novelraw Chapter 656: Coercion
Chapter 656: Coercion
At this moment, the truth behind the strange Cardinal at his back and Alajina secretly watching him hidden behind it were both unknown to Fisher. He merely looked with a serious expression at the anxious and flustered Eimhart before him as well as Alicia with her head lowered beside him.
It could be seen, Alicia was actually entirely ignorant about the matters that occurred in her sleep last night. She seemed to have absolutely no consciousness at that time, but it wasn't her first time seeing a reaction similar to Eimhart's.
Back when she was still beside Helson, the expressions of the maids beside her after she woke up and the commotion by her bedside would let her know her previous night wasn't peaceful. And their expressions basically shared the same purpose with the current Eimhart.
She thought she had already gotten used to it, yet at this moment she still couldn't help but recall the pain of harming her grandpa, thus involuntarily lowering her head, feeling somewhat sad and blaming herself.
But Fisher merely looked at her petite body, then took a step back making way to the path into the bedchamber saying,
"Come inside first, calm down a bit."
The former sentence was spoken to Alicia, and the latter sentence was spoken to Eimhart.
Just after he finished speaking, he then realized after the fact that Alicia still couldn't see him, so he let Eimhart lead her inside first to talk.
"Alright alright, let's all calm down a bit... eh, what is this, a Cardinal? Why is such a large Cardinal placed here, what is it used for?"
Right upon entering Eimhart's attention was attracted by the Cardinal floating in mid-air. He leaned closer sizing it up a circle before asking thus.Fisher cast a sidelong glance at Eimhart. This thing was very likely an item Elizabeth was seeing through. If in case Eimhart said some dangerous words, not to mention him suffering disaster being torn alive by the prosthetic eyes, saying a few more words regarding the other ladies would entail Fisher exploding together with him.
"This might be Elizabeth's Cardinal. She is handling official business in the front courtyard, maybe using this thing to watch me."
"True or false? Doesn't look like it at all..."
Eimhart narrowed his eyes sizing up this dull-witted-looking Cardinal before him for a long time, but internally he couldn't feel this was a Cardinal Elizabeth was seeing through no matter what. Instead he felt the blue moonstone radiance flowing on the surface of this Cardinal透着a bit of green.
The more he looked, the more Eimhart felt this gadget was simply completely different from the Cardinals that just delivered them outside. He turned his head to look at Fisher questioning,
"Is there a possibility it's just simply broken? For the past two nights I've been strolling around everywhere inside the Golden Palace. I discovered these Cardinals are unifiedly controlled by machineries within a region. Once operated too much they easily go out of control and get scrapped. A lot of spare and malfunctioning Cardinals are placed in the sundries pile outside, compared to the past it's simply far worse..."
"Mm, indeed it is like this..."
Fisher still remembered Cardinals seemed to have a thing such as a "network". Not only the models created by Mikhail and Michael that could instantly connect the Sanctuary and the surface, even the Lord Cardinal of the Creation Society later on could achieve long-distance remote control. But uniquely the ones produced by Naris couldn't, also unknown due to what reason.
Naris should have obtained the technology from the fallen Sanctuary. According to reason it should be of the same continuous line as the angels' most glorious technology, how come instead it couldn't compare to the initial prototypes when just created in this aspect of the "network"?
Fisher didn't know the reasoning within. Alajina hiding behind the Cardinal however knew. From the "David" in the spirit world shelter she learned that from a very early time, the network function between David and the Cardinals had been shut down due to some unknown reasons, resulting in it unable to instantly link any Cardinal like before.
Nowadays the Cardinals produced basically could only rely on short-distance direct operative methods to control, and could no longer use network links from thousands of miles away to instantly transmit commands controlling thousands and tens of thousands of Cardinals like before.
However through Alajina's research, this kind of "shut down" function actually could be opened anew again.
Naris people didn't completely figure out the working principle of the Cardinals. They didn't know the uses of many components inside the Cardinals, merely knew how to use them, thus imitating and duplicating the machine tools obtained from the Stormsea to manufacture. So the components belonging to the network were actually intact, only waiting to be relinked and opened.
This was also Alajina's envisioned method to defeat Naris's Cardinal legion. She wanted to directly seize control of them, transforming enemy forces for her own use.
It was just a pity the process of opening the network link was extremely difficult. It could be seen when shutting it down those angels that already went extinct had put in a great amount of effort, who knows how this function offended them.
Anyway Alajina spent a long time exerting great effort before she cracked one of the Golden Palace Cardinals, exactly using it to search for Fisher.
But this Cardinal of Elizabeth's temporarily wasn't Fisher's primary problem to consider. Right now what he was truly worried about was the problem of the Alicia before him.
He turned his head to look at Eimhart, asking him,
"What exactly is the situation from last night? Is it very serious?"
"More than just very serious. You don't know how terrifying it is watching helplessly as she turns from a human little girl into a hideous and detestable monster, and then watching her shrink bit by bit changing back anew into a little girl!?"
"..."
Fisher imagined it a bit, that indeed seemed quite appalling. But the Alicia before his eyes still appeared so normal, looking not at all like she could undergo such a change.
"Did she dream of something last night?"
"Fisher asks you, did you dream of anything last night?"
Eimhart transformed into a repeater, duplicating it like this towards the Alicia who couldn't see Fisher.
"Dream? I..."
She pressed her lips together, exerting her utmost effort to recall everything she saw last night. But the more she recalled, the paler her small face got.
Following that, she shook her head, saying somewhat uncomfortably,
"I should have dreamed of something, but right now it's very blurry... not remembering quite clearly... It seemingly only remembers someone speaking beside my ears, saying what... time is running out must find another apostle waiting to become a Base, descend quickly or whatever... Moreover... moreover that existence seemed to feel, big brother you've already made contact with me... so He kept urging me... urging me to become that... Base."
"An ally... I see."
It is known that the Chaos linking Alicia is one of the foreign deities invading this world, then the ally He spoke of is probably also a foreign deity.
According to the information Renee told Fisher, the levels of the four kinds of Chaos including Life were about the same, and what's more they also knew Ramastia and the others. So the ally referred to here could possibly be one of the other three Chaoses?
That is to say, besides Alicia selected by Life Chaos as a Base, there might still exist other "apostles" selected by deities as Bases?
"Uhm, big brother..."
Also while Fisher was pondering, the Alicia with her head lowered still couldn't help but pinch her dress. After hemming and hawing for quite a few seconds she then continued to open her mouth again.
"Otherwise, you'd better still... eat... eat me. I'm truly very afraid, afraid of when I'll become a monster like that existence in the dream, and then... rather than that, it's better to let me just be like now, as a human, as grandpa's granddaughter die... die off."
Looking at the Alicia before his eyes, Fisher actually still recalled the notebook Helson left for him recording his entry into the spirit world in his youth.
At the end of that notebook narrating quite a few of his legendary stories, Helson actually also left quite a few words for Fisher, his sole disciple.
Among them there was a segment, which was about this leftover granddaughter Alicia.
Smart as Helson how could he fail to discover Vileli's hostility towards her. Moreover this hostility was also entirely born out of worrying about his safety. Therefore, Helson had already predicted that after his death this Alicia would fall into an isolated and helpless state.
Helson said, she probably wouldn't be like an innocent and naive child, sensibly begging you for a death, but I hope you can refuse her, take care of her, granting her the hope to live on.
Helson said, when he carried her out from that flesh and blood monster named "Anna", he saw the pure and beautiful soul upon her body, saw the incomparable magical talent upon her body, that's why he kept her by his side.
But over these five years, Helson hadn't practiced his original intention of adopting this child. He didn't teach her any magic, instead merely raising her as an ordinary girl.
Honestly speaking, after his granddaughter got married and had a new family in Schwari, his sole disciple was wanted worldwide, and his old friend was busy assisting the newly inaugurated Empress, this legendary magician who had already stepped into his twilight years yet felt profoundly lonely only barely discovered, at this time actually many things were already no longer important.
He had already reached the limit of humanity, achieving the extreme in moral character, status and the refined skills he took pride in. But this still couldn't escape the impermanence of destiny, leaving nothing behind in his twilight years.
Thus, he cast aside the purposes he originally attached importance to, wholeheartedly immersing himself in the process of accompanying the growth of a young life.
Helson's affectionate love towards Alicia, Alicia's respect and love towards Helson, seemed to only be deeply perceived by Fisher at this moment.
He cast a sidelong glance in Alicia's direction, and Alicia amidst the dark seemingly also detected a transparent shadow suddenly added in that direction, she then knew, big brother was right in that direction.
Seemingly, she could see big brother slightly more clearly...
Although, it was just a little bit.
Fisher inhaled a deep breath of air. He just wanted to say something, when those words of Alicia from earlier suddenly rushed onto his brain again, and this time carrying inspiration surging up anew.
"...rather than that, it's better to let me just be like now, as a human, as grandpa's granddaughter die... die off."
As a human...
Human...
Wait a minute!
Fisher suddenly realized a problem.
First of all, both he and Erwind had once read the Life Completion Manual, and were simultaneously stuck before the gate named "Treasure", which is also the "third mountain".
Before thoroughly investigating exactly what this so-called Treasure was, Fisher seemingly suddenly discovered a problem, which was: whether it was him or Erwind, the essence of utilizing the ability of the Life Completion Manual was actually changing out their own main body into a form that could be "easily changed".
This meant, whether it was Erwind or Fisher, after they utilized the power of the Life Completion Manual they actually could no longer be considered as the concept of "human".
Erwind was precisely a monster draped in a bird-beak mask, disguised in a human form walking; As for Fisher, although he always believed himself to be human, this world ultimately wasn't idealistic. He actually wasn't fundamentally any different from Erwind, merely somewhat different in terms of the inner level.
However, Alicia wasn't like this.
Recalling the first time encountering Alicia, Fisher wasn't under the Concealment Blessing. He looked at Alicia using the observational power of the Mythical Rank. The conclusion obtained was, Alicia was a human close to perfect whether in terms of external appearance or soul.
Which is to say, no matter how those Life Chaoses utilized and changed on her body, her essence was still human and hadn't changed.
As for whether Valentina was like this Fisher couldn't be certain. Because at that time he was under the Concealment Blessing, unable to determine if after she transformed back into a Phoenix she was a "true Phoenix" or similar to him and Erwind, a "monster maintaining the skin of a Phoenix".
But right now, Fisher seemingly had already discovered a crucial property of the "Treasure".
The so-called "Treasure", could completely maintain his original properties under the influence of the power of Life Chaos, which is the Authority of [Usurping Life].
Understanding this point was extremely important, because if the goal of the Life Completion Manual was to make the Usurping Life authority smoothly grow and descend to harm this world, then that would mean the "Treasure" was the necessary condition for His power to descend, same logic for the Base.
On one hand, Fisher could achieve perfectly reading the Life Completion Manual through this condition thereby sealing the power of Chaos; While on the other hand, if Fisher could change this property on Alicia's body, he could make her lose the qualifications to become the [Usurping Life] Base, and she would also be free of worries for her life, without needing to adopt the method Renee mentioned of killing her.
Fisher inhaled a breath of air excitedly, following which in Alicia's surprised line of sight, she then felt the blurry transparent shadow before her eyes hug her up in one swoop.
"Alicia, I've thought of a method."
"Eh? Big brother, you... what did you say, I can't quite hear clearly..."
Even though close at hand, but because Alicia still couldn't completely see Fisher clearly through the Concealment Blessing, causing her listening to Fisher speaking to be like diving into water three or four meters deep listening to people on the shore speaking, only able to hear a blurry rough idea.
This wasn't important, although currently just a hypothesis, Fisher however seemingly grasped a clue that had spread from a very long time in the past up to now.
Recalling carefully, the disappointment expressed back then in Naris, when Erwind looked at Anna mutated into a monster speaking those words.
She said that experiment failed, the reason was Anna completely lost control and altered in essence into a monster.
Then conversely, what should the result of a successful Treasure experiment be?
What Erwind truly wanted, was a creation that could essentially remain unchanged after withstanding the influence of the [Usurping Life] power (Project Fleshgraft surgery), a true human, and that is the [Treasure].
This undoubtedly corroborated Fisher's conjecture once more.
Well then, give thanks again to that Erwind who had already long been dead, thanking the residual warmth of her cruel research for still being able to illuminate the present.
"It's fine, I roughly know how to resolve it, it's just not right now."
He hadn't collected the power of the concealed blessing Demi-Human Girl Con left outside, so he couldn't yet change the control of the blessing into the appearance he wanted of being able to freely use transcendent power. He must use transcendent power to explore the deeper principles of the Treasure and change his and Alicia's constitution.
Speaking of this, he also inevitably sighed a breath, saying towards Eimhart.
"Right, remember to prepare a bit after checking back today, might have to go on a long journey in a few days."
"Long journey? You can go out? I certainly don't believe Elizabeth would let you out. You're her canary right now, every step of action requires her approval."
Fisher smiled a bit, saying towards Eimhart.
"This time she will take us out together, nominally it's a honeymoon."
"Yoyoyo, still honeymoon eh. Haha, guess which little unlucky egg married you but ended up not having a honeymoon yet? That's right, it's wuwuwu, your mom!"
"..."
Only a pity, the words Eimhart wanted to complain hadn't exited his mouth by half before being pressed down by Fisher stopping his speech.
The reason was also of course very simple. At this moment the Cardinal behind them suspected to be monitored by Elizabeth was still watching the two of them. Popping out more news about Valentina had a huge risk, thus Fisher only then full of desire for survival made Eimhart shut his mouth.
Of course, over here Fisher's internal emotional reflections between the teacher and his granddaughter adopted in his twilight years, his comprehension towards the so-called "Treasure", and the skylarking with Eimhart were all recorded in real time by the Cardinal floating in mid-air looking at them behind.
But behind that Cardinal wasn't that terrifying Naris Empress after all, but a deeply infatuated and pitiful Sardin Woman's Country person.
Right now Alajina originally upon seeing Fisher about to meet with others, even took out pen and paper, wanting to record down any information that might be useful, that could help her "rescue Fisher from extreme misery". But Fisher conversed and pondered for a long time, the content of the words spoken yet made her completely baffled.
Seemingly she and Fisher originally were a pair of rural husband and wife farming in Sardin Woman's Country. Then one day, Fisher as the husband said he was going into the city to be a household husband for a wealthy family. And then when he came back, the clothes worn on his body, the words spoken were already at a degree she as an authentic rural peasant woman couldn't understand and couldn't comprehend...
Moreover, the husband being a household husband for a wealthy family when mentioning that wealthy person, a bit of shyness and unnatural redness would still be carried on his face...
It was probably this kind of feeling.
Because of this, Alajina who after listening for a long time yet couldn't understand anything, could only slowly use the pen to record on the paper:
"Elizabeth imprisoned Fisher, coerced him not to leave the Golden Palace, and even coerced him to spend a honeymoon together with her."