The villain's way to tame the protagonist

When she mentioned Xitana, her sadness and emotion reflected both her debt to that student and her...confusion in her own life.

Polynya is not only a tenured professor at the Skyfrost Tower, she is also an important member of the Revolutionary Army codenamed Professor, but she is not affiliated with any faction. As for her personal inclination, she is probably more inclined to Lian De's reformists.

That sincere and firm belief completely collapsed with Leng Rong's betrayal, and the ideals and cherished identity of the past had to be buried silently...The disastrous defeat and disintegration of the revolutionary army in Donggang made Polynia confused for a long time. When she came to her senses, she found that she had to become an enemy of her former students.

Not only that, the entire North has fallen into chaos, and a cold disaster of unknown origin is raging on this already lifeless frozen land. Polynia realizes that she has no time to waste on lamenting the demise of the revolutionary army. She can only hold on to her mind, obey the orders of the Grand Duke of the Grey Tower, and do what she can to provide shelter.

Mentioning Xitana at this time inevitably made her recall the past.

Hercules saw that Polynya was in a heavy mood, so he took the initiative to change the subject and said, "Then... Ms. Polynya, can I ask, what is the spell covering this city..."

Polynya came back to her senses and forced herself to cheer up. No matter how she looked at it, she didn't look like a fifth-level transcendent.

"You mean the realm of silence? This is my...personal research area."

When the professor mentioned her achievements, her expression brightened. "After entering the Skyfrost Tower, I have been researching spells to silence the ether. You can think of it as interrupting or even completely isolating the flow of ether."

Back then, in Chishuang Territory, the revolutionary army that sneaked into Chishuang Manor and stole the heart of the Red Ice Python used the props she provided, and that thing eventually became a tool to force Ming Furo to surrender in Donggang.

Unfortunately, the revolutionary army was ultimately defeated due to their foundation which was almost empty or even non-existent.

"The spell to isolate the ether..." Hercules asked curiously, "Why would Ms. Polynya want to study this spell?"

Not only Hercules, but anyone would have such doubts.

Ether is the blood of the extraordinary. Losing ether is equivalent to losing the extraordinary. For the extraordinary, what is the significance of studying this kind of spell? It's not that no one has studied the single spell of silence, or the strange spell like Xitana that cuts off the flow of ether. After all, this spell can be used to surprise the enemy in battle. However, there are very few extraordinary people like Polynia who study large-scale ether silence.

"reason……"

Polynya, who had already arrived in front of the tower, stopped and turned to look at the orderly street, her eyes full of peace and relief.

"Come with me to the tower and see the current situation of this city, Hercules. I think a brave and kind young man like you should be able to understand."

Polynia brought Hercules to a room on the upper floor of the tower, and Hercules discovered that there were more than a dozen... very familiar light curtains.

"This is..." The boy stared at the street displayed on the screen, "Is this the scene in the city?"

"Yes, thanks to Miss Zeger and the inspiration from His Royal Highness the Regent, this is my way of supervising the city."

Polynya nodded, looked at the light screen with Hercules, and said softly:

"Before coming to this city, I had been staying in the Skyfrost Tower. I knew nothing about the current situation in the North... No, I knew nothing about the current situation of the people in the North."

"It wasn't until I followed the principal to meet the eldest princess and went to the city she ruled that I understood..."

The professor's fingertips trembled slightly. Recalling the scene at that time, she even subconsciously closed her eyes, and her voice trembled.

"The Northland right now... is hell."

"War destroys everything, not only peace, not only homes, but also the order that is morbid and twisted, but extremely important."

"The order established by the emperor has completely collapsed in the North."

She opened her eyes and looked at Hercules, who was still a little confused, with a complicated look in her eyes: "The status and authority of the extraordinary people have been raised to the limit, and mortals... are almost reduced to livestock and beasts."

The woman shook her head, her voice a little hoarse: “You don’t want to see that kind of scene, child, I promise.”

"So... you used this spell to cover the entire city?"

Hercules asked softly, and it seemed that he really didn't understand what the hell that Polynia was talking about was.

"Yes, although the Silent Realm still has a long way to go before it can be fully perfected, at least it can play a significant role now."

Polynya nodded. "Level 3 and below Transcendents will lose the ability to sense ether within the domain, and it will be even more difficult for ether from the outside to flow into it. Even if ether exists, its flow will become very sluggish. Even warriors will not be able to control the ether circulation in their bodies. Under the restrictions of these three conditions, Transcendents are at most just slightly stronger mortals."

"It is precisely because of the existence of the Silent Realm..." Polynya stared at the cold streets on the light curtain and whispered, "This territory can barely maintain its former order."

Under the seemingly endless cold disaster, every city is an isolated island.

People living on this isolated island seem to have returned to the ignorant and barbaric ancient times. The collapse and destruction of order is only a matter of time.

The strong dominate everything over the weak, and this has been the case throughout history. However, in an era where order exists, when people are no longer as brutal and ignorant as beasts, this domination will be diluted and beautified, and will appear in society in a form that is acceptable to everyone.

But when the order completely collapsed, this most primitive law of life evolution that has not been eliminated so far, and perhaps a law that will never be eliminated, revealed its most cruel and hideous true face.

Dominate dignity, dominate self, dominate values, dominate life, dominate... everything.

The weak either give up everything and become completely reduced to livestock under the knife of the strong; or fight with their own weak peers and turn into wild beasts.

The North with no way out, the North ravaged by war, the North that seemed to have lost all hope in the cold disaster, has undoubtedly... fallen into such a hell.

The difference of the extraordinary people's complete crushing of mortals amplifies this domination to a horrifying limit.

At this moment, Hercules seemed to realize the seriousness of the problem and where the current order of this city came from.

Even if it is impossible to eliminate the exploitation and domination of the weak by the strong, we can always limit the differences between the two and control this exploitation and domination within a certain range.

At the very least, it is the exploitation and domination of "man" over "man", rather than a species that has completely surpassed mortals and absolutely and thoroughly...crushes them.

However, although he understood a lot, Xin shouldn't have any real feelings about such things.

Because for the Saint, the harmony of human society does not need to be achieved through such narrow means, but only through coordination——

"This is really... somewhat similar to the church."

"...What?" Polynia was stunned. "Does the church also have research in this area?"

"Yes, the church has a magic called the Curtain of Cooperation, which can also force extraordinary people to lose their powers, but they did not develop this magic later."

After realizing the existence of the Realm of Silence, it is normal for Hercules to connect the two.

"Why!" Polynya was shocked and anxious after hearing that the church did not continue to study this magic. "The church...has the church studied this magic a long time ago? What is the reason for them not to develop this magic?"

Hercules shook his head: "Perhaps he feels that his methods are too backward, and there are better ways to accomplish the purpose of the Coordination Curtain."

"A better way... In other words, does the church have a better way to block the ether?!"

Polynya excitedly pressed Hercules' shoulder and said, "Really, Hercules? Have they really found a more effective method? Can you help me contact them?"

"Wait...wait, Professor Polynya!"

Hercules, who was being shaken, explained helplessly: "They may not have developed a more effective method. After all, the purpose of the Curtain of Cooperation is not simply to isolate the ether."

"..."

After all, it was nothing more than a divine art created by the church to achieve salvation and judgment, depriving the extraordinary people of divine grace and making them suffer for their own sins.

And since the Saint can do this on her own, there is obviously no need for the Cooperation Curtain to develop further.

Polynya let go of Hercules disappointedly: "I'm sorry, I... I lost my composure a little bit."

"This proves your noble kindness, Ms. Polynya." Hercules shook his head. "You want to refer to the church's magic, want to perfect your own magic, and then... in this way, protect more people?"

“Sheltering more people… is too far away for me.”

The woman smiled bitterly: "I just think that if the Silent Realm can be perfected, there will definitely be people who are smarter and more correct than me who can use this power... where it is needed."

She rubbed her forehead, still muttering in confusion: "But if the church didn't create that magic for this purpose, then what was it for? To defeat the enemy... or something else?"

"I have always believed that the church cares deeply about those helpless mortals. After all, they are willing to work so hard for the refugees, so I thought their direction was the same as mine... I had a preconceived notion."

"I would think so too if I were you."

Hercules comforted him: "After all, the church has always been doing this."

"Isn't it essentially there to help people and bring them hope?"

Nature……

Xin's mind was struggling to survive in the storm brought about by the devil.

Is the essence of the church to help people and bring them hope?

That’s not right. The essence of the church…isn’t it to spread the glory and greatness of God, and to spread the correctness and grandeur of the church?

What does this have to do with people...with people in this world?

Xin wanted to tell himself this, to tell himself that this is the essence of the church.

But when she looked back on everything she had experienced since coming to the North, on what the devil had brought her, what she had heard and seen, and what the church had shown her, she discovered that... in essence, they were providing this kind of salvation.

She even looked back on her life as a saint and discovered that the redemption and judgment she had made ultimately led to just this.

Just for humanity, all for humanity.

It seems to have nothing to do with God and the assistant itself - even if God and the assistant are replaced by something else, by some other grand and illusory name, the final result will still be the same.

No... no, it's not the same. It's because of the existence of God and the Assistant that we can have such hope. It's not for this purpose from the beginning. God and the Assistant are necessary, necessary...

necessary!

Xin couldn't think any further, nor did he have the courage to think any further.

But the devil's whispers from the past still lingered in her mind, like the most vicious curse... lingering.

[If everything about human beings represents the world in your teachings, then how can the so-called coordination transcend good and evil?]

The so-called gods...how can they be superior to humans and transcend all living beings?

Chapter 142: Intensified Conflicts

"So, Ms. Polynya has been studying the Aether Silence Spell with this desire since a long time ago?"

The two parties, who should have been hostile in their positions, were now sitting in a room and having a friendly conversation, making this already extremely absurd war seem even more pathetic.

Hercules asked Polynya curiously, "Did you have this thought when you entered the Skyfrost Tower? Do you think that the extraordinary will bring despair and oppression to mortals?"

"No, I was just a little girl who had just separated from my family at that time. I didn't have such profound thoughts."

Polynya smiled and shook her head, handing Hercules a cup of hot tea. "I didn't even have a clue or direction on what I should major in. It was the principal who gave me inspiration."

"...Grand Duke of the Grey Tower?" A look of displeasure and disgust appeared on the young hero's face.

Polynya was not angry, because she knew that Dormer Grey Tower was a very complicated person. At the same time, this appearance of not hiding his inner feelings at all reminded Polynya of her former student.

The professor couldn't help but say, "You really look like Sitana, Hercules."

"Uh...really?" Hercules scratched his head a little embarrassedly, "I don't think I can be compared with that Lance."

"It's not strength, but character...ah, I've gone off track again." Polynya tapped her forehead. "I think I know why you're here. You want to learn about the principal from me, right?"

Hercules, who was sitting opposite her with a cup of hot tea in his hand, nodded like a good student. "At first, I was just curious about the peculiarity of this city, but because of what you just said... I do have this idea now."

"After all, I just met him not long ago. It's really hard for me to believe that the old man is a good person."

"Have you met the Headmaster?"

Polynya didn't know how many times she was shocked today: "How did you meet him?"

"It's a bit complicated. Actually, he was mainly looking for your students. I just happened to run into him."

This sentence caused Polynya's already shocked brain to further stop working, almost crashing. After about ten seconds, she asked in a slightly trembling voice:

"Shitana... Is Shitana okay?"

"It's okay, but she probably isn't very happy."

The boy gave a very factual answer:

"Because it's not a pleasant fight."

Polynya was in a trance for a long time. She stared blankly at the deserted street on the screen. After a long while, she smiled in relief and said, "Yes, she is already... a strong person that even I need to be in awe of."

"The Grand Duke of the Gray Tower found Lance and said some very unpleasant things to her... However, he did say some things about extraordinary people and ordinary people, which are similar to what you just described. However, I don't think he would care about refugees."

Seeing Hercules humbly asking for advice, Xin, who had taken great effort to get rid of the fear he had just felt, always felt that something was wrong.

These answers are meaningless to Hercules, and to her... So what is Hercules asking? What can this get Sitana?

And after a brief silence, Polynya sighed with some complexity.

"Your feeling is not wrong, Hercules, because the headmaster... is a very complicated person. It is difficult to judge people like them with simple good and evil."

"You were... an ordinary person before, right? Have you ever known about the Road to Heaven and the Pioneers?"

Hercules, who had not seen much of the world, shook his head.

Polynya naturally stepped into the role of teacher: "The road to heaven is simply a road that allows everyone to hope to become extraordinary, and the pioneer is the person who hopes that everyone can become extraordinary."

Gaining power from the erosion of the abyss to achieve extraordinary results, its flaw is not only the inevitable madness and destruction, but also the absolute unrepeatability.

Whether a person can sense the erosion of the abyss and gain strength from it is decided at the moment he is born. This cannot be changed, nor can it be replicated in others.

But in theory, the road to heaven... even if someone does not have extraordinary talent, they can at least be promoted to the second level through the ceremony.

Even if a second-level transcendent has not undergone a qualitative change compared to ordinary people in an absolute sense, he is still a transcendent.