Four hundred and thirty-seven –

It was not only the reckless Glory Man in front of him who was shocked, but also Amy Ulysses, who even vividly remembered the horror and ...... when he came to the pit of the temple of Hephaestus and received this shocking number from the first-born fire Shocking.

Yes, the horror.

Not based on the horror of the living sacrifice, but simply on the fear of this seemingly prosaic number.

The glorious people of Hemtika are no strangers to living sacrifices.

In this dark millennium, the sacrifice of glorious blood is not a special case.

Although the flame of order left by the ancestors has almost infinite power, no matter how great the power is, there will always be a day when it will be eclipsed under the long river of time.

If it had not been for the high priests who did not hesitate to burn with their own lives as firewood, and if it had not been for the sacrifice of hundreds of glorious men who sacrificed themselves, I am afraid that Hemtika would have suffered unimaginable heavy blows in that long night three hundred years ago.

And even so, the Misty Zone is still shrouded in a year-round fog of namelessness.

It is an irrefutable fact that the power of order is weakening day by day, and the strength of individual combat power cannot change the fate of the world's sinking after all, and the Glory Ones gradually realize in the exploration of the deepest night that under the endless darkness and erosion, they can only rely on fire.

No matter how weak it is, no matter how bleak it is.

The monsters that can fight against the near-conceptual level of the deepest night beyond common sense are the only extraordinary things that humans cannot recognize or understand.

In this case, the living sacrifice has become an open secret, a simple and versatile means.

Even before he killed Dagon, when he took over the inheritance of the Newborn Fire from Edgar, he was prepared for the fact that his hands were about to be stained with the blood of his compatriots.

Marvel...... It's never a cheap treasure.

It's just that he didn't expect that calling for a miracle would have to pay such a big price.

Four hundred and thirty-seven –

This number is not for him not to tremble, and for not to be terrified.

The cold numbers undoubtedly reminded him of a cold fact at this moment - the value of human beings, the meaning of human existence, is like a burning firewood, which can be weighed by numbers.

Admittedly, the firstborn fire is not conscious.

Nor does Tinder see humans as mere reserves.

But......

The indifference reflected in it is enough to silence anyone.

The same is true of Amy Ulysses - although he doesn't want to be alone in the long night like a fool, but after separating from Jiasu, even if he wants to question the girl who has a close connection with the ancestors, he has lost his purpose, and can only lick his wounds silently in the dark, digesting the unacceptable truth.

Many glorious people still believe that they were born from the original light, and that their death is not a complete death, but a return to the fire, and a return to glory in light and flame.

- This is not entirely based on subjective assumptions.

The Descendants of Glory do have a real connection with the Kindling, which is a secret connection between the blood and the soul, and the High Priest who bears the firstborn fire, if necessary, can not only accurately grasp the specific location of each Glorious Person in the city of Hemtika, but even transmit the spirit and will through this connection.

Yet perhaps only the high priests of the ages knew.

What a cold essence is under the glamorous name of the Glorious Ones' Bloodline Call - it stems from the cold relationship between the upper and lower levels of the food chain, and if the Tinder really gives birth to its own will and has emotions similar to that of human beings, it can even directly extract the lives of the Glorious Ones, and light up the Glorious Ones in the entire city like a torch in an instant.

However, thanks to this connection, at the remains of the fire in the temple of Hephaestus, he was able to call out to the glorious ones who had survived in Hemtica through the firstborn fire, which had regained a little strength under the stimulation of Lucifer, the sword of the morning light, and then waited, waiting for the arrival of the glorious ones who had scattered in all directions under the previous waves.

Until now, up to the ruins of the temple, eighty-seven descendants of glory have gathered.

He just began to speak.

As he expected, his lack of reputation and courage was met with vilification from the outset—dissenters, critics, and the silent majority, making all his efforts seem meaningless.

Only, that's no excuse to stop there.

Amy doesn't intend to be a passive responder who always lets seemingly accidental events push her forward, and when she first arrived in the lower districts, the timid and fearful teenager who would rather rest and settle down, and always want to stay out of things, gradually became mature and hardened in the fight and death again and again.

He intends to take the initiative.

Stopping because of fear of difficulties is not his style.

- If there is no road ahead, then go out and open up a path!

Pursing her lips deeply, Amy Ulysses looked around with razor-sharp eyes after verbally forcing the Glory One who was pulling at his collar: "Living sacrifice, I am sure everyone is familiar with this. ”

He flipped his collar to himself: "Three hundred years ago, by sacrificing the blood of glory, we forced back the darkness that infects the lower and outer regions - for this, nearly a hundred of our compatriots sacrificed themselves and returned to the fire. ”

The calm voice, and the shocking facts that had been revealed earlier, brought the turmoil under control and calmed down.

Taking this opportunity, he paused for a moment before continuing.

"I am the High Priest who bears the firstborn fire, and perhaps the last High Priest. The black-haired and black-eyed boy sighed softly, shifting his gaze to the orange-red flames floating in the air, "Because, the spark is no longer there—there is no need to continue to exist." ”

"How could it not have to exist!"

Almost as the words fell, multiple voices rang out at the same time.

It was an expected suspicion for Amy, and he didn't bother to find the direction in which the voice came from, but nodded: "Four hundred and thirty-seven, the number I just mentioned is the number of sacrifices needed for the living sacrifice, and it is the number of sacrifices that can be exhausted in the whole of Hemtika, do you think that the existence of the fire is far more important than the lives of all people?

He paused, then spat out: "Don't use sacrifice as an excuse to escape. ”

- Anything is possible as long as you live.

The boy had always believed in this, and he believed that the glorious ones present would understand his decision.

Four hundred and thirty-seven –

This is an unacceptable figure.

This is true not only for Amy, but for any Glorious One who is not carried away by fear, perhaps in the heyday of the pre-ancient kings, the Glory of Hemtica had the margin to bear the loss, but for the Descendants of Glory, who had been greatly injured in the offensive and defensive battle around the Outer Sector (now the Fog Zone) three hundred years ago, and had lost half of their troops on the battlefield today, it was simply unbearable.

"So, don't take any chances, igniting a fire is just a dream that will wake up, and we must look at something more practical. After a long silence long enough for most people to digest the previous facts, Amy Ulysses continued her earlier speech, "That is, whether we will stick here and rebuild Hemtika here, or march into the deep night and fight our way through the darkness." ”

Unaware of the fact that Hemtika was about to fall into the maze of the Old Dominators, he had no choice but to follow the path of fate, cutting through all the obstacles and carving out a path full of blood and corpses in the thick darkness that could not be dissolved.

But not all the other survivors had never heard Duke Goldsworthy speak.

"Sorry...... I had to interrupt. One of the glorious men raised his hands, the distrust that had surfaced on his face had somewhat dissolved in the words of the previous ones, he may not have fully believed the words of the young man, but at least he had escaped from the abyss of doubt and was able to analyze the situation from a relatively objective point of view, "Holding on to Hemtika is not going to work, it is a complete dead end—I would rather seek a bloody way in the deep night than to be played with by the old dominators." ”

"That kind of monster ......" If the ice is broken, his speech is obviously just the beginning, and among the nearly 100 glorious people present, there are not a few who are gradually influenced by Amy's opinion, "It will only be stronger and more terrifying than Dagon's." ”

"In comparison, the demon is really amiable. ”

In the fierce discussion, the remnants of the glory quickly reached a consensus, but the disappearance of the chattering discussion had nothing to do with it, but came from another core point.

"Who are we supposed to listen to?"

The unpretentious question, and the person who spoke did not have a particularly heavy mind, but it stumped everyone present.

Amy Ulysses is well aware of his own abilities, and even if he has the status of a high priest, he does not intend to pick up that too heavy burden, and Gladyse Archibald, who can create a spiritual network, has a heart in his current state, but he is also powerless- As for the others, among the glorious people present, there was neither a big man in the council, nor a strong man who could control the scene, and in the final analysis, no one had the ability and qualification to suppress the others.

But now it's time to race against time.

No one wants to waste precious time on meaningless arguments.

The heated discussion just now fell completely silent at this moment.

"Wait. ”

In desperation, the boy had no choice but to end the conversation - and then, a new round of waiting began.

But the wait was short-lived.

- An unexpected visitor appears.

As if the heavy pressure of substance was directly pressing on everyone's hearts, the coercion of some very sensitive superior species made the bodies of quite a few people tremble unconsciously, and then ...... With the howling of the cold wind, the cowhide boots collided with the ground and made a stiff friction sound.

- Stiff, mechanical footsteps.

How can it be described as such?

The Glory Ones subconsciously looked in the direction from which the voice came, tattered blood-stained trench coats, messy long silver-white hair, cheeks covered in blood and dust, and an undisguised sense of heterogeneity.

There is also no need to disguise.

All the Glory Ones recognized the visitor at the first time.

Duke Goldsworthy.

- He's not dead?

Even Amy, who has always had a bad relationship with this city lord, is naturally relieved at this moment, regardless of personal preferences, this big man who is already standing at the top of the power pyramid of Hemtika is undoubtedly the best person to lead the glory people to overcome obstacles and create a future at this moment.

It's just wonderful.

A smile bloomed on the boy's face, and he just ...... The smile was completely frozen before it could bloom.

"Edgar told me what happened—" said the Glory-Honored One at the very top of Hemtika in a calm, unheaving voice, his dark pupils not fluctuating, "you are now the High Priest of Hemtika. ”

Something is wrong, something is wrong.

Amy Ulysses stared at the Lord of Helmtica in front of him, at his pale cheeks, at his lifeless and lifeless body, at his ...... An inhuman nature that is difficult to hide.

This guy in front of you-

It's no longer human, it's something close to human.

"You're not Duke Goldsworthy," the black-haired and dark-eyed boy raised his eyebrows and quietly lay his hand beside the dagger Dark Blood, "Who are you?"

No answer came, and in the strange silence, the two faced each other so coldly.

Until the voice came from Duke Goldsworthy's mouth again.

"It's just a disgraced person who can still exert his residual heat. ”

The cold and stiff face like a zombie struggled to squeeze out an arc, the strongest person in Hemtika City was extremely reluctant to even manipulate his body at the moment, the symbol of infinity Uroboros is not a symbol that humans can carry, when the essence of the Ouroboros is constructed with infinite circulation, the seeds of destruction have germinated, and everything will be led to an inevitable end.

Even he can't escape this fate that can't be easier.

The limited emotions of a mortal are drowned in the endless desires (hx) of Uroboros, like a grain of sand mixed into the vast sea, a drop of water in the vast desert, so small, so insignificant—his body, his memories, his emotions, his soul will eventually be assimilated and devoured by the serpent that surrounds the atrium of the world, and he will become an apostle of the serpent who cannot even retain his own will.

"Residual heat?" Amy raised an eyebrow again, "say your purpose." ”

He didn't intend to go to war with the other side, even if there was only one person on the other side - it wasn't a timid choice, it was just a ...... Stems from the recognition of the gap in combat power between the two sides.

Not an opponent.

In terms of the sense of oppression and threat, even Xudra is under him, a veritable monster in human skin.

"Light the fire. ”

However, what came out of his mouth were words that were beyond the imagination.

"I'm sorry," Amy's eyes drooped slightly, and then cautiously declined, "I can't do that." ”

The slender five fingers already held the short sword Dark Blood, and the inhuman thing that somehow mimicked Duke Goldsworthy's appearance gave him a great sense of oppression, and if necessary, he could activate Ulysses's visitor privileges at any time and free the divine sword that burned with the sword of light.

Although it is only a small leaked power of Lucifer, the Sword of Dawn, in the vast majority of cases, it can act as a winner and loser in turning the tide.

But that was just a strategy, and he wasn't sure he could knock back or kill the human-skinned monster in front of him without freeing Lucifer, the Sword of Dawn.

What he hopes more is that the other party will retreat in the face of difficulties, and then the well water will not interfere with the river water.

"It's just an excuse. Duke Goldsworthy could understand the boy's concerns, but the difference in positions between the two sides made it meaningless, "Edgar has entrusted you with the newborn fire. ”

No matter how much he contains, the power in his body is still constantly expanding, he is getting stronger all the time, and he is on the verge of extinction all the time.

- Time is precious and cannot be wasted.

"Four hundred and thirty-seven," Amy said the number, "that's the number of living sacrifices needed." ”

"No," after a long silence, the silver-haired and dark-eyed Glory Man suddenly said, his voice rarely undulating, but it always gave people the feeling that he was separated by a layer, and he couldn't express his emotions no matter what, "In fact, all that is really needed is one." ”

One?

Subtly, Amy understood what he meant.

- If one man can surpass four hundred and thirty-seven people, only one is enough.

But the question is, do such people really exist and are willing to sacrifice themselves?

Wait, isn't there one in front of you?

The black-haired and black-eyed boy narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down: "Tell me your purpose." ”

"Die as a man," the answer to the question was very simple to Duke Goldsworthy, who, after about thirty breaths, finally answered more than a beat slower, "and dying as a hero." ”

What a wordless answer.

Amy thought.

From the point of view of conspiracy theories, the guy in front of him who pretends to be the lord of Hemtika came with malicious intentions, vainly trying to achieve some kind of purpose through the awakening ritual of fire, but on the other hand, if he is the real Duke Goldsworthy, then as he is about to transform into an inhuman, it is completely reasonable to end this state transformation with his own death and save Hemtika.

So...... How to choose.

Do you bet on the possibility of being half open, or don't you take the consequences that might come from it?

The black-haired and black-eyed boy only hesitated for less than half a second, and then calmly made a choice.

- When was he afraid of gambling for his life?

Great is a dead thing, this kind of sure profit and no loss, what is there to hesitate about?

"I promise you. ”

So, he replied.