At the northern side of the Wall of Sighs, near the entrance to the Voiceless Abyss.
The environment here was even more deathly silent than the Wailing Corridor.
A darkness as thick as ink swallowed almost all light, and the ground was composed of cold bones and shattered rock. The air was permeated with a thick, soul-shuddering malice.
At this moment, on the shattered clearing surrounding the entrance, a silent confrontation had been ongoing for an unknown amount of time.
Gusion hovered in mid-air, his long silver hair fluttering slightly in the darkness as his crimson eyes stared coldly at the scene below.
He was enveloped in a thin, nearly transparent ripple of fluctuations that perfectly concealed his form and presence. Even so, he did not make any rash movements, for the situation below was extremely bizarre.
The mages Jesse and Modo both bore visible wounds on their bodies. Severed limbs belonging to knights were scattered across the ground.
However, the most unsettling sight was the vampire Bill.
His neck had been completely snapped by some massive force, and his head hung askew at an impossible angle. The flesh on his limbs had been torn open and peeled back like tattered rags, exposing the pale bone beneath, as if he had undergone the cruelest form of lingchi.
By all rights, such injuries should have killed any living creature instantly. Yet...
Bill's twisted head was currently smiling. His mouth was stretched into an exaggerated curve, revealing sharp fangs. The crimson light in his eye sockets flickered in and out, showing no pain, only a bone-chilling madness and mockery.
His chest heaved slightly, producing a wheezing, airy sound. Then, from that snapped throat, he managed to squeeze out a raspy, intermittent, but exceptionally clear voice:
"Lord Gusion... stop hiding..."
"Come out... and let's talk..."
The voice echoed at the entrance of the deathly silent Abyss, carrying an inhuman, viscous quality.
"You... surely don't want to see..."
He paused, a strange gurgling sound coming from his throat as if he were savoring some twisted pleasure.
"...their souls be completely chewed to pieces by 'the End'?"
"Transformed by Him into spectral demons who can never reach the specter reincarnation."
At the edge of the entrance to the Voiceless Abyss, near Jesse, three figures were tightly bound by coarse shadow chains, suspended over the bottomless rift.
They were the Demon Hunter Cass and his two children—Alan and Rosa.
All three were unconscious, their faces deathly pale and their bodies covered in wounds. One of Cass's arms was twisted unnaturally, clearly broken.
The other end of the chains was wrapped around several menacing bone spurs protruding from the rock wall. Though the setup looked fragile, it was enough to keep them dangling above the fatal abyss, swaying slightly in the wind.
The vampire Bill used his one remaining relatively intact hand to brace his tilted head. Then, slowly, accompanied by the agonizing sound of grinding bone—
With a sharp crack, he twisted his head back into its proper position. The smile on his face became even more playful as his crimson pupils scanned the surroundings.
He knew that Gusion was surely hidden in some corner, watching him.
"Lord Gusion..."
"You really are... soft-hearted."
His voice was still raspy, but it flowed much more smoothly.
"This Demon Hunter has been hunting you for so many years, yet you still... can't bear to see him die, can you?"
Bill licked his mangled lips, revealing sharp canines.
"After all... his entire set of skills was taught by you personally."
"He was your proudest student, and also a pawn you 'shaped' with your own hands to deal with us."
"You spent years of painstaking effort carefully guiding him and polishing him. You planted the techniques of a Demon Hunter, the art of tracking, and the hatred toward the Demon Race... into that boy's heart, bit by bit, with your own hands."
"You watched him grow, watched him burn with 'justice.' You watched him become a sharp, persistent dagger that was 'deeply loyal' to you."
"And that dagger did indeed clear quite a few troubles for you and drew far too much of our attention."
He paused, savoring the sudden intensification of the cold fluctuations in the air. The sarcasm in his tone grew even more concentrated.
"And then?"
"Because of an unplanned exposure, the 'hero' you personally shaped instantly became an 'informant' who had to be eliminated."
"So, you personally... destroyed everything he had."
"You killed his companions, killed his family, and destroyed everything associated with him."
"He went from a Demon Hunter filled with conviction to a vengeful wraith who had nothing left but bone-deep hatred."
"Quite a... masterpiece."
Bill shook his head, a genuine lack of understanding shining in his crimson eyes.
"I don't understand. Why did you let him go, when he was the one who most needed to be eliminated?"
"You clearly had the chance to resolve this future trouble once and for all, yet you only wounded him and let him leave."
His confusion was quickly replaced by a pure, cold desire for exploitation.
"However, it doesn't matter to me. I don't care about your complicated and conflicted Demon King heart. I only know that I found your weakness."
"That is enough."
He looked up, his gaze seeming to pierce through the darkness and lock onto a precise location.
"So, Lord Gusion, stop hiding."
"Let's talk."
"There isn't actually much of a conflict of interest between us. One could even say... our goals are the same."
"We both want to enter and find Him."
"To use Him to deal with our common enemies."
In the darkness, the nearly transparent ripple slowly dispersed, and Gusion's figure manifested. His long silver hair seemed slightly dimmed.
His crimson eyes remained cold, but the fine lines at the corners of his eyes betrayed a hint of imperceptible pain.
When he landed, his feet faltered for a barely detectable split second.
Roger and Hannah stepped out from the shadows behind him, one on either side. Roger's expression was tense as his hand gripped his sword hilt, while Hannah narrowed her eyes, her gaze piercing Bill like a needle.
"Do you know..."
Gusion spoke, his voice calm yet carrying a heavy pressure.
"...what the consequences of doing that are?"
Bill watched as Gusion revealed himself, his gaze lingering on Gusion's somewhat pale face for a moment. Then, his lips pulled back into a wide, booming laugh.
The laughter echoed in the deathly silent rift, sounding exceptionally grating.
"Haha... Hahaha!"
"Consequences?"
He laughed until he was nearly out of breath, his damaged chest heaving violently.
"Lord Gusion, are you joking with me?"
"We are well aware of the consequences."
He stopped laughing, his crimson pupils shrinking into dangerous slits.
"But... it's mutual, isn't it?"
"Don't you want to use Him as well?"
"Otherwise, why would you leave the corridor a month ago and risk coming here... Was it just for a stroll?"
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