A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

In the black-robed priest's suddenly dilated pupils, there was a click, and the black bluestone scepter towering in the air was cut off with a sword.

The vortex formed by the invisible gray-black mist surrounding it violently shrank into a ball, then exploded with a bang.

The gray-black mist that was so thick that it could be seen with the naked eye disappeared in an instant, as if it had never appeared in this world.

At the same time, huge and invisible air currents violently spurted out in all directions, shaking several oil lamps hanging on the stone pillars violently, and then fell to the ground with a snap, smashing to pieces.

The flames that burned hotly as the oil fell on the ground only swelled for tens of seconds. When the oil burned out, it was extinguished on the cold stone ground.

The severed head of the staff fell to the ground, and the round sphere on the head of the staff fell off.

It rolled a few times on the altar and rolled in front of the black-robed priest.

The old man tilted his head and stared hard at the stone ball rolling over, almost bulging out of his eye sockets.

He hissed like a broken bellows at the back of his throat, and stretched out his hand desperately, obviously trying to catch it.

Completely ignoring that his actions caused blood to spurt out from his chest, he exerted such force that veins popped out on his forehead.

Just hold it...

Hold on... He might still be able to survive...

That stone ball...contains the last trace of power that the great Mother Goddess of All Things left on the earth before she fell asleep.

That bluestone ball is the most precious treasure of the All Things Sect.

A long time ago, the founder of the Cult of All Things received this treasure before his death due to an accident and survived. Later, he felt the weak power of God remaining in the bluestone ball, so he founded the Sect of All Things with the help of God's power.

From generation to generation, the Cult of All Things has developed and grown. Because of their sacrifices, the sleeping God of All Things is awakening little by little.

But in this generation, the hateful King Camos actually led an army to bloodbath their main place of worship, slaughtering the noble high priest and countless believers.

As the only remaining high-ranking priest of the Cult of All Things, he fled in a hurry with the treasure and hid at the border of Aaron Landis and Kanal.

Under the guidance of the treasure, he found this ancient temple built underground in ancient times to worship the Mother Goddess of All Things.

He discovered that this underground stone palace seemed to be the birthplace of the treasure.

From then on, he stayed in this underground temple, patiently gathering believers from all over, gathering the scattered remaining forces, and rebuilding the Cult of All Things bit by bit.

Then, he secretly allowed the power of the Cult of All Things to infiltrate into Aaron Landis silently, in an attempt to complete the feat of destroying Aaron Landis and plunging the continent into war that the high priest failed to do.

But, he didn't expect it anyway.

He failed.

Just as the high priest died at the hands of King Camos many years ago, now he is about to die at the hands of the new young king Aaron Landis.

No!

He won't die! He was able to accomplish feats that even the high priest could not achieve at a glance.

When he failed to destroy Aaron Landis, he sacrificed the flesh and souls of thousands of loyal believers here for more than a year.

Today is the last time, the last step.

Obviously as long as today's sacrifice is successful, the power of the God of All Things will penetrate into the earth.

But—damn it—why did that Young King break into this place today?

Why could he not be influenced and tempted by the power of the great God?

[If there is such a thing as destiny in the world, then I am destiny! 】

The scene of the young king cutting off the scepter suddenly flashed in his mind, and the old priest's eyes froze.

Some indescribable fear arose in his heart.

...No, it won't be...God has given him guidance...Aaron Landis will definitely perish, and the continent will also perish due to war...

And he won't die.

He knew it, he could feel it.

He shouldn't die here.

The Cult of All Things will flourish on the war-torn continent, and will become a behemoth that no country dares to offend easily in the future.

He will be the high priest of the Cult of All Things, and the lives of countless people will depend on his words. Even the king of a country will not dare to offend him easily.

That is his future, the future guided by destiny!

Yes.

That's how it should be.

Therefore, he will never die here!

As long as we seize the treasure, which is said to have saved the life of the original bishop of the All Things Religion, then we can definitely bring him——

The old priest struggled to reach out his hand, trying to hold the stone ball that was slowly rolling towards him.

Just a second before his fingertips were about to touch the stone ball.

Suddenly, a hand reached over and picked up the stone ball from the ground.

His hand was still stretched forward, and the old priest's eyes almost bulging out of his sockets were following the stone ball, moving up from the ground little by little.

Blood was flowing under him, and he opened his mouth, but he could only make a little gurgling sound.

He stared at the stone ball that might save his life, opened his mouth, stared, stretched out his hands, and took his last breath.

The priest of the All Things Religion and the future bishop of the All Things Religion.

This terrifying figure who should have made waves on the continent in the future, triggered countless wars, stirred up countless bloody storms, and plunged the entire continent into endless darkness, is at this moment, quietly in a place no one knows. Died deep underground.

The religion of all things that had been passed down for hundreds of years also ended at this moment with his death.

With his long blond hair flying behind him, Garlan stood in front of the black-robed priest who was staring blankly. Garlan didn't bother to look at him, he just looked down at the stone ball he had just picked up.

A cyan sphere, smooth and round.

It seems to be made of stone, but it reflects the luster of metal under the firelight.

It is unclear whether it is natural or artificially carved. The slender lines on the sphere are glowing with cold fluorescence. When you look at it, you will be unconsciously attracted by the fluorescence. The interlaced runes form a wonderful pattern. It's like it can suck your soul in.

Garlan was in a trance for a moment, and then immediately woke up again.

When he looked at the stone ball again, he suddenly saw a gray-black mist rising from the blue stone ball. The gray mist twisted into one and floated diagonally forward as if being pulled.

Garlan looked in that direction.

Behind the altar and in front of the huge statue, a tall diamond-shaped stone pillar stood at the foot of the statue.

His body was tied to the stone pillar by a rope, and Heimos lowered his head.

The dark forehead hair was messy and scattered in front of his eyes. He closed his eyes and was still asleep, but the corners of his eyes were closed tightly, and occasionally he would twitch slightly.

Even in his sleep, his lips were pursed tightly.

The lips were already thin, but when pressed tightly they became like a straight line, so pale that there was almost no blood left.

He was tied to a stone pillar at the foot of the statue, like a sacrifice to the god.

The gray-black mist floating out of the bluestone ball floated straight towards Heimos. Garlan could vaguely see that Heimos was shrouded and surrounded by the gray-black mist.

The mist seeped into Heimos' body bit by bit.

...No, rather than saying that the mist is actively seeping into Heimos' body, it is more like Heimos attracting the mist into his body...

Looking at the gray-black mist surrounding Heimos, Garlan's heart jumped inexplicably.

He suddenly thought about whether it was the same in previous lives.

From the beginning, from very early on, Heimos was chosen to be a sacrifice to the God of All.

And the suffering Heymos experienced when he was very young, the hardships again and again, and finally fell into a dark life... all were secretly planned and guided by the Cult of Everything... In the end, he was forced into a desperate situation...

Garlan clenched the bluestone ball in his hand and suddenly let go.

The bluestone ball fell to the ground, and just as it was about to roll away, a sharp sword fell from the sky and stabbed it heavily.

A stone ball.

Click.

A crack split from the place where the stone ball was stabbed by the sword tip, and then the crack spread rapidly along the surrounding area. In the blink of an eye, the stone ball was covered with spider web-like cracks.

There were a few more clicks, and the bluestone ball burst into several petals. Then, the petals cracked again, and instantly shattered into countless pieces of gravel.

After glancing at the shattered bluestone ball, Garlan turned around and walked quickly to the towering stone pillar.

As soon as he approached Heimos, the rich gray-black mist that originally surrounded Heimos began to shake violently and retreated to both sides from the direction in which he approached.

Seeing this scene, Garlan pondered for a moment.

He stretched out his hand, and wherever his fingers touched, the mist dispersed as if he was afraid of something.

Heimos lowered his head, his dark forehead hair scattered messily, casting a deep shadow on his cheeks.

The handsome face was covered with a light layer of mist, as if there was a vague evil intention escaping from it.

The corners of his tightly closed eyes held a ruthless aura like blades.

The eyelashes on his face are very long, each one is extremely thin, and extremely sharp, as if it can stab anyone who comes close to him.

Garlan suddenly felt distressed.

Everyone believes that the Black Knight is so powerful that no one can defeat him.

But he knew how fragile the person in front of him was when facing things about him.

Garlan stretched out his hand and caressed the side of Heimos's cheek.

When his fingers touched the brown skin with residual blood stains, the gray-black mist surrounding Heimos quickly receded from Heimos' head.

In just a moment, the face that was looming in the mist suddenly became clear before his eyes, and he could almost see the traces of the other person's slender eyelashes moving slightly.

The corners of his tightly closed eyes suddenly relaxed slightly and became softer.

It was as if the ferocious wolf that was violent a second ago suddenly became docile.

The still sleeping young man even unconsciously rubbed his hand with his cheek.

Garlan was startled, and then couldn't help but smile.

He took a step back and waved the sword in his hand.

He cut off all the ropes that bound Heimos with a single stroke of his sword.

Without the restraint of the rope, Heimos' body naturally fell forward.

Garlan raised his left hand to catch Heimos who fell forward.

"Speak for yourself, how many times have you been saved by me?"

The young man turned his head, looked at Heimos who fell on top of him, and raised his eyebrows.

Heimos fell on top of him, his head hanging on his shoulder, so that handsome face was particularly close to him, and Garlan could almost see the traces of the extremely fine black eyelashes.

"never mind."

He said, "Who told me a long time ago that I would protect you? I have to do it after I said it."

When I was very young, I said that I would protect you.

I will never let you go down the path of near self-destruction in your previous lives again.

In this life, I am here.

I will protect you until the end.

…

"prince!"

A familiar shout came from behind, and Garlan knew who was calling him without turning around.

Whenever Kehos got anxious, he would call him a prince.

He was still holding Heimos, and when he looked back, he saw Caijos, who had woken up at some point, running towards him in a hurry.

Behind Caihos, a group of knights gradually woke up and stood up.

Okay, everyone seems to be awake.

Garlan thought to himself, and then glanced sideways at Heimos, who was leaning against him.

"Why don't you wake up?"

He muttered quietly.

"Do I have to kiss you like Sleeping Beauty before you wake up?"

As soon as the young man finished speaking, the head leaning on his shoulder suddenly leaned forward.

Caught off guard, he was kissed by the thin lips that suddenly approached him.

"prince!!!"

Kejos shouted from behind.

The golden pupils suddenly widened, and before Garlan could react, he was suddenly picked up from the waist.

He was just held by Heimos and spun around half a circle.

Then, with a bang, a huge boulder fell from the sky and hit the place where he was standing just now.

The whole earth suddenly shook violently, the stone palace was shaking, huge stone pillars tilted and collapsed to the ground, and countless gravel rolled down.

The giant statue at the front of the stone hall began to crack from the stone ball held in his hand, and the cracks quickly spread to the entire stone statue.

Garlan only had time to glance at the statue that was covered with cracks in an instant. His body suddenly rose into the air, and he was held in his arms by Heimos.

"This place is going to collapse, hurry up!"

Heimos said to Caijos who came running.

Then, he hugged Garlan and rushed outside quickly.

The huge statue collapsed and shattered in an instant, falling forward with a crash, smashing the altar at its feet and its believers into pieces.

When it collapsed completely, Heimos and Kayhos had already rushed out of the hall.

Amidst the rumbling sound of collapse and the falling rubble, the corners of the mouth of the young man tightly held by Heimos twitched.

Wait, where is the promised Sleeping Beauty?

What is it about the strong Sleeping Beauty who can run away with a prince in her arms?