Standing in the twilight, the philosopher pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"not enough."
Victoria at this moment is not fragile enough.
This collapse was caused by the "company's" proactive layout, which had retained most of the stable anchor points and minimized losses. With the philosopher's current strength, he does not have enough power to push down this shaky wooden house.
The philosopher sighed, and suddenly felt a chill in his heart. In a trance, the "moment of death" loomed.
"Caught up?"
The philosopher suddenly felt a pang of fear. He thought that as long as he relied on the "traveler" to walk in the cracks of time, the "White Witch" would not be able to do anything to him. However, when he arrived at the first stop, he almost faced the end.
Fortunately, a part of his solid shadow has now become the "Messenger of Destiny".
His great power was able to resist this sudden attack to a great extent, preventing him from falling into complete "death" the moment of the attack.
"My responsibility is not yet complete. I must save the world. Now I... cannot die! I must not die!"
The philosopher didn't even look back. When a chill began to rise in his heart, he had already used the power "Traveler" again. The hunched figure gradually faded in the twilight, leaving only a tall and cold figure.
The tall, purple-haired Luo Ling held the "Absolute Blade" in his hand, and a dangerous look flashed in his black eyes, like a cold-blooded hunter staring at his prey, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised without any warmth.
"This is the will of the 'Messenger of Destiny'..."
It is precisely because of the existence of this will that we can resist the fatal attack achieved by Luo Ling using "fall".
However, this also means that the philosopher’s time is running out. If he delays any longer, he will be completely replaced by the “Messenger of Destiny”.
In the purple bead form, Luo Ling controls the three major abilities of "Naraku".
The "falling net" that rewrites reality, the "sinking" that constrains the world line, and the "extinction" that sees into the essence.
Even though some "chaotic" characteristics would inevitably appear when these abilities were used, Luo Ling could no longer care about that at this moment.
She must do everything she can to kill the philosopher before he succeeds, lest he drag Victoria and the entire world into an irreversible abyss.
"Burning Victoria".
An unprecedented "plague" disaster enveloped Victoria, and an unprecedented fire burned almost everything, triggering a boundary collapse.
"No, Victoria at this time is not enough..."
At this moment, the philosopher's shadow not only did not dim, but became more solid. However, there was an inexplicable sense of divinity in his expression.
The time for ascension to godhood has come, and the "Messenger of Destiny" is about to return to the order.
But until this time, the philosopher felt deeply his state and distinguished some subtle differences.
In the past, the "Messenger of Destiny" was definitely killed by the joint strangulation of the five people.
His condition had already suffered severe damage at that time, and the philosopher finally killed him without leaving any trace at all, at the cost of completely annihilating an entire boundary.
The "Messenger of Destiny" who has returned now is no longer the one they killed.
But... philosopher.
It is the philosopher who becomes the "messenger of fate".
This is not a possession of another's body, but a mutation from the inside out. As long as one completely controls the "Traveler" and ascends to the position of the Sequence, no matter who it is, they will embark on the same path as the "Messenger of Destiny", all human parts will be erased, and then they will irreversibly become "Him".
Even philosophers who have used the term "traveler" countless times are no exception in this situation.
... Because of this, it is even more obvious how terrifying a human-like creature is.
However, knowing this, the philosopher prepared a backup plan.
No matter what the final result is, even if he really does become the "Messenger of Destiny" in the process of being hunted, he will continue firmly, because this is the only hope for mankind and the only chance to save the world.
The spreading mycelium emerged from the burning fireworks, and gradually revealed a pale and petite figure. There was no emotion in its indifferent expression, only the endless hunt that continued.
It’s not that the philosopher does not have enough strength to fight against Luo Ling at this moment, but he has little time left. Even if he still has a backup plan, he would rather hold the chips in his own hands.
This gamble is not over yet.
The philosopher's figure disappeared again in an instant, and he immediately went to the next node where the boundary collapsed.
“… … .”
Another wrong move.
Luo Ling slowly closed her eyes. She did not continue to chase after him immediately. Instead, she used the spores left beside the philosopher to sense his condition and wait for the next opportunity to kill.
The reason why she didn't attack and kill the philosopher at every collapse node was because Luo Ling could not mobilize many "travelers". Every time she made a move, she would have one less chance to kill the philosopher.
Up to now, Luo Ling has followed the philosopher's footsteps and strolled through more than twenty collapse nodes. The era he lives in is constantly changing. The further he goes forward, the less "chaos" there is, and it is gradually approaching the real Victoria.
But at the same time, it gradually becomes fragile.
At the time of "Victoria at Dusk", it had almost reached the point where even when a "forbidden" disaster occurred, it would be difficult to collapse, and the "company" had to take the initiative to plan to trigger it.
But... "Burning Victoria" was just a "high-risk weird" disaster, coupled with an unexpected fire. Even the fire that spread throughout the city was not a disaster caused by weirdness, and the boundary collapsed.
However, this is just a trend. Under certain specific circumstances, Victoria will also be in an unprecedented state of vulnerability. This is why the philosopher dare not jump directly to an earlier collapse node in one breath, for fear of missing the best opportunity.
"... stopped again."
Luo Ling murmured softly, and the pale figure lost all color in the burning fire, and the spreading mycelium dissipated along with it.
"Crazy Victoria"
"The Collapse of Victoria"
"Bloody Victoria"
... ... .
In the collapse nodes that were born from the disasters that Victoria experienced one after another, whether man-made or natural, the philosopher kept failing, Luo Ling kept failing, and the hunt seemed to never stop.
The collapse nodes they passed became increasingly unfamiliar. Neither Luo Ling nor the philosophers had ever reached or witnessed such disasters.
Even, long before the philosophers were born.
It was not until the philosopher once again found himself at a collapsed node from long ago, with a look of imperceptible fear on his face, that he suddenly discovered that Victoria at this moment was so similar to a burial ground.
Looking around, all you see is a desolate and desolate scene.
The pale yellow sky, the desolate earth, and the scattered buildings are all decayed by the wind and sand of time. Even a breeze is unwilling to stay in this dead place.
Although it cannot compare to the horror of the burial ground, it is still enough to shock philosophers.
here it is...
— "The Last Days of Victoria".
This was Victoria's most vulnerable moment ever.
The philosopher stood on the ground, silent for a long time. He hesitated for a long time - several breaths, but ultimately did not act immediately.
While his expression was frozen, the gloomy black-haired girl followed closely and thrust the "Absolute Blade" into his chest again without any hesitation.
"Will the new world I look forward to be like this?" the philosopher asked with difficulty.
He slowly turned around and looked into Luo Ling's eyes for the first time in this hunt.
"I have no idea."
Luo Ling said softly.
She really didn't know about this.
However, Luo Ling can be sure of...
“Perhaps, the result will be even worse.”
"Yeah?"
The philosopher smiled in disbelief. The "blade" piercing his heart was leading him to eternal "death".
But in the next moment, the philosopher's shadow completely turned into clarity, and the little emotion left in his eyes was completely eliminated.
僨At the same time, the power "Traveler" was activated again, but it did not jump to other collapsed nodes, but just escaped from Luo Ling's stranglehold.
Luo Ling looked at the philosopher at this moment. She could no longer see the human part in the philosopher's eyes. He had completely become Him, the "messenger of destiny" in "this life".
At this moment, the philosopher is completely dead, and only the "Messenger of Fate" is left.
"Irreversible 'fate'," the old voice whispered softly, "Please reveal the 'time of life' of the confused people..."
After the philosopher's death, the "Messenger of Fate" took over his existence and his mission.
With "Victoria at the End" as the anchor point, and the entire origin place Victoria as the price, the forbidden power "Fate" is mobilized, and with "Time of Life", the new world is led to come.
A distant response came from afar, and the shadows of three goddesses appeared above the sky of Victoria.
They sat in front of an ancient loom, one was responsible for weaving fate from the mottled and messy thread of life, one was responsible for distributing fate to everyone in the world, and the last one held a pair of scissors, responsible for deciding the moment when fate ended.
It was almost exactly the same "fate" that Victoria had suffered not long ago.
The seventh taboo of the strange sequence, "Norren" of "this life".
But this time, it was not the last goddess's scissors that fell, but the first goddess's weaving.
He used the entire place of origin, Victoria, as material, and began to extract from "Victoria at the End of the World". The ancient textile machine creaked, and the destiny that was constantly woven gradually formed a new world.
This is a new world that only exists between the "other side" and the "present life". In this new world, only the awakened ones who embark on this path can retain their abilities. All other beings will be deprived of their powers, even the weird ones in the sequence are no exception.
Not only that, because they were born from "fate", everyone in the new world can recognize their "time of birth" and "moment of death" and know the result of "the unpredictable fate".
Everyone knows the consequences of their actions, and knows when they are born, when they die, when they are reincarnated, and when they disappear.
As the price of Victoria, the place of origin, continues to be paid, the duration of the new world can be extended.
Five minutes, ten minutes...
One month, two months...
One year, two years...
Maybe, it will be forever.
The philosopher seems to have succeeded.
But, it didn't fully succeed.
Because the birth of the new world lasted only a few minutes, and suddenly it collapsed in an instant, with no warning at all.
Even the shadows of the three goddesses slowly dissipated due to this sudden collapse, and the "Messenger of Fate" that was affected also dimmed a little.
Luo Ling watched all this happen in silence. Although it was something she had expected to happen, the speed at which it happened still exceeded her imagination.
She had thought that this would not happen until at least the new world was fully formed.
But I didn't expect...
Just a few minutes.
The birth of a new world takes only a few minutes.
The philosopher's life's work, all his ideals, ultimately... appeared for only a few minutes before being declared a failure.
He made a desperate gamble and lost everything.
Luo Ling felt a very familiar breath from the collapse.
"end".
"Perhaps, it's because the collapse node that serves as the anchor point is 'Victoria at the End of the World'." Luo Ling sighed softly.
In the new world where no other paths should have appeared, the inexplicably appearing "Doomsday" path completely destroyed all the order constructed by "Fate".
The "moment of birth" is no longer credible, the "moment of death" is a complete fallacy, the future is uncertain in the "uncertainty of fate", and the new world that builds all happiness on the fragile control of "fate" loses all meaning of its existence the moment "doomsday" appears.
The so-called destiny cannot compete with doomsday after all.
A long pale hair slowly drifted away in the collapsing breeze, with a few strands of bright red mixed in. The territory of the "Kingdom of Ashes" spread, with gray and scarlet intertwined, covering the "Messenger of Fate" who was severely injured by the backlash of "Fate".
He is struggling.
But it was just a futile struggle of a trapped beast.
Luo Ling's indifferent gaze stayed on this high-risk weirdo whose mission had been completed for just a few breaths, then he moved away and turned to the other side.
At this moment, a graceful woman, dressed like an old noble woman but with an unusually young face, was standing nearby.
Under the gold-rimmed glasses hanging on a chain are a pair of eyes full of pity.
"How pitiful."