Chapter 59 - 50

Endgame 59: 50.

Endgame In the city filled with gunpowder and flames, Fisher leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, as the glow from his hand-staff dimmed once again; then, the magic emblem-overlaying the hand-staff slowly disappeared, one ring at a time.

He was almost out of magic to use, having prepared over a hundred types of magic emblems for this journey, almost completely filling the entire hand-staff, and now nearly depleted in the battle with Philone.

The other’s fuel was the souls of those children and squeezing out a child’s soul could burst forth a great deal of energy; now, behind Philone were five canisters, while he himself had only a few emblems left on his magic wand to keep it from being damaged—the “Reinforcement” magic.

Moreover, his own body had been grazed by many wounds from Philone’s Death Light; his lower abdomen and chest were oozing blood, constantly sending forth waves of pain, but the adrenaline produced by the battle made the pain seem less severe.

“Ha ha, Mr.

Fisher, your will to fight is indeed tenacious, but if I’m not mistaken, the magic on your hand-staff is also about to run out, right?”

From the smoke and dust created by the battle, that tall figure stepped out again, clapping his hands, and with that, his backpack opened, ejecting another metallic canister.

He still had four canisters left, but Fisher couldn’t wait for him to use up all his canisters.

Fisher leaned against the ruins of the building, his face showing no panic from the desperation, because reason told him that he could only potentially survive by calmly thinking, and scrambling would be pointless.

“I originally planned to use only a few, but I didn’t expect Mr.

Fisher’s magical strength to be so strong.

So many dangerous High Ring magics are easily in your grasp.

It’s truly fitting for someone like you.”

Fisher gripped the hand-staff beside him and said to Philone,

“This kind of technique, you couldn’t possibly accomplish so much by yourself…

Who’s behind you?

Nali?

Schwali?

Or Kado?”

The underground of Philone City had very complex architecture; even if Philone discovered all the results about the soul by himself and even though he was selling this energy to other humans, he certainly couldn’t escape investigation unless another power shielded his traces.

Otherwise, Fisher wouldn’t have only recently learned that such a thing existed in Philone City in the South Continent.

Philone looked at Fisher, was silent for a bit, but didn’t answer his question, just looked at his wounded body,

“Fisher, my previous offer still stands.

I can let you and that red Dragon-man go.

I can turn a blind eye to what you’ve done in this city, but you must promise not to leak anything about this place…”

Fisher’s eyes flickered, propping himself up with the hand-staff, his hand now smeared with fresh blood.

As Fisher moved, that blood stained his hand-staff.

“No need, this is the end.”

Philone sighed, seemingly with some regret,

“Such a brilliant mind, a pity…”

As these last words were spoken, a deep blue radiance lit up again on his body.

Fisher also took a deep breath, gripped his hand-staff in reverse, and assumed a combat stance.

“Ding!”

A Death Light shot towards Fisher; without any magic, for the first time, he charged towards Philone.

His arm seemed to have been injured, his grip on the hand-staff kept it continuously scraping the ground, leaving a trace.

He’s coming close?

Philone thought so but, empowered by the steam backpack behind him, his body’s strength was not something Fisher’s could match.

The power of a full soul ignited gave him strength like Superman from the novels.

In that case…

His right hand, glowing with Death Light, gradually extinguished, turning into a fist and punching towards Fisher.

Fisher raised the hand-staff to block, and in an instant, the hand-staff was struck, lighting up the emblem ring by ring.

Fisher himself clenched his teeth and half-knelt on the ground, the hand-staff embedded in the dirt.

“Fisher!”

It seemed Philone wanted to give him one last chance, but Fisher’s expression was calm.

He subtly tilted his hand-staff, dragging it in an arc on the ground, leaving behind a trace, and with his bloodstained left hand, he punched towards Philone’s face.

The punch landed, but Philone didn’t move.

Fisher deftly maneuvered with his hand-staff, dodging around, but his right hand that gripped the hand-staff seemed to be out of strength, dragging it along the ground.

Attack his right hand, completely strip him of his ability to resist!

Philone’s gaze sharpened, his right hand bursting with light, smashing down on Fisher’s body as he dodged, forcing Fisher to block with the hand-staff.

Indeed, Fisher had no choice but to horizontally position his hand-staff while the blue energy behind Philone’s body was transferred to his right hand, causing the strength to surge.

“Crack!”

Fisher’s right arm was dislocated, and the great force sent him flying backward through the air.

With his left hand clenched on his hand-staff, he used it to stab into the ground and stop himself.

The hand-staff remained stationary; Fisher also seemed to exhale a sigh of relief and came to a halt.

“I’m sorry, Fisher.”

Philone outstretched his right hand, the Death Light was already illuminated; he had given Fisher many opportunities, and since he insisted on hindering him, he could only…

“No need to apologize, Philone, it’s over.”

Fisher covered his dislocated right hand with his left, not moving the hand-staff.

The reinforcement magic on the hand-staff had already dissipated, and without the magical protection, the hand-staff instantly turned to flying ash and vanished into thin air.

His face was pale, but it remained calm as he stared at Philone before him.

Over?

Philone looked at the calm Fisher before him, but suddenly realized something.

His expression changed as he lowered his gaze to the ground, only to see the traces that Fisher had been etching into the ground with his handcane while dodging, now seemed to be ignited, bursting forth with a hint of red light.

It turned out to be an enormous Magic Emblem, but unlike the circular structure typical of human’s, this one more closely resembled a deformed tooth, which made Philone fail to recognize at first that what Fisher had etched on the ground was a Magic Emblem…

This guy, in the midst of battle, had carved a spell into the ground with his handcane!

“Human blood is a natural material for Magic.

I’ve improved this spell a bit, but the power should be enough…

Get lost, I’ve had enough of seeing your gas mask.”

Fisher coldly snapped his fingers, and the Dragon-man Magic on the ground instantly collapsed, as a tremendous amount of Flames burst forth from the void, engulfing Philone who happened to be standing right on top of the Magic Emblem like a massive flamestorm.

“Boom!”

The extreme heat melted all the circuitry connected to his prosthetic arm, and the backpack on his back also exploded due to the immense heat.

The faint blue ethereal bodies inside the remaining four canisters struggled and escaped, drifting off to who knows where.

“Ua tsaug…”

Only the soul from one of the canisters affectionately landed near Fisher.

The tiny mouth seemed to be saying something beside Fisher, but he couldn’t make out what it was, only seeing the wolf ears on the tiny ethereal figure’s head quivering.

“‘Child yearning for freedom, follow the river of your dreams.

Behold the budding flowers of spring.

Behold the cicadas on the branches of summer.

Behold the golden wheat of autumn.

Behold the gleaming snowflakes.

Just don’t forget to send me a message, let me see you who have witnessed so much scenery.’ Sleep, Qi Qi.”

Fisher quietly recited a poem by Lao Fang, and the soul beside him, seemingly lulled to sleep, stretched, and ethereally wrapped its arms around Fisher’s neck, leaning its face with wolf ears against him.

She placed a nonexistent kiss, and then the next second, slowly dissipated in front of the still burning Flames.

“Boom…”

The Flames of Dragon-man Magic gradually dissipated, and in the center of the burnt area, Philone, whose feet had been entirely burned away, looked blankly at the sky.

His gas mask prevented him from being immediately burned to death, but the nutrient solution exploded from within the mask due to the high temperature, allowing the air to make contact with his scar-covered skin.

In just a second, the skin began to redden and decay.

But he didn’t cry out in pain; he just stared blankly at the sky.

After a second or two, he began to smile,

“Did I still fail…

Putting aside our battle, Mr.

Fisher, I would like to ask you once again the question I asked you before.

As a railway track manager, what would you do?”

Fisher was in great pain all over, he could no longer stand and leaned against the ruins behind him.

Lighting a cigarette by the nearby burning Flames, he was just in too much pain and sought relief.

He exhaled and said,

“I’ve said, I wouldn’t do anything…”

“What if there were fifty people standing on the train tracks?”

“Same answer.”

“Five hundred, fifty thousand, five hundred thousand?”

“Same answer.”

“…Can you tell me why?”

Philone’s eye was filled with an eager thirst for knowledge; he seemed to be only one step away from the answer he had sought his entire life.

Even as his body neared death, his desire for the answer far surpassed his will to live.

Fisher glanced at him, then looked in the direction of his manor far away, where smoke from burning debris continued to billow out.

He felt Mier and the others getting closer and closer to the ground, and all were in good health.

Had Rafael succeeded?

Atop the hill, the Dragon-man with red horns dragged her comrades out from the cave one by one.

Despite being covered in a lot of blood and filth, her beauty was hard to conceal.

Rafael panicked upon seeing the scene outside and began frantically searching for Fisher, even though she had once found him so loathsome in her heart.

Fisher’s gaze was distant, contemplating for a long time, seemingly answering both Philone and his inner self,

“To kill one person and save the world, I disdain to do such a thing.”

Philone looked at the distant Fisher, seemingly lost in thought, and after a long wait, as if he had realized something, burst out laughing at the dusty sky above,

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Fisher snuffed out his cigarette and staggered to his feet.

Philone’s voice on the ground grew fainter but still shakily took out an ancient book from his bosom and handed it to Fisher,

“Take this, how you choose to use this technology is up to you, but it’s best not to destroy it, or it will appear in the hands of someone else somewhere else…”

Fisher accepted the ancient book, somewhat surprised.

The text on it suddenly changed, morphing into the language of Nali, which read,

Fisher’s pupils contracted slightly, and he turned his head in astonishment to look down at Philone on the ground.

The latter’s eyes were empty, as if he had lost his sight, and his breath was growing increasingly weak,

“Fisher, get out of here quick, this place is going to be destroyed.”