Chapter 850
The King of Terror Descends from the Heavens
After Alistair had eaten her fill, Inspector Weber intended to escort the chilling young lady home.
After all, given Alistair’s identity, if anything were to happen to her after leaving his care, the repercussions would be immense for him.
He couldn’t bear such a responsibility. Not only could he not bear it, but even his superiors and their superiors wouldn’t be enough to make up for any mistakes.
As one reaches middle age, stability becomes the priority.
To prevent any incidents, Inspector Weber even called the bureau to arrange for a car and driver to accompany Alistair.
Alistair narrowed her eyes, curled up in the back seat, and chatted idly with Inspector Weber, who was also sitting in the back.
“Have you heard of it?”
Inspector Weber said casually while fiddling with his phone, “That doomsday prophecy the Demon Cultists were talking about.”
“Doomsday prophecy?”
Alistair pondered for a moment, then shook her head. “I might have heard of it, but I didn’t pay much attention. What prophecy?”
“It said that in July 1999, a King of Terror would descend from the heavens… I didn’t remember the rest. In short, a god would then rule the world in the name of happiness. Last month, some places in Camelot experienced quite a bit of chaos, and many people made preparations for disaster.”
“…Ruling the world in the name of happiness, what does that have to do with the end of the world?”
Alistair was a bit confused. “Isn’t happiness good? Since they’re ruling the world, doesn’t that mean the world will continue?”
“I don’t know, who cares? Those Demon Cultists have been acting crazy for more than a year or two. Anyway, July is already over.”
Inspector Weber chuckled briskly. “It’s August now, and we haven’t seen this ‘King of Terror’ anywhere, have we? Perhaps they just made it up…”
Just then, the Earth suddenly experienced an unusual fluctuation.
An invisible shockwave swept through, and all the trees on the street made a loud, uniform, and violent rustling sound.
All electrical appliances instantly malfunctioned, and even Inspector Weber’s phone screen went black. Some cars suddenly slowed down, and the traffic lights on the street all failed—either all on or all off. The electronic billboards on the street flickered erratically.
Alistair instantly sat up straight.
Others might not feel it… but she felt an extremely strong surge of Transcendent Power pierce through her spine at that moment.
She couldn’t stop trembling, twitching slightly in the car—it felt like hitting a nerve, a wave of warm, tingling, uncomfortable electric current spreading to her limbs.
What was that?
Alistair’s eyes widened.
She wasn’t unfamiliar with this feeling—
Both the ascension of the Banquet Heavenly Envoy and the Winter Envoy had brought about such world-spanning anomalies.
Had a Heavenly Envoy ascended?
But it didn’t seem right…
Apart from the “world-class electronic malfunction” caused by this invisible shockwave, nothing else seemed to have happened.
—Could it be some “BUG Heavenly Envoy” that ascended?
But at this moment, the entire world suddenly froze in time.
The moment she saw the question in the car, Alistair’s pupils constricted.
She yanked open the car door and stepped out.
The question was: “Who is the King of Terror?”
Below it were three choices:
— “Endless Knot,” “Fallen Heavenly Envoy,” “Shadow Heavenly Envoy.”
One Pillar God, two Heavenly Envoys.
In an instant, all the previous sense of incongruity struck her heart.
Alistair remembered very clearly…
Her foster father had once told Eivass that the future “Metamorphosis” Path was achieved when the Ring Heavenly Envoy, through the Ouroboros Ring ritual, seized the power of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy. The demon of the Transcendent Path disintegrated and regenerated, its power merging with the Fey realm, transforming into the six elemental spirits… The “Elementalist” was not a Mage who controlled elemental power, but rather akin to a shaman who served or commanded the elemental spirits.
—Those elemental spirits were, in fact, still the demons; Elementals were still Demon Scholars, only their research was no longer on Demonology, but Elementalism.
It was like a company replacing its top brass; after the new leaders took over, they first fired a bunch of people.
Then the company changed its operational direction, abolishing previous rules and projects. The employees were still the same employees, and the customers were still the same customers, but they started anew.
Because the new leaders brought in substantial capital, the company’s situation immediately improved, and performance requirements were no longer as strict… Consequently, the workload for each individual team also became less demanding, and benefits improved accordingly.
Then the new leaders brought in a group of middle management from their previous companies—the Alchemists of Fourth Tier and above—and then recruited a batch of brand-new employees attracted by the new benefits. These were newcomers learning the extraordinary skills of Elementals from scratch.
But now…
Inspector Weber had mentioned several times that “Demon Cultists” still existed and were troublesome. Furthermore, their name had become Demon Cultists, not Demon Scholars—this meant the Fallen Heavenly Envoy still existed and had publicly revealed his demonic faith.
Instead of secretly collecting souls and nurturing Demon Scholars like during the Father Serpent’s reign, they were now openly proselytizing!
And this world also had an “Elemental Emperor” on the same level as the Eternal Pope… This meant they were all of Sixth Tier.
Sixth Tier was the limit that no one could reach, indicating that this world had not undergone the Ouroboros Ring ritual.
But if the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was not dead, where did the power of the Elementals come from?
Besides, there were other paradoxes—this was the information Alistair had gathered while chatting with Inspector Weber.
For example, Avalon had become Camelot, and Glass Island had become New Glass Island. In another worldline, this was due to the devastation caused by the Shadow Heavenly Envoy.
In this worldline, Isabel sacrificed the soul of her Path of Love, as well as her lover and her ability to bear children, to revive the parched and cursed land of Avalon.
But in this worldline, Isabel already had more than one child with Eivass—and their first child, now the Queen of Camelot, was even named Alistair!
—But this was an agreement between Alistair and Isabel!
Because Alistair didn’t want to disappear without a trace, Isabel intended to remember Alistair forever in this way. In other words, first, Isabel had to know Alistair, and Alistair would fear her own disappearance.
In other words, first, Alistair had to be separated into two individuals from Eivass, and only then could Isabel name her first son or eldest daughter Alistair…
Alistair’s brain instantly turned to mush.
“…What should I choose?”
Alistair murmured softly.
At this moment, Eivass, in a spiritual form, sat in the passenger seat and looked at the three doors.
Eivass pondered, “So that’s how it is. It’s not just one worldline, but multiple worldlines mixed together…”
Unlike Alistair, with his broader perspective and greater freedom of movement, he had already understood.
Because they were unaware of the existence of “surveillance”… those Ascenders acted recklessly, relying on their abilities and past experiences. As a result, some died, some were arrested, and they had almost no choices.
This was already the fifth question, and the progress bar was more than halfway complete.
But this painting had barely moved… it had been three parallel lines until now!
“Choosing something, negating something…”
Eivass gazed intently at the “Endless Knot” option.
If he were to follow his heart, he would choose this.
After being schemed against for so long, it would be strange if he didn’t have some anger—even if the other party was considered his half, or even his original self, it wouldn’t stop him from wanting to take over his body.
That was a genuine enemy. A fight to the death, with no other choice.
… But would introducing a Pillar God as an enemy be too much?
For the safety of Alistair and other Ascenders… it was best to choose the most correct answer.
So Eivass walked into the door belonging to the “Fallen Heavenly Envoy.”
“…There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Alistair took a deep breath and walked into the “Endless Knot” door without hesitation.
(End of this chapter)
