Exorcist's Self-Cultivation

When the Evil Spirit Du Wei finished speaking that sentence, looking into my eyes.

Minette felt an instinctual malice.

She wanted to resist.

But she soon found it totally ineffective.

Those dark, indifferent eyes seemed like the abyss, making it impossible for her to look away.

Soon.

Her gaze dimmed.

Her azure eyes were full of confusion.

Her pupils dilated, and many past incidents that she had buried in her heart resurfaced one by one.

The Evil Spirit Du Wei looked at this woman.

It truly saw a piece of the past.

Through Minette's perspective, it saw a man dressed in black, with a cold face but eyes that carried an indescribable sense of age and fatigue.

As if he had lived through endless time, nothing could stir a ripple in his heart.

That was the trace of years passing by.

Most importantly.

That man was indeed itself.

Identical in appearance.

Although the temperament was completely different.

But it was indeed the Evil Spirit Du Wei.

In that moment.

The Right Hand that the Evil Spirit Du Wei held on Minette's neck trembled ever so slightly.

Its face was hidden by a mask.

No one could see its expression at that moment.

"If he is my past, why does he look exactly like me,"

A touch of absurdity rose in the heart of the Evil Spirit Du Wei.

It could not accept it.

Itself was an existence born of the Evil Spirit's nature, donned with Du Wei's personality and memories.

Following logic.

Even if it and Du Wei were one and the same, the human side of it would have existed before the Evil Spirit.

But now.

The past that the Evil Spirit Du Wei saw completely overturned that notion.

"I do not acknowledge this..."

The Evil Spirit Du Wei gnashed its teeth.

This was a fundamental denial of its existence.

At the same time.

The pattern of a mask on its Right Hand faded a lot.

In turn, the pattern of a pointer appeared.

This indicated that the Evil Spirit aspect was temporarily offline, replaced by the human aspect.

"This is definitely not the past I wanted."

The voice of Du Wei was very cold.

Even more frightening than when he became the Evil Spirit Du Wei.

Each word seemed as though it were coming from hell itself.

Whether the Evil Spirit Du Wei or he came first.

This was a very terrifying matter.

If the Evil Spirit Du Wei appeared first, then his existence was tantamount to being false.

The past life before crossing over, those memories that he never shared with others.

That past belonging only to him and the Evil Spirit Du Wei, was it not all to be denied?

And Minette had no idea what the man before her had gone through.

She just felt the arm holding her neck loosen a lot.

That feeling of powerless restraint also vanished without a trace.

In her view, she had to stop Du Wei before her, to prevent him from becoming the Demon God and turning the City of London into a hellish purgatory.

So.

Without any hesitation, Minette grasped her long sword and thrust it directly toward Du Wei's heart.

This was a chance.

But Du Wei reached out and grabbed, firmly holding the blade that was chopping toward him.

Darkness covered the depths of his eyes once more.

But that did not mean the Evil Spirit Du Wei was taking over.

"You are not her..."

Du Wei kicked Minette in the abdomen, sending her flying four or five meters away.

The latter spat out blood and fell heavily to the ground.

"I need to calm down."

Du Wei told himself, knowing his current state was not right, but unable to forcibly suppress those thoughts.

He walked toward the altar with a distracted look, his head bowed.

He held the long sword, which harbored Strangeness, in a lost grip.

The sharp blade cut open the palm of his left hand, and blood flowed ceaselessly.

But it was as if he felt nothing.

"I am Du Wei."

"The past I've been through was experienced by myself, it cannot possibly be wrong."

"I am not from this era."

"The Victorian Era could never be related to me."

"The Evil Spirit Du Wei couldn't exist before me."

"Even if this so-called past, everything I've seen is true, neither I nor it can accept such an outcome."

"Even if it is true, I will make it false."

When he said the last sentence,

there was an exceptionally strange quality to Du Wei's voice.

It was as if another him was saying the same words, causing an overlap.

At this time,

Minette who had fallen to the ground also struggled to her feet, not bothering to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth as she charged towards Du Wei again.

Everyone else was dead.

Now, she was the only one left who could attempt to resist.

Even though it was bound to fail,

she still wanted to try to stop it.

"Du Wei, you can't do this. You will destroy yourself, destroy this world."

"Even if you transform into a Demon God, you won't be able to control that power, you will be assimilated."

"You are not someone who enjoys slaughtering the innocent."

"The lives of millions in the City of London, open your eyes and look, they have all sunk into slumber, all in fear of you."

Minette staggered forward, trying to awaken Du Wei's good side with her words.

Only,

he didn't have that thing at all.

However, her words did remind Du Wei.

Things hadn't been resolved, and the concept of Armored Divinity Ascension was not realized.

He shouldn't be caught up in self-contradiction at this time.

The next second,

Du Wei turned his head, looking at Minette with an indifferent gaze.

The pattern of the clock hand was once again replaced by the mask.

The Evil Spirit Du Wei glanced down at the long sword he held in his grip.

Grabbing the hilt and the tip with both hands, he exerted a slight force.

Crack...

The sound was soft,

but the blade was covered in cracks dense like a spider web.

With another twist,

Crash...

The sword, akin to Strangeness itself, shattered into countless fragments that soared towards Minette.

"Huff..."

Minette's eyes widened, pupils contracting, a bloom of red spreading before her.

The ability to see death scenes activated.

She tried to find a glimmer of hope.

But in the vision, she saw herself sliced into pieces, lying in a pool of blood.

She couldn't be more dead.

"Du Wei..."

Minette said with sorrow, closing her eyes.

She gave up hope.

The Evil Spirit Du Wei watched her with a complicated look and turned to walk towards the altar.

Behind her...

All the fragments had narrowly missed Minette and penetrated the ground, embedding in the earth.

With Minette at the center, the ground appeared as though it had been sprayed with bullets.

A chaotic mess.

Minette felt her own heartbeat.

She opened her eyes in confusion and saw the back of the Evil Spirit Du Wei.

"Why... why?"

She could not understand; she had clearly died in the death scene, yet now she was alive again.

Immediately after,

she heard the voice of the Evil Spirit Du Wei.

The man spoke in a tone devoid of emotion, "You were wrong from the start. Why should I destroy this world? Why should I slaughter everything?"

"If I wanted to kill you all, I would just have to clench my fist, and you would burst into a mist of blood."

"Resistance? That is a joke to me."

"Killing a million people in the City of London is even more meaningless to me."

"I only need their fear because they are not worthy of dying by my hand."

As he spoke, the Evil Spirit Du Wei crouched slightly and stepped onto the altar.

It took its seat on the dark throne.

Raising a hand towards the sky, "I don't need to be understood, for I was meant to be this way."

Boom.

Thick, dark clouds overhead began to roil.

Thick lightning forcefully zigzagged, lighting up the entire City of London.

Many masked Cultists of the Veda Sect emerged from the darkness.

They knelt on the ground, praying devoutly.

The Evil Spirit Du Wei removed the mask, revealing that cold visage.

It declared, "Now, I am the deity."