Volume 3: The Land of Mist Chapter 34: The Order and the Throne Room
“Are you crazy?!”
This sentence seemed to be the second time Ward blurted it out today.
But before he could finish his words, two sharp whooshing sounds of breaking wind passed by his ears.
Remedios's movements were so fast that Ward could not catch up with them with his naked eyes. By the time he came to his senses, two arrows were missing from the quiver hanging on her waist.
The Phoenix Guard who was nailed to the wall died completely.
"Even if you agree with my proposal, isn't it a bit too decisive for you to do this?"
Ward asked carefully.
Without saying a word, she shot to death the guard who had served her for decades, and there was no emotion on her face. Ward also had a deeper understanding of the extent to which the "Shadow Queen" had lost her humanity.
"It has nothing to do with your suggestion. They are under control."
Remedios simply replied.
As she spoke, she waved her hand and the three transparent arrows that had been nailed to the Phoenix Guard disappeared as if they had melted into the air, and returned to her quiver in the next instant.
She picked up one of the arrows and flicked it gently. Countless tiny red magic lines spread out in the transparent arrowhead.
"Controlled?"
Ward asked curiously.
"Who can control the mind of the Phoenix Guard?"
As he spoke, he looked at the golden-armored guard who slowly slid to the ground, leaving a bright bloodstain on the wall.
The opponent's golden armor was covered with bloodshot veins like vines, and his wide-open eyes were filled with an irrational blood red.
"How could that be..."
You have to know that these are the personal guards directly under the supreme ruler of Ava. They inherit the surname of "Phoenix Guard" and are born to protect the road. Their will is as strong as steel. Under the blessing of the holy fire and the protection of the mist, even the Void King himself can hardly shake their loyalty.
Not to mention controlling their minds and making them attack the people they are protecting.
The frequent occurrence of human guards seizing power is simply unimaginable for the elven society.
Perhaps guessing what Ward was thinking at the moment, Remedios reminded him:
"In history, the Phoenix Guard once famously turned from darkness to light. At that time, they also turned their swords against the people they were supposed to protect."
Having said that, Remedios once again pulled up a stiff smile.
"The uprising that overthrew the last Lord of the Mist..."
Ward muttered to himself, then looked sharply towards the door.
A series of chaotic footsteps were echoing outside the door, and the clanging sound of metal colliding could be faintly heard.
"According to historical records, it was the private advisor who was expelled by the last Mist King who persuaded the Fengwei family to defect. Now it seems..."
As Remedios spoke, the arrow in her hand missed Liuliyue, reflecting a strong bloody light.
"There are always some discrepancies between the actual situation and historical records, but it will not have any impact on the results."
A hoarse voice that sounded like old parchment being torn came from outside the door, and an old man in a linen robe walked in.
Behind him, elite guards from the Blood Blade Family and the Phoenix Guard Family filed in, forming a fan shape and surrounding Remedios and Ward in the middle.
Ward stared at the old man standing in the middle with wide eyes. Although he did not recognize the man's face, from his iconic clothing and the Austrian iron ornament on his chest, he could still tell who he was...
"The Takma Cult?!"
He felt his mind was a little confused.
"But... why?"
Aren't they permanently neutral?
Even if we don't remain neutral, we should stand on the side of Ava State.
"Ms. Yueying, please forgive our rudeness..."
He bowed in a proper manner, but before he could say the next word, an arrow with a blood-red magical glow shot directly from the Glazed Moon in Remedios's hand.
The blood-red arrow seemed to be dripping with blood at any moment. It was faster than the "buzzing" sound of the bowstring rebounding. It almost instantly turned into an afterimage and went straight for the opponent's throat.
But when it was two meters away from the opponent, the arrow stopped abruptly. It remained still in mid-air, looking like a flying insect trapped in amber.
"We have studied your abilities for five cycles of cold and heat and developed almost all countermeasures. Please save those unnecessary processes."
The member of the Takma sect brushed away the arrows in front of him like brushing away a butterfly and spoke in a sincere tone.
Remedios drew her bow again, and this time her all-attribute arrow shone with a golden hue. But before the arrow was about to turn into pure light, she stopped and put down the bow.
The light on the arrow also slowly faded away.
Glancing at the guards around her who were standing guard with their weapons drawn, looking at the blood-red lines on their bodies and the red in their eyes as if they had lost their minds, Remedios asked:
"What happened to these people?"
"It's very difficult to explain. You can simply think that they are all controlled by illusion."
The man replied.
Remedios frowned.
This is impossible...
Although her attainments in magic were not as good as William or Yin Fulin's, and she had neglected academic research during the hundreds of years she had been the ruler of the continent, at least she still had this level of knowledge.
Illusions can indirectly control a person's behavior by affecting his or her perception, but they can never directly control another person's free will.
For example, you can make a person think a dog is a wolf and scare the dog away. But in the final analysis, he is still scared away by the image of a wolf, and this is the only thing that cannot be changed.
In magical theory, self-consciousness is equivalent to the mystery of "creation" itself, and is considered to be something that can never be analyzed.
In other words, illusion cannot "control" these people like training a dog.
But Remedios did not dwell on this question. She continued to ask:
"You said that you started to study how to deal with me five years ago. Why five years ago?"
This is another impossible thing - unless the other party had predicted five years ago that the storm in the Broken Sea would stop now, they would have no reason to do this.
The other party shook his head and said:
"No, the final decision to do this was made after the last Moon Wheel Meeting, according to your timeline."
In other words, less than a month ago.
The decision to force the emperor to abdicate was made less than a month ago, but it took five years to prepare.
The contradiction is obvious.
"'Year' is your concept. We just spent five years preparing."
The other party continued.
Even though most of her emotions had been worn away, she still let out a barely noticeable sigh after hearing the other party's contradictory remarks, which he was unwilling to elaborate on.
In Lake Remedios's memory, she still remembered what the Chief Inquisitor once said about the members of the Takma Cult.
"Riddler..."
After complaining quietly, she asked the final question:
"Then tell me why you are here. Why did the Takma Cult, which claims to always remain neutral, instigate the guards and the army to come to my palace? What do you want?"
"We want to validate our subject...we want to bear witness."
The man replied, with a hint of fanaticism in his tone.
"Witness what?"
Remedios, who was well aware of the Takma Cult’s usual riddle-like nature, continued to ask.
“Witness the nature of the eighth fragment of creation and piece together the true picture of creation.”
…………
The entire throne room was shrouded in a thick fog, and William couldn't see through it even with his [Eagle Eye Technique].
Morton walked in front to lead the way, holding an ancient lantern covered with animal skin in his hand. The orange-red flame from the lantern dispelled the thick fog within a radius of about ten meters centered on him.
After walking for a distance, Diana gently tugged at the corner of William's clothes.
"Is this really Yuefa City?"
She asked in a low voice.
"Undoubtedly."
William answered casually, and then became curious about why the child suddenly asked this.
"But this place is similar to the Terra Church in Wanren City, both in layout and decoration..."
She whispered.
The Terra Church is said to be the place where the founding emperor Terra Riel finally ascended to heaven. It is also the largest Terra Riel worship church in the entire empire. Every year on the two major festivals of the Ascension Day of the Holy Spirit and the Return of the Emperor, grand festivals are held there.
William had seen descriptions of the Terra Church in the literature he was studying, and because it was closely related to the Eighth Holy Spirit, he had specially written it down. But because he had not found any relevant picture albums, he was not very clear about what the Terra Church looked like or what its interior layout was.
The descriptions in the literature are nothing more than boasting about being "grand", "gorgeous" and "solemn".
Among the introductions of a thousand churches, a thousand of them brag about themselves in this way.
"This lady said the opposite."
Morton, who was walking in front to lead the way for the two of them, suddenly spoke.
"It's not that the throne room of Moonlaw City is very similar to Terra Cathedral, but Terra Cathedral was originally built to imitate the throne room of Moonlaw City."
Morton's words made William stop in his tracks.
Diana, who was still pulling at William's clothes, also stopped.
"What's wrong?"
Morton heard the footsteps behind him stop and turned around to look at the two of them and asked.
Diana raised her head and looked at William, but William said nothing.
A strong sense of uneasiness began to rise in his heart.
What does it mean? The church that claims to be the place where Terra Riel ascended to heaven is actually decorated in the same way as the throne room in Moonfa City?
According to the information William had read before, the throne room of Moon City was originally built by the ancestors of the elves around the mist spirit. Later, the first elf who obtained the power of the mist spirit was enthroned as king here.
What is the spirit?
The prototype of God, the product of the incomplete splitting of the Holy Spirit but still remaining complete!
A completely disintegrated prototype would only exist as the collective memory of a similar race on the continent. These collective memories gradually evolved into myths during the development of civilization, and then became real power through imitation of myths.
However, because the spirits were not completely split, they became intuitive supernatural forces. They did not need to go through the steps of collective memory evolution mythology, and the surrounding intelligent races could directly use their power.
Therefore, there has always been a hypothesis of the origin of humans and elves in the archaeological community. They believe that elves originated from primitive humans in the Ravenwood area. Those people miraculously drifted to Ava on a raft and discovered the two great spirits of fire and mist. Under the influence of the spirits, they gradually mutated and became primitive elves.
This would explain why there is no reproductive isolation between humans and elves, and what the "Phoenix" image that fell back to the human world in the original myth of the elves was - it was the raft that took humans to Ava.
Of course, almost no elves support this theory. If you talk about this topic with your elf teammates in the game, your favorability will drop without exception.
The only two places in the world where spirits are confirmed to exist are the "End of the World" north of the Dragonbone Islands, and the other is Ava Continent.
These two places also gave rise to the only two extraordinary races in the world capable of forming civilization: the dragon race and the elves.
Of course, this also ties them to their hometown, just like a baby tied to its mother by an umbilical cord.
"Was it also here that the imperial delegation assassinated the Ava Continent's politicians in Yuefa City?"
Thinking of this, William asked slowly.
"Let's go. The most important thing now is to see the Queen. Stop dragging it out. How long have you been dragging it on?"
Without answering William's question, Morton shook the animal skin lantern in his hand and urged impatiently.
"I didn't see any guards, servants, or other errand boys here..."
William continued:
"Of course, I don't really understand the customs of you high elves, so I can't comment on it before."
"What day do you think today is? All the idle people in the castle have been sent home."
Morton frowned and said, then continued:
"Let's go, don't waste time."
William hesitated for a moment, but still followed.
At this moment, he regretted that he had not found a reason to let Liz come with him to Yuefa City.
After confirming the safety of the teleportation array, William asked Liz to wait for him on the Whalebone and take care of the "goods" he left there just in case, thinking that he was going to see his old friend and there would be no big problems.
But now it seems that my previous estimate was too optimistic.
Because of the lack of reference points in the thick fog, William was not sure how far he had walked. But in terms of physical sensation, this throne room was probably half the size of the Rose Palace in Thorn City. Coupled with the decoration full of religious imagery, William felt that this place was more like a temple than a palace.
"arrive."
Morton stopped and now he was standing in the center of a huge circle with a broken sun pattern in the middle.
The sun was believed to be a projection of the Realm of Light, and William noticed that the broken image of the sun was divided into seven parts.
The meaning is self-evident.
"Your Majesty."
Morton knelt on one knee and placed the lantern in the middle of the broken sun pattern.
The orange-red light flowed down from the lantern and began to outline the pattern. After a few seconds, the entire pattern emitted an orange-red glow.
The fog was dispelled, and William saw the man sitting on the throne.
