Bologue felt that he was quite a powerful Condenser. Crossing tiers to fight Prayer Believers was no problem, but when facing Aimou, Bologue was endlessly vexed.
Aimou’s body was as hard as a rock, yet her movements were incredibly agile. The ground was littered with traps she had set long ago, and she was equipped with all kinds of bizarre Alchemy Armaments.
Bologue felt that his style of violent enforcement was gone, turning instead into a street brawl, with each side landing punches, leaving everyone in a sorry state.
On the other hand, Aimou shared the same thoughts. Bologue’s Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid was extremely treacherous, and his Summoning Hand was terrifying to the extreme. Most damningly, no matter how perfect Aimou’s traps were, Bologue always had a way to break through them, and moreover, he was unkillable.
During previous instances of Time Reversal, Aimou had used these tactics to seriously injure Fast and Gold, but against Bologue, she only felt a profound sense of powerlessness.
The two kept fighting endlessly in the dead-silent town. Bologue punched Aimou into a dust-covered kitchen, and Aimou took the opportunity to grab a rusty kitchen knife and threw it at Bologue.
Bologue sidestepped to dodge, while Aimou quickly delivered a flying kick, sending him into the living room.
Crashing into a dust-covered sofa, Bologue tore out a wooden plank and slapped it on Aimou’s head, shattering it into pieces.
The entire building was on the verge of collapse, until at one point, Bologue swung Aimou out, smashing through several walls, wedging her into another pile of rubble.
Aimou’s body was covered with dents, and her delicate cheeks were scratched, exposing a metallic sheen.
She struggled to her feet, pulling out a broken steel rod from the rubble, spinning it a few times in her hand.
"Can’t you let me finish my sentence?"
Bologue tugged at his collar, the fight leaving him drenched in sweat. Kicking aside pieces of debris on the ground, he sat heavily on the tattered sofa.
"Aimou, you desire Teda’s fatherly love, am I right?"
Bologue looked at the gaps in the layers of walls, at the end of which Aimou sat on the rubble.
"I am an Alchemy Puppet, not a human. Teda is merely my creator, not having the physiological relationship found between humans," Aimou replied coldly.
Bologue laughed, "Has anyone ever told you you’re stubborn?"
"No... Has anyone ever told you you’re not likable?" Aimou retorted.
"Hmm... It seems there have been a few."
Bologue carefully recalled, remembering Olivia once told him he wasn’t the kind of guy women liked.
"Stop making excuses. This is your true desire; you crave Teda’s love and approval, but his attention is all on Alice. No matter how hard you try, he won’t spare you another glance."
Bologue laid out his suspicions, "You could have had freedom, yet you returned to Teda’s side. Is it self-sacrifice you’re after? Hoping to sway Teda’s cold heart and make him open it to you?"
"Shut up!" Aimou snapped.
"Then why aren’t you by Teda’s side now? Have you realized that even self-sacrifice can’t change Teda’s mind?"
Bologue shouted, brutally tearing open Aimou’s wounds.
"You can’t get Teda’s love, so you spiral into hysterical madness... I thought you would destroy Alice’s body, making Teda watch you crush the Philosopher’s Stone in your chest, witness him fall into despair and remorse."
Bologue’s words were venomous, as if cursing Aimou.
"Wouldn’t that be wonderful, transforming love into hatred, completing your revenge on Teda, listening to his cries of grief, watching his pain, feeling his repentance...
It would be perfect, even the Devil would love such a show!"
Aimou let out a hoarse roar, completely enraged by Bologue, raising the steel rod in her hand and leaping through the gap in the wall.
"Did I say something wrong? Then refute me!"
Bologue met Aimou head-on, now serious, he grabbed the swinging steel rod, followed by a straight kick to Aimou’s abdomen.
Aimou was knocked to the ground by Bologue’s kick, and Bologue seized the steel rod, striking down at Aimou.
Aimou rolled to dodge the blow, curling her body, and then springing up like a spring, kicking towards Bologue’s face.
The two did not use Secret Energy or Alchemy Armament, only relying on their physical strength, the battle between the Condensers turned into mutual catharsis, venting emotions in this primitive way.
Bologue leaned back forcefully, dodging Aimou’s kick, then reached out to grab Aimou’s ankle, and with all his strength, he swung Aimou up.
Crashing through one side of the wall was just the beginning, Bologue grabbed both of Aimou’s ankles, and like a windmill, he pulled Aimou out of the collapsing rubble, spun her a few times, and flung her away.
Aimou fell into the bedroom, crushing the decayed wooden bed, the accumulated dust rising, and in the haze, Bologue leaped over like a fierce tiger, pinning Aimou between the broken bed boards.
Bologue gripped Aimou’s throat, taking the opportunity to control her, Aimou tried to turn her head and attack Bologue instead, but she finally realized that her arm length was much shorter than Bologue’s, she couldn’t reach him at all, only randomly pounding his arms.
Aimou retorted, "Don’t bother me! Can you just let me leave alone?"
Aimou just wanted to quietly leave alone, to fulfill her wishes, without disturbing anyone.
Bologue’s words paused for two seconds, then his anger surged even more, he exclaimed loudly.
"What are you thinking? You belong to the Order Bureau! You’re my booked team member, if you want freedom, shouldn’t you clear your debts first!"
Aimou was stunned for a second, provoked by Bologue’s stupid remark, "What kind of damned possessiveness is that?"
"I’m just settling accounts with you!" Bologue shouted, "And the injuries I’ve suffered, the experiences of death..."
Bologue tried to further restrain Aimou, "You owe too much! Aimou!"
Aimou originally wanted to reply forcefully, but when the words reached her mouth, her confidence unwittingly weakened.
Bologue recalled her apology to him in the Abandoned Land, it turned out that everything was , but Bologue wasn’t ready to let her off, "Without context, suddenly an apology, who can understand that!"
"I didn’t know death was ... I’m sorry!"
Aimou’s words suddenly carried a tone of crying, as if she was truly repentant.
Aimou knew of death’s existence, but had never experienced it, after all, who but the Undead can experience death?
But Aimou had experienced it, within Bologue’s Shared Chord Body, when Bologue died, she also deeply sensed the feeling of Bologue’s death.
The icy chill of that silence terrified her greatly, just thinking about the things she’d done made Aimou suffer immensely, so she offered that ambiguous apology upon Bologue’s awakening, filled with self-blame.
Aimou could harden herself against everyone but Bologue; facing Bologue, she only felt ashamed and self-critical.
"Yes, so you’re still salvageable, Aimou."
At this moment, Bologue also began to speak something cryptic; he lowered his head to look at Aimou, yet what he saw was not a sad face, Aimou remained defiant, then the dark muzzle pointed at him.
Bologue recognized the gun; it was the short-barreled shotgun he wore on his waist.
Aimou’s expression of sorrow was gone, she smiled as she continued Bologue’s words, "Damn it?"
The roar of gunfire overshadowed the tail end of Aimou’s words; Bologue was easily predictable in some aspects, like his sparse vocabulary of curses... always the same few.
The scorching fire illuminated this dim world, Bologue was hit head-on by the Dragon Breath Bullet at close range; even though he summoned the Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid instantly, his figure was still forced back, slammed against the wall.
The building trembled and collapsed into ruins, the sea of flames scorched the earth, amidst the blinding flames, Aimou shakily got up.
The sound of fragments could be heard, Bologue pushed away the bricks pressing on him, heat emanating from his body, his chest a bloody mess, the Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid seemed to have melted, dripping constantly, like silvery, heavy raindrops.
Aching pain surged, Bologue stiffly stood in place, several more holes were added to the bloody mess of his chest, he lifted his head to look far ahead, Aimou was steadily firing at Bologue.
Bologue wanted to continue forward, but this time his pace slowed, his consciousness began to blur, he couldn’t understand what was happening, but quickly he realized.
Like a cracked water balloon, Ether continually oozed from the bullet holes, escaping his body.
Aimou calmly held the gun, ejected the shell, and reloaded the specially prepared bullet for Bologue. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel·fiɾe·net