The fierce battle outside the royal palace raged for a day and a night, until the clash between the two shattered vast swathes of ground, turning the former square into a massive crater as seawater began to seep in from the inland sea.
The evenly matched battle finally reached its conclusion.
Aige's ghost ship sailed across the shallow lake, while Arthur Ryan, bound to protect the seal, could not move at all.
Then came an earth-shattering strike from the ghost ship, blasting waves of seawater higher than the palace itself.
Anbaixiu hadn't just watched from the sidelines either. Having successfully persuaded the entire Raging Tide Kingdom, he coordinated with the Raging Tide Legion in the final moments of the fight to unleash a mighty thunderous bombardment.
Combining their forces, they finally shattered Arthur Ryan's heroic spirit.
Having witnessed Arthur Ryan's prowess firsthand, Anbaixiu realized that the poetry written about him was no exaggeration. Having held his ground for one thousand seven hundred years, whether he had founded the Ryan Empire or not, he was truly worthy of such praise.
With the power of the Holy Light exhausted, the seal failed completely. The hairline crack widened into shattered fragments of fractured space, which broke apart entirely once Aige reached her hand inside.
Aige pulled a glittering hourglass from within.
The Demonic Dragon Tyrant's temporal artifact was finally in hand.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Aige stood atop the mast of the ghost ship, gazing down at the people of the Raging Tide Kingdom.
In reality, though, her eyes were fixed on Anbaixiu, disguised as Mengge Grayriver.
While the battle had raged so fiercely earlier, she had lacked the time to contact Anbaixiu. She simply trusted that he wouldn't betray her, and her patience had been rewarded with that thunderous strike signaling their cooperation.
Now that the artifact was secured, she wondered how this lich intended to keep playing his part.
On the Raging Tide Kingdom's side, it was much the same; everyone's gaze shifted toward Anbaixiu.
Anbaixiu did not disappoint his audience, walking toward Aige with the demeanor of a martyr marching to heroic sacrifice.
To the people of the Raging Tide Kingdom, Anbaixiu was risking his very life.
The figure before them was a mighty undead who had just obliterated nearly half the royal capital. Undead possessed no humanity. For General Mengge Grayriver to dare walk toward her all by himself—how much courage did that take?
Many asked themselves: even with such a massive army backing them up, could they ever carry themselves with such composure?
Look at his stride, how steady it was; look at his expression, how calm and collected. Previously, some had felt that his title as a famed general of the realm was somewhat inflated, but seeing this today, that sheer courage alone made him worthy of all his past acclaim.
Ariel was among them. Before, she had looked down upon the weak Mengge Grayriver, but over the past two days her view of him had completely turned around. A man did not necessarily need overwhelming personal might; the wisdom and courage to turn the tide of events were far more precious than raw fists.
What the Raging Tide Kingdom lacked was precisely talent like this.
This was also why both father and daughter had remained silent about the duel; the conflict between them had already dissolved, rendering a duel meaningless. A duel without the will to fight was nothing more than blasphemy against the gods.
Anbaixiu could feel every eye on him, but he couldn't care less.
Liches were marvelous that way—lacking facial skin, any loss of face couldn't touch him, leaving him entirely unfazed.
Anbaixiu walked to the edge of the freshly blasted lake and cast Misty Step to teleport directly onto the ship. That move made everyone hold their breath in suspense once again. Drawing near wasn't enough—he was actually boarding the ship! That was truly putting his life in someone else's hands. Even if the kingdom wished to rescue him, it would likely be too late.
Seeing Anbaixiu appear on deck, Aige whispered, "How am I supposed to play along? Swat you flying with one slap? How on earth did you dupe these Children of the Storm into acting as my support?"
Anbaixiu hurriedly replied, "Don't you dare. We're holding peace talks now. The Raging Tide Kingdom wants to make peace with you. As long as you promise to stop raiding their ships, they're willing to offer you a degree of compensation."
Aige asked curiously, "You're really helping them negotiate business? The artifact is already in hand; we can just leave. With the few people the Raging Tide Kingdom has, they can't stop me."
"Captain Aige, that's precisely what I wanted to talk to you about. The Silent Night Pirates don't actually harbor any deep-seated hatred for the Raging Tide Kingdom, do they? After all these years, your side has always been the one coming out on top."
Over the years, who knew how many lives the Raging Tide Kingdom had lost trying to eradicate this pirate fleet—even two kings had fallen in the process—yet the Silent Night Pirates continued to thrive. At worst, they could simply submerge to the bottom of the sea, a tactic that was practically unbeatable.
"I wouldn't call it hatred," Aige said nonchalantly. "It's just that my true form is a pirate ship, so plundering became a habit."
She had plagued the Raging Tide Kingdom for a thousand years, causing untold casualties, yet to Aige it was merely a habit, like a personal preference in taste. Undead perspectives were unique like that, completely alien to the living. When stretched across vast stretches of time, many things became insignificant.
"Which means we can negotiate," Anbaixiu said. "Captain Aige, you mentioned in the chat group earlier that the President suddenly showing up means major events are about to unfold in the world—most likely a reenactment of the divine war from a thousand years ago. When that happens, it won't just be the continental nations; even the overseas lands will likely be swept up. Captain, you were injured on my account this time, so I have to show my gratitude.
"The Raging Tide Kingdom could become an ally. At the very least, in the chaotic divine brawl to come, we can borrow their strength. You don't have to give up anything. Just give a nod, and you can leave the rest to me."
Anbaixiu had avoided head-on conflict with the Raging Tide Kingdom all along because he hadn't wanted Aige to suffer heavy damage. He just hadn't expected Arthur Ryan to be so absurdly formidable, sealing his own soul away to become a guardian heroic spirit and remaining this powerful even after one thousand seven hundred years.
Aige seemed indifferent to the proposal, replying instead, "Whether we make peace with the Raging Tide Kingdom or not doesn't matter to me. You decide. That's not what I need."
"Hm? You mean you have another request, Captain Aige? Speak freely, and I'll do everything I can to help," Anbaixiu said.
This was genuinely unexpected. Since Aige had suffered damage on his behalf, Anbaixiu felt obligated to make it up to her. Business required a win-win arrangement to last; if only one party profited, the deal would inevitably fall apart.
"Do you know why I was willing to help you search for this artifact?" Aige asked.
Anbaixiu shook his head. It certainly wasn't just to do Rose of Decay a favor; Rose of Decay wasn't particularly close with Captain Aige either, certainly not enough to warrant going to such lengths.
Aige explained, "It's because the President told me that you could help me resolve the question that has troubled me for so long—to figure out why my father cannot be resurrected."
"The President? He knows me... No, wait, forgive me for asking a foolish question."
The moment the words left his mouth, Anbaixiu realized his mistake. The Necrotic Codex had been delivered right to the side of his coffin by this very President. How could the man not know him? In fact, he might know him intimately.
"Even the President couldn't answer your question, Captain Aige?" Anbaixiu asked out of curiosity.
Without question, the president of the Elegy Poetry Society was an extraordinarily formidable, mysterious figure. Anbaixiu estimated that even his teacher, the God of Alchemy, couldn't compare. His status as a deity was all but certain; what remained unknown was which god he actually was.
Aige had pursued the answer to this question for many years, longer than the history of the Ryan Empire itself. Why had the President never given her an answer?
Aige took on a nostalgic expression and said, "I don't know. In the beginning, I thought it was because my consciousness was too weak. As a ghost ship, I could only sail the seas on instinct at first, occasionally devouring the souls of a few stray sailors. Back then, I didn't even know how to use the Necrotic Codex. By the time I realized it was an artifact, I hadn't even learned how to speak yet, which is why I named myself Mute.
"Back then, whenever I asked the President, he always told me that the answer would appear sooner or later and urged me to wait patiently. I assumed it was because I was too weak, unworthy of finding the answer. So I strove relentlessly to become stronger. Until recently, when the President suddenly told me that the answer would arrive very soon—and that the key was you."
Anbaixiu replied helplessly, "Unfortunately, I can't help you either. I haven't the slightest clue even now."
Aige produced the hourglass and said, "No, the clue has already been found. You're the one who led me to it."
Startled, Anbaixiu said, "You don't want me to travel back in time to help you save your creator, do you? That's impossible."
It was an impossibility. Destined events that had already come to pass could not be altered. No matter how hard Anbaixiu tried upon traveling back to the past, he could never bring Aige's creator back to life. Only events that had yet to happen could be altered through temporal intervention. Even for Anbaixiu to save Harvey, he had to intervene before Harvey died, not travel back after his death—in that case, there would be zero chance of success.
Under the control of fate, the world was a line—a straight line stretching from the past into the future, without divergence. On occasion, someone might swim against the current, but the river of time would never change its course because of it.
Only fools who courted death believed they could alter history.
"No, that's not what I mean. Sense it carefully and see what makes this artifact special. When I first took hold of it, I felt that it possessed a consciousness of its own, as if it had a soul."
Aige handed the hourglass to Anbaixiu.
The moment Anbaixiu took it, he immediately understood what Aige meant.
The artifact was actively trying to escape his grasp; it was a living thing.
Anbaixiu was an expert on souls, far more sensitive to them than Aige. As his fingers slid across the hourglass, a faint glow lit up upon the artifact, the light coalescing into a familiar face: Arthur Ryan.
Puzzled, Anbaixiu murmured, "A heroic spirit fused with an artifact? How did it end up like a ghost ship?"
Could an inanimate object generate a soul of its own? The answer was yes, with ghost ships being prime examples, though the conditions required to form one were exceedingly harsh...
As Anbaixiu examined the frail, feeble heroic spirit more closely, he finally noticed what made this soul distinct.
Excited, Anbaixiu exclaimed, "I understand now! This isn't Arthur Ryan's true soul at all! He simply made a fervent wish upon the artifact, and then watered that seed of a wish with his own power, letting it grow into a heroic spirit!
"Captain Aige, your creator did the exact same thing! His bond with you ran so deep that in the final battle of his life, his most desperate wish was for you to possess a true consciousness. That wish became a seed, and once nurtured and watered, it grew into who you are today! Which means..."
Aige fell silent for a moment before finishing Anbaixiu's thought: "Father used his soul as nourishment to water the seed of his wish, bringing me into being. Thus, his soul is contained within mine. Resurrecting him would be equivalent to carving out a piece of my own soul, which is why Wish failed—because Wish cannot harm the caster in such a direct manner. In other words, if I'm willing to risk damaging my own soul, I can actually resurrect him after all!"
By the end, Aige had grown visibly excited.
However, Anbaixiu shook his head. "No, that's not how it works. Captain Aige, you've misunderstood the process. Your father's soul does not exist inside your soul, nor does any specific piece belong to him.
"To give an analogy: when humans consume food, that food is transformed into their energy, flesh, and blood. Every drop of blood and every muscle fiber is already fused with that food. How could you ever restore that food to what it was? By carving out a few chunks of flesh from a living person? That's impossible. Food is food; once digested and absorbed, it ceases to exist.
"Wish cannot kill you and turn your soul matter back into its original form across space and time. When you used Wish to create your father's body, it didn't reverse the fish and shrimp that had devoured his flesh either; it simply created a similar corpse out of thin air.
"Therefore, my advice is: next time, use Wish to create a father based on your memories. Even if it's a false substitute, it is the only way."
Chapter 187