Free Web NovelAs his eyes closed, without any surprise, Muen once again appeared inside his own mental space.
The mental space was still the same as before, constructed from his imagination. Only now, it looked considerably larger, seemingly because under repeated pressure and squeezing, his mental strength had ultimately grown quite a bit.
When he “looked up,” the mental space gradually solidified into a stable expanse, while the Black Book floated in the deepest part of it, looking perfectly harmless, as if everything in this world had nothing whatsoever to do with it.
Muen merely glanced at it, then immediately looked away.
Although he knew that in the previous incident, the Black Book had definitely pushed something along from the shadows again, he also knew there was no way he could get any real answer out of it.
At times like this, Muen could not help lamenting. Why was his “cheat” not like those protagonists’—each one a gentle, charming, considerate older beauty in black stockings who could not only help you become stronger, but also help you handle certain more “private” difficulties?
At the very least, it could have been an old man capable of normal conversation!
But when it came to him, it was a rotten book that did not even have a mouth, yet always spoke only halfway, making him want to tear its “mouth” apart.
It really was... so infuriating he did not even know how to be angry, because no matter how infuriating it was, it had, after all, saved him from crisis again and again.
...
Back to the point.
After carefully examining the entire mental space, Muen discovered that there were no significant changes here.
The mental space was still the same mental space. Even those “old acquaintances” reproduced through the Black Book remained just as real as before. Muen tried exchanging blows with them, and every move, every form, was as if they had come back to life.
That also seemed to prove...
he was still himself.
The only different thing was that when Muen raised his head, he suddenly discovered...
the black sun that had been hanging above his mental space ever since his return from the Lost Land had suddenly disappeared.
Yes, disappeared.
The area above the mental space was completely empty. There was nothing there.
Muen immediately froze a little. He hurriedly searched the entire mental space, but still could not find it.
“Damn it, did I lose it?”
Muen scratched his head and began seriously considering what kind of consequences there would be if one lost an Evil God embryo...
Would some kindhearted child who returned lost property pick it up, then obediently bring it back to him?
Or maybe...
[Sigh.]
A familiar soft sigh.
Beside him, the Black Book, which had been lowering its presence the entire time, seemed finally unable to keep watching someone’s foolish search, and opened its pages toward Muen.
[Have you forgotten?]
“Huh? Forgotten what?”
Muen paused, then said unhappily, “Don’t tell me you mean that not only my body, but even my brain got wrung dry by those wicked women!”
[Forgotten...]
The Black Book was speechless. Only blood-red words surfaced:
[You are the Black Sun.]
“...”
Muen stroked his chin with a solemn expression, pondered with a solemn expression, and then came to a solemn realization.
“Oh, right. I almost fucking forgot... I am the Black Sun.”
Boom!
An ancient bell toll echoed through the mental space, as if heralding the thunderous descent of some great existence hidden within the cracks of time.
He opened His eyes, looking down upon all things from within the magnificent solar disk!
...All right, there were not exactly “all things” in the mental space either. It was still only the creations Muen had imagined just now.
Muen did not even feel anything particularly special. Nor did he suddenly transform into some incredible existence capable of dominating heaven, earth, gods, and immortals. It was merely that his perspective had suddenly changed, as if he truly had become this sun hanging high in the sky, lofty above all.
And driving large-scale black flames no longer required him to push the Black Sun into motion. With just a slight movement of Muen’s consciousness, vast black flames immediately emerged, filling the entire mental space all the way to the limit his mental strength could sustain.
Without a doubt, Muen had become stronger.
But it was also very difficult for him to clearly define exactly what his current strength was.
His warrior realm was still stopped at the fifth rank. Judging from the density of his battle aura, he seemed to have long since left the early stage and reached a higher level.
But after that, Muen felt that those levels had become extremely blurry. Once, he had still been able to understand where the boundaries between the middle and late stages lay, but now, all of that had mixed into a vast fog drifting before him.
As for the Crowned level beyond that...
that was even more bewildering.
He had never known enough about that realm in the first place, and now he was even more completely in the dark, utterly confused.
“Looks like I’ll have to ask the old little girl afterward.”
Muen sighed, but he was not especially panicked or anxious, because for him, the warrior realm was only one insignificant component of his strength. Now that his black flames and time-related abilities had improved by a large margin, aside from that ridiculously powerful and incomparably mysterious “Crowned level,” Muen felt that so-called realms no longer held much attraction for him.
And speaking of the old little girl...
“There are plenty of things I’ll need to ask her when the time comes...” Muen’s eyes flickered faintly.
The Salvation Society...
Ancient magic that controlled time...
The truth of the world...
Mystery after mystery had already piled up to the point where he had no choice but to seek the truth.
Even the “doomsday” spoken of by the Salvation Society might, in a certain sense, truly have entered its countdown.
He had rejected the method of destroying humanity to save the world. Then what was the true method of saving the world?
“But no matter what, if the sky falls, naturally the tall ones will hold it up. It still isn’t time for me to worry about that.”
Muen cast all these currently useless thoughts to the back of his mind.
Black flames swayed, and his vision changed again.
First, at the very bottom of the mental space, Muen saw a mechanical construct built from countless enormous gears, silently operating. The shape of the construct was blurred. It seemed to be right there, yet also seemed to exist far away in the distance.
Artificial Authority—Eternal Clock.
This was the true name of that construct. As the old little girl’s life’s work, such a precise and magnificent construct naturally could not possibly exist inside Muen’s mental space. Its main body was still beneath that sea of flowers.
But the fact that it could appear here meant that its connection with Muen had grown much closer.
Perhaps one day, it would truly appear here and become inseparable from Muen.
His vision shifted again.
This time, Muen looked beside “himself.”
He... or rather, He, was currently at the highest point of the mental space. That place had originally been nothing more than an empty, void-like darkness.
But without knowing when it had happened, Muen suddenly discovered that around “himself,” around this black sun with a white corona, countless points of light surrounded Him like a sky full of stars.
They were warm and gentle. Unlike the cold black sun, they emitted a faint glow filled with affinity, making one unable to resist reaching out to touch them.
Of course, the current Muen had no hands.
“This is... faith?”
Muen immediately recognized the origin of these lights, and was therefore extremely stunned.
Because in his memory, the faith that had risen from this city should have been completely consumed as part of the price paid for his final reset.
But why...
was there still some left now?
And judging by this, more was still constantly being born?
“Could it be...”
The corona of the pitch-black sun trembled, and the largest light of faith approached Him.
And the moment the two fully touched, He also heard the voice within that light:
“Great Black Sun, I shall believe in You for the rest of my life, until the end of the world, until... the end of time...”
...
...
“Are you certain you’ve thought this through?”
Celicia lowered her head slightly and looked at the young girl before her.
The girl was not old, only thirteen or fourteen. In that gorgeous princess dress, she looked even more frail and petite.
Even so, childishness could not hide the potential contained in that pretty face. One could believe that in only a few short years, the excellent blood flowing through the girl’s veins would prompt her to grow into a woman whose beauty lost to no one.
The only flaw... was not merely because she had yet to develop. That area was too flat.
But Celicia felt that flatness there was not a safety factor, because in that man’s fish pond, there was still someone even more hopelessly flat.
“I believe the position of King of the Kingdom is a very tempting one. And you should have seen it as well. Your father, your brothers—they all did not hesitate to stain themselves with blood and slaughter their own kin in order to fight for this throne.
“But for the current you, you do not need to pay anything at all. As long as you have my recognition, this position coveted by countless people will be within easy reach.”
Celicia sat upright upon the Kingdom’s magnificent throne, quietly watching the girl’s eyes.
She was cold, proud, and noble. Her every movement and every faint smile carried the aloofness of a snow lotus standing apart from the world atop a high mountain, as if no person or thing could defile her or stain her with filth.
Sitting here, it was as though she was not only the Empress of the Empire, but had already become the new King of the Kingdom as well.
And in truth...
that was more or less the case.
Because for the victorious Empire, the greatest power it had obtained was not reparations, ceding land, much less hollow, empty glory.
It was...
the authority to personally appoint and enfeoff the Kingdom’s next king.
The Empire did not wish to annex the Kingdom, because annexation would mean touching the nerves of every nation across the continent, and the Empire was not yet arrogant to that extent.
It did not even want to take too much territory, apart from a few major mining regions and ports.
Because now that all its own strategic territories had already been obtained, more land meant more energy would be required to govern it. Exploiting others and managing things that belonged to oneself were two completely different concepts.
The current Empire had also long passed the stage where it needed extra population and land to strengthen itself. In fact, internally, it was itself rather hollow, and truly could not spare more attention to governing new territory. That might instead drag itself down.
But no matter what, the Empire would absolutely not allow the Kingdom to continue developing peacefully right beside its bed, eventually becoming a threat to the Empire again.
Therefore, the next King of the Kingdom had to be chosen and personally enfeoffed by the Emperor of the Empire. Ideally, even all kings in future generations would be the same. In that way, the Empire would naturally gain suppression in terms of righteousness and strong claims, and combined with the strategic advantage established after this war, the Kingdom would basically be unable to stir up any great waves for the next hundred years.
This was also why Celicia had no interest in those Kingdom nobles and ministers jumping up and down everywhere. Because she did not need to rely on those nobles to accomplish anything at all. She only needed this “first” king personally chosen by her to completely submit to her, and to the Empire.
To sum it all up, the young girl before her was undoubtedly a very good choice.
She carried the purest royal bloodline, leaving no noble with any reason to object.
Internally, her mother was dead. Even her entire maternal clan had been massacred by Saint Peron V. She had no foundation at all, and if she wanted to suppress the domestic nobles, she would need the Empire’s support.
Externally, although Celicia deeply disliked the fact that she might have some unclear, ambiguous relationship with a certain person, she had to admit that this emotional factor was also an excellent method of controlling her.
She was practically perfect.
But the only problem was...
“Yes. I’ve already thought it through. I still think it would be better if I didn’t sit in that position.”
Afrella shook her head hard and chose to refuse.
