Pillars of Ita

“She is Netali, but she is also Elaine.”

Selgios seemed to have recovered from that brief daze, his eyes veiled in a mist. He turned back to Beryl and answered calmly:

“Belel, at this point in time, you can’t kill her—”

"Wait a moment."

Beryl vaguely sensed something and tried to call out to the other person, but the commander of the Son of Saltbone ignored her and walked into the temple.

A hint of wariness flashed in her eyes, and she raised her hand, pointing at the other person: "Wait, you shouldn't have gone in there!"

But just then, in the hall of the Tririel Temple, the black-haired girl suddenly looked at her.

A sense of unease arose in Beryl's heart, and the next moment a golden shield of light appeared beside her.

But the girl only pointed at her, and suddenly the bishop and her shield vanished without a trace—as for the other bishop from three hundred years in the future—Bardoma Eisenkels, who was stunned by this scene.

Faced with the girl's gaze, he couldn't even muster the courage to raise his silver staff. He stood trembling in the rain, his heart trembling violently, unable to muster even the slightest courage to confront her. His face was deathly pale.

"Is that some kind of seal... or did she kill Belel?"

He almost froze on the spot.

Baldoma was well aware of Berel's strength. Even though this was just a phantom of her from three hundred years ago, the phantom had not weakened her power in the slightest.

As one of the Twelve Oaths, Beryl is someone even ten of him couldn't match.

All his previous grand ambitions, schemes, and plans vanished in an instant—he couldn't help but curse loudly in his heart, cursing the madman who had deceived them under the alias Kobelflick—but cursing was of no use.

That boastful fellow is now a cold corpse, and their plans have all vanished like bubbles washed away by the rain.

The black-haired girl didn't even glance at Baldoma, averting her gaze as if she were sizing up a piece of trash. Meanwhile, the knights beside the archbishop drew their swords to protect their master.

She then raised her finger and pointed at each of the people—then thoughtfully turned her head to look in an empty direction.

Her calm gaze seemed to see through the storm, as if she could see a group of people behind them. Her finger slowly moved to the location of the temple steps and gently touched it.

And at that moment—

In the rain, Captain Baggins, who was at the forefront, felt a sudden alarm bell ringing in his mind and instinctively turned to the side.

In fact, the moment he saw the temple gates open a few hundred meters away, he realized something was wrong. His decades of experience told him that there was a big problem ahead.

Either Alte had already succeeded, or something had happened to the Commander of the Saltbone, but even with his heightened vigilance, the black streak of light that parted the rain curtain still turned and struck his chest.

"Mr. Baggins!"

Aina Laughing saw this from behind and couldn't help but scream in fright. Before she could finish speaking, the boatswain had already disappeared halfway into the pouring rain.

The boatswain turned around, still looking surprised, and opened his mouth with the remaining half of his body, as if to explain something to the others.

"no need to worry."

He mouthed, "I—"

The next moment, the boatswain disappeared completely into the rain.

But seeing this, Gita understood what was going on. "Mr. Baggins is fine; it's just some kind of seal."

She tilted her head back and stared intently at the sky, her glasses fogged up. Countless black lights were flying toward them from within the fog. "Be careful," she warned, "Don't get hit. Those forces will move us out of this timeline!"

Upon hearing this, Alice drew a dagger and threw it in that direction. The dagger struck one of the black lights and vanished without a trace along with it in the next instant.

Seeing this, the others followed suit. Daryl stepped forward and planted her greatsword in front of the naturalist lady, then drew another sword, ready for battle.

They blocked the first wave of black light, but the next moment, even more beams of light parted the rain curtain and came.

But at this moment, Gita had already placed one hand on the metal cover of the grimoire, and with the other hand adjusted her glasses, speaking in fairy language:

"Lr (teleport)".

In the next instant, everyone around her turned into a faint shadow, and countless black streaks of light passed through these shadows, striking the ground behind them.

The vanished shadow reappeared in a dazzling silver light in the square in front of the temple. Daryl had just landed when she was knocked off her feet by Aina Laughing from behind.

"Ouch!" exclaimed the Paparallar lord lady, sitting down on the ground.

May supported Gita, while Alice strolled leisurely out of the halo and immediately saw Baldoma, whose square had been transformed into a stone sculpture.

She then looked to the other side and saw the Saltbone Child commander entering the temple, and within the dark hall of the Tririel Temple, a pair of golden eyes looking directly at her and her group—

The girl in the hall even smiled at her.

As for the plaza, Bishop Bellel and the knights of the Flamebringer's Oath had long since disappeared, and it was easy to guess where they had gone.

Alice immediately drew her long dagger, held it in her hand, and looked at the other person warily.

But the next moment, she heard a voice coming from behind her:

"Ignore him over there, stop him first."

That was Catherine's voice.

Alice turned around, only to see a silver streak pass by her—as a Silver Rank, the other party already possessed the most outstanding strength among everyone present.

However, Catherine's intentions at this moment clearly went beyond what she originally said.

Alice was slightly taken aback—if all the other party wanted was proof of dominance, there was no need to take such a risk—she subconsciously looked up in that direction.

Catherine had approached behind Selgios.

But the commander of the Son of Saltbone had another identity: a genuine dragon knight.

He was stepping into the temple without even looking back when a rift connecting to the heavens seemed to open above him, and a magnificent silver waterfall, composed of pure liquid metal-like radiance, crashed down.

The waterfall transformed into a torrent, cascading onto the ground and then sweeping towards Catherine from all directions—but all that was visible was merely an illusion.

This silver 'waterfall' is not a physical entity, but a manifestation of computation.

Its laws can predict the future state of objects; wherever it passes, cracks grow on ruins, moss grows on stone pillars, and pebbles and gravel turn to dust.

Catherine dared not make contact with it, but only touched the ground with the tip of her sword, then used the momentum to leap high into the air, covering a distance of dozens of meters, and swung her sword in mid-air.

But the sword seemed to be shortened by half by the silver reflection of the 'waterfall', and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't get close to the back of the Saltbone Son commander.

Catherine gritted her teeth and immediately understood what had happened.

Because in that outcome from the 'future', her sword was destined to be dodged by the opponent. Even Beryl, one of the Twelve Holy Oaths, could hardly break through the opponent's defense with her golden flames, let alone her.
However, she was clearly aware of this.

Catherine immediately turned back from mid-air, turned around, and shouted to Alice and her group not far away:
"What are you all standing there for?!"

Miss Nightingale then realized what was happening.

Regardless of their purpose, their most pressing task is to stop the commander of the Boneborn and the Dark Lord Lifgard.

“Gita, Alice, and Daryl, whatever that pirate lady wants to do next, you must all do your best to help her accomplish it.”

Alice suddenly remembered the words that guy had told them before they left.

They had made contact with the other party through the big cat people, but Fang Zheng did not let them rush to meet up. Instead, he sent Baggins and his group to this place first.

Unexpectedly, their prediction was spot on, and they indeed ran into the group from the Flame of the Pivot. However, they were surprised to find that neither Baldoma nor the former head of the Roger family had succeeded in their attack.

Rather... the Son of Saltbone?
But why should I listen to that guy in everything? I'm not as stupid as my sister.

She thought to herself with annoyance, but as she held the long dagger horizontally, she said, "Gita, Daryl, cover me."

The two looked at Miss Nightingale and nodded in unison.

Gita placed her hand on the grimoire once again, while Aina, realizing she was superfluous, quickly hid behind a rock to avoid holding the others back.

But then she remembered something, and poked her head out and called out:

"Wait, watch out for that 'silver waterfall'."

"Because it is not the physical form of the 'waterfall,' but a manifestation of the future outcome. It is the unique power of the laws of the Dragon Knights of the Saltbone Children, which has been passed down to modern times until the disappearance of the previous Dragon Knight."

"It's not difficult to deal with it. The simplest way is to avoid contact with it. If you do come into contact with it..." she said as she opened her bag and started rummaging through it.

Finally, she found one of the wonderful little gadgets and held it up high. "For computational manifestations, the causality of self-reference or logical loops cannot be settled. This is the Paradox Amulet, which can help you withstand one attack of 'Silver Fall'."

"Throw it over here!"

Alice never expected that this burdensome lord lady would actually come in handy at this moment. She looked at the silver amulet in the other party's hand and immediately shouted.

Aina Laughing raised her hand, and the black-haired girl in the temple sensed it and immediately pointed a finger at her.

However, Daryl, who was standing nearby, had anticipated this. She pressed the lady down and snatched the silver amulet from her hand. She then threw it forcefully at Alice—no, she was looking further away at Catherine—towards the female pirate.

The next moment, a black beam struck the rock in front of Aina Laughing, causing it to vanish without a trace.

Daryl reacted swiftly, grabbing the latter and rolling him aside. Immediately afterward, another black beam struck the spot between the two.

Meanwhile, Catherine caught the silver talisman and was momentarily stunned—but she reacted quickly and immediately tossed the talisman forward.

The silver rune flew through the waterfall, immediately smashing it open and creating a large hole. Catherine glanced back, drew her sword, planted it in the ground, and then darted through it.

Alice understood immediately and transformed into a shadow, crossing half the square to merge into the shadow of the sword, then leaping out from between the shadows.

She rolled through the large hole. But before they could even regain their footing, another waterfall of silver water rushed towards them. At that very moment, a rune lit up on both of them.

The rune was exactly the same as the one that Aina Laughing had given them before.

"I imitated the symbol of paradox."

Gita's voice came from the crystal, sounding somewhat strained.

Having cast spells continuously, she was clearly nearing her limit. The naturalist took a breath, "But its effect is not as good as the original."

The 'Silver Waterfall' seemed to hit an invisible wall a meter in front of the two people, automatically splitting to the left and right, but it soon showed a tendency to converge again.

But that was enough.

"protect yourself."

Catherine turned around and spoke earnestly to Alice beside her.

"Wait a minute," Alice said, still confused and deeply resentful that Ed hadn't explained anything clearly to her, "what exactly do you want?"

Given her personality, she should have turned around and left. But her sister was also there, and she couldn't just abandon her and leave alone.

Catherine watched the receding figure, "He's seen it before."

"Who?"

“My father,” Catherine said, “I have seen the curse that flows in the silver blood, and I have come here seeking an answer.”

"Wait, what about the Proof of the Overlord?"

Catherine seemed to have finally made up her mind, and she placed her hand on her heart.

The next moment, something appeared in her palm.

—That was a star tracker.

However, the third and fourth brass rings on top look as if they were once cleaved open by a sword, leaving a permanent mark on the sword's edge, creating a long gash.

Alice's gaze sharpened, and she suddenly realized something: "This is..."

"This is the proof of the overlord."

"I answered," Catherine replied, looking ahead.

It was at that moment that the commander of the Son of Saltbone seemed to sense something and suddenly stopped. He stood there for a moment before turning around to look at the object in the female pirate's hand.

His gaze paused for a moment before moving up to look into Catherine's eyes—Selgios didn't speak, but silently watched her for a moment, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes, which gradually turned into relief.

"What is that, brother?"

A girl's soft voice echoed from the deep hall.

“I can’t feel any power from it,” she said, her voice filled with skepticism. “My dear brother, are you planning to use this to deal with me?”

"No, it's not targeting you."

But Selgios shook his head, then looked at the female pirate one last time and nodded slightly to her.

Catherine seemed to want to say something more, but the former interrupted her.

"Go do what you're supposed to do."

His voice was soft.

Compared to the flames burning in those emerald eyes, the man's eyes seemed shrouded in a lingering mist, a mist that seemed to be swallowing his pupils whole.

He turned around again to face the girl beneath the statue of Trillium. The black-haired girl seemed to be about to attack Alice and Catherine, but a silver light had already closed in behind him.

The light barrier blocked Alice and Catherine from view. Neytari—or rather, Elaine—watched in that direction silently. Seeing that the light barrier had sealed off the passage outside, she had no choice but to lower her hand.

“Under these layers of cages, I can’t actually kill them; at most, I can only drive them away,” she said, looking at the man in front of her. “You should know that.”

"I just didn't want outsiders to disturb this final moment."

Sergios slowly drew his sword and pointed it at his sister, "Netali, there is only one person standing before you who would raise his sword against you."

The girl glanced silently at the silver light screen, a cunning glint in her golden, prismatic eyes. "Is this yet another one of your countless foolish attempts?"

"Returning history to its starting point time and time again is merely a way to push this timeline to a so-called 'correct' point in time, so that I can 'die' as usual at every moment?"

She smiled slightly.

It was as if I had returned to that afternoon many years ago, where the girl's smile was gentle and charming amidst the interlacing shadows under the black elm tree.

She always treated everyone with such gentleness and kindness.

"You induced that young man to activate the magic array, using the power of the Creation Technique to reshape the source of this mad blood."

"They lured him into the trap step by step, making that brainless guy Toragotos fall into it without even realizing it, and ultimately die a miserable death in his own plan."

“But you can fool that fool, but you can’t fool me, my brother, because this is exactly my plan. Do you think I don’t know their ambitions?”

"But we are connected by blood, and we can look back at the past from the future."

"Now the mad blood of the source has been reshaped, but it will gain nothing but the elimination of my adversaries. For only you know best, my brother—in this history, the power of the source is no longer within me—"

She pressed one hand against her chest, her slender fingers pointing towards her heart. "Come, as has been shown countless times in this illusion, plunge the sword into my heart."

The girl's voice was melodious and captivating:
"But you know, it's meaningless."

"Dragon blood flows in our bodies, but it has a different master. The Numelin elves locked the source of this curse here, and since then, this power has existed in every time and space."

"What difference does it make whether it's in your body or in mine?"

"They all share a common name, Livegard, the Dark Sovereign."

She watched as the slender sword slowly pierced her chest.

He watched as the blood stained his chest.

Watching the rose-colored grape juice flow upstream along the sword blade, gradually merging into her brother's palm like dark red veins growing.

Layer by layer.

She smiled and opened her mouth:

I thought you would prefer my given name, my brother.

Because that is the true name of the Oathkeeper race that we bear.

He drank the blood of madness and swore an oath.

Generation after generation, they lived in anonymity, all for that ancient promise.

The clansmen will grow old, and only the one who keeps the oath will become the heir to the dragon's blood.

Elaine.

"That's the name of the dragon I transformed into."

The voice no longer came from the girl's mouth, but instead rang in Sergios's mind.

Once again, time returns to its starting point, and fate once again reaches the end of this false history. After the failure of the Flame Court's expedition, he will return to his homeland in the future.

Faced with his predetermined fate.

“Sel Gios”.

"The creation magic circle has been activated, and you have personally broken the seal of the Numerin elves here."

"Do you think I'm unaware of your plans? You know you've sent another group of people to another timeline, but do you think I don't have a backup plan?"

"Do you really think the guy you chose can do all this?"

Those golden pupils were filled with endless contempt.

“Fools who drink the blood of the dragon, you will forever remain our servants.”

The man's eyes were filled with the faint glow of burning gold. He looked up and saw the world before him as if it had been transformed into countless lines, as if the entire world was falling apart.

He knew that this timeline had come to an end, and the false history would return once again, but this time, the person it sealed away might never return to this timeline.

But he sat beneath the statue, sword in one hand, golden blood dripping from the blade, and then gently shook his head.

"I never doubted... that you would fail again."

"Just like you have failed before."

“You ask me if I firmly believe,” Selgios sighed softly, “Yes, Netali, I always believe—”

Just as I believe in you.

Believe me.

...(End of chapter)