King and the Rebel Minister (Final)

There was no battle, only despair. Even the king felt boundless despair.

With his bone wings spread, Lu Mingfei had never felt so... free, so unfettered.

It was as if he had truly grasped the authority of the world. Though it lasted only an incomparably brief instant, the feeling gave him unprecedented satisfaction. After satisfaction came emptiness.

He had held the entire world in his hand. Of course, that was an illusion.

In that instant, everything he had once failed to understand revealed new angles for thought.

The world became exceptionally clear in his eyes, high-definition down to every tiny detail. In contrast, his emotions grew indifferent. He only felt calm now.

Fenrir was nailed to the ice by Pride as it fell from the sky. His prehistoric titanoboa-like neck was pierced by the eight-sided Han sword. To protect Jormungandr, his mind had briefly recovered a little... but it was useless.

The Han sword was only slightly longer than the width of the dragon's neck. What truly left Fenrir unable even to roar in fury was the "command" attached to the sword, like an edict written on a Daoist talisman.

This was the command of an enhanced Emperor Word Spirit. Its content was "Inescapable." This sword was impossible to escape, like fate itself. It was destined to pierce the minister who defied fate forever, pinning him in a place he could never leave.

Original Sin rose from the ground, and two Wraths landed steadily in Lu Mingfei's hands. He swung the massive blades capable of slaying dragons, raised them high with both hands, then brought them down. His bone wings vibrated as he shot forward, carving through Fenrir's body from above to below.

Unlike ordinary creatures, dragons had bodies far too enormous for a single neural center in the brain to control fine movements. Therefore, they hid another brain—a dense network of nerve clusters—within their spines.

The rock wall collapsed. Amid the falling rubble, two blood fountains several people tall shot into the air from the dragon's back. The two Wrath horse-chopping sabers met at one point as they slid through him, completely destroying the dragon's central nervous system.

Fenrir twisted and struggled in agony, like a writhing black mountain, but his twilight had arrived.

His health bar was almost empty.

Feeling the pain her brother endured, Jormungandr trembled as she roared and spread the king's bone wings. In an instant, fierce winds howled. Matter around her shattered, and a reaper's scythe formed in her hand. She tried to persuade herself.

He was incomplete—one could even say he was incomplete to the extreme. He possessed only a dragon's heart, not necessarily a king's shell.

His aura was so weak. Aside from his dragon wings, not a single part of his body had transformed into that ancient, godlike, perfect dragon form. His pressure was perhaps not even one percent of what it had once been.

Perhaps he had once been supremely great, but now he had withered to the point that even his dragon bones could not shake off their curled shape and fully extend. He possessed only a small fraction of the authority of the King of Ocean and Water, who was grievously wounded.

That could not be him.

Having hypnotized herself into believing she had seen the "eye" that could break the deadlock, the imperial daughter of Earth and Mountain unleashed a strike at the limit of technique. Lu Mingfei threw aside the two Wraths in his hands, picked up two Lusts from the ground, and the two figures crossed in fierce combat, their four wings tangled together.

They broke the sound barrier and collided at supersonic speed. They crashed downward through the ice-covered ground and surged up along the ancient bronze rock slabs in every direction.

"Cancel."

Lu Mingfei snapped his fingers in the deep pit.

The reaper's scythe broke and vanished.

Reforge.

"Cancel."

Black blood sprayed everywhere. The dazed dragon girl staggered through the bloody rain as fiery-red ice fell from the sky and struck her body. In her haze, she felt the coldness of the world.

The outcome was already obvious.

So was the gap between them.

"How weak. The world is so cruel... how are weak children supposed to survive?" Red fire rain reflected in his eyes as he slowly exerted force and crushed Jormungandr's wrist bones.

After saying it, Lu Mingfei froze in surprise for a moment. Even he did not understand what the words meant—whether they held sympathy, mockery, or sorrow. It was as though he had said them instinctively.

After thinking briefly, he threw away the two Lusts, which could severely wound and restrain but not kill, then used Pride, the eight-sided Han sword summoned with a crook of his finger, to pierce Jormungandr's body.

He remembered promising that he would do his best to lessen Jormungandr's pain. Better short pain than long pain.

People had to keep their promises.

The wind slowly passed through the Nibelungen, which no longer resembled its former appearance.

Lu Mingfei walked out of the deep pit.

In the dark tunnel, a brand-new SFX02 subway train lit its headlights. The rails ahead had long since been destroyed beyond recognition, and the train could not move forward, but Lu Mingfei did not care.

His attention was not on that.

["Beijing Subway Station Dungeon" Load #1. Dungeon difficulty has not undergone mode adjustment. Challenge cleared. Saving. As there is no clear record, a first-clear reward bonus will be added. Clear Rating: SS. No save required.]

It was over.

Without the slightest ripple in his heart, Lu Mingfei raised his hand to catch the fire rain falling from the sky. Some pieces of rubble were scorching hot, while others were icy cold.

Was it really over just like that?

He felt a piercing pain in his back, and his steps were somewhat unsteady. The dragon-bone wings extended outside his body showed signs of curling back in, so he quickly walked to Chu Zihang's side and gave him the command, "Don't die."

Of course, the world would obey his command.

The cold Nibelungen vanished. Everything around them changed, replaced by a silent clock tower like a towering gray-white gravestone, a dim commercial street, and deserted high-rise buildings.

The distant sky was eternal night.

Loneliness returned.

An inexplicable sense of emptiness and sorrow left one's mind somewhat numb.

Lu Mingfei stood there blankly for a while, preparing to go back to the phone booth where he had once rested and take a break. Every time a dungeon ended, he needed to find somewhere to recover.

If someone wanted to space out, they had to find a familiar place. That made spacing out more efficient.

Why hadn't the reward arrived yet? he could not help thinking.

Maybe only a material reward could cheer him up a little.

Hopefully it could be... a pair of men's pants he could wear.

Hopefully they would not be too flashy. A loose, casual style in a plain color would be best.

"Brother."

A boy's voice sounded from inside the red phone booth. It was ethereal and gentle. Lu Mingfei turned around and discovered that this prime spot for spacing out had already been claimed.

Good spots had to be fought for.

The glass door was pushed open.

"Who are you?"

"It's me."

"Brother, I was just released after serving my sentence. I kept rattling the iron bars in prison, but no family ever came to visit me... I was very sad." The boy wore a black formal suit and had black hair and black eyes. He was so beautiful he did not look real at all.

Seeing Lu Mingfei look over in confusion, the boy revealed a faint smile.

"Hm?"

An inexplicable irritation and fluttering unease made Lu Mingfei instinctively rise, wanting to move somewhere else.

"What family's kid ran over here and started calling me brother?" Uneasily, he glanced at the sky above the dead city. He had already recognized the boy as the one who had appeared in Genji Heavy Industries.

As his gaze lowered, he happened to catch sight of the status panel above the little boy's head. His movement to leave and keep his distance stopped.

[Lu Mingze (Dragon Bone Cross Detached/Extremely Weak/Severely Incomplete/Near-Death State/World Seal)]

[Rank: Supreme (Virtual and Reality/Dreams/Authority)]

[Identity: Dungeon BOSS Unit]

[Authority: ???]

[World-Destroying Word Spirit: ???]

[Luck: S+ (Undefeated Champion of the Revival Round; after certain death, has a certain probability of suddenly sitting back up)]

[Offense: SSS+ (Beyond what mortals can attain)/(Somewhat reduced in weakened state)]

[Speed: SSS+ (Far beyond the actual limits of pureblood humans)/(Somewhat reduced in weakened state)]

[Constitution: SSS (Far beyond the actual limits of pureblood humans)/(Severely reduced in weakened state)]

[Combat Techniques: SSS+ (A king of exquisite and peerless techniques, absolutely incomprehensible to humans)]

[Firearm Skills: SSS+ (A king of exquisite and peerless techniques, absolutely incomprehensible to humans)]

[Evaluation: Personally, I suggest you don't resist. You can choose to pretend to resist while welcoming it.]

Lu Mingfei obediently sat back down where he had been, stiffly giving him a hug.

"So it's my family's kid. Mingze, I'm your brother."

Lu Mingze: "..."