"We are the Punister," said Callista, "make your vows or disappear." ”

"You are the niece of a former king, to whom I owe allegiance," said Letzus, "and we are...... So I know. ”

Callista looked at him for a moment, then turned and strode away.

"Our mission is not yet complete," she said without looking back, "traitors will be tormented in our wrath." ”

"Your mission will never be completed," Lydros hurriedly followed, "you are trapped in a never-ending spiral!" I'm here to help you. ”

"Sinners will be punished," Callista said, continuing to turn back into the woods.

"Do you remember this?" Ledras said, lifting the pendant around his neck. This thing can make her stop for a while, and try it again and again. Letroth only found this one thing that could wake her up from her fugue, albeit only for a moment. He just needs to know how to extend this moment for longer......

Callista stood still, tilting her head to look at the delicate pendant. She reached out to touch it, but stopped just as it was about to touch.

"I wanted to give you this," said Lestrus, "but you refused. ”

There was hesitation in her eyes.

"We ...... I...... Remember. She said.

She looked at him—this time it was much more real.

"Letroth," she said. Now her voice was her own, and in this moment, she changed back into the woman he remembered. The woman he loved dearly. Her expression relaxed, though slightly imperceptible. "I will never give you what you want."

"I understood," Lethros said, "though I didn't understand it at the time. ”

Callista looked around, as if she had just realized where she was. She looked at her hands, glowing softly from the inside out, as illusory as smoke. Letroth saw a puzzled look on her face, and then crawled with intense pain. Then her expression hardened again.

"If I hadn't brought him with me," said Callista, "it could have been avoided." ”

"It's not your fault," said Ledroth, "I knew he was overrun by madness. I should have ended it all a long time ago instead of waiting for things to get to this point. No one thought he would survive. No one will feel sorry for him. ”

"He wasn't always like that." Callista said.

"Yes, but the man we knew is long gone. Things are not people. Ledros said, gesturing to his surroundings.

“…… We have a task to accomplish. ”

Hope stirred up in his heart. It's a strange feeling.

"No matter what the task is, let's do it together, it's like ......" Halfway through his words, he realized that he had made a mistake.

The grim mask returned to her face. She turned and strode away. Desperation held Ledroth tight.

As he had done so many times, he failed again.

He saw himself in the years since the Curse of Ruin, tracking down the spirits that had taken her life. He told himself that by eliminating them, he would set her free. But in fact it is not. He has pursued that goal for countless years, but countless painstaking efforts have been in vain.

He saw that he had slew the arrogant cavalry commander, Hekarim, and sent him back into the mist. It was the man who gave Callista the final fatal blow, and for a long time she had been sleepless in search of her own end. They fought again and again, and so on for years, decades, and centuries, until stars appeared on their heads that they had never seen before. But Hecarim's will is too strong, and every time he comes back from the black fog, of course, each time is more terrifying than before.

Win or lose, nothing can change. Increasingly lost in herself, Callista responds to mortals' vows of vengeance against her, absorbing vengeful spirits and helping them punish their betrayals.

At one point, he confronted Callista directly at Hekarim, a feast that came at the cost of the deaths of dozens of lesser beings. Believing that this was the key to her freedom, he watched with ecstasy as the monstrous Hekarim was pierced through the heart with spears, and more than a dozen spears pierced through his massive body...... But sending him back into the darkness didn't do much. There is only a moment of contentment, and then everything is gone.

Nothing has changed.

Only one more defeat could be added to his growing record.

At one point, desperation drove him to kill himself. He'd only seen that sunrise since his blood stopped flowing, and the sheer sunlight burned him, causing his disembodied body to evaporate like mist. The guilt of abandoning Callista began to torment him, but in the midst of that pain he felt joy, naively believing that he had finally found relief.

Even in his quest for ultimate annihilation, he failed, and he was once again bound to the curse of the mad Black Mist.

All the memories before he was beaten into the black fog were all mixed up with never-ending horror and frustrated nocturnal walks.

A purple-skinned mage sent him back into the darkness, and he was torn apart by runic magic in his roar. He had been in the filthy port city a moment before, enjoying the intense thrill of killing in the streets shrouded in black fog, when suddenly he was in agony and the faith of the local witch was wiped out.

He laughed as he greeted a sword passing through him, but his pleasure quickly turned to pain as the blade spewed a scorching glow, burning the heat of the scorching sun.

Time and time again, he was beaten back into a nightmarish black fog, but he always came back. Each time, he returned to a land locked in a static plane. Wake up in the same place, in the same way.

To be a lesser creature would have fallen into madness, as many evil spirits are today. But he didn't. Defeat made him hateful, but his will was as strong as steel. The stubbornness and determination to set her free and let him move on. So he'll definitely come back, over and over again.

Lydros was abruptly back in the present, watching Callista quietly leave, contemplating only his never-ending mission.

A terrible sorrow arises. Is it all in vain?

Could it be that Hammerstone is right? Did the attempt to free her from the path of revenge really stem from his selfishness?

She sleepwalks through nightmares, unaware of the true horrors. If she was really awake, would she thank him? Perhaps she would be disgusted with him and would rather continue to immerse herself.

Ledrus shook his head, trying to dispel the dark thought, and even the shadow of Hammerstone appeared in his mind—he was smiling, waiting for an opportunity to hunt for food.

"Get out of my head." He scolded Hammerstone.

Suddenly a new idea occurred to him, driving away all remaining doubts and worries. There was one more thing he hadn't tried and hadn't thought of until now.

"Callista," he shouted.

She didn't respond to him, and kept walking, without stopping.

He loosened the strap of his sword, and the sword he had sheathed was still on the ground. He doesn't need it anymore.

"I betrayed you," he shouted.

She stopped, and immediately shook her head, her eyes fixed on him.