"If I don't try, how am I supposed to avenge my mother, my siblings, and all those friends and relatives who died? The Great Emperer Roselle once said: 'Despicableness is the despicable man's pass, and nobility the epitaph of the noble.'"
"To deal with a despicable man, I can only be even more despicable!"
Adam released his fingers. "I hope you won't regret this."
"Thank you."
Edessak coughed up blood again and again, yet the quill in his hand only moved faster. Unfortunately, more and more of the words he wrote were either crossed out or vanished the moment they were completed.
His influence on George III's apotheosis grew weaker and weaker.
Lilith couldn't help but snap, "Hey! Trissy risked her life just so you could survive!"
Edessak looked over weakly. "This so-called 'love' was built on lies and arrangement from the very beginning. Everything was fake. Heh…even that woman's identity was fake."
"My father was fake. My feelings were fake. My status as Loen's heir was fake…"
Holding the quill, he let out a wretched smile. "And now, the hope I clung to…is also fake. Perhaps even my obsession with taking revenge on George III was something you lofty beings forcefully instilled in me…also fake."
"So…instead of continuing this false existence, perhaps dying would be better. If I can drag George III down with me, then at least, when people speak of me in the future—'Edessak, the man who dragged the vile George III off his divine throne'—that part would at least be real!"
Lilith planted her hands on her waist. "Adam, Amon, look at the mess you two created— you've driven the poor guy insane."
"So! To save such a pitiful man, Miss Lilith shall act without hesitation!"
The moment her words fell, Lilith and the quill in Edessak's hand vanished abruptly. A faint golden light flickered across Adam's eyes, and suddenly, countless pitch-black stone pillars rose around them, supporting a vast and magnificent cathedral.
Inside this cathedral, every pillar, every arch, every inch of the domed ceilings was inlaid with bones of different races. Dense clusters of eye sockets encircled a cross hundreds of meters tall.
Snap.
With a crisp snap of fingers, the space inside the cathedral shattered as if made of glass, breaking into countless fragmented mirrors. Within each reflected surface stood a Lilith.
In every mirror, her expressions and movements differed drastically. Each Lilith unleashed a different kind of ability—mountains collapsed, the earth split, floods surged, tsunamis roared, plagues and viruses poured forth—engulfing the Cathedral of Bones.
In an instant, under the successive impacts, the entire structure teetered on the brink of destruction. Its walls, roof, and even that massive cross all split with thick, spreading cracks.
"Farewell, all of you!"
Just as the Corpse Cathedral collapsed, every Lilith in every broken mirror turned at the same time and leapt into the depths, disappearing, fleeing far away through the layered worlds of mirrors.
But just as she was about to exit through another mirror, she suddenly felt her body halt. The scene before her warped—and in the blink of an eye, she was back inside the inn.
Before she could even steady herself, the quill in her hand was taken by a completely calm Adam.
Lilith erupted, "Amon!!!"
———
Outside the secret mausoleum of East Chester County.
Bernadette ultimately fell short by two full sequences compared to William Augustus I. Even with several Grade 0 Sealed Artifacts, the gulf was still far too vast to bridge.
Although their battle had inflicted some damage on the mausoleum, under William Augustus I's maintenance, it never collapsed. And now, Bernadette's Sealed Artifacts were about to unleash their negative side effects. She knew she could no longer destroy the mausoleum, so she withdrew the artifacts and prepared to leave.
But William Augustus I pursued relentlessly. With a single prohibition against Spirit World travel, he dragged Bernadette back, then attempted to completely kill the Queen Mystic, who once dominated the Five Seas—Roselle's daughter!
———
The secret mausoleum downstream of the Tussok River.
Klein's battle with Zaratul quickly slipped into defeat. After all, his Sequence 3 state was only temporarily acquired, whereas Zaratul was a seasoned Sequence 2 powerhouse—and on top of that, He had actually summoned Suah of the Rose School of Thought!
Klein had once seen Suah from afar in Bayam when the abomination chased Edward. With Lilith's explanations afterwards, he had learned that this being was a Sequence 1 Angel.
He was already risking his life fighting Zaratul. Now there was a Sequence 1 Angel added on top of it. The only thing left for him was—run.
But at this moment, both Mr. Azik's and Miss Messenger's projections were entangled by the historical projections Zaratul had pulled out. Meanwhile, Suah tore through the Spirit World, extending black arms filled with curses and corrosive aura toward Klein from all directions.
He dodged them with difficulty, one after another, but the curses and erosion radiating from those arms still inflicted severe damage on his spirituality and physical body.
Feeling the stabbing pain coming from his spirituality, Klein grabbed at the void again. Wearing her layered cake dress and old-fashioned hat, Bernadette leapt out from the crevice of history. Her eyes were empty, and following Klein's command, she rushed straight toward Sia Aah in obstruction.
Klein did not stop. He reached out again, but the first attempt failed—he had tried to pull out Edward's historical projection. According to Priscilla's description and Lilith's confirmation, Edward was also a Sequence 2 powerhouse at the moment, and even belonged to the Apprentice pathway. Whether or not he was strong in combat was debatable, but in terms of escape abilities, he was unquestionably unmatched.
Damn it, Edward, oh Edward—are we not brothers-in-arms anymore?
How can I not pull out your historical projection?
Was all that camaraderie just fake plastic brotherhood? Have I misjudged you?!
While cursing in his heart, Klein continued working. He pulled out several random cannon fodder figures, but unfortunately, under Suah's aura, these cannon fodder projections immediately mutated and turned on Klein instead.
Klein snapped his fingers several times, transforming into flames and teleporting rapidly forward. Then he leapt into the Historical Void again—only to be greeted by Zaratul, who had been waiting for quite some time!
Klein immediately summoned the projection of the Sea God's Sceptre. A storm of lightning crashed down toward Zarath. At the same time, he pulled out the marionette Qonas' projection, unleashing full firepower to block Zaratul, and hurriedly jumped out of the crevice of history.
Waiting for him outside was—Suah.
"This time…I'm definitely dead."
Klein's heart sank. He performed several consecutive flaming jumps to widen the distance between himself and Suah as much as possible. But then, a swirl of flames suddenly blocked his path—the flames condensed into Zaratul once more. Behind Him followed Roselle from the Emperor era—a powerful distorting force descended upon Klein.
He had nowhere to retreat. No way to escape.
Yet Klein refused to accept his fate. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind—a certain person. Seizing that idea, he poured his remaining spirituality into his hand and yanked hard at the void—
A hooded woman in classical robes, beautiful yet expressionless, was dragged out from the crevice of history—the very "senior member" of the Church of the Evernight Goddess who had once helped him and sent him into the foggy town.
The moment she appeared, Klein's spirituality nearly dried up entirely. It felt as though countless steel needles were piercing his brain. The agony was so intense he almost fainted.
Zaratul's originally placid expression changed instantly—terror, panic, shock, bewilderment. His eyes widened. He only managed to utter a single "No"—before he was erased once again like a sketch wiped clean by an eraser, leaving only Emperor Roselle's historical projection standing dazedly in midair.
A moment later, Roselle's eyes flashed—and the projection dissipated entirely.
———
Outside Backlund, within the "Site 1" ruins—
With the sapphire ring as her aid, Trissy completed her transformation, advancing from Sequence 5 to Sequence 4 Demoness of Despair. Her hair lifted strand by strand, each one thickening like a small snake. Their outer layers became slick and eerily strange. At their tips, some grew sharp black-and-white eyeballs, while others sprouted serpent-like heads with half-open mouths, flicking their tongues.
Around Trissy, grayish-white coloration spread outward rapidly like a living tide. Wherever it passed, stone grew harder, and everything else turned into stone.
All the rituals originally arranged inside Site 1 were tainted by the grayish-white petrification. Prince Grove was instantly surrounded by the spreading greyness pouring in from the void. He could only rely on the scorching radiance emitted from the thorned crown above his head to maintain a tiny safe zone. Anything he attempted to say or do became completely sealed off, unable to escape the boundaries of light.
Trissy shot Prince Grove a cold glance. Cloaked in a mass of sky-obscuring serpent hair, she stepped toward the secret mausoleum at the bottom of the shadowy ravine.
But at that moment, her body trembled.
Fragments of memory flashed through her mind—Triss before becoming a woman; Trissy when the Demoness Sect forced her into Prince Edessak's bed; Trissy indulging in pleasure with him; and, stronger than anything, Trissy as she was twisted by one arrangement after another, becoming less and less like herself.
A fierce anger surged from deep within her heart. Her mind became cold, sharp, and terrifyingly clear:
What am I doing right now?
What stupidity am I committing?
I was actually willing to sacrifice myself—to help Edessak?
I finally escaped control. I finally have the chance to live freely. So why would I suddenly make such an idiotic choice?
This isn't love—it's humiliation. Humiliation imposed upon me by someone else's arrangements!
No.
No. No!
I will break free from the shackles those arrangements forced upon me. My life must be mine alone to decide. I refuse to be manipulated ever again. I want to leave this place—leave Backlund—far, far away from everything in my past!
Trissy abruptly turned around. Under Prince Grove's bewildered gaze, she walked out of the mausoleum. She kept walking, farther and farther, until she disappeared completely from sight.
And as she departed, the petrification in the mausoleum gradually receded.
Feeling the crisis dissipate, Prince Grove leapt out of the mausoleum in pursuit, only to find that Trissy had truly left.
"Just a little more and we would have succeeded…Why would she suddenly leave? Was she scared of dying after all?"
———
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