A second-hand black Pens car drove across four parallel railway tracks, and then forced its way onto a stone road. After a violent bump, it finally stopped in front of an observation tower.

In the early years, the purpose of this observation tower was to monitor the nearby sea area and guard against smuggling ships. Later, with the expansion of the imperial colonial system, the small-scale smuggling activities could no longer attract the attention of the imperial government. However, the observation tower was not abandoned, but was preserved. There were telephone lines and armed observers on top.

Because there were fewer small boats smuggling goods, but more boats smuggling people, a large number of illegal immigrants entered Vienna in this way every year.

Karun got out of the car, bent down and looked under the chassis of the car.

This second-hand car was really worth buying. Not only did it fit Karun's preferences in appearance, but it was also very durable and had basically no problems.

"Maybe I can let Alfred drive it to the black market for some modifications?"

There was no need to modify it like Neo's luxury car, the cost was too high and Karun couldn't afford it. He just needed to add a few things and functions.

Pushing open the door of the observation tower, Karun saw two middle-aged men lying on the ground. They should have been the original observers here.

Walking up the rusty iron steps, Karun saw Neo huddled in a corner, with the clay pot in front of him.

"Squad leader?"

Karun took another step forward.

"Don't move!"

Neo suddenly raised his hand, his eyes were a little red, and his lips were trembling.

With his movement, Karun found that there were white silk threads in front of him, completely trapping Neo.

These silk threads did not exist before, because they were not for external defense, but for internal defense.

"Squad leader, what happened?"

"After I evaded the pursuit, I wanted to study this clay pot to find out what they were doing. When I was halfway through the research, a colorful mist suddenly rose from the clay pot. I wanted to use something to store it, but I found that the bottle couldn't contain it, and other methods didn't work. But I couldn't just watch it dissipate like that. This thing is definitely the key."

"And then?"

"Then I opened my mouth and sucked it in."

"You sucked it in?"

"Yes, and then I became like this." Neo smiled, "But now I finally understand what this thing is. It's like tasting ice cream and figuring out what flavors it has. I 'tasted' emotions, beliefs, and so on in this thing. Now I finally know what they are doing. They are experimenting, they are creating gods!"

"I think this is not the key now. The key now is, are you okay?"

"No, I feel like I'm about to disappear." Neo reached out and rubbed his face, "I feel like a leech that accidentally swallowed a belly full of salt."

"Contaminated?"

"Not contaminated, but distorted. Before I called you, I was almost overwhelmed by extreme emotions. If I didn't have a lot of experience in dealing with this, I would have gone crazy by now.

Do you know what's going on in my mind now? It's like thousands of people shouting the slogans of the Holy Fire Believers at me, and I myself, am getting more and more excited."

"Can you describe it more specifically?"

"I think I've described it in detail."

Explore the extended edition on pawread.com.

"No, squad leader, you need to be more specific, because I can't compare you to a normal person to assess the severity."

"Okay, I'll let you see. I'll relax my control over my mind a little..."

Neo's body suddenly trembled, and his eyes instantly turned fierce red, and he let out a low roar at Karun:

"Purple pig go to hell! Purple pig go to hell!"

"Bang!"

Neo leaned back, as if forcibly pressing something back, opened his eyes, and only half of the red color remained in his eyes. He took a deep breath and said:

"This is the situation now. When I relax my control over myself a little, I will go to an extreme. That's why I chose to control myself here. These threads are what I set up for myself. Once I lose control and rush out, I will be cut into pieces of beef immediately.

After all, I don't want to become a lunatic who goes around looking for people with purple hair to kill."

"How long can you hold on?"

"I don't know, I can't measure it specifically, but I think when my consciousness becomes exhausted and my energy starts to decline, I will definitely not be able to continue resisting."

"Do you need an energy potion?" Karun reached into his pocket and took out a bottle.

"I know how to overdraw my energy, and I also know how to tap into my potential. Energy potions are actually not useful to me, and a big piece of beef with macaroni would be better."

"It seems like you're really hungry, you've mentioned beef several times."

Karun uncorked the energy potion and took a sip. It tasted sweet and not bad.

"Do you want to smoke another cigarette?" Neo sneered.

"Oh, yes, thanks for reminding me." Karun took out a cigarette and lit it slowly, "It's a pity, the car was just cleaned. My butler used to like to leave some food in the car."

"I can't eat it."

"You watch me eat, the food will taste better."

"I think you should show more concern for your squad leader, even if it's disguised, please be more professional and committed, can you do that?"

"You called me over, there must be a way. I know."

"Besides you, who else can I find after such an accident? In York City, the person I trust the most is you.""York City, it seems that there are several in Wien, and even more outside of Wien. The phone is right next to you. It's too late for people from abroad, but people from other cities within Wien should be able to come in time."

"What are you really paying attention to?"

"Hehe." Karun flicked the cigarette ash and looked at Neo. "Captain, tell me your method."

"Two methods can solve my current problem.

The first method..."

Karun extinguished the cigarette butt and said, "I think you can just say the second method directly."

"Why?"

"Because, according to your habits, the first method is often just a foil for the second method. You want to choose the second method."

"I'm just afraid of being too direct. Matters of face always need to be done."

"It's okay, Captain. What's our relationship? After all, you are the person I trust the most in the Hound Team."

"Alright, then I'll just say the second method directly, which is to let myself go crazy, and then you knock me down, and polish off this madness with physical methods."

Karun looked at Neo and asked, "Are you sure you're not deliberately pretending to be poisoned and the real purpose is to fight me?"

"Am I that boring of a person?"

"Yes."

"No, can we not joke around at this time?"

"Many times, the truth is hidden in jokes."

"If I wanted to fight you, I would choose a more appropriate time, and you wouldn't refuse to fight me now. What you just asked is whether I wanted to find a suitable excuse to fight you, not that I came to beat you up. It proves that in your heart, you are confident and willing to fight me now, right?"

"Haha, I was just joking, Captain, why are you taking it seriously and explaining it to me."

"..." Neo.

Karun stood up, patted the dust off his pants, and said, "But this time, we're not just sparring."

"Of course, you have to knock me down."

"So, you need to throw yourself into a state first."

"I think my current state is already very poor."

"Not enough, we must consider the overall situation. It's best if I can knock you down, and I don't suffer much loss, because I still need to take you back."

"Then should I release some spiritual power?"

"Yes, okay."

Neo first released all the silk threads that had trapped himself in front of him, and then a hot flame of light appeared in front of him. The flame condensed into a small flame, which was the essence, and its existence consumed a lot.

Karun looked up at the wall clock and waited silently.

"Is it almost done?"

"How long has it been? I believe in your strength, Captain."

"Is it okay now?"

"Not yet, Captain, you should believe in yourself firmly."

"How about now?"

"Keep holding on."

"Is it enough now?"

"When you still have the strength to ask me, it means you still have some energy left."

About half an hour passed, Neo's face was already soaked in sweat, his lips were pale, and apart from the occasional red flashes in his eyes, he looked very weak.

Seeing this, Karun took the initiative to say, "Captain, cut yourself and let some blood out."

Neo looked at Karun, raised his hand, as if he wanted to cut himself, but as soon as his hand was raised, his eyes turned red instantly, and he immediately fell into a strange excitement.

Karun shook his wrist, and a formation bead appeared in his hand.

"Ah, I neglected to get the Captain's approval for this in advance."

He crushed the bead, and a miniature teleportation formation appeared. Karun grabbed the hilt and drew the sword of Achilles.

"Roar!"

Neo let out a low roar, not attacking Karun, but jumping out of the window.

Karun moved to the side and followed him out of the window, but at that moment, Neo, who had come out early, launched a surprise attack on Karun, clinging to the underside of the window.

Is this madness with a plan?

"Guardian Wall!"

However, the defense that had just been formed was directly pierced by the white light claws in Neo's hand, but at this time, the armor of the Sea God had already appeared on Karun, blocking the blow.

But the force of the impact still transmitted to Karun, and he flew into the air, while Neo quickly pounced, his hands dancing, and two large swords of light appeared, continuously slashing at Karun.

Karun used the sword of Achilles to block, and the power of the Dark Moon and the power of light collided violently and frequently in the air.

"Roar!"

Neo took advantage of a sudden clash to close the distance.

Karun hesitated for a moment, and instead of instinctively aiming for Neo's head with the sword of Achilles, he stabbed at Neo's arm.

"Thud!"

Neo's arm was pierced, but what flowed out was not blood, but a scorching light power like magma.

It was as if Karun had pierced not a human body, but a boiler in the midst of high-temperature smelting.

Under the suppression of such a rich and terrifying light power, the power of the Dark Moon attached to the sword of Achilles could not be fully released, and Karun's hand holding the sword handle began to burn.

Unable to do anything else, Karun had to drop the sword of Achilles and retreat.

Without any hesitation, Neo shifted his position and continued to launch an attack on Karun.

Karun crossed his hands, and from the void around him, chains of order appeared, binding towards Neo.

But Neo's figure moved extremely fast, and he was able to successfully break through the gaps in the chains every time, and then a light screen appeared in front of him, and he punched towards Karun.

Behind Karun, a huge fist of light appeared and smashed down towards Karun himself.Layers of order cages appeared around Karun, expanding outward. The Fist of Light shattered three of these cages but failed to truly harm Karun.

However, this delay allowed Neo to close the distance once again, appearing before Karun with a gaping mouth, revealing his sharp fangs and biting down towards Karun directly.

Behind Karun, a pair of black wings emerged, the power of Thousand Charms bolstering him, significantly increasing his speed as he plummeted rapidly.

Neo, not having bitten his prey, pursued unwillingly.

"Bang!"

Karun's body hit the ground first, but as Neo was about to land in the same spot, the power of ice emerged, and a massive ice spike appeared out of nowhere.

"Boom!"

Neo's body collided with the ice spike, his body emitting an unimaginably high temperature, melting and boring through the ice as he continued downward.

In the distance, the Sword of Alus, previously discarded by Karun, was pulled back by Karun's influence, stabbing directly towards Neo's back.

Without looking back, Neo reached out with his left hand, the Sword of Alus piercing through his palm, but the rapidly regenerating flesh of Neo forcibly adhered to the blade.

"Roar!"

With this roar, Neo surged forward, plunging down.

At that moment, Karun was about to burst forth, and the two collided.

Karun, with the Armor of the Sea God and the Blade of the Dark Moon fully activated, looked much more disheveled than Neo, but the latter's frenzied momentum was undiminished.

The two engaged in a primitive battle, exchanging punches and kicks, with a white light continuously protecting Neo and the Armor of the Sea God protecting Karun.

Yet, both had strong offensive capabilities; Neo's Fist of Light and Karun's Blade of the Dark Moon caused terrifying energy fluctuations with each clash, resulting in continuous explosions around them, neither willing to step back.

Finally, after exchanging punches and kicks, both were sent flying backward.

After stabilizing, both men began to breathe heavily almost simultaneously.

Neo bent at the waist, arms dangling at his sides, only his head raised to watch Karun in front of him.

Karun readjusted the Armor of the Sea God. After today's fight, he wouldn't be able to soak in a bath; his body would surely be covered in bruises.

He truly hadn't expected that the captain, who had supposedly run out of fuel, could still unleash such terrifying potential at this moment.

"Captain, you trickster."

Karun recalled the captain saying he knew how to tap into his potential, so he didn't need any energy potions.

In fact, the captain himself might not have known the extent of his own potential.

"Crack! Crack!"

A series of friction sounds came, as Neo seemed to be constantly adjusting his body's joints, like cracking one's neck before a fight, only the captain's warm-up was somewhat more terrifying.

Karun felt an immense pressure. In the past, he had confidently believed that as long as he could hold on, he would surely win. This time, his confidence wasn't as strong.

Because in their previous exchanges, the captain had managed to break through his defenses, forcing Karun into a disadvantageous position. Of course, there was another important reason that couldn't be ignored.

The captain had gone mad, using lethal moves, while Karun was still sane, often reluctantly holding back.

"Roar!"

The captain's legs remained in place, but his torso suddenly leaned backward, maintaining a balance, and then a scorching light appeared above him, shining directly onto his body.

Immediately after, armor phantoms appeared on the captain's body.

The Armor of Light?

Karun had seen the captain use this move before, but this time it felt completely different, more sacred, more powerful.

After the armor was attached, Neo spread his hands, clenched them fiercely, and a great sword appeared in his left hand, a shield in his right.

The holy radiance spread like flames around him, and from both sides, it seemed as if hymns were being sung.

Neo's facial expression began to distort, first dynamically changing, then gradually solidifying into a single ferocious look.

As he stepped forward, a shadow lingered behind him, not quite like Neo himself, but in the next moment, it merged back with Neo.

"Ah ah ah!!!"

Neo had to stop in his tracks, clad in the Armor of Light and wielding weapons, he seemed to fall into a madness within madness, his expression, just set, began to violently change again.

This was actually the best opportunity for Karun to attack, and he didn't plan to miss it. Regardless, he would first knock down the captain and then bring him back to his senses.

With a flap of his wings, two blinding red lights appeared on Karun's arms, the Blade of the Dark Moon maximized and sweeping towards Neo, who stood there in "self-torment."

However, just as the strike was about to succeed, Karun forcibly held back, the abrupt redirection of force causing a stifling sensation in his chest, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He held back not because Neo had counterattacked, but because he couldn't bear to strike at that moment, even knowing that by not doing so, he would face greater trouble ahead. He just couldn't bear it; he would rather face greater danger later and wait.

A figure in a robe of light with disheveled hair appeared behind Neo.

Because,

Neo was awakening the bloodline of the Last Pope of the Church of Light!