The Final Appraisal

"For our sake, too many people had already been sacrificed." Isabella said painfully, "I saw Missionary Bujiter die right before my eyes. That being would never let me go."

"I think you've gotten something wrong!" Chris laughed. "I'm not that idiot Bujiter!"

"You!" Isabella stared at Chris in astonishment.

"Bujiter wanted to take you away because of his beliefs. He wanted to lend a hand to anyone worth saving. But now it seemed that you had given up on yourself. You simply weren't worth Bujiter saving."

"But I'm only a mercenary who accepted a commission. Taking you away is my mission. I don't care what you want. Whether you're willing or not, I'll take you with me."

"After all, Bujiter paid for this mission with his life!" Chris turned and walked outside, his tone exceptionally solemn. "So no matter what, I have to complete this mission. Only then can I avoid letting that idiot's payment go to waste!"

Isabella watched Chris gradually depart, and tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes. Her fate had been so cruelly twisted. Though she had been born into an aristocratic family, she had encountered a coup. Her family had been implicated, forcing her to flee alone to the Kexi People settlement at the border.

She had luckily met a lover with whom she could support each other for a lifetime, only for him to be brutally killed while she was pregnant. She had struggled to give birth to her daughter and painstakingly raised her, yet she had always lived beneath the shadow of a demon.

If Isabella had not been strong-willed, if she had not had a daughter to care for, if Jacques had not told her to live well before he died, this woman would likely have gone mad long ago.

"Mom, don't cry. Everything will pass." Nara embraced her mother and comforted her.

In the distance, two black-robed Crow Men watched Isabella and her daughter through the window, their gazes cold.

"I thought Isabella had already been scared out of her wits. Now it seemed she had once again entertained thoughts of escape." One of the black-robed figures spoke slowly. "Should I say, as expected of the legendary ranger Chris?"

"Then it seemed I could cross blades with this great legend." The other chuckled, looking extremely eager.

"If you want to go, then go, Nozades. He is your idol, after all. It was because of his exploits that you chose to travel abroad back then." The black-robed man walked toward Isabella as he continued, "Leave Isabella to me. They are people my lord ordered us to watch over. Besides that ranger, others have also set their sights on them."

"Understood, Lord Adre." Nozades nodded seriously. "Chris may be my idol, but with Lord Negary's blessing, I will surely defeat him. After all, the greatest respect one can show an idol is to defeat him with one's own hands!"

Komoro prayed once more. He did not care in the slightest about Chris leaving, nor about the Crow Men preparing to act. Looking at the pitch-black holy statue surrounded by crows before him, Komoro could only pray over and over again to numb himself.

Though his body still belonged to him for now, he knew clearly that his days were numbered.

Footsteps approached from afar. Komoro's body stiffened, then immediately relaxed. He rose to his feet and looked at the handsome youth standing before him. The youth's features bore some resemblance to his own, and that bloodline seemed to make Komoro a little more lucid.

"I never expected it to be you." Komoro seemed to have completely let go, a hint of shattered madness in his smile. "Was this Neg... that lord's twisted sense of humor?"

"I merely happened to have some free time." Noah said calmly. Even though he knew his relationship with the man before him, even though he knew what was about to happen, not a ripple of emotion stirred within him.

Komoro's heart turned ice-cold. He was still that cowardly little brat. Even now, he did not dare speak that lord's name aloud. In a daze, he returned to that moment ten years ago.

He held a bow and faced the crows trapped in a net. Uncle Dax lay collapsed nearby, black blood spilling from the corner of his mouth as he frantically shouted for him to shoot those crows. He gathered his courage and prepared to loose the arrows.

But in the next instant, the fishing net was torn apart. That person—no, that demon—walked out from the flock of crows. Evil and ominous; merely seeing his figure drained every last trace of Komoro's courage.

"What exactly do you want from me?!" Komoro screamed madly. "Can't I even resist in my dreams? Can't I even try to think about it?!"

"Foolish man, had you not already offered your forehead to me? Then why did you still fear me?" Wang Yuan stood amid a pile of corpses with an unrestrained smile. There was a warped, bewitching beauty about him, granting Wang Yuan an indescribable charm.

It was precisely this charm that made countless people submit to him. Whether Kexi People or Kente People, mercenaries or merchants, even ranger heroes or priests with faith, all found it difficult to escape the fate of being dominated by this being.

The more it was so, the more pained and frenzied Komoro became. It was he who had brought this demon out of the wilderness and spread him among the Kexi People. It was also because of him that Komoro had become abandoned by all, a solitary leader—and even a test subject at the mercy of others.

"You are far too foolish, Komoro." Wang Yuan walked toward Komoro step by step. "Since you were in such pain and regret, then cast aside those insignificant things. Morality, emotions—choose to submit to me completely. Then everything that troubled you would become meaningless."

Wang Yuan stopped before Komoro and extended his hand. "Speak your choice, Komoro. In my mercy, I have removed every other option for you. So no matter what you choose, you will no longer suffer."

"Hahahaha!" Komoro looked at Wang Yuan's outstretched hand and laughed madly. Just as Wang Yuan had said, he had been driven completely into a dead end.

He stepped forward, and the illusion receded from him. The person before him was no longer Wang Yuan, but Noah—his younger brother, Noah.

"Little brother, if you can, say sorry to Father for me!" Komoro embraced Noah, leaving behind his final words. At this moment, he was finally no longer afraid.

A sharp blade pierced through his heart. Noah expressionlessly pushed Komoro's corpse away, collected the golden blood flowing from Komoro's heart as instructed by God, then turned to the Crow Men who had appeared outside and said, "Issue a warrant across the entire territory for the criminal Chris Mordo. Charge: murdering the former leader, Komoro."

"At last, you looked somewhat decent, Komoro." Wang Yuan stood beneath a tree, watching crows peck at the rotting corpses as he gave this former servant his final appraisal.

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