Chapter 1 Situation

The spell cast through the symbiotic contract, by sharing the forbidden knowledge of a Deep Sea demon, had no effect whatsoever—the bizarre fact that the spell failed was even more astonishing to the two Annihilation Cultists present than the corpse waking up early from its coffin.

What's more, the "Harbinger of Death" was one of the most magically potent Deep Sea demons!

The black-clad woman with a thin, gaunt face looked in disbelief at the "Revenant" standing quietly before her. Unsettled wisps of smoke drifted across the surface of the black chains spreading from her collarbone. At the same time, she sensed that something was wrong with the state of the "Harbinger of Death" with whom she was symbiotic—this Deep Sea demon was constantly sending extremely dangerous signals, even wanting to sever the connection with its master and return to the Deep Sea realm!

She finally reacted, quickly grabbing the chains beneath the Harbinger of Death's feet with one hand, while the other hand made a grasping motion in the air, her eyes fixed on Duncan's: "Something's not right… You're not this dead man… Who are you?"

"First tell me, who are you?" Duncan looked at the woman before him, then glanced at the silent man not far away who was keeping his distance, still clutching a "crowbar cane" in his hand. "Let me guess… First of all, you're obviously not messengers of death. You deceived the watchman with… well, so-called 'disguise techniques.' You're here for me—or rather, for this body I'm currently using. Am I right?"

The black-clad woman opened her mouth slightly, her lips moving as if she were saying something, but Duncan didn't hear her. The next second, the woman suddenly raised her left hand, which she had been holding in the air, and the low, muffled murmur in her mouth turned into a strange shriek!

The "Harbinger of Death" demon perched on her shoulder also abruptly opened its wings at the same time. Under the control of the symbiotic contract, the Deep Sea demon had no choice but to resist its instinctive fear and launch an attack on Duncan.

A heavy pressure suddenly appeared, followed by an abnormal tremor and distortion of the ground beneath their feet. The ground around Xin Cong suddenly rippled like liquid, and several huge white thorns that resembled bone spurs shot out from the earth, entangling him!

However, Duncan had no intention of dodging at all—mainly because this temporary body was simply not capable of a very agile response—he just calmly watched the thorns come before him, watching them wrap around his body.

Then, a magnificent spirit flame rose from the thicket of thorns. In an instant, the thorn thicket summoned by the spell turned into a patch of black ash, accompanied by scattered sparks that drifted away in the wind.

A large-caliber bullet tore through the air, creating a low, muffled noise within the silenced range. Duncan's eyes caught the final segment of the bullet's trajectory, but he did nothing, only glancing at the silent woman who was symbiotic with the jellyfish-like demon.

"Of course," Duncan said with a smile, "This is not a place to linger."

Those sparks had penetrated his body along the chains and flesh.

He subconsciously raised his hand, and the next second, he was shocked to see cracks appearing on his hands.

"Ugh--" The woman in the white dress cried out instantly, instinctively taking two steps back in a daze. She leaned on the nearby streetlight, looking in horror at the thin figure standing in the shifting light and shadows, a figure she didn't recognize but somehow knew: "What… what exactly is he?!"

The woman in the white dress stared intently at this bizarre and terrifying headless body.

Xin Cong looked at the skeletal bird of doom on the other's shoulder (much uglier than Ai Yi), then turned to look at the patch of white ash on the ground behind her, and sighed with regret.

The woman in the white dress nodded, preparing to turn and walk onto the path, but just as she was about to turn her head, the "Harbinger of Death" perched on her shoulder suddenly let out a sharp and bizarre shriek. The Deep Sea demon's bones rattled, black smoke billowed, and then it suddenly turned its head, staring intently in Duncan's direction, constantly flapping its wings while making strange clicking sounds.

He watched his companion blow the body's head off with a single shot, then watched the body raise its hand and touch the part of its head that hadn't disappeared, watching the body's bizarre movements—this was not the reaction of a body that had lost its head!

No matter what this was—the thing that had taken over this body was definitely not dead! It had simply left, a temporary banishment.

Normal Deep Sea demons have no heart; they move only by instinct. When a great danger appears, they may be even more concerned about their master's sanity than a dog.

She even vaguely perceived the visual signals of the Harbinger of Death—when the demon on her shoulder turned to Duncan, a sharp pain instantly pierced her brain like a cone. She felt her retina burn, and indescribable, distorted light and shadows filled her reddened, darkened vision!

However, the "acid cannon" fizzled out halfway, collapsing and dissipating silently before it reached its target.

Behind Xin Cong, the jellyfish-like Deep Sea demon floating in the air suddenly burst into flames. In a cloud of black smoke and raging fire, the ethereal jellyfish demon was burned to ashes in a matter of seconds, and the chain connecting it to its symbiote scattered into a pile of broken links with a series of ear-splitting clangs.

"Ignorance is bliss," he said, shaking his head. "You have no such luck."

The next second, his vision briefly went dark.

The silent woman with the peculiar cane remained motionless for a moment, as if she hadn't heard her companion's voice.

Only a small amount of blood appeared in the cracks, but fragments kept falling from the wound onto the ground. In just a few seconds, Xin Cong clearly felt that this already weak body had become a bit stronger.

"I told you, you might as well swing that bird on her shoulder around and slam it into me—that might actually startle me."

The woman in the white dress stopped abruptly.

"Hey, did you hear me?" The woman in the white dress's stern and impatient voice came again. "Leave quickly, or the commotion today will be too much when the watchman reacts!"

Duncan looked helplessly at the dark matter that had exploded: "I told you, this thing didn't…"

He looked in surprise at the strange changes in his body, then looked up at the woman in the white dress opposite him: "Is this also the power of a spell? It didn't work this time?"

The thin woman with the cane nodded slowly and turned around.

The woman in the white dress, however, seemed to have not yet recovered from the shock of the "thorns" failing and being completely destroyed. Her face had become much paler, and the Harbinger of Death on her shoulder also drooped its head listlessly. However, after hearing Xin Cong's words, a smile suddenly appeared on her face: "Ah, it seems that this body is almost at its limit… This will make it much easier to deal with."

Xin Cong sighed helplessly, but as soon as she finished speaking, she felt that something was wrong with her body.

Knowing that there would be danger in continuing to stay, the woman in the white dress decided to abandon today's mission. She immediately looked up at her companion: "Let's go, leave the cemetery and signal those two later. Something is very wrong today."

These were not the wounds from the thorns just now, but cracks that had appeared on their own. As Xin Cong watched, the cracks continued to increase, as if the skin and muscles of this body had suddenly lost their vitality and elasticity, and were rapidly cracking in this mortuary.

His head was shattered by the powerful impact of the special bullet, and everything above his neck was gone.

"What happened to me just now?" The woman in the white dress stared at her companion, but quickly looked away. "Alright, we have to leave quickly, Xin Cong."

"At its limit?" Xin Cong asked subconsciously, seemingly guessing something from the other's attitude and words, but just as she was about to say something more, the woman in the white dress suddenly said in a cold voice: "Do it."

Duncan's body swayed. He stood there for a moment, thinking, then raised his hand and touched the top of his neck. Finding that he couldn't feel anything, he extended a middle finger towards the woman in the white dress and the silent woman, then fell backward.

He didn't finish his words, and the smoke and sparks in the air had already dissipated. After the smoke cleared, he saw that the silent woman not far away had raised the cane again—the cane was broken in the middle, and a large-caliber gun barrel was protruding from the break.

Through the connection between the chains, she felt the Harbinger of Death's great fear and the warning of imminent death.

As his voice fell, the silent, gaunt woman beside him moved. She looked at Duncan expressionlessly, and the Deep Sea demon that floated in the air, resembling a smoky jellyfish, suddenly swelled and contracted. A ball of dark matter that emitted a sizzling smoke spewed out from the jellyfish's body, smashing towards Duncan like a cannonball!

"Bang!!"

A flash of fire erupted from the barrel, but the sound did not travel beyond the vicinity of the mortuary table—the woman in the white dress belatedly raised her fingers in a silencing gesture.

Her heart was reduced to ashes. He stood there quietly, and on the black chain extending from his throat, a faint green light flashed and disappeared.
Yuan Tong