No Hero

Volume 9, The End NO. 9: Heroes

Charles looks so weak. As expected, eating too many blood candies is a big problem.

It’s just that the numbers aren’t there anymore, so I have no way to appraise his thoughts.

Since there’s no other way, I can only ask him directly.

“Charles, if one day both X and I are in mortal danger, who would you save?”

“Then if it’s X and the Elysees family? Who would you save?”

In the end, Charles didn’t give me an answer. Is it time to go back using the numbers and analyses to determine who he considers most important?

The results of the microchip’s self-diagnostic tests didn’t indicate any damage. I should be able to turn its functions back on…

Except, I’m looking at Charles without wanting to open fire. There are no threat levels, and no prompts to eliminate the target. It seems like I can simply refrain from shooting.

Without the numbers, haven’t things improved?

At the very least, the world looks so clean. People come and go, and there aren’t any numbers next to their faces. Lots of passers-by are looking at me. Do their expressions mean they like me, or do they think I’m weird, hm? Well, there should probably be more people who like me, right?

I sat on a bench by the sidewalk and watched for a long, long time.

“Microchip, bring the system prompt functions out of sleep mode.”

If I wanted to go save X, I would need those numbers.

***

“Charles! Charles, you’d better answer me!”

The young master’s voice sounded like he was about to fly into a rage. Although he was wearing Dark Sun’s outfit, he was missing Dark Sun’s indifference. With the Death Scythe in his hands, he did not look like he was about to save people; rather, he had a fiercely imposing manner, as though he wanted to annihilate everyone in the world

Hurriedly, I shouted, “I am fine, Young Master.”

The young master’s movements halted for a moment, which even caused him to be shot. Fortunately, Melody, Bramble, and the others immediately stepped forward to cover him and did not allow him to take any further damage.

Father Yue’s face, crazed with anger like an evil spirit’s, would not at all lose out to the young master’s. As he released vast amounts of firepower, he roared, “Dark Sun, are communications restored? What about my son?”

The young master replied simply, “Charles is still alive, so Yue Gang should be fine.”

“Yue Gang is fine,” I quickly said.

Yue Gang angrily spoke up, “Huh? Who said I’m fine? Tell my old man, he even dared to dupe his son. When Mom gets back, he should just wait for her to bury him!”

The young master really passed the message on, “Yue Gang says you should prepare for your burial.”

With a face full of calm, Father Yue said, “As long as my son hasn’t been buried yet, the child’s mother wouldn’t let it happen to me either.”

I was nearly speechless. In this kind of a situation, such clamor from Yue Gang and his father unexpectedly dissipated the tense atmosphere by more than a small amount. However, the reality of the current situation was that they were surrounded by groups upon groups of people, without even an escape route. For some unknown reason, though, the Church was somewhat delayed in deploying its large-scale weaponry to deal with the five people… Wait, five people?

From whose perspective am I actually seeing everyone?

“Whose viewpoint is this? Who is wearing the visor?”

“It’s DSII!” DSII replied in the same voice as the young master, though his tone was completely different. The vivacious and playful boy’s voice, accompanied by cannon fire as background music, was rather subtly unnerving, to say the least.

Mr. An Te Qi, are you certain that DSII is a robot? There were no other changes or mutations?

“The map with the infiltration route has been sent,” Ni Cai’s cold tone sounded practically like an angel at present.

Sure enough, a map appeared on the visor. I shouted with joy, “Young Master, I will soon arrive…”

“Charles, you can’t come over,” the young master said unexpectedly.

My expression changed, and I said, “Young Master, there is no way I can place you all in a dangerous situation while avoiding it myself!”

“That’s not it. If you come here, we’re dead for sure.” The young master briefly summarized the situation, “Based on Father Yue’s information, my guess is that they’re waiting for you on purpose, so they can kill you and X in one fell swoop. So, as soon as you get here, there’ll definitely be weapons with strong firepower directly bombarding us to death. There won’t even be a chance to dodge.”

I was stunned.

Don’t tell me, I must either watch the young master struggle to fight on in front of my eyes, or ask him to retreat, then watch as X dies?

With great difficulty, I asked, “Then, if your theory is correct, is there still a chance to rescue X?”

The young master did not actually respond, saying simply, “Right now, the Church is still waiting for you to take the bait. If I retreat and you haven’t come, they’ll probably give up on using X to lure you out and kill him at once. They probably won’t even move him anywhere else; they’ll probably just stay here. Those vehicles simply aren’t planning to break through.”

I was silent for a moment, then asked once more, “Young Master, is there still a chance to rescue X?”

This time, the silent one in the exchange had become the young master. During this time, he was both dealing and receiving injuries himself. In the end, he ultimately opened his mouth and said, “It’s very low. Essentially, the system won’t display that the probability’s zero, because there’re always exceptions.”

So, the probability is zero?

X…

I closed my eyes, then opened them once more. Firmly, I said, “Please leave this place, Young Master.”

Straightforwardly, the young master refused, “I won’t. If I leave, you would definitely come over, even if the probability is approaching zero. After all, Charles, you were the one who taught me that things can’t be calculated with numbers.”

I laughed bitterly. I had not actually thought that I would be hit in the face with my own words, nor that I would actually use the young master’s words to counter him.

“However, you were the one who taught me when to use reason to decide. Sometimes, all we can do is make a choice, and when probabilities state something is impossible, the only choice we have is to give it up.”

I had learned this too late. If it had been just a bit earlier, the young master would not have had to push himself until his whole body was covered in wounds.

“Young Master, what I least wish to see is the simultaneous loss of you and X. Please, do not let this come to pass.”

The young master split apart the huge shield the Church was using as defense, then circled around, jumping onto the front part of the truck. Taking advantage of the artillery shots being temporarily lured away as the others jumped up to follow him, he reached out to pull out a few bullets lodged in his shoulders. Meanwhile, he asked, “Then, after I’ve left, will you come over?”

I opened my mouth, but discovered I could not speak. All I could do was grit my teeth and squeeze out the words, “I will not.”

“I can’t tell.”

I flinched. “What?”

“I can’t tell if what you said was the truth or a lie, Charles. You’ve been corrupted by Ezart.”

The young master smiled and said, “If I’m right, X should be right under my feet. Do you really want me to give up and leave?”

The young master began to smash the top of the car with the Death Scythe, but members of the Church were not such easy prey. They surrounded this truck en masse, firing frantically at the roof. If not for the group of people on top of the truck returning fire with weapons that were no less powerful, in addition to the fact that their opponents had to fire up at them, and the truck itself blocking more than a few bullets, I had no doubt that they would have long been shot up into honeycombs. Even as things were, everyone in the group was still injured all over.

“I’ve decided on you!”

I could not stand watching them continue to get hurt, and yelled loudly, “Young Master, you are more important than X! I beg you, leave at once!

The young master turned up the corners of his mouth, but did not leave as he had said he would. He still continued swinging and hacking with the Death Scythe. As for the truck, it seemed to be constructed of an unknown material, as it was actually able to withstand the young master’s scythe. He had slashed it so many times, but had only hewn open a seam in the truck’s roof.

“Haha, just wait! I’ve got to tell X, Charles thinks I’m more important!”

Young Master? I did not understand. Why is he still not leaving? The young master should have been the most logical one. I had already chosen to give up on rescuing X. For what reason would he still not wish to leave?

“They can no longer retreat,” Ni Cai said softly. “This is very clear to Dark Sun, so he kept talking to you, delaying you from going over there.”

How could this be? The Church would not want to provoke the Sun Emperor, and the young master is Sun Emperor’s most deeply beloved!

Immediately, I said, “Inform the Sun Emperor! Show him the feed from the young master’s visor. He can stop the Church!”

“Dark Sun has asked me to do that since earlier, but there isn’t the slightest response.”

Hearing this, my heart sank and seemed to freeze over. I suddenly remembered that it was the Sun Emperor who had leaked the news about X to the Church. Had he known the situation would end up like this? Has the Sun Emperor given up on the young master? Or even… Did he do this on purpose?

Softly, Lieder said, “I guess this time, Dìdì was just too disobedient.”

I immediately activated x-speed.

“Charles, don’t come!”

Impossible!

“Charles, listen to me! They’re waiting for you! They won’t kill X and me until the last minute, but as soon as you get here, they’ll immediately bomb the area to take care of us all at once. They don’t care about their own people here. That’s why Sin isn’t here!”

I stopped running.

“Charles, you just said, when probabilities state something is impossible, the only choice we have is to give it up.”

I…

“Let us go. Even if you come, all you can do is die with us. I’ll try to break apart the truck and see if I can undo X’s restraints before the bombardment. My guess is that X has managed to escape for a millennium, so he probably won’t die so easily. Maybe if he has another way to escape, and just needs to be untied, there’s a chance that X can still survive…”

There was a higher chance that the young master and X would just die like this, and I really would watch this happen in front of my eyes. How could I let this happen?

“Young Master, I am sorry. I did not learn to give up. I was lying to you just now.”

If I released all my blood ability as a protective shield at the moment of the explosion, perhaps I could protect the young master and X. They were both very powerful, and could certainly escape.

“Charles!” The young master said furiously, “Think of Curtis! If you die, what will he lead your family to do?”

I could not help but laugh as I said, “What Curtis would lead my family to do… what I would do if you and X die at the hands of the Church?!”

I only realized by the end of my speech that I was howling, and decided I may as well howl out the rest. “Young Master, please wait for me!”

The young master opened his mouth, but ultimately shut it again. Forcefully, he hacked downward and cleaved a large gash in the roof of the truck. The situation inside the truck was already visible.

“Okay, I’ll wait for you.”

The young master crouched down. From this angle, it was almost impossible for the bullets to strike him. He said to the group, “Everyone leave right now. As long as I stay, the Church shouldn’t waste energy on stopping you.”

Ezart scowled and shot a glare at the young master, but soon afterward was busy sending the others down one by one.

Melody screamed, “Young Master!”

Mr. Bramble yelled even more angrily, “We are your bodyguards!”

Hauling open the top of the truck, the young master looked inside, moved in one step further, and said, “DSII, cover the others. Go with them and get out of here.”

DSII dutifully said, “But Gēge said that the meaning of my existence is to protect Ah Ye. Well, then again, Gēge also said I have to listen to Ah Ye. I’ll listen to Gēge, Gēge wants me to listen to Ah Ye, so I’ll listen to Ah Ye!

There must something wrong with this robot.

Father Yue did not even have the chance to turn his head, and could only shout while shooting, “If we go, these guys will climb up here at once! You won’t even have time to save E.X.!

“They won’t come up here,” the young master said coolly. “If they had wanted to come up here, they would have come up long ago. With the firepower of just you few people, how could you have possibly blocked everyone? Right when I get in the truck, they’ll most likely retreat immediately, so they don’t get caught in the heavy artillery bombardment.”

Resolutely, May shouted, “Young Master, we’re not going!”

Dell mournfully said, “We’re totally dead,” but his actions, on the contrary, included holding and rapidly firing his gun with absolutely no intent to leave.

Angrily, the young master yelled, “Shut up! If we say Charles, X, and I still have a small chance at survival here, then there isn’t the smallest chance for you all to make it! DSII, take them all and go!”

Before anyone had the time to protest, DSII quickly made several trips up and down the truck, kicking each and every one of them off the roof. On the ground below, there were Church members everywhere; if anyone wanted to force their way back onto the truck, they would become a living target. That left only the choice of retreating from the area.

But somehow, Ezart had seemingly seen this coming. He evaded DSII’s assault, and was left as the only one not kicked off the roof.

As though he had expected this, the young master only said, “Ezart, help me rescue the others. You can’t help me anymore here.”

Ezart made a “tsk” noise, muttering, “Whatever. If you kick the bucket, your big bro’ll annihilate the world anyway. It’s death either way, so this makes no difference.” After saying that, he jumped off the roof of the car.

Just then, DSII walked forward, using his own body as a shield and taking countless bullets. Because I was watching from DSII’s perspective, I could not see him, but I could occasionally glimpse his arms and legs. I realized that DSII’s condition was not far from that of a thoroughly destroyed piece of iron.

There was one cause for joy: the young master was correct and those priests from the Sin Elimination Committee truly did not have much interest in the others. The greater part of the priests’ guns were still aimed at the roof of the truck.

The perspective shifted again. Right in front was a piece of steel that had been torn apart. This piece of steel was so thick, it was practically a wall. No wonder the young master had to hit it for so long, even with the Death Scythe.

The young master jumped into the truck. The space inside was not large, but surprisingly, there were no guards. It seemed that the young master was correct; this was actually a giant trap, with the intent to kill us in one fell swoop.

X’s entire body had been solidly confined to the bottom of the truck, with the metal covering him perhaps no thinner than the truck’s roof. As soon as he saw the young master, his eyes grew wide, and he said angrily, “Leave! This is a trap! Why are you here? Hurry and get out!”

The young master ignored him and moved straight onward, checking X’s bonds. He pulled at them with his hands, but they were absolutely immovable.

“Charles, if X’s limbs are shattered, or are even cut off, will they grow back?

“Young Master, you need not concern yourself with any injuries he may receive.”

It is said that vampires with lower generation numbers can indeed regrow severed limbs, as long as they had significant amounts of time to spend on it. While I did not know X’s generation number or if the legend would apply, I did know that survival was a blessing under circumstances such as these. Lost arms or legs could be considered but minor sacrifices.

The young master picked up the Death Scythe and struck the restraints at X’s feet. Laughing, he said, “I’m not concerned. I just asked because I was curious.”

“Hurry and go!” X roared. I had never seen this side of him. Is this because he is too anxious, or has the Church done something to him?

“Young Master, I am here.” I stood behind a shelter and looked out. Sure enough, the Sin Elimination priests surrounding the truck really had not climbed onto it, and had indeed even retreated somewhat. However, the group continued to surround the truck with their guns aimed at it and solemn expressions on their faces. I did not know if I had been influenced by the young master’s theory, but I could not shake the feeling that their expressions were those of stoicism in the face of death.

The young master immediately said, “Don’t come over for now. As soon as you get here, our deaths are assured.”

X howled, “If you still refuse to leave, everyone’s deaths are assured! Beat it!”

The young master slashed a few more times, but those restraints were really sturdier than the truck’s roof. While perhaps the Death Scythe would be able to slice it open if the young master continued hacking at them, there was truly no time left. There was certainly a surveillance camera within the truck, and there was no way the Church would look on as the young master sliced open the restraints right in front of their eyes. I was almost afraid it was about time already; if the young master still did not leave, then he would only be buried with X.

“Young Master, would you please…”

Seriously, the young master asked, “X, may I kill you?”

X was stunned for a moment, then shouted at once, “I don’t need you to kill me. Hurry up and scram!”

Oh no, now that Young Master has said these words, I am afraid that… I immediately dashed straight toward the freight truck. From the visor, I could see a fiery light coming from under X as the young master immediately leapt upward.

Just when I had dashed up onto the truck’s roof and stopped, the young master burst upward out of it. Before he had finished saying the word “go,” I was already using X-speed.

This time did not go as smoothly as the last. Because I was too hurried, I could not control the timing well. By the time I had pushed off, I had already missed the best moment to ride the blast. This time, being blasted was by far the best way to describe my flight, rather than running away; though, even like this, all I could do was try my best to run as fast as I could. Still, it was impossible to tell if the result was my own controlled sprint or if we were being blasted outward by the explosion.

Not a few moments later, my whole body was so battered that I was a jumbled mess. If it were at all possible for me to lose consciousness, I admit I likely would have passed out long ago.

“Young Master…”

I pushed myself up and looked around. The young master was lying right behind me. I was just about to crawl over and check on his condition, but discovered dense, dark shadows had gathered around us. Raising my head, I found that we were thoroughly surrounded by the black robes of the Sin Elimination Committee.

There were giant shields in all directions, and there were even strange beams of light enveloping the empty air. They crossed to form the shape of a net, and it would be quite apt to say it was encompassing heaven and earth.

I turned my gaze back, crawling over to examine the young master’s injuries. His eyes were still open, but he was lying on his side and motionless on the ground. There were wounds all over his body, and a whole piece of his back had even been scorched. His left leg was also twisted and misshapen. Even if he could just barely walk, he could make no precise movements to speak of. Just like that, Dark Sun’s strength had fallen far short of its usual levels.

The young master had just managed to climb onto my back. It was he who had helped me block most of the explosion’s might.

“Charles…” the young master softly said, “you’re so fast. How about you rush out by yourself?”

I shook my head. Even if I was able to, I could not.

“So not even an explosion of this level could blast you two to death.”

Sin walked out from behind a huge shield. He looked at us with an awe-struck expression, as though we were not a pair of wounded soldiers, but instead a grotesque, final boss.

I tried to stand, but even my two legs were shaking. I took a step forward to block my young master’s broken figure, though I knew this was futile. We were completely surrounded on all sides. How could I block him?

“I have received no inheritance from X!” I said severely. “Do you really want to provoke the Elysees family for that?”

Upon mentioning X, I felt a pain in my chest. Behind Sin, and beyond the Church’s huge shields, only a scorched, leveled plain was left. The motorcade that had originally been there had ceased to exist, of course. As for that truck we had just faced, which had even been able to withstand the young master’s Death Scythe, I was now unable to find any traces of it. In this kind of explosion, no matter how strong X is, there is no way he could have survived…

But at this moment, I could not wallow in loss and grief. With a heavily wounded Young Master just behind me, the only feeling I should have is one of fighting on, of defending him!

Sin said indifferently, “You’ve received no inheritance? Then how could you have escaped such large explosions twice, Charles Endelis? You’re a vampire that hasn’t even lived for two hundred years yet; if vampires had such strength, our Sin Elimination Committee would have long been annihilated.”

I could only speak in half-truths. “In the past, I drank a dose of medicine, and it was that medicine that made me like this. It had nothing to do with X!”

“We can go with that, but this is best opportunity to settle things once and for all. There’s E.X., you, and that Dark Sun, who’s just as dangerous—no one can stop our measures for eliminating sin, no matter if it’s the Elysees or the Sun Emperor.”

Sin slowly retreated. When he was in the very center of the giant shield formation, he declared, “Here and now, we put a full stop to our thousand-year pursuit! You non-humans who disturb the peace of our world can descend into Hell together!

This lunatic! I released countless blood shields to encircle our surroundings and continuously condensed them, but if we had no means of breaking through the blockade, even the thickest shields would be pierced eventually. Right now, though, just standing actually made my legs tremble. How could we escape?

“That’s ridiculous. Charles and I are both human.” Swaying and shaking, the young master stood. The Death Scythe was already gone from his hands, and firearms were completely out of the question; they had long since been blasted away somewhere. Still, one limping step at a time, he walked over to my side and extended his long, metallic nails.

“Clearly, all we had to do was give up, and only X would die. But now, the result we’ve achieved is that we’re all about to die. Only humans would do such silly things.”

It really is silly. I took a deep breath. But I really could not refrain from coming to save X.

“My apologies, Young Master.”

Tilting his head, the young master said, “We’re about to descend into Hell and this is all you have to say to me?”

I laughed, took a deep breath, and revised my statement with a vow from the bottom of my heart. “Even if I find myself in Hell, I will always continue serving as your butler, Young Master.”

The young master laughed too. “Mm, that sentence is much better!”

The muzzles of guns large and small all pointed directly at the young master and me. This time, there was no need to wait for someone to take the bait. There would be no more mercy, and additionally, we were already so riddled with wounds that even dodging would be a problem.

When the sparks burst from the gun muzzles, I was blocking the young master from the front, and in turn, there were blood shields in front of me. Each round that struck the shields left a huge impact. As expected, it was a merciless assault.

Only a few seconds later, I could no longer resist, stumbling backward until my back bumped into the young master. He propped me up, and I had the sense that I was currently fighting side-by-side with him. Even though my partner could no longer fight, this was really an exceptionally wonderful feeling. Even if we were to die now, I would have no regrets.

“Young Master,” I said with exceeding calm amidst the gunfire. “I am almost at my limit.”

The young master let out a “Mm” in response and said, “Press on as long as possible. When you really can’t continue anymore, you may as well cancel the blood shields completely and let their great firepower kill us at once.”

I agreed with this point. Rather than linger at death’s door and give the enemy the opportunity to torment us, it would be better to die instantly.

Not even three seconds later, I felt that my blood ability had already just about reached its limit. I closed my eyes, preparing to cancel the use of my blood ability completely. I look forward to continuing to serve the young master in Hell.

Three, two, one, cancel…

My heart clenched. The sound of explosions continued to resound, but unexpectedly, I felt no pain at all. Did I go straight to being dead?

There was a startled cry. I recognized this as the young master’s voice and promptly opened my eyes. Surprisingly, there was a huge shadow in front of me…

“Dragon Peace!” The young master shouted.

The bullets struck Dragon Peace’s body, eliciting a pained howl. At that moment, a white cape descended from the sky, while an energy whip drew a spiral in the empty air before collecting together into a shield.

First Wind stood next to me and said in admiration, “After Dark Sun’s modifications, my whip has become quite useful.”

“First Wind?” I called softly.

We heard the young master’s voice. “Ah, Solitary Butterfly, did you come too?”

I looked back. Solitary Butterfly was facing directly away from me, wildly returning fire. Just then, the pair of guns she was holding were not small pistols, but two giant rifles almost larger than her own body. The contrast between the petite woman and huge firearms was dumbfounding.

The gunfire was so loud that Solitary Butterfly was forced to shout in response, “Did you think that I wouldn’t come? That the Four Great Heroes are a lie?

The young master stammered, “I-I didn’t mean it like that, and I’m not acting as a hero right now. This is a personal issue…”

Solitary Butterfly gave him a dark look and said disagreeably, “Give your thanks to Dragon Peace. He said, ‘Dark Sun’s going to die. Everyone hurry and save him!’ What else was I supposed to do? And is it that you wouldn’t come save me when I’m not acting as a hero?”

Revealing a wide smile, the young master resolutely said, “I would definitely go save you!”

Solitary Butterfly huffed, then said, “That’s more like it.”

All Four Great Heroes had gathered together, but Dark Sun had no energy left to fight with, and I had also completely spent my blood ability. Meanwhile, the Sin Elimination Committee still has… I cannot quickly count how many people they have.

“Can you break through them with the young master? I can cover you.”

First Wind looked at me strangely and asked, “How do you think we got here?”

At the time, my eyes had been closed, and with the deafening guns and artillery fire all around us, I truly had no idea how they had suddenly appeared. Additionally, had the young master and I not already been completely surrounded? We were still completely surrounded now. How had they appeared?

First Wind gestured at the sky. I raised my head and saw a multitude of planes speeding by. Then, a dense cluster of small black dots descended.

“The Sun Emperor sent us here,” First Wind said simply. “The Sun Emperor’s computer systems have been hacked, and the whole system came to a standstill. Unable to connect to Ah Ye, he nearly went mad with anxiety. This should’ve been the Sin Elimination Committee’s handiwork.”

So it is like that. I let out a huge sigh of relief. As long as the Sun Emperor had not completely abandoned the young master, it was fine. I could not imagine how much anguish that would have caused the young master.

“He dispatched a plane to bring us over here. We climbed onto Dragon Peace’s back, and had to let go of the parachute at a rather high altitude so he could fall directly to the ground. Otherwise, if we had parachuted down the whole way, we would definitely have been shot into a honeycomb.”

First Wind laughed as he pointed into the distance while saying, “Look, the support from your household has also arrived.”

Our household…

I did not even have the time to press him further before I heard a familiar shout.

“What the heck!”

It was Yue Gang, wearing that full-body set of equipment. Behind him followed those who had just retreated: Ezart, Melody, Mr. Bramble, and the others. Furthermore, there were even Father Yue and Father Alex.

Yue Gang raged, “It hasn’t even been a few minutes. How have you already become a burnt and bloodied guy again? Why do you like barbequing yourself so much?

“It seems that the rest of the support has arrived as well,” Alex said softly, with a faraway look.

I followed his gaze and saw the people who had been falling from the sky just then. They glided to the ground from a height that was not exactly low and were even just using tiny little parachutes that they let go of quite quickly. They fell from what would have practically been five stories up. Are these really ordinary people?

They charged directly into the group of Sin Elimination Committee priests. Their high speed was so fast that it contributed to my doubts, but when I saw their leader, these doubts were resolved. They were all completely outfitted for combat, but parts of their faces were still visible. Those faces had transformed to an extent that they rivaled a vampire’s Face Morph—it was the Extraordinaries troops.

Simultaneously, I rejoiced to know the young master could survive and felt somewhat anxious. The Sun Emperor had jets, as did the Elysees, and the Church certainly had them as well. Could it be that the current situation will escalate into an all-out war?

“Halt!” Alex shouted loudly, “Brothers of the Sin Elimination Committee, your current actions have not received the permission of the Church. The Sun Emperor and Elysees have issued a stern warning and furthermore, have dispatched a large number of reinforcements.”

The priests of the Sin Elimination Committee, large shields still raised, did not give any response. Suddenly, a roar sounded from their midst, “You pair of traitors!”

Sin pushed past the priests beside him and indignantly stepped out of the giant shield formation.

“E.X. is already dead!” Still, Alex did not flinch at all. He looked at Sin and said, one word at a time, “The mission of the Sin Elimination Committee is complete. We ought to put a full stop to the thousand years of sacrifice in pursuit of E.X.”

Sin pointed at me, raging, “If he has obtained E.X.’s inheritance—”

However, Alex interrupted him mid-sentence. Breaking from his previous gentle elegance, he responded similarly, shouting in rage, “You don’t even know if E.X. had something like an inheritance! The scriptures of the past have never mentioned any inheritance at all! But right now, the Elysees family has issued an ultimatum saying that if anything happens to Charles Endelis, the Elysees family head, the Elysees will battle the Church to the death! Is this the result you wish to see? Starting another millennium of mutual destruction, here and now?”

At this, Sin’s complexion had gone ashen, and the black-robed priests’ faces finally seemed to waver as well.

“He even wanted to kill the Sun Emperor’s dear little brother,” Adding fuel to the fire, I said, “Do you really want to make an enemy of the entire world?”

However, Sin lifted the weapons in both his hands, turning to face all the black-robed priests. Leisurely, he said, “Even if it means making an enemy of the entire world, brothers of the Sin Elimination Committee, are you with me?”

The passion of mob mentality was roused in all the black-robed priests. They raised their weapons high and screamed with a world-ending vigor.

“This is absolutely ridiculous!” Father Yue said bluntly. “Does this group of brothers spend all day, every day in the Sin Elimination Committee being brainwashed by Sin?”

Hearing the enemies’ clamor, Dragon Peace was fully incensed. He opened his big mouth, threw back his head, and howled. At that time, the Extraordinaries troop was blocked by the priests’ huge shields with no way in. They too were thoroughly infuriated. Upon hearing Dragon Peace’s roar, they immediately began to howl as well.

First Wind quietly asked, “Are we supposed to yell too?”

Solitary Butterfly flatly refused at once. “Don’t even think that I’m going to howl along with them.”

Amidst the uproar, Alex leaned over and softly said, “Charles, wait until we’ve stalled our brothers from the Sin Elimination Committee. Then you and Dark Sun search for a chance to leave the area. Sin is just relying on his influence from leading the Sin Elimination Committee for so many years to command these brothers whose judgments are clouded by zeal. Believe me, even the Church is not pleased with this method of doing things. They only agreed to let Sin execute E.X., with absolutely no intent to involve and harm you. This is Sin’s personal intention. However, once they are unable to complete their objective today, in the future, the brothers of the Sin Elimination Committee will also stop listening to Sin so unconditionally.

I had vaguely guessed this, or else a missile would have long since been shot over to take care of us once and for all.

“Why are you and Father Yue helping us, then?” I did not understand at all. If it was based on the bonds of friendship, like those that caused people to lay down their lives in helping each other, the bonds between us were certainly not strong enough to speak of.

Alex smiled gently and said, “It isn’t to help you. We simply want to discover the original truth, as well as mark the end of the Sin Elimination Committee in its current form.”

A termination… I could not help but think of X. My chest hurt, but I suppressed the emotion at once. At present, it was still not time to wallow in loss and grief. There was now hope for rescue; however, the number of people dragged in had increased. Regardless of whether they were the heroes or the Extraordinaries troops, I refused to let severe wounds manifest on any of them.

I nodded, looking at everyone, and said, “Once we have retreated, please finish this skirmish as quickly as possible. There must be absolutely no excessive bloodlust!

Immediately, Alex said, “I’ll watch them. Our brothers are on the opposing side, and the Lord wouldn’t want them to receive any injuries whatsoever.

This thinking is more naïve than mine. I only hope that the number of casualties will not be too shocking.

This time, rather than waiting for us to start the battle, the opponents acted at their convenience. However, they were also likely pressed by the Extraordinaries troops, who had already run out of patience and were drawing closer step-by-step, leaving the Sin Elimination Committee without any other options.

Initially, we had been surrounded, though, currently, we were still surrounded as before. However, because there was another outer ring composed of the Extraordinaries troops, the group seemingly surrounded on all sides was the Sin Elimination Committee’s priests, even if their numbers were no lower than ours—no, our side still has more reinforcements arriving. The adjudication squad is here.

In a low voice, Solitary Butterfly reproachfully said, “Exactly how many of these things does the Sun Emperor have? Couldn’t he conquer the world with just those?”

Are you certain that the Sun Emperor has not conquered the world already?

Compared to the Extraordinaries troops, the adjudication squad, with the capability of robots, attacked more decisively. They closed large distances instantly, but were also destroyed particularly quickly. Only the unmasked leader at the front of the adjudication squad would even move to evade danger. Moreover, his face was so lively that it was impossible not to suspect that the commander of this adjudication squad was human after all.

He simultaneously fought while yelling with excessive cheerfulness, “Ah Ye, Charles, I’ve come back to save you!”

Melody cried, “DSII? We clearly saw his entire body get completely destroyed for the sake of providing us cover to get us out!”

Laughing, the young master said, “DSII can switch bodies spontaneously. He’s really becoming more and more lively. It’s probably better to give him a single designated body; he’s a little… too strange.”

I agreed too, though in the current situation, his being strange was indeed a good thing. At least, earlier, DSII had chosen to listen to the young master and ignore the Sun Emperor.

Seeing that everyone was busy obstructing the black-robed priests from charging toward us, I walked over to the young master’s side, picked him up tightly, and carried him horizontally in my arms. He asked, “Are your legs okay?”

I nodded faintly. After this period of motionlessness, they were already much better. Although I most likely could not race away from an explosion for a third time, sprinting normally and even using X-speed occasionally should not be a problem. The cost of over-consuming blood candies last time finally seemed to have some payoff.

I shouted loudly, “Please help us clear a way out to advance toward the adjudication squad.”

Dragon Peace responded with a great roar along with a swing of his fist that sent a horde of priests flying. Ezart, unwilling to be outdone, similarly sent enemies flying with his blows. Because of his gloves, these enemies met no better fates than those hit by Dragon Peace’s huge strike.

Solitary Butterfly and Father Yue’s guns flashed unrelentingly, First Wind used all his strength to protect the young master and me, and Alex wielded his cross-shaped chain knives. Often, one sweep would knock over a whole group of enemies, but to no avail; because he seemingly did not want to hurt the priests, they would always climb back up. Still, at least he could stall them for some time, reducing our enemies’ firepower, which also somewhat diminished the pressure on the others.

Melody, Mr. Bramble, and the others, in contrast, did not take very much action. They surrounded the area around Young Master and me, preventing any bullets from injuring us.

Carrying the young master, and under everyone’s protection, I began to break through the encirclement.

“Family Head!”

There was a shout, resounding and brimming with anger to the extent that even on a noisier battlefield, it still would have been impossible to ignore. I turned my head toward it. One of the Extraordinaries had restored their original visage. It was Dong Fang Lei.

“You envelop them from the rear!” I responded using a vampire’s Hollow Roar.

Dong Fang Lei seemed thoroughly dissatisfied, but obeyed and did as I commanded.

I admit I was moving closer toward the adjudication squad and not the Extraordinaries troops because of an incredibly selfish motive. I truly did not want to treat the Extraordinaries as a shield for our retreat. I would rather escape in the direction of the adjudication squad.

I looked up at the adjudication squad, dauntless in the face of death. Fortunately, the only animate face among them was DSII’s. The others were indeed mechanical robots. Even though they looked like people, they were entirely lacking in personhood.

By the time I saw this, we were about to converge with the adjudication squad. There was one group of black-robed priests separating us, but this group was all that was left. However, it seemed they would rather die than retreat. Raising their huge shields, they were knocked to the ground by the adjudication squad one-by-one, and it was unclear whether they were dead or alive.

“Halt! Halt!”

Alex was the first to yield, and stood pale-faced in front of us. He had wanted to stop both our group and the black-robed priests, but instead, the ungrateful priests treated him as a target for their attack, and they immediately began to open fire to sweep him down!

Just in time, First Wind used his shield of energy to block the multitude of attacks, while Solitary Butterfly charged ahead to pull Alex back. However, she herself was shot and forced by the bullets to retreat. She hopped back a few steps before completely collapsing to the ground; fortunately, she had already returned to the area we had surrounded, landing right in front of me.

Solitary Butterfly lifted her head. A half-shattered visor’s mirror surface fell from her face just as she looked at me.

She froze for a moment, then shot me a glare to warn me before lowering her head to adjust the visor.

“You’re not allowed to reveal this,” she threw this one sentence at me before she went back to shooting.

So, it was her, though it should not have been a difficult guess; I had simply not given it any thought before.

I nodded and promised, “All right, I will not say anything.”

Aside from the passionate and emotional Alex, the others had still managed to maintain their calm, though their expressions were also quite ugly. Although they were experts in using weaponry, they were also entirely unused to slaughter.

At that moment, the young master spoke up and asked, “Dragon Peace, could you charge ahead to force a way through while Charles uses X-speed to rush off the battlefield? Is that possible?”

Dragon Piece immediately let out a great roar toward the sky.

I nodded. Even if it is impossible, I will do it!

The young master showed a little worry as he asked everyone, “Can I leave without worrying there’ll be any issues for you guys?

“Your quick departure is the best way to prevent any issues,” Father Yue said, as though making a firm vow, “I swear to properly protect these children and will not let a single issue arise.”

“These children,” including his son, all gave him a big eye roll.

“Hey, who needs your protection!” Yue Gang said angrily. “It’s us who are protecting you, you old geezer!”

“Who’s an old geezer! I’m still in the golden, prime days of my youth!”

“Looks like the declining days of your golden age to me!”

“You’ve completely mixed up your metaphors. If you can’t speak properly, stop talking so much!”

The adversarial father and son had indeed started quarreling on the battlefield, but they actually covered for each other even as they argued. Moreover, they acted with complete tacit understanding of each other, and even their levels of firepower were comparable. One could tell they were father and son at a glance. Met with this sight, “these children” felt even more helpless, and could only hurriedly follow after to cover the father-son pair as they led the charge against the opposing troops.

But the leader of the group quickly became Dragon Peace. He charged directly ahead with the staggering momentum of a thousand-ton train, and in the span of a single breath, a horde of priests had been knocked over like bowling pins. He really forced a way through, though it was only for a short instant, as the beleaguered priests stood up and formed the wall of giant shields once more.

However, this short instant was enough. I bent my knees slightly and dashed out. Before anyone was able to react, I had already run past the priests who had been knocked over and made my way next to the adjudication squad. I hesitated a moment, then rushed past the entire adjudication squad to instead lose myself in the middle of the forest.

Only then did I relax and use my usual running pace rather than continuing on with x-speed. With the current state of my body, if I did not end my use of x-speed, I would really be concerned that I would no longer be able to hold the young master and have to throw him directly out of my arms.

“Charles, come over this way!”

I jumped in surprise. At once, the young master said, “It’s DSII.”

DSII passed me and was even waving his arms. I followed him immediately, quickly increasing our distance from the battlefield. It was fortunate that there was DSII to lead the way, or else I really would not know which way to go.

I was unsure when it had started, but the feed from the visor had disappeared, and we were unable to receive further messages from Ni Cai. Moreover, Lieder had not followed us to the battlefield. He had most probably escaped, perhaps? After all, it could be said that he had completed his task, successfully bringing me into the Sin Elimination Committee, then back out. I really could not ask for more; inciting his malice instead would be unfavorable.

“DSII,” Young Master suddenly asked, “Where did you get this body? I don’t believe I’ve seen this face before. Why does it look a little like Charles?”

I looked toward DSII. The other’s appearance now seemed much more mature, though because his expression was too lively, he did not look mature at first glance. However, I actually could not tell whether this face was like mine or not; a vampire truly did not have many opportunities to see their own face.

As though it were obvious, DSII said, “Gēgē gave it to me. He’s helped make lots of bodies for me.”

“Gēgē made it?” The young master quickly asked. “Why didn’t you tell me? How much has he done? Where is he?”

Cheerfully, DSII said, “Gēgē said this is a secret that we’ll surprise Ah Ye with later, so I didn’t tell Ah Ye.”

“Charles!” Ah Ye said anxiously, “I feel like something’s wrong. You should hurry and go, get away from DSII…”

I halted my steps, but the young master had also stopped talking. In front of us were the figures of people, but they were not standing. Rather, they were lying motionless on the ground.

This situation was too uncanny. I turned to leave, but DSII was standing behind me gleefully, both arms spread wide, in position to block me.

DSII was as joyful as a child as he said, “Gēgē said he misses Ah Ye and that he wants to reconcile, so he needs me to bring him over here to find Ah Ye!”

The young master sighed.

Even if DSII was too unique, to the point that he did not listen solely to the Sun Emperor, this emperor could still find other ways to control DSII in the same way that he controlled this world, as though everyone was just a chess piece on his board.

To him, X’s death was nothing but the sacrifice of a chess piece.

The young master simply said, “Charles, let me down first so I can go take a look.”

I did as he said, supporting the young master as he limped over to investigate. The people lying on the ground were, unexpectedly, Luo Ye and Anceo.

There were so many bullet holes on the two men’s bodies that I did not even know what to say. Even though I personally detested these two people, the thought of wanting to perforate their bodies to such an extent had never crossed my mind.

Moreover, is Luo Ye not… I turned my head to look at the young master, who had lowered his head as he looked at the corpse. He sighed.

“Gēgē, if you want to kill someone then just kill them. Why do you have to beat them to this extent, huh? After all, he’s…”

From one side, a familiar icy voice called over, “He’s nothing! Our only father is Ri Ji Yan. I’ve told you this from the start, but you just won’t listen!”

The Sun Emperor.

He walked out from the midst of the woods beside us. He actually appeared in front of me… all by himself.

“Not even this could kill you, Charles Endelis. You must have a lot of vitality. Ah Ye, look at the expression on your butler’s face. He wants to kill me!”

The Sun Emperor turned up the corners of his mouth and said, “Shouldn’t your first step be taking care of him?”

I stiffened. The words I least wanted to hear left the other party’s lips.

“Ah Ye, kill Charles Endelis!”