Seraphina’s Death

Bai Cangshu held the heart high in his hand. The thick blood on his wrist was his own blood, activated from the high-level characteristic Active Blood extracted from the Life Furnace within Lawrence.

As though it possessed a life of its own, the blood flowed over Seraphina’s crimson heart and swiftly enveloped it.

At the same time, the blood flowing from the heartless Seraphina’s nose and mouth had turned black. Her vocal cords were nearly blocked, making her song almost impossible to hear, yet she continued singing, the sorrow in her eyes nearly overflowing.

Artoria stepped forward, but Bai Cangshu stopped her again.

"I want to end her miserable fate."

Artoria solemnly voiced her thoughts. At that moment, the heart wrapped in Black Mud began beating violently.

Whether as the King of Dictatorship or the Benevolent King, Artoria still admired such a "guardian" who sacrificed herself to fulfill the world.

It was altruism pushed to the utmost extreme, a trait capable of granting everyone except oneself a better ending.

Bai Cangshu merely snorted coldly and continued what he was doing.

He did not like Seraphina. No, more accurately, he hated this woman.

She possessed every trait he loathed.

Weak—not merely lacking the power to change the world, but unable even to protect herself. More importantly, she was timid. She was not someone capable of making decisions.

More often than not, if this woman merely raised her arms in a call, she would gain the support of the future Secret Party’s Mixed-bloods, the Ash Hunters, most civilians, paladins, and ordinary people afflicted by Beastification Disease.

She was far more qualified than the Crimson Pope Lawrence to become the true master of the Church of Healing. With that kind of prestige, forcibly ending the war and unifying all factions would not have been difficult.

Yet Seraphina did nothing. She merely grieved for every person who died and cut open her own wrists for every person who was injured.

She used precious Origin Substance on such things. Heh.

Furthermore, this woman’s altruism was utterly incompatible with the "self" Bai Cangshu had always upheld. Bai Cangshu never considered others.

Even when he helped someone, it was most likely just something he did in passing while pursuing his own gains.

Finally, and most importantly—

From this absurdly pitiful woman, Bai Cangshu had actually seen a reflection of himself. That feeling was what dissatisfied him most about her.

Bai Cangshu had already vaguely sensed that his very existence was full of abnormalities.

The Strong Luck that had constantly clung to him, his strength far beyond that of ordinary people, the appearance of Soul King Aizen Sōsuke when that king of Azure Sky appeared, and how Aizen had seemingly shielded him from the King of Miracles’ pressure…

Under such circumstances, there was most likely something wrong with his very existence.

To some extent, Bai Cangshu felt that he and Seraphina might be closer to the same kind of creature.

But seeing this "kinswoman" be so weak, so afraid to truly take that step, was why Bai Cangshu hated her so much.

And the scalding hot blood and heart of that lion-like man only intensified that feeling.

"You understand very well, don’t you, Seraphina? The real reason Etoris wanted you to destroy the world…"

Gurgle—

Bubbles began appearing in the blood around the heart. Then the blood started expanding, and flesh tissue began to grow from within it.

The black mist in the eyes of Seraphina’s original body had already seeped out through her flesh. After losing her heart, her body did not regenerate another one.

The source of Seraphina’s extraordinary regenerative ability lay in this heart, which was actually Origin Substance.

Crackle—

An electric current flashed through Bai Cangshu’s brain. His thoughts accelerated faster and faster, and his cerebral cortex began expanding abnormally.

Bai Cangshu was becoming increasingly clear on the truth of this world.

As for the so-called collision of three poles, the third pole besides the Dragon Clan and the Bloodline Curse seemed to have been hiding itself all along.

At first, Bai Cangshu had thought that force was exceptionally cunning, intending to hide until he had thoroughly defeated the Dragon King and Lawrence before appearing to reap him.

But now, he understood.

Why did this world have multiple observers observing it simultaneously, colliding to produce Origin Substance without leaving?

The third pole had not hidden itself. It simply had yet to truly grow!

Moreover, the observer that created the Dragon Clan and the observer that created the ancient gods, Blood Therapy, and beasts were fighting over that third pole that had yet to be born!

Distortion, the indescribable, chaos, the power of the unobserved…

Countless descriptions arose in Bai Cangshu’s mind, all to describe the power now appearing within Seraphina.

That power was still weak, but through the destruction caused by the aftermath of his battle with the Dragon King and Lawrence, it was beginning to invade on a massive scale, twisting and growing stronger.

This power violated the fundamental principles of most powers. It was disorderly and devoid of Logic.

For example, in the vast majority of power systems, if my twenty points of strength clashed fists with your ten points, you would inevitably be sent flying.

Yet the power of this third pole was filled with illogical elements, making it impossible to simply distinguish strength from weakness.

Bai Cangshu believed that the growth of that power was actually a change in the scope of its influence.

Etoris had seen the existence of the observers in the starry sky and thus collapsed, but Bai Cangshu believed that given Etoris’s level of power, even if he had noticed the observers’ existence—

He could not possibly have feared creators of that level.

Just as an ant could not fear mountains collapsing and the earth splitting apart, it was beyond the scope of its perception. What Etoris could fear were the Dragon King, Lawrence, and Bai Cangshu!

Therefore, Etoris had realized a truth—Seraphina’s very existence was what those beings were pursuing.

Thus, Etoris realized that no one could save Seraphina, and he fell into despair.

That was why he begged Seraphina to destroy this world and become an Avatar of chaos.

The black mist covering Seraphina’s body grew ever denser. Her eyes continued to stare at Bai Cangshu, but Bai Cangshu only watched the heart in his hand.

The Twelve Labors had long since fully recovered. There were very few things in this world capable of killing him. So long as he did not keep courting death by taking the initiative to meet the gaze of beings within chaos, he was already invincible in this world.

What he needed to do now was shatter the delusions of those two weaklings, Etoris and Seraphina.

They actually believed that no one in this world could change anything?

They actually placed themselves on the same level as the Dragon King and Lawrence?

He would step in now!

Squelch!

The flesh continued writhing, and a new body of flesh had already emerged. The glowing heart beat continuously within it. Bai Cangshu withdrew his hand, and the wound began to heal.

Red hair began growing from that body of flesh.

On the other side, Seraphina, already wrapped in black mist, was about to be completely swallowed by it. A drop of Crimson Blood fell from Bai Cangshu’s wrist.

It merged into the body created from his Active Blood and Polluted Origin Substance.

Then Bai Cangshu took two steps back and saw the black mist shudder violently, as though something within was about to transfer out.

This was the chance he had given Seraphina.

When he had been devoured by the Life Furnace, he had clearly felt that abnormally enhanced vitality. Seraphina’s Crimson Blood possessed traits similar to Active Blood.

At this moment, so long as Seraphina transferred her life into this new body, she could be reborn.

But Bai Cangshu waited for a long while. The black mist had nearly completely devoured Seraphina’s body, yet that foolish Saintess still had not transferred her life force.

Bai Cangshu understood what she meant. Even at a time like this, this woman still had no desire to live for herself.

"Tch, what a fool who really carried her ideals through to the end."

Crack.

Bai Cangshu felt the ground beneath his feet change. Looking down, he saw a gigantic eye open beneath the earth. Within its pupil, tiny eyes opened one after another.

With a boom, the earth sank several meters, and flesh shot into the sky.

Only then did a Blazing White shockwave spread outward from Bai Cangshu’s feet.

Crack, crack…

The sounds of the ground splitting rang out everywhere, and pairs of eyes began opening one after another from the earth.

The power of the third pole had truly begun to awaken…

"Artoria, cut her down."

Bai Cangshu lowered his eyelids. His fingers darted out like afterimages, firing golden Ki Blasts one after another and bursting the eyes on the ground.

Though these things were strange, his pure violence still held the advantage in this real world…

A jet-black sword light suddenly pierced Seraphina’s body within the jet-black mist. In an instant, her flesh was erased by terrifying magical power.

You killed Seraphina (Crimson Hymn)