Absolute Choice
chapter-522-30041322

"Is Shi Xiaobai the reincarnator of the Original Sin of Calamity or the inheritor of the Fate Tree?"

The Infernal Queen was bent on delivering shocking words. Her sudden oral delivery was like the exchange of blows among experts. It began with delicate probing before a killer move was suddenly used. It was like the burst of one's full internal energy as one was going for broke.

Kali's pupil constricted slightly. Her composed expression revealed a slight change. However, she quickly calmed down. She knew that the Infernal Queen knew a lot but she never expected to hear the two names from her mouth.

The reincarnator of the Original Sin of Calamity!

The inheritor of the Fate Tree!

The former was a mighty demonic king that could annihilate the world while the latter was one of the three holy trees that shouldered the responsibility, just like Kali, to protect the world. It was definitely not a blind guess for the Infernal Queen to be able to link a boy at the Psionic Mortal Realm with these two crucial figures. These figures could influence the world in a great, distinct manner.

The Infernal Queen said with a chuckle, "The Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower is a land of trials but it is also an information cocoon. The Transcendents had planned on opening the land of trials to various species so as to gather information. Through the information cocoon, every word of a trial-taker who enters the land of trials will be recorded."

"Although I'm imprisoned in this boring prison, I was able to learn of things regarding the outside word from the human trial-takers. It naturally includes the apocalyptic calamity that trouble humans the most."

"However, there is no general consensus regarding the Original Sin of Calamity and the Seven Deadly Sins and there are many theories. I have never figured out which is the true version but if I didn't guess wrong, that tiny black-lit person is the legendary…Gluttony, right?"

Kali puckered her lips slightly but her expression did not change. She did not give a response.

The Infernal Queen continued her monolog. "Actually, this judgment was based on a word that appeared in your conversation with the tiny black-lit person—'Greed'. Three thousand years ago, the Thousand Eye Demon Sovereign had fled with grievous injuries into the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower."

"I had planned on chasing it out but it produced a treasure that I could not reject. Furthermore, it was willing to replace the old and weakened third Level Lord. Hence, it signed a perpetual slave contract with the trial's laws."

"Therefore, I allowed it to stay behind. But now, on careful thought, the appearance of the Thousand Eye Demon Sovereign happened just as the third apocalypse happened. Furthermore, it has a greedy personality and together with you and the tiny black-lit person calling it 'Greed', I made a bold assumption that the Thousand Eye Demon Sovereign is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, 'Greed'!"

The Infernal Queen seemed intent on proving her guesses though hard evidence. Hence, she said it very meticulously and patiently.

As for Kali, she was also listening patiently. She did not interrupt her midway. She only had a deadpan expression and looked at the Infernal Queen calmly. She did not comment on the Infernal Queen's deductions nor did she stop her from continuing her analysis.

The Infernal Queen naturally wouldn't stop there as she continued, "If the Thousand Eye Demon Sovereign is Greed, then in addition to the mentioning of 'Sire' and how Greed had been accused of betraying the Sire by recognizing a human as master, it can be determined that the Thousand Eye Demon sovereign is also one of the Seven Deadly Sins."

"Furthermore, the tiny black-lit person had devoured an entire ocean on the sixth level. Such a characteristic is overly prominent so its identity is obvious. Without a doubt, it can only be…Gluttony!"

Kali sighed inwardly. The Infernal Queen was correct up to that point and there was no problem in her logic or inference. As for the information the Infernal Queen had, it came from her exchange with the tiny black-lit person at the seventh level.

Back then, she was completely focused on Shi Xiaobai and she had forgotten to shield herself from the Infernal Queen's 'ears'. The reason why the Infernal Queen had managed to guess so much was due to her negligence.

As though she had sensed the minute changes in Kali's gaze, the Infernal Queen's eyes brightened. She continued softly, "The tiny black-lit person is Gluttony and on the surface, it appeared as though it had detected Greed's aura and infiltrated the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower."

"However, that doesn't make sense because there is a need to seal one's realm to the Psionic Mortal Realm in order to enter, making it an extremely dangerous act. There was no reason for Gluttony to take such a huge risk to find Greed. It had to be something more urgent which forced it to act in such a manner, for example,…discovering the reincarnator of the Original Sin of Calamity."

"However, contrary to Gluttony's expectations, you had chased after it. You probably have a feud with the Original Sin of Calamity or have the responsibility of killing the Original Sin so you did not mind sealing yourself to enter the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower."

"But when you reached the tower, you did not directly kill Gluttony. Instead, you sealed it in the sea. I was initially riddled with questions before realizing—you entered not in pursuit of Gluttony but you came to stop Gluttony. You were stopping it…from finding its king!"

"You were preventing Gluttony from approaching Darling. I saw through that and thus began to feel suspicious of Darling. Later on, Gluttony seemed to be bent on killing Greed that it had cursed as a betrayer without considering the consequences."

"The contempt it showed Darling nearly made me extinguish this suspicion…but after Gluttony was killed by you, Darling suddenly had a great increase in appetite. Furthermore, he even began treating rocks as a delicacy. Such a characteristic is identical to Gluttony's. With that, the truth is almost out."

"Why would the Thousand Eye Demon Sovereign recognize Darling as master? Why would Gluttony foolishly infuriate you despite knowing it would die? Why did Darling suddenly have an additional characteristic of 'gluttony' after Gluttony died? An answer could explain away all the questions—that's because Darling is the reincarnator of the Original Sin of Calamity!"

"Gluttony could not resist you and was afraid that Darling's identity as the Original Sin of Calamity's reincarnator would be exposed. Hence, it lambasted Greed for being a traitor and pretended to show contempt for Darling. Furthermore, it angered you in order to die. All of this was to hide Darling's true identity!"

"Did I say anything wrong?"

The Infernal Queen had finished her exposition in one breath, nearly without stopping.

Kali had maintained silence until she said softly at that moment, "Contradiction."

The Infernal Queen raised her eyebrows and asked, "Where's the contradiction?"

Kali calmly said, "If your assumption is true, it means that Gluttony had sought death in order to conceal the Original Sin of Calamity's reincarnator's identity, then why didn't it realize that when it returned its willpower to its Sire, its characteristics would appear. Instead, it would expose the Original Sin of Calamity reincarnator's identity? There is a contradiction here."

The Infernal Queen squinted her eyes and said, "I initially found it contradictory but there was no reason for Darling's 'gluttony' characteristic to appear out of thin air. Other than the return of Gluttony, there is no other explanation."

"So, I believe that although it's a very tiny possibility, Gluttony might have overlooked this simple level of logic. It was bent on concealing Darling's identity but it never realized that its death would end up exposing Darling's identity due to the return of the characteristics. I believe that this is the only reasonable explanation."

Kali said calmly, "This is not the first time a strange ability that appears out of nowhere has appeared on Xiaobai. Although even I am unable to tell how he can suddenly have all of these mysterious abilities, it is not impossible for him to obtain an ability that has the characteristics of 'Gluttony'. Therefore, all of this is only a coincidence."

"A coincidence?"

The Infernal Queen chuckled and said, "If you are willing to believe that Gluttony would not make a contradictory error to believe that such a baffling 'correspondence' is a coincidence, then I have nothing to say to that. However, I was, in fact, not hundred percent certain of my inference. That's because there is indeed a huge contradiction in my inference."

Kali pricked her brows up and asked, "What's the contradiction?"

The Infernal Queen looked at Kali thoughtfully and chuckled to herself. "From my inference, you should hate the Original Sin of Calamity and you have shouldered the responsibility of killing the Original Sin of Calamity."

"However, you did not take any action when Darling revealed characteristics of Gluttony. You even continued to protect him silently. I find it hard to believe that your love is beyond redemption, with you willing to abandon your vendetta and responsibility."

"Hence, I found it extremely contradictory. If Darling is really the Original Sin of Calamity reincarnator, how do you view him? And why would you continue protecting him up to now? I really couldn't figure it out."

Kali maintained silence and did not respond.

The Infernal Queen's eyes narrowed as she said, "This contradiction made it impossible for me to be certain of my guess. The more I probed the matter, the more suspicious I became. Hence, just a moment ago, I had a second guess regarding Darling's identity. The second guess is that he is—the inheritor of the Fate Tree!"