Chapter 298: Crushing Jie Luo’s Soul Fragment
Holy shit!
Qin Chu couldn’t help but curse.
His lips trembled.
The heart of the Eighth Evil God, the being the gods had sacrificed so much to defeat… it was still beating?
Could that terrifying entity be resurrected?
A shiver ran down his spine. The thought was terrifying.
If he returned, the Heavenly Continent, now lacking its powerful gods, would be annihilated.
“The moment the heart beat, a powerful earthquake erupted.”
“The pressure reached its peak.”
“Fortunately, he was smart enough to flee.”
“Back in the Imperial City, he found Ekaterina waiting for him at home. The Second Jie Luo wanted to release his fear, but alas, he could only look, not touch… hahaha, serves him right… but that ability is truly terrible… if he hadn’t taken my place, I would have been the unlucky one.”
Ireta’s voice ceased.
She opened her eyes, returning the soul fragment to Qin Chu. There was nothing more.
As expected, each soul fragment revealed valuable information.
Qin Chu was intrigued by the heart.
Fortunately, the First Jie Luo had recorded its location.
He glanced at Athena and Muse. Their expressions were strange. They didn’t know as much as he did, but they had gleaned some information from Ireta’s words.
Athena’s face was pale: “Master, what was that…?”
“That was a message from the real Jie Luo, hidden deep within the soul fragment,” Qin Chu replied calmly.
The real Jie Luo?
Athena’s heart pounded. Muse swayed.
“Don’t you understand?”
“The First Hero, Jie Luo, the one you all admire, the one summoned by the Heavenly Continent… he was replaced before he even arrived.”
“The one you knew was a demon who stole his body, his true purpose to eliminate the other summoned heroes.”
Qin Chu wanted to see their reactions… Athena’s face paled, her eyes flickering as she tried to determine the truth of his words.
Muse, though swaying, merely smiled coldly.
“A demon? So what?”
He grinned: “To me, he was Jie Luo. That’s enough.”
Muse didn’t care. Perhaps a demon was even better? A demon could understand him.
This guy’s devotion is truly impressive.
Qin Chu was almost touched.
In that case, he would grant Muse the most profound, the most terrifying despair.
After all, true cruelty was breaking someone’s spirit.
He walked towards Muse, a strange smile on his face, tossing the ring containing the soul fragment in his hand, drawing Muse’s gaze.
Muse’s eyes followed the fragment, his throat working, his gaze filled with longing.
“This is the soul fragment of your beloved Jie Luo.”
“Do you want it?”
Muse’s hand twitched involuntarily.
Seeing Qin Chu’s fingers closing around the fragment, Muse’s eyes widened. Even he, in his current state, understood what Qin Chu intended.
Terror made him tremble.
All color drained from his face, his grotesque head shaking violently, his voice a near-wail: “No… no, no, no…”
“Please, don’t do this. Don’t…”
Qin Chu’s smile widened.
This fool still didn’t understand. Time to enlighten him.
“No… please, I beg you…” Muse, abandoning his usual arrogance, pleaded pathetically.
But Qin Chu’s gaze only grew colder.
He tightened his grip on the soul fragment.
Crack.
The fragment shattered.
It crumbled to dust, falling through his fingers.
The dust mixed with the snow, vanishing without a trace.
“No…”
Muse’s scream was a primal wail of despair.
His weakened legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees.
Tears, blood, and snot streamed down his face, making his already grotesque features even more repulsive.
Only with all the soul fragments could Jie Luo be resurrected. Now, with one destroyed, his soul could never be whole.
Even when Athena had given the fragment to Qin Chu, a sliver of hope had remained.
But now, even that sliver was gone.
He felt as if his heart had been ripped out. An unbearable agony.
Despair.
Grief.
Athena’s face also paled, a sharp pain in her chest, though not as intense as Muse’s.
Muse’s trembling hands scooped up the snow mixed with the fragment’s dust, trying to gather it.
But it was completely destroyed. Putting it back together was impossible.
The odds were lower than the seven Evil Gods suddenly dropping dead.
He began stuffing the snow into his mouth, as if trying to consume the fragment’s dust.
He didn’t know why.
Perhaps it was a desperate, instinctive act.
His fingers clawed at the ground, even scraping at the ice beneath the snow.
Qin Chu watched him coldly. The more Muse suffered, the greater his pleasure.
Suffer.
Savor the pain.
If you don’t suffer, then what’s the point of my revenge?
After a long while, Muse finally collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably, a grown man crying like a child.
His relationship with Jie Luo was different from Benson, Karsus, Sylph, Athena, Loseweisse, or Ronald’s.
His was a pure friendship, born of shared interests. And that made his grief even more profound.
Tears and blood streamed down his face.
His features twisted further, his grief and despair transforming into pure hatred. He looked up at Qin Chu, his bloodshot eyes blazing, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
“You…”
“You…”
“You…”
“It’s all your fault! Aaaaaah…”
With a chilling scream, his weakened body suddenly surged with strength.
Like a final burst of energy before death.
He grabbed his axe and leaped to his feet, swinging it at Qin Chu’s head.
“You demon! I’ll kill you! Aaaah…”
“Athena!”
Qin Chu didn’t even move, merely issuing a soft command.
Athena, who had been standing dazed and unresponsive, snapped out of her trance, instinctively raising her staff.
“Plague!”
“Accelerated Decay!”
She uttered the words, unfamiliar even to her own ears.
A sickly green mist erupted from her staff, engulfing Muse.
“Athena, you…”
Muse’s eyes widened.
He knew she was being controlled.
And that made his despair even deeper.
He knew he was doomed. Even with this final burst of strength, he was no match for the Second Hero.
But dying at Qin Chu’s hands was far preferable to dying at the hands of a former comrade.
Especially one whose soul had been twisted.
He swayed, his newfound strength fading rapidly.
His steps grew heavy and slow, his breath hot, his fever rising, his mind clouding.
The blisters on his skin swelled, bursting one after another.
His eyes turned grey.
A large lump appeared on his neck.
A piercing pain shot through his head, as if something was pressing against his nerves, his vision darkening.
Something swelled within his abdomen.
A gurgling sound filled his throat.
He coughed up dark blood.
Countless diseases seemed to erupt within him, rapidly consuming him, his already broken body deteriorating further.
Qin Chu looked at Athena in surprise.
What was this power?
He had fought alongside her for years in the first loop and had never seen her use such sinister magic.
He sensed a dark, corrupting energy within it.
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