Super Righteous Player
Chapter 1271 - 301 Despicable Person

Chapter 1271: Chapter 301 Despicable Person

The jade crane with a human face stood with its back to the immense moon shadow, its wings spread wide.

All the life forms that once lingered in this town—whether good or evil, male or female, young or old—were frozen in place, torn apart into myriad-colored petals, and transformed into the wings of Corruption.

It was an overwhelming presence.

Annan felt that what stood before him was not a deity... but the amalgamation of tens of thousands of souls.

Corruption seemed like a tyrant kidnapping its victims, coercing them to merge into its power. They harbored no resentment toward Corruption... because before they could form a thought, their minds, along with their lives, were frozen, plunged into eternity.

"Is this the inspiration you gleaned from the Bone Duke’s ritual?"

Annan chuckled softly, "He transformed his subjects into bone to support his strength.

"But what sets you apart from him is... the Bone Duke believed in his subjects until the last moment. Yet no one is willing to stand beside you."

[All that is eternal belongs to my feathers.]

Corruption’s majestic voice rumbled in response.

In the next moment, the thousands of petal-like feathers, faded as if by time’s erosion, poured downward as Corruption flapped its wings.

These black-and-white feathers dragged trails through the air, resembling missiles propelled through the sky, marking streaks as they passed.

Yet the trails left by the petals were not the air ripples caused by high-speed flight—for their speed was not swift enough. Rather, they resembled flying birds, moving slow enough for anyone to intercept.

But what they left behind were black-and-white "traces of fading," akin to scenes from an old film:

Each petal left behind a black-and-white fracture in its wake. As they soared, they sliced through and assimilated the vibrant and luminous world on Annan’s side.

In mere moments, the radiant world was fragmented by the petals of the flowers.

It was as if cherished photographs laden with memories had been slashed into countless shards by a knife.

Yet Annan, leaning on his staff with his left hand, remained motionless, standing sideways.

At that moment, countless halos descended, and players’ weapons suddenly gleamed with the brilliant light of dawn.

In an instant, pairs of sharp wings of light unfurled behind them.

Simultaneously, their robes turned a pure white, with golden divine inscriptions emerging on them, dazzling with radiant brilliance.

Like intercepting missiles fired into the sky.

Or the reverse flight of an upward-striking meteor—

With successive "whom—" sounds breaking the air, the players swiftly soared upward to intercept the dancing petals of the flowers.

The weapons in their hands also carved radiant trails through the air.

Those shimmering golden trails in the air intertwined to form a dense net of light.

Most of the black-and-white traces were severed.

Yet a scant few "slipped-through fish" struck from bizarre angles, hitting the players.

Four players’ bodies suddenly turned black and white, as though time had frozen them entirely.

Soon, black-and-white flowers began blooming on their surfaces.

However, with the experience Annan gained from the wandering children previously, this time he had more than enough time to react—

Before the corpses of those four players could be transformed by the toxic flower petals capable of freezing time and integrated into Corruption,

—Annan decisively banished them from the world temporarily.

In doing so, their forms vanished entirely from this realm.

He had remained motionless, watching it all unfold.

Witnessing this sight, Annan suddenly came to a realization.

... In that moment, he remembered something.

When the memory-less Annan first encountered Corruption, he too had fallen into such a state.

Back then, he believed he might have been poisoned by something Corruption had devised. It was a "superhuman drug" forged through Alchemy, hidden within Corruption’s bloodstream, meant to counterattack enemies when wounded.

—Because prior to that, Annan had his senses—vision, hearing, and touch—stripped away by varying types and fragrances.

Thus, when Corruption was struck repeatedly at close range by Annan’s "Repel Life," Annan inhaled the intensely citrus-laced lemon aroma of its blood and his heart sank.

He realized this might be another kind of poison.

And right after that, the world began to freeze almost entirely in front of Annan.

He could distinctly feel his own existence, but moving even a single finger became extraordinarily difficult.

What previously required just a "thought" to set his body in motion now demanded an exceptionally swift mind—so quick his body could not keep up its responses. Sustained, repetitive thoughts became incredibly arduous.

Because his senses had been sealed by inhaling the scent, Annan instinctively believed he had been affected by the "superhuman drug," making his senses extraordinarily sensitive... accelerating them infinitely.

This caused the world to seem frozen before him.

But in retrospect...

Everything became clear.

—Corruption was even more despicable than Annan had imagined!

For it wasn’t some concoction he had devised, nor was it an ability confined to the realm of mortals. It was the "Eternal Power" granted to him as "Corruption!"

The poison seemingly hidden within his blood that retaliated against Annan upon injury...

Was simply Corruption mixing the "black-and-white toxin" with another fragrance.

Annan’s senses hadn’t become super-sensitive, creating prolonged perception—but rather, his life had been genuinely "frozen" by Corruption into an eternal state, just as the mortals who transformed into petals!

And the reason Annan’s "Repel Life" had worked against Corruption back then was straightforward...

Because Corruption was precisely the "God of Eternal Life"—

He froze his own life at its best moment, his entire being equivalent to a massive "fusion of life."

In such a state, direct "neutralization" of life-negative energy was one of the few abilities that could genuinely affect Corruption completely... while Annan’s simultaneous use of "slow-speed" control skills also wouldn’t be isolated by Corruption’s "eternal" domain.

Because Corruption himself was the "slowest" entity!

It could be said Annan’s uniquely potent skill combination was coincidentally Corruption’s kryptonite—Annan hadn’t merely "wounded" Corruption but genuinely presented a fatal threat!

Corruption realized the danger.

The previous exchange confined to mortal-level abilities abruptly shifted as he resorted to vicious methods.

If Silver Baron had arrived even slightly later, Annan might already have been reduced to a cascade of petals, distilled into "Annan-scented essential oil"!

"So, you were cheating from the very beginning,"

Annan suddenly understood, "How typical of you.

"Always cheating. Always fleeing..."

Annan touched the Trifold Siren in his grasp.

But Corruption failed to understand, or perhaps he refused to acknowledge:

The only truly eternal thing—is "change" itself.

"This is precisely why you are destined to always fall behind others."

The light of [Victory] began to burn slowly beneath Annan’s feet.

The Valkyrie behind him unfurled a pair of radiant wings.

"I once met someone, gifted beyond comparison. He followed the path of the ’ultimate perfection,’ never to return from the darkness of night.

"He wanted this spiraling history to ’never descend again,’ infinitely accelerating the world toward perfection—transcending humanity itself.

"To heal his wounds, make up for his deficiencies. To defeat folly with wisdom, cowardice with courage, misfortune with tenacity. Elevating himself to a state of ultimate perfection... for that, he was willing to abandon what it means to be human.

"Simply to exceed the limits of human reason, crafting a new world.

"He once said...

"’—Humanity has lived in falsehood since ancient times.’

"’—Deceiving others, deceiving oneself. The so-called "wish" is nothing but hollow rhetoric. When I finally abandoned everything and pursued my ideals... inadvertently, I looked back and found no one had moved.’

"’—Everyone stood still, silently gazing at me.’

"He was a devotee of victory. Yet he needed no proof from victory to validate his actions—for those most desperate for victory never wait for miracles."

"He was flawed, but you are even more contemptible. For you are the one who stood silently behind him, unmoving.

"You are the one who, as the seeker of victory approached the finish line, stabbed him in the heart with poison daggers and stole the fruits of his triumph.

"You have pursued true victory all your life, but victory has never recognized you. Do you know why?

"—Because you were never pursuing victory, not from the very beginning."

Annan spoke softly, like a judge delivering a final verdict: "You were merely running away from failure."

A legacy from Nicholas II.

The element of [Victory] ignited into fierce golden flames, slowly burning in Annan’s transformed Hand of Hope, now shimmering with gold.

The Valkyrie behind Annan melted her shield arm, which turned into a blazing, golden, flaming metal gauntlet.

"Rest assured, I won’t use the Siren’s power to obliterate you."

Annan declared, "Because I will punch you to death, strike by strike.

"—You despicable being."