Endless Debt

This time, Bologue truly went all out, burning all the accumulated Soul Shards. Part was supplied to Aimou, providing her with Ether, while another part roared and echoed within his own Alchemy Matrix.

After regaining his Extraordinary Power, Bologue's speed was swift, moving quickly on the rock wall like an agile monkey.

Time was not on Bologue's side; he silently counted down in his mind. Since leaving the cave, his life had only twenty-two minutes left.

Gazing into the far-off darkness, Bologue could already see faint firelight flickering within.

The Calamity was sealed by the Order Bureau in this pitch-black underground and subjected to blazing fire, keeping it in a perpetual state of dormancy. Even if flesh resurrects, it would swiftly be scorched to ashes by the flames.

The devastating searing wind was merely the breathing of the long-sleeping Calamity, an old breath exuding from its broken shell, mixed with scorching sparks, rampaging through this dark rift.

Merely breathing, merely a tortured part of the long slumber.

The more Bologue understood all this, the more he felt awed by the existence of the Calamity and how it was born because of the Devil transferred this awe onto the Devil as well.

"These lunatics messed up the world."

Bologue complained as he leapt forward; the rock wall ahead became uneven, with massive rock protrusions interweaving, turning the rift into a giant mouth of some kind of monster, only its flesh and teeth had been petrified.

Sticking a folding knife into the rock wall, Bologue slipped into the interwoven teeth, minutes later the distant rumble of thunder arrived, and scorching winds swept past the edges, slightly singeing them red.

Bologue held his breath, getting closer to his destination, and the temperature had risen significantly. Fortunately, the area was full of such rock protrusions that could be used as cover.

Aimou, carried on his back, remained silent. After Bologue's absurd behavior, she felt a sense of guilt inside.

Aimou deceived Bologue; her Ether wasn't depleted at all. Aimou was cooperating with Alice, finding a way to get Bologue out so they could proceed with the next step of their plan.

As for whether Aimou could escape from this dreadful rift…

Aimou believed in Alice, who was indeed an illusion to her, yet this illusion was, at times…omnipotent.

Alice was right; Aimou was good at disguise, deception; Bologue was being run in circles by her, these humans arrogantly thought Alchemy Puppets were just children, not knowing what lies in children's hearts.

Aimou trusted no one, other than Alice, Aimou had never revealed her true thoughts, but now Aimou was wavering, even Alice's layered temptations beside her, she did not heed.

Bologue indeed did not abandon them; like magic, he conjured Ether out of thin air, then kept charging in this Hell.

Aimou wanted to hear Alice's opinion; after all, she was about to be stripped clean, in a very passive position, but since just now, Alice remained silent, looking at Bologue with a complex gaze.

Alice seemed like an illusion, yet perhaps not; Aimou couldn't tell anymore.

"It's over."

Bologue whispered as the searing wind dissipated; he immediately leapt out from cover, leaping and moving amidst these protruding rocks.

Without the Soul Shards replenishment, the hunger inside grew unbearable, even for Bologue's willpower.

Luckily, everything was about to end, Bologue was nearing the destination, and if the Desperate Outpost was doing its job well, they would notice him.

As for dereliction of duty? Bologue thought that unlikely, for here was a captive Calamity, and those dispatched to the Desperate Outpost, if not the elite of elites, must be dedicated individuals like Lebius.

"Bologue, a question."

Aimou suddenly spoke after being silent.

"What question?"

As Bologue responded, he stepped onto a tall rock protrusion, these rocks spread across the rock wall's surface like massive staircases, allowing Bologue to advance and avoid falling into the ashes below.

After witnessing the scarlet flesh beneath the ashes, Bologue never wanted to touch that land again.

"These searing winds come from the breathing of the Calamity's slumber, right?"

"I think so, why?"

"Wouldn't it have just breath…"

Before Aimou could finish, Bologue already sensed it, unlike the previous thunder, this was an imperceptible rustle, followed by wisps of wind brushing by Bologue's side, dragging the pervasive ashes, outlining threads of gray silk.

"We're too close, Bologue!" Aimou exclaimed.

By this time Bologue understood her meaning too, all kinds of negative statuses affected Bologue's thoughts, staying clear-minded was extremely difficult for Bologue, he simply couldn't think about these.

The Calamity had been constantly breathing, blowing the scorching searing wind before, the judgment of twenty-two minutes was because they were too far from the destination, the searing wind took twenty-two minutes to reach; as they got closer to the destination, time shortened accordingly.

The searing wind was coming! But before then, the Calamity needed to inhale to exhale.

Bologue turned his head and ran towards the protruding rocks, but by then the immense suction had already captured him, the strong wind breezed past him lifting him directly into the air.

Now Bologue understood, this damned place was a death zone; ordinary Condensers, Prayer Believers, once caught, would have their power continually sapped by the Ether vacuum, and the flesh that serves to hunt for the Calamity would keep attacking, as well as these periodic searing winds.

Various mechanisms were interlocked to form this life-critical place.

The folding knife struggled to embed in the rock, yet Bologue's figure kept being dragged backward, leaving dense sparks on the rock until he lost grip on it and was entirely sucked into the air.

Bologue tried to hurl Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid, but he was moving too fast, for an instant all the rocks he could grasp had been out of Secret Energy's range limit.

As if a storm had swept Bologue away, his figure endlessly rotated in mid-air, his view spinning wildly.

His body ascended to the skies, and in a daze, he saw the burning fire in the darkness, like an eye of flame growing from the earth, with an endless sea of fire beneath its pupil.

Bologue struggled to see everything clearly, then he saw something, something that made him momentarily forget to think.

The powerful suction disappeared, a large amount of air mixed with ash was sucked into the sea of fire, Bologue began freefalling; seconds later, it was as if he exhaled, the scorching fiery wind would push him away, even burn Bologue into a charred shell.

After a brief daze, a cyan light flashed in Bologue's eyes, and he fell towards the earth, adjusting his posture in mid-air, heading towards the core area.

From high above, aided by the burning light, Bologue finally saw the hidden thing in the gloom, an extremely vast Ruins District, densely clustered buildings filled the entire view, ashen like a sea of sand swallowed them, covering every corner in gray-white.

Just before hitting the ground, Bologue threw out strands of Silver Hand, firmly grasping those towering buildings, standing long like stone monuments.

The dense silver web held Bologue back, unfortunately, Bologue's Ether was difficult to sustain, these silver webs broke at the critical moment, and Bologue harshly landed in the ashes.

Luckily, he managed to slow down, Bologue did not suffer any fractures aside from severe pain, he gasped for a few seconds, then struggled to crawl up, immediately evading towards another building.

Roaring thunder rang from behind heavy buildings, scorching fiery winds swept through the Ruins District, as if a giant was breathing and spitting flames, ravaging this city.

"This city must have been glorious once,"

Aimou murmured to herself, she too saw this massive ruin from high above, even though it was burned by fiery winds and buried in ashes, one could still witness the former glory amidst the broken walls.

Bologue said nothing, until the fiery winds subsided, he stepped out of the shadows, wandering in these ruins.

Strangely, Bologue seemed as if he had been here before, he turned onto a straight avenue, ascending the ash-covered steps.

Bologue stood for a long while.

"So you are here..."

Bologue thought the shock Calamity gave him was enough, yet after witnessing these ruins, Bologue suddenly felt Calamity was nothing.

For Bologue, this ghost traveling through eras, nothing touched him more than seeing familiar things.

It felt as if that period in Bologue's memory was not truly buried by time, it still left some traces, declaring its existence.

"Something's wrong, how could there be such a vast ruin here?"

Aimou couldn't understand, "Was it built by the Order Bureau? A city built to detain Calamity?"

"No, you got the sequence wrong."

Bologue took a step forward, walking along the straight avenue towards the source of the fiery wind, behind those towering city walls.

"Whether it's Calamity or the Order Bureau, they are outsiders, while it was the original master of this land."

Bologue looked at the gray-white city walls covered in ashes, also the towering spires behind the walls, with sculptures of Angels on them, watching the mortal world with sorrow.

The scene twisted and writhed before flickering, Bologue couldn't hear Aimou's voice anymore, replaced by endless noise.

The soldiers' roars, the mechanical sound of trigger pulling, the booming sound of bullets firing...

The sky burned into a deep red blood color, Bologue wore a rough military uniform, charging forward with his comrades on the smoky battlefield.

The army had flattened the defenses on the city's outskirts, their sole goal now was to open that city gate, to barge into that palace made of gold.

Bologue gazed at the magnificent city, on the towering walls were huge carvings of ghosts and gods, further behind arose spires, with sculptures of Angels on them, watching the mortal world with sorrow.

The grand walls isolated everything, outside the walls, blood soaked the soil, corpses piled upon the ground, faintly inside, one could hear the strains of string music and sounds of people's merriment.

Bologue suddenly felt he was like a traveler suffering in Hell, reluctantly charging towards those walls, attempting to knock on the gates of the Celestial Kingdom.

If only that gate could be opened, if only that wall could be destroyed.

If only...

Bologue blinked, the frantic war vanished, surrounding him was only gray dead silence, the once exquisite carvings buried under layers of ash, Angel sculptures also crumbled and ruined, absent was the string music from the Celestial Kingdom, only the Calamity-like, hellish calling howl remained.

"Upon release, I've been thinking, it was so grand, even destroyed, there should have been some remnants, not completely vanishing from this land."

Bologue spoke as he took steps forward, feeling exhilarated with his current state, resisting death.

"This is..."

Aimou faintly thought, she had read about the history of Oubos, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't imagine its site would be here, at the bottom of the Great Rift, accompanied by Calamity.

"This is where my fate began."

Bologue stood under the magnificent city wall, tiny as an ant, and everything was exactly like sixty-six years before, the city gates tightly closed.

"King Solomon's Holy City."

Bologue called out its former name.

"Remongedon."