Herbert had never intended to seal the Storm Eye from the beginning—he wanted to take the supposedly very important anchor points after the Storm Eye erupted!
Although the preview had helped him discover another enemy, Saul's mood hadn't improved.
The other party had shown no abnormal actions when sealing the Storm Eye at Old Days Manor before, so why had he prepared to preserve his life this time and actively delayed?
What made the Firefly Lord of the Borderland change his mind?
Since the other party was prepared, was he in league with Camus?
But Herbert shouldn't have seen Camus—only a few people had seen Camus...
Without Diu Diu, Saul was still falling while the flames continued burning.
A silver butterfly rushed out from Saul's forehead.
Penny was taking a risk to deal with Herbert.
If it could temporarily put Herbert to sleep, perhaps Saul could find a way to escape.
Although it knew that hypnotizing a third-rank wizard was almost impossible, it could only hope the other party's strength had greatly diminished due to being entangled by Black Tide pollution.
However, the gracefully rising butterfly was suddenly caught by its wings by a pale hand before it could approach Herbert.
A figure walked out from the flames.
Of everyone present, only he hadn't mutated and maintained his original appearance.
"Kismet?" Saul was stunned.
He really hadn't expected Kismet to be here too.
Because in the previous two times, Kismet hadn't appeared even until Saul was completely mutated by pollution.
"Splash!"
Saul fell into the Black Tide, struggling to grab a corpse to float, but the pollution was also intensifying.
"Is this also your setup?"
Kismet obviously recognized Saul, who had become a black skeleton.
He smiled and crouched down, so Saul wouldn't have to look up so painfully.
"I don't have the ability to create a real Storm Eye yet, but I can make some arrangements to gather everyone together."
One of his hands still held Penny. The butterfly struggled to break free, but though it normally couldn't be touched by ordinary people, Kismet held it firmly.
"What exactly are you trying to do? Do you want everyone to die?"
Kismet shook his head. "I don't want you to die. As for the others? That doesn't matter."
He looked up at the distant Storm Eye, whose twisting power had turned this place into a living hell.
Flames licked at his clothes but didn't ignite them.
Obviously Kismet was enjoying Herbert's protection.
While the two talked, Herbert also stopped attacking Saul.
They had reached some agreement unknown to others.
Saul felt his consciousness beginning to blur.
He knew that before long, this preview would also end.
But even though he could start over, he wasn't willing to end it like this.
Saul ignored Kismet and turned toward Herbert.
He wanted to try directly killing Herbert here.
Using his trump card—Mental Battlefield!
Now he had one foot in the third-rank threshold, but in terms of strength, there was definitely still a big gap between him and Herbert.
But it wasn't impossible to try!
"If you interfere again, I'll kill you too."
This sentence was for Kismet.
The latter raised his eyebrows and pouted, looking aggrieved.
Saul was certain Kismet wouldn't attack him personally and extended both hands toward Herbert.
With his hands open, thumbs and index fingers facing each other.
A black micro magical formation suddenly appeared between his finger bones.
Saul had originally inscribed the Mental Battlefield formation on his tongue, but now he no longer had a tongue.
But it didn't matter—having completed door-opening, he could completely use magic power from the air to instantly construct a formation he was very familiar with.
Although due to pollution and distortion effects, this formation only appeared for an instant.
But that instant was enough!
The unconscious black mass could no longer float on the water surface and began slowly sinking.
But before it completely submerged, Kismet reached out and grabbed Saul's shoulder blade, preventing Saul from sinking.
Penny, who had been struggling, was stunned with surprise.
"Who exactly are you? Why do you sometimes harm Brother Saul and sometimes save him?"
But Kismet didn't answer Penny.
He just stared at Saul.
Another moment passed.
Perhaps only three breaths' time.
The flames under Kismet's feet suddenly changed from red to black, their heat suddenly increasing.
In an instant, they ignited Kismet's skin.
His body also began emitting the same burnt smell as the other corpses on the water surface.
But Kismet was smiling.
"You succeeded. You killed Herbert, a powerful third-rank!"
He also fell into the Black Tide, but the flames on his body didn't extinguish—instead, they burned more fiercely.
The black skeleton suddenly moved, breaking free from Kismet's grasp.
"You actually helped Herbert?" Several eyes suddenly sprouted from Saul's skeleton, their iridescent pupils joining Saul's eye sockets in staring at Kismet.
Saul hadn't had much advantage in the Mental Battlefield. To kill Herbert, he had sought help from the stars.
The stars directly polluted Herbert, faster than the Black Tide.
After Herbert was killed, Saul used the diary to collect his soul, quickly understanding what the other had done.
But the stars also began polluting Saul, once again turning him into an aggregate of eyes.
Saul could only come out quickly.
Having roughly understood the course of events, he angrily looked at Kismet, who had become a humanoid flame with all four limbs burned and melted.
"How did you know the real Storm Eye was under the wizard tower? Herbert was just being used by you, wasn't he?"
The world in Saul's eyes was already turning black. He knew the preview was about to end.
He hurriedly asked the question he most wanted to ask.
"How can I avoid such a fate?"
Kismet's voice also became unclear.
But Saul still heard his answer.
"If you just want to survive, you can escape after forcing out the Storm Eye at the very beginning."
"But if you want to do more, if you want to break this fate..."
"...you must face fate directly..."
Darkness descended.
The scene froze.
Saul opened his eyes again, looking at the massive magical formation before him and the familiar and unfamiliar people around him.
The diary in his mind opened, the second golden page still frozen on the image of the burning Kismet and Saul reduced to a black skeleton.
Saul suddenly understood.
The golden page preview had ended.
There were fewer preview opportunities than the first page.
It should be because this preview involved people and things that were too powerful.
Even the diary couldn't preview infinitely.
Saul understood that now was the time for the final choice.
A compass shaped like a pocket watch silently fell into his palm.
If he only wanted to survive, he could have the diary push the just-awakened Storm Eye out of his body after activating it, then immediately ride Diu Diu to escape and enter the Chaos Realm in a place far from the Storm Eye's twisting power!
Doing this, he had a high probability of surviving.
The golden page had no more preview opportunities—this might be the best choice.
But Saul didn't do this.
He looked around, his gaze sweeping over face after face.
"What if I don't run?"
Saul asked silently in his heart.
[Death]
The diary opened to a white page, giving Saul a simple answer.
Too lazy to even mark the date.
Saul smiled.
(End of Chapter)