Chapter 686: 164. Before the Final Battle
“Your Majesty, as per your command, the navy has entered the Saint Nali waters, and the army has already imposed martial law on the streets of Saint Nali.”
On this clear autumn morning, the entire Saint Nali has fallen into silence due to the army’s arrival, its usual clamor overshadowed by Elizabeth’s authority, tinged with a hint of golden solemnity.
In the square beneath the Golden Palace, the assembled troops stand ready to be reviewed by Elizabeth, and atop the city gate tower, Elizabeth, dressed in a proper white military uniform, holds a golden longsword, gazing blankly at the sky above. Her eyes flutter slightly, as if connecting with some otherworldly existence beyond the sky, the crevice, and the spirit realm.
She covers her eyes in pain and then looks down, softly speaking to Diane beside her, “The announcement I drafted earlier should be distributed to all citizens of Saint Nali in half an hour. The decision is mine, and it’s time for them to know what they are about to experience.”
Previously, Elizabeth hadn’t revealed to the Nali people the reasons behind her actions, but after some thought, she decided to inform her subjects of the truth.
Diane, attending to her from behind, nods in agreement while smiling and asks, “If unrest arises from this matter, Your Majesty, do you intend to suppress it?”
“Do you not trust me, or do you not trust my army?”
Elizabeth opens her eyes and says expressionlessly, “If there is chaos, let them come and go as they please. I leave the army here to maintain basic order, to prevent those guys from storming into Saint Nali and causing losses to hinder me. Everything else, just let them be.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Listening to Diane’s response, Elizabeth remains silent for a moment, watching the proud soldiers below, gazing at the swirling machinery overhead, and suddenly asks lightly, “Diane, you are the one who drafted the announcement. Seeing what I am doing, do you not feel afraid?”
“Your Majesty, I don’t understand.”
Elizabeth glances at her sideways, her tone unchanged, “I have betrayed the entire world, betrayed the current order, and offered it up to the gods beyond. I thought you would be frightened enough to flee in the night.”
Diane only smiles slightly, looking down as she answers, “Your Majesty, do you not trust yourself, or do you not trust Diane?”
“Heh, sharp-tongued.”
Elizabeth’s lips curl upwards slightly as she glances back at the woman bowing respectfully in the shadows, who slowly lowers her head, obscuring the blue-golden, mosaic-like pupils that shift color.
“Your Majesty selflessly dedicates herself for the country, as your subordinate, I can only vow to follow you to the death. There is no reason to flee in the face of danger.”
“Heh, if I said I am doing all this for a man? For Fisher Benavides?”
“…”
Diane lowers her brows, smiling but not answering, while Elizabeth’s expression becomes even more mocking.
“As for the affairs of the state, to me, I am just fulfilling the responsibilities of an emperor, letting them receive the wealth they originally deserved in exchange for their support of me. It’s just a contract. If it succeeds, Nali will survive in the new world, and the contract will continue; if it fails, the contract will collapse, and upon my death, those now grateful to me will be the first to curse me. Since ancient times, the relationship between leaders and their subjects has been like this; claiming to be for the state is not entirely truthful.”
“Then has Your Majesty considered why you have done only what is expected of you? As soon as you issue a command, all the people of Saint Nali obediently stay in their homes?”
At this moment, Diane speaks again, her sudden interruption surprising Elizabeth, but she does not scold her, thinking that there is still time for listening to more nonsense from her subordinates.
“From my perspective, Your Majesty, the reason you did not inform the public beforehand of your actions is that telling them would not help, as it is unrelated to your plans. Additionally, even if you fail, the citizens of Nali, due to their ignorance of the matter, will use their lack of awareness to absolve themselves of blame after your death. In a sense, you are distancing yourself from them. You care for Nali, just as they care for you.”
“Nonsense. I never believe in others; I only believe in myself. Everything I possess is taken by force, not given by others. Right and wrong have no absolute conclusion; they only change with the passage of time. Throughout history, only interests endure. Because I win, I have everything; if I lose, I rightfully lose everything.”
“Your Majesty, you must know that not everyone cares about winning or losing.”
Behind her, Diane’s figure becomes increasingly obscure in the shadows, and her words echo in the darkness; it seems like a reminder, a piece of advice, yet Elizabeth only finds it irritating and mutes it as the wind passing by her ears.
“But I care about winning and losing. When I was younger, a bitch told me she would tell my family about my lifelong commitment with my lover. She wanted to watch as I lost everything, turning the brilliant Eldest Princess into a puppet manipulated by Godlin. She drove me to anger, inciting me to harm her, which aligned perfectly with her schemes. I lost, utterly within her machinations, so I lost Fisher. No matter how much I later wished to explain to him, it was utterly futile, irreversible.
“When I led the army against Shivali, and amidst my political struggles with my brother, I lost. I lost miserably in the struggle for political power. My army was wiped out to defend me, I lost my sight, and I lived in perpetual unease within my tent. No matter how aggrieved I felt at that moment, no matter how many times I called out to my father, how helplessly I prayed, or how often I recalled Fisher’s visage; it was all useless because losing is losing, and no one cares about the loser’s feelings.”
Diane’s eyes have completely turned blue-golden, and she chuckles, no longer arguing, only submitting.
“You are right, Your Majesty.”
Perhaps in Elizabeth’s view, it is because she has lost that she must bear the consequences. Once you lose, no matter how much you regret it, how aggrieved you are, no matter how many tears you shed or how you explain it, no one will listen to you.
Upon witnessing the Apocalypse Prophecy, she felt a force hundreds of times more powerful than humanity and Nali. She came to know that Apocalypse Prophecy, saw several women intricately linked to it, and the rising power behind them.
As a monarch, Nali is about to confront the mythically rising Parasol Tree and Dragon Court; as a human, Elizabeth is about to face a lover closely tied to Fisher, holding an exceedingly high rank.
She could, of course, choose to do nothing, allowing Nali to remain invisible in the Apocalypse Prophecy, drifting along with the tide, and if the Apocalypse Prophecy were negated, it would lead to a passive era where the Parasol Tree and Dragon Court rose while humanity waned; to lose would mean sharing annihilation with this world—after all, they have little to do with it.
Loss.
Loss.
Loss.
She has lost enough.
Be it Nali or Fisher.
She just doesn’t want to accept her fate, wants to reclaim everything she has lost, and yet it’s not enough, not enough.
She wants to win, to win more.
She wants Nali to stand at the pinnacle of the new world order; everything—Dragon Court, Parasol Tree, mythical beings—should be cast aside; she just wants one person to receive Fisher’s love. She hopes they would only have each other and that all those superfluous women could leave.
She does not believe in fate; why should humanity’s ranks be at the bottom? Why must Fisher save this rotting order and atone for the gods? Why can’t she change all of this?
“Buzz, buzz, buzz.”
Elizabeth’s pupils momentarily blank, making her already hollow eyes even more devoid of spirit. She opened her mouth but found no words for a while, finally saying to Diane,
“You are fired. After you finish what I’ve instructed, leave this place, the farther you go, the better.”
Diane is not surprised; she shakes her head, tightening her grip on the draft paper, standing up with no anger, but rather smiling as she bows to Elizabeth.
“May you have great fortune in martial affairs, Your Majesty, and I hope to find my place in the new world.”
Then Diane turns to leave, leaving Elizabeth standing alone at the city gate, not glancing back, simply observing everything below.
Before long, the sensation from her eyes became even stronger, a sign of the strengthening power of the base, so she deemed that this ungraspable moment was merely due to the chaos of Pandora’s artificial eye at this time.
She rubbed her brow, remembering Diane’s words, then smirked in mockery and said,
“I’ve bet everything, let me see what you all are wagering to stop me from flattening this world.”
Elizabeth raised her hand towards the sun in the sky; there, the scattering Crimson Mist began to undulate, and her vision grew increasingly unstable. She initially thought it was the tremor of her prosthetic eye causing the visual instability, but abruptly discovered it seemed like the entire world and space was trembling.
Something appeared to heed her call, coming into this world.
“Elizabeth.”
At the same time, a phantom, terrifying whisper gently echoed in her ears, sending chills down her spine while also slightly curling her lips.
“[Heow], you’ve come?”
“Buzz, buzz, buzz.”
At this moment, the Spirit Realm’s [The Ultimate] also trembles uncontrollably, and the external forces continue to spread, making the deities guarding this place within the Spirit Realm instantly feel the invisible fluctuations.
Not only there, but beneath the Demon Dynasty on the Southern Continent, the shaking of the authority of death also became exceedingly apparent, two things stemming from the same source producing a subtle resonance at this moment.
Yes, that is the unclean end; that is the sister of the Death Goddess Heya, the god beyond, the trinity of death, Heow.
“Not only have I come. They have come too.”
“Boom!”
With this deep whisper, Elizabeth looks skyward, her entire being seems to be pulled upwards by some power in her eyes, slowly ascending towards the sky.
“Sizzle.”
Her eyes tremble continuously, and then, her golden pupils seem to transform into a spring, from which trickled drips of black-golden liquid, resembling some form of tainted ink, continuously surge out. Those liquids seem to defy gravity, slowly floating towards the sky as if attempting to stain it thoroughly.
Soon, the clear sky appears like a white sheet doused in ink, the sunlight concealed, and the ground of Saint Nali soon shrouded in a thick shadow.
“It is time, everyone.”
Elizabeth speaks softly, while from beyond the heavens, twelve demigod-level chaos races surge in, colliding with determination to break through the crevice outside.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
The illusory sounds, seemingly shattering the entire sky, penetrate heaven and earth, echoing like war drums throughout the universe.
In the city of Saint Nali, Trandal, who is staying in Martha’s rental house, looks pale as he gazes at the sky outside, trembling so much that he grips the window frame,
“It’s insane! The sky outside is dark; what on earth is happening?”
Behind him, Martha, seated in a wheelchair with a radio in her arms, looks at the burning fireplace, and after a series of sounds like falling snowflakes, Diane’s voice softly emanates from it,
“To all citizens of Saint Nali, all Nali people flowing with golden blood, I am Diane, the internal officer of the Golden Palace, delivering the following message on behalf of Her Majesty Empress Elizabeth. It concerns your safety and the future of Nali; please listen carefully and relay the following content to relatives and friends who may not have heard it.”
In the midst of this, Empress Elizabeth’s wild nature is being transmitted to her subjects, while Trandal listens, his complexion growing paler, and the tremors throughout his body becoming uncontrollable.
Upon hearing that Empress Elizabeth has decided to erase everything besides Nali, he is shocked beyond measure,
“Is this a lie? What?! Will women from other nations no longer be visible?”
“…”
The elderly Lady Martha turns her expressionless face toward the young gentleman Trandal, unsure of what to say, as she still worries about Fisher Benavides, who is still in exile overseas.
She has aged, unable to comprehend policies and the intentions of those in power, only feeling that if Fisher could return, he should be safe.
In contrast, Trandal is not blindly adoring of Elizabeth; he originally belongs to the New Party, and their past actions associated with the Exploration Company, involving trivial matters such as entertainment and gambling, were common. Their motto is that any policy that could make them money is a good policy, often leading to actions beneficial to the Exploration Company but detrimental to the country.
This is also the reason why Keken, who graduated from the Royal Academy—a stronghold of the Griffin Party—and Fisher often mockingly expressed that “the parliament can’t even gather a brain.”
In fact, whether or not they are ‘brain-dead’ is not up to them but determined by their circumstances.
Thus, at this moment, Trandal’s first thought is that Elizabeth has gone mad, daring to do such a thing.
What frightens him even more is that as Diane’s speech synchronously transmits to thousands of households in Saint Nali, outside, there continues to be dead silence, as if no one had received this message, all obediently remaining in their homes, following the Empress’s orders from the morning.
“They’ve all gone mad. The entire Nali has gone insane!”
Trandal, the member of parliament who has had his salary raised several times, thinks to himself.
At this moment in the Parasol Tree, under the efficient command of Valentina and various tribal leaders, the army about to set out for Nali has completed its assembly. The main combatants are the Cangniao tribe and the Troll race; other tribes responsible for logistics and real-time coordination, like the Slime and Snow Fox tribe, do not need to be mentioned; instead, let’s talk about those notable “familiar faces” that will head to Saint Nali.
From Parasol Tree, Valentina, Elder Daliwu from the Troll race, along with Alagina, who is adjusting the machinery, and Isabel and Aoxi accompanying them.
Originally, Paz was also supposed to go, but considering the number of people being transported and her physical condition, it was decided she would stay behind with Old Jack.
The battlefront of Saint Nali roughly looks like this; as for the situation in the “main battlefield” of the crevice:
“What a foolish little fish! Little fish! Little fish!!”
At this moment, clad in phoenix armor and fully equipped, Valentina cradles a cute little girl with long ears and black hair who gnashes her teeth at the gentleman of Nali standing before her. Dressed in a pink skirt, her black hair is styled in a bun with a peach blossom pin; she speaks in a babyish tone while scolding, truly matching her fiery temperament.
She is none other than the eldest sister of the Elves, the Duke of Peach.
“Trusting you? Letting chaos out. I should have known that you, the nutcase little fish, would get carried away with your flirting. What about you, Valentina?! After being near me and influenced for several months, you’re still muddled? Do you just believe whatever your deadbeat little fish husband says? Don’t you have an opinion of your own?!”
Valentina helplessly puffs out her cheeks and harshly pinches the little round face of the Duke of Peach, who has awakened and told her about Fisher’s plan. Clearly, she is very dissatisfied with what Fisher intends.
Fisher looks at the Duke of Peach, who is now even smaller than before, his expression a little hard to describe.
Ten thousand years ago, she disguised herself to appear about six or seven years old, but now she is even smaller, practically four or five years old, looking like a tiny doll, just started speaking clearly.
“Duke of Peach, haven’t you gotten smaller than before?”
“What? I told you I haven’t fully recovered! That’s why I said it’s best to kill me to prevent chaos from descending. Otherwise, during my prime, you wouldn’t be able to kill a fart, little fish! Forget how you were chased by me a millennia ago?”
“Duke of Peach! Why are you so fixated on dying all the time?! Fisher is trying to save you, giving us a chance; don’t be like this.”
Hearing Valentina’s persuasion, the Duke of Peach grows increasingly furious, and she struggles to shake off Valentina’s embrace.
“Who needs him to save me?! If he can manage to save himself, that’s good enough. Can he really save this world? That little fish with the love bug, now that he’s beside you, he’ll just agree to anything and put on a front!”
The Emhart on Fisher’s shoulder seems a bit eager, as if ready to jump in, but in the key moment, Fisher restrains General Emhart, stepping forward and directly articulating,
“You dying would be useless; Elizabeth cannot kill, chaos will still descend and assassinate Dalasgon.”
“So? The less chaos, the better! Can you handle it all?”
“I can.”
“You can what, you little fish…”
“I can mobilize the authority of Dalasgon. Although I cannot fully wield it due to his state and consciousness, fighting within the crevice gives us substantial advantage. As long as Dalasgon does not die, the Apocalypse Prophecy cannot be realized.”
The Duke of Peach, who is approximately at Fisher’s waist height, strives to look up at him, making her neck nearly bend at a 90-degree angle, making it very difficult for her to confirm the truth of what Fisher says.
Fortunately, at this moment, Valentina again hugs her, allowing her to maintain eye contact with Fisher.
It’s somewhat like a mother carrying a child, but now is not the time to worry about that.
The Duke of Peach furrows her brows, deep in thought, while Fisher doesn’t want to waste more words. He turns to see the soldiers of the Parasol Tree are now all set, glancing at the increasingly intense collisions of the chaos race in the sky, and simply says,
“External gods are indeed external gods. Their powers are imbued with unfathomable properties. Even a fraction of their power pouring in will introduce uncertainty into the battle. Ashley understands the chaos of fate better, and with Chaotic Being, aside from you, no one can call themselves an expert. As for the chaos of death, it shares roots with Heya. Having been pursued by the authority of death for so long gives me some standing. So, this time in the crevice, I need both of you to help me; everything else is up to Valentina and the others.”
“Duke of Peach, I beg you, please agree to Fisher.”
With Valentina’s plea behind her and the rationale from Fisher in front, the Duke of Peach feels like a child caught in a parental squeeze, quickly finding herself without the strength to resist.
Now that the conversation has reached this point, even if she were to take her own life, the other wielder of the Fate Completion Manual has already been persuaded, so what utility would that serve?
Thus, she can only glare fiercely at Fisher and says, “If anything goes wrong, all the responsibility will fall on you, Fisher!”
“It’s always been on me.”
Fisher responds helplessly while simultaneously sizing up the Duke of Peach’s current state and asks,
“How much power can you still exert given your current condition?”
“If I don’t utilize Chaotic Being’s chaos, I can probably exert around Sixteenth Rank, not too different from you.”
“That should be enough.”
Fisher strokes his chin; the key still lies in how much authority of Dalasgon can actually be utilized.
After waking up that morning, he and Ashley had gone to experiment within the crevice. By following the previous method of engulfing chaos souls, he managed to replicate it and truly came into contact with the authority of Dalasgon, which allowed him to obtain part of the manipulation over the crevice as Dalasgon had not yet become aware.
The crevice is the realm of the subconscious, which means he can freely construct scenes reminiscent of past dream magic and drive a small portion of Dalasgon’s power, conservatively estimating around Nineteen Rank.
For an authority, it might be minor, but it’s already enough to use; the problem is that this power isn’t very stable. Fisher tried three times, succeeding twice, meaning a probability of two-thirds, but that one-third failure rate is potentially fatal.
After all, this authority is still in his hands, and it is already ridiculous that Fisher can borrow and contain the power of that authority.
This makes him increasingly curious about what he truly is.
Why can he manifest the authority’s name and shape without repulsion? This remains a total mystery.
“Fisher, Valentina, everything is ready over there.”
At this moment, Alagina, adorned with various machinery equipment, sternly leads about ten towering humanoid mechanisms over. The mechanisms seem to mimic angels, similar to the David Fisher saw in the shelter but not as advanced as David’s.
These are the flagship mechanisms once used by angels; Fisher cannot determine their rank, as they are made from lifeless materials requiring careful testing to define.
Presently, the army attacking Saint Nali is prepared. Fisher glances over and can see Isabel, holding a firearm and sword, taking deep breaths, and Aoxi, cloaked under her cape.
Valentina places the Duke of Peach down, looking at Fisher and says,
“Shall we prepare to set out then? The situation in the sky seems to be worsening. On the Slime side, they have already clarified the status of Saint Nali; the army has taken over, there is almost all of Nali’s main force there. It seems a major battle is imminent, but with me here, a bunch of humans and machines won’t last long.”
Fisher’s expression doesn’t lighten; instead, he says to Valentina,
“No, Valentina, you can’t directly defeat the army of Saint Nali. Firstly, I don’t know what Elizabeth might have left as a backup; even if there is nothing, you cannot behave this way facing just a group of humans. Elizabeth has a Nineteenth Rank projection of Pandora by her side, and that presence is beyond what you can handle; a direct confrontation would result in severe casualties. So, what I need is for you to buy time and create chaos, not to clash directly with her, do you understand?”
“Okay, I get it. But what if she thinks the forces at Saint Nali are insignificant and sends that Pandora projection into the crevice to help with the chaos?”
“That’s the purpose of adding another into the mix; leave everything to us when it happens.”
As he speaks, Fisher looks again at the Emhart on his shoulder. This thing just brought him a letter from the Dragon Court this morning.
“As for the Dragon Court, they will arrive by sea, and there will definitely be Elizabeth’s navy in the water, which can help you draw the naval fire, so you just need to focus on the land matters.”
“Mm!”
Valentina nods, drawing her ice phoenix sword. This sword belongs to the King of Phoenix but has never felt right for her; the Moon Princess sword is more practical for her, and she only brought this to serve as a unity symbol of the Parasol Tree.
Just like now, as they are about to embark, she raises her sword high, calling out to the army assembled in the snowy ground not far away,
“Everyone! We are setting off soon; gather your spirits and be ready!!”
“We are about to head to Saint Nali and face that damned Elizabeth in a life-and-death battle!!”
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(End of chapter)
