Chapter 562: Chapter 72: Going to Death

Miel walked despondently through the dark alley, her expression somewhat dim.

“Why do they always treat me like a child…”

She leaned against the church’s marble wall, feeling her heart turn as cold as stone in the night.

“Is being young also a fault?”

Staring at the ground in silence for ten minutes, Miel finally sighed deeply.

“Ah.”

Having said such excessive words to him earlier, she was already feeling some regret…

“How will the Squad Leader see me from now on? It will be awkward, won’t it.”

She straightened up and slowly walked towards the outside of the alley.

Just as she stepped into the moonlit area, she saw the Anti-Christ, Rasul, standing against the wall, dressed in a crisp white suit and holding a golden apple in his left hand, like a gentleman about to attend a banquet, waiting for her.

“How did you get in here?” Miel asked in surprise.

“Heh.” Rasul chuckled lightly, “The Church Court’s force field shield isn’t completely uncrackable.”

“I… heard your conversation with Aske,” he said, abandoning the cryptic smile and speaking seriously, “In such times, that you still care about the people of the lower levels of Solomon City in your heart makes me believe even more that you are the most suitable heir for me.”

“You should find someone else,” Miel said wearily, “I only occasionally feel a sense of compassion; it’s not something I linger on, let alone sacrifice and strive for.”

“I can even tell you that even the lives of everyone in Solomon City… no, the entire world, are far less important to me than Aske. You should seek those who genuinely possess selfless qualities and are willing to sacrifice for others like Eleanor.”

“No, she’s not suitable,” Rasul declared bluntly, “I have already seen her future fate.”

“She once stepped forward for justice, sacrificing everything in the impetuousness of youth. But as she ages, her social class and the elitist education she received since childhood will increasingly lead her to solve problems in a top-down manner––by fully utilizing her advantages of birth to conduct limited leadership and reform of the world around her.”

“This contradicts the principles of our organization. We do not hope for rescue from nobles and lords. Any organization is a tool for rulers to exploit, and expecting exploiters to develop compassion is a completely misguided action. What we truly pursue is a complete revolution from the bottom up, a permanent solution that can rescue the people from oppression.”

“Is that so?” Miel smiled dismissively, “You speak as if you can see right through us. Since you assert that Eleanor will change, shouldn’t you at least produce some evidence?”

“You want to see the evidence, do you?” Rasul asked mildly.

Suddenly, the surroundings darkened again. Then, countless lines of light burst forth from the golden apple Rasul held.

These lines shot towards infinity, and Rasul casually grabbed a handful and brought them up to Miel.

From those lines, Miel saw a blonde Knight in white robes, the stern-faced Eleanor. She stood on a snowy plain, gazing majestically into the distance like a sovereign.

Behind her was a dense array of Power Armor Knights. All the Divine Luo Knights knelt on one knee facing her, the right hand using a sword to touch the ground, left fist striking the chest, bowing heads, extending from the snowy hills to the distant frozen meandering river.

“See?” Rasul said mockingly, “This is the future Eleanor.”

“The highest sword bearer under the Iron Throne, the Empire’s Princess and Valkyrie, Knight of Dawn ordained by the Church Court, do you expect her to become the next Anti-Christ?”

Miel was speechless. She didn’t know whether to trust this vision, whether it truly could foretell a future that had already been sealed, so she tried to see the fates of others and suddenly realized that the line representing Aske’s fate seemed to break off somewhere in the future.

To be precise, it wasn’t broken, but rather disappeared into the void and reemerged a few years later, giving her a slight sense of relief.

“Why would the line of fate break?” Miel asked curiously, only to suddenly realize that Rasul’s line of fate was also broken.

And the break was very close, incredibly close to now…

“Every thread in the weave of the world represents a possibility of the future,” Rasul said with a detached smile, “and the weave is composed of countless people’s threads of fate.”

“The fate of everyone determines the fate of this world. The more influential a person is in this world, the thicker their thread of fate, and the larger the percentage it occupies in the weave of the world; while the threads of the common people are thinner and more fragile, indicating they have little influence over the direction of the world’s weave.”

“If someone is about to vanish from this world, like dying, then their thread of fate will end… because the dead can no longer influence the world. From the moment they lose their life, they become a mere body of flesh and bones, and their own thread of fate ceases to exist.”

“You mean Aske is going to die?” Miel suddenly realized. “And you’re going to die, too?”

“No,” Rasul was still smiling, “the one who is going to die next is only me.”

Miel silently opened her mouth in shock.

Suddenly, a loud bang came from above, nearly shaking the ground with its intensity. The half-elf girl looked up and saw a vague, massive silhouette pressing down on the force field shield above Ratlan Palace, with a pale blue surface showing a web-like pattern of twists and cracks.

That was… the Spiritual Tree! The one at the city center!

It could move! And without anyone noticing when, it had crawled to the edge of Ratlan Palace, beginning to try and crush the shield with its weight!

Instinctively, Miel turned around to head back immediately, to meet up quickly with Aske and the others, but then she heard Rasul heave a sigh in front of her:

“Miel, haven’t you realized yet?”

“…If you could become strong enough at this moment, you wouldn’t have to face these innocent citizens trapped in the mutation, unable to do anything at all.”

“Now, there is an opportunity before you, a chance to become a Savior.”

“What are you going to do?!” Miel looked extremely cautious, because the unpredictable man who bore the nickname of Anti-Christ, who had been predicting his own death just a moment ago, was now likely to offer her something tempting—just as he always had.

“I just want to return your destiny to you at the last moment,” Rasul whispered softly, “I am a Demigod of the Fate Law.”

“When I fall, it will instigate a mutation in Ratlan Palace. In this mutation, the power of Fate Law and Luck Sequence will be enhanced beyond comparison.”

“At that moment, you, imbued with the Fate Law, will have the chance to kill the Spiritual Tree, thus saving all of Solomon City’s citizens, who would otherwise be mercilessly abandoned by the Church Court.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Miel instinctively wanted to back away, because there was a hint of madness in the smile of this unpredictable assassin mentor, the kind of smile that unnerved her deeply, like that of a wild beast at its end.

However, Rasul had already grabbed her delicate wrist before she could move back, and Miel could feel his fingers pressing deeply into her skin like iron bands.

“Because only you…” Rasul clenched his teeth, pausing after each word, “have the desire… and the power… to save them.”

“…Save them.”

He suddenly pushed Miel away with force, then his body violently shuddered, blood seeping out from his ears, nose, and throat. Translucent roots burst through his back, piercing right through his chest, blooms of blood unfolding like roses from the holes in his white suit.