Chapter 113

“The reason why I need to seal off a small part of your memory is related to this trial.”

The Witch Miss gazed calmly at Lynn and spoke softly.

“So, what kind of trial is it?”

Lynn sensed a slight shift in the atmosphere, and his expression grew serious.

To be honest, the trials assigned to him by the Witch Miss had seemed a bit childish.

Whether it was destroying the Church of Heavenly Justice’s beliefs, hunting transcendent beings, or pleasing Her Highness the Princess to escape her clutches, none had posed a significant hindrance to him.

Of course, that was just by his own standards.

For an ordinary transcendent being, these trials could certainly rival difficulties above the second stage.

Now, with the Witch Miss surprisingly volunteering to set a trial for him, he couldn’t help but overthink.

Perhaps real challenges were about to unfold.

As he felt Lynn’s gaze, the Witch Miss did not immediately answer his question. Instead, she slowly lowered her head to look at the chains binding her.

Although most of the chains that had initially restrained her were broken, a few still remained.

These chains showed no signs of cracking under the momentum of fate that Lynn had stirred.

It was as if the divinity and strength of these Order Chains far surpassed any of the other deities in the Temple of the Gods.

Lynn seemed to have noticed this situation too.

Because he had absorbed the core characteristics of the Wishing Jar on behalf of Her Highness the Princess, she didn’t need to sleep, nor did she have to deal with the drawbacks of the Creation Demon or Sealed Items.

After all, her growth rate was practically on cheat mode.

Thinking about it, perhaps her slumber in the original plot was the world’s will correcting the narrative pace.

If Ivyst’s growth were to surge too quickly, the hero Xia would face the predicament of not being able to keep up with his power level.

Thus, the world’s will arranged for Ivyst to face the fate of needing to sleep, waiting for the main character’s group’s growth.

However, this balance was now broken.

This meant that from here on out, Ivyst would be much stronger than her counterpart in the original plot during the same period.

While a time span of a hundred thousand years is long, such a degree of deviation can be corrected slowly, but it could never be completely erased.

For the Witch Miss, who was sealed here and at a standoff with the powers of the gods, even a slight improvement in strength could break this balance.

After all, those gods didn’t become exceptionally strong in the later stages; otherwise, they wouldn’t have banded together.

So at this moment, Lynn could see that most of the Witch Miss’s shackles had already vanished.

Of course, there was still a long way to go before she could be completely free.

Because the entire Temple of the Gods was one gigantic seal, and these Order Chains were merely a link in the heavy sealing.

However, what needed immediate attention was the remaining Order Chains entangling her.

In this regard, Lynn had a vague guess.

The Witch Miss slowly raised her hand, her fingertip gliding gently over the surface of the chains as if trying to sense their temperature.

Then, it hovered around her pale and delicate neck.

Unfortunately, there was a shackle clasped there.

Under Lynn’s gaze, the Witch Miss’s slender fingers gradually tightened, seemingly trying to crush the Order Chain.

Yet, it felt as solid as a fortress, utterly unshakeable.

The temperature in the surroundings unknowingly dropped significantly.

Lynn instinctively wrapped his cloak tighter around himself, only to notice that those crimson eyes were now looking at him.

“This Order Chain comes from my sister Cyrilina, who will become the future Mother of All Things Vital, the ruler of cosmic feminine power.”

The Witch Miss spoke these words without displaying any of Ivyst’s coldness or hatred.

She sounded almost too calm.

It was as if she were merely introducing someone, and after a pause, she gently grasped her right wrist.

There too, an Order Chain was clasped.

“This Order Chain comes from the Second Generation Moon Goddess Tia.”

Next, she lifted one of her delicate white feet from under the ragged black skirt, exposing her slender ankle and pink soles to Lynn.

Food-grade… Lynn almost wanted to make a snarky remark, but the serious atmosphere made it hard to think that way.

“The chain on my ankle comes from Otherkind Queen Lilith.”

“And there’s this one.”

She meticulously showed Lynn all the remaining Order Chains on her body, as if she were just an outsider.

Yet for some reason, Lynn sensed that beneath her gaze lay some heavier, more suppressed emotions.

Also, those names sounded terribly familiar.

Weren’t those the standout female characters from the original work?

Lynn vaguely realized something.

“As you can see.” Once she finished displaying the sources of the Order Chains, the Witch Miss gently smoothed out the creases in her skirt, “These are the last chains restricting my freedom.”

“And what you need to do is help me break each of these chains.”

Upon hearing this, Lynn immediately took a deep breath: “So, what exactly do I need to do?”

In an instant, an overwhelming intent to kill flashed unexpectedly, making him break out in a cold sweat, as if he had suddenly glimpsed a hellish scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The Witch Miss turned to him.

In her scarlet pupils, it seemed to flicker a flame that would never extinguish.

That flame was called hatred.

Although she emphasized distinguishing between her two different selves at different times, in that moment, Lynn still felt that the Witch Miss’s figure and the memory of that villainous princess overlapped faintly.

One’s memories can be updated at any time, but one’s essence is hard to change.

Even after a hundred thousand years of sedimentation, she had become aloof and indifferent, losing that extreme and crazy side she once had.

Yet at the core, she was still Ivyst.

The Witch Miss’s heart hid an everlasting fire of hatred, and as time passed, it grew fiercer and more intense, one day kindling both herself and the entire world.

Lynn’s heartbeat quickened slightly.

Finally, it was here.

Ever since he had come under Ivyst’s wing, he had always imagined that a moment like this might one day happen.

As the top dog of the villain camp, he would definitely come to blows with the original story’s protagonist, Xia Asolante, and various original female leads.

This was something he least wanted to face.

But nothing ever went according to his original plan.

Unknowingly, he had become so deeply bound to Ivyst and the Witch Miss.

Feeling the terrible emotions concealed in the Witch Miss’s eyes, Lynn couldn’t help but shudder.

In the heart of the villainous princess, her feelings toward Cyrilina might only be jealousy and hatred.

After all, she only had a meager twenty-three years of life experience.

Yet for the Witch Miss, including even the insignificant hatred from Ivyst, all the pain and despair she would eventually undergo had slowly fermented over those hundred thousand years.

Just think about it.

Simply being nailed to a wall by the Sacred Sword in the Dead Water Prison for hundreds of years would’ve been enough to harbor an unforgettable hatred.

If it had been Lynn, he would have wanted nothing more than to flay these enemies alive and drink their blood and eat their flesh.

Such a profound hatred had not occurred merely once over those hundred thousand years.

The depths of the sea of blood couldn’t even begin to describe the extremity of the Witch Miss’s feelings.

She hated.

She wanted revenge.

During the countless years imprisoned in the Temple of the Gods, she endured this kind of torment and suffering every minute.

Now, she saw hope.

The way the Witch Miss expressed her emotions was ultimately still restrained and suppressed, not as extreme and violent as Ivyst.

She tightly clenched her snow-white and slender fingers, gradually quelling the momentary surge of hatred.

As if returning to that cold and noble Witch Miss.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, “Did I scare you just now?” Lynn shook his head, indicating he understood.

Then he spoke again: “Witch Miss, if breaking these shackles means I need to affect them at certain points in real time…”

“That’s right.” The Witch Miss slowly descended the steps and stood before Lynn, “You are a ‘contaminant’ that is out of sync with the world.”

“Through these recent attempts, I’ve confirmed one thing.”

“Not just me, but including Cyrilina and the others, as a ‘contaminant,’ you can change the destinies of everyone in this world.”

“The time point you are currently at is just the beginning of the Prince Selection War, with a whole hundred thousand years’ gap from now.”

“At that time, Cyrilina and others, as well as the hero Xia, will still be quite weak.” Lynn picked up on the dialogue, “So compared to a hundred thousand years later, their fates in this time point are not yet formed, making them easier to change?”

In other words, it meant that increasing the level of deviation in the plot would be much simpler.

He seemed to realize something.

Perhaps, merely changing Ivyst’s trajectory was a wrong choice.

Even if he pulled her plot deviation to the maximum, the Witch Miss’s side would only increase by 10%.

That remaining 90% of the deviation probably lay with other key characters closely tied to the original plot.

After all, there were definitely more than one S-class plot characters in this world, not just Her Highness the Princess.

“Do I need to kill them?”

Even though he knew this was impossible, Lynn still acted puzzled and asked.

Because the next answer from the Witch Miss would decide his future choices.

With the presence of the world’s will, Lynn had no doubt that if he truly were to kill the original female leads when they were very weak— even just having that idea— would attract the forces of correction’s interference.

At that point, some beyond imagination would definitely happen.

For instance, a fifth-stage legend, sixth-stage demigod, or even a higher-ranked powerhouse might suddenly arrive and slash him without explanation.

Even with Ivyst’s protection, Lynn didn’t think he could survive.

Moreover, gods could descend in this world.

Should things escalate to an unmanageable extent, it would be absolutely normal for some deity to slap him to death.

Thus, killing those key characters from the original was an absolute no-go.

If the Witch Miss insisted on making him do that, it would mean being blinded by hatred, forcing him down a certain path of certain death.

Fortunately, the Witch Miss seemed to never have considered such a dangerous idea.

“Fate isn’t so easily changed.” The Witch Miss looked at him, her expression calm, “And I already said that from now on, you won’t be allowed to do anything dangerous.”

“Your life no longer belongs solely to you; it also belongs to me.”

Lynn let out a slight breath of relief: “Then what should I do?”

The Witch Miss did not immediately respond.

She slowly raised her wrist, and along with the familiar spatial fluctuation, a conical spike faintly glowing with a black light floated into her palm.

This conical spike was about the size of a palm and had a handle at the top.

While it looked like a weapon, it gave off an unsettling evil energy that left one feeling dizzy.

“This sealed item is called Fallen Hour.” The Witch Miss tossed the conical spike into Lynn’s arms, “Its only function is to carve an indelible mark on others.”

“Those marked will gradually fall under mental pollution without realizing it, turning into puppets of the wielder.”

Feeling the cold and evil touch of Fallen Hour, Lynn had a vague sense of foreboding.

She couldn’t possibly be wanting—

Noticing the look in Lynn’s eyes, a peculiar glimmer flashed in the Witch Miss’s gaze: “You guessed right.”

“This sealed item can only be used when the recipient opens their heart.”

“So once we return to the Imperial Capital, I want you to try and get close to Cyrilina and the others, let them trust you until they let their guard down completely.”

“And then…” At this point, the Witch Miss’s voice paused slightly, a hint of light flickering in her eyes, “Use Fallen Hour to turn them into obedient slaves.”

She articulated every word.

Though her voice sounded very calm, Lynn still sensed the violent surge of emotions within her.

He couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

Those hundred thousand years had not dulled the Witch Miss’s twisted and extreme emotions.

Those unresolved hatreds had only become increasingly intense over time.

“Is this your revenge on them?”

Lynn asked softly.

The Witch Miss slowly lifted her head, as if looking up at the dome of the Temple of the Gods, or perhaps gazing through the dimensional gaps at some existence.

“Revenge on them?” she replied flatly, “Maybe.”

“But this isn’t my main goal.”

The Witch Miss spoke slowly.

Lynn stared at her stunning figure, suddenly left speechless.

After a moment of silence, she spoke again: “Who do you think I, imprisoned here for thousands of years, hate the most right now?”

A name flashed instantly through Lynn’s mind.

That was the culprit behind repeatedly shattering her plans, defeating her countless times, and imprisoning her here to feel the solitude and despair for thousands of years.

At the same time, the original protagonist of the story…

“…Xia Asolante.”

“That’s right.”

The corners of the Witch Miss’s eyes relaxed gently.

“Just consider it; the future Mother of All Things Vital, a symbol of purity and goodness, the Crescent Moon Goddess, when these beings, who ought to stand high and unimpeded, become subservient to another man— isn’t that the deepest and most perfect revenge for that powerful and resplendent hero Xia?”

In an instant, Lynn felt a deep and terrifying aura radiating from her.

It felt so heavy.

Yet at that moment, the Witch Miss’s lips turned up into a slight smile.

“So, my only disciple, I entrust this matter to you.”

Can I choose to refuse?

Lynn was drenched in sweat.

However, he was also very clear.

If Her Highness the Princess’s obsession was to win the prince selection, then for the Witch Miss, revenge was the very meaning of her existence.

This was perhaps her only reason for living, a heavy burden that had lasted for a hundred thousand years and would not shift with anyone’s change.

So, he could only accept it.

Fortunately, the current time point was still in the early stages of the original plot, and the hero Xia’s connections with these female characters were not deep yet; in fact, some hadn’t even met.

This made it seem like the difficulty would be significantly lowered.

However, Lynn then felt a question arise in his heart.

“Witch Miss, I’m still not clear.” He looked at the now calm black-dressed woman, “What’s the connection between the trial and sealing memories?”

The Witch Miss answered softly: “If you return so openly, you’ll never have another opportunity for free activity in the future.”

What the—???

Lynn suddenly felt a shiver down his spine.

But thinking back to the hint of pleading he sensed in Ivyst’s eyes before his fake death, it all made sense.

With that woman’s obsessive and pathological possessiveness, having tasted loss would likely make her even more extreme.

If at this time she felt the joy of regaining what she lost, how would things unfold?

She might very well put dozens of chains on her beloved little dog, tying him beside her, not allowing him to leave her sight for even a moment.

That was absolutely something that twisted woman was capable of.

Damnit.

In the end, being handsome was my downfall.

Lynn gritted his teeth at the thought.

But speaking of which.

If sealing memories could grant him more freedom from Ivyst?

Lynn couldn’t quite understand why.

To him, this situation would probably only escalate into an uncontrollable mess, possibly leading to some tragedies.

Yet, Lynn didn’t understand either woman’s intentions well and didn’t feel comfortable commenting on anything.

After all, this was the Witch Miss’s decision; she knew herself better than he did.

Perhaps sensing Lynn’s confusion, the Witch Miss fell silent for a moment before slowly explaining, “She needs an opportunity to reevaluate you.”

“To transition from ‘puppy’ to ‘person,’ this is an essential step.”

Her voice was very cool, as if she were merely speaking about an unrelated existence.