Chapter 23: A Word That Sets the Stages of Troubled Times
The large square in Grubersia, the capital of Latia, used to fight against the star disaster.
A massive V-shaped platform, constructed over five days and requiring thousands of manpower, stood in the center of the square. To either side of the platform stood hundreds of solemn-looking figures in dark red robes inlaid with gold patterns, arranged in neat formations—members of the Clerand Church, it seemed. Below the platform, a dense mass of people filled the air. Even during the days of star calamities, when hundreds or even thousands of gigantic possessed moon elves could easily withstand a storm, the square was now completely crammed. The crowd pushed and shoved, leaving no decent place to stand. Even the windows, rooftops, balconies, and other high ground in the residential areas surrounding the square—as well as any other perch where people could stand—were completely covered in people.
The V-shaped recess in the middle of the platform was a smaller, slightly lower platform, also housing the special seats. Several rows of luxurious chairs were placed on the small platform, with carpeted stairs leading down to the ground. Sitting or standing on these chairs were people of high status. Kings and dukes from nearly every country in the Northern Continent had appeared in these special seats, and even some dignitaries from other continents had come. Knights from various countries, dressed in a variety of styles, lined the perimeter of the platform, completely encircling it.
In the middle of the V-shaped top of the platform, there is a huge chair that is extremely luxurious. The armrests on both sides are carved from crystal into lifelike wings that spread out to the sides. The main part is made of the most precious wood and fabric, and decorated with extremely complex patterns and totems. Even the king's throne seems less imposing than it.
The seat is three meters wide and the backrest is four meters high. It is located on a small platform with an area of more than 30 square meters and a height of half a meter. It is also the highest point on the platform. It is placed facing the square, as if declaring that it is the focus of all attention at this moment. Even the nobles and even the kings in the special seats are just members of a circle, paying tribute and worshiping it.
On the side of the chair stood a Star Vein with purple hair and golden eyes, a young man with short ice-colored hair and amber eyes, and several members of the Holy Church wearing high-level cult robes, as if guarding the chair - and on this huge chair sat a petite black-haired girl. The strong contrast in size between the person and the chair brought out a strange and holy beauty.
The girl was wearing a gorgeous black and red dress. One side of her head was decorated with a petal-shaped ceremonial crown carved from Star Spirit Ore, and an exquisite ribbon was tied around her neck. The dress was tight-fitting and exposed her chest, which brought out the white skin of her chest and the beautiful curve of her chest. The sides of her skirt were decorated with black feathers similar to those in Tu Ling's dress, as if a pair of wings were extending from her waist and covering her thighs. Outside the wings, a layer of transparent gauze inlaid with fine golden silk threads gently covered it. As she sat, her legs bloomed on the huge chair like a looming demon flower, and her slender legs in black translucent stockings and luxurious boots extended from the dark skirt. Because the chair was too high, her toes were slightly off the ground, outlining a hazy and seductive curve, hanging vertically and elegantly.
At this moment, she was sitting motionless, her eyes slightly closed, her long eyelashes casting a faint shadow on her almost transparent white skin, her small and delicate lips under her straight nose, and a pair of gorgeous earrings made of red crystals on her ears, which, against her fair skin, made her look even more noble and charming.
Although she doesn't have a stunning appearance, for some reason she can't take her eyes off.
Is this──the Red Moon Priestess?
Below the platform, the crowd was talking and whispering to each other, but they didn't dare to speak too loudly, for fear that their voices would be heard by the girl on the throne.
The Dark Emperor of Youyu Kingdom, Su Mo, gave an excited smile to the girl, Xiang Beichen, in the special seat, with a dangerous smile full of ambition at the corner of his mouth.
The Queen of the Underworld of the Principality of Arcadia, Lingdel (Lingdimia), crossed her arms, frowned, and tilted her head as she looked at the figure on the throne. She turned her head and whispered a few words to the warrior Xuanming behind her. It seemed that she felt that the figure and appearance were a little familiar, and she even had a rough guess as to who the other person was.
The King of the Sazam Empire, Ferrero, sat in his chair in a slightly lazy yet impactful posture, tapping the armrests of the chair with his fingers, squinting his eyes, and raising the corners of his mouth in a mocking manner, as if he was waiting for something good to happen.
Next to Ferrero's seat sat the queen of Silvia, a vassal state of the Sazam Empire, Galina, and her weapons, the Star Vein Seed Xiaxue and the Star Vein Seed Luohou.
"I didn't expect you to come, Karina."
King Sazam sneered and glanced at the figure sitting next to him, but his eyes never left the throne.
"You finally got the Xia Blood. Shouldn't you fight for your freedom? So, you're not planning on escaping from me? You've spent half of your precious one-month contract on your journey. You're truly wasting it."
Karina smiled bitterly and shrugged, then looked at Xiaxue beside her.
"Half a month was enough. I've already completed all the tasks you requested, Your Majesty. Truly worthy of being the world's number one Xiaxue."
"Thank you so much."
Xiaxue nodded nonchalantly.
"It's a pleasure to partner with Miss Carina. If it weren't for that little girl, signing a contract with you for a year or two would also be great."
As he spoke, he pointed at Beichen's figure on the platform, while Jialina scratched her nose a little embarrassedly.
King Sazam raised an eyebrow: "So you risked your lives to come back this time just for the witch?"
"Yes." Karina suddenly lowered her voice. "Xiaxue's contract rights only last for two days. I think I can still help her in some way."
"Galina, don't get involved in muddy water." King Sazam exuded a little murderous aura with some displeasure.
But this woman, who was obviously more chivalrous than aristocratic, shook her head stubbornly.
"Your Majesty, don't you want to be 'selected'? How can you get the qualification without paying?"
“…”
King Sazam was silent, but Luo Hou, who was standing aside, suddenly leaned over and spoke in Carina's ear:
"here we go."
Following Luo Hou's cold voice, Carina's expression changed. She looked towards the platform and found that the young man with short ice-colored hair had taken a few steps forward and stood right in front of the huge throne, looking like a spokesperson for the witch.
He slowly raised one hand, and then the church members on both sides of the platform half-knelt down in unison.
Seeing this momentum, some people below the stage instinctively wanted to bend down, but a large number of people hesitated and did not move when they saw that it was only a Yeyue-type warrior who stood out, and just watched silently.
The square suddenly became silent.
Satisfied with the result of his careful planning, the young man, Ling Shuang, smiled calmly yet enthusiastically, opened his arms to the huge crowd below the stage, and made the gesture of a speaker.
"Good evening, warriors and humans from all over Senagard. Soon, you will join me in witnessing the most important moment in ten thousand years. The witch from Crimson Moon Serrand will descend upon this devastated land with her sacred mission. I believe that soon you will be thankful to be here today to witness the witch's arrival, for this may be the most important key to saving your lives."
Ling Shuang said this, looking down at the crowd below the stage who were starting to make a slight commotion with a proud smile.
"Of course, many people may be quite skeptical of this fact. Please rest assured that the fact that the Saint Clergy of Selland are holy apostles under the command of the Red Moon Priestess will be clearly proven to you soon. Before that, I can also provide some small evidence."
The commotion in the audience grew louder, but Ling Shuang showed a confident expression and made a "quiet" gesture.
"For ten thousand years, the War Machines have relied on humans for food. Has anyone ever wondered why this is so? Has anyone ever considered why the Creator placed the War Machines, who possess intelligence equal to humans and superior physiques, below humans?
For ten thousand years, humans have enjoyed the protection of the War Machines, indulging in the various desires their talents and beauty brought them. But what have humans given the War Machines in these ten thousand years? Apart from the astral power they use as food, nothing at all, right? War Machines, do you feel resentful? And humans, do you ever feel guilty?
Ling Shuang's words, in the current environment with a serious anti-war weapon atmosphere, naturally quickly aroused the anger of the human side. Many people under the stage began to make a fuss, and a few even started throwing things, but because the stage was too high, those thrown objects did not have any effect. On the contrary, the eyes of the war weapons in the crowd lit up, and they stared at Ling Shuang's figure on the stage with excitement and hope.
"Now, the world has finally given us the answers. Why does the golden behemoth, a member of the same family as the War Machine, use its roar to incite the War Machine to attack humans? Why does an epidemic like War Grudge appear that only affects humans? Why can't the War Machine feed itself to gain strength?"
The audience was noisy, but Ling Shuang, who was using a sound-amplifying spirit crystal, didn't care at all. She just smiled arrogantly and raised her arms high.
"Well, now I will relay the answer the witch gave me. The golden beasts are the collective resentment of the fallen War Weapons. Their cries urge the War Weapons to avenge them. And the War Grudge Disease is the product of the War Weapon's blood merging with the human body, causing mutations. They are a terrifying nightmare for humans, but a long-awaited blessing for the War Weapons."
Then, the boy with short ice-colored hair laughed weirdly in the face of the huge noise and commotion from the audience.
"Crystals similar to the cores of war weapons can be found in corpses that have died of war resentment. With these crystals, war weapons will no longer need to rely on humans for food!!"
With these words, the entire square suddenly became quiet, and then suddenly fell into a crazy riot.
The roars of joy from the weapons, the horrified curses of the humans, the cries of those questioning whether this was a lie, the murmurs of gratitude to the Holy Church of the Red Moon Witch Serlande, and even the uncontrollable fighting and wailing, plunged the entire square into a situation that even the Royal Knights of Latia could not control - in fact, knights without weapons were not much different from ordinary people.
Ling Shuang watched the madness in the audience and continued to laugh loudly, not caring how much the audience heard:
"We've been suppressed for ten thousand years, we've waited for ten thousand years, and now, at this moment, we've finally earned the right to exist independently! And humanity, after trampling on, insulting, and exploiting us for ten thousand years, will eventually become the last stepping stone on our evolutionary path, crushed beneath our feet!"
Ohh ...
Heart-wrenching cheers and chaotic screams of resistance rang out from the audience. At this moment, except for the special seats, which were barely kept safe under the protection of the elite knights who used brands to force the weapons to obey, the entire square had turned into a Shura field.
"Cheer up, my compatriots!! The suffering we endured was for this moment of complete metamorphosis!! The humiliation we endured was the test chosen for us by the Red Moon Priestess. Now, we have succeeded!!"
"Rejoice, my compatriots. In the next era, we will be the masters of this world. We—the War Machines—are the chosen people of this great calamity!"
"Let's move on, my compatriots. Feed humanity with our blood. As many patients with war-hatred syndrome as there are, we can buy as many weapons of war free!"
The inflammatory words were one more passionate than the other.
The atmosphere on the field had reached its peak of boiling frenzy.
Beichen's mood became increasingly cold because of this.
No wonder the Jafa Divine Group grew so much after you took over. Lingshuang, you are indeed very suitable to be the leader of a cult. You are really good at inciting people.
It's just that you deliberately spread the horror of war resentment, deliberately sent people everywhere to complain about the dissatisfaction with the law, deliberately performed dramas of abusing war weapons in the streets, and deliberately provoked the relationship between humans and war weapons to an irreparable point, forcing the war weapons' crazy counterattack at this moment and forcing the war weapons into a desperate situation - you keep saying that you want to build an utopia for the war weapons, but secretly do so many things that hurt the war weapons. Ling Shuang, your ideals really can't stand scrutiny.
Beichen was in a complicated mood, but he still sat in his seat without moving.
Soon, she was about to act according to Ling Shuang's pre-arranged actions, and then push the whole situation to a decisive point.
No wonder he was so confident. It turned out he held such important information—a method to enable the weapon to eat without humans.
Sometimes, it doesn't take a lot of troops or a lot of combat power to plunge the world into chaos. Intelligence can also become the most terrifying weapon and cause irreversible damage.
Just a few words changed the fate of an entire race.
Just a few words plunged the world into a war between the two races!
After Ling Shuang finished her speech, she turned and extended her hand to Bei Chen, who silently stood up from the throne and took a few steps forward. Then, she gathered all her willpower, controlled the Pandora's Box within her body, and released the power it had stored for so many days in one breath!
Boom──────
The entire earth shook with a violent roar. At the same time, a blood-red beam of light appeared in the center of the platform, reaching straight into the sky. In the center of this beam of light, the girl in a dress was suspended in the air like a witch descending from the sky, with her wing-like skirt lifted high up, as if it had really become spread black wings.
The square fell silent again—this time, it was forced.
The air seemed to be infiltrated by something heavy, carrying with it an irresistible murderous aura, as if someone was invisibly yelling, "Kneel down!" Everyone, whether human or weapon—except for some with outstanding strength—were all forced to their knees by the weight of the distorted air.
At this moment, people admitted with fear and despair in their hearts that the Red Moon Priestess had really come.
Beichen, in the center of this crowd of people, slowly landed on the platform and walked to the edge of the platform close to the crowd.
Then she spoke.
"In the name of Cerland, I, the Crimson Moon Priestess, hereby declare the beginning of this era's tuning. The disaster is unveiled by the supreme gospel that I bestow upon you, the weapons of war—"
He read out the lines Ling Shuang had given him in advance, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ling Shuang beside him with an ecstatic smile on her face, as if she had accomplished a great thing.
Beichen looked at the crowd of people kneeling on the ground below him, raised his chin, and looked up at the dark sky.
So far, Lingshuang, you have played all the cards you should have played.
Then it's my turn.
She showed those faces twisted with despair a gentle yet firm, encouraging smile that seemed to illuminate the sky.
"Next, I offer you, humans, some good news—a method to cure the War Grudge and a technique to defeat possessed Moon Envoys without weapons."
As these words fell, Ling Shuang, who was holding an ecstatic smile, froze in shock. The next second, his expression became so hideous and distorted that it made people feel sad and ridiculous.
Accept my counterattack, Lingshuang.
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