Knight and Wand

Chapter 392 The Court of Memories
Thunder rumbled faintly in the low-hanging cumulus clouds, and a slightly cool breeze stirred Leon's robes.

Walking along the edge of the platform corridor that seemed to be suspended high in the air, he stopped and looked down at the vast land bathed in sunlight.

The desolate wilderness was devoid of human habitation and animals. The view from above consisted only of crisscrossing hills and mountains, unchanging and monotonous, with the distant roar of a dragon faint and indistinct.

Standing on the edge of the floating island, Leon turned around and looked up at the scene behind him—a vast silver plaza with towering pillars and sculptures, and at the far end, a golden palace reaching into the clouds, like a giant gate, blocking his view of what lay beyond.

It's this dream again.
In a hazy, hallucinatory state, Leon helplessly pinched the bridge of his nose.

He knew perfectly well whether he was dreaming or in reality. This was the most basic ability that a spellcaster needed to master when studying divination. And since he dreamed of the same scene every time, it was even easier to distinguish.

But this time, instead of rushing to wake himself up, Leon simply walked towards the massive palace gate at the end of the square.

The sound of his footsteps was drowned out by the flowing wind on the smooth, open plaza floor. His own insignificance, contrasted with the massive, gleaming buildings around him, made him feel as if he had entered the domain of giants.

According to the knowledge described in ancient magic, spellcasters who are sensitive to magic often have special dreams, which are more or less related to themselves or reality, especially these repetitive and fixed dreams.

However, after wandering around the plaza platform outside the giant gate for several days, he still couldn't find any connection between this magnificent floating city and himself.

"Where exactly is this place?" Leon asked himself, looking up in confusion as he stood before the giant gate.

"This is your garden of memories. A landscape deep within your memory."

The unexpected and abrupt answer made Leon turn around alertly.

From the direction we came from, a colorful outline of flames stood there like a phantom.

The fiery phantom was tall and thin, with a long staff shaped like a scythe in its right hand that looked very familiar.

"Valari!?"

Leon took a half step back.

Although the outline was blurry and it lacked demonic wings and body shape, he could still intuitively discern the other party's identity.

"Is this the dream you wove for me?" Leon asked warily, but unarmed in the dream, he could only clench his fists in vigilance, almost wanting to immediately awaken his consciousness and escape this strange dream.

"Yes and no, I came here intentionally, but this is ultimately your dream, a realm constructed by your mind."

The multicolored flame outline continued eerily, "Don't be nervous, I'm just a lingering remnant of a soul, and there's nothing I can do for you right now."

Upon hearing this, Leon frowned, noticing that the other person's voice was much more normal than when he was in demon form, sounding like a tired middle-aged man.

Valarrai's fiery illusions ceased, and he slowly walked towards the giant gate, leaning on his scythe-bladed wand.

"Of course, there's nothing you can do to me. What a pity, I thought your soul would be enough to burn an intruder like me to ashes in an instant. Unexpectedly, I've seen something interesting instead."

Not entirely convinced by the ancient fallen mage's words, Leon cautiously stepped aside to keep his distance, still trying to get information out of him: "Something interesting? You mean this dream? I don't see what's interesting about it."

The fiery illusion of Valar stopped, pointed its scythe at the giant gate in front of it, and laughed.

"Someone blocked... no, someone stole your memories. Isn't that interesting enough?"

"What?" Leon raised an eyebrow in surprise, but then shook his head at his own reaction.

I was almost fooled by them.

This arrogant demon managed to fool Skush and that horrible demon completely; its credibility is probably so low that it couldn't even buy a shared bicycle. And yet, I'm trying to get answers from it.

Leon sighed.

"Let me guess, are you planning to use helping me regain my memories as a condition for breaking your seal?"

Varari continued to stare at the massive gate before him.

"If you're willing to make such a deal, it's not impossible; I can give it a try."

Leon laughed upon hearing this: "Dream on. As long as I live, you will be imprisoned in that crystal forever."

Having said that, he lost all desire to continue probing and immediately stimulated his mind to break free from this hazy illusion.
Slowly opened his eyes.

What you see is the low ceiling of a marching tent.

Behind me was a hard, dry military camp, and I could hear the constant scratching of pens in the military tent.

Leon tilted his head and saw Olivia, dressed simply with her hair tied in a ponytail, sitting beside the bed, writing something on a yellowed, rough scroll of paper.

Hearing the noise, Olivia turned her head and looked over, smiling, "Awake? Did you sleep well?"

Leon tilted his head and looked at the package he carried with him beside his pillow, or more accurately, the Demon Soul Stone that was emitting an eerie light inside the package.

"Not good, it's that weird dream again, and this time even Valari came into my dream." Leon sat up and sighed helplessly.

Olivia's brow twitched slightly upon hearing this, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, she didn't say anything more and quietly turned her gaze back to the tip of her pen.

Leon picked up the package containing the demon soul stone, feeling increasingly troubled about how to deal with this hot potato that imprisoned a demon lord.

In his previous life on Earth, when he watched movies and played games, he felt that sealing away enemies instead of eliminating them would lead to endless troubles. But now that he was facing the same situation, he had no choice but to do the same.

If the ancient texts in the Mage Tower are accurate, then the ancient mages who fell into the spirit world and transformed into demons were almost immortal beings, especially the ancient mage faction that was named "Immortal".

Destroying the opponent's physical carrier is useless. Given enough time, demons can still be reborn in the abyss of the spirit world. The stronger the individual, the faster it can restore the integrity of its demonic soul.

Furthermore, considering the degree of chaos in spacetime within the spirit world, the speed of time is likely largely dependent on the subjective consciousness of the demons.

Currently, there is no better way to completely eliminate the demon from the spirit world than to seal and bind its physical form.

If you kill your opponent and allow them to make a comeback in the future, you will not have a second chance to be empowered by the Star Soul Divine Power to fight them.

However, it now seems that even though this powerful demon is sealed away, it can still enter dreams and keep babbling, and it remains dangerous.

He knows Varari very well, so if someone else had mistaken Varari for "the old man in the ring," it wouldn't be impossible for them to have been fooled by him.

Now, besides himself and Olivia, who has an extraordinary resistance to magic, it wouldn't be safe for anyone else to guard this thing. However, having a demon constantly nagging by his side whenever he gets the chance is also quite annoying for Leon.

If I keep wearing this thing, won't I lose even my private space for sex?
Unable to think of any other place to put the demon soul stone, Leon had no choice but to put aside the slight resentment rising in his heart and get up to dress.

Quite some time has passed since the great battle with the undead ended, and now he has finally figured out where he and his companions are.

This is the border region of the Kingdom of Kantadar, the Uria Grassland, and the Kingdom of Feru, the birthplace of the Feru people, and the edge of the Feru Mountains.

At this moment, this massive allied force, comprised of the Sobonitz Holy War Army, the vampire undead, the Kingdom of Serian, the Kingdom of Feru, the Kingdom of Malaken, and the Church of the Holy Sun, is stationed here and has not yet disbanded.

The great demon Varari's plot to merge with the Star God's soul and sacrifice the divine soul "Gaia" to resurrect the ancient High Priest has been thwarted by his own actions.

The ghoul lord Aviut was also attacked by the allied forces, and most of his ghoul lords were wiped out.

The Kingdom of the Dead, which occupies the southern part of Kantadar, the Uria Plains, and the northern part of the Kingdom of Feru, is also entirely controlled by Blood Baron Shaleman.

Although the High Lich Kharazk and the scattered undead liches were nowhere to be found, Leon knew that they had previously blocked his path in the Kranion plane. At present, the undead minions of Valarary were either trapped in the Kranion plane or confined in the spirit world, so they were not a concern for the time being.

However, while the old crisis was resolved, new problems arose.
In the aftermath of the war, the atmosphere within the Allied forces grew increasingly strange. Invitations to multi-party talks had been extended, but Baron Shaleman, who had occupied the mountain fortress built by the High Lich, had yet to respond.

Thinking about this, Leon felt a headache coming on. He cleared his mind for a moment, sat down next to his wife, put his arm around Olivia's waist, and leaned in to take a look.

"What are you writing?"

Olivia nestled comfortably into Leon's arms: "This is for Father, Sister Elena, and Lina. We've been gone for so long and won't be back anytime soon. I'm sure everyone in Avalon is very worried."

As she spoke, Olivia looked up and saw the worry on her husband's face: "Are you still worried?"

Leon nodded slightly upon hearing this.

Shaleman's army of ghouls has taken control of all the Soul Bell Towers in the area, but has yet to destroy these magical altars or dispel the magical clouds that shroud the sky above.

He worried that with their common enemy, the Corpse Lord Aviut, dead, could this temporary alliance of the living and the dead still hold up.

Will Charleman keep his promise and release Count Eliver and the other vampires of the Farorius family as agreed?
Even more dangerous is...
Within the Sobonitz Jihad Army, there are many Kantadarans. Will Sharleman turn his attention to the Kantadarans after the coalition disbands, continuing his revenge?

What the Lord of Death, who now controls millions of undead corpses, intends to do remains to be seen.

Leon had no intention of criticizing the hatred in the other man's heart, but in any case, he would never allow Sharleman to slaughter the Kantadars who were under the protection of the Jihad Army.

Fortunately, Azerian can now serve as a bridge for communication between the two sides.

However, to prepare for any eventuality, he immediately ordered Covis to fly back to the rear on a swift eagle after the battle to quickly assemble troops from other battlefields and bring them to the front.

Within the allied forces, the leaders from different kingdoms seemed to share a tacit understanding. Although it had not been explicitly stated, the entire army remained vigilant against the undead army, and the generals of the church and various kingdoms made no attempt to conceal their intention to completely annihilate all the undead.

If we are not careful, a major war could break out at any time.

The two people inside the tent were deep in thought when suddenly hurried footsteps sounded outside.

The soldier who came to deliver the message stopped and hurriedly reported to the Deathwing Knights guarding outside the tent.

Leon and Olivia heard it all clearly from inside.

The allied reinforcements that were originally guarding the capital of the Kingdom of Feru have arrived.

The general leading the Holy War Army reinforcements was none other than the Grand Marshal of the Alliance, Princess Ines of Orland, who had single-handedly brought together this coalition of nations from the Western Continent.

Although he was worried that it would be too dangerous for Ines, who was only weak enough to kill a chicken, to come to the front line of the confrontation, Leon was not surprised that she would come, knowing her personality well.

If my lover suddenly disappeared, I would probably rush to meet him without hesitation the moment I heard the news.

However, after glancing down at Olivia in his arms, Leon still felt a little guilty and shamelessly said, "Let's go greet her."

This is the kind of trouble that only comes with having two happinesses at the same time. Leon is not afraid of going through fire and water, but he is afraid that his feelings for his other wife will hurt Olivia.

However, the girl simply raised her eyebrows and pinched Leon's cheek.

"If I had known you'd been missing for so long, I'd be frantic with worry by now. At this time, Princess Ines needs you the most. Are you planning to have me go there and just stand there watching you two being all lovey-dovey?"

Upon hearing this, Leon felt even more guilty. He had no intention of being promiscuous, but both Olivia and Ines were wives he could never abandon in his life.

"sorry."

"Okay, stop with the mushy apologies. If you really feel bad for me," Olivia suddenly remembered something, and her face turned red.

She wasn't a jealous woman, but the natural jealousy and the competitive spirit of a wife were ultimately unavoidable.

Turning around and climbing onto Leon's shoulder, Olivia whispered something in her ear that was both difficult to say and yet brave:
"If you can give me a child when we get back, I'll forgive your womanizing ways, you big bad guy."

"!" Leon's pupils trembled slightly.

Seeing her lover's distracted expression, as if he wanted to devour her, Olivia walked out of the military tent, turning back every few steps. She rested her chin on her hand and smiled slightly.

Those sparkling blue eyes reflected a deep longing from the words just spoken.

She was fearless in the face of all the life-or-death experiences she and her loved ones had gone through, but the only regret she still felt was that they had not yet conceived a child together.

Olivia couldn't help but imagine and wonder whether her first child with Leon would be "Arthur" or "Artoria".
Suddenly, her eyes turned cold as she looked at the package containing the Demon Stone on the bed.

"Shut up, it's none of your business to talk nonsense. Even if I remembered everything, I wouldn't believe your clumsy lies. If you could really see the future, you wouldn't be trapped in a stone like this now."

As soon as she finished speaking, Olivia's emerald green eyes were instantly replaced by gold, and the whisper in her ear was dispelled in an instant.

Temporarily ignoring the annoying instigation, Olivia relaxed and finished writing the letter in front of her.

Putting down her pen and ink, and waiting for the words to dry, the girl couldn't help but look up, her gaze seemingly unfocused as she stared at the top of the tent, or as if she were looking up at the sky through a barrier.

(End of this chapter)