Chapter 626: The True Identity of the Skeleton

Chapter 626: The True Identity of the Skeleton

The world, sometimes, is just that miraculous.

Yes, at this very moment, Karen discovered him—the skeleton that stood with hands on hips, speaking words.

No evidence was needed, no clues were required, no need to watch his micro-expressions, not even a need to open his eyes... Even if a single pea were layered under dozens of mattresses, you would still be able to perceive its existence.

It was just that clear, just that simple.

One must know that even when facing those great figures, Karen had never been this nervous, because that skeleton had truly peered into his deepest secrets.

The way Karen looked at him was just like how Dis had looked at his newly awakened self back then; even though he was trying his hardest to disguise himself, Dis had still seen through it at a single glance:

You are a fake.

And the young man, who had just finished shouting for Old Will to serve the food, felt Karen's piercing, burning gaze. In the short sequence of movements as he turned his head to look over, his expression shifted several times, as if to say:

"Hey, sir, hello there!"

"Ah ha, sir, you look so much like a friend of mine!"

"Why are you looking at me, has a flower grown on my face?"

"Hey, what are you doing staring at me, looking for a beating!"

By the time the young man finally turned his head completely, a bitter smile surfaced on his face.

He could have concealed himself with absolute composure in all sorts of extremely appropriate manners, but the moment his eyes met Karen's, he knew that the other party had already recognized him.

The young man did not find it strange, because he had also recognized Karen.

Clearly, both sides had disguised their identities, but... it was all useless.

"My admiration for you has grown deeper. I really didn't expect that you would be waiting for me here."

At this moment, Karen also began to realize that Neo sending Philomena here to keep watch was not merely to send her away.

Neo often gave off a highly unreliable impression, but thinking back carefully, every time a crucial juncture arrived, he seemed to have never dropped the chain.

The reading of Philias's memories, the nagging of the bloodthirsty heteromorphic demon ancestor, and now, the addition of the inheritance of the last mad Pope;

Most importantly, he himself was a ruthless man who could tear off his own facial skin to disguise himself as himself just to fortify his original heart.

It was hard to imagine what kind of freak had formed under the fusion of so many extreme elements.

In fact, his maternal grandmother had used the word "radiance" multiple times to describe Dis in his youth; no matter how excellent you were among your peers, you would be overshadowed by Dis. The one suppressed the most miserably was undoubtedly Rasma, but Rasma later became the High Priest, while another who revered Dis, Techisen, later sat at the Round Table.

By Karen's side, the only one who could continue to stubbornly express dissatisfaction with the imbalance of the "scales of secrets," constantly seeking compensation while still living out his own joy, was Neo.

And if one stood from the perspective of the skeleton, according to his current understanding of the worldview, if he knew that this position was hinted at by "Light" and that "Order" had come here to wait for him...

He would feel that his walking into the net this time was truly not unearned at all, and could even be said to be an incomparable honor.

Even if he clearly knew this place was a trap, he wouldn't be able to resist jumping into it; otherwise, he would surely regret it for the rest of his life!

Karen stood up, silently gripping the Sword of Diamans that had been placed beside him.

"I say, can we finish the meal before we start fighting?" the young man asked.

Karen shook his head, indicating a refusal.

He could not give the guy in front of him time. Although there was no defensive array set up in advance like in the theater for him to use, Karen was not entirely confident in his ability to defeat him on the basis of a fair fight.

During their last clash, both of them had somewhat meant to stop before going too far; it could even be said that neither had broken a sweat.

And if he were given more time, heaven knew what else he would set up. This guy's methods made Karen very wary.

"Sigh, I was really so starved that I gathered the courage to come eat Vienne cuisine. Old Will, the food you make is very authentic—authentically unpalatable."

"Buzz!"

In the next instant, a surge of aura appeared behind the skeleton. Philomena, who had originally been sitting by Karen's side with a dazed and frozen expression, vanished like the wind, leaving behind a clear afterimage suspended in place.

Philomena's right hand clenched into a fist, condensing a spell with a fracturing effect within it, while her left hand gripped the Nightmare Blade, slicing straight down toward the back of the young man's neck.

The young man did not turn around. Two large bones instantly thrust out from his back, forming a scissor-like strangulation; Philomena's waist was at risk of being cut right in half.

The Nightmare Blade sliced downward, jamming the two long, large bones, while Philomena's right fist struck toward the back of the young man's head.

"Buzz!"

A defensive membrane appeared, blocking Philomena's punch, but the fracturing effect covering the fist caused this layer of barrier to destabilize, rippling out patterns like water waves.

Though it did not break open, it was already enough.

Philomena closed her eyes and said in a deep voice:

"Enter the Dream."

From the gaps in the ripples, power had already seeped through. Driven by the dream entry, the young man also felt a wave of numbness across his scalp.

He was not successfully dragged into the dreamscape, but his consciousness was indeed pulled at this moment.

At this time, Karen moved.

The Sword of Diamans drew a perfect arc, slashing down obliquely toward the young man's chest.

"Puff!"

The young man's clothes exploded, and his chest was sliced open.

This was indeed an impeccable two-on-one cooperation, but Karen felt little joy in his heart, because when the blade slashed down, he failed to feel much resistance.

"Boom!"

A grey wave of air erupted from the young man's body, mixed with an extremely dense power of pollution.

Philomena began to retreat to pull away some distance. Karen's gaze narrowed; facing the pollution, he also chose to retreat.

However, after quickly exploding outward, this cluster of grey air seemed to flow backward, withdrawing at an extremely astonishing speed. The young man's skin and flesh began to shed, revealing the bronze-colored skeleton inside.

From the skeleton's right shoulder to its left hip—the very direction where Karen had previously slashed with his sword—all the bones had cracked open. But this was not an effect inflicted by Karen's slash; it was purely that the other party had anticipated his strike, proactively splitting his bones in advance so that Karen's blade could pass through smoothly.

This was just like how Neo previously liked to switch the positions of his heart from left to right to trick the opponent into delivering a fatal blow, hoping at baseline to reduce his own damage, and if he could take the opportunity to launch a counter-sneak attack, it would be a massive gain.

And at the spot where Karen had previously stood, the face of a fierce ghost appeared, radiating a terrifying, malevolent energy.

If Karen had previously relied on his lack of fear toward pollution to force the next round of attacks, then this fierce ghost face would have already attached itself to Karen's body.

The other party knew he possessed a powerful resistance to pollution, yet still chose to use pollution to force him back. He truly understood him all too well.

"I really didn't expect our second meeting to happen so soon, so soon that I didn't even make preparations in adva..."

Killing intent appeared behind the skeleton once more.

"Miss, you should at least let me finish this sentence!"

A crisp crack echoed from the skeleton's neck. The face that had originally been turned toward Karen reversed one hundred and eighty degrees to face backward, along with both arms rotating in tandem. One bone hand clawed toward Philomena, while the other bone hand radiated black lightning, releasing it straight forward.

Yet Philomena's form vanished, as if shifting through empty space. Under an unbelievable pull, she actually appeared at the skeleton's side.

"Oh, this movement technique, interesting!"

Philomena, having received the praise, did not respond politely. Instead, her right palm swiped along the edge of the Nightmare Blade. As blood scattered, the Nightmare Blade burst into a piercing luster, forming a small black hole when it slashed down again.

"Hiss, what kind of weapon is this?"

The skeleton attempted to intercept with its own defense, but upon contact, the expected clash of metal did not occur; the Nightmarish Blade seemed to bypass every barrier, materializing directly at the skeleton’s temple.

"Bang!"

The tip of the blade pierced the skull, and the rest of the blade followed deep within.

"Oh!"

The skeleton let out a shrill cry, thrusting its right fist violently toward Philomena.

Philomena crossed her arms into a stance of absolute defense; beneath the force of the punch, she offered no rigid resistance at all and was sent flying, crashing through a wall before a red luster erupted from her eyes.

"Enter the Dream!"

The Nightmarish Blade embedded in the skeleton's head trembled faintly, enacting a dragging pull into the dreamworld far more potent than the last.

In its fury, the skeleton roared once more, attempting to force the blade from its body, but a red beam of light sliced diagonally across, piercing entirely through its head.

Upon the Sacrificial Island, Karen had acquired the bone of the goddess, and Philomena had obtained a remnant of the goddess's aura, which lay hidden within her dreams.

The skeleton murmured in confusion, "What manner of power is this..."

Evidently, it was waking up; even though she had successfully pulled it into the dream, Philomena was clearly unable to sustain it for long.

Yet she had already succeeded; the two consecutive ambushes had created a massive opportunity for Karen—such was the benefit of having an ally, allowing one to approach a battle with greater composure.

Of course, this success was also inseparable from the rewards of spending every evening recently walking with an old lady; thus, the virtue of respecting one's elders always brought good fortune.

After the power laced with the aura of the Goddess of the Dark Moon exploded within the skeleton’s mind, it appeared to be in agonizing distress, and worse still, it suddenly realized that Karen had been preparing something all along.

Promptly, the skeleton raised its hand, chanting an obscure incantation as a dark vortex materialized beneath its feet.

The moment this vortex appeared, however, an even denser darkness suddenly manifested throughout the entire shop.

Karen clenched his right fist and spoke:

"Seal!"

Utilizing the time bought by Philomena’s ambush, Karen had completed the formation; hidden within the sleeve of his divine robe, a Rubik's cube had long been spinning rapidly.

The vortex summoned by the skeleton dissolved directly into the darkness, stripped of its teleportation effect.

"Ah ah ah!"

The skeleton let out an enraged roar, flailing its arms as its bones began to expand, resembling two massive axes.

"I truly never imagined that today would be the decisive battle between myself and the one I revere."

Karen shook his head, raising the Sword of Diamans; with the activation of his own sealing spell, the isolation barrier previously erected by the skeleton on the perimeter was instantly shattered, and the Sword of Diamans unleashed a flare of Order's fire, bursting through the roof like a firework blooming above.

The skeleton said aggrievedly, "Oh, you make things quite dull this way; this is not the scene I anticipated, there is no sense of heroism at all."

Karen replied calmly, "Stand down. This main city is entirely populated by my people."

"Hu..."

The skeleton bared all its teeth, forcing out a wide smile, and with a flick of its fingertips, a gold-rimmed scroll appeared in its hand; the moment the scroll emerged, a powerful sense of distortion and tearing immediately warped the surroundings.

"A forbidden-spell-level tactical scroll—The Tears of the Moon Goddess; its unleashed might is enough to create a massive crater here, erasing me, you, and that young girl altogether."

"Are you threatening me?" Karen asked, a redundant question, while the Rubik's cube inside his sleeve began to rapidly calculate the actual power of the scroll and his own survival probabilities under various choices.

He first calculated whether the scroll was a fake, but unfortunately, the result of the deduction was... it truly was a forbidden-spell-level scroll.

In other words, the skeleton was not bluffing.

"Are you pondering? You are adept at observing human hearts, but it is meaningless; I truly can take you down with me."

"Then use it," Karen said. "I would like to see whether it can

He saw a hand holding a fountain pen, writing something in a notebook placed upon a desk that was fitted with a mirror—no, it was a dressing table, and that was a woman’s hand.

The owner of this gaze seemed to be lifting her head; as her line of sight shifted upward, Karen would soon see her face in the mirror!

No accidents occurred, nor was there even a pause; the other party seemed completely unaware that she had established a conscious connection with him at this very moment.

Finally,

her reflection appeared in the mirror, and though the vision was blurred, Karen could still discern a woman's face.

It was a face he knew exceedingly well—it was... Eunice!

Karen’s emotions began to churn violently, unable to believe the scene unfolding before his eyes!

"Cough..."

The woman let out a soft cough, slamming the fountain pen down hard against the table.

The connection severed, leaving Karen behind with a wave of intense doubt and reluctance as he was cut off, a backward surge countless times stronger than before sweeping over him.

"Thud!"

As if suffering a heavy blow to the back of his head, Karen snapped his eyes open.

"Pfft..."

A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from Karen's lips, an utter exhaustion washing over his soul.

Propping himself up with both hands against the ground, the dense confusion and reluctance that had just flooded his face and eyes vanished entirely, leaving only clarity and composure, as though that prior display of profound shock had been staged solely for her benefit.

The best way to keep her steady was to make her believe her true identity remained undiscovered.

Heh, how could it possibly be Eunice.

Karen would certainly not be foolish enough to suspect his fiancée of harboring some hidden identity.

Besides, Eunice was a granddaughter-in-law personally chosen by Dis, standing before Dis and approved with a nod; Ranedal had hidden so deeply back then, yet wasn't he still found out and dragged into the light by Dis?

"The power of the Chains of Order belongs to me alone, so you certainly didn't expect me to trace you back to your true self from the very start.

In truth, whether you let me see your real face doesn't actually matter; what could I do with a blurry visage, search the entire world for you?

You didn't dare let me see, and in a pinch, you chose to display Eunice's face to me,

which proves...

you are a woman I already know."