Shadow of the Evil God

"My ancestors told me to defend myself." Alanti glared at him. "She retreated into her eggshell and threw me out, saying she couldn't help me act anymore."

"Didn't you cut her apart yourself?"

"Her memories contain too many unstable things. I want to keep them and wait until I am able to fully master them before accepting them. By then, they won't be able to escape from me even if they want to."

"No, if you think about it normally, isn't it about finding a way to break free from those curses?" Cesar asked her back.

Arlandi leaned forward, forehead to forehead, eyes to eyes. Her voice was both childish and cruel: "Even if they are curses, they are my curses. My soul is here and you want it to leave? How could such a good thing happen? What have I done for the memories of my ancestors, only to pass them on to the next generation?"

"That's what the Liar Prophet said," Cesar said. "I don't know if she lied or not, but she said this was her fate and yours."

"This is impossible—the love and beauty promised to the next generation are mine, and the love and beauty promised to the next generation are also mine. As long as I hold on to them and don't let go, all the destinies, all the revelations, and all the promises in the future will also be mine."

"What about Milava?"

"I just wiped the dust off him and put it away. What's wrong with transforming from an old, soul-decrepit Milava back into the spirited young man he once was?"

"Your ancestors called you an evil creature, do you know

Do you know the meaning of this name?"

"I don't care about that," said Alante. "Fini calls the gods demons. What I want to ask is—"

Cesar reached out and grasped her shoulders. "Do you remember what I told you, mistress? Keep these ancestral memories in you. Even after so much has happened, my hope remains unchanged. Whether you were the cruel and insatiable girl at the beginning, or the Queen of Farran later, or even the so-called evil creature now, my promise remains the same and will not change. It has nothing to do with who you are, but only with the fact that you are Allandi. Do you understand? Even if your ancestors want you to pass them on to the next generation, I will prevent this from happening."

Arlanda stared at him for a moment. "You're such a liar, Cesar," she said suddenly. "You weren't so good at talking when I was hiding you away to admire you."

"Because the revelation that fate is bringing you is not the Cesar you hid back then, my lady," Cesar said to her, "it's the Cesar before you, the shadow you called out from the little Cesar in the castle. Or rather, it's me, the Cesar who appeared a thousand years after your death."

"That's true..." Alanti pondered, "Just like wine tastes better after being stored in a cellar for a while, then..."

He pinched her cute little face, hugged her waist and knees, and kissed her lips as she looked at him. Then he lifted her jaw and bit the tip of her tongue. As he kissed her, her cheeks gradually turned pink, spreading from her ears to her neck.

"I'm telling the truth," Cesar said, parting his lips slightly, with a trace of saliva still sticking to the tip of his tongue. "Whatever you want, we can wait until you solve the puzzle of the Tomb of the Wise. What do you think, mistress? Anyway, let Milava..."

"The ancestors said you were lying." Allandi said suddenly.

Even as she said that, she closed her eyes and bit down, taking the tip of his tongue in her mouth and licking it lightly. A breath of air came out of her mouth, carrying a hint of warmth and spreading over him, making him feel a little intoxicated. Just as he was about to reply, she suddenly turned into an ethereal shadow. The girl in his arms also inexplicably sank a little, and then her silky black hair fell from it.

A pair of dark eyes suddenly opened, staring at him dazedly for a moment, then narrowed again, squeezing out two sleepy tears. The guy's eyelashes were stained with water droplets, and he looked confused, as if he had multiple personalities vying for control, like someone being bullied but unable to resist.

Milava's eyelashes were indeed quite long, and against his snow-white face, he looked both heroic and delicate. His and Alanti's sinister beauty had two distinct qualities: one that evoked pity, the other that simply made her want to weep.

Cesar tried to put the Emperor down with a nonchalant smile, but he grabbed his collar and asked, "Did you just make a promise to Allandi?"

"I thought you would be busy going down first," said Cesar.

"Once or twice is enough," Milawa said. "I'm not in the mood to worry about this right now. The more I worry about this kind of thing, the more like old Milawa I become. I just want to ask you, did you make a promise to Allandi, teacher?"

Cesar decided to retract his previous assessment. The Emperor of France did not inspire sympathy; that was an illusion created by his weakness. "I made this promise before you came up to me and called me teacher," he said.

"But she is only a part of my soul now. Those are your exact words," said Milava.

"I recognize her personality. She is still Allandi, not you."

He seemed to grit his teeth. "To put it another way, since she's in my soul, and you promised to give her the memories of our ancestors and the deepest secrets of the Tomb of the Wise, then that means they're sealed here with me, and you're giving them to me, too, right?"

"this......"

"Then I'll take that as my own," Milava said decisively. "Now, I want you to say that you will make the memories of Arlanti's ancestors and the deepest secrets of the Tomb of the Wise mine, and let me take them with me. Can you promise me that?"

"You also want to take advantage of..."

"Never mind what I will do with them, Master, I will hold fast to those things which frighten me. Old Milava has forgotten what she ought to do, but I will not. My hopes are in keeping with yours, are they not? Why not add to Alranti's promise and make it mine?"

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that it's the promise you made to me," Milava said. "Also, you're eager to know what happened in the Crimson Realm here, and how you were sent to Noiin's altar, aren't you? I'd rather tell you directly, without having to go through all the hassles with Alanti and her ancestors."

Chapter 444: Slaves Sacrificed to True Knowledge

......

It wasn't a sanctuary, but more like a dark room inscribed with strange spells. It was only twice the size of the altar where Cesar had first awakened. A straw mat was spread on the floor, serving as a bed. Ferris dragged the blood-red shadow inside and left to argue. Cesar studied himself on the mat for a moment, realizing he no longer had any visible features, only barely resembling the outline of a human.

As if to make him more comfortable, Ferriers placed his arms at his sides and left him lying on his back, but that didn't really make any sense. His form was fluid, sometimes collapsing, sometimes expanding. If it weren't for the blood-shimmering spell in the dark room, he would have turned into a bloody mist right there.

Looking outside the dark room, the dense forests of the Crimson Realm were just as dark and deep. Crimson trees tangled and intertwined like flayed human flesh, clogging the sky and covering the earth, completely blocking vision in every direction. The place was filled with the fragrant smell of blood, like the aroma of rich wine, making one want to melt from the inside out, disintegrate into fragments of organs and flesh.

The tree roots, brimming with longing, wriggled and writhed in the darkness, sighing with lust. From the veiled sky seemed to rain blood, dripping through the cracks between the huddled trees, sticky and foul.

Cesar saw the branches of trees not far away tangled together, transforming into naked, skinless corpses, a gorgeous and eerie sight. They dangled from the treetops, swaying unsteadily, calling out to everyone in the shelter.

The blood rain slowly flowed along the heads of the mimic corpses, and turned into a misty red fog at their spread legs.

Ever since the dream was replaced by the wasteland, Cesar hadn't ventured this deep into the Crimson Realm. Even the memory of the deceitful prophet made him hold his breath and curb his desire.

The thought of sinking into the scarlet realm evoked a crisscross of desire and resistance within him, a conflicting feeling that was unspeakable and unsettling. Seeing the mimicry of the trees, he could imagine a cursed being entering the dense forest, sinking there, and then being shrouded in desire for eternity.

As a pure pursuit of ideals, it could be called the end of the road, but as a complete human being, it was a complete abandonment of oneself. Whether what remained was desire, holiness, rationality, or anything else, the resulting being could not be called a human being, but something else with a sinister nature.

Cesar half-knelt before the mat, contemplating his past self, examining his possible fate. As he pondered, Milava's unforgettable voice echoed again, soft but unmistakable like the whisper of a thrush. He could hear his breath, close to his ear, like a drifting warm breeze. Perhaps he knew this, whispering to him.

"Listen," Milava said.

The voices of Firiel and Allandi grew louder and louder. They used the language of the early Franks. Although the pronunciation and terms were different from those of later times, it was not difficult to recognize.

Cesar heard Ferriers question, then Alante's reply. "He can't go back," she said, "but even if he climbs up, he can't pass through that door. All those who can't turn back are trapped there forever, a relief as immortal as time. You can't keep the one you found, not even a little bit, no matter how deep your feelings may be."

There was a long silence, and then Milava exhaled. He seemed to be organizing his words, and it seemed that he had just found an explanation from the memories of his ancestors of the Yesterlen School.

"The door is a metaphor, not a literal door," Milawa said. "Mages use it to describe the boundary at the end of the path, implying that if you can pass through this door, you can reach the realm of the gods and transcend the constraints of time. They believe that time is the embodiment of this boundary. Within the boundary is everything that exists in this world. Outside the boundary is something that we, creatures living in time, cannot recognize or understand."

"So why would they want to walk through this door?" Cesar asked him.

"The mages are unwilling to bow down to the Pantheon. They believe that the Pantheon is merely a slave that kneels before the unknowable gods in exchange for favors."

"Then why was it me who walked to the door? Why didn't they just walk on their own?"

"Because so many great wizards died before that door in the early years," Milava explained. "Not only the Flan, but also the Kuna, an unimaginable number of sages died there. They record that anyone who attempts to pass through that door but fails will be trapped, becoming a relief carving on the doorframe as immortal as time, unable to return. All that remains in reality is a fragmented being with a face as empty as a nightmare."

Cesar thought of the noble Kuna woman.

"You mean this happened so often that the mages started using slaves to explore the way?" he asked.

Milava nodded slightly. "The method of sending qualified individuals to the gate is now stable, but the problem of never returning is always a huge problem. Later, the task of exploration shifted to the masters' slaves, and with it came the imposed path. You and Sevra, you are the two of you who are closest to the gate in this era. Of course, to put it bluntly, you are slaves sacrificed to the true knowledge."

“也

That is, mages who reach the boundary will only take a look at the door, realize they don't have the ability to cross it, and then turn back and leave. But they will send path slaves there, force them to cross the door, observe their fate, and write down the record of true knowledge.

"They believe that as the records of true knowledge accumulate, they will eventually find a way," said Milawa.

Cesar said nothing, and then he heard Ferriers crying, which was very low at first, like a sob, "But I promised, and he promised..."

"You always like to treat deceiving each other as a meaningful commitment," Alanti said to her sister.

Cesar heard the tricks of the deceitful prophet in her words. Now it seemed that this guy was everywhere in Milava's time.

"Did Ferriers and I promise each other anything back then?" Cesar was a little confused.

Mirava pressed her lips with her index finger, "During the years when you were a puppet of Alanti, people knew that the Queen's knights took special care of Ferriers, and many of them died on the battlefield, and it was common for her face to be splattered with blood. Old Mirava always thought that Alanti just ordered her knights to protect her sister first and asked them to sacrifice for her, that's all. But now it seems that it's actually you who can't let go of the past." Mirava said.

"That's understandable," Cesar said.

Miraval sighed, "I think this kind of thing happens too often, and sooner or later, Firiel will find something strange. For example, every knight is too similar, every knight is silent in front of her, and every knight has a similar aura. In addition, Sefera has an inexplicable interest in every knight of Allandi..."

"If Ferrieres left a message to the previous dead Cesar, and then found the next Cesar and said it as if nothing had happened, it would be easy to guess what happened," Cesar said.

"It was bound to happen," Milava said. "Given your condition, your mind was already very confused back then, so it's not surprising that you'd reveal some clues. The spells in this room are all to maintain your form and sanity."

"Why?" Ferriers suddenly raised her voice, interrupting their conversation, "Is hope just like this..."

"Because no one can do this," said Alanti. "Everyone who sees the reliefs on the door will leave, unless they can't go back, or they believe that true knowledge can make their ending different from others." At this point, Alanti paused again, his words becoming playful. "For this guy, perhaps love should also be added?"

Cesar walked forward and looked at the expression on Alante's face for a while. Although she no longer looked like a girl, her temperament still revealed a hint of her youth.

He observed and pondered. This girl looked like a regal queen, but mentally, she was still the same teenage girl from the castle. All these years had passed, yet Arlandi still treated him like a toy she'd taken from her sister, sounding nonchalant.

Many years ago, it was a teenage girl and her younger sister who was less than ten years old. Many years ago, it was a teenage girl who was still in her teens and her...

By this time, Milava had nearly bitten his lip until it bled, indignant at what had happened to old Milava. "That loser... he was so obsessed with this evil creature." His tone was steady yet slow, as if he was trying to suppress the trembling in his heart. "Even if old Milava was a possibility, it must be the worst. If I had known that Arlandi was just a performer in her ancestral puppet troupe, a demon ensnared in the clutches of others, how could my empire have fallen so low?"

Cesar glanced over. "I must remind you that the Fran Empire was founded by old Milava," he said. "Even if he lost everything later, at your age, you're only just beginning to follow Soler around."

"I know." Milawa breathed a sigh of relief. He spoke calmly, apparently having prepared himself mentally. "But if I kill him, everything about him will naturally fall under my control."

"Are you really going to kill your future self and take his place?"

"why not?"

"From my perspective..."

"Because you are the future Cesar, you will feel uncomfortable watching this scene." Milava said softly.

"I hate to admit it," Cesar said, "but you already know it."

"I will survive, walk out of the Tomb of the Wise, and go to the afterlife..." Milava held his hand tightly, "We will all survive, walk out of the Tomb of the Wise, and return to your time. This is all I need. After that, you don't have to worry about where I go. I will take away the curse that worries you, the horror of the Tomb of the Wise, and the memories of Arlandi and her ancestors. No matter why you came here, they will no longer be a problem."

Cesar thought he must have pulled his hand back because his grip tightened.

"Let's talk about what's going on here first." Milava said, holding her hand tighter. Although it was a white and slender hand, it was very strong. "At this point in time, you and Sevra have already stood at the end of the road, unable to take a step back. If you cross over, there is no return, trapped in the so-called door. You

If we don't cross over, we will be lost in the Crimson Realm, unable to resist its call. See those corpses in the dense forest? They are the result of the cursed, trapped and killed in the Crimson Realm.

"I can see some of that," Cesar said.

"Firiels must make the final decision, and so must Alanti. The former is running around but can't save the situation, while the latter is still playing with you like a child. Only now does she realize you're about to be damaged. What a..."

Chapter 445 I'm listening, Cesar

Cesar nodded, "Indeed, it's really..."

"What is it really?" Arlanti suddenly asked. He paused for a moment, watching as Milava's black hair suddenly faded, as if a pair of hands stained with ice and snow were caressing his hair from root to tip. Deep blue spread from the center of his dark eyes, starting as a pinprick before engulfing the entire pupil. In the blink of an eye, Milava became his future queen.

"I'm listening, Cesar," she said. "You just called me mistress, and now you're agreeing with him?"

Cesar admitted he was frightened. He licked his lips, but couldn't utter a word. The situation of the Emperor and Empress of the Fran Empire was truly bizarre. It was hard not to remind him of him and Sevra, but Milava and Alanti were not the same person, so his feeling was even stranger.

"What's going on between you two?" he asked as gently as possible.

"It's nothing," she said. "The head that was sewn together was half me and half him, and now this soul is half me and half him. How dare you say I'm just a piece of text in his book?"

"Milavar and I haven't finished talking yet," Cesar said.

"When you saw me appear, you asked Milawa to come out. When you saw Milawa appear, you said that the promise was to me, not to him? And you still say you're not lying? I talked to the ancestor, and she said that you were managing the distance between us at the same time, not getting too close to either side, and not being too distant either side, being close yet distant to both sides. Is that right?"

Cesar wanted to stab the liar prophet. "She is the liar herself," he said.

"Of course I understand." Alanti nodded and said, "Now I know that you two are both accomplished liars, so I will also adopt your and her opinions."

"But Milava and I really haven't finished talking yet."

She tilted her head. "Of course," she said, "but I think he should take a break and talk to my ancestors first, otherwise he'll be completely deceived by you and become a girl. I think people should listen to more than one person's opinion. Since you two are both shocking liars and have many contradictions, it would be great to combine them."

"Okay, thank you," Cesar said. "I'm not some shocking liar, but you said you wanted to listen to my advice. Is that true? Also, what's going on between you and Milava right now?"

"Of course it's true," Arlanti said. "As for the situation between His Majesty the Emperor and me, there's nothing much to say. To reclaim the empire's loyal knights and troops in the future, both his authority and my approval are needed. Neither can work without it. That's it. The Frank Empire needs more than just one emperor. He doesn't want to admit it yet, but he will sooner or later. Otherwise, he'll discover that each of his knights is no better than Askrid."

"Are you going to continue acting under your ancestors?"

"Isn't it just acting? Everyone is acting anyway, so what's the big deal if I play the role of a kind queen? No one can play it better than me. If I keep playing it and no one finds out, then I will always be the empress of the empire. Besides, Milava is just a child now, and he has to act like the future emperor too, so that he can gain authority."

Cesar was practically driven crazy by the two emperors and empresses of the Frankish Empire. "I really am..."

"Who are you?" Arlandi leaned closer. "Now the Emperor admires you, and the Queen has discovered that she loves you deeply. Are you dissatisfied with anything?"

"Let's not talk about what happened to Milava for now. Your love is a bit heavy," he said.

"That's true," Arlandi nodded. "I just said that I wanted to continue the Frantic Empire with him as emperor and empress, but Milava turned away and told me to 'get lost'. What can you do, Cesar?"

"I don't know, really."

"Are you still resentful of the past?" she said, hugging his neck. "Then I'll explain everything to you. Since Milava likes to talk into her right ear, then give me your left ear." She blew a breath and put her lips to his ear. "Look, listen, I did some unforgivable things in the past, but as long as we are alive, there is a way to make amends for everything."

"Have you made up to Ferrieres?" Cesar asked her.

"Of course I made amends! Okay, I need you to feel I made amends, right? But what about you? Don't you need it?" Alanti leaned back, hands on his shoulders, staring at him intently. This guy's eyes were always clear and bright. He never felt guilty when looking at someone, not even shifting his gaze. His focus was astonishing.

Her innate evil nature is also particularly striking.

"I don't have any memory of it," Cesar denied. "Even if someone told me you treated me like a doll and played with me until I died, I wouldn't have any personal experience. If I just heard the story, the feeling would be too empty."

He admitted that he had used some unethical rhetoric again, but sometimes, he just had to give the right medicine for the disease.

"Does that mean all we have left are the good memories?" Alanti asked.

"Do not