Chapter 308-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
After the large-scale Demonic Domain invasion, the Empire's transportation ground to a halt. Trains stopped running. By ordinary means, traveling from the upper district to the lower district would take at least five days.
Sierra couldn't wait that long. She ordered the Disciples to search the entire city, and in some count's estate they found a flying mutant beast.
With the Emperor missing and no one to command the upper district's military forces, the aristocrats clung to their resources and fortified their positions against the Demonic Domains—until Sierra and the Disciples came knocking. Some only realized how catastrophically the upper district's defenses had been breached in the moments before they died.
Sierra took many heads, including those of the people who had fled over the corpses of hundreds during the Blood Flower Demonic Domain ten years ago. They didn't even remember her, yet put on a show of remorse, weeping and begging for mercy.
After savoring their pathetic display, she killed them—and killed their family members who glared at her with hateful eyes, for good measure.
Sierra knew all too well how dangerous that kind of look could be.
She'd also wanted to claim the Emperor's head, but the coward was nowhere to be found.
She sat astride the towering beast, draped in a crimson cape stripped from the Royal Knights Order, surveying the ravaged upper district below. Red-clad knights scurried like ants amid the wreckage, busy fending off Demonic Domains or rioters. The white buildings gleamed under bright sunlight, now tinged with a bloody shadow.
"You're going alone?"
Below, a woman with savage scars on her arms looked up and asked.
"This is my business. I don't need any of you."
The words came out willful and cruel, yet the scarred woman merely smiled. "All right then. Safe travels."
She was supposed to have died the day she'd recklessly provoked Sierra. Being alive and standing in the once-unreachable upper district—the woman seemed to have no regrets left.
She suddenly tossed something up to Sierra. A flash of metallic cold light traced an arc through the air. Sierra caught it reflexively, then wore a peculiar expression.
"It's my wrist-mounted crossbow. I've imbued it with my enhancement ability. If you run into trouble, it might come in handy."
"Goodbye, Sierra."
Sierra gripped the crossbow in her hand. She finally lowered her gaze to study the woman's face, her look one of confusion and scrutiny.
She had brought a large number of ability users who'd pledged loyalty to her from the West District. By now, fewer than a hundred remained. The aristocrats and knights were no helpless lambs—their noble blood mingled with the common blood of the rioters on the cobblestones, drying into brown stains.
The beast took flight under Sierra's ability. She didn't look back once at the followers she'd left behind in the upper district.
Cold wind slapped against her face. Sierra just stared, puzzled, at the crossbow strapped to her forearm. She could clearly sense the woman's energy imbued within it.
This shouldn't have been possible. [Damage Nullification] eliminated all energy that came near her. Before this, it had only failed twice—
Once with Percy's inexplicable sword. Once with that girl, Lucy.
This was the third time.
Without warning, Sierra felt an emotion she hadn't known in ages—fear. Since the day the world had abandoned her in the Blood Flower Demonic Domain at age seven, she had never once felt this kind of weakness.
It was as though something was slipping out of control, or something was clawing its way out of that cold, hardened heart.
The urge to see Ye Zheng grew even stronger.
Sierra had denied it countless times and still couldn't help but admit: Ye Zheng was the person in this world most likely to understand her.
High in the air, the beast beat its wings urgently, slicing through the wind.
*
Bai Muqing had first, in front of everyone in the South District, defeated every ability user planning to head for the East District. Word of her departure for the East District spread with remarkable speed, even with communication networks all but down. It then took her two days to reach the lower district on foot.
Along the way she encountered over a dozen Demonic Domains. She couldn't bring herself to ignore the disasters within her sight, and so lost some time.
The closer she got to the East District, the more alarmed she became. The concentration and intensity of Demonic Domains here far surpassed the South District—like a colossal arena.
The East District's City Wall was in ruins. Bai Muqing stood atop the crumbling rampart. A Demonic Domain was slowly creeping toward her position. She was about to act when someone called her name.
"Bai Muqing?"
"It really is you!"
The arrival of the four was already within [Divine Domain]'s awareness. Bai Muqing had no intention of acknowledging them, but they didn't share that sentiment.
"Are you here to stop the Demon Dragon and Ye Zheng too?"
They wore the uniforms of the Divine Academy—white robes faded nearly gray, golden buttons dulled. All four looked road-weary and exhausted.
"Five days ago we witnessed the Pope—Ye Zheng's betrayal via the broadcast in the upper district and set out immediately. Please tell us we're not the first to arrive?"
Seeing not a flicker of change in Bai Muqing's expression, the leading student dropped his smile and adopted a more earnest tone.
"We're deeply sorry. Before, we were misled by that demon Ye Zheng and genuinely believed the Bai Family had betrayed the Hope God. At school we may have said some... But we know now—you are the most devout believer, the one who truly deserved to be Saintess..."
"What are you talking about? Do I know you?"
Bai Muqing couldn't help cutting him off. After the Bai Family was punished by the Sei Curia, she had returned to the Divine Academy briefly to collect a few belongings before moving to the lower district. She had no memory of these four whatsoever.
"What I mean is, as fellow outstanding students of the Divine Academy, we should unite at a time like this and purge the traitors of the Hope Curia—"
"I see."
The four instantly lit up with excitement—but before they could celebrate, the ground beneath them suddenly caved in. Their bodies sank until only their heads remained above ground, thrashing around in panic.
"Bai Muqing, what are you doing?! Are you trying to hog all the glory of saving the world?"
"Or are you a traitor too, just like Ye Zheng!"
They were far too noisy, Bai Muqing thought. But they weren't entirely useless.
"Tell everyone who arrives after you: the East District already has me."
"Cross the gate." Bai Muqing paused. She was obviously not practiced at making threats. "And I'll kill you."
With that, she vaulted over the wall and leaped deep into the district, leaving four trembling heads behind on the other side.
The cool breeze thoroughly sobered them. Gazing at the blindingly white Demonic Domain barriers churning within the district, their humiliation at being effortlessly swatted aside by Bai Muqing hadn't yet faded before the overwhelming energy of expanding Demonic Domains crashed into them. They had never felt such a visceral, tangible wave of Demonic Domain power. The reckless bravery of youth ebbed away, replaced by fear and regret.
Anyone who dared come here was insane!
Their cries for help and curses startled a crow. It swept past the four panic-stricken heads, over the chaotic district, around the invading alien spaces and the hurrying humans, and finally alighted on a tombstone at the district's far end.
This was the quietest place in the East District.
Even the recent devastating flood had not disturbed it.
"In memory of those who sacrificed their lives in the Blood Flower Incident. The Empire will remember you always."
Ye Zheng read the inscription aloud and gently laid a bouquet beside the stone.
She wore the simplest white robe. Black strands of hair fell naturally along her face as she bowed, revealing the bridge of her nose—like a drop of pale ink dissolving into the graveyard's water-still silence.
"...Ye Zheng."
A voice called her name from behind, every syllable trembling with tangled emotion, shattering the graveyard's peace.
"Why are you here!"
Ye Zheng looked mildly puzzled. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"
Well—if she absolutely had to answer:
"This graveyard holds the remains of citizens who perished in the Blood Flower Incident. As someone who came after, I should pay my respects."
Ye Zheng breathed a soft sigh, then turned to face the uninvited guest with the faintest trace of a smile.
Urgent footsteps pressed into the soft earth. Percy flinched as if she'd struck a nerve, his voice barely squeezed from his throat: "You have no right to say things like that anymore. I won't be fooled by you a second time."
That had been their first conversation—a year ago, when he'd happened upon Ye Zheng in this very place.
"Every time you appear before someone, it's calculated by design—including the first time we met here. If you truly cared about the people buried here, you would never have unleashed a catastrophe like this!"
"What kind of catastrophe?"
Ye Zheng asked, a flicker of surprise crossing her eyes. Given Percy's reaction, it seemed his own consciousness was still in control for now.
Then where was that man hiding?
Hearing Ye Zheng's breezy retort, Percy's chest heaved violently. He gripped the sword at his side and came no closer.
He suddenly lowered his voice: "Ye Zheng, I killed the Emperor—that monster who lived for five hundred years."
"...Mm. Since you killed him, you must have learned that a great deal about five hundred years ago isn't what it seemed."
Percy nodded. He slowly drew his sword, his palm melting into the hilt like molten iron.
"But right now, the truth of five hundred years ago doesn't matter."
Ye Zheng stood with her hands behind her back, one brow slightly arched.
"The truth from five hundred years ago doesn't matter—killing me is what matters most?"
"No. What matters most is that I have received the true oracle of the Hope God!"
He suddenly raised his head. The dull blade erupted in golden light, and a flash of gold swept through his eyes.
Across from him, Ye Zheng missed none of his subtlest shifts. Her tone was laden with meaning: "An oracle..."
"Ye Zheng, I'll ask you one question only—is it possible that killing you could shut down the Demonic Domain invasion passages?"
The golden sword sank deep into the earth, quivering faintly.
Ye Zheng's gaze traveled from the Holy Sword upward until it met Percy's.
"Yes."
"That possibility exists."
The Demonic Domain catastrophe had begun with Wang Tao's consciousness resonating with his counterpart Vincent in this world through the Main System. But now she was the foundation of the two worlds' link. If she were gone, the Main System's connection to this world would be severed, and the Demonic Domains drawn here by the Main System might indeed vanish.
The disaster might truly end.
Percy hadn't expected Ye Zheng to admit it so readily, without a moment's hesitation.
The gleaming sword tip pointed at her, unflinching.
Golden light danced in the depths of her calm, dark eyes. The composed arc of Ye Zheng's lips didn't waver. His righteous killing intent was a pebble tossed into a boundless ocean.
Killing herself—Ye Zheng knew this might have to be filed as the absolute last resort, the final option when all else failed.
But she never considered it. No matter which path lay ahead, Ye Zheng would make certain she witnessed victory with her own eyes!
"Come and try."
"Let's find out who will truly be the one to save this nation."
Ye Zheng extended her hand. An aqueous glow blazed to life. Her silhouette softened and blurred like a reflection on water, yet the blaze in her eyes only burned fiercer.
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