Choice

Aaron had no idea how long he'd been in the darkness. He could only roll around in it, but luckily, the activated soil was soft enough not to cause him much harm.

Eventually, he fell out of a crack somewhere, and Sart landed on the ground right behind him.

Dazed from the fall, Aaron struggled to his feet. He found himself in another passage of the sewers, this one apparently a small, abandoned storage area, cluttered with various half-rotten wooden barrels and crates.

A wilted chandelier hung from the ceiling, its candle still flickering weakly, at least providing him some light.

Who on earth would just throw a chandelier down into the sewers?

Aaron fought against the nausea, his mind foggy as he thought.

"Damn Bals..." a hoarse voice called out from not too far away. Faintly, Aaron also smelled a scorched scent.

He instinctively looked towards the source of the voice and saw a figure standing silently in the darkness.

It was Tog.

"Why did you capture me?"

Even though it was a pointless question, Aaron had to force himself to ask it.

He heard an extremely faint creaking sound from behind him. Even though Sart hadn't said anything, he knew Sart was opening his spice box.

He had to buy Sart some time, and also use his words to cover up the subtle sounds.

"Bals broke the Contract," Tog said angrily. "We had an agreement!"

Seemingly in a fit of rage, he even coughed loudly, his heavy gasps echoing in the space.

Although Tog had dodged Bals' metallic torrent, he had still taken some damage by surprise.

At this moment, only he knew that a significant portion of his body had been severely burned. If one got close enough, they could even smell the aroma of roasted meat.

Of course, none of that mattered now. He would soon have a new body.

"What kind of Contract did you make with Lord Bals?"

"Heh, if you want to know, I can tell you," Tog said dismissively. "Bals killed Tien. To cover it up, he made a Contract with me. He'll let me complete the Hand-Chopping Ritual for Tien and bring a group of Transcendants to meet me. All I have to do is take responsibility for Tien's death."

Aaron's mouth twitched. Even though he had vaguely guessed a few things before this, hearing Tog personally lay out such explosive information made him feel somewhat incredulous.

Good heavens, he truly is the officially recognized scapegoat. One is willing to give it, and the other is willing to take the blame.

Just as Bals had said before, how could he, a Lord and a noble of the Yagrant Kingdom, collude with followers of a Heretical Cult?

If this got out, wouldn't that...

Wait a minute?!

We all know about this now...

Aaron was struck with a sudden fear. He felt like he was starting to grasp the entire sequence of events.

Bals probably never imagined that Tien's death would lead to such an uncontrollable situation.

Because of Tien's death, the House of Iris sent Alice and Ed personally to Leyden City to investigate.

Sart, a Star Tower apprentice passing by, was unintentionally drawn into this sudden incident.

And after that letter, which was more of a symbolic plea for help, was sent to the Star Tower, Bals hadn't expected Julian, a white-robed figure from the Star Tower, to pay so much attention to such a trivial matter. He had actually sent a Silver Tier Prophet to investigate!

Tien, after all, was only a Bronze Tier Diviner, he hadn't even earned the title of Prophet.

He had tried three times to enter the Star Tower to obtain a title, but had been ruthlessly rejected by the assessment.

For such an ordinary person, killed by a follower of a Heretical Cult, it might be considered a matter worth noting for the Yagrant Kingdom.

But for an organization like the Star Tower, which was transcendent above the three great kingdoms, wasn't this a trivial matter?

Before, Aaron had thought the Star Tower was genuinely paying attention to Tien's death, but now, upon closer reflection, the Star Tower's focus probably wasn't on this matter...

What was it that made the Star Tower pay attention to this?

Thinking of this, Aaron wore a thoughtful expression. He forced himself not to look back at Sart, who was preparing the ritual, but he had already formed a judgment in his mind.

This "Second Generation Tower" seemed to be more important than he had initially imagined...

"Mr. Sart, I know you're stalling for time..." Unexpectedly, Tog said coldly, his words plunging Aaron into an icy abyss. "But aren't I too?"

In the darkness beyond the candlelight, several fragmented sounds arose, as if several rats were slowly approaching.

But Aaron knew those weren't rats at all. They were the Crawling Hand.

Tog had known from the beginning that Aaron was stalling for time, and that Sart was preparing the ritual in secret, but he also needed time.

His Crawling Hand also needed time to arrive.

And now, they had arrived.

"Mr. Sart, I know you have a good teacher. Therefore, if you're willing to pretend you don't see what happens next, I can pretend I don't see you..." Tog's tone softened slightly as he spoke loudly. "You know what this means."

Although he hadn't obtained Tien's Crawling Hand, if he could offer this novice, who had only recently entered the Black Iron Tier, as a Sacrifice to the "Crawling Hand," it wouldn't be a total loss.

At least he could survive until the next sacrifice.

He would settle the score with Bals properly!

After hearing Tog's words, Aaron's heart grew cold. Even though Sart had been protective of him until now...

He could rely on his status as the second generation of the Star Tower to confront Alice head-on, or he could still protect himself under Bals's commentary, and even when facing Siosand, he could find a way to make Siosand protect him.

But what about now?

In front of a Silver Tier heretical cultist, would Sart still stick to his choice?

Aaron dared not think further; he dared not test human nature in the face of life and death, whether his own or others'.

"No," Sart's voice came from behind him, dry and hoarse, yet with unquestionable resolve.

"Are you sure?"

Tog's tone was surprised, and he couldn't help but ask again.

Julian's protectiveness of his own was as famous as the name of the Star Tower.

In the past, a Gold Tier heretical cultist accidentally killed a Silver Tier Prophet, and Julian personally pursued him.

At that time, Julian had just become the Tower Master not long ago, yet he abandoned the Star Tower altogether and, traveling alone across more than half the continent, brought back that unfortunate heretical cultist from the other end of the continent with his own hands!

The heretical cultist was later placed on the top of the Star Tower, where he lived for another year under the starlight.

The constant wails and screams were a fresh memory for everyone who came to the Star Tower for advanced studies during that period.

If he killed Sart, who knew how many ways this protective Julian would find him and make him live a little longer!

Sart had a good teacher, and Tog dared not act.

He only believed in the Crawling Hand; that did not mean he had lost his reason and judgment.

Sart remained silent, but he no longer made any effort to hide the sounds of him setting up the ritual.

Faint sounds came from behind Aaron.

This represented his answer.