It rarely rains in Istania, so the memories of rain are often particularly profound for those who live here.
The raindrops will raise a layer of mist, which will first flow along the gray-brown eaves to the ground, forming streams between the brown stones.
The dark gray stone tablet stood just like that in the misty rain, with a sentence engraved on it in the language of Istania:
'751 - 790, Farian, may your bravery and enlightenment forever rest in the sea of sand——'
Rainwater flows slowly down the ravines formed by the strokes, one after another. Barbartan used his gloves to wipe off the water on it, but he couldn't wipe it clean. After a while, the gloves were filled with water.
Princess Afifa stood aside and silently stared at the words on the tablet.
After a while, she spoke softly, her voice as gentle as a nightingale, "Babartan, although Farian, Charab and Hutt failed to come back, at least more people survived... Although the empire Powerful, but the Oshurs failed to succeed last time.”
The upright, young and powerful King of Sand turned around, looked at his beloved woman, and nodded.
"I'm fine, Afifah."
"But you still seem preoccupied, my love, you know that? That worries me."
"I just thought of some things in the past," Babartan said: "Every day, I can't help but recall everything that happened at that time, what I saw and heard in that war."
"Three years have passed since that incident. Do you still think that prophecy is true? The evil star will come to our land, and Descartes will come back here and take away everything from the Istanians?"
"It may not be true, but the signs are there," Babartan frowned, "I have to treat it with caution. Outsiders think that my father's lineage has conspired to seize the throne of Istania, but it is really Only when you reach this position can you understand the weight of responsibility..."
He raised his head and looked at the wisps of rain. "Afifah, if one day this all really comes to an end -"
"They won't, Babartan, I promise you; maybe one day, we will turn into dust, but some things will always exist, and together with the beliefs we pursue, they will exist for a long time."
"Afifah?"
"Babartan, that is our common secret, give us a little more time, okay?"
Babartan looked at his princess and nodded.
…
??Afifah on the steps of the temple was wearing a black dress, with the skirt hanging to the ground. A black gauze top wrapped her delicate body, revealing her weak shoulders. She closed her eyes tightly, and there was a kind of expression between her brows. The charming look comes.
??????She turned in this direction and said in a coquettish tone: "Mr. Ed, are you a little surprised to see me here?" The girl's voice was not loud, but it was just within earshot of every corner of the square. clear.
??Although she wears Afifa's face, it is almost impossible for the frail and introverted Miss Mystic to speak in such a tone. Fang Yu frowned, feeling something was wrong in his heart. He looked back at Ye Hua, "What's going on?"
??Ye Hua also looked at the girl silently, and then answered: "That is the incarnation of Descartes."
??Fang Plover actually had a premonition in his heart.
But he was silent for a moment before asking: "Then she and Miss Afifa..."
??Ye Hua turned around and said, "Do you still remember the dragon soul in Afifa's body?"
??Fang Plover was startled for a moment.
He then remembered that when he was in Kashan Palace, Xing said that only he, Ye Hua and the eldest princess could enter this world. At that time, he always felt as if he had missed something.
But now that I think about it, doesn’t Afifa also have a dragon soul?
Xingti didn't mention this matter either, originally thinking it was due to negligence. But he looked up at the girl in black dress and seemed to understand something in his heart.
??"That dragon soul..."
??"The origin of that dragon soul is not simple. It has been twinned with Afifa since the birth. It is rumored that only Babartan, the King of Sand, really knows where it comes from, but as far as I know... it actually There should be some relationship with the late princess..."
The eldest princess raised her head and said in a soft tone: "My mother...?"
Ye Hua glanced at her and nodded slightly, "That dragon soul is actually the only relic left by your mother to your father. It was... shaped by your mother's soul."
Princess Rupert's eyes widened and she looked at him.
Ye Hua looked at Afifa, who was dressed in black under the temple. The mystic girl was standing among a group of believers, and she happened to be looking in this direction at leisure.
He then withdrew his gaze and said to the two of them: "No one can create a person who once existed out of thin air and has vivid memories and feelings. Even with the power of the Emerald Star, it is impossible to do this."
"But Babartan, the King of Sand, used this dragon soul to convince the blind followers that they could use it to resurrect Her Royal Highness. Of course, more importantly, the blind followers do also need your mother's soul -"
The eldest princess seemed a little dazed for a moment. She took a few deep breaths, and the corners of her eyes were almost red. She looked at the girl in a black dress in the distance, and then at Ye Hua. She hesitated several times, but no sound came out of her throat.
Fang Yu seemed a little silent on the side, and many previous doubts seemed to be solved one by one, but he glanced at Her Royal Highness the Princess and still asked her: "Why?"
"Because the princess's soul imprint contains Descartes' divine power."
"This is impossible!" Princess Rupert replied flatly with tears in her eyes.
Ye Hua shook his head, "But it's all true, Your Highness Princess. This is also one of the root causes of the attack ten years ago. They should all be related to the notebook in your mother's hand; except for the King of Sand Baba Except for Ertan, perhaps no one knows what exactly happened at that time..."
Fang Yu listened to all this silently, with an unusually calm look on his face, and asked: "So Afifa was the carrier of Descartes' resurrection from the beginning, and her dragon soul was actually just Descartes' divine fire? "
??In Etalia, a god dies, or rather falls into an endless sleep.
In the dead world after the gods have gone to sleep, their divinity will not completely die out. The scattered fires are just waiting for an opportunity to resurrect.
Just like what Fang Plover met on Fenris Island, the lizard-man god.
The remains of divine power are also the fire of divinity. Under an appropriate opportunity, new gods will be born from the corpses of old gods.
The blind followers have recovered Descartes' divinity and, with the help of Barbartan, the King of Sand, have reshaped a carrier for it. Now, they just need a chance to rekindle the fire of their divinity.
And this opportunity obviously also exists in this sea of sand——
??Alchemists centuries ago discovered that the souls created using the power of the Emerald Star often contained a hint of divinity. At first, people didn't think much about it. They just thought that the soul itself was sacred, which was in line with people's understanding.
But then, the twisted divinity quickly created those terrible monsters called abominations or abominations, which wreaked havoc in the world. After several murders, people quickly woke up, and the mighty alchemical creation movement was temporarily extinguished.
Just out of the ultimate pursuit of alchemy - the desire for creation - privately, the research on the Emerald Star has never stopped.
There is clearly some kind of divinity within the Emerald Star.
But people rarely understand what that means.
After Achilles captured Afifah, he handed her over to the blind followers. Seniman had already set a trap in the Fantasy Sea, causing the Sand King Babartan to activate the power of the "falling star" there——
The purest dark divine power contained in the fragments of the misfortune star, from that moment onwards, poured into the dragon soul in Miss Afifah's body, to be precise - into the incarnation of Descartes.
But was it really just a trap?
Since Babartan, the King of Sand, has long known the secret of the Emerald Star's power, wouldn't he be unaware of the clumsy plot of the blind followers?
He remembered the question he had asked before, but at that time, the other party did not answer him directly. Now he almost knew the answer to that question, but he still turned around again and asked Ye Hua the almost identical question:
"So, does Babartan, the King of Sand, know all this?"
Ye Hua looked at him this time, and after a moment of silence, he nodded.
A flash of understanding flashed in Fang Yu's eyes.
Princess Rupert was startled for a moment, then almost stunned for the next moment.
"My...father knows all this, but why did he...?" She asked in a hoarse voice.
"The reason is here," Ye Hua looked around the square, "Your Highness, have you seen that your father's original purpose was actually here."
Fang Yu said softly: "So he plans to solve the problem once and for all. Whether he is a blind follower or Descartes, he will eventually gather at this place at this moment -"
"Because by this time, both sides have no retreat."
Princess Rupert took a deep breath and looked at Ye Hua's face, as if she wanted to find the answer to this question from his expression.
Ye Hua didn't answer, but the silence said everything.
She was slightly stunned for a moment.
She thought that everything was just the result of her father being deceived by blind followers, but she didn't expect that in the end, all of this turned out to be his real purpose.
But so many people died, Questak was almost reduced to ashes, and now everyone in the city was hanging on by a thread. What was the purpose of all he did?
Revenge for her mother and the one she loves deeply?
But is it really worth it?
Her Royal Highness the Princess burst into rare tears: "But my father, how could he..."
Fang Yu asked in a low voice: "Why didn't you tell us all this earlier?"
Ye Hua sighed softly: "Ed, the Southern Alliance is just a participant in this plan. In fact, Star and Delan did not tell me the truth at the beginning."
"... Delan, like his brother, is loyal to the Penelope royal family, or rather, loyal to the 'Her Royal Highness' who has passed away in his heart for many years... As for Xing, he probably only has revenge in his heart. , finding out who was behind the scenes is probably his only purpose in this world..."
"So it was understandable that they would hide this information from me."
"And Barbartan, the King of Sand, made his decision from the very beginning. When I left Kashan Palace, I once thought that he had given up on the investigation of the Emerald Star and planned to catch all the blind followers there, but I didn't expect Finally came back to it.”
He looked at Fang Plover: "Of course, in fact, I roughly guessed this result when we boarded the ship in the Sea of Illusion. But I didn't tell you the reason for all this at that time. I think you should have guessed it -"
"Because when you brought Afifa back to Questac, everything was already doomed. The blind followers used the sand pirates to set up a second game here, but compared with the one in the Phantom Sea, this game In fact, it’s not inevitable.”
"It's just...will you really choose that path?"
Fang Plover couldn't help but be stunned.
He actually already understood what the way to avoid all this was.
That is to give up Afifa. Without the carrier of the mystic girl and the dragon soul in her body, it is naturally impossible for the blind followers to summon Descart from Questac.
But will he do this?
Ye Hua looked at the two people, paused for a moment, and then said again: "Actually, I only learned all this from Xing and Delan not long ago. But at that time, the arrow was already on the string and had to be fired, so at that time, I I didn’t have time to ask your opinion——”
His eyes stayed on the two of them one by one: "But at this moment, I still want to ask you one more time. Miss Afifah, in fact, already knows all this from Delan and Xing."
"She..." He sighed slightly: "She is willing to sacrifice herself for the lives of more people..."
The girl's tearful eyes suddenly appeared in Fang Yu's mind.
In fact, he had already given the answer in his heart.
"But," Fang Yu did not answer the question directly, only looking at the main hall in the distance and the girl below the main hall, "Babartan is so confident. Hasn't he thought about it, if he loses the bet?" If so, what will be the consequences?"
Ye Hua then cast his gaze on the eldest princess beside him: "This is exactly why Xing brought you here, Princess Rupert."
Her Royal Highness the Princess raised her head in a daze: "Me?"
"Do you still remember what I once told you?"
Ye Hua's voice was slow and steady, "In this world, there are three kinds of power that are the most stable. The first is the power of the owner of this dream, the second is the power of Cang Zhihui, and the third is the power of the soul."
"The power of the soul and the power of Cang Zhihui, in the corresponding spiritual world, are certainly not as overwhelming as the power of their master. The master of this world is Descartes, but how can it be the other side of it? It’s not Miss Afifah’s dragon soul.”
Ye Hua said word by word: "That is your mother, Her Royal Highness the Princess. In this world, you are the only one who can hurt Descartes."
He raised his head and looked forward, no longer asking Fang Plover and Rupert for their answers: "So in the next battle, Ed and I will cover you to attack the incarnation of the evil god. You must Take your own chances.”
Princess Rupert looked down at the sword in her hand, was silent for a moment, and finally nodded slightly.
On the other side of the square, the mystic girl kept her eyes closed, looking in this direction with a slight smile on her face, and said nothing. It was as if she didn't care at all about their discussion.
Ye Hua then raised his head, patted the two people's shoulders gently, and then took off the long bow from behind. Fang Yu also took a breath, looked at the control glove on his left hand, and then asked:
"What should we do?"
"It's very simple," Ye Hua replied: "Send it back to its hometown and completely destroy this spiritual world, thereby cutting off the connection between the blind followers and their gods."
"This time," he said softly, "Istania will have peace for at least a hundred years."
…
Miaoshuwu
