Chapter Sixty-Six: Commitment!
The Lord of Shadows possesses tremendous power.
As one of the ancient deities that has existed for thousands of years, the Lord of Shadows has divine professions in Shadows, Theft, and Thievery.
The powers of these three divine professions are highly compatible with Soren; Shadows goes without saying, and Theft and Thievery are essentially the supplemental parts of the Wanderer divine profession. Thus, Soren easily absorbed the powers of these three divine professions, with the Thief profession directly integrated into the Wanderer profession since Thief is a basic class within the Wanderer. As for the Theft divine profession, it can be considered an extended domain, and Soren had no difficulty merging this divine profession.
Next comes the Lord of Shadows’ domain power.
As a cunning deity, the Lord of Shadows has always been stealing other domain powers.
Why does the Lady of the Night want to kill Him?
It’s not just because the Lord of Shadows possesses the divine profession of Shadows; more importantly, He also has the domain of Darkness.
So why does the Spider Queen also have ideas about the Lord of Shadows?
The reason is simple.
Apart from the Darkness domain, the Lord of Shadows also possesses the domains of Trickery and Luck.
Incredible, right?
In fact, many deities seized some of that power when the Twin Fates were born, and there are quite a few deities among the gods that hold the domain of Luck.
As for the Trickery domain, there’s no need to elaborate.
It’s a powerful combat domain, and the Spider Queen has always hoped to perfect her Trickery domain by elevating it directly to the rank of divine profession.
Now that Soren has control over the Trickery domain, he can lift the curse effects on the High Priest immediately.
Besides that.
The Lord of Shadows also possesses the domain of Evil, but Soren did not absorb the power of this domain.
The reason is simple.
The Ascendant—Eugene is even more evil than Soren!
The Princess’s faction is Neutral Good, while Soren’s faction is Lawful Evil, and the Lord of Shadows’ faction is Neutral Evil. The Ascendant—Eugene’s faction is also Neutral Evil. Originally, Eugene should have been very close to Lawful Evil, but after absorbing the power of the Lesser Demon Lord, his faction has begun to shift toward Chaotic Evil.
In other words.
Eugene is much more attuned to the power of the Evil domain, and if we talk about the degree of evil, Soren’s evil faction deviation should be around 50 points, while Eugene, after slaughtering a large number of Half-Elves and instigating numerous wars, has an evil faction deviation that definitely exceeds 300 points.
Undoubtedly, Eugene is much more evil than Soren!
With that said.
Eugene’s compatibility with the Evil domain surpasses Soren’s by far, and naturally, the portion of power belonging to the Evil domain shifted to him.
Eugene’s gains are also substantial!
Not only divine and domain powers, but more importantly, with the Lord of Shadows being killed, part of his divine value also transitioned to Eugene along with the Evil domain.
He is now just a step away from attaining divinity with the Half-Orc divine profession!
………………
Ding.
With the fall of the Lord of Shadows, the first thing Soren does is to throw the Pale Justice in his hand.
“Zzi~!”
Soren gasped in shock as he stood in place, looking at his palm. His palm was already charred black; the battle did not last long, but his hand had been severely burned by divine power. The Pale Justice is more tyrannical than the Holy Avenger and has a much lower tolerance for evil, causing Soren to suffer continuous damage while wielding it. He was losing over ten points of holy damage per second, and if the battle dragged on any longer, he would likely be gravely injured by this sword.
Silence reigned around.
At this moment, there was no time for many words; although the three had successfully killed the Lord of Shadows, Eugene had already entered a near-death state.
The situation before him was a bit delicate.
The Princess seemed a little hesitant, silently observing Soren’s expression.
Eugene’s expression was even more anxious. He had been pierced through the heart by the Lord of Shadows in the recent battle. Although he ultimately exploded and killed the Lord of Shadows, his strength was now less than one-third of its full capacity.
In other words, Eugene was very weak at this moment!
As a somewhat tragic epic figure, Eugene’s lifespan was nearing its end.
However, the Saint’s Cataclysm presented him with an important opportunity; he had the chance to seize that moment to attain divinity and completely break free from the limitations of mortal lifespan.
Now that the Lord of Shadows was dead.
As long as Eugene was given a little time, he could successfully achieve divinity, but the prerequisite was that he remained alive.
The atmosphere became delicate.
Although no one spoke, everyone else realized one thing.
That is, the contract between Soren and Eugene had already been fulfilled; at this moment, if Soren turned against Eugene, it would be an easy task to kill the heart-stricken and near-dead Eugene.
Eugene remained silent.
As a legendary figure who had struggled to rise from the bottom, even now, heavily injured and on the brink of death, he did not express subservience or any other plea for Soren to spare him.
He simply waited quietly, awaiting how Soren would deal with his now heavily injured and dying self!
Eugene had his own pride.
He had led the Half-Orc race this far and was undoubtedly a strong figure with firm convictions!
At this moment, Soren also faced a choice.
To kill Eugene.
To spare Eugene.
If Soren were to kill Eugene now, it would be almost effortless; he could gain a substantial amount of Killing Experience and seize significant divine value and divine authority, including the evil domain that had just been absorbed by Eugene. However, doing so would mean Soren would betray his original commitment; although the contract’s effects had already been partially fulfilled after killing the Lord of Shadows, he would still pay a price in terms of faction deviation. But this price is incomparable to the rewards; killing Eugene could continue to enhance Soren’s power.
Time passed moment by moment.
Soren did not hesitate for long; he slowly walked towards Eugene, and the aging yet resolute Half-Orc visibly tensed as he approached, gripping the bone spear charged with divine power tightly.
It was impossible not to be worried.
If Soren were to break his promise at this moment, then all of Eugene’s efforts would be in vain!
——”Greater Restoration!”
Soren answered Eugene with action; he did not launch an attack but instead summoned the last bit of his divine value to cast Greater Restoration on Eugene.
Indeed, killing Eugene at this moment was easy.
But!
Soren is also a man with his own beliefs.
He has his own bottom line; his promises are more effective than the contracts of demons! Since he promised Eugene cooperation, he would absolutely not betray his vow!
Soren chose to give up.
He gave up a considerable temptation of Killing Experience, and also relinquished divine value and divine authority from Eugene.
He chose to uphold his promise.
Because he is a person with principles, and even as a deity, he maintains his own principles.
He will not kill Eugene.
At least not now; perhaps in the future, if conflicts arise between the two during the Saint’s Cataclysm, leading to a new battle between Soren and Eugene, but at least right now, he absolutely would not take action against Eugene.
Because that is what he promised!
In this moment, Soren felt as if he had reached a new level; this enhancement was not in terms of power but in spirit and faith!
He resisted the temptation to kill Eugene for the power boost.
This alignment of spirit and belief made Soren feel extraordinary! It was as if his spirit had transcended to a certain level, then merged with something profoundly subtle.
At that moment, a line of data appeared:
“Law Fusion!…”
“You have gained partial information of the Domain of Order!…”
………………
Everything happened in the instant Soren chose to forgo killing Eugene.
A sudden uptick in data appeared, and Soren gained information about the Domain of Order. Meanwhile, the Princess, who had been silently observing him not far away, couldn’t help but reveal a faint smile.
No matter what.
Even though she herself was very opposed to the evil faction represented by Eugene, she did not wish to see Soren suddenly strike out and kill him at this time.
Because that behavior was also something she did not wish to witness!
………………
(PS: Third update. I finished writing this segment in one go.) (To be continued ~^~)
