Chapter 3: Destiny
The disk was like a shattered porcelain plate; after being assembled, it was missing only one piece.
What happened?
Ji Ma thought for a moment and cursed, “George, you are too clever.”
After saying that, she picked up the nearby Liansi cat, flew up, and looked towards the city that had already fallen.
George was approaching the city, and the demons of the Lord of Deception on the outskirts—plump, like four-limbed meatballs—were hurling blue explosive magical flames at George. The flames gathered together, forming a waterfall that engulfed George.
Ji Ma flapped her wings hard and quickly got closer.
But the city’s army reacted; they had been waiting for a long time, just waiting for George to take the bait.
The Knights of the Apocalypse charged from the flaming disk, while the magic sharks flew in the air, as if smelling blood, clustering together and pouncing on George, completely overwhelming him.
Meanwhile, the Lord of Deception was controlling a fake Ji Ma, calling for her lover’s help.
Seeing this made Ji Ma furious.
Ji Ma gritted her teeth and cursed, “This idiot.”
Clearly sensing that something was wrong, how could he still fall into the trap?
She swooped down, her branchaxe transforming into a rifle, and began firing at the ground below. Bald Qiang fell into the crowd, and with their combined strength, they managed to break through the encirclement without serious danger.
The two of them ran to a safe place.
There, the earthly products George had brought were quietly lying on the blood-red soil.
In the distance, the Lord of Deception glanced at the two of them and then stopped pursuing.
George took off his smoking Xalel helmet, took a breath, and asked, “Are you alright?”
“That phrase should be mine to say,” Ji Ma replied. “Charging directly into a demon army, do you think you’re still on Earth?”
“I thought she was you,” George asked. “What’s going on?”
“I got caught in a maze spell while scouting; I suspect it was the Lord of Deception’s doing,” Ji Ma said. “Because my instinct for conspiracy didn’t kick in.”
“Instinct for conspiracy?”
Having already conceived a child with this man, Ji Ma no longer bothered to hide it.
“I can sense when others are plotting against me, as if it were given to me by the Lord of Deception.”
“You didn’t feel anything while on Earth.”
“That’s because there are thousands of conspiracies every day,” Ji Ma said. “You know what’s next; they set up a fake me to draw you in. By the way, do you think I’m both greedy and foolish?”
“You’re greedy, but not foolish.”
“Then why did you charge in?” Ji Ma asked. “Couldn’t you be more cautious? Look at you, your chin is burned.”
“What if it was real?”
Ji Ma felt happy inside but said, “Well, don’t think of me as that foolish next time.”
“Lidice?”
“Turned into blue pus; most likely, the Lord of Deception created a doll and infused it with Lidice’s memories.”
“So, you mean everything I did in Lidice’s hometown, He knows?”
“Yes.” Ji Ma was filled with unease.
If the Lord of Deception printed her past as newspapers for everyone to see…
She muttered, “I hope He’s not that vulgar.”
George guessed Ji Ma’s concerns and said, “Don’t worry; His hands shouldn’t have reached Earth yet, and He knows nothing of your experiences there.”
“How do you know?”
“If He knew you were growing stronger on Earth, then how could He not calculate that the spells couldn’t trap you?”
“Smart, that makes sense.” Ji Ma laughed. “Then use your clever brain to guess where the disk fragments on you went?”
Neither of them had interdimensional space bags; they lost them during the transit.
“I guess they’re on you.”
“Clever.” Ji Ma clapped her hands, smiling. “So, guess if I’ll give them to you?”
“No.”
“Since that’s the case, how about you give me the last disk fragment?” Ji Ma said. “I can promise you one request, like accompanying you wholeheartedly to save the world, with some sexual services along the way.”
“No.” George said. “First of all, as a chosen one of the Lord of Deception, having the disk fragment on you is too dangerous. If the Lord of Deception uses means to replicate the disk, Earth could suffer.”
“I’m not foolish.”
“What if the Lord of Deception trades with you, letting you return to Earth, but you need to recruit followers for Him?”
“No.”
George looked at Ji Ma in surprise because this was the truth.
“Don’t look at me like that; I don’t trust the Lord of Deception.” Ji Ma said. “And I don’t want to see you barging into my bedroom with the Holy Sword again. By the way, weren’t you dressed as a woman when you sneaked into my palace last time?”
“No!”
Ji Ma laughed, “Ah? The famous Bloody Dawn gentleman also has shy moments.”
“Wan Ziqi.”
Ji Ma’s face turned red, and she whispered, “Don’t say that; what if someone hears?”
“Back to the point,” George said. “So I won’t give you the disk fragments, and I hope to destroy them all. The Lord of Deception has already set His sights on them. Rather than gamble in His area of expertise, it’s safer to destroy them.”
“Your daughter is still on Earth.”
“I’m sorry for that; I am an incompetent father.”
“No.” Ji Ma said. “That disk fragment should be kept safe with you.”
“I won’t keep it; I’ve already stated my reasons.”
“So what are you planning to do?”
“I’ve already destroyed it.”
“Huh? When?”
“When I was with Lidice, I kept a piece in my mouth,” George said. “When I realized this might be a trap, I understood that if I lost, the seventy-five billion people on Earth would suffer. So I destroyed the piece in my mouth into sand.”
Boom.
At that moment, a volcanic eruption occurred in the distance, and amid the volcanic ash clouds, a blue lightning bolt struck.
Ji Ma felt as if she had been struck by lightning; she looked at George, opened her mouth, then closed it again. Finally, she wilted and covered her face, suddenly crying out:
“What do I do now? The Dream Palace is gone, and I can’t go back to Earth? I only have this one piece of clothing; who will I ask to make more clothes in the future?
“It’s my fault, all my fault. If I hadn’t come with you back then, I wouldn’t have faced the Lord of Deception’s scheme, and I wouldn’t have lost hope of returning home…”
George reminded her, “Looking at the time, we’ve only been in this world for less than four hours.”
“It’s all because of back then!” Ji Ma said. “There’s nowhere to bathe or wash clothes; in a few days, I’ll have to walk around naked and use the power of lies to trick others into thinking I’m dressed. George, can you bear to see your wife naked in front of others?”
George provided a feasible solution: “You can pick a clothing item from the spoils to use temporarily, then wash it with water and use magic to dry it quickly. What do you think?”
“Wash my own clothes? That’s too hard; my clothes are usually taken care of by fragrant maids who happily take my clothes, categorize them, and each maid specializes in a type of clothing, washing them in different machines.”
George sighed, “I’ll help you wash.”
Ji Ma’s face suddenly lifted from her hands, devoid of any tears, and she exclaimed in surprise, “Then it’s settled! No backing out.”
“Of course.”
“Can you scout now?” George asked. “I urgently need to know the current situation.”
“Sure, but let’s find a safe place first.”
Twelve hours later.
In a heavily corroded forest.
The magical wind blowing from the Blood God’s domain carried the sounds of swords, the scent of blood, the illusion of bronze thrones, and a longing for war and slaughter, all wrapped in magic.
Thus, these once towering ancient trees, under this influence, decided no longer to peacefully draw nutrients from the soil. Their branches turned into blades, the trunks became ropes covered in sharp spikes, and eyes grew on their bodies, poised to hunt down passing creatures and siphon their blood.
Dozens of skeletons hung from the branches, mostly civilians, with a few soldiers of the Empire among them. The branches tightly ensnared their sword-wielding hands, and sharp spikes pierced into their bones, leaving the soldiers with expressions of immense terror on their blackened faces, as if warning those who approached.
“A group of refugees was attacked by the forest and hid inside? That’s foolish; upon seeing the trees’ oddness, they should have kept their distance.” Ji Ma blinked. “Death occurred half a year ago.”
As she spoke, she sighed.
Various clues indicated that she had only been away from this other world for maybe two or three years, possibly even less than a year.
The Order faction had not been completely destroyed.
Ji Ma sighed for a while.
“Help me… help me…”
A weak cry for help came from among a line of large trees, a little girl.
The mutated trees remained still, quietly waiting for unsuspecting prey to approach.
“Is this the result of the wind from the Lord of Deception’s domain?” Ji Ma felt her intelligence insulted and turned to George, who was not far away, shouting, “George! These trees are great; let’s chop them down and use them for a campfire. What do you think?”
Not far away, George stood up from a pit, holding a shovel, which was still shouting, “Blood! Blood! I want more blood.”
He was digging a hole for the innocent victims, intending to bury them. The shovel was a “straight branch” Ji Ma lent him, which had transformed into a shovel.
“Sounds good.”
George jumped out of the pit, casually took a serrated execution axe favored by the demons from the nearby spoils, and in just over ten minutes, he felled a row of trees as thick as three people hugging and cut them into short lengths, dragging them into the pit and setting them on fire.
The bodies of the victims numbered over a hundred; Liansi helped drag them, drenched in sweat.
Among the corpses, many wore patched winter cotton clothes, some even in fur, and several had shields emblazoned with the Empire’s double-headed eagle emblem.
“A refugee team made up of broken soldiers and refugees.” Ji Ma said as she looked around, “Many are refugees from Kisilif, occurring half a year ago.”
“It seems we’re still in time.”
“Well, it looks like fate is favoring you, George.”
In the far distance.
In the forest, a three-eyed raven, with blue-black feathers, observed everything from afar.
What it saw was presented in a water basin steaming with blue mist.
The Weaver of Fate, Carlos, observed the past through his bird-head’s gaze at the water basin, whispering:
“Everything is according to plan; they are returning to their destined trajectory.”
As he spoke, strands of blue lines floated in the air, intertwining to form a tapestry.
Images of the past and future emerged on the tapestry, and amid the mist, several scenes could be vaguely seen: little Ji Ma sitting in an egg with George holding the Holy Sword, Ji Ma attacking George from behind, and… George and Ji Ma falling together from a fissure.
The Weaver of Fate, Carlos, waved his hand, and several blue lines began to illustrate the final fate.
“Bang!”
A gunshot echoed through the forest.
The upper body of the three-eyed raven was gone, and the illusion in the water basin had dissipated.
But it still could not interrupt the Weaver of Fate, Carlos, who was weaving her future destiny. He nodded in satisfaction after watching.
