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Chess Piece
“The contract requires us to rescue them. You’re not getting ready to move?” The Snake Dowager stared at Leylin with her beautiful eyes. The power of law surrounding them was weakening, their powers being chipped away.
This was the penalty for violating the agreement. Still, it didn’t contain any malice or deliberate harm, only causing a slight drop in power which Leylin could handle.
“Not now. Shar has control of the situation, and within the Shadow World itself she’s currently invincible,” Leylin heavily shook his head.
Shar was a shrewd goddess, with a plan to solve all her problems in one fell swoop. She would surely have her ways to handle Leylin and the Snake Dowager, so if they rushed forward now they would effectively be falling into her trap. Even the Snake Dowager had no choice but to be prudent when facing this crazy and savage goddess.
“I feel the same way…” the Snake Dowager sighed.
But then, she was startled by a layer of large black clouds that covered the skies. Crimson lightning flashed as a precursor to a rain of blood, and a bloody storm fell upon the Shadow World.
Leylin could feel the entire world cheering with In the rainstorm, the depleted World Origin Force recovering before it fell below dangerous levels.
The Snake Dowager suddenly sighed, “Massa has fallen… I felt the annihilation of her truesoul…”
Shar’s cunning and power had obviously exceeded her imagination, causing her to lose confidence in her plan. A second rainstorm struck not long after.
The intellectual creatures of this world could feel grief and pain in a terrifying roar that resounded from the rainstorm, “AHHHH! MISTRESS OF THE NIGHT! ALLSNAKE! YOU…”
“Yuri couldn’t manage to escape either…”
“Trial! Trial! Trial!” A golden light shone through the western skies after Yuri’s death, and phantom vertical eye appeared in mid-air.
Violent lightning tore through the Shadow Weave, and the huge eye instantly split into two. One was surrounded by the Shadow Weave, while the other took the chance to escape the bounds of the world into the astral plane.
“The Trial’s Eye managed to escape, but with serious injury,” Leylin sighed, “Two fell, and one escaped with heavy injuries. Three existences of law lost their power in a split second. Such effort and scheming is truly worthy of the Mistress of the Night.”
*Crack!* The imprint of a jar shattered in the Snake Dowager’s hands. She furrowed her brows as she told Leylin, “I just received news from the Trial’s Eye. It plans to return to the Purgatory World, and won’t be coming back.”
“Seems like it suffered heavy injuries,” Leylin nodded, fear lingering within him. The Trial’s Eye had been quite unlucky this time round. Of course, compared to the other two who fell, it could be considered lucky.
“However, with a lack of preparation to advance the world itself, this would be suicidal behaviour on the part of the World Will. We can conclude that Shar has more than 50% control over the world.”
The Snake Dowager nodded imposingly at Leylin’s conclusion.
The advancement of a world was no joking matter. Even if it expanded in size, the current Shadow World would face great danger if it tried to advance without accumulating enough origin force or making progress in its civilisation.
The cities that had originally been brimming with elemental power were affected by the advancement, dropping in energy concentration. A chain reaction was triggered, but its effects were yet to show themselves.
Leylin believed this move would render half of the original Shadow World barren, and the soil would lose its fertility. Without sufficient food, the humans would suffer heavy casualties.
With the reducing number of intelligent creatures and the death of the flora, the World Will would weaken. It would have to suffer the consequences of all this damage, so it was effectively committing suicide. An independent World Will would never do such a thing. This made it clear that the majority of the World Will was now under Shar’s control.
Leylin faintly felt like this was only a half-advancement, merely an expansion of size. The energy it required for this was much smaller, so the situation could be stabilised, albeit barely, with a few existences of law as sacrifices.
……
Within the imperial palace, Princess Ling rushed to Emperor Aragon’s side, “Father!”
“Yes. What happened? Rest assured, I can handle the news!” Emperor Aragon ordered impatiently.
“Yes…” Ling glanced secretly at the emperor, taking a deep breath before reporting the bad news, “The data says this is a level 9 earthquake. Half the capital has already fallen into ruin. We don’t have data about the other cities yet, but the situation there isn’t looking good either. We’ve lost contact with several coastal cities that have experienced both earthquakes and tsunamis…
“Estimates say more than ten billion citizens were affected, and the damage extends throughout the empire. It poses a fatal blow to our economy, and experts are saying that the famine and plagues that will follow are going to exhaust our food reserves. In the worst case scenario… in the worst case scenario…”
Ling couldn’t continue speaking, but her trembling voice already made everything clear— this disaster was enough to destroy the whole empire.
“Haha…” Emperor Aragon instead calmed down after hearing the news, his laughter like that of an injured wolf.
“Great Master, are you prepared to abandon us?” Aragon’s bleak expression ultimately turned into madness. “Ling! Don’t you think it’s best chance now? No matter how hard we try to remedy the situation, the whole empire won’t be able to avoid the fate of destruction. We might as well do it ourselves!”
Ling silently pondered over the matter. Indeed, what her father said made sense. This terrifying disaster would be the root cause of the empire’s destruction anyway, but if the Tree of Life Project was initiated the entire empire could grow immortal and wipe out the rebel existences.
“Moreover… that voice at the end, you heard it as well, didn’t you?” Emperor Aragon’s eyes sparkled. “The Allsnake has returned alongside an unknown existence. This follows the prophecy left behind in the Book of Salvation by Ari!”
“That indeed is an astonishing power… If it weren’t because of the disaster, I’m afraid that it we would have questioned its existence…” Ling couldn’t help but think back to the voice that rang out in the hearts of all intelligent creatures, as well as that unresigned roar. Especially the name of Allsnake, it was exactly the same as in Ari’s prophecy.
“With the arrival of our mistress of ancient times, the flames of rebellion will rise,” Emperor Aragon mumbled. He then waved suddenly, “Ling, go out and reveal the second half of the Book of Salvation to the rebel soldiers.”
“What do you intend to do?” Ling hesitated. The existence of a rebel organisation was no secret in the army.
“Release the news to the rebel organisation. We need them to attract the attention of the ancient master and restrict her. We might earn enough time to complete the alternate Tree of Life…” Aragon’s eyes flashed with cunning. To scheme against multiple existences of law at the same time was like dancing on sharp knives.
“I shall obey!” Ling left after a moment’s hesitation. Outside the secret chamber, she moved to a high platform where she could see the entire capital in a mess. Even with the protection of advanced technology and the Shadow Weave, half the city had been destroyed.
More than ten million people were wandering the streets aimlessly and crying. It had a serious impact on social security. Even though the empire’s special disaster relief team backed by its wealth could appease millions, the scale of the disaster greatly exceeded even their limits.
“Alas… Is such a beautiful and glorious empire in its twilight? What awaits us at the end of this path, total darkness or the light of dawn?” A single tear dripped down her face.
……
Night time. Leylin and Allsnake were seated in a hall, enjoying a candlelight dinner as Crowley waited on them from the side with humility and respect.
“Mistress!” Crowley had received some news from the Bloodline Alliance, “People from the Bloodline Alliance have contacted me hoping to receive your guidance.”
“Do they know of our existence?” Leylin wiped his lips with a white napkin. He felt like the technological advancement of the Shadow World had spilled over into their culinary skills.
“Yes. Bobbi’s saying a member of the rebel soldiers gave her a part of the Book of Salvation that details Mistress’s existence. The prophecy says you are the one true saviour!” Crowley said with excitement.
“Blind Ari?” The Snake Dowager gently closed her eyes, seemingly trying to sense something. “Familiar yet strange… This prophetic power, is she a reincarnation of the prophet Kalle?”
“So, what do you plan to do?” Leylin laughed. Their dinner done, Xavier tidied up the table and placed a chessboard on it. He was dressed like a waiter.
“What do you think?” The Snake Dowager gazed at Leylin
“We’re currently the king and queen,” Leylin pointed to the core of the board, “the most important cards. We shouldn’t throw that away so easily, instead sending some pawns first to test the waters.”
Having said that, he picked up a pawn and moved it one step forward.