As Fang Senyan navigated the real world, he discovered another branch of contagious skills, with the ultimate ability being Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever.

He then returned to the reality he knew. No one knew where he had gone; they only assumed he was studying diseases. No one knew what specific choices he made. Fang Senyan gravely asserted that this was his trump card, one absolutely forbidden to be revealed until it was played.

Of course, many speculated it was Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever because AIDS, the so-called plague of the century, carried such a notorious weight that it inspired sheer terror. Fang Senyan, though formidable, might not have possessed the nerve to test the full extent of that particular horror.

Yet, there is that saying—a man must be ruthless to himself. It seemed Fang Senyan had taken this to heart, for he scaled that skill tree in one go, securing the final special effect of the contact-based disease branch!

AIDS!

Virus Sovereign Talent Tree: The terminal disease for contact-based transmission, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS Virus). "You can activate the remaining Virus Sovereign Talent Trees to enhance your power. Activating other Virus Sovereign Talent Trees requires 320 Merit Points!" Ultimate Ability: Acquire Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. When engaging in close-quarters combat with an enemy, you can infect them with the AIDS virus, allowing it to propagate and evolve under the modification of Virus A, leading to shockingly accelerated symptoms. The enemy's immune system will collapse layer by layer under the influence of the HIV, and when the peak of the affliction is reached, a variety of astonishing illnesses will manifest upon them. This virus spreads through air and droplets, meaning the incubation period is effective in just three seconds. The moment the HIV takes effect, the enemy enters the High-Risk Phase, during which their physical Defense will decrease at a rate of 1 point per second, though they will feel nothing. Only when Defense drops to one-third of the original level might mild symptoms like low fever or sneezing appear (this symptom effect is identical to the common cold spread via air). When the enemy's Defense drops to 0, the High-Risk Phase concludes, and they formally enter the Infection Phase. During this phase, the enemy's Defense will continue to drop into negative numbers. However, for every point of Defense lost, the time required doubles. (For example, dropping to -1 Defense takes one second, -2 Defense takes two seconds, -3 Defense takes four seconds, -4 Defense takes eight seconds, and so on. With negative Defense, enemies will suffer damage far greater than if they had no Defense at all. For instance, when Defense reaches -10..., even without critical strikes, the enemy will take damage equivalent to twice the theoretical damage.) Upon entering the Infection Phase, the enemy will develop fatal complications. The first symptom will randomly emerge from the following four major conditions. The initial symptom drains 15% of the enemy's current Health (or the past three hundred seconds). After this, the next terrifying complication will randomly appear. Complication A: Kaposi's Sarcoma. Purple-red papules and ulcers form on the skin surface, with numerous grape-like tumor nodules growing along the veins. Kaposi's Sarcoma inflicts astonishing damage upon the enemy's blood system, severely inhibiting self-healing. All received healing effects are reduced by 75%, and every three seconds, there is a 50% chance to inflict 150 Bleeding Damage. Due to the possibility of cardiac impact from Kaposi's Sarcoma, there is a small chance to inflict 3,000 Bleeding Damage! (Since Contractors digitize their bodies, this effect, if it manifests on a Contractor, only causes 200 Bleeding Damage.) Complication B: Candidiasis Esophagitis. A horrific ulcerative region forms near the esophagus, affecting the enemy's digestive system and causing extreme weakness, reducing their Attack Power by 25%. Additionally, every three seconds, there is a 50% chance of convulsions due to agonizing throat pain, inflicting 150 damage. Because this disease blocks digestive absorption, there is a chance that the enemy will fail when casting skills. Complication C: Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP). Vast quantities of Pneumocystis grow in the enemy's lungs, severely impairing the respiratory system and causing dizziness, drastically lowering the enemy's Hit Rate by 15%. The Pneumocystis will relentlessly torture the opponent, dealing 50 damage every three seconds, with a high chance of landing triple critical hits. Because this disease severely impacts the respiratory system, there is a chance it will cause the enemy to suffocate for five seconds, rendering them unable to attack (though they can still move). Complication D: Toxoplasmosis. The enemy's brain is infected by Toxoplasma, displaying ring-like patterns, leading to severe headaches, vomiting, and blindness, making it difficult for the enemy to make rational judgments and evade fatal attacks. Consequently, the chance of the enemy being critically hit increases by 10%. Furthermore, it deals 30 damage every three seconds. As Toxoplasma directly attacks the brain, this damage is True Damage, and this damage is converted into healing for the caster. Once all four major symptoms appear, AIDS enters the late stage. The enemy's Defense instantly drops to -N points (N = the enemy's original Defense / 2), and their maximum Health is forcibly reduced by one-third instantaneously. The symptoms of the four complications continue to deepen, and their activation frequency shrinks from three seconds to one second! This branch ability cannot coexist with other Ultimate Virus-type branch abilities! It was clear that Fang Senyan had been holding back, waiting until Aragon had passed the High-Risk Phase of the disease and his Defense had dropped to zero before he launched his sudden, terrifying assault! This was his nature: silent until the moment of impact, and when he struck, it was to kill!

The exhausted Aragon, whose Defense was now zero, faced a Fang Senyan who had unleashed his frenzy, and the terrifyingly powerful Demon Sword Abyssal—a combination that made the situation seem utterly dire.

There is an old saying: Adversity reveals character; another states: A storm tests the strength of the grass.

At this moment, coughing up blood, Aragon could no longer conceal anything. He drew his final trump card—he raised his right hand, upon which a dull, lightless ring suddenly erupted with blinding radiance!

It was a Ring of the Two-Headed Serpent, fashioned as two entwined snakes, their eyes set with four emeralds. Their heads met beneath a crown woven of golden flowers, one raised high, the other bowed low. This was the sigil of the House of Finarfin. The emeralds, polished in Valinor by the Ñoldor Elves, shone with dazzling splendor.

This ring, handed down through millennia, was the inherited symbol of the Númenórean royal line—the Ring of Barahir! Within it resided the inheritance, fortune, and heroic spirits of the Kings of Gondor throughout the ages. It was the symbol of sovereignty, the mark of kingship!

If the legendary sword Andúril was akin to the Dragon Robe of an ancient Chinese emperor, then the Ring of Barahir was the Imperial Seal! The royal houses of Gondor had always used it to command the world and anchor the kingdom's fortune!

Aragon was cornered now. With the fortunes of the line of the Stewards waning, the fate of Gondor’s revival rested solely upon him. Thus, the two-headed serpent ring, the Ring of Barahir, blazed forth.

Even under Sauron’s dark power, the apparitions of past Kings of Gondor surfaced one by one, shouting aloud before slowly merging into the solemn phantom of Isildur, who slew Sauron. He raised his scepter and brought it down upon Fang Senyan with sudden force!

Wrath of the King!

This strike was utterly seamless. Though the scepter seemed slow in its descent, following its trajectory brought an undeniable sense of inevitability. The very flow of time seemed to slow down by a thousand, perhaps ten thousand, times!

Though Fang Senyan could contend with Aragon’s protagonist’s fortune, he now faced the combined, fatal blow of the unified spiritual power of the Kings of Gondor across the ages. This strike pierced the barriers of time and space—irresistible, unavoidable, like fate descending—he could only endure!

The blow landed heavily upon Fang Senyan’s body. Though it was merely an illusion! Fang Senyan clearly heard a voice near his ear, one that chilled him to the bone:

“The opponent attempts an instant-death attack on you. Entering check... Check failed. Instant-death effect successful!” “You have been forcibly deducted 588,173 Health Points!!”

The direct consequence of this strike was that Fang Senyan remained rigidly frozen in place after being hit by the scepter. However, an identical black phantom was blasted out of his body. Though it struggled fiercely to return, the scepter shattered, and the black phantom, symbolizing Fang Senyan's soul, instantly fragmented—shattering into millions of glass-like shards!

This signified not just the soul leaving the body, but the soul itself shattering—like when Gandalf fought the Balrog, his body destroyed, but his powerful soul allowing for reconstruction and evolution. But if the soul shatters, it is utterly annihilated!

However, the emeralds symbolizing the serpent's eyes on the Ring of Barahir also cracked and shattered!

“Hah, hah, hah.” Aragon huddled in a corner, his face smeared with blood, panting like a wild beast. All pretense of kingship was gone. His body trembled violently, partly from the agony of the disease, and partly from the profound grief over the destruction of the Ring of Barahir—this artifact would take generations of accumulated power to restore.

But just then, a piercing shriek echoed through the air, like countless razor-thin, sharp weapons slicing through the atmosphere. Upon closer inspection, they were swarms of blood-red scythes!

The Scythes of Death!

With every arc of a scythe, space let out a mournful wail, and countless fragments of shattered soul flew back out from the fissures, rapidly reassembling in the air... Eight joined into four, four into two, two into one, finally piecing together Fang Senyan's completely intact soul, which snapped back into his body.

Talent Ability: Sigh of the Reaper activated!

This... how is this possible?!

Aragon’s final measure had been broken. He roared out loud, as if questioning the unfairness of fate. But the seemingly listless Fang Senyan suddenly exploded into action. Abyssal, held in his hand, lashed out several needle-sharp tendrils, plunging them straight into Aragon's throat.

Annihilation!

This sword strike was so swift that the anger on Aragon’s face had not yet transformed into pain. It was so brutal that it mangled the Adam's apple, vocal cords, trachea, arteries, and veins in Aragon's neck beyond recognition!

In distant Mordor, Sauron's Eye snapped open wide, the surrounding red light churning like flames. The Eye, originally twenty to thirty meters in diameter, somehow swelled to more than double its size for an unknown reason. The periphery was as bright as the sun, but the vertically opened pupil within shot forth dazzling brilliance.

“...What a delightfully sweet soul! What a tantalizing scent of blood! The taste of the direct line of Númenórean blood is forever so exquisite! Ah! This is a joy that sinks into the very bone, this intense stimulation—it's as irresistible as the Silmarils!”

The nearby Mount Doom was affected by Sauron’s joy, experiencing a brief eruption, with molten lava spilling over the edges. The Orcs of Mordor were also stimulated by Sauron’s dark power, and at least several thousand advanced in rank in that single instant.

For Sauron, the conquest of Middle-earth, stalled millennia ago by a callow Númenórean heir, had become a profound obsession. Now, the direct bloodline of Isildur was severed, and he died precisely where Sauron's power was most concentrated—this was the ultimate sacrifice, body, blood, and soul! It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted, and naturally, his power surged.

In the White Tower of Minas Tirith, Gandalf, who had been resting, suddenly sat bolt upright, gasping for air, filled with a dread as if the One Ring had been forced onto his finger.

This movement naturally aggravated his severe injuries, eliciting a fit of violent coughing and gasping. Blood even streamed down his beard onto his white robe, the white fabric and red blood creating a stark contrast.

But Gandalf paid no heed. His brow furrowed as he looked out the window. Dark clouds churned in the sky. When the Orc legions were routed, the shadow-curse cast by Sauron that had blocked the sun over the battlefield had begun to loosen, with faint sunlight starting to pierce through the clouds. But for some inexplicable reason, the darkness suddenly surged again, launching a full counterattack!

Suddenly, a mournful comet shot across the sky from the west, sweeping across Gandalf’s vision. Its long tail looked exceptionally desolate. Gandalf’s composure broke. The west was the homeland of the Dúnedain, Forochel. Such an omen signified the demise of a leading figure among the Dúnedain! An extremely ominous thought flashed through his mind... Could it be!!!

“How is this possible? We clearly held the upper hand! The Elven Prince and the mightiest Dwarf warrior were protecting him, and the spirits of the ancient Kings of Númenor watched over him! With the Orc commander Gasmor already slain, and surrounded by ten thousand loyal troops, how could anything happen to him while the enemy remnants were cornered in the Hall of the Dark Source?”

Isengard.

Upon the towering Orthanc tower.

Saruman’s white hair whipped in the wind. The fallen Maia, who had lived through several ages, suddenly lost his composure. He pressed one hand onto the Palantír, murmuring to himself.

“How could this be?? Has fate been overturned? Could this be an illusion sent by Sauron? No, that’s not it! This is indeed the scent of the royal blood of the Númenóreans; the anger and unwillingness within that soul cannot be faked!”

A bolt of lightning suddenly illuminated Saruman’s face. He sharply waved his staff, and the darkness, like a veil, was swept aside. Beneath Orthanc, masses of Uruk-hai were assembling.

After the devastating defeat at the Pelennor Fields, Saruman had already harbored rebellious thoughts. But as the Palantír revealed the situation like spilled mercury, Sauron's dominance reasserted itself with overwhelming force. Saruman dispatched his most elite Uruk-hai troops, his final reserves, to join the fray, taking orders from Sauron.

Though these elites might not arrive in time for the struggling battle at the Pelennor Fields, the Uruk-hai, by nature, were the best commanders. Interspersed among the Orc legions, they acted as the very bones and spine of the army, causing a massive leap in combat effectiveness.

With a loud "Crack!" like a water-filled balloon bursting at its limit, the Dark Gold Leech finally gave way under the frenzied assault of the Dwarf King Thráin and Legolas. A massive quantity of slimy, greenish-yellow fluid splattered across several hundred square meters, accompanied by a pungent, foul odor.

The fastidious Legolas charged forward heedlessly, ignoring the black-and-yellow slime still clinging to his face. Thráin moved even faster, stepping into the doorway first. But the moment he entered, he seemed to freeze, as if petrified!

Thráin freezing did not mean time stopped for everyone else. Fortunately, Legolas was quick enough to yank him back. A streak of blood-red, piercing light flashed, and a seemingly ordinary longsword pierced straight through his shoulder joint, emerging from his back. Once stained with blood, the blade instantly shone with menacing sharpness, and razor-thin lines could occasionally be seen flickering around the edge, suggesting that even the space near the blade was being violently torn.

Then Thráin took a kick—a kick aimed at the chest, but landing squarely on his face for a normal human—sending him flying backward. Yet, even sustaining such damage, Thráin’s expression was one of stunned disbelief!

Then everyone nearby understood the truth behind Thráin's stupor.

A massive hand reached out through the darkness!

Clutched tightly in the palm were strands of hair!

Beneath the hair was a head!

The head of a Dúnedain, descendant of Isildur, the Strider, son of Arathorn, leader of the Dúnedain, beloved of the Elven Princess Arwen, King of Gondor, bearer of the Holy Sword Andúril!! The king who held the protagonist’s fortune—the severed, bloody head of ARAGORN!!!

Severed rawly at the neck!

Immediately following, the owner of the hand appeared before them: a powerfully built youth whose eyes seemed to burn, framed by thick, rebellious black eyebrows. He surveyed the surroundings; though encircled by an army, he regarded them as nothing more than clay dogs and rotten wood.

“Next!”

Fang Senyan spoke simply, concisely, and decisively, then swiftly retreated back into the Hall of the Dark Source. The few weak volleys of arrows that followed flew harmlessly into the darkness, posing no threat to him.

Though Fang Senyan had lost his greatest trump card, the Sigh of the Reaper, he still possessed his Honor Potion and Holy Cure, unused—were these not trump cards?

More importantly, how many more opponents of Aragon’s caliber could the enemy produce to launch an assault? Especially after Aragon was defeated and killed under these circumstances! The blow to enemy morale would be devastating!

Furthermore, among the two remaining strong heroes of the Fellowship, the Dwarf King Thráin was heavily wounded and unlikely to charge again soon. The only one left was Legolas, whom Fang Senyan had deliberately kept in reserve... While his archery might be supreme, making him the greatest killer, against Fang Senyan equipped with the Hedgehog Milestone, he was inherently countered to the extreme. It was unrealistic to expect Legolas to discard his bow and charge forward with daggers!

Of course, there was the possibility of Contractors from the human side probing the defenses. But at the entrance of the Dark Hall he guarded, even without the boost of frenzy, Fang Senyan, having activated his AIDS ultimate ability, could be considered an impregnable fortress against all challengers!

Moreover, Fang Senyan had calculated precisely: Aragon’s death was enough to shock his enemies for about ten minutes. Coupled with the time spent delaying the battle and the drugs he had released from outside, combined with the extra healing and recovery effects within the Dark Source Hall, his elite team would fully recover their fighting strength in another half an hour!

Most importantly, Reef had not yet triggered the magma effect (Ice Cold) of Mount Doom. He was currently activating the Life Chain, and his Health had already recovered to half. If Fang Senyan were pressed, Reef could immediately break free to assist; holding the line would not be difficult.

The imposing front I presented was certainly enough to make the opposition hesitate, to make them think twice before striking!

The real stroke of genius, however, was that the Hall of the Dark Source could be breached in another four or five hours! A person stripped of all hope will fight on, even to the point of bleeding out, but if another path presents itself, they will naturally choose the easier route. RS