"You see now, Rick?" the Emperor asked smoothly. His deep voice vibrated in Rick's bones. "You fight so hard to heal the world. You give up your own life to save these people. But the people you are trying to save are rotten to the core."The Emperor knelt down. He was so huge he blocked out the light in the room. "The sickness is not me," the Emperor whispered. "The sickness is humanity. They are selfish. They are greedy. Even your precious doctors will murder a poor man if it means they can avoid death for one more day."The Emperor reached out his massive, gray hand. He gently touched Rick’s shaking shoulder. "Stop fighting me, Ghost Doctor," the Emperor said softly. "Why do you bleed for a city that chose to be evil? Why do you protect politicians and doctors who feed children to my machines? Let me wipe them out. Let me release the Ancient Rot into the inner city. I will melt the rich. I will melt the corrupt healers. I will cleanse the world of this rotten foundation."Rick ke

"His body is not made of poison," Ash cried. "His body is built from the stolen souls of the poor people. There are a hundred thousand innocent, crying ghosts trapped inside his muscles. If I use the void... if I eat his magic... I will eat all the innocent souls. I will delete them forever. They are begging me not to eat them."Rick froze. The blood drained completely from his face. He stared at the Emperor of Rot. The Emperor smiled a cruel, victorious smile. "She is right, Doctor," the Emperor laughed deeply. "I am not a magical beast anymore. I am a living graveyard. My strength comes from the innocent people I harvested. If you strike me with destructive magic, you are killing a hundred thousand innocent victims. I am perfectly shielded by your own compassion."Rick lowered his glowing green staff. His hands shook. He could not blast the Emperor with a massive wave of green fire. He could not cut him to pieces. Every single blow he landed would destroy the souls of the people h

Rick saw a man sitting up in his bed, looking out a fake window at a fake, painted blue sky. The man was smiling. It was a wide, perfectly calm, happy smile. Rick opened the door and stepped into the room. "Hello," Rick said softly. The man turned his head. He looked at Rick. His eyes were glowing with a very faint, soft blue light. "Hello, friend," the man smiled happily. "Isn't it a beautiful day?"Rick walked closer to the bed. "Do you know where you are?""Of course," the man nodded. "I am in the Sanctuary. The High Healers brought me here. They are so kind."Rick frowned. "But you are from Sector Nine. You work in the acid factories. Do you remember the junkyard?"The man tilted his head. He looked slightly confused for a second, but then his perfect smile returned. "The junkyard?" the man asked calmly. "No. I do not think about bad things anymore. Bad things hurt. The doctors here gave me a wonderful medicine. It is the perfect cure. I never feel pain anymore. I am completel

Doctor Aris raised his hand. He pointed at Luna. "Nerve Collapse," Doctor Aris chanted. He fired a thin, invisible wave of dark magic directly at Luna. Luna could not see it to block it. The magic hit her chest. Instantly, Luna gasped. The heavy iron wrench fell from her hand. Her legs turned to jelly. She collapsed onto her knees on the metal floor. It felt like a million burning needles were stabbed into her spine. She could not move her arms. She could not breathe properly. The corrupt doctor had paralyzed her nervous system. "Luna!" Auditor Isaac shouted from the high walkway above. Isaac aimed his silver pistol at Doctor Aris and pulled the trigger. The gun did not fire. The white deletion battery was completely empty. Isaac threw the useless gun to the ground in frustration. Doctor Aris laughed loudly. "The Auditor is out of tricks. And the Ghost Doctor is busy letting the Emperor digest him. You are totally alone, girl."Doctor Aris pulled a long, sharp silver scalpel f

The black ice was incredibly thick. It closed completely over Rick. Inside the soul of the Emperor of Rot, Rick was trapped. The dark, freezing ice covered his arms. It covered his legs. It covered his face. He could not move. He could not breathe. Above him, he could hear the terrible, loud laughing of the Emperor. Rick knew what was happening in the real world. The giant monster was holding Luna by her throat. The monster was lifting her into the air. Luna was choking. Her brown eyes were terrified. “I have to break the ice,” Rick thought. He tried to summon his roaring, brilliant green Earth Qi. He wanted to explode like a bomb and shatter the cage. But as he pushed his magic outward, the black ice only grew thicker. "Fighting the ice makes it stronger," Rick realized in the dark. "The Emperor feeds on struggle. If I punch the wall, the wall eats my fist."Rick stopped fighting. He was a master surgeon. A surgeon does not use a hammer to perform a delicate operation. A surge