In the Abyss, Harvey glanced at the chains on his hands, looking at Ash with a deeply sorrowful expression.
Liss said affectionately, "Look, this is the consequence of being implicated by Ash." Although he said nothing, everyone could understand Harvey’s helplessness.
Ash pulled Liss’s face back and forth, "Don’t add your own narration!"
Igula smiled lightly, "Harvey, you should think about it from a different perspective. The Gospel knew about the crimes you were going to commit, yet it didn’t kill you on the spot. You’ve already made a profit. Now, you even received a reward, I think you should be grateful to the Gospel."
Ash also chimed in, "Yes, yes, look, there are no chains between your cuffs. The Gospel has already given you a break. You should reflect and start anew."
The handcuffs on Harvey’s hands weren’t connected by chains, so they weren’t exactly restraining devices. Instead, they resembled erotic toys. However, combined with his dark skin, they also looked somewhat like slave tools.
The Necromancer just complained once. For someone who liked carrying a coffin on his back, his aesthetic was as solid as marble, so naturally, he wouldn’t care about the appearance added by the handcuffs.
After a brief test, Harvey turned himself into a Mist Spirit, dancing around joyously as if he had received a new toy. He couldn’t help floating over to the coffin, excitedly tapping its lid, "Alice, this form is really perfect for you. Wait till I master this posture, then I’ll promptly arrange it for you. Hm? You say you don’t like white mist? Then I’ll add a twist and dress you in a form of blue mist..."
Watching Harvey enthusiastically converse with the coffin, everyone felt like their sanity was being tested.
"Alright." Hanna closed the Gospel Book, "It’s time for us to leave. We must find a safe place to rest soon—Ash’s injuries can’t be ignored any longer."
"Please follow me," Banjee said. "I’ve already found the route to leave this part of the Abyss."
The funeral procession followed the Abyss Channel. Waiting until Harvey reluctantly finished whispering secrets to Alice, Ash asked, "So did you change your heart or were you lying?"
Harvey looked at Ash and then at Igula, "Are you asking me? Not Igula?"
Comparing up to the Necromancer, it was obviously the Swindler that fit better with words like ’change of heart’ and ’lying.’
"The video footage said, you claimed to love life immensely, which is why you mass-produced these half-dead necrotic beings," Ash said. "But just now, you adamantly claimed you wouldn’t engage in such acts that desecrate life... Either the future you has changed your heart, believing turning living people into necromancers isn’t desecrating life; or the current you is lying, and you actually don’t hold this principle firmly."
"After all, the Weaving Festival doesn’t conjure things out of thin air; it only anticipates based on your current actions."
Hanna and Liss stared straight at Ash, as if questioning ’what’s going on between you and Qinna.’
Ash wasn’t embarrassed at all, he had nothing to be embarrassed about. He didn’t have any intimate actions with Qinna; she had just licked his face once... But then, his face was bloody, and since he was Hanna’s fiancé, this level of contact from Qinna was perfectly normal!
Harvey pondered for a moment, then shook his head, "I didn’t lie, but the future me wouldn’t change either."
"As long as I still practice necromancy, I’ll always uphold the boundaries between life and death. Necromancers believe that life and death are equally important; it’s not just empty talk or some vague professional ethic."
"After all, what’s the difference between a corpse and a piece of rotten flesh? Then why can a corpse be turned into necromancy while rotting flesh can only decompose?"
"Because a corpse is engraved with the traces of the life of the living."
"Because the living experience joys and sorrows, undergo trials and hardships, gain spiritual insights. After their death, most of those traces follow the soul into Hell, but a small part stays in their physical bodies. What Necromancers care about is not just the flesh but the information on the flesh and the time, spirit, and powers of various magic factions buried within it."
"It’s precisely because they once strived to live that their bodies can bloom anew in the hands of us necromancers, becoming a force for the living."
"Think about it, doesn’t any organized nation encourage its members to strive as hard as possible, to live to the fullest, although they will eventually die? But their lifelong struggles become the strength of the nation, the good life for the next generation... Isn’t that what the Necromancy Faction is?"
"Not just organized nations, this world does the same. We mages will eventually walk towards death, and after falling into Hell, have all emotions washed away, but we leave behind pure memories and realms that accumulate in the Void Realm, becoming the strength for the future living... Isn’t that also what the Necromancy Faction is?"
"To me, the Void Realm is the most powerful Necromancer, and the operating laws of society are typical of the Necromancy Faction."
"Would a farmer harvest his crops prematurely before they mature? Would a chef serve half-cooked food to customers? Would a nation kill the aspirations of its youth?" Harvey spread his hands, "Now that I’ve said it this way, you should understand... Why are you all looking at me like that?"
Harvey got a bit thirsty from talking and turned around only to see everyone had stopped in their tracks, staring at him as if watching a cockroach transform into a rhinoceros beetle.