A few days later.
After landing the spaceship on a desolate planet, Lancelot transformed into a lizardman about 1.9 meters tall, with his body covered in green-gold, diamond-shaped scales.
More precisely, this is the main appearance of the Angpeier Family, one of the great noble families in the Veyin Empire.
The reason for adding "mainly" is that the Angpeier Family's bloodline talent is called "Shapeshifting Spell," which is an advanced ability of Polymorph.
Members of the Angpeier Family who possess this ability are somewhat like chameleons, but much more advanced. They can not only change their skin color, but also transform their bodies, and even disguise their aura perfectly.
Relying on their Shapeshifting Spell, the Angpeier Family has always been the head of the "Bureau of Anomalous Affairs Investigation," the intelligence department of the Veyin Empire, commanding a large group of agents and enjoying a formidable reputation in the dark world of the Elven Plane.
But the Angpeier Family could never have imagined that their tactic of disguising themselves as other races to conduct espionage would backfire on them.
A human, disguised as a member of the Angpeier Family, is preparing to do something big.
After twisting his body to fully familiarize himself with his new skin, Lancelot soared into the sky, transforming into a bolt of lightning. After a few twists and turns, he disappeared into the vast universe.
Planet Pandora.
outer space.
The lightning dissipated, transforming into the tall body of a lizardman.
An invisible Demigod's will swept across from somewhere on the planet.
"Hmm, so it's the Angpeier Family from Planet Veyin, Epic rank, admitted..."
The will receded like the tide, and after confirming that Lancelot was not Demigod, there was no need to stop him, allowing him to successfully enter Planet Pandora.
As a gathering place for thugs and villains in the Elven Plane, the major ruling forces on Planet Pandora send Demigod to take turns guarding outer space to prevent overly powerful beings from entering Planet Pandora and wantonly slaughtering criminals, thus causing them to lose face.
Do you want to catch the killer?
Can!
We can either wait for the criminal to leave Planet Pandora on his own, or send a powerful being below the level of Demigod into this chaotic place.
Demigod on the Order side who want to enter Planet Pandora will definitely be blocked from entering the planet unless they make arrangements with the four ruling powers: the Dark Council, the Arcane Ring, the Slaughter Divine Church, and the Ashes Organization.
Of course, as the saying goes, there are exceptions to every principle.
If a powerful figure like Maxwell the Moon Breaker or the Radiance Pope were to directly storm into Planet Pandora, no one would utter a sound, and the Demigod on guard would certainly not show their faces or act arrogantly.
On one hand, I can't afford to offend them; on the other hand, it's unnecessary. What if I get killed? How much money did the powerful forces behind me pay? They expect me to risk my life for them?!
Having successfully entered Planet Pandora, Lancelot plunged headlong into the southeastern part of the Central Continent.
His destination this time is the City of Freedom.
The latter belongs to the "Arcane Ring," a gathering place for dark Mage. Its lord is the Soul Star Pillar of Ashes, Mid-Rank Demigod and a rare soul-based spellcaster.
About five or six years ago, Soul Star Pillar obtained a Soul Secret Land and gained many benefits from it. He estimated that his strength could reach a higher level. Although the possibility of breaking through to High-Rank Demigod was very small, reaching the upper -Mid-Rank Demigod or the peak would not be surprising.
Lancelot's current strength, even without considering the Legend Demigod Infinity Scale Armor, allows him to stand on the earth and fight against ordinary Mid-Rank Demigod by drawing upon the earth's power. Therefore, he was able to kill Blue Dragon at the level of Low-Rank Demigod on the earth.
If we detach ourselves from the land, our overall strength will be greatly diminished.
But if he can stand firmly on the earth and wear Infinity Scale Armor, even High-Rank Demigod cannot defeat him in a short time, let alone Mid-Rank Demigod.
Furthermore, Gustavo already knew everything about Gustavo, his birthplace, through his Planet Pandora Spider Mom Index.
Lancelot, whose memories were connected to Gustavo's, naturally also possessed this valuable information.
The Ashes Organization is cunning and has multiple burrows. Planet Pandora is a key target for their operations. Originally, one of the Three Moons Dark Moon, Gelaxius, and three of the Eighteen Star Pillars were stationed there year-round: Soul Star Pillar Lord of the Free City, Barbarian Star Pillar Gumon, and Hunt Star Pillar Index.
Among them, Hunt Star Pillar Index is simply a lazy spider who takes money but does nothing. Because of her husband's situation, she already has a very bad impression of Ashes, let alone doing anything for Ashes, so she poses zero threat.
The Barbarian Star Pillar, Gumon, was killed by the Nirvana Legion in the Holy Knight Star Battle a few months ago. His body has now been half-modified by Logo and is expected to become a member of the Nirvana Legion. As the saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. The Barbarian Star Pillar can be considered to have abandoned the darkness and turned to the light. I believe he would be very happy if he knew this in the afterlife.
Of the four Ashes Demigod of Planet Pandora, two have already been eliminated.
Of the remaining two, it's estimated that only Soul Star Pillar - Lord of the Free City can move, as Dark Moon - Gelaxius is most likely still recovering from his injuries.
As Legend Demigod, the Scythe of Slaughter possesses terrifying power in the hands of Elder Jin, who has transformed into the Origin Blood Demonic Scythe. This weapon has a disgusting characteristic called "Shadow of Weeping Blood," which causes wounds inflicted by the Slaughter Scythe to continuously lose Life Essence and are extremely difficult to heal.
The Dark Moon Gelaxius was almost cleaved in two, and under the influence of the "Shadow of Weeping Blood" effect, the chances of it recovering in just a few months are really slim.
In this way, the Ashes Organization's power on Planet Pandora, seemingly formidable, actually only has one Soul Star Pillar, the Lord of the Free City, who can pose any threat to Lancelot.
However, Lancelot underestimated the Lord of the Free City, who was merely a Mid-Rank Demigod. It was not that Lancelot was underestimating the Lord of Freedom, but it would be almost impossible for the latter to kill Lancelot, who was wearing the Infinity Scale Armor.
Therefore, while it may seem that Lancelot is venturing alone into one of the Ashes ' strongholds, fraught with danger, the ones who should actually be worried are the Ashes Organization and the City of Freedom.
Not to mention, Lancelot is still under the guise of the Angpeier Family of the Veyin Empire. Even if the Ashes want to take revenge on him later, they'll have to find him first.
The City of Freedom.
Looking down from above, the Mage towers, varying in height and style, stand like towering cliffs, rooted in the earth, relentlessly devouring the natural elements.
The force of the devouring was so intense that a thick layer of elemental energy enveloped the entire city. Above this layer were dark gray clouds, designed to block outsiders from seeing anything. These gray clouds gathered together, vast and boundless, almost completely obscuring the sunlight, making it difficult for most areas of the City of Freedom to see any light.
In the center of the city, the Mage tower belonging to the Lord of the Free City stands majestically, a thousand meters high, with the upper part roughly conical and the lower part cylindrical.
As the millennia have passed, this Mage tower has grown ever taller. The ancient black tower walls are covered with the marks left by the erosion of time. A hazy Mist of souls lingers at the top of the tower, changing into various shapes. Every now and then, a black-purple blade of light flashes by, exuding a captivating aura.
As Lancelot entered Planet Pandora, the Lord of the Free City, who was sitting cross-legged on a throne made of skulls, suddenly opened his eyes. A phantom of the God of Death Reaper flashed behind him, and the edge of his cloak trembled, obscuring his face.
The Lord of the Free City slightly raised his head and looked at the dome, where a hanging golden bell was emitting a slightly jarring sound.
"The Life Soul Bell is warning me, is some danger approaching? But the force isn't exactly fatal..." The Lord of the Free City pondered for a moment, a mocking smile curving his lips beneath his cloak. "Looks like another foolish enemy has come knocking. Very well, I'll wait for you here..."
A deep, low whisper drifted out, like a pebble thrown into still water, creating negligible ripples that attracted little attention.
On a high mountain a thousand miles away from the City of Freedom, Lancelot, who had deliberately worn a mask and wrapped himself up tightly, was gazing into the distance at the City of Sin, which was quite famous even in the Elven Plane.
Black Mage have always been synonymous with madness. In pursuit of power and the Truth of magic, they can commit any inconceivable and brutal acts, such as human grafting, soul hybridization, and elemental fission—experiments explicitly prohibited by various countries—which they can do at will, without any regard for so-called morality and law.
In truth, if these evil deeds hadn't angered Lancelot, he wouldn't have traveled all this way to rid the people of these scourges.
After all, the so-called good and evil are evaluated based on the moral system built up later in life.
First, you must distinguish between opposing viewpoints before you can determine good and evil.
That's why people often say that good and evil are inherently one, and that's the reason behind it.
The reason why the dark Mage community is hated and rejected by the entire Astral Realm is that the profession of Earth Guardian was even created to eliminate them.
The key lies in the damage that the group of dark Mage inflicts on the plane itself.
Ordinary spellcasters, also known as white Mage, revere the elements of nature and believe that everything is subject to balance and that everything has a cause and effect. Therefore, they act with great restraint and follow a path of sustainable development, simply borrowing the elements of nature and using their power to create various kinds of spells.
Once the spell is used up, it will revert to pure elemental matter and return to nature.
Dark Mage are completely different; they directly devour natural elements, merging them with their own soul, body, and causality.
This is equivalent to labeling natural elements with individual tags, which is tantamount to polluting natural elements.
Once polluted natural elements return to the elemental sea, they will spoil the whole pot of soup like a rotten apple spoils the whole barrel, affecting other pure natural elements and gradually making the entire elemental sea murky and polluted.
As the main body of the Astral Realm [spiritual energy], natural elements are one of the Cornerstone of the Astral Realm, the soil from which Transcendent beings are born, and the main pillar for maintaining the rules and order.
If natural elements are polluted on a large scale, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of the rules, the destruction of the world, Transcendent mass extinction, and a series of other terrifying consequences.
This is why black Mage are hated and killed by various forces.
Do you really think it's a simple matter of good and evil?
No!
This is because the group of dark Mage has shaken the foundations of the vast majority of forces.
Their existence is like locusts to farmers—it brings nothing but harm.
The consequence of draining the pond to catch all the fish will inevitably be being surrounded and intercepted by other fishermen.
You dark Mage devour natural elements to cultivate yourselves, how comfortable are you? What about us?
That's the point.
From a perspective of self-interest, the answer becomes quite clear.
So-called morality has always been just a shell used to cover up the true core.
At the level of the Astral Realm powers, only naked self-interest is the sole criterion that determines their behavior!
The same goes for Lancelot.
Wasn't his well-prepared trip to Planet Pandora also for the Primeval Stone?
He had no hatred towards the City of Freedom.
After observing for a moment, Lancelot's figure floated down, like a leaf falling in the autumn wind, and in a flash, he had already disappeared without a trace.
Although it is called a city, the area of City of Freedom is comparable to that of a superpower on an ordinary life-bearing planet, with a total of 128 districts.
The smallest urban area covers tens of thousands of square kilometers, while the largest, District 1, covers more than 200,000 square kilometers, making it completely self-sufficient.
As spellcasters, the social structure of dark Mage is actually quite similar to that of white Mage; both enjoy regularly organizing activities that are beneficial to their physical and mental health, such as magic salons.
In short, it was an exchange meeting.
It's not just about exchanging knowledge; resource and intelligence sharing is also a crucial element.
Ultimately, no matter how brutal and ruthless a dark Mage may be, as long as they are social beings, they have social needs.
Besides, does that dark Mage really consider himself cruel?
Not necessarily.
To most dark Mage, all living beings other than spellcasters are merely research subjects.
Will humans and worms ever get along peacefully?
Therefore, Lancelot never saw himself as someone who came to punish evil and uphold justice; he was merely a heartless Primeval Stone- collecting machine.
In his eyes, the entire City of Freedom was nothing more than a pool of experience points, or a treasure trove, and the dark Mage within it were nothing more than sparkling, glittering Primeval Stone; he didn't even consider these guys human.
As the saying goes, every villain has their match, and on this day, the villains of the City of Freedom descended.
District 121.
People with pale faces walked on the street, all with deathly expressions, their lifeless pupils showing no trace of longing for the future.
Da da da!!
The sound of horses' hooves came from afar, and people's previously stiff faces showed fear. They quickly scattered to both sides of the road, knelt down respectfully, wishing they could bury their heads in the cracks between the bricks and tiles.
Amidst the gray landscape, the white-haired, Two-Winged Pegasus walked by with its head held high, its eyes filled with arrogance, ignoring the two-legged beasts on either side of the road as if they were invisible.
On the Two-Winged Pegasus, a middle-aged man clad in a crimson Mage's robe was fiddling with his crystal ball. His gloomy pupils occasionally flashed with a look of sudden realization, as if he had figured out something, but he quickly frowned again.
"This magic formula seems wrong, the runes are flawed... A soul? I have no Soul Crystal left, but a vibrant soul seems even better..."
Antoine grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth.
He turned his head, his gaze sweeping across the crowd, his fingers pointing and muttering something under his breath, as if he were playing a game of selecting goods. Those he pointed to immediately trembled all over, some even bursting into tears on the spot, terrified to the extreme, yet daring not to make a sound, for fear of disturbing the Mage.
A moment later, Antoine's finger stopped on a little girl, and with a gentle flick of his finger, the little girl floated up and flew towards Antoine.
The father beside the little girl instinctively reached out to grab his daughter, but hesitated to extend his hand. Even more tragically, he felt a sense of relief deep down, because the Mage hadn't chosen him.
In mid-air, the little girl flew toward Antoine. Still young, she remembered the terrifying Legend she had heard since childhood and finally burst into tears.
The heart-wrenching cries changed the expressions of everyone on the street, because the last time such a scene occurred, the entire street had been slaughtered, and blood flowed like rivers.
Antoine's face darkened, his fingers curled slightly, and the little girl's crying stopped immediately. Her face turned visibly red, her skin became congested with blood, and her whole body swelled up.
A frenzied and bloodthirsty excitement appeared on Antoine's face; he seemed to already see the little girl exploding in mid-air, blood and flesh flying everywhere—what a beautiful sight that would be.
"The soul under fear is the sweetest, perhaps it can activate that incomplete rune..." Antoine thought to himself.
However, it was at this moment that his consciousness abruptly ceased.
A magnificent and vast will, like a vast star falling from the sky, barbarically invaded his mind. Its overwhelming and terrifying divine power, like the blazing sunlight, instantly tore Antoine's soul to pieces. Until his death, he was unable to send out a distress signal, just like a numb pedestrian kneeling on the street.
"Let's go home..."
A gentle voice reached the little girl's ears, carrying with it a warm and profound energy, like a cozy fireplace, dispelling the little girl's confusion, helplessness, and boundless fear.
She landed lightly, tears welling in her eyes, staring in disbelief at the white White Horse that had passed by and the person riding White Horse.
Even though it was the same body, the little girl felt that it wasn't the same person.
As the White Horse rode away, the little girl was still staring blankly at it.
Suddenly, she was pulled into a familiar embrace, and her father's voice reached her ears. "I'm sorry, Duoliya, I'm so sorry..."
The little girl, Duoliya, didn't understand why her father kept apologizing. She pointed to the street in the distance and said in a clear voice, "That person, he's a good person..."
The man was startled, and the passersby around him also looked at Duoliya in shock, thinking that the little girl had been frightened into madness and was talking nonsense.
"Shut up! From now on, when you see the Mage, you're not allowed to cry, you're not allowed to utter a sound, and you're not allowed to call the Mage 'that person,' understand?" Duoliya's father shook his daughter's shoulders forcefully, his voice urgent and even somewhat ferocious. It wasn't until Duoliya cried out in pain that the man reacted. After a moment of stunned silence, he suddenly covered his face with his hands and began to weep silently.
"This city... should not exist..."
Lancelot tilted his head slightly, his gaze seemingly piercing through layers of Mist, seeing the tower in the center of the city, and the countless rotting bones and blood beneath it.
But suddenly, two lines of large characters appeared in his heart.
"Calm your mind, do not be foolish. Follow your heart, do not indulge your desires. Understand your responsibilities, restrain yourself from Slaughter. Maintain balance, kill evil and punish wickedness."