Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 267 May All Return to the King of Gold

In the previous choice, Cynthia chose to shoulder her bow and arrows and face the ruler who appeared out of nowhere alone.

This was not a pointless effort. The people who had just experienced the war of the old gods could not bear another war of the same scale. Until Mekka-delin and her former comrades fell one after another, they did not know that the Golden King had ever come. In their eyes, Cynthia had just embarked on a journey—just as she said at her last farewell meeting, she had no interest in becoming a god and only wanted to live a free life.

Unfortunately, they ultimately failed to live the life they wanted.

Ethan saw Cynthia pick up her bow and arrow once more, holding the totem of the goddess of the hunt in her hand. The silver light turned gold, and the smiling golden mask signified that she was now a subject of the Golden King.

A thousand years later, her will to fight was almost completely worn away, and she descended upon this plane as an emissary of the Golden King.

But beneath that mask, Ethan sensed a strange emotion.

The intense emotions were also the first time that Electric Element heard her heart after the meeting.

Things were developing in the direction Cynthia least wanted to see. Ethan was a stubborn man, just like she had been back then.

Therefore, she had made two preparations long before returning to this plane.

The best outcome would be to persuade Ethan to abandon his research on the magic network and return to the Golden Throne with her; but if Ethan refuses…

She was left with only one solution.

Following the will of the King of Gold, we will resolve the historical issues of this plane once and for all.

To personally bury the legacy created by Mekka-Drin, and then never need to return to this plane again, even though humanity would pay a heavy price, it would all be within acceptable limits compared to the long-term future.

“Mr. McCardling has been dead for over a thousand years.”

Ethan was surprised by the intense emotions.

For Cynthia, nothing was left here. Not only was there Maca-Drin, but her comrades who had fought alongside her had also exhausted their last lives in various ruins. The Academy was no longer the protagonist of this world, and she knew nothing about the rising empire or the Henry royal family.

Even so, she still wanted this world to continue, to prevent it from becoming another territory ruled by the Golden King.

The King of Gold enjoyed the process of conquest; it was the source of pleasure in his long life. Once the conquest was complete, the spoils became boring toys, which he would casually discard and put aside as collectibles that he would probably never look at again, gathering dust in a corner.

Those collections would then become puppets, spending the rest of their lives in a cycle that has repeated itself for thousands of years.

Even so, you still intend to do this?

Cynthia didn't speak, but her burning emotions already expressed her determination.

Destroying the island's surface would completely annihilate the remaining magical network, which would also mean she would personally erase the last traces of Mekka-Delin left in this plane.

That war was started by the prophecy of the magic network, and a thousand years later, she herself came to put an end to it all.

Cynthia suddenly understood that this was the destiny written for her by the King of Gold.

Meanwhile, in the distant Golden Kingdom, everyone in the grand hall stared intently at the image within the white sphere.

The people wearing the golden masks had mixed feelings.

The day has finally come.

As they watched Cynthia and Ethan's negotiation, a complex emotion welled up within them. The concept of time had long since become extremely blurred for them; it seemed as if only yesterday that this girl, carrying a bow and arrow, had single-handedly stormed into the Golden Kingdom. As those who had been there, they all knew what Cynthia's choice meant.

Completely sever all ties with the past and fully accept your fate as a subject of the King of Gold.

They saw Cynthia leap high into the air, the drawn bowstring emitting a blinding golden light—a gift from the Golden King to every subject. Even through the crystal ball, separated by the barrier of the plane, they could still feel the terrifying energy of the bow and arrow.

The next arrow will shatter the island's surface.

The figure on the throne had not spoken for a long time; he was completely absorbed, and the image reflected in the white sphere was the climax of this drama.

The golden light attracted the elemental shapers on the island, who looked up but could not see the scene at the center of the light.

The high-ranking elemental energizers sensed the threat of the arrows. They waved their staffs and unleashed the elemental magic they knew into the sky. This was a familiar sight to the inhabitants of the Golden Kingdom. No matter how mortals struggled and resisted, they could not rewrite their predetermined fate. They all knew that the other protagonist in this performance was not the academy's elemental energizers.

The man who confronted Cynthia as the target of the arrows was the "culprit" behind everything, and the only variable in this performance.

Ethan looked up at the increasingly powerful energy above him.

Faced with the trolley problem, Cynthia decides to sacrifice the sinking of the academy in exchange for peace in the world beyond the island.

If McCardling were still alive, he might have made the same decision.

Cynthia charged up her power very slowly, giving him enough time to back out. As long as he expressed his willingness to back out before he finished charging up and accepted the fate arranged for him by the Golden King, the disaster hanging over the academy would end. Before leaving the plane, he still had to complete some cleanup work with Cynthia.

Actually, they have other options.

This time, however, Ethan did not resort to negotiation.

He could only vaguely guess what Cynthia had been through over the past thousand years. The Golden King had long since worn down her will, and a deep-rooted unease was imprinted on her heart, making her unable to defy "fate." She could only submit and try to minimize her sacrifices, which had become her last act of resistance.

This is a shadow that cannot be changed with just a few words.

Gradually, the elemental magic that had painted the sky with vibrant colors disappeared.

The professors at the college stopped what they were doing; this sudden turn of events was far more terrifying than the disaster that was looming over everyone's heads.

They could no longer connect with the elements of nature; all spells lost their power, and even spells like Fireball and Frostbolt, which beginners could easily master, became unattainable.

However, the elemental movements did not stop there; they were converging in the same direction.

The clustered pieces turned into the same color.

The source of the disaster above noticed the anomaly, and the arrow that had been gathering power finally fell to the ground.

The fragmented sounds were everywhere, and their vision was filled with the ever-approaching golden light.

They could see nothing else until a crack appeared in the omnipresent golden light.

Something has been cut open.

Also witnessing this moment are the guild members at Dimension 003 Transfer Station.

This is the second abnormal fluctuation in the dimensional plane, and it is much stronger than the one a few days ago.

After reporting the unusual energy fluctuations, investigators Zak and Zul'ga lost contact. Their plane was also urgently upgraded from "habitable" to "unpredictable" and "may contain deadly sources of pollution." The station's leader, leaning on his cane, stared intently at the dimensional rift where Cynthia had disappeared.

He still didn't know what the investigators had encountered in the rift, but it was undoubtedly the source of the energy fluctuations.

His palms were sweating involuntarily. He had never seen anything like it before, and he couldn't help but worry whether the messenger of the Golden King could complete her mission.

Silence reigned within the hall. Dust particles, emitting a faint white glow, brushed against their cheeks and drifted away on the wind.

The breeze left behind mottled scratches, and a burning pain spread throughout their bodies.

The air was filled with the remnants of a white sphere, a spell they had never seen before and could not understand. In an instant, it extinguished the images inside the sphere, and the aftershocks of the magic even crossed the magic network to reach this place.

Communication with Cynthia was cut off.

They couldn't help but put themselves in Cynthia's shoes. If they were in her shoes, would they be able to survive facing a spell of this magnitude?

The answer that surfaced in their minds sent chills down their spines.

The deathly silence stirred up shared memories in each of them, making them involuntarily think of the war they had all experienced, and... that traitor who had long since died.

Merlin.

Only that traitor's magic could threaten their king.

Because long before, that traitor had been an equal to their king.

"That's it, that's it!"

After an unknown amount of time, excited self-talk echoed throughout the hall. The figure on the throne straightened up, his right hand tightly gripping the golden mask. As the man's emotions fluctuated, every resident of the Golden Kingdom was affected to varying degrees—they also became excited along with their king.

No matter where they are or what they are doing, they are all occupied by the same emotions at the same time.

Through their heightened emotions, they sensed the king's desire.

A desire for war.

"So that was his real purpose. I never imagined such a secret was hidden there!"

The Golden Kingdom also sprang into action in response to the man's excited tone, emitting a booming sound like tolling bells.

They should have immediately informed the other "Kings" of this discovery, but before anyone could offer any opinion, the spreading bells once again tore open a rift in the clouds, and the golden hull disappeared completely into the rift.

On the other side, Cynthia was lying flat on the grass.

She failed to complete her plan and was unable to save this plane from the Golden King once again.

But at the same time, for thousands of years, her face once again felt as if it were being blown by a gentle breeze. The golden mask that covered her face shattered into countless dust particles as she fell, and no one knows where they were swept away by the wind.

She was defeated by wind elemental magic.

Wind elemental magic that transcends cognition and is beyond comprehension.

"Now you should be able to speak normally."

Footsteps sounded beside her, and Ethan's voice came from above.

Cynthia merely glanced at him.

"If I can't even defeat you, then I have no way of facing the Golden King... So, are you satisfied with the result now?"

Ethan knew this would happen; he could feel the changes at 10,000 meters altitude, and something was about to come.

A tram traveling at high speed is about to crash straight into this place.

But he was a romantic.

Rather than sacrificing himself or dying with everyone else, he would try to stop the tram.

There's no going back now.

Cynthia stared blankly at the sky, where she could see a crack in the clouds, through which a colossal object cast in gold was faintly visible.

She didn't intend to praise Ethan, even though he had indeed muddied the waters of fate, causing the future to unfold in directions no one could predict.

She also heard the familiar sound of bells descending from the sky, becoming the only sound in the world.

It is sacred, majestic, and yet cannot be refused.

A group of students were the first to notice the changes in themselves. They suddenly felt their heads become heavy and their vision become blurred. When they reached out to touch their faces in confusion, they were met with a warm yet hard touch. Soon after, they were able to understand the changes in themselves from the perspectives of others.

It was a golden mask with a blank expression, stuck to their faces.

Apart from the still-echoing bells, there was no other "noise" in the college. They were like believers listening to hymns in a church, waiting for baptism and blessing.

They discovered that their mouths could no longer make a sound, and the golden masks glued their mouths together, but also gave them more abilities.

Their communication became smoother, and through those identical masks, they could clearly sense the emotions and thoughts of others.

Maybe it's not so bad.

They were infected by the same emotions and thoughts, and peace filled their hearts.

"You have chosen the most difficult path."

"Cynthia said softly."

But she had no grounds to blame Ethan. When she carried her bow and set foot in the Golden Kingdom alone, her thoughts were exactly the same as Ethan's.

Ethan might be able to go even further than she did back then, but Cynthia had no idea how far he could go.

"Leave the rest to us."

Ethan said, "Ms. Cynthia, you should have retired long ago."

The tolling did not end there. After the students were all wiped out, it did not give the elders any more time to prepare. The barrier constructed by magic was easily broken down by the sacred tolling of the bell. Before they could put up any resistance, their vision was also obscured by the same masks.

The creation in the heavens revealed its true form, and more information flooded into their blank minds.

This would be a good ending for everyone.

Everyone can understand each other, and all negative emotions will leave them behind.

Under the rule of the King of Gold, there was no more strife in the world.

May all things return to the King of Gold.

(End of this chapter)