Looking at this illusory scene connected by dark clouds, storms and the ocean, as well as the people who were truly affected by this fantasy scene, William sighed silently.
The Moon Realm originates from condensed desires and emotions, so when they fall into the human world, although they are invisible, they can still truly harm mortals.
It is like desires and emotions, although they have no substance, they can still devour mortals.
"Black Crow's Watch is much more powerful than the previous End of the World. Dawn Fortress alone cannot support its scale."
Black said after driving away the storm close to the makeshift settlement.
"After all, this is a Moon Realm that almost became the Kingdom of the Void Monarchy. Even when the ancient rune systems in the Dawn Fortress were complete, they might not be able to contain even one-tenth of Black Crow's power."
Looking at the ocean hanging high above the mountains, William said with a headache.
The broken rune system in the current Dawn Fortress may only accommodate one or two percent of the scale of Black Crow's Watch, while the remaining part has directly experienced the phenomenon of plane fusion. The overflowing Moon Realm directly turned most of the southern into a vast ocean raging with storms.
Although this is essentially just a false illusion , it will not affect the local water, soil and climate, nor will it turn the mountains here into seabeds, and even the vegetation in the mountains will not be destroyed.
But for intelligent creatures who can feel the concept of "despair", this land is definitely a real sea of ​​storms. If someone accidentally falls into it, he will definitely drown in this howling storm.
It was just like the rainstorm that was transformed by William's shattered waves. Although the ground and other inanimate objects were not wet, the people watching below were soaked like drowned rats.
"Blake, with your authority as the Lord of the Moon Realm, can you completely calm the storm in the Sea of ​​Despair?"
William asked worriedly as he looked at the huge waves surging one after another in the terrifying storm in the distance.
But in response, Blake shook his head and said:
“This sea and storm are the embodiment of the concept of ‘despair’. I can only choose to make the storm bigger or larger, and control its path, but I can’t stop the storm on the entire sea.”
William sighed and said:
"Then let's try to keep the storm away from all the marginal areas."
"It has already been done."
Blake nodded in response.
As a Lunar Realm that reflects people's fear of the end of the world, the End Scene is not a large-scale Lunar Realm. Compared with the vague description of the end of the world in myths and legends or prophecies, it goes without saying which one can trigger people's fear more, and the resonance they produce in the Lunar Realm is also very different.
Previously, the entire End of the World was controlled by the Dawn Fortress and would not actively affect the present world. But now that the Black Crow is in the Moon Realm, which symbolizes the concept of "despair", the Dawn Fortress is like an immature pony trying to pull several large trucks full of goods, and it is completely unable to do so.
"We must expand the rune system of the entire Dawn Fortress so that the entire Black Crow View can be sealed in the darkness of the fortress like the End of the World before."
William said as he descended into the temporary settlement.
Otherwise, it would be too dangerous to have an illusory sea floating over the entire Mountains of Sorrow. This would be a huge hidden danger for the surrounding towns and villages, and even the entire eastern part of the Blackwater Swamp.
The Moon Realm is ever-changing. One day, some major event might happen in the mortal world, causing a storm to form in the Moon Realm, which would cause the entire Black Crow Wang to fall into a state of frenzy.
"That's not enough for just a fortress. We may need to build a city with Dawn Fortress as the core to expand the entire rune system."
Blake, who was trying his best to suppress the entire group of black crows and prevent the restless storm from approaching the edge, answered.
Any slight overflow of power from the entire Moon Realm could produce waves of tens of meters high like the previous ones. Even after leaving Black Crow's range, they would quickly be eliminated by the laws of the world. But before that, it would be no problem to flood one or two villages.
William and Blake fell to the ground under the awe-inspiring gazes of the crowd, and the former quickly found Sigmund, the person in charge here, among the crowd.
"How did the previous things go?"
The previous matter naturally refers to the matter of asking him to transfer personnel, key equipment and precious materials in advance.
Sigmundus bowed and then replied:
"All construction workers have been safely evacuated, and all hunters and woodcutters who were too close to the mountains have also been forced to evacuate. As for equipment and materials, enchanting tables and refining equipment, as well as precious metals in stock, have been moved out in advance, but there is nothing we can do about those large equipment... But Lord Judge, what is the situation in this sea?"
At first, Sigmund wanted to give a detailed report on what was going on, but halfway through, he looked at the ocean behind the presiding judge and couldn't help but ask this question first.
"A sea that should have existed in people's consciousness has now appeared in the real world due to some minor problems."
William answered briefly, then added:
"We'll get this back to normal as soon as possible, but don't try to get close to this area before then."
After saying that, William turned his gaze to Blake who was standing aside and asked:
"Do you mean to use the entire Black Crow Watch as a base to build a city that spans the Moon Realm and the real world?"
"To be precise, it is a fortress city, a bridgehead for defending and counterattacking the Moon Realm."
Blake nodded.
Transforming the entire Black Crow City into a fortress city to deal with the Moon Realm is definitely an excellent plan.
The End Watchers of the past relied on the Twilight Fortress to connect coordinate points and block the Moon Realm rifts one by one. They turned the mobile warfare that was originally spreading all over the continent into a positional defense war relying on fortress fortifications. They kept the Moon Realm outside the real world, thus greatly reducing the damage caused by the Moon Realm invasion to the real world.
Now, Black Crow Watch, which is larger than the End of the World, undoubtedly has better initial conditions and can build more fortifications. And as the lord of Black Crow Watch, Blake can also make full use of the geographical advantages of the entire Moon Realm. Not to mention anything else, those crows and storms alone can bring great casualties to the invaders.
but……
"But the resources and manpower I have right now are not enough to even completely renovate Dawn Fortress."
William said somewhat helplessly.
Then he continued:
"Let's not talk about the most basic magic sealing lines for now. The most core lines for anchoring were all arranged by Sibilla back then. What do you think..."
William said as he looked at the group of enchanters brought from the Serpent Lighthouse.
"Do you think there is anyone else who can take on this important task?"
Hearing this, Blake shook his head with a somewhat sad expression:
"Sibyl went to Lengyuan that year. The last time I heard about her, she was planning to cross the sea to the Dragonbone Islands to seek a revelation. After that, there was no news about her."
William nodded. Although she possessed the [Eye of God], Sibyl was still a mortal after all. If we don't consider extremely special cases like Blake, it would be basically impossible for her to live to this day and age.
"In short, if we want to solve the current situation..."
As William spoke, he made the magic medium in his hand glow with a bright green light and began to heal the festering wound on his shoulder.
He hadn't taken care of it for a while, and the wound caused by the hungry lady herself had already begun to grow bright and festering fungi.
"We need a large number of excellent enchanting craftsmen, alchemists, architects, and many other talents. And they must be ready-made talents. We don't have time to train them from scratch."
The standard of excellence that William mentioned was only for talents in the field related to magic, which meant at least reaching the legendary level.
"Except for the Star Council, I can't find an organization with such talents for the time being, but the problem is..."
William's words brought the members of the Enchanting Association, who had been holding shocked expressions on their faces, back to their senses. They listened nervously to what the other party said next.
William ignored their reactions and continued:
"The problem is that the Star Council is the organization I most urgently want to completely and humanely destroy. When the time comes, let's not talk about those who were dragged into it, but all the senior executives will have to stand trial."
These twenty-four star beacons and the catastrophic calendar of the False King alone should send every one of them to the guillotine.
The enchanters from the Serpent Lighthouse didn't even dare to breathe when they heard that.
But this creates a contradiction.
The talents who can meet William's standards are undoubtedly the senior and quasi-senior officials of the Star Council.
Blake hesitated for a moment and said:
"Mr. Judge, if you need a large number of excellent magic casters, I do have a suggestion... No, even if this matter did not exist, I would still suggest that you go there first."
"where?"
William asked.
"Ava Continent, the city-state alliance of the seven high elves, and the location of the earliest magic cult, the Takma Cult."
"And Remedios Moonshadow is still alive, but her current situation is not very optimistic."
Epilogue: Funeral Song
"The storm has stopped..."
On a slender and elegant hollow tower, a woman wearing a silver moon brocade dress and a phoenix emblem on her chest held the railing and murmured to herself.
In her golden pupils, the crystal clear skyline of the Broken Sea was reflected.
There were no thick, lingering dark clouds, no raging storms, and no flocks of crows that came from nowhere.
It was a sunny and windy day, looking perfect for sailing.
This is something that has not happened in hundreds of years.
She subconsciously clenched the railing with both hands, and her already pale fingers became even paler.
After a long time, she finally came to her senses when she heard a voice behind her.
"Ms. Shadowmoon, the Lord of Ys City has initiated the Moon Wheel Conference."
A guard wearing armor decorated with tiny tear crystal gems walked up behind the elf woman , clenched his right fist and placed it on his left shoulder, lowered his head and spoke softly.
Then the guard seemed to hear a sigh, but it must have been his imagination.
Then he heard the other person turning around, and then there was silence again.
After waiting for a long time, he carefully raised his head and looked into the eyes of the "Shadow Queen".
In the year 1764 of the Golden Calendar, with the overthrow of the last Lord of Mist, Ava completely bid farewell to the monarchy system and entered the republican era. The seven free city-states would democratically elect their own city lords, and the city lords would elect a continental ruler to be responsible for the affairs of the entire Ava continent.
But the woman in front of him has been holding the position of ruler of Ava since the conquest of Terra eight hundred years ago, on the grounds that the foreign threat has never been eliminated.
Therefore, people privately call her the "Shadow Queen".
Eight hundred years is a long time even for a high elf.
Although the physical age of the High Elves is almost infinite, after experiencing five hundred cycles of winter and summer, they will generally choose to reincarnate into the sacred fire of the Phoenix Temple because they cannot bear the loss of their souls and humanity.
The lady Shadow Moon in front of us is said to have lived for more than a thousand years.
As the Phoenix Guard of the Continent Lord, he often has to face all kinds of terrible things - strange spells, hideous beasts, and sometimes even monsters from the Moon Realm - but he has never felt that anything would make him more uneasy than the look in Lady Shadow Moon's eyes.
What kind of look is that? Old, empty, cold...
More than a thousand years have been grinding her soul bit by bit like a millstone, making her more ruthless and more efficient.
The Phoenix Guards are the most powerful warriors, not only in strength, but also in will.
But even they were reluctant to make eye contact with Ms. Shadowmoon - the long time reflected behind those eyes seemed to suffocate them.
Therefore, when the guard saw the tears flashing in Ms. Shadowmoon's eyes, he stood there as if petrified.
"Vival, the storm has stopped..."
Ms. Shadowmoon said softly, her tone still as emotionless as usual.
The guard named Vivaldi nodded reflexively, and then said with a stutter:
"Yes... yes ma'am, this is also the reason why the Lord of Ys City... wants to initiate the Moon Wheel Conference."
But the other party ignored his words and continued to speak softly:
"He completed his watch."
She said as she walked towards the glass steps.
"It's my turn to finish now."
Watching Lady Shadowmoon walk down the stairs, Vivaldi asked:
"Ma'am, are you going to attend the Moon Wheel Conference? The Takma Cult will also send an advisor this time..."
Ms. Shadowmoon's voice interrupted the rest of his words.
"The Moon Wheel Meeting is postponed until tomorrow. Today I have to sing a funeral song for an old friend of mine."
…………
At the same time, in the Tomb of Kings in Platinum City, another powerful woman was standing in front of a white tomb holding an umbrella.
It was drizzling in Platinum City today. Guards in golden armor were standing guard around her like statues. The crisp sound of raindrops hitting the armor echoed rhythmically.
Irene placed the daisy in her hand in front of her father's tombstone and straightened up.
"As promised, the storm has stopped."
She spoke to the statue of her father.
"I will also fulfill the eight hundred years of the Riel family's wish as promised... and fulfill my destiny."
A messenger shielded his hands from the rain and hurried into the cemetery, but was immediately stopped by a golden-armored guard.
After a careful interrogation and body search, as well as magic testing, he was finally allowed to pass.
"Your Majesty, this is news from Blackwater Province and Jade Province."
The man half-knelt in front of Irene and handed over the urgent item in his hand that had been cast with the water-avoidance technique.
Irene nodded.
But the moment she reached out to take the letter, the man suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a sharp arrow made of shadow from the depths of his throat.
The arrow shot directly towards Irene's throat like a black lightning, but a hand made purely of shadows caught the arrow faster and then disappeared along with the arrow.
From beginning to end, Irene had a calm look on her face.
"Black Sword."
Irene said calmly.
As soon as he finished speaking, the assassin's shadow stood up and grabbed his own neck.
"Is it an assassin from the Broken Sword Brotherhood?"
A voice echoed in the man's ears.
The flawless expression on that person's face instantly collapsed, and he said with a distorted expression:
"Black Sword? Bah! Are you worthy of it?"
"So it's the assassin from the Broken Sword Brotherhood, Your Majesty, please look away for a moment."
Said the voice that came from nowhere.
With a "click", the man's shadow broke his own neck.
Irene turned her head away from watching this scene, but still asked:
"Why not keep him for questioning?"
The voice replied:
"Because just as no one can get our information from the Black Sword, we also cannot get their information from them. I'm sorry... but your father got into trouble because of his misunderstanding of this."
Irene nodded.
The Broken Sword Brotherhood was the most dangerous assassination organization in the entire empire. They specifically targeted members of the royal family and high-ranking members of the Holy Spirit Church. Over the past eight hundred years, more than half of the royal family members who died abnormally were killed by the Broken Sword Brotherhood. Some people even believed that the remaining half also died at their hands, but their methods were more covert.
As early as more than a month ago, the Black Sword discovered clues that the Broken Sword Brotherhood was active in Platinum City, so the entire huge spy department secretly launched a hunting operation, and today Irene's coming out to worship the ancestors was completely an operation to eliminate the hidden dangers of assassination.
"What did he mean by those words before he died? Why did he think you were unworthy?"
Irene asked as she opened the letter.
silence……
The Black Sword is the most loyal supporter of the Riel royal family. They have been responsible for protecting the emperor's safety within the last meter since the time of Terra I. However, this organization with such an important mission has always been outside the entire imperial power system - no one knows the true scale of the Black Sword, no one understands how the Black Sword operates, and there is no way to inquire about their origins and history.
Even the emperor of the empire himself only has the power to order the black sword to guard him closely.
Although the members of the Black Sword who were responsible for protecting the Emperor were not rotated regularly, their presence was usually not as strong as the air, and they would never show up unless it was a crisis. Therefore, even the Emperor was not very clear about how often they rotated the members. Sometimes, Irene even thought that there was only one person in the entire Black Sword, and the change in voice when chatting with him was just a deliberate disguise.
It is even possible that the black sword that has been protecting the safety of the Riel royal family for the past eight hundred years is actually one person.
Irene's previous question was equivalent to a topic related to the history of Black Sword, so the other party did not reply. Irene was used to this, and she did not ask further questions, but looked at the two urgent documents.
In order to perfectly disguise themselves as messengers, the Brotherhood's assassins decided that both of these dispatches were genuine.
Irene first looked at the urgent letter from the Emerald Province, which briefly explained that the promotion of converting the staple food land to grape planting had hit a bottleneck. The envoys she sent hoped that the Platinum Palace would allocate more resources to help the forest elves get through this difficult period.
This matter was just sent here by the way, and it is not an urgent matter. We can discuss it at the Senate meeting when the time comes.
It’s the latter thing that’s important.
The fleet of the Second Legion of the Empire has already assembled at the White Goose Port in the Jade Province, while the fleets of the Fifth and Seventh Legions are gathering at the Green Water Port. The accompanying Platinum Circle and Star Council Battle Mage Corps have already built a stable portal, and the Holy Spirit Church's Crusade Army is also heading to the Jade Province.
The military strength ratio between the Imperial Expeditionary Force and the Ava Garrison Army is about five to one. In terms of high-end combat power, the Empire has countless legendary warriors. Even the Star Council, the Platinum Circle and the Holy Spirit Church have each sent two divine-level warriors to participate in the war.
On paper, this is a military force that is powerful enough to directly defeat the entire continent of Ava.
I just hope that such a huge disparity in power will make the other side surrender as soon as possible, so as to minimize the sacrifices on both sides...
Put this letter down, Irene thought, and then opened the dispatch from Blackwater Province.
In comparison, the content of this letter is a bit outrageous.
The first thing Irene saw in the letter was that the blight spreading in Blackwater Province had been slowed.
This made her doubt reality a little.
In the Blackwater Province, which was destined by the stars to be the abandoned land for the Moon Realm sacrifices, how could the problem of blight be alleviated in the year of famine and corruption?
Could the dark gods among the stars be such merciful beings?
Irene thought about it and continued reading.
Compared with the following few pieces of content, the delay of the blight seems to be the most normal information.
Vincent, the former chief wizard of Thorn City, regained control of the entire Blackwater Swamp area of ​​Thorn City, and even many places in the Nakuland area were under his control.
It is said that he also bypassed the restrictions of the Star Law and advanced to the legendary realm. God knows how he did it.
In addition, a Holy Spirit Church that is not dependent on the Central Church is beginning to re-start missionary work with Thorn City as its center. The doctrines used by those missionaries are extremely ancient, but the methods they use are very... blasphemous or vulgar?
Although Irene does not consider herself a very devout believer, she is still very serious and takes the sacraments seriously. After all, the Holy Spirit Church is, to some extent, the foundation of the empire.
And in Heishui Province, a land where there is a serious lack of faith in the Holy Spirit, those new missionaries are actually preaching by distributing eggs and milk to believers who attend worship services?
I don’t know what the Patriarch’s expression will be when he sees this news.
The next piece of news is even more shocking.
The Viper Star Lighthouse in Black Light City collapsed, and all the troops left behind by the Star Council lost contact. Because the [Reverberation] technique was not activated, it was temporarily determined by the Council to be a traitor.
For the first time in eight hundred years, the Star Lighthouse collapsed.
If the incident had not happened in Blackwater Province, the Battle Mage Legion in the hands of the Star Council would probably have been teleported there directly.
Seeing this, although everything that happened above was extremely outrageous, Irene still felt that it was within the range of her understanding.
But the last piece of information caused her thinking to completely short-circuit.
There are some strange rumors about the southern part of the Mountains of Mourn.
"Is this... the mountains being submerged by storms and the ocean a literal meaning? Or is it some new and novel metaphor?"
…………
Some tombs are built to remember, while others are just the opposite.
For example, this one in a tomb deep in the Dragon's Back Mountains in Dragon's Breath Province.
In the past, Dragon's Breath Province was the seat of the Dark Iron Kingdom, and the kings there used to build their tombs on high mountains because they believed that they could ascend to heaven faster if they were closer to the sky.
The people who make a living by tomb robbing in this place are undoubtedly the most difficult in the entire Wick continent, because they not only have to deal with an endless stream of anti-theft devices, but also have to deal with cliffs that can easily cause them to fall to pieces if they are not careful.
Therefore, they also practiced the industry rule of "thieves never leave empty-handed" to the extreme. After risking their lives to climb into a tomb, if they failed to find the buried treasure, they would even carry out the bones of the corpse and sell them to the necromancer.
But even the tomb robbers from Longxi Province could only leave empty-handed after entering this tomb.
There is no tombstone, no statue, or even a written record here. There is only a black iron coffin cast in one go, and it is buried in a pile of rubble.
This coffin looks like it is thousands of years old. Rather than being a coffin, it is more like a rusty black iron block.
However, one day, or to be more precise - the day when Kane's horn sounded and the statues of the Holy Spirit trembled all over the continent, the coffin also began to tremble.
The vibration did not last long and stopped abruptly, but a tiny crack appeared on the black iron shell of the coffin.
This tiny crack continued to widen and deepen over the next month, until this day - the day when the storm on the Broken Sea subsided, it completely split open.
A human figure made of black mist rolled out from the coffin.
He lay on the ground for another day and night before he regained consciousness, and it took another three days before he could get up again.
He stumbled to his feet and looked at the cracked black iron coffin.
He knew there was only one reason why he was awakened again.
This means that his mission has to begin again.
"Your Honor, William Kane..."
He said in a sing-song voice.
"This time, I will definitely let you rest in peace."
…………
Mountains of Sorrow, Black Crow Watch, Dawnhold.
Some tombs are built to forget, while others are just the opposite.
William, Blake and Cass stood in front of the dug grave, surrounded by a storm that seemed to never stop.
A flock of crows circled in the sky, cawing mournfully, like some kind of funeral song.
William rubbed the badge of judgment in his hand for a long time, and finally threw it into the grave.
The soil from the graves on both sides automatically filled the grave. William walked to the obsidian monument without words, holding a carving knife in his hand.
He first carved the number "Thirteen" and the name of Coles Jackdaw, then pondered for a moment.
Before this, he had thought countless times about what kind of epitaph he would leave for Coles Jackdaw.
But none of them satisfied him.
William definitely couldn't say that he appreciated his choice, but he couldn't really say that he hated it either.
It’s just that a thousand years of inertia has caused Coles to go too far and unable to turn back, so if William is given another chance to choose, he will do the same.
He has no room to do both and can only do what he should do.
In fact, William has the same attitude towards his own choice.
Neither admire nor hate.
But then it becomes troublesome to think about what to write in the epitaph.
It's neither praise nor sarcasm.
"Your Excellency, if you feel that..."
Perhaps seeing William's conflicted expression, Blake spoke.
William raised his hand.
He suddenly recalled a classic poem he had once read.
In that poem, there is a crow who has only one answer for every question asked.
William suddenly felt that this was probably the most suitable epitaph.
So he inscribed on the stele:
"Never again."
(Volume 2: The Funeral Song of Crows ends)