The Gentleman at the End

When Art saw the young man who had arrived early at this basement known only to him, a place named as Sanctuary and Shelter with the vocabulary of Heavenly Divinity,

he was only momentarily surprised, quickly calculating in his mind the reasons the other could have found this place.

Tsk tsk tsk~

"William, oh William! I knew you couldn't be trusted at all... Did you secretly steal my memory by using those common cells present in our children?"

Sitting in the corner, William extinguished the match, completely concealing himself in the darkness.

"No~ that's too troublesome and too dangerous~ Reading memories requires deep penetration into brain cells, and Art, your brain is already covered by divinity, so invading it would alert you.

I merely had a member of the Smile Fan Club become my student while we were working together, allowing him to secretly go to False Moon, fully cooperating with our research on the 'Clown Virus' unique to you, Art."

Here, thanks must be given to Reagan, for his Naisi Technology provided the crack within two months, allowing us to quickly pinpoint the coordinates of those infected with the virus across the Old World.

Then, by comparing it with the Fan Club base you provided, it was easy to find this most hidden location.

Moreover, here, there's only one virus carrier with concealment ability staying underground, with enough moist food to last for decades, it was clear this special area was used by you, Art, as a refuge.

Once you obtain the qualification, if you don't become the Plague Master on the spot, you would most likely come here for your final ascension.

After all~ you have never trusted me entirely, thus you wouldn't trust the 'child' we created together. You would definitely abandon the child to avoid my influence.

Thus, using the virus's traits to transfer here, am I not right in what I'm saying?"

If it were before, at this point hearing these words Art would probably have lost his temper and slaughtered William on the spot.

But now, his heart realm has changed, and he also wants to chat with this intriguing person in front of him.

"Worthy of a Madman, truly clever~ What do you plan to do now?

Continue maintaining our alliance, guard here for me until I become the true Plague Master, and then help you ascend to boss's position?"

"No..." William simply denied it without explaining further.

Art pressed his finger against his nose, "Hiss~ Are you going to terminate our cooperation, William? And then send these coordinates to the world?

After all, from the moment you made me hunt the Skin Bag Apostle, what I've done has already broken the Monastery's boundaries, and now seizing the qualification is even more sinful."

As long as you send these coordinates out,

the Great Prison Monk from the Monastery, or perhaps even the Prison Director himself, might come to hunt me down.

The Great Emperor from the Blood Citizens certainly won't let it slide, I killed his most beloved Monarch, he will use every means to kill me.

The Cancer Palace will panic even more~ once they know my coordinates and that I've obtained the qualification, they'll stop at nothing to execute me.

Your friends,

Luna Kid and the Naisi patient who achieved Mechanical Ascension in the competition should also come to hunt me down.

If I'm killed, the 'qualification' will be redistributed within the Old World~ and you, being the top contributor who stopped this great villain, reaching the Silver Circle limit, will likely be allocated this qualification.

Am I wrong? William, this is your plan."

Just when Art confidently laid out his reasoning,

"No..." William still gave a negative answer.

Such a brief denial left Art quite annoyed, but as of now he's only a prospective Plague Master. After working with William for this period, he was well aware that in such a dark environment, William could easily slip into the Abyss, making it extremely difficult to kill him.

Suppressing his smile,

Art made an inviting gesture and continued asking: "So what exactly do you want to do?"

"Very simply, to kill you before you complete your final transformation, Art... that's all."

With these words.

Hahaha~ Hahaha!

Maniacal laughter instantly filled the absolutely sealed sanctuary, the laughter even making the sealing materials here grow tumors, making the already narrow space seem completely about to be filled.

But still unable to touch William's physical body,

The laughter lasted for five minutes before gradually ceasing,

"Haha~ really, at such a critical moment you're still joking, William. No wonder you could earn my trust in such a short time, you're truly interesting, always able to make an unexpected joke at a critical moment.

Now suppose you're not joking,

then I admit you have some skill, especially in the combination of space and abyss, catching you truly is difficult.

But if we talk about actual combat prowess, among all the chiefs in the Circus, you rank at the bottom, what on earth do you have to kill me, a prospective Plague Master?"

William didn't respond following the clown's words, but simply said:

"Do you dare accept my challenge invitation, Art Kramer?"

"William, are you serious? Really rushing to your death?"

Over the four months of interaction, Art knew very well that William was truly a smart person. This move was definitely not mindless, it surely carried some hidden agenda.

His first guess was that William intended to deliberately lose to him, thus getting absorbed and becoming part of him, thereby affecting his final Plague Master ascension.

"If you're eager to die, I can fulfill that for you~ However, I won't absorb you. You seem off; your mental state is very much like mine in the past, like a complete Madman."

William continued to respond in a calm voice,

"Since you agreed to my challenge, please, Mr. Art, wait a moment while I set up the scene~ to prevent our duel from being interrupted by others.

As you mentioned before, in the Old World right now, there are numerous people, even multiple Plague Masters, who want to kill you.

I can't let them succeed."

"Scene? Are you going to set up the boss's tent?"

"No... This is a scene I've specially arranged for this moment, ensuring our duel won't be exposed, ensuring everything can be completed in secret."

Art was slightly wary, thinking William might bring out some scene similar to the Abyss, even suspecting the Tenth Abyss behind William might come out to assist.

If the Abyss did emerge, Art would self-destruct and shift immediately.

To his surprise,

The sound of pages flipping echoed in his ears.

A certain malice that resonated with Art began to breed in the current area, alongside slowly expanding a kind of [Field].

Just like the previous performance, where Zede constructed the Corpse Demon Cave with Physical bodies.

Only, this [Field] was more perfected, more enclosed, and reinforced with a concept beyond the Old World.

"This malice... Are you using extraterrestrial stuff again?"

"Indeed, previously it was just a slight invocation of character projections from the storybook, this time I am using the entire book as a foundation, creating a perfected [Field], which is also our ultimate stage where we fight to the death."

No sooner had the words been spoken.

This secret cellar was immediately covered by rules transcending the Old World,

Woosh~ A downpour commenced, continuously thrashing amidst the city of steel jungle.

Street lamps provided limited illumination,

Art stood in the center of the road, curiously observing these strangely styled Otherworld buildings.

"Oh! So, this is the human city in the Main Material Plane... Seems interesting, with high residential density, quite suitable for plague spread."

Just as Art was appreciating this urban scenery,

A needle-like crisis pierced straight into his heart, even as a quasi-Plague Master, just shy of the final 'Golden Expression' stage, he felt the danger.

Looking upward,

Art saw William slowly descending from the sky, appearing almost like there were two people.

For some reason, he couldn't see clearly, like staring at the blazing sun in the sky: dazzling and blurry.

Only able to make out the general silhouette of William, seemingly possessing three arms, with the third arm not quite belonging to him,

Moreover, Art sensed that behind William someone seemed to be watching him, a very familiar feeling of gaze.

Tap~

The instant shoe soles hit the ground overshadowed the sound of rain striking,

The neatly suited William stood straight across the street, feet slightly apart and aligned with shoulders, both hands resting on a gentleman's cane, smiling at Art opposite him.

However,

Apart from William's gaze, another stare came from behind.

Yi Chen, embedded in his back, tried his best to straighten his mind, giving the impression of standing sideways behind William.

Perhaps due to fatigue and injury from the battle with the Great Emperor, Yi Chen appeared somewhat aged, devoid of life.

One hand gently rested on William's shoulder for support.

The other hand retained the posture from facing the Great Emperor, wrapped in iron chains and holding the formidable slaughter knife, extending diagonally behind William like a 'third arm.'

As for why Art couldn't see clearly earlier, it felt like being scorched by the sun was due to William's forehead,

The pupil of Evil Sun's Eye was already opened.

Of course,

Most striking was the abdomen's inward-recessing Abyss Mouth, even the entire suit perfectly matched, curving inward at the Abyss, spinning and rippling outward like waves.