"I surrender. I'll pay any price."
"Sir, you're after Mad Lion, aren't you? I can use divination to find him for you."
After his initial shock, Heaven's Reckoner's expression shifted. Ignoring his injuries, he promptly dropped to his knees and prostrated himself, begging for mercy.
"I don't like killing people."
"But several people who took part in this trial have died by my hand."
"Tell me what price you can pay. Perhaps I'll spare your life."
Nameless watched Heaven's Reckoner as he slowly circled him, speaking with a smile that was not quite a smile.
"Sir..."
Heaven's Reckoner was overjoyed when he heard Nameless's words. He had not expected Nameless to spare him.
He had already judged Nameless's character. If he had been the one to wield extraordinary power in the sixth stage, not a single other trialist would have left it alive.
Yet apart from the trialists who had attacked him, Nameless had let the others go. That was when Heaven's Reckoner realized Nameless might be the "stubbornly virtuous, hypocritical" sort.
That was why he had dropped to his knees and begged for mercy at once.
But just as he was about to reveal what he had to offer, a pitch-black finger pierced the back of his skull and emerged between his brows.
The Deep Sea Apostle stood behind Heaven's Reckoner, while Nameless had his back to the Deep Sea Apostle.
"How ugly."
Nameless tipped his head back and sighed.
He really had intended to spare Heaven's Reckoner, who still had value to him. But in his elation, Heaven's Reckoner had revealed his truest feelings.
To Nameless's eyes, under the Divine Insects' Physiognomic Reading, those feelings were unbearably ugly.
At that instant of elation, Heaven's Reckoner's face twisted into a knot. His eyes became black holes radiating endless malice.