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You should know that Godwin was someone who could fight the ancient dragon Fulsancus to a standstill, so how could he be killed by the black-knife assassin without any precautions?

That's an ancient dragon. Considering Granzanx's height of three or four hundred meters, even Zicomo couldn't guarantee he could take down a dragon that big.

After all, wings are on other people's bodies; if they can't win, they can escape. Don't assume that being big means being clumsy; dragons can fly faster than you can imagine.

Another point is that to form two incomplete death curse marks, two demigod-level beings need to die simultaneously. And as is well known, there were two initial victims of the Night of Conspiracy.

One is Lani, whose body has died, and the other is Godwin, whose soul has died. One is in the Divine Tower of Lienia, and the other is in the royal city. For them to die simultaneously, it could not have been achieved through a sudden assassination.

Based on this analysis, Zicomo had two theories. One was that Godwin was aware of the situation and willingly became one of the initial victims. The other was that the death of the dead prince was a premeditated act by someone.

The word "conspiracy" in "Night of Conspiracy" may not refer to a conspiracy to assassinate Godwin.

The real conspiracy may be to allow the power of death to corrupt Godwin, thus bringing him back to life, and then spreading the power of death along the roots of the Golden Tree to various destinations in the borderlands, forming dead roots and corrupting other lives, thus turning these lives into the dead.

This also explains why the dead prince's body was found deep within the roots. It's highly likely he was assassinated by those black-knife assassins and his body was dumped there.

In Zicomo's mind, there was only one person who could have orchestrated and accomplished all of this: the Eternal Queen, Marika.

If the situation is indeed as Zicomo's second guess suggests, the ultimate goal of this night of conspiracy is to disrupt the return of Gold Fundamentals through the roots of the Golden Tree.

This is exactly the same as Marika's purpose in breaking the Elden Ring: to break the rigidity of class and allow life to continue to evolve, rather than returning to its original state after death.

Another piece of evidence supporting the claim that Marika orchestrated the event is that in the game, players are teleported to the Sky City of Fambe after burning a tree.

Although the Dragon King Platonsax resides at the eye of the storm, he is a hidden boss. The true story boss that players must defeat is Marika's shadow, Maricus, a minion of the Black Sword. Players cannot enter the Golden Tree without killing the Black Sword.

The Predestined Death, or Death Rune, is sealed within Maricus.

However, among the many runes, this is the only one that players cannot obtain. The Death Rune is released after defeating Maricus. So where does the power of the Death Rune go?

The answer lies with Melina and the dead Prince Godwin.

In the Madfire ending, Melina will say she will deliver the player's destined death, that is, kill the player who caused the Madfire. This is Marika's way of preventing the Madfire, because the Madfire is not the ending she wants, so she left a portion of the power of the Death Rune to Melina.

What Marika truly desires is to transfer the power of the Death Rune. And the person she has chosen is her eldest son, Godwin.

Although Godwin was corrupted by death, he also inherited the power of the Death Rune, and had long since corrupted the borderlands with the power of death, becoming the king of the Deadborn.

The release of the Death Rune will grant Godwin most of its power, which will undoubtedly strengthen Godwin's Death Power.

The replenishment of the power of death increases Godwin's chances of regaining life from death. Perhaps, like Michaela's cocoon of divine slumber, he will one day be reborn from the ashes.

His chances of success are even much greater than Michaela's, because Michaela's cocoon has already been destroyed by Monger. The Dead Prince, on the other hand, is undisturbed deep within the roots, giving him ample time to await his resurrection.

Of course, if he's lucky enough to encounter the Sleeping Maiden, who helps him merge the two Death Curses into one, forming his own Death Rune, which the Faded Ones will then use as the law in the open to usher in a new era.

He then became the new deity of both the light and dark sides of the boundary.

Even if the Faded One chose a different ending, he could still become a dark deity who wields the power of death runes in the Borderlands.

Even in the endgame of Madfire, Melina will hunt down the Faded Ones who have become Madfire Kings. Godwin, on the other hand, will simply lie there as a corpse, quietly awaiting his own time to come.

In a sense, Godwin was the biggest winner at the border.

Chapter 158 Marika's Layered Schemes, the Resolute Sleeping Girl

In a sense, Godwin was the biggest winner at the border.

Because the only risk he might face in the entire event was how to become one of the initial deaths of a demigod along with Lani.

At this point, Zicomo's first guess is no longer relevant.

Whether Godwin knew about the conspiracy or not, he was the biggest beneficiary of the event. Marika had orchestrated everything; her scheme was meticulously planned, with each step linked to the next.

First, they orchestrated the Night of Conspiracy, making Godwin and Lani the initial victims among the demigods, and then, through a bug-like method, allowed both of them to survive.

Lani survives in spirit, while Godwin survives in body.

Some might think that Lani was the mastermind behind the night of conspiracy, aiming to abandon her divine body and break free from the constraints of the two fingers. But as Lani's queen, Zicomo knew very well that she was definitely not the mastermind.

After the Night of the Plot, Marika shattered the Ring of Elden, trapping herself and Rdagan within the Golden Tree. She then sent her offspring, who had not participated in the Night of the Plot, to join the Shattered War, giving them the opportunity to become kings or gods.

(Radagan is Marika, so in a sense, the maternal relatives are also Marika's offspring.)

However, these offspring were useless; none of them satisfied Marika.

Do you all remember the blasphemous claw that Raccard accepted from Lani as a gift during the Night of Conspiracy?

This item can deflect the power of the black sword Maricus, and is Raccard's trump card for challenging Maricus in the future.

Challenging Maricus was a responsibility that Marika entrusted to Lakkad, with the aim of releasing the destined dead.

Ideally, the Death Rune could be released during the Shattered War. However, Rakad's will was corrupted by the Great Serpent, turning him into a hideous monster driven by greed, and that path was thus abandoned.

In fact, Marika had already decided on the victor of the Broken War, namely Michaela.

Because Michaela is the only one among all of Marika's children who openly rejected the fundamentalist laws of gold and established her own "pure gold" laws.

However, Marika's plans were thwarted by her unfilial third son, Munger, who worshipped the Outer God, the True Mother.

Mongols dug Michaela out of the cocoon of the sacred tree, and a series of subsequent events disqualified Michaela from competing for the position of a god.

This even led to a fragmented war with no real winners.

So after the defeat in the War of Shattered, Marika activated her second plan, recalling the Faded Ones who had been banished from the Borderlands, including her first husband, the First King Gofrey.

It is obvious that Ge Fulei is the predetermined winner in this case.

Here's a detail: Melina was resurrected during this period. She happened to encounter Zicomo, who was newly arrived in the borderlands.

She was resurrected for two purposes: one was to burn away the thorns at the entrance of the Golden Tree that rejected everything, and the other was to prevent the Mad Fire ending from happening.

Poor Wood, he's truly just a tool.

Even if none of the Faded Ones become the new King of Elden, and the borderlands remain in chaos, Marika still has a backup plan.

Her backup plan was none other than the dead Prince Godwin.

Even without the emergence of a new King of Elden, Godwin's deathly power continues to spread throughout the entire borderlands, and the unborn continue to be born in an endless stream.

In any case, he will eventually become a god who controls the power of death in the borderlands, or perhaps a king.

It can be said that Godwin is the undisputed king of easy wins in the entire border region.

However, the lucky dead prince unfortunately encountered a special faded one today, named Zicomo.

…………

Deep down, Zicomo snapped out of his profound contemplation and remembered the purpose of his visit.

He stepped over countless black thorns that symbolized death and arrived at the foot of the main root of the golden tree, before the dead prince.

The sleepless girl, Fia, sat quietly in front of the dead prince. Compared to Lani's solemn and dignified posture after hunting down Two Fingers, Fia appeared much more delicate.

When she saw Zicomo arrive, she frowned and summoned the spirit of the hero who had once been kind to her.

Although she had worked with Zicomo before, she didn't know whether Zicomo was friend or foe now, and with her mission nearing completion, she didn't want to take that risk.

However, how could the heroes she summoned be a match for Zicomo?

Zicomo took out the Death Prince Staff, which had been upgraded to the maximum level, and with a few summoning vengeful spirit spells, he defeated Fia's hero.

As Zicomo slowly walked towards her, Fia said, "You really came. I expected it. So what do you intend to do? Are you going to deny everything about us like those rude Golden Law fundamentalists? If so, then please do it!"

Her voice was filled with fragility, helplessness, and powerlessness, yet also with fearlessness. She had found her mission: to once again fulfill the duties of the sleepless maiden as the bedmate of the dead prince.

Therefore, she was not afraid of even death.

Zicomo rolled his eyes and said, "Hey, have you forgotten that we used to work together? I'd like to ask you, why did you suddenly order someone to attack me?"

"I'm sorry, I acted without consulting you because I wasn't sure if you would become my enemy. I'm very sorry," Fia said after her apology. "So, what is your purpose in coming here?"

"I've come here to give this to you."

As Zicomo spoke, he removed Lani's half of the death curse mark.

"Ah...that's Godwin's Stigmata. I got half of it in the Hall of the Round Table, but I never expected the other half to be in your hands. Please, please give it to me!"

Fia looked at Zicomo, her eyes filled with expectation.

Zicomo was slightly surprised. He had assumed the other half was with the dead prince, but it turned out to be in the Round Table Hall. Could it be that Roger found it?

Zicomo was thinking about the problem, but his hands didn't stop moving.

He handed the Death Mark to Fia, who took it and said gratefully, "Thank you! Now Godwin can become a pure First Dead, and I will definitely be able to restore his noble life to him."

She continued, "You are my... no, you are our hero. There's only so much I can do, even if it's just for a moment, let me hold you tight!"

This time, Zicomo did not refuse. He knelt down and let Fia's thin arms embrace his head.

Fia buried Zicomo's head in her chest, and the warmth of her embrace and the sound of her beating heart brought Zicomo a sense of peace.

Zicomo didn't want to think about anything at that moment; he just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet.

After a long while, Fia maintained her current posture and took out a portion of grace from her body.

The grace resembled a bedroom in a secret temple, but unlike the grace she had given to Zikomo before, this grace radiated a warm light.

Zicomo knew its name was "The Grace of the Translucent Curtain," a grace that the Sleeping Girl received only once in her life, the only thing she could control.

At other times, the Sleeping Maiden exists only as a tool to resurrect great men.

"This is the only thing I can give you, please accept it," Fia said.

Zicomo accepted the favor, and seeing that Zicomo had accepted it, Fia continued, "I will soon be sharing a bed with Godwin. I will repair the stigmata and make him a pure primordial dead, instead of the soulless demigod he is now."