Zhou Huai remained silent.

There were three reasons why he chose to stay and kill Kujo Naruya.

First, timing.

Right now, Kujo Naruya had just been resurrected and the ritual was forcibly interrupted, making him like a premature baby with Innate deficiencies.

Now was his weakest moment.

It was also the best opportunity to kill him!

One might even say it was the only opportunity.

Once today was missed, when he fully recovered his strength in the future, with the terrifying methods of an SSS-Class Professional, even if all of Zhou Huai's Avatars were dispatched along with Marshal Zhao, they wouldn't be a match for him.

Releasing the tiger back into the mountain would bring endless trouble.

Second, the quest.

【Challenge Quest: Prevent Kujo Naruya's resurrection, or kill Kujo Naruya!】

【Quest Reward: Guaranteed SSS-Class Profession draw x1!】

The former condition, 'prevent resurrection', was in a sense already a failure because Kujo Naruya's consciousness had awakened.

If Zhou Huai wanted to claim that tempting SSS-Class reward, he only had one path left—

Kill him!

A living SSS-Class enemy versus an SSS-Class Avatar of his own.

Zhou Huai had calculated this ledger very clearly.

Third, and most importantly.

Zhou Huai thought of Marshal Zhao who was rushing over, and of the soldiers from the Great Xia Military Department who were bleeding and fighting for this battle.

If he took the Pendulum of Life and ran now, should Kujo Naruya go mad and vent his rage on the arriving Great Xia army, it would be a one-sided slaughter.

Marshal Zhao was already old and couldn't possibly be Kujo Naruya's match.

Therefore, no matter what, this SSS-Class Amaterasu had to die!

Even if it meant exhausting all the Avatars present.

"Phoo..."

Zhou Huai exhaled a breath of turbid air, his black trench coat rustling loudly in the wild wind.

He raised his head and looked directly at the golden cocoon whose cracks were growing wider, Killing Intent fully revealed in his eyes.

"Old fellow, stop living in the past."

"Your era ended a hundred years ago."

Facing Caesar's murderous provocation and the established fact that Yasuo had taken the Divine Artifact, the giant golden cocoon that should have been enraged fell into an eerie calm.

Kujo Naruya inside the golden cocoon did not grow angry.

Instead, he chuckled lightly with a rich, gentle laughter, carrying a senior's tolerance and composure toward a Junior.

"Young man, you intrigue me."

"To maintain such high fighting spirit in a desperate situation like this, and even bite back... even in that era a century ago when heroes rose in crowds, you would still be considered an absolute Dragon and Phoenix among men."

He paused, his tone laced with regret.

"I truly cannot bear to kill you."

"If you were born among my yamato people, I would certainly adopt you as my foster son and share the world with you. What a pity... you are a person of Great Xia."

"Since you insist on this path, you cannot blame me."

As this final sigh fell, countless fine cracks surfaced on the outer shell of the golden cocoon, which was originally indestructible and capable of withstanding even a nuclear explosion.

Crack, crack.

The crisp sounds of cracking were exceptionally clear atop the silent, snow-capped mountain peak.

Then the golden cocoon split open, countless rays of golden light bursting forth from the cracks.

There was no grand energy explosion as expected, nor any earth-shattering apocalyptic vision.

The light was soft to the extreme, like the first ray of morning sunlight piercing through the thin mist, warm, gentle, and refreshing.

Wherever the light passed, the frozen ground that was riddled with holes from the flames of war miraculously smoothed out; the ice and snow evaporated by high heat re-crystallized into glittering frost, fluttering down through the air.

It radiated vibrant vitality from the inside out, just like a newborn baby.

Right after, a figure stepped out from within the golden cocoon.

There was no monster with three heads and six arms, nor a god of war clad in heavy armor.

It was a dignified elderly man wearing white hunting robes.

He looked to be about sixty or seventy years old, with a serene and majestic expression, relaxed features, and skin so fair it was almost translucent, shimmering with a soft flowing golden lustre beneath.

A head of snow-white long hair draped down to his waist. His hair wasn't bound by a crown, but casually decorated with several golden magatamas and circular light ornaments representing the sun.

Those ornaments swayed gently with his movements, emitting a light as gentle as the rising sun—not dazzling at all, yet inspiring a reverence that made one dare not look directly at him.

He had a tall, well-proportioned figure, standing with his hands behind his back, barefoot upon the the void.

His demeanor was graceful and noble, unostentatious yet naturally possessing an Innate, sacred majesty.

Around his body constantly swirled a soft, circular halo of solar light that rotated, as if opening a gateway to the realm of gods behind him.

He seemed like a true deity, holy and inviolable.

Kujo Naruya had descended into the world!

"A... Ancestor..."

Looking at that figure from his dreams, seeing that face worshipped in the Clan portrait for a century standing alive before his eyes...

Kujo Koji trembled violently with excitement, tears and snot covering his face, utterly stripped of the majesty of a nation's leader.

Scrambling on all fours, he crawled over and slammed his forehead heavily onto the ground, making thudding sounds.

"Ancestor! You have finally returned! This unfilial descendant, Kujo Koji, pays homage to Ancestor!"

Kujo Naruya lowered his gaze, looking at this disheveled, blood-stained descendant beneath his feet.

He showed no disgust; instead, he extended a hand and gently helped him up.

That hand was slender, strong, and warm.

Kujo Naruya meticulously brushed off the dust from Kujo Koji's clothes and lightly tapped his fingertip against Kujo Koji's mangled, bloody forehead.

Buzz—

A warm golden current poured in.

Kujo Koji felt an extreme sense of comfort spread across his entire body as the wound on his forehead healed at a speed visible to the naked eye; even his vitality, depleted from overwork in recent days, was fully restored.

Kujo Naruya looked at him with loving eyes, finally offering a gentle word of comfort:

"You've worked hard, child."

"You have done wonderfully."

It was merely a simple compliment.

Yet it became the straw that broke Kujo Koji's mental defense line.

This tyrant who hadn't hesitated to sacrifice his country's citizens, bear infamy for generations, and even push his nation into the abyss just to resurrect his ancestor finally broke down completely.

"Waaaah... Ancestor..."

Kneeling on the ground, he wailed loudly, looking like a wronged child meeting his parent, weeping uncontrollably.

Releasing long-suppressed emotions, all his fear, pressure, and madness poured out at this moment.

He felt like a battered ship that had drifted through violent wind and waves for ages, finally finding a harbor.

The emotional contagion was overwhelmingly strong.

Even Zhou Huai, watching this scene from a distance, felt a strange palpitation in his heart.

Shining upon his body, the golden light was warm and cozy, making one drowsy.

Looking at that kindly old man, the blurred faces of his long-forgotten parents unexpectedly floated into Zhou Huai's mind.

Is this Amaterasu?

To think he is so benevolent, so forgiving.

He felt as though he had returned to his parents' embrace, so at peace that he even felt an urge to lay down his arms, walk over, kneel at his feet, and beg him to stroke his head.

"Give up... You're too tired..."

"As long as you submit to him, you can gain eternal peace..."

The voice in his heart was a devil's whisper, tempting Zhou Huai.

However, just as Caesar, controlled by Zhou Huai, was about to lower his hands...

A severe, stabbing pain came from the depths of his soul.

This was the "last radiance of the setting sun" before near-death; the intense pain granted him a moment of clarity.

Under the surge of logic, Zhou Huai's mind rapidly cleared.

The filter before his eyes shattered.

What kindly elder was that?

That was clearly an ancient behemoth in human skin that fed on all living beings! Behind that soft golden light lay a domineering will capable of incinerating everything!

"Fuck!"

Zhou Huai silently gasped at his close call, his back instantly soaked in cold sweat.

He had almost harbored the thought of surrendering voluntarily.

This old bastard didn't even need to raise a hand; his Innate SSS-Class Mental Strength field alone was enough to dismantle an enemy's fighting spirit without shedding blood!

Is this the terror of a God-level powerhouse?

Even someone with willpower like his almost fell for it. If it were an ordinary person, they would have turned into his fanatic worshipper long ago!