Volume 2: Funeral Song of Crows Chapter 47: Return to the Moon
This is a dilapidated fortress that seems to have been built at the end of the world.
Looking up, although the sun was not visible, the area around here was filled with dilapidated dusk scenes. Countless broken walls and ruins of different times and architectural styles seemed to be rubbed together by a pair of invisible hands, forming countless floating islands around the fortress.
Or rather, it's more like a silent tombstone.
The crow messenger that had been released from the cage flew out of the fortress behind William. The latter looked at the dilapidated and decayed scene around him in surprise, his heart full of confusion.
This highly symbolic image, like a concrete representation of a concept, is undoubtedly a characteristic of the Moon Realm. But at the same time, it is like the real world, where everything has a complete form and does not change its appearance just because of a change in the angle of observation.
The ruined fortress behind him is a real building built in this place. It is a fortress built with various real stones or other things.
"Are you surprised?"
When they reached the edge of the cliff with the abyss surrounding the fortress, William suddenly asked.
"Where exactly is this place? I feel like this is neither the Moon Realm nor the real world."
the crow messenger asked.
"You got it wrong... This is both the 'End of the World' in the Moon Realm and the Dusk Fortress located near the Sorrow Scar in the Mountains of Sorrow. This is the combination of these two places, the junction between reality and illusion. Or, as we say now, the so-called 'plane fusion' phenomenon occurred here."
As William was speaking, several illusory white figures suddenly emerged from the surroundings of the cliff. They carried tools and stones and walked past William, talking and laughing, without noticing that there were people here at all.
The crow messenger was startled by the sudden appearance of the figures. It flapped its wings and flew higher. After watching the figures ignore them and walk into the fortress behind them, it asked:
"who are they?"
"Workers repairing the fort."
William replied.
Those figures were workers who were repairing the Dusk Fortress in the real world. Because they were on the other side of the curtain at the moment, they could not see William and the Crow Messenger who were in the End Scene.
But if they are magic casters, they will be able to sense William's presence in the etheric domain, and they can also interfere with the people on the other side of the curtain by using magic power.
Of course, people on this side can also use magic to affect people in the real world.
And this is the consequence of the fusion of planes - dividing the world into two layers, the inner and outer layers, which can directly interfere with each other.
If the Void Kings merge their Moon Realm into the real land, then the realm they rule will no longer be void, and they will become the true eternal rulers of this land.
By then, the Void Kings will no longer need lunar rifts, contracts, media, or waiting for the stars to influence the world. Every word they say will echo in the ears of all mortals within their control, and any action they take can cause mountains to collapse and rivers to dry up.
At the same time, all mortals will be exposed to the hunting of the Moon Realm monsters without any protection. If you are not a magic caster, you will not even be qualified to discover them.
And this is what the Void Kings are currently planning.
At least that's part of what the Void King is planning.
Thinking of this, William grabbed the crow messenger beside him and jumped off the cliff.
The area where the Dusk Fortress and the End of the World merged was only a very small area, and it was strictly controlled by the seal in the Dusk Hall. Only members of the Tribunal were qualified to use this function.
As long as you leave this small area, you can step into the real Moon Realm.
I guess that after all the Moon Realm rifts were closed, Coles and Blake went to the Moon Realm in this way to look for the "Seed of Hope".
After entering the Moon Realm, William was thinking about all these random things in his mind.
Then, just like last time, he came to the "high place" of the Moon Realm. Standing there, he looked down at the kingdom of the thirteen Void Kings.
Compared with what William saw when he came here not long ago, Ms. Hungry and Corrupted's domain, the "Lake of Entropy", seemed to have become much larger, and was still expanding slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It seems that the blight that is spreading across the continent of Vic is constantly increasing His power. If this trend continues, He will soon be able to organize a "Hunger March" to wreak havoc on the world.
With a slight sigh, William turned his gaze to the other side. The nightmare swamp shrouded in fog had not changed much from the last time he saw it. Seeing this, William ignored the struggle of the crow messenger in his hand and fell towards the direction of the nightmare swamp.
After passing through a fog filled with mumblings and screams, William found himself in a gloomy dungeon.
The howling human-shaped pillars of fire lit up the surroundings. The dungeon was filled with iron cages covered with barbs, and about one-third of them contained people.
Next to each cage, there was a torturer with his eyes sewn shut and his flesh engraved with terrifying totems. They tortured the people in the cages with all kinds of hideous instruments of torture. The dungeon was filled with painful sounds, some of which sounded powerful and could even scream loudly, while others could only moan with more air in than out.
The Prison of Torment is the realm that governs the "Dream of Pain".
Those who were locked in cages were the unlucky ones whose spirits accidentally entered the nightmare swamp while they were having nightmares.
The Nightmare Lord's Moon Realm is different from that of other Void Kings. The Nightmare Swamp is connected to the nightmares of all mortals. Although He cannot rely on this to have any substantial impact on the world , He is the Void King who is best at luring mortals into his realm.
It was similar to the time when Liliana’s soul was imprisoned in the Nightmare Swamp. It was not the summoning day of the Nightmare Lord, and there were no statues or altars around that could project power. But just because she fell into a nightmare, the other party could easily pull Liliana’s soul into the Moon Realm.
And this is also the biggest reason why William came here to find Zhuamala to make a deal.
Noticing that a person suddenly appeared in the cell, the torturers stopped their work and turned to William. Then they felt a little strange - this time it was not just a spiritual body that appeared here, but a complete person with both body and soul standing there, which was not common.
Of course, just because it's uncommon doesn't mean it won't happen. Over the past few hundred years, there have been several cases where magic casters came to the Moon Realm in search of power, but ended up getting lost here.
The fates of those people were extremely tragic.
Therefore, this does not affect the torture officers from working according to their usual procedures.
Capture, imprisonment, torture...
As the sound of iron chains rustled, the torturers came over with blood-stained instruments in their hands.
The iron cage closest to William opened by itself with a creaky sound.
"Go in by yourself... or do you need my help?"
The leading torturer asked in a voice as hoarse as an old woman.
William looked at them, then looked at the straight sword in his hand, and after thinking about it, he put the Judgment II in his hand back into the storage space.
After all, he came here to discuss cooperation with Juamara. If he killed all the Moon Realm monsters under his command as soon as he arrived at the Nightmare Swamp, the other party might question his sincerity in cooperating.
Seeing that this man had put away his weapons very "sensibly", the leading torturer nodded with great satisfaction.
Holding a restraint instrument covered with sharp teeth, it walked up to the man whose body had somehow been lost in the Nightmare Swamp, grabbed his hand and tried to put it into the instrument.
"Many of my colleagues like those who are willing to struggle. But I am different. I prefer obedient people like you. Maybe you think you will suffer less if you show obedience, but it's a pity..."
The torturer's words suddenly stopped because he found that no matter how hard he tried, he could not move the man's hand at all.
You know, this is inside the Prison of Torment, and each torture officer can draw a lot of power from the tortured spirits around them. If they can maintain this state and enter the real world, breaking stones and breaking gold with bare hands is a piece of cake.
But now it is extremely difficult for it to even move one of the opponent's hands.
It looked up at the gray-haired man in confusion, and the other man gave it a faint smile.
A "click" sound came from its wrist, and the intense pain made it scream out.
Its wrist was directly broken by the opponent.
"Don't feel sorry. At least you will be tortured just as much later."
William then twisted the other person's hands into a knot and said.
