Chapter 2021: The Moon that Slays the King

The Dark Moon had manifested within the Divine Domain of the King of the Abandoned Prison?

While he didn't mind extending such an invitation, for it to abruptly manifest right now skipped a few dimensions.

"Hmm..."

Even the Witch seemed astonished.

Though it was extremely faint—almost imperceptible if not for his Mythical Form—Fu Qian recognized a familiar wisp of intent in that moment.

Far away in the Painting World, Dark Moon Pope Nelgria seemed to have noticed this sudden disturbance. Her emotional reaction proved she wasn't the one orchestrating the change.

Things were getting stranger by the second. But looking on the bright side, being able to react so sharply meant the Pope was recovering nicely.

Raising a cup to invite the bright moon, facing one's shadow to make three.

Facing the direction of the moon, Fu Qian raised the paper cup in his hand.

Except that this Dark Moon radiated nothing but a bone-piercing chill. It offered not a sliver of extra light, and cast absolutely no shadows.

And the moment Fu Qian raised his cup, that faint connection with the Witch was severed—because the moon vanished just as quickly.

Not only that, but all light vanished alongside it, taking away the very concept of illumination.

What remained was a true Lightless Night, something that transcended mere darkness.

It was an incredibly familiar scene. He had personally triggered it once back in the Sacred Night Capital.

Time-Moon Slumber. It truly was the authority of the Dark Moon—yet it wasn't the Witch.

He could still sense the jubilation and terror beneath his feet. Despite this change—which was terrifying upon deeper reflection—the Tyrant's subjects hadn't wavered in the slightest.

Squelch—

But the moment he lowered his cup, the body of the King of the Abandoned Prison was violently impaled from behind.

...

It indeed wasn't the Witch's doing, but he was beginning to understand what was happening.

The sudden ambush vanished in a flash, as if the attacker feared the Tyrant's retaliation—despite their concealment being remarkably flawless.

The freezing Lightless Domain truly wasn't just a specialized countermeasure against Blazing Rainbow.

The King of the Abandoned Prison hadn't been careless. The strike had been so stealthy it was only detected at the exact moment of impact.

Lightless Darkness granted it unimaginable concealment, even here inside the Tyrant's own domain...

As he rapidly processed the turn of events, Fu Qian seemed to find the answer to his earlier question.

Why wasn't the Flame of Ill Omen burning everywhere?

Why, despite the Tyrant already being dead and even skinned by his own hands, were His subjects still as peaceful and devoted as ever?

The answer: because right now, the Tyrant wasn't dead yet.

What he was experiencing right now was the exact moment of His historic fall.

Through the resonance of the Key known as Left and Right, he had indeed arrived at the Abandoned Prison. However, this wasn't the version Master Yuhun had "seen"; this was the Abandoned Prison of the past.

The reason for this deviation wasn't hard to guess. Having just looked through Master Yuhun's eyes, he knew that beneath His path of Chan, the dimension of time had long since blurred.

At the same time, because the connection had been too weak earlier, the resonance from Left and Right alone hadn't been enough, prompting him to ultimately activate the form of the King of the Abandoned Prison.

That provided enough resonance, but unfortunately, it resonated much more strongly with the historical final moments of the King of the Abandoned Prison... Excellent. Now he had solidly plunged right into an ancient secret.

Becoming the King of the Abandoned Prison just a second before His fall—was there any scenario more dangerous than this?

Compared to his prior dealings with the Mother of Gospel during the "doomsday," this was likely far more than just stepping into a role or experiencing a recreated scene.

Even the Tyrant had fallen. If his own mechanized remake collapsed here, he would undoubtedly meet the exact same fate.

He needed to win—even though the Tyrant Himself had lost.

Not that he could blame Him. This clearly hadn't been a fair fight.

The Dark Moon that laid down the environmental cover and whoever delivered that terrifying strike from behind were patently not the same entity.

The reasoning was simple: that was no ordinary wound.

The chaos and curses flooding in with the injury were so potent that even this divine body wasn't immune to them.

In layman's terms, the assassin had used a poisoned blade.

While this particular curse was relatively unfamiliar, there was another mixed in that he recognized intimately: Dimensional Poison.

It was the legendary signature technique of the Dragon King, capable of inducing an incurable decay that would make even deities wail in agony.

That strike had been laced with it as well.

This blade in the dark was undeniably premeditated, a product of meticulous planning and coordinated effort.

And this time, the one facing all of this was merely a flawed imposter—

Commandment Residue.

In that moment, Fu Qian neither fled nor gave chase. Instead, he stood his ground and activated one of the Four Rings.

Though under the Lightless Night, it couldn't illuminate the surroundings by even a fraction.

...

The King of the Abandoned Prison had died in a meticulously calculated conspiracy, one that involved at least the Dark Moon and the Dragon King?

That was truly explosive news.

Let's not forget the reality: the Tyrant was beyond dead, having been skinned by Fu Qian himself, while the Dragon King was barely clinging to life, unable to even control its own tools.

Both of them likely hadn't survived That Long Night.

So, did this happen during That Long Night? Or perhaps even earlier?

More importantly, this was the first time he had found traces of the Dark Moon's activity in this world.

Whether it was the nature of the power or the Witch's earlier reaction, everything seemed to prove that their powers truly shared the same origin.

Was this the Witch's "Mother"?

Not only had She resided in this world, but She had also been involved in orchestrating something this monumental?

Furthermore, what was Her relationship with the Progenitor of the Blood Clan, Annalise?

The Red Moon had explicitly told him, "Annalise didn't live to see the Long Night."

While he still didn't know what she had been waiting for the Long Night to do, the statement was credible enough. After all, the Blood Clan themselves had mentioned that their Progenitor had largely stopped responding even before the Long Night arrived.

Could Annalise's fall also be connected to the Dark Moon?

Looking at it this way, the latter had truly stirred up a massive amount of trouble.

The Progenitor of the Blood Clan, the Tyrant... She even somehow ran off to that other world and created a fake Starry Sky Law barrier.

Unfortunately, the Witch clearly knew very little about this. And although he was witnessing it firsthand right now, the chances of the other party answering his questions were roughly zero—especially after what he was about to do.

Activating a ring every second until the Four Rings orbited him once more, Fu Qian relied on his essential connection to the Abandoned Prison to finally lock onto something, detonating the corresponding Eye of Calamity.

The darkness surged violently, stubbornly clinging together without showing a single fracture, shaking loose an endless, biting chill.

Riiip—

Unfortunately, perfectly timed with the custom sound effect the King of the Abandoned Prison had provided for it, it ultimately fell short by a single basket of earth, tearing into countless fragments that scattered into the void.

A rather muted light returned. The prostrating subjects beneath his feet remained, yet this time, there was no Dark Moon overhead.

Instead, an even more massive body slowly unfurled.

With a long, slender neck, bizarre wings, and perfectly identical, geometrically shaped scales, it brought to mind the transcendent creature known as the Soul Butterfly.