Skyborn

Returning to that question, it's about resisting the emptiness that comes with a long life.

The three protective feathers each offered their own answer.

For freedom, for ideals, for love.

Gloria Sebastian drowned in a candy jar filled with dreams.

Wood Abby boarded the Hell Express, bound for the deepest part of the Earth.

Fay Foroisin was struck in the heart by Cupid's arrow, but fate had not yet tolled its death knell for her.

Such a large meeting, Judas remained completely oblivious and unaware.

He was already isolated and helpless.

At this moment, two apprentice craftsmen resting on the first floor of the ship's cabin were chatting idly.

Billy the Kid was completely oblivious; he had no idea what kind of girl he'd actually hooked up with.

In other words, he once had a romantic relationship with the incarnation of the Goddess Aio.

"Why am I so unlucky, Fuyanni?"

Fuyanni replied, "Where? Where does 'where' mean?"

"The expedition is over, and I didn't get any credit," Billy muttered. "I was dreaming of making something of myself! But my girlfriend ran away! She's a spy! I came to Shambhala to clear my head—my first field mission was to kill bad women. Seeing Teacher Su Ling stomp that rat demon to death made me feel terrible. I thought about Fay end up like that one day..."

Fuyanni remained silent. He didn't understand his older brother, had no experience with this kind of romance, and dared not speak carelessly.

Billy continued, "Now we have to go back, and it feels like we haven't done anything, just writing reports and going through procedures. Then we just drift through life aimlessly."

"At least there's good news!" Fuyanni exclaimed immediately. "The gunsmith teacher is here! He's still alive and well!"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes," Billy Horn replied perfunctorily. "He really is amazing."

At 5:15 AM, Judas's convoy left the area surrounding Aizong Mausoleum and headed towards the official road from the boundary marker. Just as they were about to enter the wilderness and forest...

--A gunshot rang out.

The [Phoenix] UI displays the real-time distance, and the gunsmith, positioned at a high vantage point, fires and throws grenades, executing a smooth, quick combo.

Sixteen dust crystal projectiles, carrying the ferocious force of [Storm Eye], struck Judas's chariot and carriage, followed by a barrage of eight fragmentation grenades and two twelve-shot stun grenades.

Judas's beautiful dream was only half-finished when a familiar spiritual pressure wave tore him to shreds. The arrows almost formed a straight line, engulfing the despicable and pathetic demon in a whirlwind.

The twelve accompanying Wings of Light were pulled, crushed, and torn apart by the shockwave, quickly merging with the horses and carriages into a charred mess.

Judas's mask of Yakin was slowly melting under the intense heat, and his body was being torn apart by [Storm Eye]. This special technique of infusing bullets with psionic energy was a skill that Mali Pero had used before—the gunsmith learned it on the spot and used it to multiply the power of the Dust Crystal II's cloud explosive.

The destructive power of [Storm Eye Of The Storm] was something Jiang Xueming had never dared to imagine before. As he hid among the bushes and pulled the trigger on his target, he was still a little unsure of himself—this was the first time he had faced Judas head-on. Unlike the grand scenes of fighting demons and dragons in myths, the target he was about to decapitate seemed to be completely unprotected, as if he had not received any intelligence about the danger. He appeared like a lamb to the slaughter, swaggering out of the boundary marker.

Meanwhile, Su Ling surveyed the surrounding area with her binoculars for over a minute, confirming that no new targets had appeared.

A new message appeared in the Phoenix chat room.

Are there any survivors?

Gunsmith: "Wait a little longer. [Storm Eye of the Storm] combined with the arrows is very powerful, but I can't be sure this group is completely dead."

The barrel of Dust Crystal II was still hot. The area bombarded by the arrows was barren, and the ground still retained the intense heat of the flames. The gravel road was completely blackened, and a lot of charcoal ash flew into the shallow stream.

The group was scattered about, and it was impossible to tell whose body parts belonged to whom. Xue Ming had excellent eyesight and could see a few heads that were still relatively intact. Fortunately, the head of the Blood-giving Monster was sturdy enough—otherwise, he would have had no way to examine the body.

"I think I saw it."

Su Ling: "You found Judas?"

Xue Ming: "It's definitely him. The spirit has a face made of sub-gold material, and he seems to be constantly projecting his soul power, still struggling."

Judas was left with only half a body; his brain had stopped functioning. The magnificent gold and silver sedan chair in the carriage saved his life, preventing him from dying on the spot.

However, the spiraling force of [Storm Eye] trapped him in this jeweled coffin. Starting from his chest, his lower body was torn apart by soft gold and silver iron bars, leaving only one arm that could barely maintain a moving posture.

His hair was burned off by the dust crystal bomb, his jaw was dislocated, and he couldn't utter a word. His eyelids were torn apart by the sharp dust crystal gas, one eyeball was completely melted, and pus and blood kept gushing from his mouth and nose.

Why did this happen? Why... why?

Judas couldn't understand it; he was still struggling, his mind filled with questions.

"Where does this firepower come from? Why?"

"Did Wood betray me? That can't be right."

"He knows, he knows, I still have a substitute, and the Rose Fairy can help me."

"I can come back to life, and I can settle the score with him."

He dragged the wreckage of the golden sedan chair toward the side of the river, his [Midas Touch] spirit body protecting his head well.

Without hesitation, the gunsmith switched to a new magazine and unleashed a torrent of fire.

--Fifteen more arrows were fired, and the low slope on one side of the official road was already engulfed in flames. The explosions and surging shockwaves swallowed everything.

Even as Judas lay dying, he struggled. His spirit searched for all sorts of obstructive substances, kissing these obstacles, trying to break down the soil beneath him, and digging a trench to avoid the bullets. But it was no use—the gunsmith had chosen a high point as his firing position, possessing the best field of view; he could always find the best field of view.

Judas was dead beyond dead; his spirit was destroyed by the Dust Crystal Rocket, and his physical body was blasted apart by the raging flames the instant he entered the Gate of Death.

A cluster of brilliant blood-red butterflies emerged from the direction of the convoy, and the sun had just peeked over the mountaintop.

The gunsmith quickly took out his binoculars to observe the shooting results, then aimed his gun and waited five minutes to prevent a resurrection.

He still couldn't believe that Judas had died so simply.

--Life is full of incredibly resilient opponents who repeatedly demonstrate medical miracles to him through acts of self-sacrifice.

Even he himself was like that, administering Universal Elixir at an unbelievable speed.

The Phoenix UI displays a death notification; Judas's originally bright red health bar has turned gray, indicating "[Dead]".

The gunsmith cautiously approached the side of the official road and came to the crater. There he saw a golden face emerge from a patch of scorched earth—it was the medium tool that Judas used to modify soul power.

Even with all its might, the Midas Touch could only lead Judas to this pit. The carbon and silicon crystals rising and falling in the pit, swept by the wind, confirmed Judas's true form. This is the power of Midas Touch, and it cannot be faked.

"He's definitely dead." Xue Ming could no longer find Judas's body, but he could confirm that he was dead.

Su Ling breathed a sigh of relief, "What's next?"

Jiang Xueming lifted the alert and immediately began cleaning up the battlefield, but found no useful information from the wreckage of the carriages and horses.

"I need to enter Aizong Mausoleum to search for the missing Quick Blade Squad. We can't let our brothers remain here without knowing why."

Meanwhile, the sun god of Shambhala, the supreme goddess Amon - Goddess Aio.

From this inexhaustible source of energy emanates the intense spiritual pressure of [Skyborn].

The passenger ship Billy Horn was on suddenly began to rock, and the waves grew larger and larger.

Inside the second-floor ship's tower, Fay Foroisin's soul power emanated from her body.

The lark spread its wings and transformed into the form of a harpy. It was almost 250 centimeters tall, with a huge body and golden and white feathers all over its body. Suddenly, a hand stretched out from a patch of black feathers on its chest.

Judas, looking disheveled, slowly crawled out from among the markings on his feathers.

Unlike the previous "Judas," this brown-skinned youth looked to be only in his early twenties, with a nervous expression and a simple mind. He wore a green shirt, loose jeans, sneakers covered in purplish-red paint, and a baseball cap worn backwards—a hip-hop boy.

"It's a ghost!" Judas cried. "What's going on?!"

His sports watch has the factory barcode SE1000168 -- if this is the number in a parallel universe, then this is Judas number 168.

As with all time-travel stories, this guy was summoned to FE33031 by some inexplicable gravitational force.

His memory was a jumbled mess, a fishy smell emanated from his mouth and nose, and a powerful spirit with the ability to Midas Touch was gradually altering his personality. The mental confusion brought about by this change was driving him insane.

One second he was partying in a Chicago subway station, discussing the future with his band's drummer.

The next second, a brave homeless man pushed him, and the poisonous insect ended up on the subway tracks.

Before turning into a pile of minced meat, he seemed to grab onto something, crawled out of the warm feathers, and then came here—

--Fay stuffed a magic pill directly into Judas's mouth. With almost no resistance, the round ball of flesh, like a ginseng fruit sinking into the soil, immediately began to parasitize and transform Judas's body.

"--You filthy bitch?!" Judas hadn't even come to his senses yet.

He grabbed Fay's chin and pulled up the protective feather.

"You poisoned me? Where am I?"

Fay's neck was tightly gripped by Judas, and she had little strength to resist her leader, even though the holy blood within Judas had only just awakened.

"Calm down, leader."

Judas's eyes were bloodshot; the memory of being bombarded by the Dust Crystal Arrows had put him in a state of stress.

"What did you say?! I can't hear you! It sounds like this?!"

He roughly pulled on Fay's hair, exposing the woman's face completely to the sunlight.

"You're my subordinate? The Immortals Alliance?"

"Great! This seems interesting!"

The new personality and the old personality are slowly merging, and Judas No. 168 is becoming one with the previous leader of the alliance.

"So, if that's the case, then I'm a big boss too! Hahahaha!"

Judas seemed to have lost his mind; he tore open Fay's cloak and then reached into his undergarments.

Fay cursed, "You scoundrel! How dare you?! I am Amon's daughter! How dare you?!"

"What's wrong with touching her? It won't hurt you," Judas pouted, looking aggrieved. "I'm still a virgin, I've never held a girl's hand before—according to this body's memories, you seem to be a goddess? If you're a goddess, shouldn't you serve me?"

Fay kicked the leader in the stomach, making Judas turn pale.

To be honest, this isn't the first time. When the last Judas was resurrected through the [Skyborn] ritual, he wasn't much better off.

"How dare you harm my noble body?!" Judas hardened his heart and shouted the true name of his soul power, "[Turn It Into Midas Touch]! Kill this wretch!"

The pitch-black robe almost completely enveloped Fay.

--Without the golden face concealing it, the spirit of [Turn It Into Midas Touch] poked its beak out from under the robe; it was an ugly carrion vulture.

More like the Death God than the gunsmith, Judas's spirit, in its rage, charged towards Lady Fay after Judas's emotional breakdown.

--The lark fled in a sorry state. Although she wouldn't die, and her mother, Io, would resurrect Fay again and again, "not being afraid of death" didn't mean "desiring death." She didn't want to leave the passenger ship just like that, Judas would become a madman without the guidance of his feathers.

The vulture's head spewed out grayish-white smoke everywhere; this was the beak of [Turn It Into Midas Touch]—anything it kissed would turn into a lump of mud.

The bird's beak pecked at the ship's window, and the wooden frame instantly turned into wet, mushy mud.

The vulture flapped its wings at Fay and then kissed the iron railing. The once smooth iron bar was corroded by the smoke, and a clump of mud was scooped off, gradually decomposing into decaying fragments. The elemental iron quickly oxidized and turned into floating rust and fly ash.

"Stop!" Fay shouted. "You fucking don't want to live anymore?! Judas!"

Faced with the death threat posed by the incarnation of Io, this idiot American youth, number 168, finally woke up a little bit.

--But only a little bit.

His arrogance and domineering nature make him an excellent role model for every time traveler.

Who do you think you are?!

Fay remained calm and composed, retreating step by step back into the cabin.

Judas dismissed the spirit, pressed on relentlessly, and gleaned crucial information from the chaotic memories—

"--Damn it, did you even ask me how I felt before bringing me here?"

"There's another group of people chasing me? What a bunch of stupid nonsense!"

He realized it, remembering how the previous Judas had died.

"You slut! What's wrong with me touching you?! According to the transaction agreement, I am the chosen one of the Goddess Aio! If you want the Holy Grail, then cooperate with me obediently!"

The cooperation between the sun god and Judas is related to the Dagda's Cauldron.

This is also the main reason why Fay repeatedly and unconditionally resurrected Judas, making him the guardian feather.

"Hello"

Billy Horn opened the door to the second floor of the ship's cabin.

"I'll only bother you for one minute."

He spoke gently and patiently, completely ignoring Judas and Fay, whom he didn't recognize. The conversation he overheard sounded like a couple flirting, with a hint of arguing and a cold war in the background.

"It's so noisy. Everyone here is a tourist from Japan, right?"

Billy continued—

"--You booked an entire cabin, it wasn't easy for you to get together, although..."

"It seems like traveling can easily lead to couples breaking up. For example, there's a saying in China: if you go to climb Mount Tai together, you'll either get married or break up."

Suddenly, Billy became emotionally vulnerable, and his eyes welled up with tears.

"But I still hope that you two can cherish your relationship."

What you don't want, others may never get in their entire lives.

Before he could finish speaking, Fuyanni quickly pulled his older brother away.

I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!

Fuyanni apologized repeatedly, bowing deeply to Judas and Fay.

"Sorry to bother you, I'll take him back right away."

Fay a low voice.

"Can we talk properly now?"

Judas calmed down. He recognized the gunsmith's apprentices and knew what the consequences would be if he alerted them.

He couldn't disembark for the time being, and finding a piece of human flesh to eat in the deep mountains and forests was harder than climbing to heaven.

If those two brats recognize his true form and send his whereabouts back to the command center, he'll have to change bodies again and follow Fay's spirit around, wasting a lot of time.

"What the hell!"