Death of Nameless

"You bastard..." Clutching Sode no Shirayuki tightly, Chen Wuming said with a dark expression, "Since you want to die so badly, then I'll grant your wish one more time! Since I was capable of killing you once, I can definitely do it a second time! This time, don't count on some fucking god coming to save you!!!" Though he was deeply wary of the possible enemy hiding in the shadows, he could not afford to focus on that potentially terrifying foe for the moment!

He had better deal with Gerard first. Even if it consumed a great deal of his magic power, even if he did not have much magic power left, facing one hidden enemy was still better than being attacked from both the light and the shadows, wasn't it?! If it really came to that, he would truly be powerless to turn things around...

No matter how strong he was, if he entered a battle of attrition when his magic power was already running low, then faced with a joint attack from enemies in the open and in hiding, there was absolutely no way he could escape alone! For all he knew, he might even be killed on the spot!!

It was precisely because he had considered all these possible consequences that Chen Wuming decided he had to deal with Gerard first!!! Although these thoughts seemed lengthy, they had actually flashed through his mind in an instant. With a slight turn of his thoughts, he immediately decided on his course of action, and Chen Wuming's move was already unleashed—the same technique as before, Second Dance: White Ripple!

Just as Chen Wuming had expected, Gerard was immediately thrown into a panic when faced with this ferocious attack. He hurriedly prepared to evade White Ripple's range, but would Chen Wuming allow him to succeed? Obviously not! Or rather, Chen Wuming had already guessed the moment he unleashed this move that Gerard would think about dodging instead of blocking! It was not because he had some supernatural ability to foresee the future, but because this had all been part of his calculations from the start!

White Ripple was merely a feint. His true follow-up move was still waiting! Therefore, whether Gerard dodged or not, he would inevitably suffer the next attack! If he dodged, the follow-up was already waiting at the side, just waiting for him to evade! If he did not dodge? Heh heh, even better. Never mind whether he could withstand White Ripple's fierce attack—so what if he did? Chen Wuming could simply follow up with the move he had prepared!! Attacked from both sides, Gerard would die even more miserably!!! After all, White Ripple might only be a feint meant to draw attention, but that did not mean this "feint" lacked offensive power! On the contrary, not only did it have offensive power, it was incredibly powerful!

Therefore, whether Gerard dodged or not, the result would be the same. Just as Chen Wuming had said before, Gerard would be cut down by him once again!! The main reason was that Gerard had far too little combat experience. He possessed immense magic power, yet lacked actual battle experience and powerful techniques, which was why Chen Wuming could calculate his every move so completely! After all, though his body was that of a child like Gerard's, Chen Wuming's soul was that of a genuine adult! It might be shameless, but if he could not outsmart even a brat, then he had lived those twenty-some years on Earth for nothing!! He might as well smash his head against a wall and die!!!

"It's over, Gerard!" In a flash, he appeared behind Gerard. Looking at the disbelief in Gerard's eyes, Chen Wuming said calmly, "This time, no one can save you!!!" Though he felt waves of grief at having to strike again and kill Gerard, the younger brother who had once been as close to him as family, he knew Gerard could no longer turn back. To prevent him from continuing down the wrong path, Chen Wuming endured the pain and attacked mercilessly once more!

In order to ensure success in a single stroke, he even risked consuming most of his already meager remaining magic power to use Flash Step once again!

As soon as he spoke, the Zanpakutō in his hand slashed viciously toward Gerard's neck beneath Gerard's despairing gaze!

"Hmph—" Yet the world was always unpredictable. Just as Chen Wuming's Zanpakutō was about to strike Gerard's neck and kill him on the spot, the owner of those strange eyes gave a heavy, ill-timed snort!

Then, from the corner of his eye, Chen Wuming saw a sharp ice spear suddenly emerge from the shadows and shoot toward Erza on the sea at incredible speed!!!

"What?!!" Chen Wuming was instantly shocked! He had known there might be a powerful opponent hiding in the shadows, and he had long been on high alert! But he never expected that the enemy would deliberately avoid attacking him and instead target Erza, who was standing blankly aboard the ship, lost in thought as she watched their battle?! And deliberately let him see it?!!

What a brilliant move of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao! If he killed Gerard now, then given Erza's current state, she would certainly be unable to escape death at the enemy's hands! Though Chen Wuming knew the enemy's intentions, he had no choice but to respond, because he would never allow Erza to be harmed! But there was no time to think of anything else. Chen Wuming immediately made a decision, forcibly turning the Zanpakutō that was about to cut Gerard's neck to the side. Then, using the immense momentum from his full-powered slash, he sent Sode no Shirayuki flying from his hand!

"Clang—" That was the sound of the ice spear being shattered by Sode no Shirayuki. Just before the ice spear struck Erza, Sode no Shirayuki, though launched later, arrived first and smashed it to pieces!!

"Psh—" That was the sound of blood spurting as flesh was pierced!

"Big Brother Nameless!!!" Erza cried out in anguish. The instant the ice spear shattered, she snapped out of her daze. Turning around, she saw Gerard punch straight through Chen Wuming! Realizing what had happened, Erza immediately screamed herself hoarse!

"Psh—" Gerard pulled his right hand from Chen Wuming's chest, watching blood gush wildly from the wound. After a brief stunned pause, he burst into mad laughter. "Ahahahaha! I'm the winner! Me!!! Hahahahahahaha—" Although he did not understand why Chen Wuming had suddenly let his blade fly from his hand at the very moment he was about to kill him, Gerard no longer cared! Without hesitation, he seized this rare opportunity and poured every last bit of magic power in his body into his right hand, then viciously drove a punch into Chen Wuming's completely exposed chest!!

Without surprise, after throwing his Zanpakutō with all his strength, Chen Wuming was in the awkward state of having exhausted his old strength before new strength could arise. Furthermore, his magic power was basically depleted. Faced with Gerard's sudden, ferocious punch, there was no way he could dodge it! Much less block it!! Thus, he was pierced straight through on the spot!!!

"Cough, cough cough—Gerard..." Covering his chest, Chen Wuming swayed slightly with every cough, while copious blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. Looking at Gerard's crazed expression, a trace of sorrow involuntarily flashed through his eyes. In an incomparably weak voice, Chen Wuming said with difficulty, "Don't you understand yet? So-called gods simply cannot exist. And though Zeref is powerful, all he can bring is destruction! So he is not qualified to be called a god! Stop making mistake after mistake for the sake of a false god!!! Cough cough cough—ugh!" As he spoke, he began coughing violently again, then spat out a huge mouthful of blood!

The instant Sode no Shirayuki completed its task, it had reappeared in his right hand. This was a basic application of Requip Magic. Yet he did not use Sode no Shirayuki to kill Gerard on the spot as well. First, because he no longer had the strength to swing his sword. Second, because if he killed Gerard now, then Erza would definitely be killed by that person hiding in the shadows! Since that person had helped Gerard, he was likely Gerard's current companion, Chen Wuming thought. And since Gerard had previously decided to spare Erza, he presumably would not attack her again! By the same logic, that companion hiding in the shadows presumably would not specifically kill Erza either, right?!

Chen Wuming gave a helpless bitter smile. Though he was not entirely certain, this was the only gamble he could make now! He had to gamble that the other party would not harm Erza! There was no choice. Just as he had said before, Chen Wuming had almost completely lost the ability to move! The only reason he could still stand and speak properly was because Sode no Shirayuki was braced against the ground, supporting his entire body! But even so, it was likely that he would soon collapse from exhaustion and be unable to rise again!

There was no helping it. The wound in his chest was simply too large. Blood continuously gushed from his completely pierced chest, staining even the immaculate white Sode no Shirayuki in his hand a vivid crimson...

"Goodbye, Erza, Gerard..." He murmured softly. The sight before his eyes grew increasingly blurred, and his consciousness gradually became hazy. He looked at Gerard before him, then turned back to look at Erza on the sea. Memories of the happy days he had spent living with Gerard and Erza surfaced uncontrollably in his mind. As he watched those scenes flicker before him, a yearning smile appeared on Chen Wuming's lips. He desperately stretched out his left hand, as though trying to firmly seize those beautiful memories. Longing yet helpless, Chen Wuming sighed softly, "If only... things could be like they were before... How wonderful that would be..." As soon as he finished speaking, every image shattered with a crack into countless fragments and vanished before his eyes. With that faint sound, Chen Wuming's consciousness finally sank into complete darkness...

"Splash—" With the sound of something falling into the water, his body slowly tilted backward beyond his control. Stained red by blood, Chen Wuming slowly fell into the boundless sea beneath Erza's grief-stricken gaze, Gerard's ecstatic laughter, and the smug chuckle of the owner of those strange eyes hidden in the dark...

"Clink—" With a crisp sound, the sole remaining silver earring on Chen Wuming's earlobe slowly fell to the ground just before he plunged into the sea.

"Big Brother Nameless—" Erza cried out in heart-wrenching anguish. She could no longer bear the crushing blow, and her head immediately began to ring violently! The instant she saw Gerard punch through Chen Wuming, she had already been completely dumbstruck. Now, seeing Chen Wuming's blood-soaked body fall into the sea and vanish without a trace, she felt as though a great mountain within her heart had come crashing down!

She stared blankly at the place where Chen Wuming had fallen into the water as silent tears finally streamed uncontrollably down her face. Gerard might have been the one she admired, but Chen Wuming had been the person she respected most deeply!! After meeting Chen Wuming, the mature, older-brotherly air he displayed at every moment had allowed Erza, who had lost all her family from a young age, to experience the rare comfort of being cared for and cherished by an older brother! Though they shared no blood relation, that familial feeling had still been so real! It was like the sibling bond she felt toward Shou. Erza had always regarded Chen Wuming with the affection of a younger sister toward an older brother! Compared to the admiration she felt for Gerard, this feeling of having an older brother was undoubtedly something she relied on even more!

Therefore, after seeing the older brother she respected most die at the hands of the person she admired most, Erza could no longer endure such an enormous blow. Her head spun, and she fainted.

"My most deeply respected big brother, in the end, I was still the one who won! I never wanted to kill you either. If you want someone to blame, blame yourself for not knowing when to yield..." Gerard muttered to himself as he looked at the rolling waves. He bent down and gently picked up the silver earring from the ground. After examining it carefully, he clenched it in his palm. Then, without even glancing at the ship carrying Erza as it gradually drifted away with the waves, he turned and walked toward the center of the island. If he wanted to take over the Tower of Paradise, he still had to put on a good show!

At that thought, an incomparably sinister gleam suddenly flashed through Gerard's eyes.

"Hehehehe—" Hidden in the shadows, the owner of the strange eyes let out an eerie chuckle.

Everything had already been prepared. After returning to the others, Gerard deliberately stopped everyone preparing to leave by ship from boarding. Then, while everyone was still confused, every ship suddenly exploded with a tremendous boom! All the ships were destroyed in an instant, and everyone asked Gerard in horror what had happened.

Naturally, Gerard had arranged the explosions of those ships himself. Hearing everyone's questions, Gerard put on a "grief-stricken" expression and told them the "truth" he had long fabricated. He slandered Erza, saying she had become hopelessly immersed in the world of magic and did not want to return to a past like theirs. Therefore, she had decided to kill everyone in order to abandon what she considered her "shameful past"! Then she had abandoned them all and escaped alone by ship...

At first, no one believed it. Wally and Shou especially could not believe that the Erza they knew would do something like that?! But when Gerard took out Chen Wuming's earring and announced with a pained expression that Big Brother Nameless had seen through Erza's intentions and had been cruelly "killed" by her when he tried to stop her, everyone fell silent. Wally and the others looked utterly devastated. Of course they recognized Big Brother Nameless's earring, but they never imagined that the Big Brother Nameless they respected most had ultimately been "killed" by the best friend and best big sister they had loved most?! No matter how unwilling they were to believe it, when they heard that not even his body remained, then saw the only relic he had left behind, they could not help but believe it in the end...

Because they believed Gerard would never deceive them with such a thing.

But after they believed it, what filled them even more was hatred! Hatred for Erza's "cold-bloodedness"! Hatred for Erza's "heartlessness"!

Then, under Gerard's instigation, everyone made building the Tower of Paradise and reviving Zeref their greatest goal! One reason was their anger toward the world, while the other was their yearning for "true" freedom!

Under Gerard's incitement, everyone went mad, swearing to seize everyone else's freedom in order to achieve their own "true" freedom!

Of course, there was one exception among them—Simon! Because he had believed in Erza from beginning to end! He believed Erza would never do such a thing! Gerard had to be lying!! But he had no evidence to expose him, so he could only choose to endure for the time being and wait for a possible opportunity in the future...

And it was not only Erza. He also firmly believed that Chen Wuming would not die so easily! He did not know why, but he simply had that feeling in his heart! That one day, Big Brother Nameless would definitely return! He would return to expose the entire conspiracy! To reveal Gerard's true face!! Definitely!!!

But at this moment, was Chen Wuming alive or dead? No one knew...