above the sky

"You're still alive."

A pair of boots stepped on the ground of the worm nest, next to a middle-aged nobleman who was dying.

"Life is tough."

The condescending voice made the blond man feel a little amused.

In the past, he always looked down on other people to speak, although he wouldn't step on other people's feet, but with the appearance of those people bowing in fear, maybe they would be more at ease when they stepped on their feet.

With this thought in mind, Patrick slowly opened his eyes and looked at Ian with a calm expression.

He clicked his tongue, and then said, "Can we reconcile?"

"Of course not." Ian raised his eyebrows, but he was now interested in Patrick - just because of this sense of humor at the last moment, he felt that the other person might be really interesting: "You are quite optimistic. Humor, that kind of thing can be said."

"What an interesting person, it would be interesting to be friends."

No wonder Viscount Grant has been obsessed with it for so many years and still regards him as a friend... Perhaps back then, these two people only showed their true selves to each other.

And after parting, they don't even have friends who can exchange this "other side".

"If you can't reconcile, just kill me quickly."

Patrick raised his hand in annoyance, his eyelids drooped and were about to close, the man's voice was so weak that everyone knew he was dying: "Do you have to let me swallow my breath slowly? Huh? You're right? The mother nest that is so gentle to you and ardently invites you to be their master can be cut down with a single sword, how can it be so indecisive towards me, a wicked person."

"It's a good thing to make you suffer a little longer, at least I'm quite happy."

Ian laughed and said a bit of a villainous line: "Of course, don't worry too much, I just want to ask you some questions - you also want to ask me questions? I know you don't have any secret hands. , and there is nothing that can be subpoenaed or recorded, so I am willing to exchange some information with you."

"Of course, you are indeed dying, so I understand that you don't want to exchange. I will give you a good time, for the sake of never really killing you."

"You see it all?" Patrick took a deep breath. His vitality would not disappear because of the mere waist fracture. What really made him close to death was actually the forced activation of the Aether Armed Dark Hua's actions against Bishop Baiwu.

The man opened his eyes, stared at the white-haired boy in front of him, and then shook his head slightly: "Well, I'm too lazy to lie - actually, I didn't keep my hand, I really couldn't beat you."

"Don't underestimate yourself, young man... Although I don't know what kind of inheritance you are, you have an extremely powerful power in your body. This power is even better than the blood of our Ellen family's eclipsed dragon. At least It is also the special ability of the fourth energy level, or even the fifth energy level inheritance."

"Don't be discovered, even Ailes can't do it. His ambitions are not big, but once the boat of ambition gets its sails, he will strive to be the best."

"I don't know what he would do at that time."

Different from the mechanized ether weapon, the biological ether weapon Anhua needs to provide high-purity source blood to drive it, and the real etheric furnace heart is only available on the main body of Anhua.

For the Anhua sub-strain, if it wants to exert its super-special combat power, it must inject a large amount of the blood of the eclipsed dragon. While confirming that the driver is indeed an authorized user, it also supplies energy for the ether weapon.

The reason why Anhua Zizhu was able to entangle Bishop Baiwu was because Patrick entered half of his own blood into it, so Anhua Zizhu was able to fight with the Huaiguang priest for so long, but this did weaken the Patrick's fighting power was so strong that Ian thought the opponent had left.

However, with the defeat of the nobles and the gradual depletion of their blood reserves, Anhua Zizhu was no longer able to stop Bishop Baiwu.

And Patrick was even more unable to face the young man in front of him, or to heal his mortal wound.

I don't know whether Patrick is a good man who is about to die, or he wants to mislead the young man who killed himself. He calmly said to Ian in the last moments of his life: "As for the problem, I do have a problem. ."

The middle-aged aristocrat narrowed his eyes. Like Ian, the man who had listened to almost all the information of the will of the worm nest asked whether he was nervous or expectantly, "Ian."

"Why did you reject the brood?"

From Patrick's name for the will of the worm's nest is the mother's nest instead of the will of the worm's nest, we can know that his spirit has actually been eroded by the worm's nest, but I don't know whether the resonance is not enough, or he actively resisted, so he did not succeed. .

If Ian hadn't killed the will of the hive, I'm afraid he would not have died... but would have been converted by the hive, and became the first and second-level 'human apostle' of the hive.

No, if Ian didn't kill the will of the hive, it would prove that he would choose to become the will of the hive - then Patrick, who was half dead at the moment, would become his "acting apostle".

"It's the will of the worm's nest."

Sighing, Ian couldn't help shaking his head: "This question is actually very simple."

He stared at his feet, the eyes of the dying man, and said calmly, "Because of fear."

"Patrick, I'm afraid I've taken this shortcut. Not the best, but the easiest way to look."

Yes.

It's true that Ian has rejected the Hive, but that's not to say he can't recreate the path of the Swarm.

The brain-devouring worm has not gone extinct, and the swarm psionic network has not completely disappeared. As long as Ian thinks, he still has a chance to regret it, and he can completely rebuild the worm nest from scratch.

But he wasn't going to do that.

Because it's a shortcut.

It's not that Ian has a mental cleanliness, or that he has a sense of ritual, and he has to go to the sky with a human body - definitely not for this reason.

Ian just knows very well that if he chooses to be the swarmmaster, he will do his best to do it.

Just like the Viscount Grant in Patrick's mouth... At that time, what they would do for the 'best' was something no one knew.

In this case, there is no turning back. Many choices will never be changed, and many endings will never be possible again. Choosing the path of the swarm is such a seemingly quick and lonely path. Difficult and difficult to reach the 'perfect' road.

"Yeah... hum, parasite psionic network... Maybe, this is the real 'echo' and 'mirror'?"

With a sneer, Patrick thought of these two words with hatred in his eyes, but his expression was helpless: "This method is more feasible than what kind of learning machine is used... It can even make people achieve immortality. "

"The mother nest is indeed immortal. Such creatures are really far from us humans. It's no wonder that they are so chasing... chasing this possibility."

"yes."

Ian nodded slightly, turned his head sideways, looked in the direction of the corpse of Hive Will, and said, "I know what you really want to ask me, Patrick."

"You want to ask, if I can't go to the high sky for the rest of my 'human' life, will I also yearn for immortality, chasing the path of echoes and mirrors."

"You want to ask me this question, to know if I will take action against the Ellen family... or, in other words, against Isengard, against the bloodline of your eclipsed dragon lineage."

"Just like Axel."

The middle-aged man was silent.

He knew that he was not qualified to ask this question, because he was the killer who was going to kill Isengard, and his hypocritical concern now was really shameless.

Shameful even.

But then again, he was about to die, so what about shamelessness?

It was precisely because of death... that Patrick became free and easy.

"Yes."

He pulled a smile and looked at Ian: "That's what I really want to ask. I want to know if you're going to be a bastard like Axel...in the future, possibly in the future, to devour yourself. The grandson's body to maintain self-immortality such a thing."

The man said in a low voice, "I can't stop you, I just want to know...whether it was a noble and glorious hero or an ambitious hero who defeated me."

"Does it even need to be said?"

Ian asked rhetorically, leaving Patrick silent instead.

He had guessed Ian's answer, so he smiled wryly: "Yeah, you sure don't..."

"I can."

But Ian's answer was completely beyond the man's expectations: "I will, Patrick. It's not a trivial, trivial thing like a hero, because I will."

"I will do it without hesitation, without any psychological burden."

Ian closed his eyes as the blond man watched in amazement.

And when he opened his eyes again and stared at the worm nest crystal in front of him, his eyes were as calm and cold as his voice, and there was even a hint of pure indifference: "If I need time to advance my career, to complete my dream - then I will pursue immortality without hesitation, by any means, and without the slightest confusion and hesitation."

"Even if the price is to be stained with innocent blood and become despicable and disgusting."

"but."

Saying this, the boy clenched the sword in his hand: "If I do it, I will do it best."

"Even if I die in pursuit of the best, I won't let myself choose inferior methods to achieve my dreams."

"And the immortality of the swarm is obviously not the best choice... Let the innocent die, let alone. There are many ways to live forever, and I don't have to choose this one."

"I have such determination and will, and I have my means, but my character decides that I will not do that, which may be regarded as a fate."

Bowing his head, Ian looked at the thoughtful and thoughtful Patrick again, and he laughed: "For the sake of your dying, I answered your question first and satisfied your curiosity."

"Now, I ask, you answer."

Ian asked, "Who asked you to kill Isengard? Why did you listen to that person?"

"Why are you so unscrupulous, even at the cost of your own life to do all this?"

The boy's question was sharp and direct, Patrick took a deep breath, and then smiled bitterly: "It's a good question. Well, I'm dying anyway, and I wanted to say it for a long time."

He raised his head and told Ian the whole story and facts.

The white-haired boy listened attentively, then opened his eyes wide, showing an expression of "as expected", with a hint of sympathy in his eyes.

Not for Patrick, but for the sympathy for the blond boy who had adventured together in the underground ruins.

"Understood."

By the time Patrick finished speaking, Ian could already see the incomparably thick black aura from the other party's body.

This is a soul that has already died, or in other words, has died, and is only temporarily left in the world because of the will of the sublime, waiting for the source quality to dissipate and then completely perish.

"Go to hell."

Turning his head, Ian no longer looked at Patrick: "Farewell, Mr. Patrick, you have lived a very sad life, but at least it wasn't ugly when you died."

He didn't use his sword to end the opponent. He still had things to do, so he didn't have time and energy to waste.

Of course, the most important reason is not this.

However, if he were to take action and end the life of the man in front of him, it might be a relief for him.

In this case, it is better to let Patrick slowly step into the end of his life.

Let him remember, let him think, let him...

Pain because of myself.

Just after Ian turned to leave, Patrick leaned against the crystal wall of the worm nest, and the man stared blankly ahead, staring at the direction of the dissipated worm nest will.

He seemed to want to laugh, but he couldn't. The man said to himself in a hesitant and bleak voice: "Indeed, what a sad life."

"Why is this happening... Obviously, I can resonate with this emotion back then... I still remember that summer, watching the stars with Ellie and my brother..."

"Why are you doing such a boring thing decades later..."

"Is it because I'm old and forget my dreams? Or is it, after all, I..."

His breathing gradually stopped.

In the Hive, Patrick Ellen's life comes to an end.

At the same time, Ian stepped into the true vulnerability of the Hive.