Actually, Ash wasn’t very surprised. It was precisely because he had anticipated it that the pain came so swiftly. He remembered Igula criticizing him for always being sensitive when he should be slow and slow when he should be sensitive. If he could learn to deceive himself and be selfish, perhaps he could fully enjoy the beauty of girls without inner turmoil, avoid many dangers without taking risks for others, and evade sadness without losing important things.

"...Vishi actually made some sense." He said softly.

Death Mad took back the cigarette and put it in his mouth, "Not just your body, has even your spirit succumbed?"

"Before becoming the Supreme of Magic, she actually didn’t want to fill her heart with any external things." Ash said, "All the beauty in the world will eventually fade away; the only way to escape sadness is to miss the beauty."

"So, do you mean you’re going to break up with Sonia and them?" Death Mad took a sip of wine and tilted her head to look at him, "Should I thank you on Sonia’s behalf for sparing them?"

"...Don’t talk about Vishi and Igula, even Harvey is better at comforting people than you." Ash glanced at the open coffin, "Death Mad, have you ever lost someone important?"

Death Mad watched the white smoke rising slowly from her fingers, sat in silence for a moment beside Ash, and put down the wine bottle.

"The last day I met my mother was July 10th, then I entered the Allstars cage, and upon leaving, I ascended to Demigod and stepped into Hell. By the time I returned, the world had already changed." She slowly blew a smoke ring, raised her head to look upwards, "Thinking about it, I was quite lucky to even miss the sorrow."

Ash looked at her, wanting to pat her shoulder, but his hand went straight through the Phantom. Death Mad glanced sideways at him, like an adult observing a child trying to offer comfort, "It’s something that happened so long ago, do you think I’d still care?"

"If you didn’t care, how could you remember the date of the last meeting?" Ash took a small sip from the wine bottle, "It’s just that over time, sadness ferments into regret, so you won’t feel pain, only intoxication."

He suddenly thought of something and handed the bottle to Death Mad, speaking seriously: "I will definitely go with the Sword Maiden to meet her mother, and then say to them, please entrust your daughter to me... I promise."

Death Mad snatched the wine bottle, mocked, "Why does that sound like the words of a bully kidnapping a young girl?"

"But now that you mention it, you reminded me of someone." A look of reminiscence appeared in her eyes, "How to say this... I wouldn’t call that person a friend, more like an enemy I quite disliked, who set me up several times. Later, when her lover had an accident, she shamelessly came to me for help. At that time, I was in a bad situation too, kindly advised her to let it go, but she still argued with me."

"And then?"

"Then she died, she died quite comically, at her lover’s wedding... the funeral of an old lover and the wedding of a new one held simultaneously, it must have been a deeply memorable day for her lover."

"Now that I think about it..." Death Mad lowered her eyelids, speaking softly: "If she had survived, maybe our journey through Hell would have been much more interesting."

She chugged down half a bottle of wine, belching carelessly, and Ash got a bit tipsy just from the smell.

"You promised, so you have to keep it." Death Mad suddenly said.

Ash was stunned, nodded, "Of course."

"It’s been a year since Sonia last met her mother, back when she wasn’t a mage yet, wholeheartedly wanting to take her mother to enjoy life in Jiale City..." Death Mad said, "She never thought that it would be the last meeting."

Ash looked at the text on the coffin lid and said, "Who could know when will be the last meeting? It’s just that when we parted, we didn’t set a date to meet again, and everyone drifted apart."

The reason he insisted on triggering the void rift in Gui Ming Palace wasn’t to quarrel with Death Mad, but to find Hell’s Demigods to investigate Ile and Harvey’s situation. The two new Demigods would never survive in Hell, and given Igula’s nature, he would definitely seek out an organization.

Everything went smoothly, Ash’s reasoning was correct, and he found the clues, only it was too late.

If he had explored Hell a few days earlier, if he had gone to the Blood Moon Gospel where they left more traces, if he had caught them showing off the Sword Maiden as soon as he left the Allstars cage... would everything have been different?

If...

Bang! The castle suddenly shook violently, and with two piercing screams, two long spears penetrated the floor, the violent spiral airflow instantly shredding the coffin and lid into splinters, as two enraged dragons charged towards Ash!

The Forgotten!

"Ash—" Death Mad instinctively pressed the hilt of her sword to draw it, but the person beside her moved even faster!

The Heavenly Kingdom of Souls’ wonder radiates seven-colored streams of light, and one hundred thirty-seven Technique Spirits sing in unison, resonantly shaking the air. At the core of the wonder, the "Substitute Technique Spirit" stands up from its bed, like the conductor of an orchestra, composing the laws of one hundred thirty-seven Technique Spirits into a battle drum melody. As the source power of Prison Wings violently evaporates, the pounding battle drum echoes throughout the Heavenly Kingdom of Souls, the mage’s heart booming loudly!

Ash, draw your sword!

The frost in the passageway instantly quakes and flies around, The Forgotten’s full-force double gun thrust pressed to the ground by Ash’s twin swords, the anger of the destructive dragon forcefully subdued, its head pressed down, crashing into the floor and destroying the foundations of the castle!

The Forgotten tries to withdraw the long guns to continue the fight, but as soon as he moves, his arms break; a slight retreat, his legs turn into countless fragments; attempts to activate source power, half his body already silverized, source power operation stagnates; as his eyeballs turn, his head is cleaved into two by fierce flames!

When The Forgotten crashes to the ground in pieces, he sees four phantoms standing behind him. The phantoms are like flickering candle remnants in the wind, ethereal and dim, yet anyone who sees them can clearly feel their sweeping destructive undertones: purple-red rage, black-white viciousness, silver-gray madness, azure-blue cruelty!

Intermediate Wonder: Sword Servant!

A Forgotten with three layers of Prison Wings, completely scattered in one wonder’s counterattack!

As Ash’s sword vibrates and sheathes, the phantoms vanish without a trace. Death Mad glances at the spot where the phantoms disappeared and laughs, "Interesting, are you trying to show off the results of your last two months to me?"

Ash’s ability to construct the Sword Servant wonder was actually unexpected. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

He naturally tends to be lazy, and with the past two months needing to heal, he planned to obediently become a carefree pressure-relief tool. But precisely because he helped everyone relieve pressure, as emotional exchanges gradually deepened, Ash slowly started to perceive the negative emotions they suppressed deep within.

He didn’t just feel them; he could even extract them to store within his own soul.

Ash wasn’t surprised by this ability, as the wondrous lady had long bestowed upon him the ability to sense thoughts. Maybe the wondrous lady had recovered sufficiently, or perhaps the close-range thoughts triggered special effects, but Ash could extract the Sword Maidens’ deepest darkness.

Initially, Ash had no special intentions, just felt destined to reinforce his reputation as a trash bin. Later, bored and observing the Heavenly Kingdom of Souls, he discovered the Substitute Technique Spirit foolishly touching Sword Maidens’ negative emotions, and then it transformed into their appearances.

An inspiration struck him, using these dark emotions as raw materials. Guided by mysterious feelings, Ash naturally constructed the Sword Servant wonder. He excitedly informed everyone of his first original wonder, but their reactions were indifferent. Sword Maidens and Witches casually said, ’Every now and then, we get flashes of insight,’ Silver Lamp praised his prowess, while Vishi critically commented his soul mastery needed improvement.

Sometimes Ash indeed forgets his operators are a group of genius female mages, and his technical talents seem confined to intimacy...

The updated Sword Servant is entirely different from before. Previously, Sword Servant miracles summoned Ash’s phantom for auxiliary attacks. Now, Sword Servant wonder summons four operators to join the fight. Though Sword Servant is just an Intermediate Wonder, when Ash expends sufficiently abundant source power and dark emotions, the summoned operators nearly realize genuine combat power, and even their attacks are their most adept wonder miracles.

Even Ash is somewhat amazed by the battle results, or rather surprised by the Sword Maidens’ combat strength—despite calculating every intent, the phantoms’ full-force combined attack instantly vanquishes a three-layer Prison Wings Forgotten!

"How is it?" Ash is somewhat curious about Death Mad’s evaluation.

"Lover’s wonder." Death Mad incisively states, "Without their dark emotions provided, this wonder is merely an empty shell. Yet when using lovers’ dark emotions as weapons, heh heh..."

"However," she pauses, sneers, "this wonder in the hands of a little trumpet like you is no less than a Heavenly Position wonder."

"I also hope one day I won’t need to use this wonder anymore," Ash shrugs, "but until then, let me ashamedly borrow their strength."

By now, the castle is teetering, ceiling beginning to collapse and crumble, Ash exhales deeply, "Let’s go collect resources from the third layer of Hell."

"So quickly calmed down?"

"Because I understand, without devouring the World Snake, none of this would have happened." Ash says, "I’ve grown tired of my powerless rage... this is a world filled with wonders, even what I’ve lost I still have a chance to reclaim, and what’s not lost I must guard!"

"Besides, with you, I only become more and more depressed, it’s better to quickly gather resources, then once back in reality, I’ll embrace the Sword Maidens for comfort."

Death Mad instinctively raises a hand intending to pat him, but thinks better, lowers the hand and follows him crashing through the window to flee the collapsing castle. Ash then discovers the castle is built atop a wide Golden River. He looks up, still not seeing the sky, yet not because the Heavenly Curtain was stolen, but because there is no sky in this world.

This is a giant cave world. The ceiling’s rock walls are covered with dimly glowing Fluorescent Grass, the wide Golden River stretches through, dazzling golden light spreading in all directions, like golden mist permeating the Darkness.

"Welcome to the third layer of Hell," Death Mad says, "Black Descent Hell."