Chapter 1259 The Brave Ismail
It was not a statue or plaster statue in the ordinary sense, nor was it a yellow stone statue petrified by petrification. Instead, it looked a bit like the style of an old black-and-white movie.
Everyone's color was completely stripped away, leaving only black, white, and varying shades of gray.
They maintained their previous movements and were sealed out of thin air.
Some people sneered at Aiwass, some were chatting with others with laughter, and some were looking at Aiwass with fiery eyes.
But at this moment, none of them could speak.
It was as if the whole world had frozen—
The people and objects protected by Aiwass's preservation technique are still dim.
The people around Ismail all turned into black, white and gray.
In the entire world, he and Aiwass were the only two people with color. Apart from them, there was no fifth color.
Even the Good Lord - even Mahide Flan had no power to resist and was instantly swallowed up by this power!
Mahid Furlong maintained the posture of riding on the elephant and turned into a gray statue with its legs crossed.
As a benevolent leader, Mahidfrau must have had ample equipment to protect himself. But it was completely useless... It didn't even last a moment before it all collapsed.
What kind of power is this!
This incomprehensible power made Ismail feel a great fear.
It was like when you were surfing on the sandy sea, and the wave that just passed by suddenly turned into a hideous living creature. A huge human head emerged from it, smiled at you... and then turned around and smashed the next wave of people following behind to pieces on the spot.
On the other side, Aiwass let out a breath.
The experiment was successful.
At least it's not the worst case scenario - compared to being completely ineffective, having one's mana drained instantly, or having a passage to the dream world opened the moment of summoning, etc.... Forced summoning of a phantom card that is beyond the "version" means that the amber cannot be fully revealed, but some of the divine power can be used. This already makes Aiwas very satisfied.
Aiwass looked at the cards in his hand and gently wiped the little girl who was smiling at him peacefully like a mother.
For a brief moment, Inanna had indeed been summoned, even space itself shattered. But she existed for only a split second before vanishing. But in that same split second, her summoning effects had already taken effect.
The card has also entered CD, proving that the summoning just now was indeed successful.
The power that creates an "old photo filter" or "death portrait filter" on people is likely the "end of civilization" state. After these people were petrified, the spatial cracks around Aiwass quickly recovered. This meant that the Wall of Balance wouldn't be directly punctured with an irreparable hole, allowing the power of nothingness to leak through.
It only lasted two or three seconds, and those huge cracks that were longer than Aiwass's legs disappeared one by one like eyes slowly closing.
But at least, it really works!
At least it can be used as a spell card.
At worst, it will just become the purest cannon-throwing creature - just imagine that Aiwass's hand speed is infinitely fast, and the cannon-throwing creature will be cancelled the moment it lands on the ground.
The only pity was that Little Amber didn't even survive for half a second. Otherwise, she could have imitated the little crow and forced herself to transform into a traveling form and stay in the material world.
It was at this moment that Aiwass finally noticed the only survivor.
“It’s you…?”
He was surprised.
On the contrary, it was Ismail who was the one who cursed the most harshly at the beginning and survived to the end.
"—are you there, Inanna?"
Aiwass tried to connect with Little Amber in his mind: "What's going on?"
Logically speaking, as long as he successfully summoned Amber once, even if he took her back afterwards, he would be able to establish a connection with her before summoning a new beast of sin.
"Because he's the only one who doesn't have hostility or murderous intent, I don't think he's an enemy."
After a long moment, a timid yet reassuring childish voice echoed within Aiwass's mind: "Also, Master...Father...Mother...Teacher...How should I address you?"
"Just call me teacher."
The voice in Aiwass's heart was pure and gentle, even a little bit harsh: "When we signed the contract, our fates were already connected. You can see my heart, my memories...so you should also know that I am also a snake."
It was the kind of voice you would instinctively raise when you saw a cute child or animal.
At this moment, a panicked and embarrassed voice was heard——
"...Sir. Your Excellency... No, Your Majesty."
Ismail became as humble as a dog, without any of the arrogance of the previous master. He even knelt on the ground and moved over on his knees - after all, no one else was around to see: "Thank you for your mercy... Thank you for the gift of life -"
"It's alright, brave Ismail. You earned your survival."
Thinking of Amber's words, Aiwass's tone was calm and harmonious: "I didn't mean to save anyone in particular - it's better to say that these people want to be my enemy. You have no hostility towards me, right?"
Hearing this, Ismail was stunned for a moment.
He realized something.
In reality, Ismail was much smarter than he appeared. His brash and arrogant image was simply a persona he created for himself. It was probably only 70% true.
The succession of a Benefactor's contract can only be achieved upon the death of the previous Benefactor. This is a secret known only to the Benefactor, unknown to ordinary people.
However, Ismaili's story explicitly mentions a "fight and duel with his father." Without this story, the story of his childhood fight with a lion would be too legendary to be believed.
His "father" defeated the lion in public and reconciled with him.
If someone could defeat three lions in old age, then defeating one as a child wouldn't seem so remarkable. Furthermore, since the "former leader" had personally apologized before the lion and vowed to reconcile with him, he naturally gained the title and the status of an innocent hero, which greatly alleviated the public discontent caused by his usurpation of the throne.
Therefore that man could not be Ismail's father—or at least not a living father.
That was a puppet he resurrected using forbidden magic and his father's corpse.
Although his father was a good ruler, he was revered by the people—not with love, but with respect and awe.
Because he was exceptionally skilled in conquest and always victorious, he constantly waged endless wars against other city-states, completely absorbing their wealth and population. This allowed his people to live a relatively wealthy life, and he also had a constant supply of cheap slaves to use.
Ismail came to power by killing his elderly father.
Ismail disliked his father's frenzied foreign wars. Unlike his war-crazed father and his own delinquent image, as the benevolent ruler of Ark City, he had been a scholar from a young age. Ark City boasted numerous millennia-old libraries, and Ismail was a man of considerable learning.
He was deeply aware that if a person walks in the desert, he will sooner or later step into quicksand.
Although they kept winning, they would eventually lose, and as my father grew older, their battles became increasingly difficult.
Those who have never lost are the most unable to accept failure.
So he had to find an excuse for his father to prevent the collapse of Ark City. So he came up with this good play - by performing a play of fatherly love and filial piety with his father, played by his "father", he would make him "personally" hand over power to him.
After he took over, Ark City only plundered the surrounding areas and no longer triggered large-scale city-state wars. The frequency of plundering gradually decreased, and he began to control the trade routes and collect protection fees, using more moderate means to obtain funds.
This gave people a break from the continuous wars, but it also made some strong men who were older than him and served his father feel dissatisfied.
Unlike the benevolent masters of smaller cities, Ark City was like a great nation. Powerful individuals abound in great nations, which dilutes the power of the benevolent masters—they can easily switch sides. Just like the benevolent master of Holy Spring City, who exiled himself to the Fourth Ring… If he had resided in the Third Ring, he would have clashed with the powerful masters there long ago.
This time, he brought to Shengquan City the old men who had served his father. Ismail planned to rely on Yuantiansi and other good masters to bury these people here.
That's why he played the role of an arrogant and domineering person, deliberately letting them touch Aiwass's barrier but never actually attacking or destroying it.
They rationalize their abnormal behavior and try to gain benefits from it. This is the same logic used by Ismaili when he seized power.
It doesn’t matter if the trick is old, as long as it is useful.
Because of this, he had no hostility towards Aiwass from the very beginning.
Although he was deliberately looking for trouble, Ismail had actually been waiting for Aiwas to attack him.
If Aiwas had followed the normal procedure, Ismail would have simply given these people to Aiwas as slaves.
...It was precisely because of this calculation that Ismail managed to avoid being petrified by Little Amber.
Even Aiwass initially misjudged his personality - although Aiwass did vaguely feel a sense of incongruity, he did not think about it that way. After all, it was reasonable for a good leader to be domineering and arrogant.
Little did they realize that this was actually a drunken man pretending to be drunk, and his goal was to end the war and allow people to live more safely and comfortably.
Although any decent person outside of Anxi would have this kind of thinking, in a magical place like Anxi, especially one born under a benevolent master, the moral standards are frighteningly high.
After listening to Ismail's story, Aiwass was somewhat surprised: "You are the most normal and kind person I have ever met... You are worthy of the name 'brave man'."
"I think... maybe it's because I've read more books than them. Or maybe it's because I was teased and toyed with by my father when I was very young, which has made me more sober. After all, I wasn't my father's favorite child. I wasn't raised as a benefactor... but rather as a 'slave' to protect my brothers."
Ismail smiled wryly, his face completely devoid of pride. He looked more like a philosopher. "But... I thought, I thought the prophecy in 'Rest' was just a legend... or a hoax. Turns out there really is a savior..."
When he first heard that Mahid Franshan suspected that Aiwass was the savior, he categorically denied it - this part was not his acting or his character setting.
Ismail was truly shaken, even feeling angry and confused, which is why he was so excited. His young age and reaching the sixth level of energy beyond the path clearly showed that he was not someone who upheld tradition.
On the one hand, Ismail hoped that Aiwas could indeed change the status quo in Shabbat.
But on the other hand... Ismail wished Aiwass had never appeared.
——If there is a savior in this world who can redeem everything, then what are these people who are vaguely aware of destruction and devote their efforts and lives to it?
Is it a joke? Or a foil?
But now the miracle is at hand.
He had to believe it.
A 6,000-word update, meow!
There is no way, I can’t finish writing by 12 o’clock, so I can only delay it until 1 o’clock... (sad)
(End of this chapter)
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