Swish, swish, swish!
The berserk mana was rampaging, like the divine punishment sent down by the Great God of Light in ancient myths. The force was so irresistible that it forced every mortal to remember just how minuscule they truly were in the face of the world.
Alice felt her consciousness rising. Her soul, once imprisoned by a mortal vessel, had ascended to another plane. The world, which once seemed orderly, was now full of flaws in her eyes. With just a flick of her finger, she could dismantle the very fabric of reality.
Yet, despite this sudden, gargantuan power, Alice was not distracted. Her mind held only one voice.
“Everyone who hurt Godfather must die.”
She delivered the verdict without a trace of emotion. She lifted a finger, and a violent gale instantly swept through the entirety of Abundance City.
Whoosh—
The first to be caught in the storm was, naturally, the Imperial Envoy who had been inciting the mob. His magnificent robes offered no protection against the howling wind; the cloak he once wore as a badge of power shredded like snowflakes in the face of Alice’s fury.
He was swept upward by the vortex until he came face-to-face with the girl he had just moments ago despised as “foul-blooded.”
“Mercy! Please!” the Envoy shrieked. “This… this wasn’t my idea, Miss Alice!” Tears streamed down his face as he begged, “It was Duke Montague! The Prime Minister! He’s the one behind it all! I… I was only following orders!”
“The Prime Minister?” Alice coldly repeated the word. A man who held the kingdom in his palm, a man whom even the Queen had to defer to, was spoken of by Alice as if he were a stray dog on the side of the road.
“Yes, yes!” Seeing a glimmer of hope, the Envoy spilled everything. “The Duke was furious with Archbishop Lawrence. He felt that executing the Consul was a challenge to his authority. So, he ordered me…” He peeked at Alice’s unreadable face. “He ordered me to find a way to ruin the Archbishop’s reputation. And after an investigation, the weak point I found was…”
“Was Godfather?” A crimson glint flashed in Alice’s eyes.
“Yes… yes! My Lord, mercy! I’ll never do it again—”
“I see.” Alice nodded slowly.
I’m saved? A sycophantic smile began to form on the Envoy’s face.
“Since you answered my question,” Alice tilted her head slightly. “You can go ahead and die now.”
Flash!
Alice released her grip. The Envoy plummeted from ten thousand meters in the air.
“Aaaah! AAAAAHHH!” His eyes bulged as the ground rushed up to meet him.
THUD!!!
A sickening sound.
“AAAAHHH!” Even with his skull fractured and his body crushed into a pulp, the Envoy discovered to his horror that he could still breathe. His heart was still beating. He was alive.
“Want to die?” Alice smiled faintly. “In your dreams.”
She reached up, pulled out her wooden hairclip, and let her ponytail fall. Her snow-white hair whipped wildly in the gale like an eternal blizzard.
“Godfather…” Alice stared blankly at the wooden clip in her hand. She remembered it was a small birthday gift from him years ago.
“Hehe, sorry Alice. We’re a bit poor lately, so I can only give you this.”
Green’s awkward, embarrassed smile flickered in her mind. Alice hadn’t cared about the value of the gift, but she had wondered how a veteran Paladin Commander could be so broke. It wasn’t until she heard the nuns gossiping the next day that she learned the truth.
“Did you hear? Master Green spent his own savings to buy relief grain.” “How foolish. The relief funds were already split between the Consul and the Chamber of Commerce. If he won’t take a cut, why is he paying out of his own pocket?” “Exactly. Have you seen his house? A Commander living worse than a merchant clerk.”
So that was where the money went. Hearing the nuns call him a fool only made Alice’s heart swell with pride. Her Godfather was indeed a fool—a “Great Fool” who lived the Way of the Light until the very end.
But why you? Why was it you people—the ones who lived off his kindness—who betrayed him when it mattered most?!
Alice looked down coldly at the panicked residents.
“It’s happening! The cultist’s daughter has fallen!” “She attacked the Envoy! Call Archbishop Lawrence!”
Even now, as the residents of the Lower District witnessed the Envoy’s living hell, they didn’t realize the truth. They continued to slander Green for “adopting such a monster.”
“Ungrateful insects.” Alice’s eyes were calm—not with numbness, but with the terrifying stillness of someone who had decided to hold nothing back. “You truly belong in a withered world.”
She summoned the surging mana once more. But this time, her target wasn’t one man.
“Stop, Alice!” Julia, who was desperately trying to stabilize Green’s body, stood up and shouted. “Master! Green wouldn’t want this! They—they are just blinded—”
“I know,” Alice’s voice was crystalline, carrying an unquestionable authority. “But ignorance is not their sin. Arrogance is.”
“Godfather…” Alice’s voice sounded both near and far, as if speaking to the Green at her feet and the Green across the veil of death. “I’m so tired. But don’t worry…” Her face flushed with a strange radiance, full of longing. “We will meet again soon in a world of Eternal Wither.”
“No!” Julia realized the horror of the situation. “I see it now… we fell into the trap. The Withered Cult leader’s goal from the start was to force Alice to fall! She is the Holy Mother they prophesied!”
To make a Paladin of pure Light fall? To an evil cult, there was no sacrifice more precious—especially one with their blood in her veins.
Boom—
Before Julia could move, she was pinned to the ground by a suffocating pressure.
“Miss Julia, you do not have the right to stop me,” Alice said, glancing at her coldly. “Take good care of Godfather.”
Alice leaped, soaring higher into the heavens.
Hum!
As she prepared to cast a world-ending spell, a figure rose to block her path. Archbishop Lawrence. The man who had just touched the threshold of Legend gazed at her with a grim expression.
“To reach such a realm in an instant…” Even at Level 90, Lawrence felt a crushing weight against Alice’s crimson gaze. But he gritted his teeth. “Alice! Have you forgotten Green’s—”
BOOM!!!
Lawrence was swatted from the sky by a massive concussive force.
“Mr. Lawrence,” Alice’s voice was like ice. “Please do not speak of my Godfather so casually.”
Too strong! Lawrence realized he couldn’t stop her. This power of Wither was something even the purest Holy Light could not repel. Just as the brightest sun must eventually set, the Light was being eclipsed.
“Where are you going?” Lawrence gasped, his mana nearly depleted.
“Duke Montague.” Alice spat the name out. “He is the root of this, isn’t he?”
Lawrence’s face drained of color. “Are you mad? Alice, that’s the Royal Capital! I know you are powerful, but the Duke is the Regent! The kingdom’s legendary guardians will protect him!”
“What of it?” Alice said indifferently. “I never intended to come back alive anyway.”
Swoosh—
Alice took off, turning into a streak of light across the horizon, hurtling toward the Royal Capital like a falling star.