Eldritch Horror Theatre

"Thank you."

At that moment, Claudora finally seemed to find some measure of relief, sighing softly as she thanked him.

She asked nothing more. Without breaking stride, she turned her gaze gently forward, as if waiting for destiny.

And destiny did not make her wait long.

She took three more steps. Just as she was about to cross an archway where a transparent statue would come into view, her body collapsed without warning.

She silently crumbled to dust. Before it could even touch the ground, it dissipated into the air.

She really was the Fourth Knight.

Witnessing this, Fu Qian did not pause to lament for even a millisecond. In the very next moment, he crossed the archway alone.

In the blink of an eye, this place—having already received the blessings of three Knights—was further enriched.

It was a pure, viscous blood-red, so thick it felt tangible. Beneath its shroud, even the surrounding walls seemed to become living flesh.

Not to mention Virgo and the Holy Infant in the distance.

In his line of sight, the statue in the corner of the hall remained crystal clear, yet it now exuded a raw, fleshy vibrancy—as if flayed alive.

And this peculiar entity, which had already tried to kill him three times, was in no rush to flee its aggressively approaching victim.

...

So this was the standard for selecting a Knight?

Fu Qian did not alter his pace. As he closed the distance, his mind shifted to another question.

He had wondered earlier what gave Professor Claudora the qualifications to stand alongside those other three as one of the Knights of the Apocalypse.

Even her standing out from the rest of the Academy Exploration Team was difficult to understand.

But just now, when he had encouraged Claudora to ask her question and answered what her future self would look like, a sudden thought had leapt to mind—the future.

Could Claudora have been selected not because of the Crystal Blessing that infected the entire exploration team, but because of what she did afterward?

In the story he had heard, despite being struck by an incurable curse, she had ascended to a Divine Being. Spending her final shreds of sanity and strength, she rushed back to the Academy and demanded her body be partitioned and cultured as experimental material—a process that continued to this day.

He still wasn't sure if there was a definitive connection, but assuming that curse was caused by the Crystal Blessing, Claudora's defining trait—compared to the professors who were completely wiped out in the field—was that she carried the curse out and disseminated it in a very unique way.

The Holy Infant Calamity Star...

An honorific name usually carried significant meaning. Were the Knights of the Apocalypse it summoned historically positioned to spread curses—or perhaps disasters?

Under that assumption, the First Knight's ability functioned like a transcendent-tier plague; inflicting massive, widespread casualties would be effortless.

The second Knight barely possessed any sanity. Just as Fu Qian's probing had revealed, he was systematically purging the seedbed. Operating like a germaphobic zealot, he could easily amass an enormous toll of vengeful souls.

As for the Wanderer—the third Knight with the devoted husband persona—his loyalty was undeniable, but that guy seemed directly connected to The Abyss. Coupled with his exaggerated paranoia, wandering the world and spreading corruption would be perfectly normal for him.

His train of thought suddenly flowed smoothly. The only point left to consider was this: was Claudora's sacrifice for scientific research truly so deeply sinful?

So sinful that it qualified her for the grand finale position among the four Knights?

And the entity inside La Nina's womb was feeding on these historical disasters as nourishment, using a special absorption ritual to fuel its rebirth and return?

Didn't that conflict just a little with the authority of this King of the Abandoned Prison? Had this Holy Infant Calamity Star even paid its respects yet?

Fu Qian locked his gaze onto his target. Even as he closed in using Reaper's Footsteps, the Holy Infant still did not flee.

...

Regardless, this was why he always emphasized the importance of being kind to others.

When Claudora hesitated to speak earlier, it had been easy to tell she wanted to ask about the "future."

But not only was time tight, asking such a question carried heavy psychological barriers for most people—it was akin to divining the exact date of one's own death.

Not to mention that her ultimate fate wasn't exactly pleasant.

The reason Fu Qian had suddenly suggested Claudora ask her question was quite simple: her projection was likely running out of time.

How could the Holy Infant, whose rebirth remained incomplete, continuously initiate such an unreasonable, high-stakes game of death?

He might have looked like he was taking a leisurely stroll, but in reality, he had been forced to exhaust every trick up his sleeve. Anyone else would have absolutely failed to survive.

And if it really was strong enough to be that unreasonable, why had it only launched three attacks up until now?

Always asking "why" was a virtue. Fu Qian's theory was that these attacks were powered by the sacrifices of the Knights of the Apocalypse—one Knight per opportunity.

There was no hard proof, of course, but the evidence could be observed.

Perhaps it had no way to drastically accelerate the Knights' descents, but since these were projections summoned by the Holy Infant, sacrificing them at the right moment was highly feasible.

Meanwhile, Fu Qian—a massive threat—was drawing closer and closer, urgently requiring it to launch another strike.

In light of this, since Claudora had provided some rather interesting information, Fu Qian had decided to return the favor by satisfying her curiosity before her inevitable end.

Whether it held any meaning or not.

...

It looked like he had guessed correctly.

Finally standing before the statue, Fu Qian tilted his head forty-five degrees to look at the ceiling. A Meteor was falling from above—one that eerily resembled the structure of La Nina's body.

It locked onto him, plummeting from the sky.

The fourth death game had been launched, even replicating the atrocious deed he had committed against the Prison Archangel.

Most importantly, it seemed the guessing phase of the game had been entirely skipped this time. This was a direct execution without trial.

As for how the entity accomplished this, Fu Qian could hazard a guess—a crystallized Meteor had similarly locked onto the Holy Infant inside La Nina's womb and was also falling.

It was obvious that for this grand finale strike, his opponent wasn't going to give him a single chance. The entity had chosen mutually assured destruction over a singular victory, essentially playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun.

After all, there was no need to follow the rules of the jianghu when dealing with such a shameless cheater.

...

So even you have your day of reckoning, you old thief.

In that moment, even Fu Qian couldn't help but sigh that many injustices bring self-destruction.

At this point, provoking the wrath of gods and men was a literal description—even a higher entity was willing to go down in a mutual suicide pact just to kill him.

Of course, Fu Qian hadn't forgotten that the opponent possessed the Butterfly Effect.

Even mutually assured destruction had varying degrees of severity. The opponent was, after all, a higher entity suspected of feeding on disasters—but in front of this King of the Abandoned Prison who wielded Calamity, how dare it act so insolently?

He had been waiting precisely for this final trump card.

Fu Qian didn't bother trying to dodge. Instead, he directly activated his Mythical Form, instantly bringing forth the Ancient Mechanical Tyrant once more.

Boom—

The terrifying shockwave of destruction crashed into his body, but it entirely failed to stop a giant arm from piercing the statue.

And then, pulling it out.

[Task completed. Containment of item 2-001 successful.]

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