But in the underground lab, something strange held Halo captive. He forgot about how much the room reeked. Iris's body was gone.

Her blood and the chair she was chained to during the torture still remained, but her corpse couldn't be found.

"I think Hex took the body with her."

Leto said from behind Halo, where he stood with princely posture alongside Tough and Light.

Halo sneered and clenched his fist.

This made him want to kill the witch even more. This would have been the only decent thing he could have done for Iris after her sacrifice, and even that she took away from him.

After a moment, he calmed himself down. He just hoped she hadn't used the corpse for any experiments, if so, then he'd make her death even more excruciating.

The state of calm he'd reached to defeat Spineless still took its toll. His head stung like hell, but after spending twenty-five Sin Fragments cloning the bastard, he needed to make that price back.

He started breaking the jars, as though their mere existence enraged him.

"Calm yourself. The lab spans the entire bridge. There are thousands waiting. You can grab as many Sin Fragments as you need."

Leto said and began tossing the jars around as though playing with them.

Halo's eyes bulged out.

The entire StoneHaven rested on the bridge. If the lab was that extensive, it meant Hex had been living directly underneath them this whole time?

'Well, I guess that makes sense.'

As someone who'd just survived a devastating assault, which left him crushed through countless stone buildings, he should be resting. Perhaps sleeping until his eyes wouldn't open anymore.

But six limbs were better than four.

He would have rested if Leto weren't around, that would've meant all the Sin Fragments for him. But with another person here, six limbs were definitely better than four.

'I bet I can become an Assassin by the end of this.'

Despite his cheerful remarks, he hardly opened his mouth. The stench from the jars was unbearable. At one point, he thought Leto would give up, his cocky persona couldn't handle this, but it turned out he needed them as much as Halo did.

Each broken jar added to the unbearable stench, forcing him to hold his breath most of the time. But every crush gave him a Sin Fragment too, and the chilly sensation it brought helped compensate for the pain.

One hour passed.

Then another.

Another.

Before long, it was already nighttime. The hall smelled as though the world's entire pollution had been dropped into that room and left to rot. Worse, there was no room to step without crushing glass underfoot.

Mind you, at this point, Halo had racked up nearly twenty hundred Sin Fragments with his clones, and yet they were only halfway through the entire lab.

This was more challenging than even fighting the Chaos Eater, Spineless.

Halo was at his limit. He could barely stay on his feet, and the constant breath-holding to avoid that overwhelming smell made him look like he was suffocating.

"Don't you think you should take a break?"

Light said and stepped closer, his glowing white eyes piercing straight into Halo's.

Tough followed behind, and though featureless, his concern was unmistakable.

Halo exhaled.

"Yes. But… but these are free Sin Fragments."

Light's eyes narrowed.

"You've done all you can today. Rest. We'll take it from here. I'm tier-7 in growth now, strong enough to face this even on my own."

Tough nodded energetically from behind.

Halo frowned. Light's reaction made him curious. This bastard normally would've lectured him endlessly about being a whiny kid, nothing like the Halo he'd been in his past life. But those kind words…

His eyes sparkled.

"Does that mean you believe the new me is better? Do you?"

Light turned and began walking away.

"Just take a break."

Halo smiled.

He found a better spot to relax as he watched them all become more preoccupied with breaking the jars.

Besides Light's acknowledgment, he hadn't expected Leto to stay in the game this long, but it was for the best. Until those jars were destroyed, their purpose couldn't be officially over.

Worse, they couldn't use any reckless approach. Since the lab was under the entire bridge, taking any careless action could put StoneHaven in danger. Halo knew damn well he didn't want to fall into the boiling water below.

However, several hundred jars in, Leto approached Halo.

"You know this isn't fair, right?"

Halo raised a startled eyebrow.

Leto shot him a lazy look but said nothing more. Instead, he strolled past Light and Tough and rapped his knuckles against the wall.

It should have been gentle, but the destruction that followed in its wake wasn't something a normal strike should cause.

The ground trembled. It spread across all the walls, and almost all the jars immediately fell from the shelves and crashed to the ground, shattering completely.

Halo groaned and grimaced.

"What?! That's at least fifteen hundred! And on top of everything you've already smashed, you've gotten way more than me. That's not fair!"

That combination of betrayal, greed, and disappointment wasn't something Halo often wore, but this time it was etched into every line of his face.

Leto walked toward him once more and shrugged his shoulders.

"The Purpose isn't over yet… which means a few of them must still remain."

Halo didn't need to issue another command. Light and Tough were already hurrying across the room. More than a dozen screens appeared before Halo, and when he dismissed them, the bronze screen appeared once more.

***

[ Congratulations! You've successfully safeguarded StoneHaven. The threats of the land had been successfully unmade. ]

***

Halo let out a heavy sigh of relief.

The screen disappeared, and the moment it did, Halo clenched his fist. Now he needed to make a Wish.

***

[ Wish: Option: 1 / 2 ]

I wish for three months of freedom before my next Purpose.

| Yes | No |

Warning: 30 minutes to accept the wish.

***

The sight caught him by surprise.

This was a jackpot. It couldn't get any better than this.

But his expression darkened not long after.

Wishes were compulsory, and sharing or refusal was going to turn him into a Sinner.

But unlike last time, he had two options now. The option before him came with only one chance… once denied, he'd automatically accept the second option regardless of what it was.

Halo thought for a moment. Beside him was Leto, who was also caught in a similar dilemma, probably given a Wish more enticing than Halo's.

Three months of freedom sounded too good to be true. Sure, the gods would give him the three-month grace period, but that meant his next Purpose would arrive in devastating waves.

This was more haunting than choosing between Sin Fragments and Seraphim's meals.

The clock ticked.

After a few minutes, he concluded. Whatever the next Purpose would be, he just needed to use those three months to prepare. And besides, he had to meet Jihriel in a month. This was an opportunity he couldn't let slip.

'Yes!'

Relief flooded through him the moment he committed to his choice.

However, a voice from behind caught their attention.

"Ah. So this is where you've been hiding. Figures."

They turned in its wake. It was the Prince.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.