I, who was eager to retire, became an Imperial General.

Chapter 327 The End of Radiance, The Sealed Past
How does he know?

Clearly, apart from myself and the family's higher-ups, no outsider should have been able to know about this matter under the restriction of the 'Silent Binding'!
How did this monster manage to do that?
Upon hearing John reveal his greatest secret, even the shrewd and calculating Royce couldn't help but stare at John with disbelief, his pupils contracting involuntarily.

John, however, was not surprised by Royce's reaction.

He maintained his composed smile, his gaze calmly fixed on the other person.

Looking at Royce, who remained silent and tried to maintain his inner peace, John knew perfectly well what was going on.

Reus, on the other side, was stunned by the secret he had just revealed, and was probably now in a state of confusion and doubt.

He could even predict what the other person was going to say next.

For example, who exactly are you?

As if to confirm John's judgment, Royce, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke:

"Who are you?"

Royce stared intently at 'John Maslow' in front of him, his gaze sharp and piercing.

No matter how exceptionally talented the other party is, how well they can control people's hearts, or even if they possess magical talent that is almost comparable to that of a demon king.

But the other party could never possibly know about his past and secrets.

The other party's resume and life experience also meant that they had no chance of discovering this.

Therefore, the monster in front of you could be anyone, or even something born from some taboo that should never exist in this world.

But the other party could not possibly be the John von Maslow he knew!
"John Maslow, commander of the 303rd Division of the Third Air Army of the Norman Empire, Viscount Faokeng of the Empire, concurrently Governor of Faokeng and the current holder of the Iron Wreath of the First Military Academy of the Empire, is there a problem?"

John spoke slowly and deliberately, looking at Royce who was staring at him coldly, making no attempt to hide his murderous intent. He seemed oblivious to the magic Royce was secretly gathering, and calmly opened the obsidian pocket watch in his hand.

"Click!"

As the exquisitely crafted artwork opened and closed with a crisp sound, the ticking of the clock also echoed clearly from the dimly lit room. The flickering light, like the lurking eyes of a demon, added a chilling undercurrent to the already cold atmosphere.

"..."

Just as Royce was about to pull out his trump card, trying to evacuate this extremely dangerous area as soon as possible before the monster could actually kill him, and to inform his family that the 'Child of Light' No. 1 embryo creation project had failed.

The next second, John's words froze him in place, and the murderous intent in his heart was instantly replaced by unprecedented horror.

"Royce, do you really believe that the creation of the Child of Light will bring order to the world?"

"!"

Son of light?
Meanwhile, Anna, who was trapped and unable to curse John after hearing this word, and who tried to provoke him into letting her go and fighting her head-on, was plunged into unprecedented confusion.

In fact, ever since John called Royce by her real name, she had been somewhat confused by the current situation.

Despite the numerous doubts she had previously raised, she had already concluded that Royce's identity was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

But she never expected that Royce, who was ostensibly an orphan of the Atlanta Empire and now the sixth heir of the Hansen family of the Kingdom of Jeros, was actually related to the Dreamweaver family of the Kingdom of Brown.

This bizarre truth made the intelligent Anna sense a conspiracy.

At the same time, a mysterious guidance reminded her that this matter might not only be related to Royce, but might also involve the perplexing mystery of her origins.

So she immediately stopped her useless provocation and instead listened quietly to their conversation with sparkling eyes.

"..."

In the arena, looking at Royce, who was so startled by him that even his magic gathering was subconsciously interrupted, John still smiled lightly at him, but his thoughts had returned to the moment when he read the 12 hidden endings of BED, one of which was called 'Radiant Purification'.

Compared to the 64 classic Allied hero squads defeating the evil empire and restoring order and peace, there are different types of endings.

The hidden ending resulted in no one surviving.

And literally, no one survived; all traces of human existence were completely erased, and the planet's 'tumor' was removed.

The Child of Light creation project that John mentioned is the source of all this.

The Child of Light Project, also known as the Child of Glory Trial Cultivation Project.

The plot's overall concept is strikingly similar to the Empire's forbidden experimental modifications.

However, unlike the Empire, where most scholars, except for Mephisto, maintain a fixed cycle of unique techniques due to academic inheritance, and the academic concept that multiple unique techniques cannot coexist within an individual, leading to the death of the host, they attempt to modify the human body to endow it with unique techniques.

The Child of Light project presents a completely opposite situation, and it is more radical than Mephisto's concept of a coexistence cycle of spells. It does not intend to create an independent cycle mode to achieve the coexistence of two spells, but instead attempts to achieve a true fusion of unique spells.

Furthermore, in the backstory, this plan actually began more than 500 years ago.

Although many plans were interrupted or even nearly abolished due to regime changes, the Brown family's direct descendants suffered numerous mysterious deaths, and the current emperor was still a child.

This plan, which had been abandoned and almost lost its chance of revival, began to recover under the suppression of the Golden Descendants and was restarted by the Valdren family, known as the Dream Weavers.

And by controlling the emperor, they successfully broke the absolute restriction that only those with golden bloodlines could enter the Golden Library five years ago.

They tricked the young emperor, who was still fond of playing in the mud, into retrieving the Dream Core Technique document, whose bloodline had been severed.

Inspired by the above information, a comprehensive overhaul of the original physical-level Light Child cultivation system was carried out, leading to the discovery of a completely new and feasible solution.

The cultivation of the Children of Light has shifted from a practical level to a spiritual one.

Through the silent binding technique of the Valdron family, the mind of each test subject is subtly implanted, thereby nurturing an embryo within the mind of different excellent and unique bloodline techniques, and unknowingly altering the personality of the other party.

After all the spiritual embryos have fully matured, the Child of Light will complete his final 'birth' through a sacrifice.

By gathering all the unique magical bloodlines in the world, he achieved a truly omnipotent state, becoming a true god who rules over humanity. Under the awe and judgment of divine power, he eliminated all evil and ultimately realized the dream of eternal order desired by the Valdren family.

Unfortunately, this vision, though ambitious, was almost madness.

However, the Valdren family underestimated the negative impact of human chaos on divinity, and that the brain, constructed of flesh and blood, was simply unable to withstand the limits of omniscience and omnipotence. Even with the highest level of cultivation and enhancement, it was destined to collapse.

Therefore, after the birth of the Child of Light in this ending, although he initially demonstrated omniscience and omnipotence, his divinity began to twist and fall with the subsequent decay of his physical body, ultimately making him the culprit behind the destruction of the world.

Even later in the game, when the core members of John's protagonist group had achieved root-level synchronization, and even recruited Elena Camrofi, the Shattered Star Sword Saint who had completed root development and was about to reach the conceptual level of Sword God, they still managed to resist this world-destroying disaster.

But faced with limitless mental manipulation and endless overlapping illusions, John ultimately faces only the destruction of the world.

In that timeline, according to John's memories and understanding, the Child of Light at this stage is not fully formed, and the concept of an embryo has not even been formed.

Currently, it remains residing within the host's mind, and even if the experimental subject is eliminated, the other party's 'embryo' will only be transferred, and there is nowhere to destroy it before it completes its physical birth.

It's unclear whether this was an official decision to deliberately increase the game's difficulty, or simply a result of the designers' mischievous humor.

The identities of the recipients of the Child of Light embryo core implants are randomly selected at the start of each game, and the 365 selected test subjects are also randomly generated by the highest-level AI at the time.

Sometimes, the deception is even assigned to members of the main characters, causing John to frequently find himself betrayed by teammates who have become agents of the Child of Light when he desperately seeks a divine intervention in this pseudo-ending, forcing him to restart the game.

It caused him to have a mental breakdown to the point that he wanted to smash his virtual reality headset.

But his indomitable spirit led him to continue to fight head-on, and through repeated failures, he found the real way to break the deadlock.

Although the behavior was somewhat despicable and shameless, and the price to be paid was quite cruel for someone...

Let's pull our thoughts back from the hidden ending.

John slowly looked at Royce in front of him, a fleeting hint of pity flashing in his eyes, but his tone remained unchanged. Instead, he smiled and said to Royce:

"To be honest, I am quite amazed that the Valdron family was able to come up with the plan to create the Son of God."

"However, compared to the vision of using the spirit of aggregates to complete the creation of gods and achieve an absolutely perfect world."

"Personally, I am more inclined to believe that the danger of the Child of Light is far greater than the order He can bring."

"And as for this, I think you, who witnessed that state of the spiritual embryo, should know it better than anyone else, shouldn't you, Royce Waldren?"

John spoke slowly and calmly to Royce.

"..."

Upon hearing this, Royce did not speak, but after a complex look flashed in his eyes, he fell into an eerie silence.

At this moment, he was no longer shocked that his secret had been exposed.

As he looked at John, his feelings gradually shifted from murderous intent to shock, and now to utter terror.

He even developed a sense of awe that he himself was unwilling to acknowledge.

Because at this moment, he suddenly realized a problem, which was everything that this being named John Maslow was currently exhibiting.

In his understanding, compared to the flawed human race...

The other party seemed more like a different species.

Although the Child of Light in the family plan, based on the descriptions in the documents and extensive calculations, is already omniscient and omnipotent.

But this being before me, with a real physical body and whose words and actions were full of the cunning and wisdom that should be present in humanity, was strangely not affected by the inferior negative forces, but instead became a harmonious being.

As for this kind of existence, according to Royce's understanding...

Perhaps there is only one name that has long since vanished, leaving only a name, and no longer has the power to manifest itself in the mortal world, to address the other person, and that is—

"God!"

The word suddenly popped into Royce's mind, and he instinctively shivered, his forehead unknowingly covered with a dense layer of sweat.

But he quickly dismissed this utterly absurd idea.

There's no other reason than that, according to the secret records of the Valdren family, the Dream God Temple, which bestowed upon the Valdren family the Silent Binding, is a place that is anchored in the spiritual world. To the Valdren family, it is like a sacred realm, representing the traces of the gods' existence. Theoretically, it is an absolute location that cannot be erased by any force.

Now even the ruins no longer exist.

It was as if all the rumors were fabricated fantasies, that gods had never been born into the world, and that all that remained were a group of fanatical martyrs trying to recreate those captivating legends with their meager wisdom.

Even the ancient gods have completely disappeared, so how could a similar existence possibly appear in this world again?

Therefore, the other party could not possibly be a deity.

"Absolutely impossible!"

Royce silently tried to convince himself, but for some reason, when he looked into John's pure black eyes with their eerie blood rings, he unconsciously softened his words, and a barely perceptible respect appeared in his voice:

"...Sir, what exactly do you want?"

"You know very well what I want, don't you?"

John suddenly smiled as he looked at Royce, who was inexplicably showing him respect.

But then, his words caused Anna, who had been listening intently and feeling utterly bewildered, to change drastically upon hearing them, her eyes filled with unprecedented astonishment.

"I need you to serve me and help me get rid of the so-called Son of Light, so that he will disappear from the world completely."

"In return, I can help you rescue your sister Peggy Marson, who is lost in a dream, before you face your inevitable death as a sacrifice, and give her a new life as an imperial citizen under my protection."

"And I think you should also be very clear that, compared to the treacherous Waldren, my promise is more in line with the spirit of a contract."

"Besides, since death is inevitable, betraying the Allies before you die shouldn't be unacceptable to a poor little guy like you, right?"

Looking at Royce, whose eyes were gleaming, John's smile deepened. Though his voice was calm, it carried a strange, seductive power, like a devil tempting mortals, as it reached Royce's ears.

"So, what is your answer to this, dear Royce Hansen?"

……

(End of this chapter)