looked like flowing blood, or perhaps like a golden sun.

That was Deep Purple glow, a freedom that transcended all constraints—

"... That's wonderful."

Shadow Fiend sighed silently.

—I really envy you.

The shadow beneath Iver gradually spread out like a quagmire.

The Shadow Demon, transformed into a hound, emerged from beneath the motionless Miss Bayard.

The dog's head, taller than a man, opened its mouth, revealing huge, sharp teeth. The shadow hound swallowed Bayad whole and dragged him into the shadows that resembled a black swamp.

That was "Shadow Hound's Bite," the Shadow Demon's strongest move. It instantly devours and carries away a person—even if the opponent tries their best to resist, they will be taken to the Dream Realm and lose their physical body.

If the opponent's resistance is ineffective or they simply do not resist, they will become food for the Shadow Fiend.

—In this way, all the tasks are completed.

Iver took a sip of the expensive red wine, looked at the Shadow Demon who had suddenly lost his voice after devouring Bayard, and calmly said, "As for the last person, it should be Mr. Stranger who was next to me at the time. He was bought by Bashir Valentine and should still be discussing alchemy with him in the carriage."

"As for the woman beside me... she is not Alai, but Gray. I am Alai."

"Is this acceptable, Terpsichore? Does this meet the settlement conditions for Secret Reflection?"

After a brief silence, a soft, ethereal voice rang out:

"Triggering the victory condition of ' Secret Reflection ' results in an early settlement, ignoring Necessary Task— "

A pure white light shone before the eyes of everyone, including all the deceased participants in the ritual.

That was the brilliance of a hastily constructed dream world suddenly collapsing and disintegrating.

Before everyone's eyes, a series of constantly changing images appeared: a young man bound and burning with anger, shouting curses; a young man walking in the dark passage, suddenly having an ice spike pierce the back of his head from behind;

A mass of indistinct objects was engulfed and devoured by countless scarlet tentacles amidst a piercing scream;

The girl lying blankly on the ground bled from all seven orifices, her eyes empty and lifeless; the young man's naked body was covered with traces of strong acid corrosion, his face showing a painful struggle; the girl wore a helpless but not panicked smile, calmly being pierced into a sea urchin by the shadow spear; the girl was happily chatting with someone at the table, the atmosphere between them harmonious and warm; the young man's feet were entangled in shadows, making his smile eerie and terrifying; and finally, the obedient girl lay peacefully asleep in the arms of the black-haired woman.

The image freezes on the girl's sweet sleeping face, then the entire scene collapses and turns into the Blood Sea, slowly dripping down.

Iver couldn't hold back any longer.

"Why is this the scene?!"

Update complete!

Today's word count is close to nine thousand, so it's a bit late.

I feel like I'll be writing over 10,000 words soon, so I'll have to leave the entry for tomorrow!