Caenis was dead.
Her death had been excruciating and devoid of any dignity.
Her surviving subordinates, witnessing their leader being mercilessly slaughtered, turned and fled in panic.
If even the formidable Elder Caenis was no more, what were they still doing here?
Derick manipulated his avatar to pursue these underlings of Caenis, and soon, they were all wiped out.
These people had followed Caenis, so they had undoubtedly committed their fair share of evil deeds. Derick killing them couldn't be considered slaughtering the innocent.
Having done all this, he prepared to leave.
After all, only Anaxa remained here now, and Derick couldn't possibly kill Anaxa.
He knew that in the original game's storyline, Anaxa had used his own body and soul to protect the Grove of Epiphany, holding back the Black Tide and successfully allowing most of the scholars there to escape.
Derick had absolutely no desire to harm such a person.
However, though he wanted to leave, the turn of events was not subject to his willpower.
Just as he was about to control his avatar to depart, a slight tremor ran through the ground beneath him. Looking down, he saw an emerald-green magic circle. And outside the circle, Anaxa appeared before Derick's avatar.
A magic technique.
What was Anaxa planning?
"Come, let me see just what your body's absorption capabilities are!"
Anaxa charged towards Derick's avatar.
He didn't even do anything, just rushing forward like a clumsy youth, swinging his fists. His face was contorted in an almost maniacal grin.
What was Anaxa trying to do? Had he gone mad?
Derick didn't think so.
Even if everyone in Omphalos went mad, Anaxa would not.
So, what was he planning?
Derick prepared to defend and retreat at any moment.
Just as Anaxa approached Derick, his arm changed. A dark golden light shot from afar, converging into Anaxa's arm. As Anaxa threw his punch, the light rushed straight towards Derick's avatar.
Derick wanted to maneuver his avatar to leave, but the light was swift, enveloping the avatar's surroundings in an instant and entering its body.
"This power... is it the power of Cerces, the Titan of Reason?"
Derick knew that Cerces was a Titan who greatly approved of the Flamechase Journey. She had made a direct pact with the Golden Ones, allowing them to collect Her Core Flame in the end.
A willing sacrifice.
And now, a monster that had devoured a Titan's Core Flame had appeared, one that could potentially halt the Flamechase Journey. This was a situation Cerces would absolutely not want to see.
Thus, her attack seemed understandable.
"However, an attack like this will have no effect on me. The power of Nikador, the Titan of Discord, couldn't even kill me, so how could the power of the Titan of Reason? Unless Anaxa intends to do something else," Derick thought to himself.
He didn't believe his own wisdom surpassed Anaxa's. Apart from deductions made due to possessing more information, other aspects were not so certain.
Grove of Epiphany.
Cerces looked at Her own palm.
The act of sending Her power to Castrum Kremnos, into Anaxa's hands, had consumed a vast amount of Her energy.
"Child of Man, I wonder if your ideas are right or wrong. I hope you can find more about it, and uncover the truth of this world," Cerces murmured to Herself as She quietly recovered.
Castrum Kremnos.
Anaxa looked at the energy he had just unleashed from his hand and began to laugh heartily.
His plan had no flaws; Cerces's tracking had been with him all along, and She was aware of his thoughts. When he needed it, She would help him unleash this energy. The entirety of the Titan of Reason's energy poured into the body of the monster before him.
Subsequently, he made an immediate decision.
He turned, took large strides, and fled into the distance like a shooting star.
Greasing the soles of his feet, he made his escape.
Derick was somewhat dumbfounded watching Anaxa's maneuver.
What was he planning to do?
The energy unleashed by the Titan of Reason was taking effect, and he wasn't even going to watch?
Unless, from the very beginning, he never intended for these attacks to cause any harm to his avatar.
And as this energy entered his avatar's body, Derick immediately sensed that his thought was correct. This energy had no intention of attacking his avatar's body but merely wanted to reside within it.
A wall.
I don't want to tear this place apart; I choose to become a part of it.
"So, is he trying to conduct some experiment with the Titan of Reason's energy? And even Cerces is cooperating with him." Derick was somewhat baffled. However, he still absorbed it silently. After devouring this energy, regardless of any miscellaneous things it contained, it would only transform into what he needed.
Within my body, only energy exclusive to Derick's avatar can exist.
While absorbing the energy, Derick controlled his avatar and watched Anaxa.
Seeing Anaxa's fleeing posture, he was slightly speechless.
"Anaxa, shouldn't you train your body a bit? Otherwise, the way you're running away, even if I don't attack, it looks too fake."
Derick swung his scythe, sending a blast of black light towards Anaxa.
However, he had weakened the energy of this attack. If Anaxa truly couldn't dodge it, he would only suffer serious injuries, not death.
That was the most he could do.
The dark light flashed. Just as it was about to hit Anaxa, a figure appeared with a whoosh, lifted a leg, and kicked him.
Anaxa's body was sent flying, tumbling several times on the ground. But with that, he had successfully dodged Derick's strike.
Derick manipulated his avatar to look beside Anaxa and saw Cipher standing there.
This time, Derick let out a sigh of relief.
With Cipher present, Anaxa's escape was now logical.
Cipher glanced at Anaxa, walked over, lifted him with one hand, made a face at Derick's avatar, and then ran towards the outskirts of Castrum Kremnos.
Derick silently watched them leave.
Well, I'd better go digest these energies.
Being carried by Cipher, Anaxa looked at her actions and couldn't help but say, "Cipher, can't you use a more appropriate rescue method?"
"You're not Derick. I couldn't care less about your comfort." Cipher made a sudden large leap, causing Anaxa's body to jolt violently; his thigh even bumped against something nearby.
"Besides, Aglaea was the one who hired me to come here. Do you think she would have asked me to take care of you?"
Anaxa said no more.
He felt that if he were in Aglaea's position, he would probably tell Cipher to do whatever she pleased with Aglaea, just as long as she was left breathing.
Soon, Cipher, carrying Anaxa, found Derick and Castorice.
Thump!
She threw Anaxa to the ground.
All the bumping around on the way, and then being thrown down so heavily. Anaxa, after all, was a scholar with a frail body. After such an ordeal, he was temporarily unable to get up.
"Teacher." Castorice looked at Anaxa with concern.
"Don't worry, I'm not dead yet. Cipher was a bit rough, but my body only has some superficial wounds. I had some defensive measures I'd researched on me, originally meant to deal with that dark monster's attack. But since Cipher showed up, I didn't use them on it, but on Cipher instead."
Anaxa waved his hand.
At that moment, Cipher took out a camera and began taking pictures of him.
"Cipher, what are you doing?" Derick asked, looking at her actions with confusion.
She patted Derick's shoulder. "Of course, I'm giving these photos to that seamstress girl. Heh heh, when she sees how miserably I've treated Anaxa, she'll definitely give me a bigger reward. This time, it's really thanks to you. If you hadn't said they might go to Castrum Kremnos, I wouldn't have gone there in the first place."
Only then did Derick realize that Cipher had been following them all along.
Castorice glanced at Cipher, who was standing very close to Derick, and said with a hint of jealousy, "If you're truly grateful, you can give half of the reward to Derick."
"How is that possible!? Forget helping me, even if he slept with me, he wouldn't get a single coin of my wealth."
Hearing Castorice say this, Cipher immediately jumped up and shouted.
Derick and Castorice were both speechless.
At this moment, Anaxa slowly stood up.
Castorice then asked Anaxa, "By the way, Teacher, what exactly happened over there? What about the others? Wasn't Elder Caenis with you?"
"Those people are already dead." Anaxa waved his hand. "The others were all killed by that dark monster. In the end, only I managed to survive."
He had been using Caenis from the start, so he didn't care in the slightest about their deaths.
"Is that so? That's really..." A happy smile instantly appeared on Castorice's face. But thinking of her status, and the gravity of death, she forcibly suppressed it.
What's wrong with me? Why am I anticipating someone's death like this? This isn't right... But I really want to laugh.
Who could blame her? Caenis had caused no small amount of trouble for Derick and Aglaea. She had even threatened Derick's personal safety. Under these circumstances, upon seeing Caenis dead, her heart was truly joyful.
Castorice was still trying to hold back, but Derick and Cipher burst out laughing without any restraint.
He had killed Caenis with his own hands, but now he had to pretend he had just heard the news.
Castorice endured for a moment, then, remembering something, looked at Anaxa and asked, "By the way, Teacher Anaxa, what about that monster? Did you make any gains?"
If that monster was also seriously injured, she and Derick could go and scavenge.
Destroy that monster, and let all the energy of the Titan of Discord enter Derick's body.
"Don't even think about it. That monster is in perfect condition right now. Just the three of us, if we went, we wouldn't stand a chance," Cipher quickly interjected.
She was the one who least wanted Derick to tend towards the Titan of Discord.
Anaxa also said to Derick and Castorice, "It seems to have devoured Nikador. That monster also possesses immortality; Caenis died because of it. If we want to kill it, we need to do more planning."
"Is that so..." Castorice frowned, a little worried.
"That's certainly very dangerous. We'd better not go looking for it," Cipher said, a joyful look on her face.
She glanced at Anaxa and said, "It seems you gained nothing from this trip. You, the great scholar, have really lost out this time."
"No, I haven't lost out."
Anaxa shook his head and reached into his bosom.
He didn't mention releasing the Titan of Reason's energy, but instead took something out.
Derick looked towards Anaxa and saw that he was now holding a container that looked like glass. And inside this container, there was a piece of black matter.
That was material from his own avatar.
Caenis's attack had also caused some damage to Derick's avatar. This damage was quickly repaired, but a part of it had fallen off and been collected by Anaxa. Anaxa's actions had gone completely unnoticed by him.
"It's a pity. I had anticipated this situation long ago. Last time I fought the Flame Reaver, he cut me quite a bit. Those severed tissues, apart from what returned to my avatar, the rest all disappeared," Derick thought to himself, looking at Anaxa.
The flesh of his avatar, any material that fell off, could not be preserved in Omphalos. Even if it fell to the ground, it would quickly disappear.
Derick looked at Anaxa.
"Teacher, is this the monster's body?" Castorice asked Anaxa.
Anaxa nodded.
"That's right."
Go in.
Looking at this pitch-black substance, which was gradually disappearing even while enclosed in the vessel, Anaxa frowned, then opened the container.
The scene that followed was something Derick, Castorice, and Cipher had not expected.
Anaxa rolled up the sleeve of his arm, revealing most of his forearm.
Then he took out a knife, swung it towards his arm, and cut a large wound. Anaxa took this mass of dark body fragments and poured it into the wound on his arm.
"Teacher!" Castorice cried out in shock.
Casually putting things into a wound, no matter how you looked at it, this was extremely dangerous.
"Don't worry. The worst that can happen is that my arm becomes useless." A faint light appeared on Anaxa's other hand, and he touched his shoulder, as if separating his arm from his torso.
Then he pulled open the wound, observing whether Derick's avatar's body fragments would react with his body.
The fragments of Derick's avatar slowly disappeared into his arm, and the corners of Anaxa's mouth curled upwards more and more.
"This substance is completely incompatible with Omphalos. Even when placed inside my body, it has no effect on my body at all."
"Regarding the origin of this avatar, I feel I have some guesses."
"Teacher, what have you thought of?" Castorice asked Anaxa.
"This pitch-black monster is from beyond the heavens."
______________
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