Chapter 9: The Dream That Passed

No matter how beautiful, what is gone is ultimately gone.

No matter how cruel, what is coming still arrives.

Fate always enjoys playing such cruel jokes, tirelessly displaying suffocating cruelty, making people realize the pain of loss in the most beautiful moments, and experience deeper despair in the cruelest reality.

Cold and firm as the changing of seasons.

At the World End of this Fairy Guo Du, the tranquil and stable nation of Orkney was engulfed by boundless flames in an instant, instantly transformed into a fierce and tragic purgatory scene.

Even the Royal Palace of Rain Guo Du could not escape disaster.

The sprawling palaces and building complexes quickly caught fire, devoured by roaring flames.

Although the Fairies of Rain Guo Du fought desperately to resist, they were originally not skilled in combat, and what they faced was a massive allied army formed by the Four Great Clans, with the latter almost deploying all their forces to launch a sudden lightning surprise attack.

Even though the Rain Clan had always remained vigilant, they could not withstand this sky-collapsing and earth-splitting disaster of annihilation.

Almost every minute and every second, a Fairy of Rain Guo Du died in the drifting night rain.

The sorrowful roars, the painful cries, accompanied by the gradual weakening of resistance, rapidly declined at an intuitive and impossible-to-ignore speed, only to be replaced by an increasingly intense smell of blood.

And it was not just the smell of blood...

Roaring flames and billowing black smoke intertwined; even the endless rain could not extinguish them, and what spread with the wind was also the unique smell released by flesh being roasted by scorching flames...

Amidst this chaotic scene, Xia Zhi, relying on his current characteristic of not being observed by Vivian, quietly rose to High Altitude like a ghost, overlooking the surrounding battle from above.

—The actual situation was more severe than he had expected.

His heart sank along with it, and at a glance he determined that the fate of the Rain Clan was sealed, defeat and destruction unavoidable.

The enemy army was like a raging fire spreading across the prairie, coming with great momentum and incredible speed; from the moment chaos and commotion began until now, in just a short time, all of Orkney had fallen into a one-sided rout.

The Fairies of the Rain Clan simply could not organize effective resistance, and could only endure the one-sided slaughter; in an instant, the flames of war even spread to the foot of the Royal Palace.

From the start of the war until now, how long had passed, and they had already been pushed to the Crystal by the enemy.

Facing such a disparity in combat power, how could it be easy for his side to turn the tide?

—Too fast.

—Really too fast.

One could only say that even a lightning strike on Poland did not have this speed.

Xia Zhi believed he had already held a sufficiently cautious attitude toward the situation in the Fairy Guo Du, evaluating the status quo as strictly as possible toward the severe direction, yet now it seemed still far from enough, underestimating the cruelty of the Fairy Guo Du.

Although the time of contact was still very short, only this short day, but relying on Vivian's narration, the Queen Consort's nervous reaction, and the tense atmosphere permeating among the Rain Clan, he keenly captured certain hidden signs.

Associating with the fact that Vivian seemed to bear some heavy mission, he also vaguely sensed in his heart that some terrifying crisis might be brought about.

However, no matter how keen, he indeed had not expected this crisis to come so unexpectedly, breaking out directly tonight, in a nearly barbaric, overbearing, and suffocating manner.

And the result was also destructive, completely destroying the entire Rain Guo Du.

With a heavy mood, Xia Zhi hurriedly came to the residence of Vivian located at a corner of the Royal Palace.

Upon arrival, he immediately noticed the open door and the scene of emptiness and silence inside the house, not a single person in sight.

Xia Zhi quickly scanned the surroundings, discovering that the furnishings inside were still neat and orderly, clean and simple... his thoughts turned like lightning, and he immediately cast his gaze toward the center of the Royal Palace, speculating that Vivian might have gone there.

This was terrible.

What he worried about most was exactly this situation.

Frowning, Xia Zhi was about to use his current temporary buff to rise into the air again, but immediately discovered there was no feedback at all. His reaction was also extremely fast; he immediately realized that Vivian must be nearby.

…………

…………

"Go! Listen to me, leave here immediately! Meng!"

A voice intertwined with anxiety and tension, spoken by that gentle Queen Consort; one could hear she was doing her utmost to suppress her emotions, even though her inner heart was likewise torn by fear and despair, she still commanded in an unquestionably firm tone:

"Take your staff, leave Orkney right now! Do not linger in battle, do not look back!"

"I can help... I can be of use..." Vivian's voice carried a sob, as if pleading.

"No need! It's meaningless! I specifically rushed here just to stop you from doing something foolish... Right now, you just need to leave Orkney, the farther you escape the better, never come back! You absolutely cannot fall into their hands!!"

"I... I can't... I can't do it..." The girl choked with broken sobs, almost unable to breathe.

"You definitely can, Meng, listen to me!" The Queen Consort tightly gripped Meng's arm, speaking urgently yet firmly, "We have already drawn their attention; this is an excellent opportunity, you must seize it!"

"Wait, can't do this... can't do this..."

The girl seemed to suddenly realize something, pleading with a voice filled with endless despair.

"It's too late, Meng! You know." At this moment, the Queen Consort's voice instead became incomparably calm and resolute.

This gentle woman gently embraced the sobbing girl, carefully examined her, then revealed a very beautiful smile; even though her fair face was stained with the enemy's blood, that gentleness remained as before.

"Sorry, from today on you will be alone, embarking on your journey as a Paradise Fairy..."

"This will surely be a difficult journey, but we cannot stay by your side anymore; it's alright, you will encounter a better fate, as long as you have those eyes, you can definitely find more suitable, trustworthy companions..."

"So... so..."

Speaking to this point, the Queen Consort stopped.

She took a deep breath and forcefully pushed the girl out, as if pushing her toward the starting point of a new journey—

"Hurry up and go! Don't worry about us anymore!"

"Do not let our sacrifice be meaningless."

"You must realize your dream, save Britain!!"

————

————

Time: Unknown.

Location: Unknown.

Beryl Gut woke as if from a dream, dazedly rubbing her sleepy eyes; after scanning her surroundings, she was shocked to discover she was now inside a solemn and grand hall, rather than the barren wilderness from before.

The vast ground, like a plaza, appeared to be cast as a single piece of unrefined silver-white metal, smooth as a mirror, reflecting an ethereal scene.

The spacious interior was nearly empty; only directly ahead stood an extraordinarily magnificent throne.

Behind the throne were twelve bizarre "Spears", arranged in order, poised to fire, all pointing consistently at the abruptly open area in the rear wall of the hall, as if vigilant against some hidden threat outside.

Amid this quiet and solemn atmosphere, a silver-haired, blue-eyed figure sat upon the throne, gazing down at Beryl Gut on the ground with a posture of looking down on all beings, eyes cold and deep.

"Wow wow wow, how astonishing... what happened? What did you do, Morgan?"

Beryl exclaimed incessantly in his usual frivolous tone, clicking his tongue in wonder, clearly extremely surprised by this sudden change.

The original mission was to go to the Britain Lostbelt and eliminate the Fantasy Tree, but upon arriving here, what he witnessed was a stretch of dead silent land; that Fantasy Tree had also long since withered and decayed in the distant past, causing Beryl's interest to instantly plummet to rock bottom.

So after summoning Morgan of the Ruler Class, he simply found a place to rest and slept without a care.

However, who could have imagined——

Just after waking from a single nap, the world before his eyes was completely different; earth-shattering changes had occurred.

Therefore, all this must be related to Morgan's actions; Beryl naturally deduced this, stood up from the ground with great interest, and gazed at Morgan seated high on the throne with a face full of smiles.

The next moment——

Sensing danger, his pupils suddenly contracted; he tried to react instinctively, but discovered his limbs were as if pulled and bound by invisible threads, turning in an instant into a marionette in someone else's hands, losing his freedom.

The operation of his thoughts became sluggish and difficult in an instant, as if old gears rusted all over struggled to turn.

The function of speech was likewise lost, and even the boundaries of consciousness gradually blurred.

Thus, he could not even manage a symbolic struggle before his limbs were pierced by suddenly descending Light Spears and nailed to the ground, blood blossoms scattering. Yet even this agony could not penetrate that perception of thought already slowed like twilight years.

In the hazy moment as consciousness gradually blurred, he seemed to see the figure on the throne shake her head and say flatly: "Originally a prepared 'resembling person', recreating it was only to prevent contradiction, lest it waver current history……"

"But that is only this, no need to care too much."

She seemed to be explaining her intention to someone unseen.

Beryl captured this thought in the chaos, and simultaneously realized a more horrifying truth almost instinctively:

That true self, had it already perished at some unknown moment?

And this current self, was it merely a copy single-handedly orchestrated by Morgan?

Recreated only to prove "existence", to ensure certain "history" would not change?

——What did she do?

——What did this madwoman do?

I just slept a bit, how did it become like this?!

Beryl wanted to struggle in grievance, but his thinking grew slower and slower, his consciousness blurrier and blurrier, as if his thoughts were frozen, as if he had cast everything aside, slowly losing all perception.

Facing this scene, that silver-haired figure appeared indifferent and unmoved; she merely gently turned her body, directing her gaze to the other side of the throne, as if confiding to some formless existence, yet also as if murmuring to herself.

"... Last night I had a dream again, dreamed of my foster mother again, and so many, many people..."

"... At first, I was very afraid, I didn't know how to tell them, I abandoned the Paradise Fairy's mission..."

"... But everyone in the Rain Guo Du didn't blame me, instead they all cared for me, asked if I had realized my dream, my own dream..."

Speaking here, she paused slightly, no longer wearing that usual layer of frost-like expression, then asked softly——

"How is my country? Is it a beautiful country? Is it a dreamlike country? If you think so, I will feel supreme joy."

(Chapter End)