Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 556 Dual Identity
Deep within the Sacred Tree Forest, a fox shadow as swift as moonlight swept through the trees.

Sherry moved forward at high speed while trying to keep her back steady. She would occasionally turn her head to check on her mistress. The heat emanating from her body almost gathered into a hazy wisp of smoke, like a galloping white dragon rushing towards Ottina.

The crimson fiery figure also transformed into a ball of flame from the waist down, maintaining a speed slightly faster than Sherry as it circled around, keeping watch against any possible attacks.

"Yuno. So you are the real Yuno, aren't you?" The Queen coughed twice and spoke weakly.

The fire-man was completely enveloped in flames, his face, which was extremely difficult to read, froze for a few seconds. Facing this future lord who was entrusted by the Dragon King and whose future and destiny were completely tied to his, he finally did not hide anything, nodded in a dull tone, and said in a hoarse voice, "Yes."

"I see. That makes sense now."

The Queen chuckled self-deprecatingly. It seemed that she had focused almost all her energy on the revenge plan and always regarded the "Sixth Progenitor" who acted under the identity of Yuno as an ant. Therefore, she was actually fooled by this not-so-complicated sleight of hand.

When Yuno revealed her identity in the Fourth Legion's camp, she did check the other party's soul state. With the soul secrets she had mastered, if the target had a split soul outside, the soul would point to the approximate location of the other split soul like a fuse. But since there was none, she believed that the other party was indeed using her true body to confront her and Lucia in order to seek cooperation.

Later, after the two encountered the attack launched by the real Yuno using the Crimson Dragon Curse, Lucia also tried to test him. The fake Yuno still did not reveal any flaws. Although Lucia was determined to kill him later, compared to the Furnace Leyline and the Northern War that were right in front of them, a small figure who was playing a scheming game could only be put aside for the time being. It is likely that the other party had judged this situation, which is why he dared to risk his life to devour one enemy at a time, seizing the only opportunity to divide up the Leyline Runes between Lucia, himself, and the Giants' Court.

Once you understand all this, it's not hard to deduce the specific methods used by the fake Yuno. He even mentioned this when he reported to Lucia in the voice of Hiren—he held the dual identity of an interrogator in the Ministry of Justice and a high-ranking perfumer in the Golden Bough Hall. He had been immersed in soul magic and perfumery for many years, and his greatest skill was manipulating souls and memories.

He created two identities at the same time: "fake Yuno" and "true Xilun". Although the two split souls came from the same source, under his carefully designed soul barrier and hypnosis mechanism, the two identities temporarily forgot the existence of each other and were completely unrelated to each other, so he was able to do it without any flaws.

To put it more bluntly, the "Yuno" who appeared in Lucia and in front of him these past few days really thought he was Yuno, while "Hilon" was actually Hilon.

For twenty years, Archbishop Hiron, who had served as Pilark's deputy and closest comrade-in-arms, and was in charge of the Temple's military affairs and had full authority to liaise with the Samir clan, was the one most likely to secretly poison Pilark and plot the Northern Rebellion.

He devised a complete identity, abilities, motives, and action plan for the traitor Yuno, and revealed all of this to Lucia without reservation under the identity of Hiren. Given the circumstances that Olivia and the others had gone to great lengths to rescue him from Yuno, coupled with the injuries that nearly destroyed his life essence, Hiren naturally gained the trust of the two.

However, if we break free from the trap of preconceived narrative perspectives, why does Hillen so coincidentally know the methods of the Justice Department interrogators, and "just happen" to have higher perfumer authority than Yuno in the Golden Bough Hall, and know everything about the poison called Sweet Dream?
It was precisely because Hiren made no attempt to conceal anything, even proactively presenting all the information to the two of them, that people subconsciously overlooked this coincidence. Having painstakingly planned for twenty years and personally witnessed how the previous mortal who sought godhood, Segnis, was utterly defeated by Lucia, he naturally possessed an extremely clear understanding of the strength of the three great dynasties and the ten demigods. Even if he obtained that portion of the ley line runes, he would never dare to confront a dragon king who harbored murderous intent towards him right now—therefore, he chose to place his bets on both the Giants' Court and the Ancient Dragon Dynasty under the dual identities of Yuno and Hiren. Regardless of which side won, he could remain behind the scenes under the corresponding identity, waiting for the three great dynasties to completely collapse in their civil war, and then seizing the opportunity to rise again amidst the chaos.

The only variable is the real Yuno, who unexpectedly escaped from his grasp and used the Crimson Dragon Curse, a unique secret technique, to verify his identity with Lucia.

Thinking of this, the Queen, supporting herself on the mane on Sherry's back, managed to straighten half of her body and asked, "Bishop Yuno, before coming to the North, you were indeed an interrogator in the Ministry of Justice, and you also studied perfumery in the Golden Bough Hall, right?"

"Yes," Fireman answered readily.

"That Xilun?"

“He was my senior, my mentor, and the goal I studied and tried to catch up with for many years—in the Ministry of Justice, the Golden Bough Hall, and the Fire Church.”

“Although we had many disagreements later on about the North, I always trusted and respected him. Even when the Archbishop was murdered, I was the first among everyone to believe in him.” Yuno smiled dejectedly, and even the flames enveloping his body dimmed.

“Because of this foolish credulity, I lost my comrades in the Sanctuary, my subordinates in the Watcher's Fortress, and in my attempt to escape from that manipulative demon, my entire body was transformed into this inhuman, ghostly form.” He stared at Katepella, his voice trembling, and said, “Your Majesty, I swear I will protect your safety with this broken and wretched life, but His Majesty the Dragon King promised me that he would clear my name and restore my honor.”

"Don't worry, he's not as badly disgraced and infamous as I am," the Queen sighed. "The Dragon King never makes promises lightly, but his promises, at any time and under any circumstances, are just as weighty as Fam Azra's, who hangs high in the sky—I firmly believe that he will only be better than his father."

Rumbling--

A tremendous tremor shook the earth beneath their feet. The spatial barrier that Hiron had spent more than ten years setting up had been overwhelmed by the battle between the two kings. The violent tremors extended all the way to the surface of the earth, and the towering trees in the forest trembled and groaned.

As if in response, the towering Starfall Peak, the holy land of giants thousands of miles away, also erupted with unprecedented surging magma. The magnificent flames illuminated half the sky, and the entire Northern Territory was like a giant beast that had been sleeping for several months, stomping its feet and roaring to the sky, setting the prelude to the decisive battle with a deafening roar.

(End of this chapter)