Endless Debt-Chapter 970 - 62: Utterly Baffling (3)

Regarding the area where Church and Morrison are located, it has been completely covered by varying concentrations of the decline plague.

In the gray hazy fog, Morrison’s etheral radiance is as bright as daylight, while Church’s is extremely dim. The two beams of light chase each other, and bright arcs scatter and strike out.

Church throws out a hook, quickly breaking away from the dense fog. He gasps for air, landing on the layered steps.

Resisting the corrosion of the decline plague is not an easy task, as it rapidly consumes his own ether, a wave of fatigue surging up, making Church’s eyelids feel extremely heavy, and his will becoming hazy and confused.

Morrison follows closely behind, striding out of the dense fog. Relying on the etheral amount of a Negative Power User, he’s much more at ease in resisting the decline plague than Church.

The soldiers have transported away the remaining sealed gas canisters, and the remaining decline plague is slowly spreading around. Judging by this concentration, it won’t take long for them to permeate most of the Fog Abyss Fortress, turning it into a dead zone.

Church takes a deep breath, fresh air pouring into his lungs, relieving some of the pressure. Then his expression becomes serious — he miscalculated, having only destroyed a small amount of the decline plague. A large portion of it has already been transported away.

"Adapt to circumstances..."

Speaking to himself, Church’s right eye lights up, and Morrison on the other end also notices this anomaly.

People say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, so when guiding the Alchemy Matrix engraved upon the soul, the etheral radiance illuminating the soul also rises from people’s eyes.

Yet for some reason, Church’s window seems to have closed one, with only his right eye emitting a faint glow, while his left eye has completely extinguished.

Morrison does not think much of it, with Ethereal Amplification covering Morrison’s body, he leaps like a tiger, swinging the ethereal blade, like a falling thunderbolt, instantly arriving in front of Church.

Church can only leap back defensively, then the ground in front of him completely shatters and explodes, leaving no opportunity to breathe, as the ethereal blade tears through the smoke, the bright radiance rapidly enlarges before Church’s eyes.

"Got you!"

Morrison shouts loudly, vowing to kill this unexpected visitor.

But the ethereal blade he swung failed to touch Church, only cutting through a piece of rapidly dissipating smoke.

Church vanished.

No... he didn’t vanish.

In brief contact, Morrison vaguely perceives Church’s power; he seems to possess some kind of recognition distortion power. Church is right in front of him, but Morrison can’t see him, instinctively distorting him into something he wouldn’t notice.

Morrison’s thoughts are interrupted for a moment, then he realizes that his impression of Church is rapidly declining.

For an ordinary person, after catching a glimpse of Church, they’d quickly forget him, but Morrison is a Negative Power User superior to Church, so Church’s secret energy couldn’t completely affect him.

The collapse of memory slows down, giving Morrison enough time to react.

"Come out to me!"

Morrison shouts angrily at the corridor before him, letting ether spread fully, unleashing a wave of impact that shatters the walls and ground along the path, among the rolling and shattering stones and smoke, Morrison observes carefully, but sees no anomaly, as if Church’s figure was merely an illusion.

A chilling wind brushes against the back of his neck.

Morrison turns abruptly, and simultaneously a dagger appears out of nowhere, imbued with sharp ether, slicing across his throat. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

A slight sharp pain spreads at his neck, Morrison swings the ethereal blade, the turbulent etheral flow brutally kills all matter before him, retreating a few steps, raising his hand to cover his throat, spots of blood seep through the gaps of his fingers.

Morrison hunches his body, his eyes filled with angry blood, he slowly moves his hand away, and sees a thin wound on his neck, the dagger cutting through his skin, but failing to completely cut through his throat.

On the other side of Morrison, Church, who should have been concealed, emerges again. He holds the dagger in front of him, his breath chaotic, his arms covered with dense slender wounds, cut by Morrison’s turbulent etheral flow like shattered fragments.

"I’m starting to regret it."

Church mutters in his heart, feeling he shouldn’t have acted like a hero. If he’d chosen to leave earlier, Church might have already escaped the Fog Abyss Fortress.

But driven by some inexplicable force, Church breaks his "rigidity" and strikes out with that dagger, choosing to destroy the decline plague here.

He failed.

Even if he struck out with the dagger, what good is it? Church only resolved a small portion of the decline plague, while much more has already been transferred, and he’s being targeted by a Negative Power User.

Church feels frustrated with his lack of professionalism, but upon careful thought, if given the choice again, Church thinks he would still choose to destroy the decline plague.

Yes, if Bologue were here, he should make the same choice, shouldn’t he?

Church can’t always remain an indifferent bystander.

Morrison glares at Church, who conceals his own etheral response, yet from the series of exchanges earlier, Morrison probably guesses Church’s tier.

Just a Prayer Believer.

In Morrison’s guess, he has realized that Church’s secret energy should be related to recognition distortion. This is still Morrison’s first encounter with such a bizarre secret energy, and he’s unsure if it counts as one from the Void Spirit School.