Chapter 186-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
Marcy's consciousness hadn't disappeared. For Ye Zheng, this was temporarily a good thing. She could inherit the other's ability and memories, but couldn't inherit the other's wisdom and experience.
"Since you lost that memory, why are you certain the other party is a true deity?"
Ye Zheng discovered a suspicious point and asked.
"In my cognition, that They are a deity is like the sun rising from the east every day—something that needs no questioning."
"...That sounds somewhat strange," Ye Zheng said.
Deep in her consciousness, Marcy laughed. "Strange? If a human could mentally suggest me to this degree and grant me the ability to pass down [Mother of All Things], then they'd be no different from a deity."
Marcy's answer made Ye Zheng fall into brief silence. She blinked and quickly discovered another wrong place.
"Wait, Pope Marcy, is this deity you're talking about the God of Hope, or... does a second deity exist?"
"I don't know, Ye Zheng. I have no memories of Their appearance or voice. I only remember the prophecy They brought and my agreement with Them."
Without needing Marcy to explain, Ye Zheng closed her eyes again. She already knew what happened next from her memories.
The deity brought a prophecy that a world-ending level Demonic Domain would descend again five hundred years later. Marcy, who received the prophecy, immediately asked for a way to save the world. The generous deity granted her the ability to pass down inheritance.
After waking, Marcy chose to make this prophecy public, but fabricated that there would be an Agent of the God of Hope to save the apocalypse. This way, it could attract the Empire's attention and prepare early without causing too much panic.
Of course, it could also use this prophecy to grant the Hope Sei Curia an even more sacred halo.
Everything went as Marcy predicted. To deal with the prophesied disaster, the Empire increased research and investment in abilities and Demonic Domains. People's faith in the God of Hope became increasingly devout. The Curia's power even once surpassed the royal family. Pope Marcy's prestige was unparalleled for a time.
Then at the prime age of fifty-five, Marcy decided to die.
To preserve her consciousness in [Mother of All Things], she had to pay a price. After death, her value would continue in generation after generation of inheritance.
Fifty-five-year-old Marcy still looked young. If not for her mature and generous temperament, some might think she was only in her twenties. [Mother of All Things] was so powerful that even Marcy found it dreamlike. Almost no one in this world could kill her. If she didn't choose death herself, she could live to two hundred years old, or even longer.
Marcy chose her student as her successor.
From the moment she saved her before awakening [Mother of All Things], she had always followed her, from a small city girls' school to the Empire's Sei Curia. She was her most intelligent student and now also the Curia's highly praised Saintess.
Everything was ready, but before her secret inheritance ceremony, the royal family announced shocking news to the Empire.
Royal researchers discovered that the bones left by the demon dragon could repel Demonic Domains. Next, the royal family would bury Dragon Bones throughout the Empire to protect the people's safety, but to concentrate forces to deal with the world-ending disaster five hundred years later, they couldn't balance every region.
Marcy immediately sensed something wrong. She wanted to delay Aston XIV's actions but encountered an assassination.
The opponent possessed extremely strong destructive power. The destruction speed even exceeded her creation speed. If someone hadn't arrived in time, she probably wouldn't have been able to pass down the ability before falling into permanent slumber with [Mother of All Things].
But Marcy at that time already felt her life force draining at an irreversible speed, her consciousness nearly collapsing. She grasped the hand of the arriving Saintess and completed part of the inheritance ceremony on the spot.
She used [Mother of All Things] to create a vessel. At the moment of death, her self-consciousness merged with [Mother of All Things] into the vessel. The vessel devoured the inheritor, and the inheritor internalized the vessel into their body, thus completing the first and most important step of the inheritance ceremony.
The second step was completing the Pope's coronation ceremony.
The final step... was obtaining Marcy's ultimate recognition.
The memory Ye Zheng saw stopped at the moment Marcy created the vessel and committed suicide. She couldn't glimpse Marcy's memories as consciousness.
But she also noticed something wrong with Marcy's inheritance ceremony.
Because the second Pope's name and life were preserved very completely—named Kendi Colonna, not the first Saintess at all!
The first Saintess didn't leave a specific death time in the Curia's history books, but based on the timing of circulated deeds, she died around thirty or forty years old, far too early.
The inheritance ceremony was passed down generation by generation among Popes. Marcy had clearly already passed [Mother of All Things] to the first Saintess—
Suddenly, Ye Zheng's eyes darkened. She was almost certain: "So, the person who arrived when you were dying wasn't the real Saintess."
The atmosphere stagnated. Marcy's slightly weary voice sounded. "It was an ability user with transformation abilities. Although I killed that assassin then, my consciousness was already scattered. I thought I'd grasped the last straw, not expecting it was the enemy's backup plan."
Ye Zheng pondered. "I think even if you discovered the other party was a disguised enemy, you would still have passed it to them."
"Because at that time, you only had that one choice. For the future, you had to pass down [Mother of All Things]."
"...You're right."
After a moment of silence, Marcy answered.
Ye Zheng smiled. "So don't blame yourself."
"Let me guess. After your consciousness entered the other's body and discovered something wrong, you didn't give them recognition, so the inheritance ceremony lacked one link."
"Is this missing link related to why each Pope only has a 25-year lifespan after succession?"
As her words fell, Ye Zheng patiently waited for an answer, but heard applause suddenly echoing in her mind.
"Correct. The short lifespan is backlash from the missing inheritance link."
"Consciousness preservation is related to life force. After I was assassinated, my life force drained rapidly and couldn't support five hundred years, so I chose to put my consciousness to sleep, to wake again five hundred years later."
Marcy's speaking tone was clear and solemn, measured and controlled, with a special sense of reassurance. She said, "I'm very glad that after waking, I saw you, Ye Zheng."
"[Mother of All Things] is an ability belonging to women. I think your existence awakened me. When I saw you for the first time, I believed we share the same goal."
"My consciousness can't appear often. When you need it, you can call my name."
Ye Zheng nodded, showing a friendly smile. She extended her right hand forward in a half-fist, making a handshake gesture, then clenched her fist.
"Thank you, Pope Marcy. I think we'll cooperate pleasantly."
Ye Zheng withdrew her hand, fingers interlaced supporting her chin. She suddenly showed a puzzled expression, a trace of cunning flashing quickly through her eyes.
"Pope Marcy, the memories you presented to me seem to have omitted some details. Perhaps you think they're unimportant, but I'm very curious. Would you mind answering for me?"
"What is it?"
"For example, between the royal family announcing the Dragon Bone news and you encountering assassination, two months passed. According to Pope Marcy's status and personality, you must have taken some action. Would you mind satisfying my curiosity?"
Ye Zheng asked politely, hidden edges beneath calm words.
In that memory, Marcy had already prepared for inheritance but paused the ceremony after learning the Dragon Bone news, indicating she had more important things to do—temporarily more important than the inheritance ceremony concerning the future five hundred years later.
Dragon Bone had always been the royal family's most important secret. So far, following the Dragon Bone clues, Ye Zheng had uncovered many shocking secrets. Yet such important Dragon Bone only flashed briefly in the memories Marcy gave her.
Moreover, was that assassination just ordinary political struggle? Or had Marcy grasped some incredible secret that someone had to kill her for?
"...I didn't want to tell you this early."
Marcy's gentle voice became somewhat indifferent. She said, "That will bring you fatal disaster. Even so, do you still choose to know now?"
Ye Zheng lightly raised an eyebrow. She had always been dancing on cliff edges, carrying countless secrets and killing intent. She didn't mind being a bit more dangerous.
"Good, then I'll tell you—"
"After the Emperor announced burying Dragon Bone throughout the Empire, I sent people to investigate secretly and actually pieced together the truth about the Demonic Domain."
"The demon dragon brought the Demonic Domain."
"The Empire had the demon dragon first, then attracted the Demonic Domain's descent. We found the royal family's research materials from that year. Aston XIV was raising that demon dragon even before the Demonic Domain descended!"
"The demon dragon's curse is inviting the Demonic Domain's arrival. Even after its death, its bones are still continuously attracting those Demonic Domains."
Hearing this, Ye Zheng lightly drew a breath. She had long discovered that Dragon Bone attracted Demonic Domains, but she hadn't expected the demon dragon wasn't a dimensional creature but a demon that grew on the Empire's land?
She had seen the era before the Demonic Domain visited in Marcy's memories. That era had no monsters at all. How did the royal family raise such a monster?
Even Marcy didn't know the answer to this question.
Ye Zheng's thoughts raced rapidly. Her eyes were grave as she guessed how Marcy, who learned the truth back then, would have acted.
Marcy's goal had always been to prevent the world-ending Demonic Domain five hundred years later from destroying humanity. After knowing the Demonic Domain's source was the demon dragon, then as long as she found a way to destroy the Dragon Bone, she could stop the Demonic Domain's continued visits.
This method didn't even need to be realized five hundred years later. Pope Marcy with top-level power and influence could take action back then, so she shelved the inheritance ceremony.
"I had just learned the truth and hadn't had time to take action when his people found me. I didn't expect Aston XIV still hid such powerful individuals."
"The royal family's secrets might just be the tip of the iceberg. Ye Zheng, can you guess how many of your secrets the Aston royal family already knows?"
Marcy's peaceful tone had a persuasive flavor, but by her ear, it somehow seemed damp and cold.
Ye Zheng looked up at this small prayer room. The peaceful and tranquil prayer room's every corner seemed suspicious. The small window's sunlight became glaring. The statue's eyes seemed to be closely watching her.
"Thank you for your answer, Miss Marcy."
Ye Zheng suddenly stood up from her seat and walked toward the door.
"Please rest. All problems will have solutions."
A seemingly present, seemingly absent sigh dissipated in the consciousness of her mind.
Sensing Marcy's presence temporarily disappearing, Ye Zheng's steps paused. She summoned another existence in her mind.
"System."
[I'm here.]
The mechanical voice replied.
"Can Marcy sense your existence?"
Ye Zheng asked straightforwardly.
[Unless I want her to know of my existence, she can't possibly sense me. We're not in the same dimension.]
"Very good."
"If possible, help me monitor her."
Marcy's existence was powerful assistance, but Ye Zheng couldn't easily trust her, even though they now had a very close connection and common goal.
Perhaps precisely because they had a common goal and similar life philosophies, she had to be vigilant of Marcy.
A teacher with ideals and enthusiasm, a mature politician skilled at winning hearts, a Pope with strong obsession about saving the people—Ye Zheng saw a bit of familiar shadow and developed a subtle sense of kinship.
But regardless, as long as their goals aligned, she hoped the future path could be traveled with more people.
"Your Holiness, Miss Bai Muqing is still waiting for you."
Ye Zheng walked out of the prayer room. A Knight came forward to inform her. Ye Zheng was somewhat surprised, glanced at the time, then smiled helplessly.
"Let's go. Take me to see her."
Bai Muqing was pure and stubborn. This personality occasionally made Ye Zheng feel troublesome, but having just communicated with Marcy, Ye Zheng felt Bai Muqing's personality was still precious and lovely.
Moreover, she always only came to visit specifically when she had matters.
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