Chapter 2761: Chapter 2762: The Death of Vay

Just as Vay fell into absolute despair.

"Wait!" Along with a startled shout, a figure flew toward the arena platform.

However, before he even touched the dome of the arena, he was pinned in place by a descending oppressive force from the sky, unable to move.

And this figure was not from Angel’s side, but rather... Gray Merchant.

If it had been earlier, Gray Merchant wouldn’t have cared whether Vay lived or died; he’d even have preferred Vay to die at their hands. After all, the lens turning red meant that Vay was the Mirror Bearer’s target.

But now, Gray Merchant was extremely unwilling to see Vay harmed.

Vay came from the Noah Clan, and an Avatar of the Black Earl was right across from them. Kill him, and you didn’t need to think to know the future trouble would be endless. Moreover, even setting Vay’s identity aside, the attitude he’d learned earlier from the referee—that the Mirror Bearer would most likely go back on their word—already made Gray Merchant unwilling to treat Vay, and the Noah Clan, as targets anymore.

All the more so since that Wizard opposite them who called himself Earl Mi had already agreed to find a way to release his memories. Relying on Apprentices to compete for slots to enter deeper into the Underground Aqueduct was already somewhat improper; if he were to then seriously injure or even kill Vay, how would he have the face to go to Earl Mi?

Gray Merchant had thought that Magic Elephant knew this and would be able to restrain his impulses, but to his surprise, the Magic Elephant who showed another side after his strength skyrocketed was so decisive and ruthless in killing that it was like he’d become a different person.

Gray Merchant definitely did not want Vay to be beaten half-dead or killed by Magic Elephant. Because of this, even though he sensed the Evil Woman’s face full of displeasure, he still moved.

At the very least, he had to remind Magic Elephant that he couldn’t kill Vay.

Only, what Gray Merchant didn’t expect was that before he could even enter the field, he was "disciplined" by the black‑clothed referee; the terrifying oppressive force crushed him so hard he didn’t even have the strength to stand.

Gray Merchant could only stare helplessly as Magic Elephant unleashed a scarlet death ray that pierced through Vay’s body.

One-Hit Kill!

"It’s over." Looking at that black‑and‑white‑like frozen scene on the arena, Gray Merchant felt his vision go completely gray.

Thump—

Vay collapsed powerlessly to the ground, seeming to have already lost his breath. Magic Elephant, however, stood where he was, laughing non‑stop; but as he laughed, he started inexplicably to weep, tears gushing like a spring, as though his tear ducts had lost all control. Under that expression where he was both laughing and crying, Magic Elephant’s eyes gradually turned blank and lost.

The death ray of the Ancient Gaze had been completely exhausted in that last attack.

At this moment, Magic Elephant had already fallen from the realm where he’d felt "omnipotent" back down into being "himself."

Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, Magic Elephant’s situation wasn’t that bad; but Magic Elephant himself could clearly feel that his heart was hollow. He hadn’t returned to "himself," he’d fallen from the clouds into the mud.

The powerful contrast in Energy Level made it hard for Magic Elephant to accept for a time.

And this was exactly the "Energy Level Trap" Dox had mocked earlier—Magic Elephant had been screwed over by the Evil Woman.

Using a brief surge in strength in exchange for self‑doubt and self‑denial, the erasure of Potential, and a prolonged period of depression of unknown duration.

Magic Elephant now gradually came back to his senses a little. He saw the stunned Gray Merchant outside, and he also saw the Black Earl opposite, calm and unreadable...

Only now did he suddenly feel that he seemed to have killed a Noah descendant?

When he killed Vay earlier, Magic Elephant had felt excitement and fear at the same time; that shuddering feeling was stimulating, an uncontrollable pleasure. But now the shuddering was still there, yet the excitement and thrill were gone, leaving only lingering dread and... regret.

At this moment Magic Elephant was like a lost, bewildered child, standing on the arena, not knowing what he should do next.

He remembered that the Evil Woman wanted him to seize the spoils of war and obtain the Simos Hide. However, this Noah descendant opposite him didn’t have the Simos Hide.

Then what should he do? Wait for the next match, Kaier’s bout? Take the Simos Hide from Kaier?

But he’d already used the trump card the Evil Woman had given him; how was he supposed to defeat Kaier?

Magic Elephant felt himself shrouded in emotion, his head a mush. Any problem he could only think through in a single thread; the moment there was even a little branching, he’d fall into a state of confusion.

For this reason, Magic Elephant didn’t even know what he should do next.

While Magic Elephant stood there at a complete loss, he failed to notice that the Wise Sovereign floating in midair had not called the match to a halt. This meant the match was not yet over.

Because he was in a bewitched state, Magic Elephant couldn’t clearly see the situation on the field. But the others watching this duel could clearly see the changes on the arena.

Vay, struck by the death ray of the Ancient Gaze, should have been as dead as dead could be; yet, to everyone’s shock, he didn’t seem to be dead.

His fingers twitched a little, and then, under countless watching eyes, he slowly lifted his head.

At this moment, Vay’s face no longer showed his former features. It was just a mess of blood and flesh; you could even faintly see fragments of white shattered bone.

From that blasted, disfigured face alone, it was clear his current condition was absolutely terrible.

But compared to Magic Elephant, who had fallen into a deranged state, Vay still retained his reason.

Vay did not move, nor could he move; he could only gaze from afar at the Magic Elephant not far away who was both crying and laughing.

Then he roused what little Magic Power remained in his body and aimed it at Magic Elephant in the distance.

Magic Elephant was completely immersed in his own world and didn’t sense the Energy fluctuations around him at all.

Not until a massive Energy Blast, wrapped in a strong wind, came roaring at him from behind did he finally come back to himself in a daze.

However, even though Magic Elephant had come back to his senses and turned his head to see a palm of condensed stone, he still didn’t react—or rather... his reaction was delayed.

The stone palm smacked hard into Magic Elephant’s back, the tremendous force slapping him straight into the air.

Only when he was airborne did Magic Elephant suddenly feel that he seemed to have been hit by Vay? But hadn’t Vay already died?

And at this moment, Magic Elephant’s thoughts were still stuck on "Why isn’t Vay dead," with no thought at all for "How am I supposed to respond right now."

This too was backlash from using an unowned organ fueled by a power that didn’t belong to him. His thinking was stretched out and dulled, his sense of danger lost, and his ability to deal with danger had dropped to the level of an ordinary person.

This state wouldn’t last too long; with Magic Elephant’s powerful physical constitution, he would likely "recover" very soon. But the consumed Potential and the psychological trauma—those would not be restored in a short time.

You could say Dox had it right: this time the Evil Woman really had screwed Magic Elephant over.

Most importantly, the Evil Woman hadn’t even gotten what she wanted.

In the end, while his thoughts were still sluggish, Magic Elephant was slapped out of the arena with a single palm. Only after Gray Merchant rescued him from the green‑glowing eyes of the Void Magical Creature did he belatedly say, "I... lost?"

Looking at Magic Elephant’s dumb, blank expression, the blaze of fury that had already surged up into Gray Merchant’s chest still didn’t find an outlet.

He only pulled Magic Elephant along and returned to their side of the field.

After Grey Merchant came back, he glared viciously at the Shrew. The Shrew subconsciously wanted to say something, but when she saw Grey Merchant’s gloomy face, she shut her mouth.

The Shrew had seen this kind of gloomy and indifferent expression on Grey Merchant many times in the past and would not be intimidated by it. Because Grey Merchant’s personality had always been like this before.

But ever since a part of his memories had been taken away by the Mirror Bearer, Grey Merchant’s personality had gone through a complete 360-degree change, leaning more toward the gentle elegance he had shown long ago. This kind of ugly expression had almost never appeared on his face again.

Now, Grey Merchant was directly showing this expression to the Shrew, enough to show the anger in his heart.

Because the Shrew had deceived him.

The Shrew had never told him that the out-of-discussion method she gave the Magic Elephant would be the Ancient Gaze!

This was an ownerless organ that even Bloodline Wizards could use as their trump card at the bottom of the chest!

Obviously, the Shrew had seen that the space Apprentice opposite them didn’t have much to do with the Noah Clan. From the attitudes of the others and various details, he instead had a slight connection to Red Sword Docks, and probably didn’t have any powerful backing either. Most likely just a wandering Apprentice—maybe even that piece of Simos skin had been lent to him by Dox.

Once she confirmed that the other side probably had no background, the Shrew’s mindset changed. She not only wanted to obtain the Simos skin, she also wanted to use the Magic Elephant to kill the other party!

In the Shrew’s eyes, an Apprentice with no background dying was just dead. She could both gain spoils of war and save herself future trouble.

But what the Shrew hadn’t expected was that the one who stepped onto the field for this duel ended up being Vay, not Kaier.

After the duel began, the Shrew had no way to send a sound transmission to the Magic Elephant, which led to the Magic Elephant using the Ancient Gaze and screwing himself over.

The final outcome made Grey Merchant display extreme anger. But the Shrew didn’t care. From her point of view, everything was just bad luck.

Yet what the Shrew didn’t know was that if she had really managed to get Kaier killed—

It actually wouldn’t be any different from provoking the Black Earl. Because standing behind Kaier was also a bigshot-level figure: the "Voidwalker" Esos.

Leaving aside Esos’ attitude, if things had really gone the way the Shrew planned, Angel would have personally stepped in to take revenge for Kaier.

The reason was simple: Kaier was his mission target this time and couldn’t die; Kaier was the true owner of the key to the Remnant Site and couldn’t die; the Simos skin on Kaier’s body was also his—whoever tried to take it would die.

One could say that this time, the Shrew wasn’t suffering bad luck; on the contrary, fortune had actually turned in her favor.

However, the Shrew clearly wouldn’t appreciate this. Her thoughts now were more like: anyway, the Noah descendant didn’t die, and I even paid an ownerless organ—turns out I’m the one who lost out.

The disparity between people, the difference in the bottom line of being human, was vividly embodied in the Shrew.

Apart from the Shrew, everyone else’s feelings were different in their own ways, but they shared one similar question:

Why did the Noah descendant survive after being hit by the Ancient Gaze?

...

This question was actually also what Angel and Dox were curious about.

"So that’s why you, milord, were so calm—you gave Vay a trump card... Tsk tsk tsk, Vay used to look decent enough, but now he’s really miserable, huh. His whole body’s rotting meat. I guess he’ll have to live the rest of his life with an ugly face." Dox carried Vay down from the arena in a princess carry and laid him on the ground.

Dox treated Vay while continuing to crack jokes.

Only, after treating for a bit, Dox suddenly realized his treatment was having no effect at all.

Vay’s body was shriveling and failing at a speed visible to the naked eye. His eyes were gradually losing their light, as if at any moment they might completely lose their luster.

Dox had been mocking Vay before, but now he couldn’t laugh anymore.

He jerked his head around and looked at the Black Earl.

"He, h-he, what’s going on with him?" Dox’s expression held a hint of panic and anxiety; he was even stuttering.

The Black Earl ignored Dox, looking down from above at Vay, who still had a trace of One Thought left.

"Since you’ve already used it, have you made your decision?"

The Black Earl’s words came without any preface or follow-up, leaving everyone else confused; they didn’t understand what he was talking about. But Vay seemed to understand the Black Earl’s meaning. After a moment of silence, he said softly, "Milord, did Sister Ella also end up like this?"

The Black Earl: "Instead of worrying about Ella, you’d better worry more about yourself. The time you have to make a choice is running out."

Hearing the Black Earl’s words, Angel felt a faint confusion in his heart. Who was this "Ella" whose name Vay suddenly blurted out? Why would Vay be concerned about Ella at this time instead of himself?

While Angel was puzzling over Ella’s relationship with Vay, Dox on the opposite side mouthed a sentence silently to Angel.

—Ella is Vay’s older sister.

And his biological sister at that.

For Vay to say now that Ella was dead, what did that mean? That he felt Ella’s death was the same as his current situation? Dying in a duel? That shouldn’t be such a coincidence, right?

While Angel was pondering the relationship between Ella and Vay, the Black Earl continued, "If not for its protection, you couldn’t possibly have survived being blasted by the Ancient Gaze... Now, it’s your turn to make a choice."

The corners of Vay’s eyes were slightly wet. He didn’t look at the Black Earl again, but instead turned his head to Dox.

Vay’s lips moved lightly, as if he wanted to say something.

Dox thought Vay had some "last words" to entrust, and immediately leaned in.

However, when Dox’s ear moved closer, Vay spat on him, hard.

While Dox was still stunned, Vay mustered all his strength and roared, "Sure enough, meeting you is just bad luck! I clearly avoided you for so many years, and the moment I went looking for you, I got forced into a ruin expedition!"

"Now it’s over! I’ll definitely end up just like Sister Ella, not even able to say a single word, and become a living dead in such a muddled way! Damn it, damn you!"

After shouting and cursing a few times, he left Dox completely dumbfounded.

Only then did Vay turn his head to look at the Black Earl, a look of resignation on his face. "Go ahead. I don’t have any other choice anyway. A Puppet is a Puppet—at least my flesh will still be alive."

"Dox, from now on I might not be me anymore. Are you satisfied now?"

The moisture at the corner of his eyes finally turned into tears, slowly sliding down.

Vay closed his eyes, wanting to put on a look of bravely going to his death.

But by this time his eyelids had already disappeared and couldn’t close, so he could only stare as his lord detached from the stone slab and slowly flew toward him...

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