Guidance of Fate

Seeing the Sword Princess clutching Igola by the throat, Diya was stunned. Having spent the first decade and more of her life as a princess shut away in a high tower, she didn't know many people, and those with whom she had built genuine bonds were fewer still. Igola was one of that very few. Of course, after Diya became Empress, everything changed. She could travel freely to any corner of the Gospel Realm, and in every place, countless people vied for the chance to be her friend. After all, she was the first Gospel Empress in nearly seven hundred years to possess emotional inclinations. Her likes and dislikes were enough to alter the realm's destiny, and her will could reshape the lives of countless individuals. A dream she had at night could be made reality by the following morning. Some approached Diya merely for self-preservation, such as the Mercury clan and other families that had once hunted her. Others sought her favor to climb even higher, such as the Senheisel and Berdette clans, who had once taken her in. Qinna had proposed more than once to send members of the Senheisel clan into the palace to attend upon the Empress. Evalin had gone even further, expressing her own willingness to serve as Her Majesty's personal maid and lay down her life for her! Even when Diya gave no indication of her wishes, everyone proactively tried to divine the imperial intent, probing and hinting to uncover what pleased their new sovereign. Such was the power of authority. Diya could have chosen to be an Empress who acted entirely on impulse, and everyone was fully prepared to welcome a willful, self-indulgent ruler. After all, with the seven-hundred-year foundation of the Isu Dynasty, how much could Diya truly squander? The Isu imperial family had dedicated themselves conscientiously to Gospel for seven centuries; what did a few small whims on Diya's part amount to? More importantly, no one could defy Diya when she wielded the Gospel god. Yet rather than indulging in reckless behavior to compensate for her lost childhood, Diya consciously confined herself to the imperial palace, rejecting all outside flattery and goodwill. As for the practical execution of governance and state strategy, she entrusted it entirely to the most rational persona, the White Queen, never betraying her personal feelings in front of outsiders. Diya once read a fairy-tale picture book about an emperor. She had long forgotten the plot, but she still remembered a single monologue within its pages: *"I am truly alone."* A ruler had to be solitary and unfeeling. Without solitude came nepotism; with feeling came favoritism. In the past, she had received no formal education, knowing only fairy-tale picture books, but the moment she sat upon the throne, she adapted naturally to her new identity, knowing exactly what she had to do. Perhaps it was the ancestral bloodline, perhaps it was Yaxiu's influence, or perhaps she simply wished to be a good empress. In any case, without being brainwashed by the Gospel god, Diya chose to live in seclusion like the historical Yisu Empresses before her, becoming an austere, ascetic young woman. Holding absolute power without abusing it was difficult enough in itself, let alone after being confined and repressed for over a decade; even Diya herself could not be certain how long she could keep it up. As a consequence, her circle of relationships became thoroughly set in stone. Before leaving the tower, she was a princess whom no one could approach; after ascending the throne of Gospel, she was a solitary sovereign. Only during her time at the Funeral Parlor had she experienced normal social interaction. Annan Dolan, Banjie Dolan, Yaxiu Heath, Igola Bogin, Archibald Harvey... She cherished them. Thus, she had chosen Annan to be her spokesperson, establishing an administrative cabinet to advance reforms. As for Yaxiu, it went without saying—she had already reserved for him a position that could bring down nations. Only when it came to Igola were Diya's feelings complicated. She knew very well that Igola didn't like Lisi. From the very beginning until their departure, the Deceiver had never hidden his distaste. Yet he had braided Lisi's hair, bought her clothes, and protected her. At the thought that Yaxiu would most likely return to Gospel alongside Igola, Diya felt a headache coming on. Even as Her Majesty the Empress, if she truly wanted to lock Yaxiu away in a dark room to keep him from going to Starlight, the primary obstacle in her path wouldn't be the Sword Princess, but rather the Deceiver and the necromancer. Even so, Diya sincerely prayed that Igola would return safely. Because Lisi wanted to see Aunt Bogin. Because Yaxiu couldn't afford to lose the Deceiver. "Wait!" "Don't kill him yet!" Diya looked at Weise in surprise. Her own shout had slipped out before her brain could catch up, and only after speaking did she realize she lacked a suitable pretext to spare Igola. To uphold the Secret-Keeping Authority, she couldn't reveal that she was Lisi-Diya, which naturally prevented her from letting the Sword Princess know how vital the Deceiver was to Yaxiu. Moreover, Igola was exceedingly sharp. If she abruptly showed him special favor, he might actually figure it out! If the Secret-Keeping Authority were broken then, Diya wouldn't even have tears left to cry. *But since Weise called for a halt as well, she must have a solid reason! I only need to chime in and save Igola along the way!* Yet while Weise appeared outwardly calm, her thoughts were already racing through a thousand twists and turns. She had to save the mind sorcerer. It had nothing to do with personal affection—there wasn't much affection between them to begin with—it was simply that Yaxiu's team in reality couldn't function without a mind sorcerer! Had it been the necromancer, Weise might have reconsidered; after all, that fellow didn't have much practical utility. But the mind sorcerer was different. Without him, Yaxiu's team in reality would instantly fall apart. Furthermore, with the Four Pillar God Cult and the Harp Sun Alliance about to escalate the war, lacking the mind sorcerer's guidance meant Yaxiu and the others would most likely be dragged into the vortex of conflict! Yet Weise similarly lacked any valid reason to spare him! The only justification she could offer was that "he knows the Watcher." *But who is he? Why do you know they know each other?* With just a bit of digging, the Sword Princess and the Witch would realize that she knew Yaxiu in reality, and her identity as Silver Lantern wouldn't remain hidden for long. *So, I can't just save him. Instead, I have to...* "Yearned for in Dreams only aims to obliterate his soul. Why not have him surrender all his sorcery spirits first?" Weise said. "Otherwise, his spirits will be destroyed along with him by the miracle, which would be an utter waste." Sonia was taken aback. "Strip the pig naked before butchering it? ...Ah, 'stripping the pig naked' is an expression from my hometown; it roughly means squeezing out every drop of value." "Still, he wouldn't willingly hand over his sorcery spirits, would he? With a single thought, he could force his spirits to self-destruct. Sanctuary sorcerers are clever people; unless we sign a contract guaranteeing his safety, he would never give up his life's accumulation so easily." The Sword Princess paused, then added, "Besides, killing to extract a spirit is one thing, but killing and robbing is another. The former is for survival, while the latter is out of greed." "Even if leaving his spirits behind would be a waste, doing something like this... I..." A deeply conflicted expression appeared on Sonia's face. "...I'd at least need to kill a few more people as stepping stones before I could manage that kind of mental shift." The corner of Weise's mouth twitched. She suddenly realized that the Sword Princess had an inherently selfish streak that could easily slip toward corruption, and her inner moral baseline was remarkably pliable—she was the type who would slide into the abyss all on her own without needing a push. Who knew what Yaxiu had done to not only preserve the Sword Princess's innocence, but also... Turn her into someone capable of warming others. "Aren't we trying to refine Yearned for in Dreams so that it's no longer lethal?" Weise said. "Perhaps he obtained some unique sorcery spirits from the Spectre inheritance that could effectively improve this miracle." Sonia hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. "What you both said earlier was right. We have no other choice and have to kill; we shouldn't hold on to such wishful thinking." *But I never expected the first person we had to kill would be the mind sorcerer / Aunt Bogin!* Both Weise and Diya felt the profound, invisible malice of fate. Just as they were wracking their brains for an excuse, Igola finally caught his breath and asked, "You want to refine a miracle... What faction does it belong to?" "The dream faction! A secondary sorcery developed from the mind and soul factions!" Diya answered swiftly, though she quickly adopted a fierce tone. "Its effect is to steal sorcery spirits by controlling dreams! If you can't help, then you're dead, dead, dead!" "I can help," Igola said. "I just obtained an authentic Spectre legacy—the miracle art for Stage 34, 'Soulbound Dream Purple.' It contains several dream sorcery spirits that I can hand over. "Moreover, both my mind and soul factions have reached the Sanctuary tier. I should be capable of modifying the miracle." The three exchanged glances. Sonia released her grip on him, frowning. "How could there be such a coincidence? You aren't a deceiver, are you?" "It truly isn't that simple of a coincidence." Igola leaned against the wall as he stood up, murmuring softly, "Perhaps there was also a touch of guidance from fate." This morning, as always, Igola had used his Revelation sorcery spirit after finishing his bath. In truth, the Revelation spirit was of little use to him now. After all, it was merely a One-Wing spirit, whereas he was a Three-Wing sorcerer; the weight of fate he carried had already exceeded the spirit's observation limits. Lately, the hints provided by Revelation had grown increasingly trivial. They were of the sort where following them might grant a negligible benefit, but ignoring them would cause no harm whatsoever. Yet today's hint had been very strange, instructing him to go comfort Yaxiu. Initially, Igola hadn't planned on paying it any mind, but during dinner, Yaxiu seemed downcast. So that evening, he went to chat with him, only to find them engaged in a pillow fight. Igola wouldn't normally partake in such childish nonsense, but Black Crow had promised not to use any martial techniques—a temptation no one could resist. Consequently, everyone ganged up on Black Crow, yet Black Crow still beat them all soundly. Afterward, Igola asked Yaxiu if he was all right. Yaxiu claimed his head ached from Black Crow's blows and requested a minor mental massage miracle. Any other time, the Deceiver would have ignored him, but for the sake of the Revelation, he gave him a head rub. Yaxiu had been deeply moved, tapping Igola on the head and bestowing a buffing miracle upon him, calling it 'Burning Soul' or something of the sort. When Igola entered the Void Realm, he discovered a tremendous transformation within himself—he had only recently cultivated his soul to fifty mortal souls, yet tonight it had suddenly skyrocketed to five hundred! A tenfold increase! Precisely because of this, he had been able to push all the way to the eightieth stage and acquire the authentic Spectre legacy, 'Soulbound Dream Purple'! He had thought that was the extent of the Revelation's guidance. He hadn't imagined that the guidance was far from over. Watching Igola produce several dream sorcery spirits, Sonia pulled Diya and Weise aside to deliberate briefly before turning back to speak to him seriously: "Are you willing to help us refine the miracle art? Time is extremely tight, and if we notice any suspicious moves from you, we will execute you immediately for our own safety. "But if you succeed, we will spare your life." Igola looked up, glancing at the red-haired female sorcerer before him. This was not their first meeting. Back at the arena on the Time Continent, he and Harvey had already been killed by them once. It was just that quite some time had passed since then, and so much had happened in the interim that Igola had forgotten about it. So much so that when Yaxiu was affected by the Kaleidoscope and assumed the appearance of this red-haired female sorcerer—bearing not the slightest resemblance to his true self—the Deceiver hadn't connected the two at all. And... He glanced at the two female sorcerers behind the Sword Princess, wondering which of them was the other party in the love triangle. Or had Yaxiu hidden the truth, and it wasn't just a love triangle, but a quadrangle? This had to be one of the secrets Yaxiu kept hidden, yet he wasn't here himself, and their words vaguely hinted that they were killing for survival... Thoughts churned endlessly through Igola's mind, yet his expression gave nothing away. Looking at the red-haired female sorcerer whom he had seen every night lately, he nodded and said: "I accept your terms."