The Systemic Lands

Chapter 352: Day 773 (5) – Viewpoints 33

Chapter 352: Day 773 (5) – Viewpoints 33

The High Priestess

I had done the impossible. It was a complete mess at times, and I was worried there for a bit as everything happened. But all my plans had succeeded and the events needed to kill the Divine Empress had been set in motion and I also had been rescued. Both of my personal goals had been fulfilled. There was only one way for her to die and it truly was a weakness of the mind. I had not been lying. I knew Michael thought I was a scammer, but I had spoken truly.

It was a long shot. But after what she did to me, I had spent every waking moment searching for a way to kill her within the constraints I was given. There were so many constraints it was baffling and exasperating. I had thought this choice would give me power and freedom. Instead, I became trapped, and then the Divine Empress had trapped me further inside my own body.

Michael liked to call it the Almighty System when I had been observing him. It was almighty, but also uncaring just as much. If only these people truly knew its vast and insurmountable power compared to us. What it had done and was still doing. I knew it all. But could not speak of any of this. Not even a hint.

The Almighty System was constantly watching through me. It did not care about the pointless power struggles of these nations and very rarely the people resting on this fragile land. It had far more pressing things to contend with.

While people might curse me, I would save everyone I could. I had hope that future would be brighter. No matter how many deaths or how grim things looked, it wasn’t over until everyone had died.

Except the Divine Empress. She was doing to die. Screw her and everything about her. Like lady, get some chill. Cutting off my arms and legs so I didn’t run away when I had surrendered. It was very extreme. When I cussed her out for that, she removed my tongue and eyes as punishment to motivate me to behave better.

She was sick in the head and was going to get what was coming to her. I cast my gaze towards her location. The monsters noticed me, but they would not attack me or really care. I could not attack them either, but their cries still unnerved me. One of the many limitations I labored under.

It had taken countless hints, pokes, and prods to make the Divine Empress go to Purgatory. But she had, and I had been hopeful she would have died, but did not hold my breath. Her survival while not a complete a surprise and been incredibly disappointing.

Her current predicament had given me hope for a brief moment. Then she had earned a second piece of favor and recognition from the Almighty System. It had made me want to kill myself, but I had to preserve my life at all costs. Another limitation from the Almighty System. I wish I could have sat on that throne and just been melted.

But I was compelled to act. The same way I was compelled to save the brat. The Almighty System wanted the child to live a bit longer so it could observe his development. I was skirting its commands doing what I had, but the child would live. Michael would ensure that. It wasn’t foresight like many assumed and I played it off as that, but careful observation and extrapolation of the various moving parts throughout these lands.

I had been ready to act if the Mistress of Shadows had tried something, but when her thoughts turned to killing the kid, she got my warning of doom. I couldn’t read minds, but seeing a person and their emotions were enough for me to work out what they were thinking in most cases and project the necessary ones back at them.

It would be like threading a needle in a moving car and a dose of luck to kill the Divine Empress, but the pieces were in place. Sorry Champion Michael, you saved me and did so much, but you would have to suffer a bit more. Consider me distracting the Master Fleshcrafter and letting you get those points as an apology and with the hope you might survive.

What the Astrologer’s Homunculus had done to those people after the calamity was depraved, but I would take his plan and make it my own and use it to kill the Divine Empress. The genius of the plan and the way he had saved himself from the calamity had been awe inspiring. No matter how much of a man slut he was, he made it up in spades with his ingenuity and applications of energy. From lowly researcher to Supreme Ruler of the UCS. Soon he would reach the pinnacle that only the Divine Empress had ascended to with her death.

Now to get the timing just right so the Divine Empress arrived at the precise moment and the Astrologer had the knowledge he needed to kill her. Timing was everything as the last collision of forces had shown. The Mistress of Shadows had been unexpected, but a minor player with a build that echoed the weakness she held onto.

To make things happen would take more work, nudging the pieces into place. It was frustrating that this job didn’t come with health insurance, but one does not live under the yoke of the Almighty System and get the right to complain. That was something that needed to be earned. Perhaps, I would live to see that day.

The fact that the Astrologer would become the strongest afterwards was something I knew would happen, but there was no way to stop with my plan. The Divine Empress had to die, and he was the only one who could pull it off.

I would need to begin thinking of ways to handle him when the time came. The airship had a smooth flight back at least as the monsters did not attack it with me onboard. The Master Fleshcrafter was working extra hard to stay in the air. His time would come. But he could wait for now. I planned to deal with him as personally as possible. For no matter how he hid, I would always know him. No person could truly hide from the Almighty System and its gaze I borrowed.

Keeping the monsters at bay for my people who had risked and sacrificed so much to save me from my torment was the least I could do. We needed to prepare, for with the fall of the Dragon Empire, many events would spiral into motion.

Clarissa always did have such wonderful ideas on how to properly run a government. I would have to pay attention to her for a while. It was boring, but unlike the Divine Empress, I did not want a rubbish heap that was on fire. I also needed the points. Using my skills was quite taxing. The only way for me to get points was to depend on others.

Just like monsters. I was forbidden from killing any human directly. They were to live and die by their own merits. I just needed to arrange the pieces, so they all fell where they needed to go.

The Inquisitor

I was carried back to the pillars for a restoration. I could only hope it would work. The soldiers set me there and I barely managed to grip it while puking out my guts. Blood and bits of flesh poured out of my throat.

Despite the immense pain I was suffering, I could only feel like a failure. I had drawn on the energy of the world to keep going. At the last moment my body had failed me. I had pushed too far. Grandmaster Hei Long had warned me and trained me. But I had failed her. She had failed me.

The young master had been kidnapped and I was going to die. I didn’t have the strength to cry. “What happened?” the Envoy asked me. I puked out more blood and bits of my guts.

“Champion Michael and the Fifth Caliphate attacked at the same time,” I gasped out. I could tell the Envoy was looking around at all the damage.

“The Divine Empress? Where is she?” I wanted to cry at that. I had seen the fake and had heard whispers about what had happened. All these people were idiots. They didn’t deserve me or my help.

“Champion Michael used a monster to impersonate the Divine Empress and stole the treasury,” I gasped out and began coughing. I couldn’t stop. This was the end. I gripped the store pillar praying for salvation. Anyone, please help me.

“How dare you let this happen!” the Envoy shouted. He kept shouting in the background. I was tired, so tired. From grinding countless hours, to barely winning a difficult fight against Death, the favor of the Heavens themselves or whatever entity was running this place, and finally the Divine Empress crushing me in battle.

I remembered that fight all too well. It had been a long match, but I just didn’t have the energy to keep up or escape her. Once she had me in her hands, all I could do was swear to serve.

The Envoy continued yelling at me in a panic. He had clearly lost his mind, not that there ever was much to begin with. He was always the first to get motivated, well after the Chief Diviner, but he had disappeared. Hopefully he had escaped this hell.

I my limbs were trembling, there was no chance that I was going to make it. I had been such an idiot. A stupid foolish idiot. But I was afraid. Afraid of dying. Afraid of what would happen to me. I had let my fear control me.

My mind drifted to my husband. I was unable to have a child, but he had stayed with me regardless. Our love was the hope that kept me going. My vision was already blurry from the backlash and self-inflicted curse damage. The tears didn’t help either. Drawing on the energy of the world, made you of the world. My body was breaking apart. My mind was fragmenting as I couldn’t even remember my own name.

I pictured my husband smiling at me one last time. If he was going to be taken to this place, this hell, then I would give him the chance I never had. “How could you fail!? The Divine Empress will punish you for this betrayal!”

Also, if I was going to die, this asshole could shut up. He knew nothing. He was a frog in the well. A slave at best. An idiot at worst. I teleported behind him and jabbed the back of his head. His brain began to rot, not like there was much left there anyway after what the Master Fleshcrafter had done to him.

With the city and the lab wrecked, he would not be coming back again. If the Divine Empress wanted to have an Empire she could run it herself. At least I would avoid being grafted into that stupid throne of hers. The screaming and décor were hideous and garish.

I was glad Champion Michael had melted it. I wish I had the courage to stand up for decency and against the wonton waste and abject cruelty to the Dragon Empire. I served since there was no other choice. I had seen what had happened to those who didn’t obey. I wanted to live. Now it was all too late, at least for me.

If I was going to die. Then I would do so with no regrets. All the people I had killed for the Divine Empress weighed on me. If I was going to meet my maker than I would do one last good act before I died. I gathered my breath to shout my last words. Let them strike at the Divine Empress in a way, I never could.

“The Divine Empress is dead! Save yourselves! Long live the Dragon Empire!” I screamed with the last of my voice and collapsed to the ground. Too weak to cough anymore as my flesh and blood choked me to death. My husband, I am coming to join you, wherever you are.