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Crack—
Rumble—
Above the clouds and below the ground, two special portals slowly opened at this moment.
Two envoys, representing Heaven and Hell, arrived as scheduled, surrounded by their respective retinues.
From Heaven came a male Archangel, clad in exquisite silver armor, with a pair of pure white wings on his back, a resolute face, and long golden hair.
He was Michael, the chief of the Seven Seraphs, who once led the Angel Legion to defeat Lucifer!
From Hell came a burly Demon, dressed in a black suit, appearing in the form of a male human.
Naturally, it was Bruise, the Demon Lord deeply trusted by Marduk Kurios!
In fact, he had another unknown identity: before being expelled from Heaven for rebellion, he was also a powerful Seraph.
Thus, he had been acquainted with Michael since then.
Normally, as sworn enemies, a meeting between the two would inevitably lead to a relentless, life-and-death struggle.
But today, both of them restrained their emotions well and did not stage a tense confrontation within the Truce Zone.
Having fought for a thousand years, it was quite nice to relax for a day occasionally.
"A thousand years feel like yesterday; it's a pleasure to see you again… Michael!" Bruise stepped into the Truce Zone, looked across, and spoke first with a forced smile.
"Bruise, meeting you here is also my… honor!"
Michael slowly flew into the Truce Zone, responding expressionlessly.
However, just as he was about to summarize the wars that had occurred over the millennium, as was customary, he was interrupted by Bruise's wave of the hand.
"I say, it's not our first time participating in the Truce Agreement, so let's just skip those boring parts. After all, we both know what to do next, don't we?"
"Bruise, are you trying to break the rules?"
Michael keenly sensed something unusual, looking at the other party with a hesitant expression. "Regardless of whether you have any objections, the rules set by the Truce Agreement cannot be changed… Huh? Who is that person?"
Just then, a figure suddenly walked in from outside the barrier.
It was none other than the Black Wizard Necrodamus, now fully controlled by Karl.
"Bruise, what tricks are you trying to pull now?"
Michael's brows furrowed, but his face showed no fear.
As the most powerful Archangel among the Seven Seraphs before God, Michael feared no enemy, no trick.
Even when facing a powerful enemy like Lucifer, he had never retreated a single step.
His power was beyond doubt, just like the true meaning of his name— "Who is like God"!
"Oh no, this has nothing to do with me."
Bruise didn't notice anything unusual about the human wizard, shaking his head and diligently feigning innocence.
"You haven't forgotten, have you? After the Truce Agreement begins, no other Angel or Demon can enter here except for the two of us… Isn't that right?"
"You're right, but I know your character all too well, Bruise."
Michael clearly didn't believe the Demon's nonsense, saying mercilessly:
"Even if you outwardly strictly adhere to the rules literally, you will still secretly try every possible way to find loopholes to play some underhanded tricks."
Then, he once again cast his gaze towards the approaching figure opposite him. "But you're right about one thing; he's indeed neither an Angel nor a Demon, but a… mortal?"
"Esteemed Michael, you are correct, I am indeed a mortal."
Necrodamus… ah, no, it should be Karl, after all, he was the one truly controlling this body at the moment.
'Karl' slowly stopped about ten meters away from the Angel and Demon, then nodded to both of them like a gentleman.
"Allow me to introduce myself… My name is Necrodamus, a talented Wizard!"
"Mortal, if you have something to say to me by coming here, then please speak quickly," Michael interrupted in a deep voice. "After all, this is not a place for humans to be!"
"Alright, then I'll get straight to the point… I'm actually very curious why God would design a Truce Agreement that allows mortals to intervene at will?"
'Karl' asked with a curious expression, "I don't think the Old Man would make such a low-level mistake… unless it was intentional."
"Human, I must say, your thinking is indeed very sharp. The war between Heaven and Hell has lasted for thousands of years, but you are the first human to notice this… You guessed correctly, this is not a mistake at all!"
Michael first glanced at the Demon Lord opposite him, seemingly weighing something in his mind, but soon he slowly explained:
"Actually, when the Truce Agreement was first established, God had already considered the human influence factor…
We unanimously believed at that time that if we wanted to maximize human free will, we must allow them the right to intervene in this war between Heaven and Hell."
"Whether it's letting the World stand on the brink of destruction; or actively preventing disaster and winning this war for themselves… the initiative of choice should rightfully be placed in the hands of humans themselves!"
"And what we in Heaven must do is, in this never-ending war, ensure as much as possible that humans have this opportunity for fair choice."
"Of course, if humans cannot bear this heavy responsibility in this matter, or even make the wrong choice, then this balance will eventually be broken."
So, humans should thank Heaven?
'Karl' almost laughed out loud after hearing that.
This great war between Heaven and Hell was clearly caused by the internal division of Heaven Faction.
Humans had always been the most severely affected, suffering the most casualties.
How was it that now, coming from Michael's mouth, it sounded as if humans were the real culprits who started this war, and Heaven had become the "savior" who spared no effort to redeem humanity?
Tsk tsk tsk, I've seen shameless people, but someone so hypocritical and shameless is truly rare!
"Mr. Michael, thank you for your honesty? So… even if God knows that the situation might worsen due to human intervention, he still won't interfere and will let everything proceed?"
The smile on 'Karl's' face grew even wider. He raised his hand, pulled a delicate hand crossbow from his trench coat, and directly aimed it at Michael, saying:
"Then, to verify whether what you just said is true or false… Mr. Michael, you wouldn't mind if I used this little toy for a small test, would you?"
The reason 'Karl' chose to act so grandiosely was neither because he was arrogant nor because he was brainless.
It was because, other than this, as a mortal, "Necrodamus" had no possibility of successfully hitting a battle-hardened Seraph Commander in this special barrier space.
Even if there was only about ten meters between them, even if it was a sneak attack…
As long as Michael wished, he could completely kill "Necrodamus" the instant he made his move, or calmly dodge.
Although 'Karl' could still use the power of the Five Little Ones to complete the assassination, doing so would inevitably expose his identity prematurely, not only failing to achieve the strategic intent of "diverting disaster eastward" but also adding a powerful hostile force against himself.
This outcome would be a huge loss for Karl.
That's why he decided to continue with Necrodamus's original plan before acting, which was to use Michael's arrogance, as he was doing now.
That's right, it was Arrogance!
A kind of arrogance that originated from "God" towards insignificant humans.
"Mortal, what I want to tell you is that every human heart has a dark side, but what can truly save you… is the side dominated by humanity."
Just as 'Karl' had predicted, Michael showed no intention of acting or dodging, and his face remained cold and expressionless.
Because he simply did not believe that a mere human could harm him with mortal weapons.
"I know what you want to do, but I still hope you don't do it, because everything you do will ultimately be in vain… Human weapons cannot kill me!"
"Is that so? But I don't think so."
The next second, 'Karl' pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Whoosh—
Under the blessing of two special Runes, "Speed" and "Stealth," the silver crossbow bolt almost instantly disappeared from the trio's sight the moment 'Karl' pulled the trigger.
Then, as if teleporting, it precisely struck Michael's chest.
Pfft—
A splash of golden holy blood splattered out.
"This is…"
Feeling the power of the curse contained within the "Archangel Slayer" and the deep resentment from Judas, Michael, who already knew his fate was about to end, finally showed a rare look of shock on his emotionless poker face.
As the Holy Archangel who had personally defeated Satan, the King of Hell, almost all of Heaven's tough battles over the years had been handled by Michael himself.
One could say he had seen countless storms.
But he never expected that one day he would be defeated by a human Wizard, and so thoroughly at that.
Wait a minute!
No…
Suddenly realizing something, Michael's eyes widened, and he immediately turned to look at the Demon Lord Bruise, who had been silent and "watching the show" ever since the human Wizard appeared.
The curve of his lips already explained everything.
Damn it, it was him pulling the strings after all!
What exactly does Marduk Kurios want to do? Is he not afraid of triggering the "insurance mechanism" and causing an all-out war between Heaven and Hell?
Time seemed to stretch infinitely in that instant, allowing Michael enough time to understand the trickery involved.
That's right, that Demon leader truly wasn't afraid.
Because the one who acted was not a Demon, but a… mortal!
Just as he had told 'Karl' earlier, the Truce Agreement had considered the factor of human influence from its very inception.
And this influence could be either positive or negative.
Perhaps Marduk Kurios and Bruise had already realized this, which is why they went to great lengths to find this human to carry out the assassination?
This way, the "insurance mechanism" of the Truce Agreement would be automatically triggered by the death of Heaven's envoy, and the portal to Earth would be permanently closed.
But at the same time, because the one who acted was not a Demon but a human… Heaven had no reason to launch an all-out war against Hell.
They could only sit by and watch Marduk Kurios's Demon army invade the human World without restraint!
What a clever plan!
What a cunning method!
No, I must let God know who the real mastermind is!
Time seemed long, but only an instant had passed.
"Ah ah ah…"
Michael desperately mobilized all his divine power to resist the fatal erosion of the "Archangel Slayer."
Only to delay for even one more second, so he could transmit the information to the Angels in the sky who had not yet recovered from their shock…
Even though he knew no sound could escape the Truce Agreement's barrier!
"The… the real culprit is…"
But things did not go as he wished.
The crossbow bolt embedded in his chest, after tasting the Archangel's blood, instantly "came alive" like a fully revived ferocious evil spirit, and then sucked dry all of Michael's life force in one gulp.
Michael's Angelic body immediately shattered like a broken statue, with countless fine cracks appearing on its surface, and dazzling golden light flickering from these fissures.
Boom—
Michael instantly exploded into a dazzling golden light, then vanished from where he stood.
And an invisible Warp power forcibly plundered Michael's soul essence from a remaining "Law" in Michael's consciousness, which served as a recovery mechanism, and from the deep resentment of Judas within the crossbow bolt.
At the same time, lines of prompts flickered across the light screen in front of Karl.
…
prestige points +999, +444, +444…
Detected a collectable high-tier Angel soul, Warp souls +1
…
Nice!!!
Karl's face showed a hint of satisfaction.
However, the plan was far from over at this stage!
The real show was about to begin…
Due to the suddenness of the event, from 'Karl's' assassination attempt to Michael's death, the entire process actually only took one or two seconds.
Therefore, the members of the Angel Legion who were stationed outside the Truce Agreement barrier were stunned for several more seconds after Michael's death before they recovered from their extreme shock.
"That damned human, he… he actually killed My Lord Michael?"
"Impossible, human weapons absolutely cannot harm My Lord Michael?"
"Kill him…"
In an instant, hundreds of thousands of Angel warriors, armed with weapons, flapped their holy wings and frantically lunged towards 'Karl's' position below.
Bang bang bang—
Bang bang bang—
But the next second, they all crashed into the golden barrier, being bounced back by an invisible immense force.