Overturned Tower

He raised his head, and pure white flames ignited at the bottom of his pupils.

As the psychic fluctuations spread out, a weak wind blew up with Russell at the center.

His hair was windless and automatic, and a lock of hair covered one of his eyes.

"You want to stop me?"

Russell's other eye, however, shone brighter.

"Do you think that the world is no longer worth saving. Humanity is facing a doomed death, and the entire civilization today is nothing more than the self-entertainment of death row prisoners...?"

Russell murmured softly, pulled out the saint beheaded from his arms, and poured the determination to kill the sheath into it.

The dark red light blade slowly and firmly ejected from the psychic weapon that Alice had used before.

He slowly raised the beheaded saint, resting his left hand on the bottom.The light blade, which has been extended to more than one meter, now looks like a sharp long sword.

The sheath was just silent, without saying a word.

He didn't even draw out his own sword, but his "eyes" flickered with an ominous blood-colored radiance, staring at Russell like a silent robot.

"Then I'll be blunt—I don't think so.

"I can stay here and talk to you until the sun goes down. I can get out of here and feel the warm light of the setting sun. I can go on and say what I want to say, or I don't. I can talk to you You fight, I can leave too. All I need to do is choose.

"It's my freedom to choose.

"You said that all human beings cannot be saved—because only the elves can leave this corrupted planet with the dragon. If that is the case, why didn't the elves and the dragon leave directly from the very beginning?

"—Because they are not reconciled. Because they want to try to see if there is any way to change all this.

"Because they don't want to just run away. Because they want to resolve the situation ... because they don't want to just run away yet.

"Starting from year 0, soul relatives were born... They tried for a full 1000 years. But it was not until 100 years ago that the dragon initially compromised.

"Because until then, 'psychic aptitude' will still penetrate the dream world and befall the inhabitants. There is no point in killing psykers, it is just deception. Because psionic power itself is not a threat, but humans can still The 'aptitude' of awakening psionic energy means that the plague of the mind is still lurking in the hearts of human beings.

"60 years ago, the psychic protection chip was another attempt. Thoth psychics are still trying to block the possibility of awakening psychic energy. They added another layer of protection on the psyche...but there will still be 'psychic's that penetrate the protection. A capable person is born.

"Until 20 years ago, the Seven Giants still did not give up. They tried to exhaust all the possibilities of psychics, and in turn catalyzed the birth of psykers, trying to solidify and control all demons into the present world, and through this method to prevent human beings from continuing to Awakening psionic...

"But even so, there will still be people who will awaken brand new psionic abilities and awaken demons that do not exist in this world."

In Russell's mind, a monkey-faced eagle suddenly came to mind.

He couldn't help but sigh with emotion...

Whether it's me, or the monkey-faced eagle...their essence is the dusk egg of twin opposites, an embryo that has not yet hatched.

And what provided them with nourishment—should be this banned "God's Core".

But these are just emotions.

The decisive evidence that really made Russell think that Sheath's decision was a big mistake was the demon named "Bud Lover".

"You may not know... well, of course you don't. Because you have been away from Sky Island for too long."

Russell sighed: "The soul is solidified, and theoretically, the elves who can no longer awaken psionic powers—not long ago, they also awakened psionic powers and awakened demons.

"Even, just a few days ago—even the artificial intelligence, the artificial soul composed of numbers and codes, also obtained its own psionic power. A brand new psionic power that does not belong to demons.

"So far, all the protective measures against the 'God's Core' have been penetrated--spiritual disease, spiritual protection chips, and elf transformation rituals. The only thing that is still in effect is this self-isolation Ash Dome."

"That's why I want to stop you..."

"—Haven't you understood?"

Russell cut off the sheath.

The rising airflow blows away the hair that blocks half of his vision, and the white light in his pupils becomes brighter and brighter: "Even if the elves and dragons leave this planet, it doesn't make any sense. Even if they imprison all the demons, even if their souls Solidified like amber... Sooner or later, they will awaken their spiritual power.

"They are just 'insensitive people'. Under the circumstances that other people can obtain spiritual power first, they are not easy to be infected by spiritual power... But if everyone else is dead, then it will be their turn.

"The current situation has proved that it is useless to escape."

Therefore, the elves will begin to prepare the final plan...

That's why this world believes in that religion...

Cyber ​​Church.Cyber ​​immortality.

The only reason the dragons allow the Cyberchurch to exist is to use them as a "last resort".

If even elves can be infected, then it is necessary to abandon all the bodies and enter the server.

The "Cyber ​​Eternal Life" that the Cyber ​​Church has been talking about is just the "vaccination" that has been injected continuously for a long time.

That is not to "save resources" at all, but to store the entire civilization through another means-with artificial intelligence instead of the name elves as the "caretakers" in the journey.Store human consciousness in the form of data, and after finding a habitable planet, "download" human beings into the body again, and let the "pre-human" itself guard the development of new human beings.

That is another way.

However, the monkey-faced eagle proves that... even artificial intelligence can be infected by psychic aptitude.Even if human beings abandon their bodies and enter the data world, they still cannot get rid of the terrible spiritual plague.

The spiritual plague that nearly wiped out the entire old civilization is still entangled in them like a tarsus.

"Your blocking is meaningless.

"If we are said to be destroyed...then the same is true for elves. As long as there is an infected person, as long as a crack is seen, it means that the invisible place is full of flaws."

"Then tell me, what else can this world do?!"

Sheath's voice suddenly became louder: "Even elves...but doomed to death, and life with a glimmer of hope—

"What's wrong with me choosing the future that is more likely?"

With the buzzing sound of the red light at the bottom of the sheath pupil, an invisible wave suddenly spread.

Russell's head flew back as if struck hard.

The prosthetic body of his left arm suddenly lost its kinetic energy and fell straight down heavily.Pulling his tendons, he felt a sharp pull and soreness.It's as if his left arm is no longer a random prosthesis, but a heavy block of iron.

In front of Russell, the UI menu and various information provided by the chip were instantly covered by snowflakes, garbled characters, and red pop-up windows. What he heard were only a bunch of warnings and noises, and his eyes instantly became blurred.All the technological UI interface, including the friend list and body information, and the clock, news, and memos that always existed above disappeared in an instant, turning into an unmodified, blurred picture of the naked eye due to tears.

With the failure of the hormone control plug-in, the hormone secretion in Russell's body was instantly disordered.With the failure of the neuromodulation plug-in, his muscle nerves became weak, causing him to feel like motion sickness, nausea and vomiting, and his body just stood there, showing signs of imbalance.

And most importantly... With the failure of the mind protection chip itself, Russell's psychic energy also began to become restless.He felt a small whisper in his ear...it wasn't anyone related to him, but a small whisper that Russell had never heard before.

It was as if the shackles had been undone—Russell felt as if he could snatch the scabbard personality, master his powers, simply by reaching out.

As long as he wants to, he can integrate the unique talents of the sheath into himself.

The dim yellow part at the bottom of his pupils proliferated rapidly, and the pure white "flame" from the outside began to dim.

"What a troublesome ability..."

Russell gritted his teeth.

He beheaded the undisturbed saint and held it in his mouth, covering his face with his only moving right hand.

Suddenly being "unplugged" from the mind protection chip, his spiritual energy began to expand out of control.Russell's rationality is suppressing his psychic power. At this moment, he can only use this... the self-suggestion method he used at the beginning to "put on a mask" for himself.

The next moment, the dark green flame ignited——

When the flames dissipated, Alice stood in front of the sheath.

Seeing this, Sheath's face finally showed a look of emotion.

His first reaction was a look of astonishment on his face... and he took half a step back.

Even though she lost both eyes, Alice could clearly feel that Sheath's heart became confused in an instant.

"It might be better to fight you in this form."

Alice decapitated the saint biting on her mouth with her hands again, and said softly: "No strengthening or modification...the original, intact body."

She slowly raised the decapitated saint, pointing the tip of his sword at the sheath.

"So at that time, you didn't see me clearly."

She showed a solemn and flat expression, without a smile on her face, but she was not sad: "It's normal... because you have become 'blind'."

"Alice..."

Sheath read the name slowly, her voice trembling.

It wasn't Russell pretending to be Alice... At that moment, he seemed to see the real Alice.

That was Alice engraved in his memory 20 years ago.

"I'm not Alice. I'm just her phantom..."

"Alice" sighed: "She is dead...Father."

Ahhh...

Sheath slightly opened her mouth wide, her teeth numb.

His head trembled slightly for a moment, and an inexplicable feeling hit his heart.

Like the warm sun shining on him, but he felt cold and hopeless.

Until then, seeing the living Alice appearing in front of her eyes, she really realized something belatedly.

—Alice is dead.

Died because of the stupid choices he made.

I have never seen Alice's body, nor have I attended Alice's funeral.Until now, he had no awareness that Alice was dead.

It seemed to be just a very long time away.As long as she doesn't face up to it, she still hasn't died.

But until now...

Never had she felt such intense loneliness and pain for a moment.

At that moment, Sheath felt like crying.

"Ah..."

He opened his mouth and made a dry sound.

It was like trying to sneeze and not being able to—except that what he wanted was to cry.

But he couldn't cry anymore.

"Do you understand, this is death. The end of the meaning of life, the dissolution of hope and despair together."

Alice said softly, and rushed up suddenly.

Aiming at the sheath, she swung the sword lightly.

The sheath instinctively flicked the knife out of the sheath, and the ordinary iron sword could not withstand the sharpness of the spiritual weapon.

In the light and heat like a chainsaw cutting, the iron sword in his hand was fused instantly.

——Before that, he could have swung his sword and cut off Alice's head.

But just looking at Alice, he couldn't do anything at all.

It's like falling into a dream, and like drinking too much wine.

He just stood there in a daze, enduring Alice's whirlwind as elegant as a butterfly and fierce as a tiger——

A sword failed, she swung a sword again.

The sheath dodged the sword awkwardly, but the wings on the side of his back were cut off.

He staggered and fell to the ground, and the light gun on the deer head statue suddenly dissipated.She came back to life, and the surrounding lights came back on.

The severe pain made Shea regain consciousness in an instant, and he realized the disadvantageous situation he was in... But Alice didn't take advantage of the situation to pursue.

She just looked at the sheath that fell to the ground, and said softly: "Whether it is to escape from this planet, or to extend human life; to find the truth, or to open the sky...it is all for 'continuation', for 'survival' 'Awakening.

"Not to give up.

"Humanity is not over yet. Even if you fight until the last day, you have to stand and die... It's not the last day, and I don't want to give up.

"—I feel disappointed by defeating you like this. It can be said that there is no real sense of revenge. It is too ugly, and it has disappointed me in every sense... Clean up your mood and come back next time."

Alice shook her head in disappointment as she looked at the wretched sheath that had lost its will to fight.

She suddenly showed a subtle smile as if she remembered something.

"Oh, by the way, you remember that sentence very clearly, don't you.

"Then listen again—

"If it's a once-in-a-lifetime stage... let's let go and have fun."