Chapter 128: Another Flower? |
Facing Wyatt, who had suddenly shouted the words "proto-Divine Realm," the three Law Contemplators present each reacted differently.
Miles, standing farthest away, chose to retreat. The Sacred Law Knight raised his empty left hand, and a massive golden round shield materialized in it.
As for the assassin from the Fate Rectification School, who was closest to Wyatt, she accelerated a second time, trying to plunge her dagger into Wyatt's back before the proto-Divine Realm could take shape.
Three Spiritual Flames ignited simultaneously, splitting the municipal square into three zones.
But none of these reactions mattered.
The circle behind Wyatt's head expanded outward at an incredible speed.
This originally flat circle rapidly expanded into a sphere, and instead of slowing down, the rate of expansion increased as it swelled in volume.
It was as if an invisible aura had been materialized. In an instant, it engulfed nearly half of the municipal square.
Before those few words had even finished being spoken, the sphere had already completely enveloped all three people around him.
In the blink of an eye, Grecian-style stone pillars shot up from the ground at an unimaginable speed.
One of these pillars appeared directly beneath the feet of Wyatt, the assassin, Miles, and the knight's white horse, lifting them all upward.
The assassin's dagger struck nothing.
She, who had been mere centimeters away from Wyatt, was suddenly separated from him by hundreds of meters.
A massive sun appeared above everyone's heads, replacing the original sun over Liant Town, which had seemed close due to its floating position at high altitude.
"Not good!"
This word appeared simultaneously in the minds of both the knight and the assassin.
The proto-Divine Realm had taken shape.
It consisted of rows of standing pillars and countless broken stones of varying sizes, floating in midair, defying physics.
Some of those stones were large, like small artificial hills, while others were tiny, no bigger than a fingernail.
Beneath the stone pillars lay an unfathomable abyss, stretching endlessly into darkness with no bottom in sight.
Proto-Divine Realm·Self-Resolution Abyss.
Wyatt stood on the tallest and largest pillar in the center, while the other three stood on pillars surrounding him.
The flat tops of these pillars were spacious enough—each one was like a small platform, large enough that even a horse standing on one wouldn't feel cramped.
"Well? Do you want to continue?" Wyatt watched them with a smile.
"Hm... alright, I spoke out of turn." He quickly retracted his question.
Looking at the floating debris around him, Wyatt half-turned his body and gently tapped one of the stones.
Following this moderate force, the stone floated toward the assassin from the Fate Rectification School.
To Law Contemplators, this speed was far too slow.
It could be easily dodged or blocked, and even if it hit, it wouldn't cause any damage.
It probably wouldn't even hurt.
Yet the assassin still raised her hand and threw a flying dagger.
They were inside Wyatt's proto-Divine Realm, and the assassin had no idea what abilities Wyatt possessed.
The flying dagger quickly and perfectly struck the small stone drifting slowly toward her, shattering it instantly, and continued toward Wyatt without losing speed.
Wyatt smiled.
The next moment, as the flying dagger reached Wyatt, it lost its momentum, dropped downward, and embedded itself into the stone pillar beneath his feet.
Meanwhile, blood splattered from beneath the assassin's black cloak.
Blood erupted from her seven orifices, every joint in her body let out a "crack," a massive amount of blood was squeezed out through the pores of her skin, every internal organ felt as if it had been struck with crushing force, every inch of skin seemed to be torn, and even her soul itself seemed to be on the verge of death in an instant.
The intense pain and irresistible damage knocked her unconscious in that moment. Her body pitched forward, and she collapsed face-first onto the stone pillar, falling into a deep coma.
Wyatt had barely kept her alive; otherwise, she would have died at that instant.
Seeing this, Wyatt revealed a smile.
"See? That's all there is to it."
Looking at the wary Sacred Law Knight and Miles, Wyatt spoke in an easygoing manner:
"What? Can't figure out the principle?"
As [Pride], he didn't feel the need to hide his abilities.
So he casually revealed his power.
"The answer is time," Wyatt said.
"This is the present."
Wyatt once again extended a finger, pointing at Miles, and gently tapped another floating piece of debris.
That stone also drifted slowly toward Miles.
Wyatt looked at Miles.
"That stone hitting you is the future."
"But if the 'future' betrays time, it becomes the 'past.'"
The stone drifted slowly in front of Miles and gently tapped his shoulder.
Miles didn't dodge or block.
He simply watched as the stone hit his shoulder, but nothing happened.
Wyatt said with a smile:
"Before I threw the stone, 'the stone hitting its target' had already become the past, become history, become a fait accompli."
"The cost of trying to change the past is far greater than changing a future that hasn't been clearly defined."
"That's why, even though there are theoretically so many abilities that could influence history, almost no one can actually change the past."
"Within my proto-Divine Realm, my thoughts are destiny. The future I want has already become the past."
"And if you try to go against me, you are reversing time, mocking fate, changing the past, and tampering with history."
He looked at the assassin collapsed on the ground and said with a smile:
"Even if you only wanted to change such a trivial matter as 'being hit by a stone I threw,' it's still the same."
"And you... cannot afford that price."
After that, Wyatt shifted his gaze to the Sacred Law Knight.
Seeing the knight still gripping his weapon tightly, he let out a helpless smile.
"This is blind loyalty on your part," he said, his expression seeming somewhat resigned.
"Forgive me," the knight replied in a low voice.
Wyatt looked at the knight, as if seeing his face through the visor.
"Since that's the case..."
Suddenly, the knight felt his armor, his weapon, and even his own flesh and blood betray him. His body could not move, his weapon could not be lifted, and his armor began to contract inward, trying to crush him to death.
The shield in his hand could reflect attacks from the front. In theory, even abilities brought by a proto-Divine Realm could be reflected.
But the problem was that, without a "Divine Realm Collision," the master of the proto-Divine Realm could make his attacks appear in any area within the realm that wasn't covered by another's spirituality.
Worse still, the Sacred Law Knight had become a Law Contemplator partly due to specific training and the enhancement of his equipment, rather than being a true Law Contemplator.
Although the knight before him was a "Gemstone Tier" Law Contemplator, he could barely even ignite his Spiritual Flame when facing a fully formed proto-Divine Realm.
In other words, attacks could come from anywhere outside the knight's body.
Including the back of the shield.
The knight struggled desperately to resist, but he didn't even know how to fight back.
As Wyatt had said, he couldn't break free from this attack.
Even if, by some miracle, he somehow managed to do so, what awaited him would be the punishment of fate.
Just then, a hand constantly burning with Spiritual Flame appeared behind him, gently placed on the helmet at the back of his head.
That Spiritual Flame was a grayish-white color, with some other hues mixed in.
The next moment, the knight's consciousness sank into stillness, and he fell unconscious.
His warhorse had already passed out earlier.
The man and horse staggered forward two steps. The knight tumbled off his horse and landed on the edge of the stone pillar.
Had it not been stopped by a foot, he would have rolled right off the pillar and fallen into the abyss below.
"So heavy." Miles, holding a book in his hand, didn't remove his foot from the knight as he looked up and locked eyes with Wyatt.
"You might want to change the look of that book." Wyatt's gaze shifted from Miles's face to the Lunatic's World Travel Guide in his hand.
"Even though I can't read the words on it, I still remember roughly what it looks like."
"I wasn't trying to hide it from you either."
Miles—who had been fanning the flames and egging on the two Law Contemplators to challenge a Law Inscriber—raised the Travel Guide.
"Seems like you've met my... little brother."
"Mm-hmm." Miles... no, Samuel, who was using Miles's body, nodded. "You hesitated when you said 'little brother.' Why?"
Wyatt cupped his chin with one hand and replied, "I don't really know what to call him."
"Little brother, father, grandfather, great-grandfather..."
"Anyway, right now, he's my little brother."
"Hmm... in a few more years, he'll probably be my nephew."
"Is that so? Haha." Samuel let out two laughs. "That's quite interesting."
"Why does he keep changing bodies?"
Wyatt shrugged.
"After all, a king can't be the same person forever."
"Besides, compared to a decrepit old body, wouldn't it be better to switch to a younger, more energetic one, as long as your strength isn't weakened?"
"So Law Inscribers do get old," Samuel remarked. "Speaking of which, can Law Inscribers even do something like that? Taking over a body without losing power?"
He glanced at his current body.
"This body feels incredibly awkward for me to use. I can barely bring out any of its power."
"Every Law Inscriber's ability is different," Wyatt explained gently. "Priest Ethen from the Harvest Church, for example, doesn't need to worry about aging."
"Mm-hmm." Samuel nodded.
Then, he asked:
"You've become a Law Inscriber, so you should be able to see a lot more, right? Can you tell me what exactly I am? I've always been curious, but your little brother isn't willing to tell me."
"Maybe it's because I once flushed him down the sewer, and he's been holding a grudge ever since."
But Wyatt shook his head.
"I can't tell. After all, I've only just advanced, and your true body isn't here."
"Perhaps you could wait a while longer."
"I see..." Samuel let out a regretful sigh.
Wyatt put one hand behind his back and gestured with the other toward the two people and the horse lying on the ground.
"Leave them to your disposal."
"And don't forget—I have a front-row ticket to your future performance."
"I'm looking forward to your show."
....
Half an hour later.
The town floating in the sky had vanished without a trace.
But a large number of residents in Reins had still witnessed that sight.
This could, however, be explained away as a "mirage," easily covered up with a science article in the next day's newspaper.
Of course, there would also be plenty of people who would regard it as a "divine miracle."
With the dissolution of the proto-Divine Realm and the disappearance of Liant Town,
the people who had been pulled into this ritual one by one withdrew as well.
In the blink of an eye, Falson found himself back in the small alley where he had first answered the phone.
"I'm back?" His voice carried a note of confusion.
Following Samuel's advice, Falson had chosen to stay in the hotel and read a novel using the System.
He hadn't noticed that Liant Town had been relocated to the skies above Reins; he'd only felt that the temperature had suddenly dropped a lot.
But trusting Samuel, he had simply pulled the covers over himself and continued reading.
"Yeah." Samuel's voice came from behind him. "You're back."
"Ah, boss." Falson turned around.
Since he had decided to stick with Samuel, he had casually changed his address to "boss."
Suck up a little—maybe he could get more money.
"Since you're calling me boss..." Samuel handed him a business card he had created on the spot.
"Here," Samuel said. "Come find me at this address in a couple of days."
Falson instinctively reached out and took the card.
On it was only an address, an icon, and a single word in Liastanian.
"Theater."
There was no full name—it was just simply called "Theater."
"Uh... isn't this a bit... too minimalist?"
Falson couldn't help but complain.
He was about to say something else, but when he looked up, Samuel had already vanished.
"Ah... alright."
He shrugged.
And left directly.
It was to be expected.
After spending this time together, Falson had gotten used to Samuel's style.
He put away the card and looked toward the exit of the alley.
As for Samuel himself, he had already appeared directly near the street where his own house was.
"Ah, it's been a while since I've been back." Samuel stretched.
"Speaking of which, I ended up spending way more time in that Liant Town hotel than I did at home."
"And this place was supposed to be my first home." Samuel complained with a smile.
Yeah, he'd been here for seven days.
And he'd spent less than a day in that initial villa before heading to Liant Town.
Then it was a full seven days.
Even though Celt and Evina had been outside, and they could share memories, meaning that theoretically, Samuel hadn't been away from that villa for too long.
Still, it felt strange.
Returning to the street, Samuel suddenly remembered something.
He had been here for a week but had never paid attention to the name of this street.
That wasn't too strange, though, since it wasn't a particularly important detail, and Samuel wasn't the type to dwell on it.
What did strike him as odd, however, was that despite having a photographic memory, he had absolutely no impression of this street's name.
And it wasn't just him—Celt and Evina had no memory of it either.
After leaving Liant Town, Evina had been staying at the theater and hadn't come home. It was understandable that she wouldn't know.
But Celt came back to the residence every day, yet he always relied on memory to retrace his steps without ever paying attention to street signs or house numbers.
That was very strange.
Soon, Samuel arrived home and found his own house number on the outer wall of the yard.
No. 16, Violet Street.
His address after arriving in this world was No. 16, Violet Street.
Violet?
Another flower?