Chapter 1152 Aiwass is the Sun

Aiwass still remembers the words spoken when the Supreme Heaven fell—

"I lost, Arthur. But you didn't win either."

[I lost to many people... I lost to my prey, I lost to my foolish offspring, I lost to the Sand Clock, the Lord of Scales and Feathers, I lost to my half-body... But the only battle I didn't lose was with you.]

[——I won that year, Arthur.]

You will never be able to defeat me at my peak. You will never be as strong as me. Authority can never be compared to strength—just wait and see.

【I'll be waiting for you at the end of the night. 】

At first, Aiwass didn't understand what Xiong Tiansi said at all. He thought that Zhigaotian was just being stubborn.

If Aiwass hadn't felt that he wasn't worthy enough and was afraid that Xiong Tiansi would shake himself up and slap him to death, he would have rushed forward and shouted, "What champion are you?"

After all, judging from these words alone, Aiwass could only feel that Zhigaotian meant "I am the SOLO champion."

But now, after obtaining the forbidden knowledge, looking back... Aiwass suddenly realized that the few words that Zhigaotian said before his death seemed to have a hidden meaning.

——I lost, but you didn’t win either.

——I’ll wait for you at the end of the night.

Combining these two sentences, Aiwass suddenly understood something.

According to the Lord of Scales and Feathers, "Whispers of the Void"... or "Nothingness," is also called "Twilight Seed." Twilight Seed is what transforms when the world reaches its end, much like a star transforming into a black hole.

When the spoils were divided later, Aiwas wanted to raise his paw to get some benefits and drink some bear blood, but Sand Clock suddenly came over and sternly warned him that "no gift comes without a price"; and the Silver Crown Dragon was not originally in the plan of Sand Clock and the Lord of Scales and Feathers. It was Isabel's ritual that accidentally invited him here.

At that time, the Silver Crown Dragon said to the Scale-Feather Lord in dissatisfaction: "You planned to hunt the giant bear, but you didn't call me."

Because if the person who killed Xiong Tiansi at that time was not the Silver Crown Dragon, then this power belonging to the Source of Violence would have been lost.

The Silver Crown Dragon will never be able to fully return to wholeness, just like Hengwo's current state, stuck at a critical value.

——Then the problem arises.

The Lord of Scales and Feathers and the Silver Crown Dragon have no conflict, nor does the Sand Clock. Why would the two most stable sources of the Fifth and Sixth Rivers secretly use Aiwass to bait a trap, luring Xiong Tiansi in and killing him?

The knights under the Silver Crown Dragon were already hunting Xiong Tiansi, which meant that Xiong Tiansi would be captured and killed by the Silver Crown Dragon sooner or later. The purpose of the secret nest was to prevent the Silver Crown Dragon from obtaining the last piece of Xiong Tiansi.

This is undoubtedly a deliberate obstruction.

Combined with the previously revealed truth—Yi Tiansi saw the truth with his own eyes and, unable to bear it, committed suicide. And Wei Zhe, as the keeper of secrets, was responsible for guarding the door to truth. And Zhi Gaotian, when Wei Zhe and Sha Shiji were about to create the blue third sun, punctured it... This was the first conflict between Zhi Gaotian and Wei Zhe.

It was highly likely that Xiong Tiansi actually knew something about the truth about the "Twilight Seed." He might even have been contaminated by the Void.

That's why Supreme Heaven was able to live so long after his death, reincarnated as Bear Sky Master, without anyone trying to kill him. That's also why the Sand Clock and the Scale-Feathered Lord were unwilling to allow the Silver Crown Dragon to complete itself...

In the alternate history Aiwass was familiar with, the Silver Crown Dragon was actually in pretty good shape. Even until the very last version, it hadn't encountered any issues... if the World-Destroying Dragon wasn't counted.

Could it be that because the Silver Crown Dragon had regained its full form, it had lost its resistance to the void? Or was it that there was a "virus" or "Trojan horse" within that part of Xiong Tiansi's power, taking advantage of the opportunity to enter and corrupt the Silver Crown Dragon as well?

According to Sherlock's reasoning, the Silver Crown Dragon is most likely no longer trustworthy... and may even become the first Pillar God to get into trouble.

And Aiwass decided to believe Sherlock.

"What are you going to do, Aiwass?"

Sherlock asked softly, "Return to Avalon... wait for the opportunity and make preparations in advance?"

"There is no Avalon anymore."

Isabel shook her head. "The Kingdom of Knights is a thing of the past."

"According to my intelligence," Aiwass said slowly, "Morgan may soon become a Celestial Master on the Path of Authoritarianism."

After Morgan had a one-night stand with Arthur, who was in his mortal form, Arthur had been avoiding Morgan. Even after becoming the Silver Crown Dragon, he remained the same... But not long ago, he suddenly turned around and accepted Morgan, deciding to make Morgan the Celestial Master of "family" and "clan."

At that time, Aiwass also congratulated Morgan.

But now it seems... this might be the Silver Crown Dragon preparing a sacrifice to serve as a cushion for the Tail Ring.

To ensure the proper functioning of the "Tail Ring," Morgan was promoted and then fired immediately to fill the void. However, with the surge of transcendence, he didn't need to do this at all. Authoritarian Path Celestial Masters would naturally emerge over time, and by August, at least two Celestial Masters would emerge from each Path. There was no need to specifically recruit an acquaintance.

The Silver Crown Dragon's motives could only be one of two: either he was seeking a replacement Pillar God, or he was helping the Ring Celestial Master expedite the Tail Ring Ritual. Either way, it meant one thing... the Silver Crown Dragon might not be able to hold on any longer.

Using this incident to reverse the situation, it can also be understood that before Morgan fell, nothing serious should happen to the Silver Crown Dragon.

After all, this matter itself was a self-rescue arranged by the Silver Crown Dragon.

It is impossible for the Silver Crown Dragon to put off its self-rescue plan until after its own death.

Sherlock reacted: "You mean, use Morgan as the status coordinate?"

"That's right."

Aiwass happily affirmed: "As expected, you still understand me!"

As long as Morgan didn't become a Celestial Servant, it meant the Silver Crown Dragon was still in good shape. If the Silver Crown Dragon still had enough sense, it would give up its position to Morgan before it was completely corrupted... just like the Beast Master gave up his position to Hengwo back then.

If the Silver Crown Dragon had been tainted, he would certainly not allow himself to perish. Morgan would then be dragged down as a sacrifice to the Tail Ring.

So as long as Morgan doesn't fall to the ground, it means that the Silver Crown Dragon is in good condition.

"From another perspective, it's useless for us to stay here."

Aiwass spread his hands helplessly. "It's better to resolve the situation outside the city before it gets out of control. That way, we won't be too busy to deal with it later."

"Out of town...?"

"That's right," Aiwass nodded. "Yuan Tiansi—with the fall of Xue Tiansi and the breakthrough of the Path of Love, people will surely pay attention to the relationship between the Tail Ring Ritual and the Path's limits. Just as I said before... Yan Tiansi and Yuan Tiansi could be pulled down at any time.

"But just as the Fallen Angels and Blood Angels project their own realms upon their arrival... In both the Blood Realm and the Corrupted Realm, humans can still live normally. However, the moment the Abyss Realm descends, people will be swallowed by the huge waves."

At this point, Iverson paused. "Do you know how large the ancient Parthian Empire's maximum area was? If you include those inhospitable deserts, its area is close to eight million square kilometers, which is almost forty times the size of Avalon... Even the Hellassar Empire at its peak was probably not as large as it.

"Although Anxi has now been divided into three hundred federated cities, with the benevolent rulers fighting among themselves to the point of complete isolation... it still represents a formidable force, encompassing countless ordinary citizens. If the Abyssal Celestial Master descends and brings uncontrolled destruction, the souls of so many dead might even give rise to new Children of Nothingness."

"Should we nip this problem in the bud?"

Sherlock praised, "I support you. I think this approach is sound. If we just chase after problems, we'll always be one step behind. We'll just be led by the nose. We need to arrive one step ahead and seize the home-field advantage... only then can we control the initiative."

"And the Abyssal Celestial Being should be arriving at any moment. The Fourth Water War has already begun... and as the Benevolent Lords continue to slaughter each other, it's only a matter of time before one of them summons the Abyssal Celestial Being."

——That was a life-and-death struggle.

Even the war in which the Star Antimony invaded Avalon was far less brutal than the internal strife among the Parthians.

In the original world, the Star Antimony invaded Avalon, but they didn't significantly disrupt the lives of ordinary people. It was the corruption of the Avalonian lords that led to a significant decline in people's quality of life. It wasn't until the arrival of the Shadow Sky Lords that they finally destroyed everything, bringing Avalon to its doom.

But in the ancient Parthian Empire, war took on a new form:

Commoners or slaves—mainly slaves—gathered to rebel against the good master, hanging or skinning him, and enslaving his family and servants. But they could either make the good master obey them and create water for them... or they would be forced to become a wandering army due to the drying up of the water source, robbing passers-by and city-states in the desert to survive.

Without water, we cannot survive.

The war caused by the slaves will be the first domino to fall, instantly detonating the already precarious situation.

——Yes, different good masters are also opposed to each other.

The area that benevolent rulers can rule is limited because the water they can produce is limited. They can't support enough people, and therefore can't expand indefinitely. This is why benevolent rulers rule in the form of city-states.

But there is actually another situation here - that is submission, or enfeoffment.

One benevolent ruler can obey another benevolent ruler, and thus one city-state can obey another. Wealth and legions will gradually accumulate in this process. But there is another problem here... that is the supply line.

Crossing the vast desert made it impossible for an army to obtain sufficient supplies. They could only plunder the local population or have benevolent rulers provide water sources. Therefore, if the city-states were not connected, it would be nearly impossible to attack another. Consequently, the benevolent rulers settled into a stalemate: if the army of City A marched on City B, it could be ambushed by City C. Consequently, no one made the first move.

In this situation, the slaves' uprising became a poisoned weapon.

Every slave hated their master. Given enough opportunity and strength, they were likely to rebel, even at the cost of their lives. In this context, many slave rebellions in city-states were manipulated by benevolent rulers from other city-states. When the benevolent ruler of one city-state was killed, another would quickly take control and crush the rebels... and so on, ultimately plunging the entire Parthian Empire into a quagmire of complete chaos.

In a sense, Zhu Tang and his companions were lucky to reach Xingti safely, because if they had arrived two years later, they would have been trapped in this cruel meat grinder.

It is true that Aiwass has no feelings for the Parthians, but that does not mean that there is no need to save them.

There was no need for a reason to help others. Not to mention, he was a former pope and had received a commission from a cardinal.

Not to mention... in this world where emotions and souls are power, it is hard to say what kind of powerful insects will be produced by war and death on this scale.

"Want to go to rest?"

Isabel asked, "Do you want to go back... and take Zhu Tang and the others with you?"

"Ah, yes. Iris also needs to be dealt with, which will take some time. Those Hawkeye assassins dared to assassinate me, so you guys should handle this matter. After all, now that Moon Child has been dealt with, Hawkeye has no reason to exist anymore."

Aiwass said casually: "Divide the fog monsters into several connected cities and let Little Cain keep them in captivity."

“To what extent does it need to be handled?”

Sherlock confirmed.

"Clean up the scum."

Aiwass's words were cruel: "The Imperial Glory Party may become an obstacle to Iris's integration into New Hellasl. Although the boss behind Hawkeye is the Giant Tree Party, it is not ruled out that some extremists will switch to the Glory Party."

The Imperial Glory Party is the third largest party in the Iris family. Although it's called the third largest, it actually has less than one-tenth of the supporters.

This is an extremely nationalist party, quite radical. To most uninformed passersby, Hawkeye is their organization. They neither admit nor deny it—they are just trying to gain popularity.

They are not only targeting the Son of the Moon, but also claiming that the Iris Kingdom is the legitimate successor of the Hellasl Empire and that the Iris people are supreme - not even humans.

Even if it was extreme humanism, Aiwass thought they had tried their best.

But such people are too dangerous in this era of chaos. If they gain access to the power within Hawkeye, they could become a sharp blade piercing the inner world, causing the Iris people to actively engage in external wars.

"This is absolutely no good to you."

Sherlock was a little surprised: "And you have to bear the stigma... Is this also an act of dedication? You are finally going crazy..."

He is indeed a high-ranking contributor.

He used to think that high-ranking devotees were the best of the good, until he followed Aiwass to the Theocracy and realized their madness.

“No way.”

Isabel retorted, "Evans has always been Edwards. He has been like this since the beginning. Just like the sun."

"sun?"

Aiwass was a little curious about Isabel's metaphor: "Why?"

Isabel always seemed to think that Aiwass was the sun.

...After all, the sun in this world is not an easy thing to live with.

"Well, the sun illuminates the earth, giving life equally... and destruction equally. And all of this has nothing to do with the sun. The sun simply radiates light and heat."

Isabel looked at Aiwass and said seriously: "I think Aiwass is such a sun."

That is neither a filter nor love. It is the truth told in the real sense.

Just like the truth reflected in a mirror.

Two in one, updated!

(End of this chapter)