The countdown in the darkness quickly dissipated. The scene before Ansu's eyes had already switched to the mountain hollow where Gulzan had fallen.
He and Freya were chasing after a wretched Gulzan, having clearly already gone through a round of combat.
Gulzan’s steps were heavy, and he was panting for breath, his previous arrogance long gone.
He turned his head, his bloodshot eyes glaring fixedly at Ansu, his resentment almost overflowing. “You ruin my plans every single time! Ansu Morris! I'm going to kill you! I will definitely kill you!”
“In the current situation, I'm afraid it's the other way around!” Ansu sneered. “Coincidentally, I'm also determined to kill you.”
As the words fell, Ansu immediately activated his gravity magic, while Freya simultaneously condensed Holy Light.
Gulzan exhausted his final strength to resist, but this former Saint Tier mage now had depleted mana and disordered casting; he was no match for the two of them.
Death was already his only outcome.
No, no, no... A flicker of despair flashed in the depths of Gulzan's eyes, but it was instantly replaced by a savage ruthlessness.
He still had a card!
He still had one last trump card!
“Save me!!”
Gulzan suddenly let out a frantic roar toward the empty snowy ground, filled with desperate hysteria.
“Quickly, save me! I cannot die! I'll agree to anything you want, as long as you help me kill him! Kill Ansu Morris!”
Ansu and Freya instinctively exchanged a look; it was finally coming.
Gulzan bellowed at the empty surroundings, “Demon! Aren't we allies? Didn't we sign a contract? You can't break your word!”
“Damned demon! You can't abandon me! Without me, who will provide you with an endless supply of souls to feast upon? Get out here right now!”
Following that, he frantically chanted an ancient and obscure name.
“Contract Watcher, Zak Eos! Lord of the Scales! Zak Eos! Come forth!”
Gulzan suddenly burst into mad laughter, staring triumphantly and crazily at the two people pursuing him.
Because he could clearly sense that the other party had responded to his summons.
In this game, he was going to turn defeat into victory!
Ansu and Freya's hearts tightened. Both of them felt an ancient and profound aura suddenly descend.
The next moment.
The vision of the three people on the snow mountain was instantly swallowed by an endless darkness.
Their figures vanished from the physical realm simultaneously.
Dark, empty.
Lonely...
This was a pitch black space, like the deep reaches of outer space. There was no heaven or earth, no boundaries—only a darkness so thick it felt solid.
This was Freya's first time stepping into this space. She couldn't help but grip Ansu's hand tightly, looking around nervously.
Ansu gently squeezed Freya's hand back, wanting to give her some strength.
Feeling the warmth from his palm, Freya's panicked thoughts finally began to calm down little by little.
Don't be nervous...
I still have him.
“Zak Eos, save me!” Gulzan called out loudly again. “I have already sent you so many souls! Now, it's time for you to fulfill your obligations! Don't forget our contract!”
Finally, an impatient pressure emanated from the depths of the darkness.
“Those are two different things, Gustav!”
“I have already granted you greater power, allowing you to pioneer super tier 9th Circle space magic that approaches the level of the gods! But I am not your babysitter!”
An incredibly massive figure slowly emerged. Those dark red demonic eyes, burning like molten lava, slowly focused on the three tiny humans before it.
Its cold gaze first brushed past Gulzan, then swept over Freya.
But when its sight landed on Ansu, it suddenly paused.
Subsequently, this high and mighty ancient demon actually showed a visible expression of bewilderment.
“You are... Ansu?”
Within its tone, there was even a hint of barely perceptible wariness... and tension.
“Why is it you again, you bastard...”
The triumphant smile on Gulzan's face instantly froze, and he stood rooted to the spot in a daze.
“W... What do you mean? Zak Eos, you... you know him?”
An extremely ominous premonition suddenly surged in his heart.
Because no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand...
Why would this ancient demon, as powerful as a deity, know Ansu Morris? Why would it know this insignificant human who had caused him endless trouble?
Moreover, the attitude was exceptionally off...
If he wasn't mistaken, the demon's gaze seemed to carry a deep wariness? Or perhaps it was simply... fear!
How was that possible?
This was an ancient demon from the First Era! Perhaps only a true god could make them feel fear...
However, at this moment, Zak Eos's heart was far more complicated than his surface appearance suggested.
Last time, due to greed, he had tried to tamper with Ansu's soul, which resulted in the Goddess of Holy Light descending in person to suppress him ruthlessly.
Had he not escaped quickly, he might have completely dissipated from the world long ago...
After a long silence, Zak Eos finally spoke, his tone carrying quite a bit of frustration.
“Why is it you again? Why do you cause so much trouble every single time?”
Ansu raised an eyebrow and asked in return, “Zak Eos, I'd also like to know—why is it you again? Is there only one person working in the demon world?”
“This...” Zak Eos was quite helpless, but still wanted to barely maintain his dignity, so he said indifferently, “The reasons are complex. As a mere human, you have no need to know.”
Seeing that the demon ally he had summoned was not only failing to act but was instead reminiscing with Ansu, Gulzan could no longer sit still. He urgently pressed for answers:
“Zak Eos! You aren't afraid of him, are you? Afraid of a mere human like him?”
“I'm telling you, you must help me take him out! Otherwise, he will be an endless source of trouble for our cause!”
Zak Eos immediately let out a sneer. “How could that be possible? Me, afraid of him?”
But when those lava like dark red eyes turned toward Ansu again, his gaze became exceptionally cautious, scrutinizing him meticulously as if searching for something.
After a moment, it spoke in a heavy voice, “Something is strange... Ansu, I can sense almost no trace of the power of holy light within you, or even in the depths of your soul.”
“Has He—that God of Holy Light—already abandoned you?”
Ansu recalled how the system, like “antivirus software,” had completely purged the divine residue from his body. He smiled and replied:
“Perhaps. However, I'm quite curious—if the deity is no longer here, would you play the game of the sacrifice of the scales with me again because of your contract with Gulzan?”
“This...” Zak Eos fell into silence once more.
The massive figure swayed slightly in the darkness, seemingly weighing the truth of what Ansu had said over and over.
It still didn't dare to take the risk.
The fear of being suppressed by the Goddess of Holy Light was already engraved into its soul. Even if Ansu no longer had any aura of the Holy Light, it was unwilling to gamble again.
“Zak Eos! No! You can't do this!” Gulzan suddenly panicked.
He can clearly see that the demon before him didn't dare to offend Ansu at all. Even if he didn't know the reason, he knew he was about to be abandoned.
“I am willing to pay any price! My lifespan, more soul sacrifices! We can forge a new contract, an even more stringent one!”
Those lava like eyes slowly turned toward Gulzan, its tone indifferently: “The things you can give me now are already not worth mentioning. I will not take risks for you again.”
As the words fell, its massive figure began to blur, preparing to turn and retreat back into the depths of the darkness.
“No, no, no! Don't go!”
A desperate ruthlessness flashed in Gulzan's eyes as he roared:
“I am willing to pay an even greater price! This! How about this! Zak Eos!”
He abruptly raised both hands, frantically clawing at his own chest, instantly tearing the flesh until it was bloody and mangled.
The intense pain made his whole body tremble, yet he still forced himself to pull a crystal glowing with a soft emerald light from his chest, holding it high in a state of ecstatic frenzy.
“Look! It's a divine spark! It's a divine spark fragment of the fallen God of Nature!”
“With it, one can construct a faith conversion mechanism, gathering endless divine power. There's even a chance for a demigod to ascend to the position of a true god!”
“Now, I give it to you! I give it all to you!”
Zak Eos's figure, which was about to fade into the darkness, suddenly froze.
Those lava like demonic eyes stared fixedly at that emerald green crystal, and an undisguisable greed instantly surged within them.
Even its voice became hoarse: “Are you serious?”
“Of course I'm serious!” Gulzan was overjoyed, knowing he had seized his final chance at survival. “But we must have a fair trade, an equivalent exchange—that is the rule you demons follow! As long as you help me kill Ansu and then let me return to the Saint Tier, this divine spark is yours!”
“That's not asking too much, is it? I only want to recover my peak strength. From now on, I have completely cut off any chance of ascending to godhood!”
“However!”
“With this, you can quickly recover your power, break through the shackles of the gods' expulsion seals, and return to the physical realm.”
“Zak Eos, you will never have to hide in this cramped cage again! Are you not tempted?”
“This... let me think...” Zak Eos's voice became hurried, his gaze glued to that crystal, unable to look away.
...
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