Chapter 461
"I said from the very beginning... I would choose this place simply because it's close to me and there are many people. That's all."
Such a whimsical thought... Just a fleeting whim, and it led to the destruction of an entire city.
Surely, from the dawn of the Holy Era until now, there has been no record of a demon more formidable than the girl before me.
She truly is a monster...
Moreover, she remembered that when she first met Charles, he appeared as an ordinary person.
In just a few days, he had completely digested the "Source of Cholera" potion, a speed that left Aiglema in awe.
It seemed that he had been pretending to be an ordinary person all along, simply not wanting to ascend. But once he decided to pursue a potion, there would be no obstacles in his way...
Thank goodness I’m not his enemy...
For some reason, Aiglema felt a strange sense of relief. She lowered her gaze, casting a pitying look at the figure locked in the iron cage—Qiangyin.
After scheming for half a lifetime, it was better to choose the right side.
"Then the future order of Ansu will be rebuilt by our Order of the God of Order... What do you think?" Aiglema tentatively asked Charles.
"Do as you wish." Charles replied casually, seemingly indifferent to the future of Ansu, as if he had no desire for power at all.
Purely a love for killing.
Working with such a murderer, devoid of any entanglements of interest, turned out to be quite smooth.
But she couldn't just take advantage of this situation.
Aiglema slowly raised her head, glancing at the black-and-white curtain not far behind Charles, sensing the battle within.
"Your Excellency, do you need me to intervene and quell the fighting behind us?" Aiglema offered.
"Haha... Hahaha!"
As Charles and Aiglema began discussing the division of Ansu, a weak yet audacious laugh echoed from within the iron cage.
"Are you starting to divide my country right in front of me? Foolish pontiff... This will be the biggest regret of your life..." Qiangyin's voice emerged from the iron cage. "I'll gladly take your brain, but as for you... you should have been dead long ago."
Qiangyin's words momentarily stunned Aiglema. The green flames flickering from the gaps in her mask hinted at her displeasure... Yet, deep down, she felt an inexplicable worry.
Qiangyin was not just a madman spouting nonsense; from the very beginning, he seemed completely unconcerned about being captured, as if he truly had some trump card.
Just as Aiglema was about to say something, Charles's voice came from behind the iron cage.
"Don't listen to his bluster, Pontiff." Charles's voice carried a hint of amusement as she continued, "As long as he doesn't die, he won't be able to use 'Uniqueness' to reverse time."
Using "Uniqueness"... to reverse time?!
The fire in Aiglema's eyes flickered sharply. She looked down at the iron cage, almost feeling a buzzing in her brain.
Qiangyin's hidden "Uniqueness" was actually the ability to reverse time?!
No wonder... No wonder every scheme aimed at him, no matter what organization tried to harm him, ended up being resolved by him in various ways...
If he could reverse time, then all the previously incomprehensible doubts would be easily explained...
But... isn't this a deadlock?
As long as Qiangyin dies, time will reverse, and everything will start over. He could launch a revenge plan, and they would have no way to prevent it in advance...
At that moment, Qiangyin's shock was no less than Aiglema's.
"How do you know!!!"
Qiangyin began to struggle violently, desperately trying to turn his head to see who the girl speaking behind him was.
But no matter how hard he tried, bound by the pontiff's iron cage and suppressed by the mycelium, he couldn't break free.
The terrifying city-slaying demon had casually revealed his greatest secret, as if that girl's voice held some means to counter him.
As time passed, Qiangyin's panic deepened.
In that moment, he felt the most primal fear of humanity... the fear of the unknown.
That sense of being in control finally tipped into chaos.
"Are you worried?" Charles asked, looking at the pontiff with a smile. "Don't worry, he can indeed reverse time, but he won't retain any memories... His correct memories are stored in his daughter Windsor's brain. If that brain is destroyed, he will go mad."
"No!!! You can't do that!!!"
Qiangyin screamed, his eyes bloodshot, losing all composure.
"I'll go back in time and kill you!!! No matter who you are!!!"
Charles approached Qiangyin's iron cage, extending her hand to gently tap the steel bars.
Clang—
"Be quiet... Your reversal won't preserve memories, but I can..."
Charles's voice, like that of a devil, came from beside Qiangyin, but no matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn't catch a glimpse of her.
"Even if you want to commit suicide, it won't help. You won't leave behind the correct information; it will just repeat everything."
Charles continued tapping the iron cage, slowly speaking, "You only have two choices now: die of old age or suffocate... but the scarlet bacteria will assist your breathing."
"Spend the rest of your life in fear; that's the price for stealing from me."
The lingering effects of the "Subverter" seemed to have not yet faded, and Charles couldn't help but taunt Qiangyin a few more times.
Perhaps it was just to vent the frustration of being suppressed by Qiangyin for so long, and now that she could finally see the dawn of completely eliminating him, she couldn't resist the urge to take this opportunity to gloat.
"If you want to blame someone, blame your ambition for exceeding your abilities. Now, just sit back and watch everything you created be destroyed by me..."
Charles stood up, turned to leave, and said, "Take him away and lock him up, but be careful not to let him stray too far from the mycelium... And over there, Duke Russell, please subdue him, but remember to leave him with a breath."
"Yes." The pontiff raised her hand. "Henry, take him to the sky prison."
At that moment, Aiglema dared not say more, nor did she dare to meet Charles's gaze.
Just listening to Qiangyin's howls, she could empathize with the fear and despair in his heart. To see Qiangyin fall to such a fate, Aiglema couldn't help but wonder how she would fare if she stood on the opposite side.
Moreover, he was a powerful figure studying the Otherworld. If he truly got angry, and summoned a blood array from the Otherworld to call forth some creature, they would likely find it very difficult to deal with.
As for killing her?
Hadn't she heard that she could also reverse time?
Besides, with such immense power, even controlling the Holy Order, there might be a secret organization behind her that she was unaware of...
She absolutely could not provoke him... It would be best to remain on the same side, maintaining aligned interests.
In an instant, Aiglema was resolute in her decision to tie herself to him.
She raised her hand, forming a fist, and molten iron flowed, transforming into a silver-white spear that appeared in her grasp. She slightly bent her knees and leaped forward.
Boom—
The stone bricks shattered, and the pontiff's figure shot through the air like a silver flash, crashing directly into the black-and-white curtain.
...
With Aiglema's involvement, the one-sided battle, which had merely been the duke holding on, ended in mere moments.
As the curtain dispersed, the figures of Peirxi and Eleanor emerged from what was once the grand cathedral's ruins.
The once-magnificent tower had been reduced to rubble, with a deep pit several meters wide in the ground, a testament to the ferocity of the battle.
Duke Charles, with both arms severed and barely clinging to life, knelt on the ground, his face pale and gasping for breath. Behind him stood a silver armor, cracked and menacing.
A spear was pressed against Charles's neck, like a guillotine poised to fall at any moment; his life flickered like a candle in the wind.
His face was haggard, as if he had aged a decade in an instant, the white hair at his temples making him appear even more worn.
The duke slowly raised his head, gazing forward.
Table of Contents
