"[Present]? [Present] is obviously..."
Muen had just been about to follow the flow and snap back at the Witch of Repentance for asking such a stupid question, but when those words slid through his mind, his entire body froze again.
Right.
What about [present]?
Under normal circumstances, anyone who heard that question would think it was utterly stupid. Present was present. Did that even need to be asked?
But this was not normal.
Because right now, he was not in [present], but in... [past].
From the moment Muen had stepped into Saint Blancfazesiya, he had been in [past] all along.
Only for some reason, he would occasionally return to [present] and catch a glimpse of the royal capital gradually walking toward destruction.
But even in the past of [past], the [present] he had seen had already been destroyed to a degree far beyond what he was seeing now. Then, in the present of [past], at this moment when the royal capital had already begun stepping into destruction...
What about the present of [present]?
Time was not standing still.
Whether [past] or [present], both would continue flowing forward.
"In truth, this plan is divided into three stages."
Perhaps she really was that confident, completely unafraid of Muen doing anything else. The Witch of Repentance simply clasped her hands behind her back and strolled leisurely through the Ritual Hall, which was full of injured clergy and ruins.
Clergy kept struggling to their feet, intending to launch a counterattack, only to be casually killed by the Witch of [N O V E L I G H T] Repentance.
Blood scattered like blossoms, unstoppable.
Without a formation prepared in advance, without an archbishop, even these well-trained clergy were far too fragile before a Crowned One.
"Stage one: first, we had to control that old thing and obtain control over Saint Blancfazesiya’s great barrier, because only by controlling the great barrier could we completely peel this city away from the world itself."
"This is why, to a certain extent, we were actually 'helping' the Empire. Because only enough pressure could make those fools in the Kingdom long for a life-saving straw, even if they knew full well that straw was poisonous."
Blood kept converging, becoming a broad river.
"And only by peeling this city away from the world itself could we manipulate its timeline to a certain degree."
With a light stroke from the Witch of Repentance, a tributary split from the main current of the river of blood.
"After all, shaking the river of time of the entire world is something only gods can do. With only us, it is impossible."
The tributary continued extending, flowing for a certain distance before the Witch of Repentance suddenly cut it off.
"After completely peeling away this city, the next thing to do was cut off its timeline. But what we cut away was not [past], but... [present]."
The Witch of Repentance severed a mass of blood and let it flow alone, touching neither the main current nor the tributary.
Blood was constantly flowing, just like time.
So even after a portion was cut away, the remaining tributary continued flowing forward, and in the end... it converged with the main river of blood.
"Once [present] was cut away, [past] in a certain sense became [present]. It lost several days of time, yet could still border reality. That is the Saint Blancfazesiya we are currently in."
"Thus, outside the river of time belonging to the entire world, two branches appeared."
The Witch of Repentance casually tore off the arm of a clergyman who wanted to fight desperately. From that clenched fist, she playfully pried out one finger, and like an excellent teacher, used that finger to point things out for Muen.
"One is the [past] branch that merges with the main current, which is the Saint Blancfazesiya you are in right now."
"The other is the [present] that temporarily touches no timeline, merely moving forward in solitude. That is the place you would occasionally 'accidentally' stumble into."
"Two branches mean two stages. The [past] branch is what I just spoke of: controlling the royal capital, peeling away the city, the first stage that serves as the foundation for everything."
"As for the second branch, [present]... that is the third stage of the plan. And because that timeline is sealed off, because it does not touch the main current of time, we in that timeline would be completely unaffected by any outside forces while completing the plan. Whether the Empire... or the Church, we could peacefully do what we wanted there. Of course, we would meet some resistance along the way, but a disorganized mob with no outside help is nothing more than ripples on this great river of time. They would soon be submerged."
"So, in a certain sense, those two branches run in parallel. Our first plan and our third plan were also carried out at the same time. This is the solution we found in order to obtain enough time and space right under the Church’s nose. Don’t blame us, all right? Who told you all to be so aggressive?" the Witch of Repentance giggled.
"..."
[Past] and [present].
Branch and main current.
The first plan... and the third plan.
Carried out at the same time...
Following the Witch of Repentance’s guidance, Muen kept thinking, kept calculating. The entire world’s timeline seemed to truly become a long river, surging before Muen’s eyes, gradually sketching out an even more painful and despairing reality.
"No."
Muen suddenly discovered something and said:
"That’s wrong. That’s wrong! A branch that cannot connect to the main current cannot even be considered a branch. At most, it can only be... rootless water. It would dry up very quickly! It can’t possibly become an independent timeline!"
The reason a timeline was called a timeline was because it was a complete line in the first place.
Could a timeline that could not merge into the world’s main current even be called a timeline?
Just like a stream that could not flow into a river. Could that still be called a tributary?
Not observed by anyone, not known by anyone, unable even to leave any trace upon the world. A [present] like that was nothing more than an ethereal phantom that existed only in theory.
It was absolutely not real.
"Giggle. As expected of Muen Campbell. No wonder the Holy Lord specifically instructed me to leave you a first-class seat."
The Witch of Repentance covered her mouth and laughed softly, her eyes filled with admiration, and killing intent.
But this time, she was not in a hurry to act, because for a performer, making the audience fully understand the story was also one of her duties.
"Indeed. A timeline that cannot merge with the world’s main current is equivalent to a timeline that does not exist at all. That is why... I called that the third stage. And before that, there was still the second stage of the plan, wasn’t there?"
"The second stage? What is it?" Muen frowned.
"..."
The Witch of Repentance lowered her head slightly.
Muen lowered his head along with her.
Then his gaze landed on Archbishop Ision on the ground.
"Don’t tell me..." Muen’s pupils shrank.
"That’s right. The second stage is Archbishop Ision."
The Witch of Repentance said, "It is actually very simple. The premise for carrying out the third stage is that the royal capital completely falls under the control of our Salvation Society, with no force left that can confront us head-on. And the reason the balance of power in the entire royal capital collapses is the archbishop’s death."
"If the archbishop does not die, then the conditions for executing the third stage cannot be achieved. In that case, the [present] timeline carrying out the third stage will forever be nothing but an ethereal false image. At most, through the turbulence of the timeline, people might accidentally glimpse it once or twice, but it absolutely cannot become the true [present]."
"If that were the case, after all this effort, everything we did would amount to nothing more than turning back Saint Blancfazesiya’s time by several days. And since that reversal would be relative to the world’s main current, it would have no meaning whatsoever."
"But as long as the archbishop dies..."
The Witch of Repentance lightly drew another line. Those two branches converged, then merged together without distinction into... the world’s main current.
"The first stage and the third stage... will connect smoothly like this."
"And the result is..."
The Witch of Repentance spoke each word clearly, as if announcing the final chapter of the story upon this stage:
"The [present] from the other timeline will replace [past] and become true [reality]!"
Boom!
A massive sound, as if worlds were colliding, suddenly rang out.
The entire city shook.
A violent dizziness assaulted him.
Muen forcibly steadied his mind and looked up.
He had not crossed over. Instead, a faint yet enormous phantom was covering the entire city at astonishing speed.
The flames were no longer limited to several districts. They had spread across the entire city.
Smoke rose everywhere. Ashes and ruins were everywhere.
There were not even cries anymore. A suffocating deathly silence enveloped this city of death.
Reality was being rewritten... no. It should be said that it was being restored to the form it was supposed to have.
In just an instant.
The Kingdom’s royal capital, Saint Blancfazesiya, no longer merely stepping into destruction, but directly and completely destroyed...
Descended in full before Muen.
