Chapter 187: Counterattack Ritual: Shadow of Avalon
...The Silver Crown Dragon mentioned me?
How could that be a good thing?!
He still remembers it.
The first time he'd been noticed by the Silver Crown Dragon was because he'd vowed not to use his own kind as ritual materials... and that was all due to Old Moriarty's instigation. After all, who knew a simple oath like that could summon the all-powerful Silver Crown Dragon?
Thinking of this, Aiwas' heart suddenly skipped a beat.
——Could it be that the Silver Crown Dragon thinks that I know the sin of heaven?
That has nothing to do with me, it’s entirely James’ dad’s problem!
Ai Hua suddenly felt guilty: "That Majesty...what did he say about me?"
The Silver Crown Dragon is the pillar of the path of authority, the god of kings. Therefore, it is acceptable to simply address him as "Your Majesty."
Her Majesty's words made Aiwas' heart stop for a moment again: "He said you are a natural transcendent, which reminded Him of his younger self."
——I’m awesome!
At that moment, Aiwass realized that he might have been exposed.
The Silver Crown Dragon's praise likely came from his performance in the advanced dungeon of the Transcendent Ritual. This wasn't surprising to Aiwass, as it was a ceremony presided over by Gawain, the Silver Crown Dragon's apostle. It was also natural for Aiwass to mention his performance to the Silver Crown Dragon later.
But Aiwass never expected that the Silver Crown Dragon would be so talkative - why would the Nine Pillars of God chat with humans?
Si Zhu has a good temper, and I've never heard of him talking to anyone about this kind of thing?
Since the Silver Crown Dragon could mention such a thing, then at least Her Majesty the Queen probably knows that she is a practitioner of both the Path of Dedication and the Path of Transcendence.
Then the lies he told about "Aleister" would be easily seen through by her.
After all, Aiwass chose this code name to commemorate his past.
"Aleister" is a variant of "Alexander". Just change a few letters and read it in other languages to get this pronunciation.
Because the names Aleister and Alexander were written completely differently in the Iris language, Aiwass wasn't worried about anyone from Iris recognizing his identity. After all, he'd seen his biological father's face during the ceremony, and he bore a striking resemblance to himself. If someone knew him, they might be able to identify Aiwass's origins at a glance.
To put it simply, it's like the "catch the shrimp" meme. The more Iris people are, the less likely they are to understand Aiwass's meme—but the people of Avalon might understand it.
Since Her Majesty knew that Aiwass was also an adaptor of the Transcendent Path, she might have known that Shadow Demon was his contracted demon. Then she would naturally be able to see through who "Aleister" really was.
But the good news is that my vest has fallen off, but not completely——
Because the Silver Crown Dragon praised him, in other words, he was recognized by the big boss.
At least, his transcendental path was now legal. The Queen's direct words to him at this moment implied that she would not cause him any trouble.
Before, Aiwas was worried that he would encounter the court ritualist when he came to the Hall of Silver and Tin.
Although he had never seen one before...but the court ritualists employed by Avalon, no matter how he thought about it, must have at least a third level of power, right? At least if they got close, it would be easy for them to see through his identity.
The good news now is that Aiwass will not be dragged out and hanged for exposing his identity as a demonologist.
The bad news was that the great guardian next to him was already looking at him thoughtfully.
- Grandma, please take it easy! George and David are still listening!
...Or are you saying this for George?
Fortunately, the Great Guardian interrupted at this moment, changing the subject that Aiwass had no way of addressing: "What will happen next, Your Majesty? Will it be the same as before?"
Same as before?
Aiwass, who had been silent, suddenly noticed what the Great Guardian said.
"Well, that's enough."
Her Majesty nodded. "Whether Albert survives or not... I'll just have to bear the consequences myself. I'm dying soon anyway."
What is this talking about?
Aiwass was puzzled, but he didn't dare ask. He could only speculate that this might be related to some sacrificial ritual...
Fortunately, at this moment, David said in confusion: "Dad, Your Majesty...what are you talking about?"
——Good boy, you also have the desire to surpass others!
Aiwass praised David in his heart.
This topic sounds so top secret that I didn't even dare to ask. How dare you ask it directly to my face!
Miss Aleister will praise you profusely when we meet again!
But Aiwass also realized belatedly that the Queen was not sad, and it seemed to have nothing to do with whether she was used to it or not... but there were other reasons.
Because Her Majesty the Queen looked at David, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, as if she was very satisfied with his question.
The Great Guardian did not scold David, but simply lowered his head and asked, "Can you tell these children this, Your Majesty Sophia?"
"These are the future pillars of Avalon," the queen chuckled. "Tell them, these secrets must be passed on to them. The curse should be over anyway."
Aiwass was suddenly startled.
The point is, she was right...
Her Majesty the Queen actually guessed it?
This was information that Aiwass had never encountered in the game.
This has nothing to do with Aiwas not watching the plot, because players who watch the plot don’t know what this curse is.
All Aiwas knew was that the last person to die under the curse was Prince Andrew. No one else had died since him.
According to the law, after the Queen's death, the throne should be inherited by Isabella's father, Prince Albert, who is the first heir.
But unfortunately, he is a complete loser - at least from the perspective of a royal family member. But he is also a good person.
In the plot of the game, before the queen was assassinated... he heard that he might inherit the throne, so he secretly escaped.
Of course, saying he escaped might not be very accurate.
Specifically, he went traveling.
Like Isabel, Prince Albert lacked the adaptability to the path of authority. Therefore, although he was nearly fifty years old, he only had the power of second-level authority.
He had no interest in the throne, preferring to travel the country like a minstrel, carrying his custom-made guitar.
He was a brilliant luthier who revolutionized the shape and sound of the guitar. This was his masterpiece.
He had renounced his claim to the throne long ago.
However, according to the plot line in the game, after Prince Andrew's death, there are only three heirs left in the royal family:
Prince Albert, who is on the second level of authoritarianism and the third level of beauty; Princess Isabel, who is cowardly and autistic on the third level of beauty; and Prince John, who is less than three years old.
——Obviously, even if Albert clearly gave up his inheritance rights, what he said at this time would not count.
So he simply ran away. Using magic to alter his appearance, he took the alias "Yunus," a bard, and traveled the country, supporting the poor and the needy, relying on tips and performance fees. After the fall of Avalon, he also went to the Theocracy. Whenever Isabel encountered him while on the team, his voice was exaggerated, almost sing-song—back then, he was a somewhat popular comedic figure.
It wasn't until a later side storyline that players learned that "Yunus" was actually Prince Albert. He wanted to rescue Isabelle from danger, but because he was too incompetent, he ended up causing even more trouble. By that time, it was already the 2.0 storyline, Isabelle was almost level 40, and Yunus was less than level 30.
After finally completing the task, he told the truth.
It was only after he had fled that he realized his actions were not right. He was too afraid to return, so he could only do good deeds and help others to atone for his guilt of shirking responsibility. His accumulated reputation among the people also played a significant role in Avalon's restoration.
Because of this, Aiwass never considered the possibility of Albert succeeding to the throne.
When he learned that Andrew was dead, he immediately knew that Isabel would become the next queen. So at that time, Aiwass was actually quite happy, but he didn't dare to show it in front of the Great Guardian.
"The situation isn't complicated."
The Great Guardian said to the two young men, "You should know that the ancestors of the twenty founding families are now apostles of the Silver Crown Dragon, right?"
Aiwass and David nodded.
This is common sense to them.
"However, His Majesty Lancelot, who was also the founder of the nation, did not actually ascend to the Dream Realm to become an apostle of the Silver Crown Dragon."
At this moment, the Great Guardian's words startled Aiwass. "He's actually still alive, for he can't let go of anything in the material world. His body is preserved in the Chapel of Saint Guinevere, while his soul is being tempered in the Land of Shadows... a kind of phantom demon. Occasionally, he can be found in the Dream World with his colleagues who have become apostles."
"The blood of twenty-one murdered Du Lacs is all that is needed to resurrect the ancestor. He will once again descend into his own body, wielding the holy sword Arondite, awakened and unsealed by his blood—he will become the unstoppable blade of Avalon. If anyone now believes that we, Avalon, are weak, or chooses to betray Avalon... then they are in for a surprise.
"In fact, we really don't know who the curser is... because our ritualist blocked all possibilities of non-contact curses three years ago, forcing the other party to use catalyst curses. And in order to kill someone instantly, leaving us no time to rescue, a large amount of catalyst is required to set up a long-term ritual. From then on, we almost knew the problem."
Curse catalysts - things like blood, hair, nails, and underwear.
"Because even with the deliberate destruction, the person who still had access to a large amount of royal family catalyst for a long time is most likely another royal family member. This is why the royal family has never conducted a thorough investigation. Because someone was indeed poisoned..."
The Great Guardian said meaningfully, "If the curser's goal was to exterminate the royal family of Avalon, or simply to allow Princess Isabelle to succeed to the throne, then he should have started from the easy ones and moved on to the difficult ones. He wouldn't have skipped over the easy ones and poisoned the hard ones first—for example, Prince Connet, who shaved his head to avoid the curse, and was therefore poisoned to death."
"Meg has always been stubborn and believed that the man might be Prince Andrew - in fact, she also has no evidence, just a hunch that there is something wrong with him. And we actually each have our own suspects... For example, I once suspected Prince Albert. But now it seems that Meg's guess is right."
"After all, Andrew died of a heart attack..."
Her Majesty sighed. "I don't want it to be him either. But it seems there is no other possibility."
Aiwass also suddenly reacted...heart explosion, this is the symptom of the heart-breaking curse.
This curse requires blood from the fingertips, and it must be the blood from the middle fingers of both hands.
Generally speaking, this is very difficult to obtain. It is usually used in the terms of a contract to punish the violator, and the curse is burned into the contract when the fingerprint is pressed.
This is probably why people are generally not very sad...some people become serious and some people become relaxed.
After all, everyone knows that it doesn't really make much difference who of the remaining three inherits the throne.
This cause of Prince Andrew's death is basically proof that the curser backstabbed his collaborators and completely erased the evidence.
Aiwass also understood why the quest line of investigating the curse in the game was closed after Prince Andrew's death; until the Queen was assassinated at a banquet a year later, there was no further investigation into the curse and the matter was simply left unresolved.
It turned out that the upper echelons of Avalon knew that the curse had ended... and it would be difficult to obtain reliable evidence if they tried to investigate further. Since the other party had cursed Andrew to death, they should have retreated.
"Without destruction, there is no construction."
The Queen whispered, "Avalon's path is too singular. I've tried my best to change it. But it's still too late... I think they're taking action now because I've chosen to change."
"In twenty years or so... no, at most a dozen years, Avalon's rituals and curse technology will be restored. They realized that if they didn't take action now, it would be too late. That's why they took action now and chose the most brutal means to weaken Avalon."
Her expression was serious and solemn. “But Du Lak’s blood will not be shed in vain. We are the descendants of the bear-slayer… If you would destroy us, you must bear our wrath.
"Before this, only three people besides me knew about this. I will also tell this to Meg and Arius later... They are both commoners and don't know about the ritual of 'Shadow of Avalon'."
It was also at this time that Aiwass truly realized...this seemingly kind and gentle old lady was indeed a rational and ruthless monarch.
For the sake of Avalon's future, she could actually endure the royal family being cursed one by one.
In order to draw out the internal rebellion and to allow Avalon to be reborn from the ashes...
This reminds me of the previous contact between the Silver Crown Dragon and Her Majesty the Queen.
...Could it be that the destruction of Avalon was the plan of the Silver Crown Dragon?
Faking death, right?
But then, there's no need for the Queen to be assassinated... Was she really assassinated? But who knew that the Queen was the final step in the ritual...
And, speaking of which.
Shadow of Avalon seems to be the version that was opened by Isabelle's brother as a sacrifice...
Aiwass was suddenly startled and remembered something else.
——He can't let the Queen complete the "Shadow of Avalon" ceremony at this time!
Because something went wrong with the ritual, the one who descended was not Lancelot, but Scathach, the Queen of the Kingdom of Shadows!
Update completed!
Today is also more than 7,000 words!
Then there is today's sacrifice~
Recommending a friend's new book, "Thank You for Praising My Evil Deeds"
For Paradox players, read this article with ease.
(End of this chapter)
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