What method did I use to cross the difference between man and god?
Upon hearing Prince Andre’s question, Leon couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth, then instinctively reached out to touch his own stomach.
Explaining this matter in detail is a bit complicated, but to put it simply... all the members of the Scorpio Branch who participated in this mission, except for the absent predecessor Alger, are now having a meeting inside his stomach.
Previously, with the "generous feeding" of the three predecessors, he temporarily gained the power of 59 contamination value, which was just a tiny bit short of the minimum requirement to "cut through the world’s plane."
As for the "solid" soul of the Scorpio director, he couldn’t absorb it at all, but by using the authority of the "Ward of the Deathly Hound," he managed to "siphon" a bit of power from his soul to make up for that final small gap. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NovᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt
In summary, relying on consuming companions.
"You don’t want to say?"
Seeing Leon sitting across in silence, Prince Andre, not minding, nodded and said:
"Then I won’t ask. After all, my painting has already been destroyed by you, so even if I know how you did it, it doesn’t change anything... Well... let’s talk business next."
Under Leon’s wary gaze, Prince Andre looked up at him and said calmly:
"I must admit, your previous assessment of me was correct. I am indeed a cowardly person, always lacking the courage to face my own mistakes... Sir Leon, do you want to know what I think of you?"
Honestly, I don’t really want to know, but looking at you, no matter whether I want to or not, you’d definitely tell me...
Looking at Prince Andre, who was staring intently at him, his emerald eyes devoid of hatred and anger, only filled with some kind of resolution, Leon couldn’t help but sigh inwardly and replied:
"Go ahead, what do you think of me?"
"Greedy. In my eyes, you are a very, very, very greedy person."
Seeing Leon’s somewhat surprised expression, Prince Andre, who had repeated "greedy" three times, calmly explained:
"I had Atifie control six royal corps to besiege the palace. Facing the organized elite corps, not knowing what other cards I had, you still chose to expend extra power to stun all the soldiers without killing a single one.
Later, when attacking the No. 1 Research Zone and destroying the mechanical intelligence core, you knew you might face the Scorpio director, yet you chose to enter Cooling Lake alone without bringing Alger, an important combat force Level 1 Cleaner, instead letting him act alone to take the opportunity to rescue people at No. 1 Research Zone.
From these two responses, it’s not hard to see you are very, very, very greedy, willing to take many unnecessary risks for a perfect completion, almost unwilling to accept any ’loss’ or ’trade’...
Hmm... Or to put it another way, you are a kind-hearted person."
After rattling off a lot and handing a "kind person card," Prince Andre continued to analyze slowly:
"You detest involving the innocent, and are accustomed to respecting life. I guess in your mind, you probably have a set of very special beliefs, different from other Clean-up Bureau cleaners, possibly even most people.
Lastly, you’re fanatical about your beliefs, with the stubbornness of a zealot. When you deem something right, and judge you can bear the consequences, you’ll immediately act.
I even have a faint feeling, if the ’correctness’ is high enough, even if you judge you cannot bear the consequences, but if it’s worth it, you’d still attempt to achieve it.
To you, your life is important, but sometimes not so important. You are not afraid to put your life on a balance scale... Sir Leon, is my assessment accurate?"
Uh... Though not entirely correct, it seems not wrong either...
After hearing Prince Andre’s lengthy analysis, Leon couldn’t help but cough dryly, feeling a bit embarrassed by the "praise."
Not fearing death is true, after all, he currently occupies the spot left by the "Ward of the Deathly Hound," holding its authority, should he die, the Realm of the Dead would definitely take him to guard their gates.
So even if all three of his Undying Bodies were broken, the worst-case scenario would be an early death, becoming the gatekeeper of the Dead Realm, which, though not a good ending, isn’t too hard to accept.
"Seems my assessment is quite accurate."
After waiting a while without seeing Leon refute, Prince Andre chuckled softly, then with a calm expression said:
"For someone like you, if directly killed, it’s likely you wouldn’t feel much pain, only regret for not achieving your best. Death to someone like you might not even be considered punishment.
So if I were to seek revenge on you, I’d have to destroy your beliefs, force you to betray what you’ve always believed in, truly hurt your heart, making you feel the deep pain as I do, watching what you pursued torn apart right in front of you!"
"Sir Leon, listen carefully."
After delivering an extreme, melodramatic revenge declaration, in the world turned orange-red, Prince Andre sat cross-legged, gazing coldly at Leon, saying:
"What you now face, other than ’Royal Evening Banquet,’ is the artwork I’m most satisfied with, titled ’Krolock Under the Sunset.’ This painting has absorbed the world fragments from ’Royal Evening Banquet,’ completing its erosion of the entire Crolock Kingdom.
Next, the setting sun already fallen in this painting will rise again from the horizon, then continue to approach the entire Crolock Kingdom until the two align, burning everything entirely.
Seemingly to prove his words wasn’t false, Prince Andre gestured behind him, and on the distant horizon, the sun, with just one arc edge above the ground, indeed climbed upwards slightly.
With the sun reemerging, the surrounding gentle orange-red afterglow suddenly brightened, starting to shift into a brighter yellow, while a stifling heat wave began to roll in from the distant sky, instantly curling up and scorching the surrounding green grass yellow.
"Sir Leon, it’s time for you to make a choice."
With his back to the increasingly scorching golden-red sunset, Prince Andre first raised his hand, pointing to the sunset behind him, then pointed to Feiliya behind Leon, explaining:
"I’m already a dead man, and Feiliya is the last living member of the Crolock royal family. If she dies too, then the Watcher’s Palace, protector of all mankind, would be greatly weakened.
If you still wish to fulfill the mission of protecting mankind, you must keep her alive. But if you wish the sun to stop, avoiding the burning death of the 1.3 million people in this painting, you’ll have to give her body to me."
After explaining the "game rules," seeing the somewhat dazed Leon before him, Prince Andre’s lips curled slightly, his eyes full of delight, saying:
"Sir Leon, it’ll take me about an hour to fully finish painting this huge sun, so you have an hour to slowly consider your choice..."
Watching as Feiliya was directly thrown in front of him, with an "ouch!" landing heavily, the smile on Prince Andre’s face suddenly froze.
No... Didn’t you make your choice a bit too quickly? Didn’t even hesitate?