Chapter 869
Star Antinomy, Infinitely Divisible
The meeting places of the Rose Cross Society were always secret, and not all members could be gathered for every meeting.
Their meeting method was extremely special—when a high-ranking member decided to summon others, they would first summon four individuals, referred to as “My Four Guardian Crosses,” informing them of the meeting time, location, and the theme and importance of the session.
Each summoned individual would then select up to four more from the society’s roster, who would in turn summon up to four more, and so on, in a cycle.
Ultimately, some individuals would be informed of the address by multiple people simultaneously, while others would not be informed at all.
These were the individuals deemed untrustworthy by those currently attending the meeting—or at least, those for whom no one would vouch.
Conversely, anyone who managed to appear here demonstrated that they were at least trustworthy.
But Master Walter’s words pointed out with utmost clarity—there must be a traitor among them.
Walter’s sharp gaze swept around the room.
There were only twelve people present, the lowest of whom was at least Fourth Tier. All those who knew the secret of the Ouroboros Ring ritual were here; all remaining Fifth Tier Transcendants within the Rose Cross Society had gathered.
There were four others.
—Madam Marasia, Master Walter, Miss Sprenger, and Doctor Leviquin.
Elsewhere, four Fifth Tier Transcendants would have been enough to establish a nation. Even in the current Star Antinomy, they already accounted for more than half of the Fifth Tier powerhouses!
With the deaths of Count Dawn, the original Red Phase Pomanach, Valentine VII, and Madam Emma, coupled with the two taken by the Daffodil Duchy’s secession… and the two Fifth Tier individuals within the Spirit Tower who could leave Star Antinomy at any moment.
Star Antinomy was left with only nine Fifth Tier Transcendants.
It was worth remembering that at this time last year, Star Antinomy had a full seventeen Fifth Tier powerhouses, the most among all human nations. Yet in just one year, this number had been halved.
Excluding General Karl, who was no longer a Transcendent, and the two from the Royal Alchemical Association, one from Red Fortress, and Master Amber, whose whereabouts were unknown… even counting General Karl and the recently promoted Minister Laro, the Demonology Society could only mobilize a mere six Fifth Tier powerhouses, putting them on par with the talent-depleted Avalon next door!
The most critical issue was that their Black Phase and Red Phase could no longer protect the kingdom…
They were so close to rebuilding the brilliant and glorious Hrasal Empire… how did it turn into this?
“Only we who know the Ouroboros Ring ritual remain.”
Looking at the somber atmosphere, Master Walter emphasized again, “The sudden drastic action by the Church must have a reason.
“The Church cannot allow another place to have Sixth Tier Transcendants; it would undoubtedly shake the world’s balance—moreover, the current Pope is human. Power itself is intoxicating, especially coming from Avalon. Undoubtedly, they are targeting us. Their goal is to stop the Ouroboros Ring ritual.”
“Then what do we do?”
Madam Marasia, her white curls as white as snow and already an old woman, said irately, “Should we stop? The ritual hasn’t officially begun, anyway. We still have a chance to regret it.”
“—It’s too late.”
Miss Sprenger merely smiled and shook her head, refuting, “The Ouroboros Ring ritual has been prepared for nearly a year. The outer rituals have already begun operating, the inner rituals will commence in four days, and the summoning will be completed in another month. The foreign Transcendants began gathering at the end of last month—it’s clear we can’t stop now.”
“Miss Sprenger is right, cough, cough, cough…”
Doctor Leviquin coughed, “It’s already… cough, impossible to stop. If we stop… we won’t be able to explain it to others…”
He was sickly, sat in a wheelchair, wore glasses, and his thighs were even thinner than a normal person’s arms. His skin was loose, but a faint purple light always seemed to emanate from his eyes. A faint shadow coiled around him, making his presence seem much less noticeable than others.
In fact, Doctor Leviquin was the least gregarious among the Rose Cross. Few people were willing to get close to him.
This was because of the fly demon within his body—an evolved form of a rift demon, a demon that dead souls who committed the great sin of gluttony would transform into.
Rift demons possessed infinite hunger, but their gaping mouths allowed food to constantly slip out, making them one of the few demons that continuously attacked humans. If they “adapted” to this state, they could evolve into an Upper Demon with the power of adaptation—the fly demon.
Doctor Leviquin’s body constantly decayed, and his pale, loose skin was filled with fly eggs. These flies, carrying deadly diseases, were one of his avatars. Through swarms, he could also coalesce his consciousness. Wherever he appeared, he could silently claim lives… even his colleagues were wary of him, as who knew if he had already planted the seeds of disease.
If it weren’t for the fact that he absolutely had to be summoned this time… he likely wouldn’t have been present at this gathering.
Compared to others, Doctor Leviquin was more like a pure scholar. He was so weak that he didn’t seem like a Fifth Tier, as if he could die at any moment.
“—Don’t cough at me, Doctor.”
Master Walter frowned deeply, showing clear displeasure.
Normally, he wouldn’t be so impolite to a friend.
He looked somewhat tired, and his beard was unkempt—most others knew why.
Master Walter’s spoiled, rebellious only daughter, who had now fallen into a Child of the Moon, had failed and died in the Ascension Ritual last night.
Normally, Children of the Moon possessed stronger life force. Even if the ritual failed, or they were severely injured and died, they might not completely die upon returning to the real world.
In fact, he somewhat suspected that the person who killed Andrea was Laro, who completed his Ascension, and Her Highness the Crown Princess. Given their proximity, it was entirely possible they entered the same Ascension Ritual—Master Walter had long since sent warnings to Andrea, but she clearly wasn’t willing to heed Master Walter’s instructions.
Red Fortress now had only one Fifth Tier individual, the head of “Secret Chamber Mechanisms,” Madam “Blood Diamond.” This meant that the next Fifth Tier would undoubtedly become the current “Red Phase” and would be the person most trusted by Louise.
Louise, as the current regent of Star Antinomy, would certainly not participate in an Ascension Ritual. Therefore, she would likely encourage other Children of the Moon who were stuck at the Fourth Tier barrier to attempt ascension… Currently, the influence of the Father Serpent on transcendent consciousness worldwide was very strong, making energy level increases and Ascension Rituals much simpler than before, and they would become progressively easier over time.
Although Andrea had turned into a Child of the Moon… in a sense, she was already dead.
But after all, she was Master Walter’s only daughter—
While he knew “it was just a monster stealing his daughter’s body and memories,” he couldn’t help but soften his heart and shed tears when looking at that face and hearing that voice. Every time this happened, he understood why Valentine VII was so easily swayed by Queen Louise.
So Master Walter couldn’t help but tell her this secret—future ascensions would become easier.
But unexpectedly, this news ignited her rebellious desires. Or rather, it was precisely because future ascensions would become easier that Andrea was so eager to ascend at this time…
And Doctor Leviquin, of course, knew the source of Master Walter’s temper.
“I’m sorry… cough…”
He didn’t argue with Master Walter but nodded slowly while coughing, politely turned his head, covered his mouth with his hand, and then coughed incessantly.
Seeing that Doctor Leviquin wasn’t paying him any mind, Master Walter felt like he had punched cotton.
He stared at Doctor Leviquin for a long while before finally looking away.
He stiffly changed the subject, “So what do we do, everyone? Let’s vote.
“How many wish to stop the ritual? Raise your hands.”
Among the twelve people, only two raised their hands.
Both appeared to be over fifty or sixty years old, and only one of them was Fifth Tier—Madam Marasia.
“So that means ten people wish to continue the ritual.”
Master Walter nodded, “Then the ritual will proceed as normal—
“But we cannot afford to lose anyone else. We have to con one of the foreign Transcendants into being a sacrifice. This matter…”
“Let me go,” Miss Sprenger suddenly said.
The senior’s offer surprised Master Walter.
But he readily agreed, “Then I’ll trouble you, Miss Sprenger.”
Miss Sprenger merely smiled gently, without responding.
“…Cough, cough, cough…”
Then, after coughing for a while, Doctor Leviquin suddenly spoke, “I’ve actually been considering a possibility…
“Could it be… that the Ouroboros Ring ritual was a fraud from the very beginning?
“Sacrificing just one person to allow a group to ascend to the Sixth Tier. That’s not an equivalent exchange. Even as a ‘ritual,’ it’s far too lenient…”
“I have also considered this issue.”
Unexpectedly, Master Walter didn’t say anything like “there’s no turning back now” or “we must proceed as things stand.” Instead, he genuinely offered an opinion, “So we will make two preparations.
“Let’s first see if the Ouroboros Ring ritual can be established. If it can, then it’s fine. If it cannot…
“Then we will win over these foreign Transcendants, offer them benefits. We have the support of the Ministry of the Army, and many officials are on our side. If that doesn’t work…
“—We will secede and, together with the Alchemical Association and the Red Fortress branch, directly claim a piece of territory and establish a new nation, creating a pure nation of Transcendants… As a haven for Demon Scholars, this is also a viable path. The Transcendants participating in this ritual, plus the four of us, makes nine people. Even if a few more die in the process, we will have enough to protect a nation.”
“But how will you persuade them?”
Madam Marasia frowned, pushed up her reading glasses, and sharply commented, “Transcendants never submit to others—especially Fifth Tier Transcendants.”
“Then we will directly create a nation without a king, much like what the Iris people did.”
Master Walter’s statement shocked everyone.
Because the Church’s primary sphere of protection was “Monarchs cannot be assassinated by other nations,” no one had ever considered abandoning the monarch. As long as a monarch existed, they could at least request the Church’s help when their nation was about to fall.
But upon reflection… the Church was no longer neutral. Their principles of intervention must have changed.
In other words, the “King” was no longer irreplaceable!
“A parliamentary system?” Doctor Leviquin asked.
“…It should work.”
Madam Marasia pondered for a moment, then raised another question, “But what about Laro and the Crown Princess we have in hand? That’s also a card, isn’t it?”
“Then we will proceed in parallel. We can have a king, but one who has no actual power and is merely symbolic—such a nation can be called a nation of Transcendants. It’s better than having no king, as we still have someone to surpass.
“And the grimoire passed down through our society, ‘Rose Grimoire’; the ‘Blood-stained Grimoire’ that was previously lent to the Noble Red Society has also been retrieved by Miss Sprenger from Avalon. Whether it’s sealing Avatars within the body or killing one’s Contract Demon directly without a contract, these skills are definitely valuable to them.
“If we establish a nation, these two grimoires must also be adapted into practical skills and popularized. They can become our core competitiveness.”
“I think it’s possible… but will the Crown Princess agree?” Madam Marasia had no desire for these two grimoires but asked another question.
“Her personality is very weak, she will agree. Any semblance of order is better than chaos; any small amount of power is still better than being a true mortal. If the nation truly perishes, the status of a refugee princess is worse than that of a commoner… She will understand.
“Why else would I have advocated for saving her back then? Among the many children of the Seventh, she was the easiest to control.
“Since everyone agrees—why don’t we establish the nation first? That way, we’ll have some leverage to negotiate with those people, and we can always subdue them later.
“Currently, the cities completely under our control are about a quarter of Star Antinomy’s mainland. Although the area is small, I believe it’s sufficient.
“In this World, only Extraordinary Abilities are truly real. As long as we are strong enough, we can reclaim the lost territories in the future; conversely, if we are too weak, even if we possess infinitely vast territories, we will gain nothing.”
“Then let’s establish the nation.”
Madam Marasia decisively said, “Go tell the Crown Princess, we will establish the nation on May 1st.”
And at this moment, on the other side.
Laro still sat in front of the mirror, frowning, idly playing an instrument.
“Illusory Blood…”
He murmured, his face uncharacteristically serious, without his usual flippancy.
This ability…
…Doesn’t it feel like a trap?
On one hand, it can fulfill his wish to “dedicate everything to Star Antinomy,” allowing him to interfere directly in politics without having to think about “how to make the monarch listen to me.”
After all, the end of “persuading the monarch” is “forget it, I’ll do it myself.”
And the Crown Princess is full of escapism… this ability can satisfy both of them simultaneously.
No one would attack a monarch. Because of this, the flaw in this transformation is nonexistent—he can permanently transform into the Crown Princess’s appearance twenty-four hours a day, and then he becomes the Crown Princess herself.
Because of this… while fulfilling his wishes and solving his problems…
It will also draw out the evil within his heart.
But if he keeps using the Crown Princess’s appearance… isn’t that the same as usurping power?
But as the Crown Princess said, she is now severely injured and unable to act… she needs Laro’s healing to gradually mend her soul.
She cannot let anyone know about this, otherwise, there will be many who wish for her to remain incapacitated forever.
Therefore, all “Crown Princesses” who go out now can only be Laro’s impersonation.
Conversely…
…As long as the Crown Princess dies, no one will ever know that this “Crown Princess” is Laro.
He doesn’t even need to kill her—he just needs to do nothing, and the Crown Princess with a damaged soul will die on her own.
“What a wicked ability…”
Laro played his instrument a few times and murmured to the mirror, “Do you really want to see my ugly side like this? God of No Sight, No Self…”
I will never yield.
I will not succumb to my inner desires—
“I bet with you,” Laro whispered, “my true intentions at this moment are not distorted.
“No matter what happens, I will never covet anything other than ‘myself’…”
The ordinary mirror, of course, would not reply.
But Laro saw in the mirror’s reflection his own reflection look up, revealing a bizarre smile.
—Who can say?
The Laro in the mirror mouthed, so it said.
(End of this chapter)
