My mom is waiting for treatment, and you're summoning me to be a hero?

Ren'ai sat on the wooden chair, the flour stains on her apron already dried.

He looked at Lin Mo, his voice calm and slow.

"On a certain timeline, there once existed a demon king whose strength was almost equal to Gao Yang's. He also possessed the law of time. Gao Yang spent three thousand years refining the laws of countless demigods and native gods, while that demon king caught up with him in a very short time. Later, Gao Yang fought him for three whole years."

Gao Yang harvests souls from all timelines, and he breaks through Gao Yang's defenses from all timelines.

Gao Yang repeatedly reset the battlefield using the laws of time, and he stood up again after each reset.

After three years of fighting, the sword was stained black with blood, its blade dulled, and its edge worn away, but it still contained countless souls—every soul he had reaped along his path of slaughter.

Not only gods, not only demons, but also the humans Gao Yang had harvested—he had collected all their souls into this sword, trying to snatch them away from Gao Yang.

Lin Mo frowned.

His gaze shifted from Ren'ai's face to the blunt sword, then back to Ren'ai's face, his tone carrying undisguised skepticism.

"No, the Black Sword was forged by Iron Crack, the legendary blacksmith of the dwarves, the second Demon King, who united the various races of the continent to declare war on the divine realm three thousand years ago. What you said doesn't match the origin of the Black Sword."

Ren'ai took a deep breath and shook his head.

"All I know is what I've seen with my own eyes. Maybe on some timeline, it wasn't Tie Lie who forged the Black Sword, but someone else. Maybe on some timeline, there was no such person as Tie Lie at all."

Gao Yang repeatedly rewrote the past using the laws of time. Each rewrite would generate a new branch, and each branch would be an independent timeline.

I cannot tell you who originally forged this sword, but I can tell you what I witnessed firsthand.

He stretched out his hands, which were covered in flour and icing sugar, with a faint glimmer of law light emanating from the tip of his index finger, and pointed slightly toward the altar.

The blunt sword slowly rose from the altar, its blade spinning silently in the air. There was no sound of wind being cut, no vibration of laws, only a heavy weight, as if all its sharpness had been worn away by the years.

It flew to Lin Mo and hovered within his reach.

Lin Mo reached out, but did not immediately grasp the hilt of the sword. Instead, he hovered his fingers less than half an inch above the blade.

He could clearly sense the number of souls contained within the sword.

That was an enormous number that even his own senses couldn't count in an instant.

Those souls slept peacefully inside the dulled blade, without wailing or struggling, just silently huddled together, like fireflies frozen in amber by time.

It was more than ten times more than all the souls he had collected along the way.

"This black sword contains not only a soul, but also laws."

Ren'ai pulled her hand back onto her apron, wiped the flour off her fingertips with the corner of the apron, and spoke calmly, as if she were instructing a junior who was about to go to the battlefield.

"Refine it, and you'll have the strength to fight Gao Yang. Gao Yang has deprived you of experience gain and sealed your attribute panel, trying to force you step by step to his level. But even he didn't expect that I had hidden this sword. If there's any other way to defeat Gao Yang, it's this one."

These words carried significant weight in Lin Mo's ears, even acting as a temptation.

Every word Renai said hit the nail on the head regarding what he needed most.

Upgrade, become stronger, and defeat Gao Yang.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Lin Mo knew that there was still a big gap between him and Gao Yang.

Previously, Blood Crushing and Delight had almost caused him to crash several times, and Blood Crushing and Delight were just two clumps of emotions that Gao Yang had extracted.

He only managed to drag Gao Tiantian off the chariot after she broke through his defenses with her soul.

The other one used the full power of the Star Elf race to seal its mouth, and only with the fusion and explosion of two Gao Tiantian soul fragments was the situation barely broken.

In the end, he was killed by Gao Yang.

Both battles were won with difficulty.

The third guard, Benevolence, is now sitting opposite him.

With a gentle smile, he pushed a sword that was said to be "capable of defeating Gao Yang" in front of him.

Even now, Lin Mo doesn't know what the power of benevolence is.

What if this is a trap?

He couldn't help but hesitate.

Ren'ai looked at Lin Mo's hand hovering above the sword hilt, refusing to come down, and sighed.

He offered no explanation or persuasion, but simply raised his right hand and gently opened his palm towards Lin Mo.

Lin Mo felt a surge of anxiety within him.

It felt like someone had gently touched the depths of my consciousness with their finger.

Immediately afterwards, all emotions were stirred up at the same time.

His body involuntarily urged him to grasp the sword.

It was a natural, heartfelt longing that welled up from the depths of one's heart.

It was as if holding this sword was the thing he wanted to do most at that moment.

Lin Mo's pupils suddenly contracted.

He abruptly pulled his hand back from the hilt of the sword, clenching his fist. The law of slaughter raged within him, severing the restlessness that seemed to come from nowhere with a single strike.

He raised his head and stared at Ren'ai, his voice cold and sharp, each word like a blade sharpened between his teeth.

"You're manipulating my emotions. I clearly didn't eat your dessert."

Ren'ai nodded, his expression still gentle, his palm still open, not withdrawing it.

"Yes. But the ability to be controlled after eating dessert—I made that up."

He paused, as if confessing a well-intentioned lie he had kept hidden for a long time.

"My true ability is to control all the emotions of the person I 'see'. I don't need to touch them, I don't need a medium, I don't need any external conditions. As long as I open my eyes and see you, I can control everything about you. You think you want to hold this sword, but that's not an idea I imposed on you. I just gently amplified that little bit of desire for power deep in your heart."

Upon hearing this, everyone present gasped in shock.

Yin Xue's wings suddenly tensed, and the blood magic whip exploded from his palm, the tip of the whip drawing a dark red crack in the air.

She lowered her voice.

"To be manipulated simply by being seen—that's even more unreasonable than lust! At least lust requires you to personally set the rules, but you can just open your eyes and watch?"

The goddess of judgment's fingertips were already glowing with a dark golden light of judgment, but she did not make a move, because she knew very well.

The moment you see your opponent, you're already within their control; no matter how fast you strike, you can't outrun their gaze.

The God of War held his battle axe horizontally in front of him, remaining silent, but his cloudy old eyes churned with a fear he had never shown to any enemy before.

Ren'ai slowly stood up.

He untied his apron, folded the white cloth covered in flour and icing sugar, and placed it on the table. His movements were slow and unhurried, as if he were preparing to go home after finishing a day's work.

Then he raised his head, looked at Lin Mo, and also at the comrades behind Lin Mo who were ready for battle.

His gaze finally fell on Gao Tiantian, who was munching on a chiffon cake in the corner, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

The curve was so light, so gentle, it was like saying goodnight to a child who would never wake up again.

"Since you doubt me, then I will help you myself. This body contains all the deep affection that Gao Yang's parents have for their child, as well as kindness itself. Today, I will give all of this to you."

He raised his hands, and the warm yellow lights in the entire dessert shop dimmed at the same time.

Those hand-painted watercolor paintings of desserts hanging on the wall, the glass display case with macarons, and the small round table covered with a red and white checkered tablecloth.

At the same instant, everything began to shatter silently, turning into countless fine, pale golden specks of light that surged into Lin Mo's body from all directions.

At the same time, Lin Mo's emotions were being amplified infinitely.

The body of benevolence is becoming transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He spoke calmly, like a father standing at his doorstep watching his child leave for a distant place.

"Gao Yang... my child, I'm sorry."