The trembling right arm was slow to move.

It's easy to slash along with the anger, no need to think, no need to hesitate, just sway the killing intent, anger and strength together.

- Cut it down and you're done.

In the boiling brain, a cold voice whispered.

The most important rule of the Faustian test is that you must not say "stop" and that you must not perform actions that contain the intent to stop your opponent. Otherwise, it is the victory of the other side.

- This is his trap, first oppressing the spirit of the opponent with the dead, and then throwing himself into the phantom of the living, shaking the will of the opponent in one breath.

"Am I going to play tricks and deliberately use phantoms to lure you into making mistakes? It's just—"

The discerning demon sneered.

"It's better to use a living person than a phantom, right?"

A streak of blood fell from the corner of the boy's mouth, and he endured his anger so hard that his lips were bitten.

Dismissing Sloth's taunt as noise, Roland stepped towards Minerva.

After taking a step, I couldn't move my feet anymore.

"It's normal for you to care, and I can understand that. But they don't seem to understand, no, they don't want to let go?"

Roland's feet were muddy.

At some point, the shadows that had been cowering in the corners of the wall covered the entire ground, and the solid earth turned into a black mire.

Faces emerged from the surface of the mire—the faces of the phantoms who had just appeared, who had been slain by Roland, the faces of those who had been close to them. At this moment, they were glaring at Roland with resentful eyes, and their mouths were filled with resentment that even hard-hearted people could not help but waver.

- Why don't you save us.

- Why killed us.

- It hurts.

- It's so cold.

- I will never let you save that girl.

- She is ours.

- Come along.

The faces of men, women and children kept churning up from the black mud, a pair of hands pulled Roland, and countless faces opened their mouths to bite Roland.

"Damn ......!!"

Roland cursed and shifted his body, but in the face of the phantoms' obsession, this level of effort was not worth mentioning.

Sloss strolled leisurely to Roland's side, a malicious smile almost touching Roland's cheek.

"Continuing with the topic just now, is Minerva over there real? Let me keep the first question a little bit, and as for the second question, the answer has already been fully demonstrated by previous missile attacks. ”

Roland's heart sank.

The worst thing that had been foreseen was confirmed through the mouth of the initiator, and the irony and bitterness of it could only be experienced by the person concerned.

Missiles cannot appear out of thin air, and there are only two ways to achieve this effect.

The first is the blinding method, which is to use camouflage methods such as electronic spoofing and optical camouflage to get as close as possible to the opponent and then launch a fatal blow. Stealth bombers and stealth cruise missiles in another world are all products derived from this line of thinking, and the so-called "stealth" does not mean that it cannot be detected at all, but to minimize radar reflection and shorten the detection distance (recently, the commander of the Indian Air Force who drank too much water in the Ganges River said that the radar of the Su-30-MKI can find the J-20, which is actually not wrong, after all, it is close to 2~3 kilometers before it is discovered). After the optical camouflage enters the practical stage, it really realizes the invisibility in the real sense. "Out of thin air" with a bomber or a bunch of missiles is no longer a scene in a science fiction movie.

The stealth technology of the Defense Forces can also do this kind of thing, they can even use large warships to hide in an academic way, let alone hide a missile. But Roland does not believe that the missile attack on the Endeavour was the result of the use of stealth technology.

If stealth technology is used, why do you need to remove the stealth in the final stage so that the people on the ship can find out?

And more importantly, the number of missiles and the all-round angle of attack.

It is not impossible to change the trajectory of the ballistics through guidance means or preset programs to achieve an all-round and multi-angle attack, but in order to cooperate as seamlessly as just now, it is necessary to devote a lot of time and resources to practicing how to carry out a "super-saturation attack" with missiles. The Defence Force apparently didn't have that time.

So, the answer is basically the second one - Slos and Gulatoni used some method to "send" missiles from a distance around the Endeavour.

Roland wasn't wrong.

Although they are not able to "exist anywhere and not exist anywhere" like Li Lin, Sloth and Gulatoni are also able to manipulate space to a certain extent, teleporting objects or using them for other purposes.

Draw two points A and B on the paper, and the shortest distance between the two points is not a straight line, but fold the paper to make the two points coincide - this is the technical theoretical basis for intelligent beings to conquer the stars and the sea after entering the cosmic era, and it also opens a new door for the development of weapons, which contributes to the birth of space-time transfer weapons ().

One of Sloth's and Gulatoni's abilities is the "Gates of Heaven" (Gates .of . Paradise)" space passage manufacturing capabilities, capable of transmitting matter and energy to specified coordinates through certain methods. Previously, they used this ability to send a large number of missiles around the Endeavour, and then launch an all-round attack.

With such an ability, it is simply easy to pull Minerval, who is far away in Lüdes, into this space.

"So we go back to the previous question, is the Royal Highness who fell there a real person or a phantom?"

(Damn.) ）

Roland cursed silently in his heart, Sloth's power, Minerva lying to the ground, and the dead who were haunting him—all three of them were constantly wearing down his nerves. Restlessness turned into a drunken feeling that shook his brain, and a figure streaked across distorted visions and thoughts.

It was a woman.

A woman who refuses to face up to the death of her beloved son, guards the corpse, and does not hesitate to touch the forbidden knowledge, and finally self-destructs.

- Your child is dead!

At that time, Roland was telling his mother who was hugging the body of his beloved son.

Right now.

Your lover is dead.

A cold voice in his head made a categorical conclusion.

Is that Roland himself or the grieving mother of yesteryear?

(No, it won't.) ）

- Minerva is dead, this is reality, you have to face it! You can't do anything now!

(That's an apparition, it's a fake, the real Minerva-)

- How long are you going to deceive yourself? Minerva is dead, killed by your own hands!

(No, it's not!)

- What does it mean to be or not now, true or false? Even if it doesn't happen this time, what about the next time? You are just a human being, an insignificant human being, neither a prophet nor a universal being. When you decide you want to save some, you're bound to lose others, aren't you?

(Enough is enough......!)

Take a look at what you do. You talk about protecting people's dignity and happiness, but in the end you can't achieve anything, even the most beloved girl can't protect it! What fraternity, what freedom, what dignity, for these ethereal things, you have lost even your beloved!

(Shut up!!)

Do you not hesitate to expose Minerva and those girls to the danger of death, but also protect strangers who you have never met, who do not know what you have done for them, and who may not be grateful to you? At this moment, there are people in the world who have died because of war, famine, disease, strife, crime, and death, do you want to intervene and save them one by one? Can you? Or does it not matter because it has nothing to do with you, is it not in your field of vision? You are only in front of you-

"I'm telling you to get out of here!!"

Roland swung his sword and roared, his furious passion turned into roars and gallops of power, silver flashes slicing through the void, and the entangled phantom made a dull sound and fell spasmodically.

“......？”

A surprised voice spilled out of the boy's mouth again.

Minerva fell at his feet.

The undead apparitions turned into Minerva, a deep bony wound pulling from his right chest to his left shoulder, blood bubbles spilling from the wound and Minerva's mouth, and the stunned faces lost their life and turned dead gray.

"This ...... This ......"

Roland's blank face turned forward, and in front of him was a shadow that was gradually disintegrating.

That's right, that Minerva is a fictional apparition.

So, what about this now?

There is still a feeling of flesh and broken bones on the hand, is this lingering texture sticking to the hand also an illusion?

Minerva collapsed at her feet...... Is it fake this time too?

The cold invaded Roland's stiff body, and he staggered towards Minerva, who had stopped spasming, and his whole body trembled.

How he wished that everything in front of him was just a nightmare, that if he opened his eyes again, Minerva would smile at him, that terrible wound would never exist, and that all mistakes would be erased.

However.

"It's useless. ”

Like Sloth, like himself, like someone in his memory, the voice laughed at Roland.