Sorcerer's Handbook-Chapter 629: The Demon Lords Choice

Harvey arrived late to the battlefield for a reason.

His “Five Consecutive Corpse Mountain and Blood Sea Slashes” left too many openings, and Silver Lantern seized the opportunity to kick him away, sending him flying. As he regrouped and prepared to charge back, Igor called out to him.

Igor only had one request-if Silver Lantern intended to stop and explain, and if Ashe was willing to listen, then Harvey should feign stopping and then, with the advantage of surprise, kill her.

Harvey didn’t ask why, nor did he agree or disagree; he simply returned to the battlefield. He saw Ashe and Silver Lantern still fighting and joined in the onslaught.

Although Silver Lantern could no longer maintain her Sanctuary due to a lack of spellforce, having used it to block damage, she still had a bit left to cast spells. Facing the combined assault of Ashe and Harvey, she seized an opportunity to use a delusion spirit to create an opening, and with her close combat skills, she managed to hold on, barely.

It was fortunate that Raven had been severely injured earlier; otherwise, she wouldn’t have lasted even a second.

But Vesser didn’t need to persist-she knew well that if she simply surrendered and confessed the truth, Ashe would protect the malevolent Silver Lantern until the “Link of Truth” was broken.

Wasn’t letting Ashe know the truth her goal?

What was she still holding on for? What was she considering? What was she… afraid of?

At that moment, Vesser suddenly realized something. She had been so focused on letting Ashe know the truth, on being understood, supported, and having companions, that she never considered what this meant for Ashe.

She understood that Ashe’s current restraint was mostly due to their shared life-and-death experience at the Golden Flow. This reason was logical enough that even Raven couldn’t blame him.

But even so, it was torturing Ashe.

He couldn’t accept letting the murderous Silver Lantern go, yet he couldn’t bring himself to kill the Silver Lantern he cared for. These conflicting desires tore at him, forcing him to wear an expressionless face to mask the turmoil within.

If Silver Lantern were purely evil, he could join forces with Raven and act as a champion of justice; if Vesser were just an ordinary girl who happened to love him blindly, he could struggle alone with his entangled relationships.

Unfortunately, the overlap of these identities meant that Ashe suffered constantly in battle-remembering Silver Lantern’s kindness at the Golden Flow and her concessions during their half-month pursuit, but also recalling the people she had killed, the disasters she had caused, and her cold, cunning cruelty towards life…

He couldn’t be as decisive as Raven in cutting ties, nor could he betray his own moral principles.

Vesser should have foreseen Ashe’s feelings. Why hadn’t she considered them?

The third “Link of Truth” was truly about understanding that the people of Senlo only had two outcomes: enter the Virtual Realm early for eternal freedom, or face eternal death in Senlo. Vesser could accept the former because she believed death was not the end, but for Ashe, death was just death.

To him, these were just a bad ending and a worse one. Worse still, once he knew this, it meant he also had to make a choice.

Because Vesser had already chosen an ending and acted on it, even if Ashe did nothing, it amounted to supporting Vesser’s massacre of millions-something Igor or Harvey might not think so, but people like Ashe and Raven would blame themselves.

Perhaps ‘blame’ was too mild a word-it was more like they would drown in their own incapacity for a lifetime.

What if he stopped Vesser? But did Ashe and his companions have a better way? Were they hoping for a miracle to save the Kingdom of Senlo, or did they expect to become divine and save the world themselves? What if the Chasm Sovereign of Senlo couldn’t hold on for five or ten years? It wasn’t feasible to just prevent Silver Lantern’s firm beliefs with empty promises of ‘there must be another way.’

In a daze, Vesser suddenly remembered that when she mistakenly entered the Dead City, it only took her three days to unravel the mystery of the third “Link of Truth.” Yet, it took her three months to accept this truth, inheriting the legacy of the Gray Fox Divine Era from over two centuries ago, becoming the first person to leave the Dead City.

Why had she forgotten this?

Swoosh!

Taking advantage of Silver Lantern’s momentary distraction, Harvey swung his Chain Sword, unleashing two Corpse Mountain and Blood Sea Slashes!

Vesser hastily dodged, but her thigh was still grazed, flesh torn away, blood spraying in an arc, the wound deep to the bone! At that moment, Ashe’s sword blade came from the side. Vesser, unable to heal, continued to fight! ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

At this rate, she really would die here. Her spellforce was depleted, and the necromancer and Ashe still had combat strength, and there was also Chikara’s “Fire of Ignorance”-

A chill ran down Vesser’s spine. Alarm bells rang in her mind.

Where was Chikara!?

Just then, the nearby wall was suddenly smashed open, and Chikara, wrapped in thick black flames, charged in like a speeding dump truck, charging headlong at Silver Lantern, Ashe, and Harvey!

On the rooftop outside, Gwen whispered, “Such a small space on the lower level, others probably can’t avoid it…”

“That’s the point,” Igor said, watching the high-rise ruins. “Ashe and Harvey still have enough spellforce to raise their Sanctuaries, but Silver Lantern doesn’t. Even if they can’t raise their Sanctuaries in time, Ashe can heal himself; at worst, Harvey and Silver Lantern will be crushed together.”

“So, please, Silver Lantern,” Igor murmured. “As a monster, you’ve lived long enough.”

Boom!

In the pitch-black ruins of the lower level, Harvey and Chikara crawled out of a human-shaped pit. The necromancer spat out a mouthful of blood, his figure unsteady, while Chikara’s spellforce was completely depleted, unable to maintain even his Sanctuary.

Just as Chikara had crashed in, Silver Lantern immediately rushed towards Harvey, who instinctively launched a double slash at her, and then-

Harvey collided solidly with Chikara.

Chikara’s fire spell miracle, Harvey’s Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood, and their respective Sanctuaries shattered with tremendous kinetic energy in the collision. Silver Lantern almost turned the crisis into an opportunity in an instant.

But just almost.

Perhaps she was too late, or perhaps she lacked enough spellforce, but Silver Lantern couldn’t completely transfer the damage. Her body was grazed by Chikara’s impact, crashing into the rubble like a kite with its string cut. Now, she could only stand shakily, her body drenched in blood, her right hand skin flayed, all her exposed skin marred by wounds.

On the field, only one person was unscathed.

As Silver Lantern twisted away from Chikara’s impact, Ashe had completely avoided the collision-he was so untroubled he hadn’t even raised his Sanctuary.

Without a word, he surged forward, sword raised towards Vesser. Vesser suppressed her pain with a delusion spirit, rallying her spirits to continue the fight.

But as soon as they crossed swords, Vesser sensed something was amiss-not only because they had rehearsed this routine countless times, but more importantly, Ashe’s sword was feeble, with no intent to harm her.

After a couple of exchanges, Ashe tossed his sword upwards, switching to hand-to-hand combat, Vesser quickly grabbed the sword.

Here, Ashe’s next move should be to attack offensively, trying to reclaim the blade by attacking Vesser’s wrist to prevent her from gaining the upper hand. But this time, Ashe suddenly broke from the routine.

He suddenly moved closer, his right hand reaching for Vesser’s throat, his left hand blocking her escape routes. If Vesser didn’t counterattack quickly, she would be subdued by Ashe.

But Ashe’s reckless advance also exposed many flaws, and with a sword in her hand, she could easily injure Ashe to escape!

What was Ashe really trying to do-

When Vesser saw the deep, pond-like gaze in Ashe’s eyes, she suddenly understood his intention.

Just like at the Golden Flow, Vesser had given him two choices, so now he was giving Vesser two choices: either give up resistance and be captured, or escape by injuring him.

There was a deeper meaning here-if Vesser chose the latter, it meant she was cutting off their karmic ties, and Ashe would have repaid his debt from the Golden Flow; the next time they met, there would be no more affection between them.

But Vesser could choose the former. Regardless of whether Ashe intended to protect her, as long as she guided them to critical intelligence, she could absolve herself of her sins.

No matter how she thought about it, she should give up resisting here, let Ashe capture her, then wait for the truth to be revealed, and even see Ashe’s regretful expression. She could then stand by Ashe’s side, overtaking the Sword Princess and Witch, securing a victory ahead of schedule…

But what then?

Did she really want to drag Ashe into a catastrophic choice between two evils? Forcing him to choose the lesser of two evils he could accept?

If it were before Nightfall, Vesser would have made her choice without hesitation, because she was eager to see what kind of person Ashe would become when tortured by humanity, to see if he would be tormented into another ‘real Ashe’ she needed more.

If there had been no Divine Fire Trial, if there had been no Golden Flow, if…

Vesser had never thought that she, with her resolute mind, would give up halfway. She had been preparing for so long, she was so close to completion, yet she was about to destroy her own achievements.

Perhaps someone will wait for you until it gets dark.

But you shouldn’t go looking for him after dark.

Vesser gripped the long sword, actively meeting Ashe’s charge, as if it wasn’t a lethal grapple but a tender embrace. Suddenly, Vesser remembered the bedtime stories Weina had told her, many of which were fairy tales about princesses and princes.

When planning to come to the Dead City, she had thought Ashe was her prince. But she had never realized that she was a Demon Lord who could not be accepted by the prince.

A Demon Lord should be purely evil, universally despised, without a single redeeming quality, making the story clear and the other characters untroubled, everyone else able to be happy.

Then, the long sword pierced through the prince’s back.