Endless Debt

Chapter 1179 - 27: Champion

York dragged the corpse, slowly advancing under the pitch-black night sky. The ruins gradually came into view—a portion of Gray Stone Town destroyed in the disaster, lacking any value for reconstruction, like scars resting within the shadow of the old town.After Gray Stone Town restored order, the townspeople treated this place as a cemetery. Many deceased were buried here... even York himself had been buried here once.

Grabbing a shovel, York dug into the hardened soil, his body swinging vigorously. The freshly healed wounds tore open again, but soon, the blood solidified into scabs, healing, then peeling off.

The pain and weakness brought by Bloodthirsty Syndrome were gradually fading away. As consciousness slowly cleared, numerous lingering hallucinations spontaneously emerged before York’s eyes.

The shovel paused momentarily as if it struck something. Turning over the soil, a deeply decayed face came into view, its pitch-black eye sockets aimed at York; it opened its mouth, hoarsely.

"Will your heart find peace?"

York blinked, the voice disappeared, and that decayed face vanished from the soil pit.

As if accustomed to these distorted hallucinations, York’s expression remained unchanged. As early as that night which shifted his fate, when rainwater fused with blood seeped beneath the grave, greedily absorbed and plundered by himself, York’s heart had already turned cold as ironstone, unmoved.

He kicked the dismembered corpse into the pit, filled it in, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and murmured words for the dead’s prayer.

"For greater justice, greater good, I’m willing to become a sacrificial offering of evil."

He also confessed for himself.

After witnessing Gami’s body burn into delicate ashes under sunlight, York realized clearly that his soul had no chance of salvation; all he could do was keep moving forward, using his own being as kindling, burning away more sins.

Thus, York’s heart became merciless and iron-willed. In the endlessly turbulent town, he commenced a series of brutal massacres; those attempting to commit evil amidst chaos were hunted down by York, crying as they repented under his iron fist.

Then died.

York would no longer pity any sinner.

Under York’s continued hunting, the town quickly calmed down, order rebuilt upon ruins. In the subsequent days, York led the townspeople in development, while maintaining cautious vigilance against evil. The town seemed to be moving positively forward; everyone would gain happiness, living their ideal life.

Until the arrival of unexpected visitors.

York remembered meeting them, much like encountering other outsiders; the process extremely ordinary, without anything special. But strangely, at the instant of seeing these people, York experienced a highly complex emotion.

Familiarity and loathing.

There seemed to be some sort of connection between himself and them, as if they were cursed by the same evil force. Upon familiarity followed endless loathing, an instinctual resistance and pursuit towards evil from York.

The ensuing story simplified greatly as York silently observed them. These outsiders appeared to be plotting something, attempting to reach the Great Rift through Gray Stone Rift. But before their plan was enacted, they fell one by one at York’s hands.

Through prolonged interrogation, York extracted more and more secrets from their mouths until tonight, York finally understood their origins.

Sanguine Corrupt Sect?

It sounded like some religious faction, yet York had never heard of their existence. But, of course, the world evidently wasn’t as simple as York had comprehended.

Upon York’s Resurrection, marks the moment his nearly fifty-year ironclad worldview shattered, realizing that numerous Extraordinary Powers lurked within. At times, these Powers were so near him, nearly brushing by.

York spent a period rebuilding his worldview, never despairing but growing more fervent, feeling this was heaven-given opportunity.

After burying the grave, York returned to his small chapel alone, kneeling in front of the statue, with rust-covered red chains lying horizontally before him.

York wasn’t clear on the Sanguine Corrupt Sect’s purpose, but certainty was their subsequent dispatching of more individuals. From their mouths, York knew these individuals bore something named Alchemy Matrix, becoming beings called Condensers.

Who he killed were only the Condensers’ weakest First Stage; above them lay the Second Stage, Third Stage... that was Power York absolutely couldn’t resist.

He realized the urgent need for more Power to protect his small town.

"Does it require offering more sacrifices to darkness?"

York gazed at the chains, softly murmuring.

Now York’s primary Power was this chain before him—it seemed to possess a sort of Life Force, as more blood was drawn through slaughter, the chains’ Power gradually awakened, unleashed.

An enraged force was steadily rising within, precisely the force aiding York immensely in resisting those First Stage Condensers.

Sometimes, York heard sounds emanating from the chains—a cryptic archaic language, yet York instinctively discerned its meaning.