Shadow of the Evil God

Although he was forced to assume Sevra's female identity with his male consciousness, as long as his fingers were still there, he was not much different from his original identity in this matter. The guy in his arms had many thoughts, but his body was still as weak as ever. After two or three consecutive orgasms, he could no longer withstand it and looked like he was about to faint.

At this time, the blue rune lines on her body flickered slightly, and she barely opened her eyes, and her body was not so limp and weak.

Cesar noticed that not only were the dark circles under Ferriers' eyes getting worse, but she also had bruises on her knees and elbows, and it seemed she couldn't even walk properly. She was even more frail than Phils beside him, and her development was naturally even worse.

At a glance, it seemed she was only managing to avoid illness thanks to the blue rune lines covering her body. While the later Firth had seemed energetic and steady thanks to Diana's care, this Firth was different; she looked like a sick patient.

It seemed that the blue rune lines on Firiels' body were more like a surgical stent, carrying her with her at all times, providing her with IV drips and maintaining her health. The flickering light wasn't necessarily meant to intimidate others, but more likely to be feeding her an IV. If she weren't a mage, she would have died long ago in some dark corner somewhere.

Cesar thought for a moment, bit his index finger, and placed it between her lips. She resisted at first, but then realized the blood was unusual and subconsciously began to suck it up like a small animal being fed.

"Was it this hard when she raised you?" Cesar asked Ajeh.

Ajehe spread her hands. "By then, her magical proficiency had already allowed her to ignore her physical condition," she said. "Do you understand what I mean?"

"So, as long as her magical attainments can keep up with the speed at which her body deteriorates, she won't have to worry about whether her body will collapse or not." Cesar lowered his head and pinched Ferriers' pale and delicate face. "You are truly remarkable as a mage, Finny?"

She licked his index finger and wiped the blood from her lips with the back of his hand. "Are you praising me or mocking me?" she asked.

"I can't say for sure," he said. "Back when we left Neuen together and headed north to Olidan, you showed no concern for worldly matters. You simply kept a manuscript to record the strange things you saw. At that time, I thought you simply had a different view of the outside world than others. Now it seems that you also have a different view of yourself..."

Ferris didn't care. "If I fall ill and die, it means I'm unworthy of being a mage," she said. "Will I be unable to keep up with the speed of my body's collapse? If not, I'll find a cemetery to bury myself. Focusing on such insignificant things is a waste of my precious time."

"you......"

"So stop wasting time!" She propped up her petite and frail body. "I've already asked you to copy the book. Now take me to find my sister and I'll wake her up. As long as she and Milava fight and expose each other's wounds, you'll be able to see more of the past. Also, you must meet each of my remaining memories once, and pass your experiences on to the future generation of Ferrieres, so that she... Tsk, anyway, I definitely didn't want to be abandoned. It should be me who abandoned my soul, not my soul that abandoned me!"

"I hope so." Cesar stroked her head, earning her a dark glare.

“Also, don’t treat me like a child,” she said.

"You don't look like you've grown much." He said, "You're still as young as you were back then, and still..."

"Barbarian prejudice," Firiels shook her messy hair. "Once my magic attainments are advanced enough, these trivial matters will not be a problem."

......

The bookshelves on both sides of the corridor were almost all dismantled, and the books were cleared out. Some of the bookshelf panels were smashed by Aya's fists, and some were cut open by Ajiehe with Zawulun's sword. It was a mess.

On the way out, Aya kept staring at him. He wanted to reach out to comfort her, but every time he did, she would jump away like a frightened beast. Not only that, she would cross her hands tightly across her chest in a defensive gesture, as if a terrible curse had come over her hands.

It seemed that his tricks had made this guy's impression of him even more extreme. He had to point out that Ferriers's unconsciousness was due to her frail body and not entirely his fault, but the guy didn't seem to want to hear it.

Ajeh was amused, exaggerating his past experiences to Aya. Cesar frowned as he listened, but he couldn't point out the discrepancies between Ajeh's description and the facts. She had only exaggerated part of her account, and if he insisted on pointing out the differences in specific details, it would seem like he was agreeing with her.

Halfway through the walk, Cesar suddenly felt his right leg becoming out of control.

He paused, realizing it was Sevra holding onto his leg. This was their shared body, but she hadn't really been moving, only pushing him out to deal with any trouble. Now, her sudden stop seemed to indicate that something was about to happen.

Cesar took Ferriers' hand and slowly led her back. Suddenly, the entire corridor, like a painting on parchment, curled up towards them, carrying the messy bookshelves on both sides. The exit door ahead curled up and rose high, gradually shrinking into a pile of waste paper, folding into an invisible dark corner. The road also continued to climb, stretching and deforming. The bookshelves on both sides first bent and wrinkled, then became blurred like a painting splashed with water...

Was it something that happened back then? No, it was more like a change in the remnant of memory itself. Had the beastmen, who had brought the plague of thought, triggered a more horrific change? Or had the terror that had caused the knights of the Frank Empire to die in their graves been disturbed?

Either is possible, but no matter which one, their journey back to the past is becoming increasingly dangerous.

"Has this remnant memory changed?" Ferris said, "But everything I saw was normal... It seems you're the only ones who can sense it. Step back first. I'll use a teleportation spell to take you to the center of the palace. Remember to stay close to me. If you have any more remnants of memory in the future, remember to find me first. No matter what my mental state is, I'll always be by your side."

Cesar reached out his hand to Ajiehe. This guy was always so casual. He put his hand on his, tilted his head, and then disappeared from his fingertips. Aya glared at him for a long time, and when she had no choice, she grabbed his wrist.

He stepped back slowly, watching the corridor crumble towards him—as if something was trying to crumple everything in his remnant into a ball of waste paper, dragging the visitors into it as well, tearing them to pieces. Whatever the other party was, it was in the dark, while they were in the light, forcing them to deal with it.

If they were all so passive in Milava's memories, there was only one way to change the situation.

Agreed with Alante to keep them hidden in her remaining memories.

He'd clearly come here to resolve the ancient curse of the Yesterlen School, yet he was trying to reach an agreement with a remnant of memories suspected of being cursed? That wasn't a big deal; he'd been hamstrung by this sort of thing before. If they continued this passive state, they'd be pushed into a corner sooner or later. By then, not only would they not be able to trace their past, but their very survival would be in jeopardy.

Then again, if they were truly Beastmen, why were they here? You know, the Beastmen's situation in the Tomb of the Wise was much different than Sevra's. Sevra could lead them safely to the depths of the tomb, while everywhere Ajeh passed through was a false path leading to an unknown darkness. For the Beastmen, there was probably no place more dangerous than the Tomb of the Wise.

Is there any reason for them to explore the Tomb of the Wise despite taking such a risk?

Ancient knowledge? Or ancient treasures?

The entire library was curling toward them, the outermost corridor hanging upside down above them. The shattered bookshelves seemed to hang motionless in mid-air, a strange sight. He felt like a figure trapped in a painting. He took on the form of a beast, grabbing Ferris to his chest with one hand and Aya to his shoulders with the other, then lunged deeper into the library. He first smashed through a series of bookcases, then shattered an old partition wall, plunging deeper.

The remnant of memory twisted faster and faster, chasing his footsteps relentlessly. Cesar couldn't help but wonder what could have caused the remnant of the Chosen One, Milava, to become so distorted.

Even Jilalo had disappeared. Could the beastmen who were exploring the tombs really have done such a thing? Or was it not entirely the work of the beastmen, but rather the result of the thought plague that Altinia had told him about?

The sudden encounter of two ancient horrors was beyond his comprehension. However, this had happened more than once before, whether it was Soyin's Ring of Time or the Dragon's Dream eroded by the abyss. As long as he moved forward in the direction he could grasp, he would always find a glimmer of hope.

Ferris's whispers gradually filled his hearing. Those obscured words intersected with the fabric of the world, further distorting his already distorted memories. Her pupils grew darker, as if absorbing the surrounding light, extinguishing the already faint glow. His surroundings were completely blinded, and he could no longer see the world twisting behind him. Cesar cared nothing for what lay ahead, simply smashing through whatever obstacles stood in his way.

Suddenly, his attack missed, and in the blink of an eye, a massive blood moon appeared before him. "Fini? Why are you here? What's with this beast?" It was Allandi's voice. Cesar lifted the wolf's head and saw that she had become a fully grown woman. Compared to her, the nearly unchanged Ferrieres looked not like her sister, but her young daughter.

Then, a beastman's roar echoed from nearby. Seeing Ferris reach out to block Cesar, Alante cursed and turned to confront the beastman behind him. Blood and flesh splattered in the intense light and shadow. Cesar saw Milava dealing with her fellow courtiers infected by the Thought Plague from a distance, intentionally avoiding Alante's attention.

The Frankish emperor took great pains to trace his past.

Chapter 411: Guess what I want?

The surrounding palace lay in ruins, yet the battle seemed to continue unabated. Seeing Cesar's human form, the very same form of the Sevra from back then, Alante grew even more wary, though she still seemed to care about Ferrells's opinion. Despite Ferrells's repeated requests, she finally found a ruined spot to rest, out of Milava's sight.

From this spot, they could see the center of the battle, where Milava stood, a magnificent plaza large enough to accommodate several legionary phalanxes. They were stationed in the ruins of a palace at the edge of the plaza. A broad avenue stretched from the center of the plaza, terminating not at the palace but at a towering altar dedicated to various gods, including Sagaros, Hiel, and Helgast.

It's clear that each statue in the altar corresponds to a chosen one from the intervening eras. If, as Fils said, the images of the gods all embody inhuman horror, then perhaps the gods' human forms are a joint fabrication of the chosen and the pantheon. This fabrication has been passed down from the time of the Frankish Empire to later generations.

The black-armored knights marched in formation along the avenue, seemingly forming a well-organized battle formation. The beastmen, however, surged toward the ceremonial square like a tidal wave, appearing much more scattered and disorganized. Cesar noticed that new beastmen constantly appeared out of thin air in all directions, like phantoms from a nightmare, and as soon as they materialized, they bolted towards Mirava. From here, the entire square looked as if it were being overwhelmed by the beasts and knights.

A continuous large-scale teleportation spell? At least not an entire army, just scattered deployments. However, it was incredible that the Kasar Empire could send them in. Although some beastmen wanted to regroup, they were like scattered dust in the frenzied beast tide, and no one paid any attention to them.

While Ferris and Alanti conversed, Gouzi was traversing the crumbling palace, searching for the newly reborn beastman. She crossed a massive black rock, then descended through a real crypt, even lower than the masonry of the plaza in her memory. She vanished beneath the plaza like a ghost. A moment later, she poked her head out from behind him again, clutching a thick, long feline tail. She placed it at Cesar's feet, as if collecting a treasure.

Compared to body parts of unknown origin or sewn-together human heads, this thing is at least not as gory.

In the distance, a beastman was being eroded, and the gaze directed towards Milava suddenly turned towards them. Cesar stroked the dog's slender jaw, touched her lips with his bloody fingers, placed them on her outstretched tongue, and let her lick them as encouragement, then watched her pounce like a hound.

To be honest, Cesar hadn't been observing the dog's movements. He hadn't noticed how many beastmen she had torn apart and slaughtered, having been freed from the remnant memories. But judging by her efficiency, it must have been at least a hundred, if not dozens. On reflection, this was actually quite terrifying. Beings within the remnant memories vanished along with the changes in those memories, but those liberated from them didn't. Not only that, their bodies would be piled up in the burial chamber after they died, not disappearing where they were.

The Faceless Ones could eat one or two, but certainly not hundreds or thousands. When they emerged from their residual memories, what would the entire tomb look like? A pit of flesh and blood filled with corpses?

Afterward, Gouzi returned, clutching a blue heart. Before she could fully demonstrate her newly acquired treasure, Ajiehe suddenly appeared and negotiated the price. This creature, filled with malice towards living beings, had a completely different attitude towards the Faceless. It couldn't be called friendly, more like he felt that provoking such a being was pointless.

If Cesar had held the heart, Ajeh would have eaten it in one bite when he was not paying attention, and might even have gnawed his right hand as well.

Treating humans like a wanton beast, but treating non-humans like a polite person? Come to think of it, this guy's attitude towards Aya could be described as friendly, and his attitude is worth pondering.

After a few breaths, Cesar noticed something had changed in Arlante, standing not far from him. Something had changed in her demeanor. The dust swirling around them fell to the ground like snowflakes, becoming eerily still. Her face was no longer wary, but now a smile. Her smile was incredibly captivating—if it wasn't directed at him.

"I can feel a wonderful trace of love in my heart, my dear," Arlandi said to him, "but unfortunately, it's not in this era. As a lingering memory, I'd better let my descendants experience this sweet love in you."

"Your words make me a little worried." Cesar frowned and said, "Who are you?"

"Of course I'm Alanti." She blinked, appearing nonchalant. Furthermore, she smiled at him, her eyes sparkling with brilliance. "Of course, you could also say I'm nothing. I'm just experiencing my destined love. Everyone has their own nature, don't you agree?"

"It doesn't look like the ending for you and Milava is very sweet," Cesar said.

Alante shook her head and placed her hand on her chest. "That's his nature," she said. "Even though I've given him the sweet love that will last him a lifetime, he still wants more. He's insatiable."

"You speak as if you know Milava well."

"Of course I understand." She

She said, "You know what? Milawa actually has an Oedipus complex, but what's important about this complex is not age, but the feeling when you're together. Although I'm more than a decade younger than him, in the end, we still got together. It just happened naturally."

"I guess Milawa doesn't want to hear you poke holes in his weaknesses like this, especially not wanting to hear people say that he has an Oedipus complex with a girl who is more than ten years younger than him."

Arlandi tilted her head. "Yes, that's right," she said. "Everyone has weaknesses they don't want to admit, complexes they don't want to face. And I think that since nature is there, there's no reason to avoid it. Did he end up in such a miserable situation because I doted on him too much? Maybe. But I'm just loving him in my own way."

"Have you noticed that your sister next to you has a lot of opinions about you?"

Arlandi turned around, hugged the silent Ferriers, and gently patted her stiff shoulders. "I'm deeply sorry for this, my dear," she said. "We spent so much time together when we were little, it was like two sisters in love. I told you that I would always be with you, until we both became great mages. But unfortunately..."

"Did you love Ferrieres?" Cesar asked her.

"Of course," she said, "why wouldn't I love my lovely sister? I doted on her so much. I took her everywhere she wanted to go. I even found you in the belly of a hydra and treated you as the best gift of her childhood. It was so beautiful, like poetry, but guess what?"

"I guess it all came to an end the day you saw Milava," Cesar said.

"Conversations when you know the answer to a riddle are so boring." Alanti sighed, "I died before I could apologize, Finny, but that's just how I am. I used everything I had to focus on loving only one person. After I fell in love with Milava, I couldn't love you anymore. Maybe I should apologize to you in advance."

"You'd better not tell me you said that to Milava," Cesar said.

She smiled at him again. "If you want to hear it, my dear," she said, "I can tell him when Milawa comes that, in this day and age, I would undoubtedly fall in love with you, not him. Of course, nor with that young man we saw at sunset that day—poor boy, that was it. But you will not be killed by Milawa like he was, will you? You seem to be a remarkable person."

Cesar felt he had encountered a huge challenge in his forte, love. He took a deep breath and said, "Your words are somewhat frightening, Queen."

"No," she denied. "It wasn't terrible, and neither was Milava. We were deeply in love, after all. I deeply regret his anger and sympathize with his loss. It's understandable that people would do anything extreme after such a tragedy. Unfortunately, after that, I no longer have the ability to comfort a Chosen One who believes he has lost everything, but there is nothing I can do."

Cesar stared at Alante, then took Ferrieres' hand and slowly pulled her from her sister's embrace. She smiled, then let go, her slender body leaning against his. "Have you ever had any doubts about your own character, or perhaps your nature?" he said slowly.

"Are you here to trace the curse of our school, my dear?"

"I have your descendants around me."

"My descendants? Oh, I see." She smiled again. "Of course, if you want to find the answer to the mystery, then go ahead, but I've never cared about such things, so unfortunately, I can't give you any advice."

"Is the curse of your school still with you?"

Arlandi shook his head, "No, I'm just a remnant of memory."

"Don't you have any curiosity about the truth behind the curse?"

"You're someone who likes to get to the bottom of things," she didn't answer clearly. "You want to resolve the so-called curse, so that my descendants can truly love you and stay by your side forever? How greedy, my dear, when you have so many people around you."

"If you were just a remnant, and the school's curse hadn't chased your memories deep into the tomb of the wise, you would have no reason to stop me." Cesar chose his words carefully. "What should I do to make you show me the past that even Milava doesn't want to face?"

"Guess what I want?"

Chapter 412: The Difference of Love

"I guess you want to recover the curse that lingers in your soul," Cesar said. "Of course, in your eyes, it's not a curse, but a blessing."

Arlandi paused, a hint of surprise on her face. She looked at Ferriers, who was leaning in his arms without saying a word, for a while, then looked at him.

"How wonderful," she said. "I thought that by giving yourself over to the desires of the flesh you would take on their habits, but I didn't expect you to possess such wisdom and insight. Are you truly worshipping Anarik? Are you sure it's not one of the other gods?"

"I don't care what happens to me personally," Cesar said. "I just think that not everyone resists fate like me and the people around me do. Some people enjoy it, and even miss it after losing it. I don't really understand what that feels like, but judging by your reaction..."

"That feeling? Actually, I can't remember it clearly." Alanti sighed, "I only remember that it was very haunting. It stayed with me until the moment of my death, making me feel different from everyone else. But now, I've lost it. I've forgotten it, because I am a residual memory. It won't accompany the residual memory, it will only accompany Alanti itself."

Ferris stared at Alante with wide eyes, as if her sister were mad. Cesar frowned slightly. Alante was the first person he had ever met who not only fully accepted the curse of her bloodline but also yearned for it after losing it. It was difficult to change his fixed perspective, but it was not impossible.

"According to you, this curse..." He chose his words carefully, "Well, it's a blessing. This blessing has accompanied you throughout your life, until the moment of your death, and it has also brought you incredible feelings, like being drunk. It made you feel different from everyone else. But now, you are a remnant of memory that has awakened, and you find that you no longer have the feelings you had back then. Do you want to find it back, to return to that feeling?"

"Indeed," she agreed. "But it's more than a feeling of being lost, do you understand me, dear? While it was in my soul, I had everything, not physical beauty, but love, curiosity, hope, even wisdom. Everything you can imagine and everything you can't imagine, every beautiful feeling in human life, they were all at their fullest in me at that moment."

"That sounds incredible," Cesar said.

"It's incredible," she nodded. "Childhood curiosity, the love of the night and day at eighteen, the hope of my twenties, the maternal love in the first few years of a child's life, and the wisdom and open-mindedness of old age that will benefit a lifetime. Put all these moments and more into the same bottle. This is what I once had. No matter how many years pass, they remain in the most perfect moment, as if the brightest light in my soul is contained in that bottle, never dimmed."

"And now..."

Arlandi closed her eyes, as if recalling what happened that year, but she gave up and shook her head.

"I have forgotten," she said, "the reason why I had all this, I have completely forgotten, and now I feel it is fading away, my love, curiosity, hope, wisdom, and so many other things. Although it fades slowly, it is fading away. Why? I can't remember, because it left me, and when it left me, it took away the bottle and many other things. I..."

Cesar pondered the deeper meaning of her words. He realized that the things contained in the blood curse of the Yestren School could not even be taken away from this world. It existed only in their bloodline inheritance, and the residual memory could not possess it.

"So you're saying that," he said thoughtfully, "you've always harbored the love you felt that night and day when you were eighteen. And because of that, after you gave birth to a child for Milava, you suddenly fell in love with a young boy you met by chance on the street? You could even say it was love at first sight, a love a young girl could have for no apparent reason."

"Of course," Alanti smiled. "I only glanced at him, and the memory of that moment remains in my heart forever, just like when I saw Milava. It's interesting, isn't it? There's nothing to be afraid of."

"So at that moment, you were still exactly the same as Arlanti when Milava first met you. Of course, I'm not talking about the outer part, but the inner love, curiosity, hope, and wisdom. But Milava had grown old. He looked as young as he did then, but those things inside his flesh and blood...had they become decayed?"

"I'm so sorry about what happened to him."

"At first, it was the arrogant Milava who gradually fell in love with you, who cared for him so much and pursued him so wholeheartedly. But many years later, you are still the same person, but he is filled with fear and decay, and he has discovered your terribleness."

"Is it scary?" Alanti asked back, "Maybe a little. But this is also related to the decline of the Frank Empire. Milawa realized that the Frank Empire would eventually perish, and that he would also lose in the war. Before that, he had always taken it for granted that I would always love and care for him. After that, before I even started to fall in love with someone else, he began to be full of doubts and fears.

The more he compared me to other people, the more suspicious and fearful he became.”

"So that's why Milava found that nameless boy in the first place and killed him?"

"It was indeed a nameless boy," she said. "I'm so sorry for him. Before I could even ask his name, before I could even say a word to him, he was taken away by the knights of Milava. If possible, please take Milava away with you in that memory, so that I can speak to him and express my apologies for not being able to do so."

"I thought you wanted to show him some affection."

"That's also in the past—it's over before it even happened."

"It's hard for me to promise anything, Your Majesty," Cesar shook his head. "But if I can trace the answer to the mystery, I will do everything I can to find your bloodline's... well, blessing, and lock it to you alone. If you can still exist, you can go around the world looking for your different loves."

"It's hard to predict what will happen in the future," Alanti said with a smile, "but it wouldn't be a bad idea to revisit the past. I'll use my remaining memories to help you deceive Milava. Although he was arrogant back then, he was also an interesting guy."

"And there are the beastmen who are polluting the remnant memories. If possible, I hope you can help hide us. I want to find them in the dark corners of the remnant memories." He added.

"Of course, I'll do my best," said Alanti. "If you've said everything you want to say, let's end this story about Milava and start mine. I want to start from the day I first met Milava. Do you mind? I'll hide you in the memories of my servants, so everyone will think you are my servants."