Eldritch Horror Theatre

The difference between them was instantly clear.

Although Fu Qian's current appearance was far from ordinary, when it came to a true kingly bearing, the man across from him was vastly superior.

Thanks to where Ariel sat, the light from the window happened to catch his flowing blond hair. It gave him an undeniable aura of luxury, the kind that made people want to look up in reverence—though Fu Qian chose to meet his gaze squarely.

Despite this reunion after a long separation, Ariel clearly wasn't in a chatty mood. His face was as rigid as a sculpture.

Fu Qian was in no rush to offer a greeting. Instead, he found an identical chair on the opposite side, sat down slowly, and met the man's gaze.

The scene inexplicably brought chess to mind... how did the saying go again?

When two Solitary Kings meet, one must die and the other must bleed?

It was an undeniably bizarre standoff, and the thought drifted casually through Fu Qian's mind.

The proverb might sound a bit dramatic, but as far as he was concerned, the reality of their situation was probably even worse.

So, was this a case of the Origin Council dropping him off and leaving him here alone to meet with Fu Qian?

A moment's thought was enough to realize that this was far more treacherous than a mere Hongmen banquet—even the Night Watchers could see that.

From this angle, he could easily spot the ragdoll that had been tailing him. It was perched on the opposite roof, staring coldly down at them.

For a law enforcer, wasn't this theater-going attitude a bit too blatant?

Not that it made him feel overwhelmed by the pressure. For now, Fu Qian simply scoffed inwardly.

The ragdoll's posture was simply impossible to miss; sitting out in the open like that, it clearly didn't care if it was spotted.

Now that the Night Watchers had taken in the scene and the tense atmosphere inside the building, they were clearly in no rush to break it up. Instead, they wanted to sit back and enjoy the show.

For the Night Watchers, this was a perfect opportunity to wipe out both Fu Qian and Ariel in one clean sweep. Yet they obviously hoped this clash over who was real and who was fake would squeeze out more interesting intelligence.

It was like tossing venomous insects into a jar to breed a Gu beast.

Which begged the question: where was the Origin Council?

Fu Qian didn't for a second believe they would sit this out, even if they were nowhere in sight.

Right now, the two men sitting across from each other were nothing more than two beasts in the Colosseum.

Though the spectators were likely hoping for completely different outcomes.

And what the audience saw wasn't necessarily what the competitors saw, either—

Outside the window behind Ariel, the snowfall had clearly grown heavier. Everything looked as if it were bathed in deep scarlet.

At the same time, Fu Qian could clearly sense that the leeches, which had been breeding frantically inside his body, had all fallen completely silent.

The reason wasn't hard to guess.

The original purpose of the leeches was to reflect the glory of the Solitary King through the blood pooled within them.

But now—Crack!

Amidst their silent standoff and clashing auras, a strange noise suddenly shattered the quiet.

On Fu Qian's already unrecognizable body, fine cracks actually began to splinter across his crystallized flesh.

Unsurprisingly, the tissue exposed beneath was the same deathly pale hue as his face, looking as if it had been smeared with bone ash.

And seeping from that completely lifeless pallor was an insatiable thirst for blood.

—There was no longer any need to act as a reflection, because he had become the source of that glory.

The Solitary King was truly using this physical body as a vessel for his Descent.

His previous theory about how the Night Watchers planned to use him as a pawn appeared to be entirely correct.

The only problem was that there appeared to be two such vessels.

At that exact moment, the same ashen pallor rapidly began to spread across the face and body of Ariel, who sat across from him.

...

So this was why he hadn't fled?

Strictly speaking, the bizarre mutations occurring across his body were incredibly severe.

For any transcendent, symptoms akin to a hostile possession would undoubtedly put them on maximum alert.

Yet Fu Qian remained motionless, simply keeping a close eye on his opponent's condition.

Ariel clearly knew that Fu Qian brought nothing but trouble, yet he stubbornly remained here instead of retreating. There had to be a reason.

As noted earlier, from the moment he arrived until now, Fu Qian had indeed been steadily transforming into the "Solitary King" in a gradual, step-by-step metamorphosis.

That increasingly furious snowfall had perhaps been there all along, and he was only now able to perceive it.

However, after the transformation progressed to a certain point, he distinctly felt himself hit a bottleneck.

It wasn't until this close-quarters standoff with Ariel that the metamorphosis seemed to resume, spurred on by some connection between them.

Coupled with Ariel's bizarre reaction, Fu Qian could hazard a pretty good guess at the Origin Council's true plan—they wanted to induce this exact same transformation in Ariel.

It was funny how the world worked; there were simply too many coincidences converging at once.

It started with his decision to impersonate the genuine article to bait out the real deal, and the rightful owner had actually taken the bait.

Then, in a game of passing off the fake as the genuine article, the Night Watchers used him to channel the Solitary King's Descent. And as it turned out, that put him in direct conflict with what the real mastermind was trying to achieve.

The end result was that the Origin Council, fully aware that Fu Qian had tracked Ariel down, still ordered Ariel to stay put—because there could not be two Solitary Kings.

Exactly. The reason Ariel had waited here was because, with Fu Qian acting as a competitor, it seemed Ariel would never be able to trigger the Solitary King's true Descent.

As for right now, the Origin Council's goal was painfully simple: find the perfect opening to eliminate their competition.

...

The fact that Ariel had stayed instead of fleeing immediately proved that the Origin Council hadn't given up.

Otherwise, having already been caught red-handed and failing their objective while alerting the Night Watchers, the smart move would have been to pack up and run for their lives.

As for why they didn't just retreat and look for another chance to kill him on the run, choosing instead to make their move right in front of the Night Watchers?

The answer was simple. This was currently a three-way standoff, and Fu Qian was the Night Watchers' pawn.

Just how arrogant would the Origin Council have to be to think they could forcibly assassinate him under the Night Watchers' very noses?

Given the current situation, risking it all for an opening and successfully pulling chestnuts from the fire was already the best outcome they could hope for.

For instance, with Ariel sitting there so openly, the Night Watchers truly hadn't rushed to intervene.

Even now, after the bizarre mutations erupted across Fu Qian's body, they maintained their theater-going stance.

Ariel seemed to have hardened his resolve as well, refusing to utter a single word.

While Fu Qian was very confident in his ability to lay low, it didn't take a genius to figure out that the Origin Council was bound to make a move—oh?

In the midst of the silence, Ariel suddenly reached out and grasped at the empty air.

With that gesture, a palm-sized Doll materialized out of thin air in his hand.

It had a bald head, a dull complexion, and a thoroughly hideous face. It was unpleasant to look at—yet strangely familiar.

Instantly, a specific memory flashed through Fu Qian's mind.

If he remembered correctly, it was called a Proxy Bearer, wasn't it?

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