95: Chapter 95 Demon Contract

Ten thousand meters above, dazzling firelight and dark purple abyssal mist intertwined into a chaotic quagmire.

The eight LV4 pursuit fleets, which had been furiously pouring out firepower, were now completely plunged into destructive internal chaos.

The radar signals originally used to lock onto [Cloud Top Fortress] began to jump frantically on the screens. The public broadcasts from the warships no longer transmitted cold firing commands, but rather the desperate, extreme screams of countless guards mixed with the sounds of chewing.

"Awoo——!"

The flank of a heavy main warship exploded violently. The moment the armor peeled away, a thick, fleshy tentacle hundreds of meters long, covered in barbs, reached out from within!

This tentacle swept out like a giant whip, directly smashing another warship sailing alongside it in mid-air!

The warship's steel and flesh fused eerily; the corruption was completely out of control, and this airspace instantly became a slaughterhouse for the revelry of abyssal monsters.

Inside the medical room of [Cloud Top Fortress], the Grim Reaper's cold scythe was already pressed firmly against Zhou An's neck.

[Warning! "Last Stand" status countdown: 60... 59... 58...]

Zhou An knelt amidst the wreckage, clutching tightly to the object in his arms that had completely deformed and was barely recognizable as human.

From within Luo Ning's body came the teeth-aching sounds of bones breaking and rearranging.

Those once-fair legs had now turned into black hooves covered in dark hair, twisted at the joints, kicking painfully and restlessly against the metal floor.

Within her constantly splitting flesh, dense clusters of murky eyeballs were rolling around chaotically, greedily peeping at this world.

"Kill... kill me..."

"Then live on yourself, don't worry about me anymore..."

Her voice had completely transformed into hundreds of overlapping, eerie polyphonic sounds, carrying a terrifying frequency that could drive an ordinary person insane instantly.

But even so, deep within this monster, the last remaining shred of soul belonging to Luo Ning was still pleading with him miserably.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

Zhou An roared frantically, holding her tight, blood and tears streaming from his eyes, completely blurring his vision.

[10... 9... 8...]

The countdown entered its final moments.

Zhou An felt the last bit of human consciousness in his mind being devoured frantically by the boundless darkness.

The medical room before his eyes vanished, replaced by countless overlapping internal organs, huge pulsating masses of flesh, and deformed flying insects filling the sky.

["Last Stand" status ended.]

[Current SAN value: -15...-50...-200...]

"Ah!!!"

Zhou An let out a shrill, manic scream toward the sky, a sign that his sanity had completely collapsed.

The world before him had turned into a scarlet vortex of blood, and in his eyes, the deformed Luo Ning in his arms had become a source of light that was both sacred and twisted.

Just as he despairingly closed his eyes, ready to pull the trigger pressed against both their chins, preparing to fall completely into the darkness together.

[Ding——!]

["Cloud Top Fortress" LV5 upgrade complete!]

[Detected fortress main control core damage at 92%, five-source power core has been force-connected, initiating emergency self-repair...]

[LV5 jump reward issued: Obtained a chance to draw a random Hextech augmentation!]

This crisp system sound struck like a heavy hammer deep within the soul of a dying person!

Zhou An opened his bloodshot eyes abruptly, extended his hand stained with blood and dark purple mucus, and clawed desperately and frantically at the void.

He couldn't even see the specific content on the light screen anymore; he only saw a ball of light radiating seven-colored, brilliant rays crash straight into his palm.

[Hextech augmentation draw complete: Demonic Contract (Prismatic)!]

Effect: Equivalent Exchange. You can use everything you possess as a bargaining chip to pray for a result. The greater the price paid, the higher the possibility of fulfillment.

"Save her... save her for me! Clear all the abyssal pollution from Luo Ning and me!"

Zhou An's consciousness was roaring frantically.

[Command entered... determining bargaining chips...]

[Determination failed: The source of this pollution involves the supreme divinity of the "Mother of the Black Goat", existing bargaining chips are insufficient to clear this causality. Success rate: 0%.]

"Then reverse the state! Return everything of Luo Ning and me to three hours ago!"

[Determination failed: Involves reverse correction of cosmic dimensions, bargaining chips are extremely scarce. Success rate: 0%.]

"Bastard! Bastard!!!"

Zhou An looked despairingly at Luo Ning's face in his arms, which was about to split into three parts.

Just at this moment, the radar behind issued a piercing, fatal alarm—even though the fleet outside had completely mutated, the earth-shattering particle main cannons had still completed their high-energy charging under the system's inertial guidance and were about to fire!

"The last one!"

Zhou An was nearly insane: "I want to swap states with Luo Ning! I will bear all her pollution, all her mutations, all her causality! Give me back the original her..."

Luo Ning's talent could hold out for three hours; if it weren't for the high-dimensional pollution, it would have been completely sustainable.

[Command entered... performing logical determination...]

[Determination successful: Two-way swap belongs to same-dimensional causal translocation, possesses the basis for execution.]

[Warning: Detected massive causal magnitude. Please choose the bargaining chips you are willing to pay to complete the contract.]

"Everything."

Zhou An did not hesitate in the slightest.

"My life, my soul, my level, my materials, and the ownership of this entire LV5 fortress... take it! Take it all! As long as she can live, I don't want anything anymore!"

[Contract established.]

[Depriving host of all wealth and essence...]

[State translocation... initiating!]

In an instant, an extremely dazzling colorful energy erupted from within Zhou An! This power surged out of his body instantly, drowning the entire massive fortress, along with the particle cannon fire about to fall from behind, in an endless sea of colorful light.

The killing battlefield, which had been roaring with thunderous noise, suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

The destructive particle beams fired by the eight mutated warships behind, at a distance of only a few meters from [Cloud Top Fortress], were stuck, unable to advance or retreat, like insects frozen in amber.

"Hum——"

At the very top of the firmament, the thick thunderstorm clouds were instantly torn apart by an indescribable, immense power.

Amidst the surging purple-black abyssal aura, a dark, ancient scale, large enough to cover the entire sky, slowly descended from the void.

The left tray was empty, while the right tray reflected Luo Ning's twisted, chaotic, and deformed causality belonging to the "Mother of the Black Goat".

Zhou An was completely enveloped by the rule-based radiance of the [Demonic Contract].

His consciousness was already beginning to dissipate, but the supreme command of "everything" had firmly initiated the tilting of the scales, like a brand.

[Contract in execution, calculating bargaining chips...]

Instantly, on the left tray of the scales, countless phantoms of supplies emerged out of thin air, like flowing rivers.

Those were the hundreds of millions of units of high-order materials, countless rare blueprints, and piles of epic-grade food that Zhou An had hoarded over the past few months...

"Clatter——"

These massive fortunes, the moment they touched the tray, couldn't even last a second before turning directly into void ash and dissipating in the wind.

[Bargaining chip estimation: Extremely scarce. Insufficient to shake the causality.]

The giant scales in the sky didn't even tilt in the slightest.

"Cough... continue."

Zhou An spat out a mouthful of dark red blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. His roar deep within his consciousness was deafening; he did not retreat a single step.

[Depriving host of level essence...]

Zhou An's body began to convulse violently.

His Tier 5 Peak life form essence was brutally stripped away from the deepest part of his life by an irresistible, invisible force. His skin began to wither and age at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the energy that had been as full as the sea was draining away frantically.

[Tier 5 Peak... Tier 4... Tier 3...]

His level was regressing frantically. In just a few seconds, he decayed from a youth into a dying, white-haired old man. And the scales had only just begun to tilt slightly.

Meanwhile, the entire LV5 [Cloud Top Fortress] that had just completed its upgrade was also calculated into the bargaining chips.

The armor, which had been clean and new, instantly became rusty under the extraction of the Demonic Contract's rules.

The light of the [five-source power core] that had just finished its forced connection was completely extinguished; countless precision instruments in the central control room burst out with dazzling electric sparks one after another, and then completely collapsed.

The massive fortress decayed and collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually becoming even more dilapidated than it was during its initial LV0 period.

[Bargaining chip estimation: Still insufficient. Success rate: 15%.]

The giant scales in the void merely trembled slightly.

The left tray, symbolizing Zhou An's wealth, level, and ownership of the fortress, was still as light as a feather in front of the massive abyssal causality of the "Mother of the Black Goat" on Luo Ning.

"What else do you want... I'll even give you my soul! Take it!!!"

Zhou An's eyes had completely bloodshot and burst, turning into two horrifying bloody holes.

He was like a gambler who had lost everything and was driven to a dead end.

[Calculating core bargaining chips: Hextech talent chain!]

"Snap!"

The [Smallest Giant (Prismatic)] in the first position shattered with a bang, turning into starlight filling the sky, and was ruthlessly swept into the left side of the scales. The scales tilted slightly by one degree.

"Snap!"

[Compound Interest (Prismatic)] shattered, and the phantoms of countless fortunes vanished along with it. The scales tilted further.

"Snap!"

[Level Up! (Prismatic)] vanished into nothingness.

[Success rate increased to 40%.]

"Snap!"

[War Treasure III (Prismatic)] collapsed.

[Success rate reached 60%.]

A full four unique Hextech augmentations were forcibly sacrificed, and the terrifying energy generated caused the entire sky to tremble violently.

[Last Stand (Prismatic)]

The colorful characters "Last Stand" were flickering frantically at this moment, as if they possessed their own life, sensing the impending destruction.

Above the scales, a giant hand made of thick black smoke, covering the sky, suddenly reached out, carrying the irresistible power of rules, and grabbed fiercely at the brilliant, prismatic characters of "Last Stand".

"Crack... crunch..."

The brilliant, prismatic light symbolizing the Prismatic level began to show dense cracks under the ruthless kneading of the black smoke giant hand, emitting a sound of gradually falling apart.

The characters were becoming dim bit by bit, on the verge of disintegration.

Once it shattered, Zhou An would really have nothing left.

Just at that critical moment when the prismatic characters were about to turn completely into fly ash

[Hidden trait 'Indomitable Will' forcibly activated!]

"Boom——!!!"

The characters that were originally about to shatter suddenly erupted with a pure white radiance ten thousand times more dazzling than the sun!

That radiance was gentle and pure, yet carried an absolute tenacity of "rather be a broken jade than a whole tile," actually forcibly repelling the giant black smoke hand that represented the demon's will!

"Last Stand"

Not only was it not sacrificed and disappeared, but it became even more dazzling and eye-catching.

Like a scorching sun, it locked onto the last remaining shred of Zhou An's soul essence, resisting the devouring of the scales!

However, this sudden turn of events caused the scales in the void to go berserk.

[Warning! Bargaining chip resisting sacrifice! Transaction chain about to collapse!]

Due to the lack of the weight of this last Prismatic talent, the scales, which had already tilted to 60%, began to frantically rebound toward the right amidst a series of violent, ear-piercing friction sounds!

The purple-black abyssal pollution causality on Luo Ning belonging to the "Mother of the Black Goat" seized the opportunity, turning into countless illusory tentacles, wrapping tightly around the right end of the scales, and pulling frantically downward!

"No... cannot stop!"

Zhou An looked despairingly as the pointer of the scales was about to return to zero.

The surrounding space began to crack into pieces, the floor of the medical room was torn open, and the whispers of the abyss swept over like a tsunami once again.

The transaction was about to fail completely. Luo Ning's mutation could not be reversed, and even Zhou An's broken soul was about to be engulfed by the backlash.

Just at this bottom of the despairing abyss.

"Sigh..."

An extremely faint, lingering sigh sounded.

Carrying a trace of helplessness, a trace of compassion.

In the void ten thousand meters above, above the crazily shaking dark gold scales that were about to collapse, suddenly, a hand appeared out of thin air.

It was a woman's hand, white as jade, slender and delicate to the point of being unreal. There were no energy fluctuations around it.

But when it slowly descended from the void and gently pressed onto the edge of the tray on the left side of the scales, which had been empty—

"Bang!!!"

The entire massive dark gold scale instantly lost its balance completely. That seemingly powerless jade hand slammed the left tray hard against the bottom!

The massive Black Goat causality on Luo Ning's right side was directly hoisted high up!

Bargaining chips... sufficient.

[Contract reached.]

[Ultimate causal determination: State translocation, forced execution.]

The purple-black abyssal light and Zhou An's pure white light of obsession instantly merged into one, turning into an indescribable beam of chaos, like the Sword of Damocles, piercing fiercely through the two people in the medical room.

In this instant, the causality was completely swapped.

The countless eerie eyeballs, barbed tentacles, and twisted goat hooves on Luo Ning's body... were forcibly stripped from her flesh and bones like receding black water, frantically surging into Zhou An's body along the chaotic light beam!

And the originally pure human genes, clean blood, and the unyielding soul fire belonging to the man in Zhou An's body were poured without reservation into Luo Ning's body, which was on the verge of collapse, repairing all her wounds.

"Ahhhh——!!!"

Excruciating pain tore through every inch of his nerves; his body was being frantically twisted by the power of the abyss.

But before his eye sockets, which were now just bloody holes, his vision miraculously experienced a final flash of brilliance.

He saw clearly.

He saw Luo Ning's face, restored to its fairness and delicacy;

He saw her big eyes, which had turned back from purple vortexes to clear and lively;

And he also saw that drop of warm tear slide from the corner of her eye and land on his palm, which had already begun to grow fine hair.

That is good.

As long as you live, it is good.

The next second.

[System prompt: Transaction complete.]

Accompanying this system broadcast, the mysterious jade hand, along with the giant dark gold scales, instantly turned into specks of starlight and disappeared into the void.

Outside, the main cannons of the eight mutated warships, which had been frozen in mid-air, finally fell with a bang!

But just as they were about to hit the wreckage of the fortress, they were also instantly erased.