Everyone has their own misfortunes; it's just a matter of how you choose to face them. But in this world, there will always be people more unfortunate than you.
A person's life is merely a drop in the ocean, a reincarnation from its origin. Ryougi Raku could only pray that the old man would find his own happiness in the next life.
In everyone's reincarnation, there is a fortunate life and an unfortunate life—this is an inevitable part of the cycle, something Ryougi Raku had long understood.
Therefore, what he pursued was his own eternal life, never to reincarnate again, so that he could hold his own happiness in his hands.
Roa's method of reincarnation was a joke in his eyes; even without Arcueid, after a certain number of transmigrations, his soul imprint would be completely worn away.
However, these were matters for the future. Currently, Ryougi Raku had something more important to do: standing before him was a young man—the Twentieth Ancestor of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostles, Merem Solomon!
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From his appearance alone, the young man seemed to be around 13 or 14, roughly the same age as Ryougi Raku. But Ryougi Raku knew that he was an ancient monster who had lived for an unknown number of years.
Before becoming a Dead Apostle, Merem Solomon existed as the Child of God, the Star's End, who fulfilled human wishes. He could communicate with animals. He was born in a village, and his divine characteristics were discovered by the villagers. To prevent him from leaving, the humans, to satisfy their desires, cut off his limbs and enshrined him.
His destined tragic life changed when he met someone: Crimson Moon Brunestud, the King of the True Ancestors!
He, who was merely a plaything for humans, was accidentally discovered by Crimson Moon and ultimately saved by her. He revered Crimson Moon so deeply, vowing to exist as her loyal Dead Apostle, that his feelings even developed into an unhealthy obsession.
After Crimson Moon's demise, he joined the Burial Agency. When he faced the White Princess, who was so similar to Crimson Moon, his emotions stirred once more.
The young man before Ryougi Raku wore a priestly robe. Each of his ten fingers bore a different yet beautiful ring. He wore slightly baggy trousers with a pair of small leather shoes. With a girlish face, he was truly a beautiful young man.
"Merem Solomon?" Ryougi Raku stood before him and spoke first.
"Oh? You actually know me?" Merem said with slight surprise.
"The famous Twenty-seventh Ancestor, the fifth member of the Burial Agency, how could I not know you?"
"That truly is my honor," Merem said with a gentle smile, but there was no hint of a smile in his eyes.
Strolling leisurely for a few steps, Merem said, "Ryougi Raku? You killed a Clock Tower lecturer and participated in the Holy Grail War. Why are you here?"
"If I said it was an accident, would you believe me?" Ryougi Raku replied, narrowing his eyes, but his body remained tense. It was always he who was leisurely when facing enemies, but this time, it was the other party.
'But this is also an opportunity! Merem's beast is indeed a type I can't easily deal with right now, but this is also a chance for me to grow stronger!' Ryougi Raku thought to himself, simultaneously tensing his body, ready for battle.
"Of course I believe you. Sometimes accidents do happen... But why are you in contact with the Princess, Ryougi Raku? What exactly is your objective?" By the end, Merem's voice had turned completely cold. Ryougi Raku was known to be ruthless, as evidenced by information from the Burial Agency. He was a dangerous individual, and Merem naturally had to consider the safety of Her Highness the Princess. Although in terms of combat power, almost no entity could defeat the Princess, her childlike personality made her susceptible to deception.
"Are you talking about Arcueid? That can only be called our destiny!" Ryougi Raku shrugged and replied.
"Is that so... However, our destiny ends here! Your journey will conclude now..." Merem Solomon directly spoke the words of war. Even if he had the appearance of a child, and even if his heart still retained a childlike nature, having lived for hundreds of years, he was exceptionally decisive.
"Flash Blade: Lacking Net!" But Ryougi Raku was even more decisive, not saying another word and immediately attacking!
Ryougi Raku mysteriously vanished from his spot, a small knife in hand, and directly stabbed Merem Solomon. Merem barely reacted, using his Dead Apostle body's advantage to dodge the attack, but still sustained an injury.
Merem was not accustomed to fighting with martial arts. In close combat like this, he could only rely on his innate physical advantages.
However, the wound didn't even linger on Merem's body for a moment before healing.
Merem frowned. He felt that the wound's recovery was somewhat sluggish, completely different from the smooth feeling he was used to.
Of course, Ryougi Raku was even more surprised. When he used the secret art of the Nanaya family, he naturally carried the power of the curse he had once obtained from Lancer. However, the situation was not optimistic; from Merem's expression, it seemed to have some effect, but not a significant one.
"What a disgusting feeling..." Merem said in a deep voice.
"And with such a despicable sneak attack, my impression of you has worsened!"
"Who needs your impression? Moreover, this is war. The victor owns everything, and the outcome is more important than the means!" Ryougi Raku scoffed.
"Hahaha! Well said! But now, it's my turn!" Merem burst into laughter.
At the same time, his right foot suddenly disappeared, and Ryougi Raku immediately became vigilant.
"Come forth! King of the Land!" As Merem's words fell, an earthquake-like tremor ensued.
Ryougi Raku shifted his center of gravity to his legs to steady himself.
Countless houses were crushed by the suddenly appearing monster. The flames burning the village were extinguished, and the ghouls wandering in the village were trampled to death by the monster. A suction force came, and the remaining intact houses were shattered as if hit by a hurricane. And this was merely one breath from this monster.
"Tsk!" Ryougi Raku clicked his tongue inwardly. It was a monster with a head resembling a whale, a mouth full of sharp teeth, and hundreds of meters long. But this whale had four feet and a thick black tail that split into three prongs... From a distance, it looked like a castle.
This beast, neither quite whale nor quite dog, was Merem's right foot—the King of the Land! Also known as the Black Dog of Destruction, the Bell of the End, the Whale Dog!
And this gigantic monster was the type of opponent Ryougi Raku least wanted to face. Most of his sword techniques were aimed at smaller individuals. Against such a behemoth, even if his point-damage was strong, the defect in his attack range meant he couldn't inflict fatal wounds.
"Hahaha! Go, King of the Land, kill this puny thing before you!" Merem laughed heartily, commanding the King of the Land to attack.
Just by casually trampling with its four feet, Ryougi Raku was forced to dodge. Each attack from Merem's beast would leave a deep, massive crater in the ground, accompanied by strong tremors and fissures. If he wasn't careful, Ryougi Raku feared he would fall into the depths of the earth. Even so, Ryougi Raku could only constantly shift his position; he couldn't stay on the ground at all. As soon as he stepped on the ground, he would feel a small-scale, intense earthquake!
Merem's every attack, intentionally or not, forced Ryougi Raku towards the outskirts of the town. It seemed he didn't want to disturb the Princess, who was busy hunting Roa.
In just a short while, the entire town could be said to have been erased from the map. Besides broken bricks and tiles, only countless corpses could tell people of its former prosperity.
However, Ryougi Raku already knew Merem's abilities, while Merem did not understand Ryougi Raku.
Though unwilling, Ryougi Raku also, to some extent, looked forward to it.
"Rock-Shattering Sword!" A powerful, heavy slash, and the beast before him sprayed a large amount of blood. But a wound several meters long was insignificant for a body several hundred meters in size.
Due to the slash, Ryougi Raku approached the monster's mouth. As the whale-dog opened its mouth, a suction force emanated.
Ryougi Raku, with no leverage in the air, was drawn towards the monster's mouth by the suction.
At the critical moment, Ryougi Raku's left hand ignited his Flame of Origin, and his sharp claws dug deep into the monster's body, saving him from being swallowed.
Then, with surprisingly high intelligence, the monster switched from suction to a powerful exhalation. Accompanied by immense force, Ryougi Raku was sent flying like a cannonball.
"Boom—" A loud crash. It was the sound of Ryougi Raku slamming into a rock wall.
In that instant, Ryougi Raku felt excruciating pain throughout his body, as if he were about to fall apart. He shakily rose from the rubble, power flowing through him, and the pain gradually subsided, having no impact on his combat ability... A smile still graced his face, as if this blow was intentional... Indeed, the power had already been implanted into the monster's body. Next was to analyze the beast's composition!
This beast was a physical manifestation condensed from a wish, neither truly living nor non-living. Although its strength was such that few living beings could match it, in terms of complex structure, naturally occurring life and this semi-artificial life were worlds apart. This gave Ryougi Raku a very high chance of successfully analyzing this beast!
If this beast were something that naturally existed in the world, its level of mystery would be beyond Ryougi Raku's current reach. However, since there were artificial traces, Ryougi Raku had the opportunity to use its composition to create his own beast!
Such a peculiar existence was unique to Merem. Meeting Merem could be said to be Ryougi Raku's good fortune!
"Is that all you've got? If so, I'll have to get serious!" Merem looked at Ryougi Raku, who was slowly getting up in the distance, and said.
"Hahahahaha!" Ryougi Raku laughed, head bowed, his shoulders trembling slightly, like a madman.
"?" Merem didn't quite understand, but a dangerous feeling welled up in his heart!
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