Zhao Si had dug the pit and was waiting for Sikatiya, the Goddess of Death, to jump in.
Sikatiya did indeed fall into Zhao Si's trap.
It was hardly an elaborate scheme. It was simply that a god's arrogance had made this goddess overlook many things.
Anyone could miss the forest for the trees. This was especially true of the proud, powerful, conceited, and headstrong.
Even the wise were bound to make a mistake among a thousand considerations. That was more or less one way to explain it.
Zhao Si, meanwhile, was the fool who managed one sound idea among a thousand.
He turned sideways, narrowly dodging the black-and-red spear. Its blade sliced through his clothes.
He could not afford a single mistake in this battle. Even a scratch would kill him outright.
There was no doubt about it. That was a certainty.
With the Gloam-Eyed Queen gone, the disguise over Zhao Si's eyes had naturally fallen away as well. His petrified eyes took on a strange color, icy blue mixed with black-the mingled colors of Ghostflame and Black Flame.
That was the color they should have been.
Now, however, it was covered by pale gold, the color of Miquella and Godwyn.
The Tarnished were free, able to take on colors freely. They were not bound by the traditional color-based factions of the Lands Between.
Whether the faction of life or the faction of death, either could manifest in him!
This was one of the reasons the Tarnished were powerful.
Now was the moment to display that power.
[Ghostflame: Ohega's Dancing Blade]
This was the skill Zhao Si knew best, one that had been with him for a long time. He had gone to considerable trouble to learn it, too.
Now it served its intended purpose.
As the two clashed,