Chapter 192: Past 4
The woman in the memory looked less like a human cultivator and more like an incarnation of destruction disguised as a Goddess of Light.
Selena didn’t say anything. She simply continued watching the memory in silence.
Audrey and Cassie also remained silent, neither of them saying a word as they watched the scene unfold before them. Both of them looked at Selena with conflicted expressions, unable to tell what she was thinking as she continued watching her own future self.
The memory continued.
Selena’s future self continued moving through the Capital, her attacks covering the ruined streets in waves of brilliant light. No one inside the Capital was spared, and the destruction continued until the once-great city had become completely silent.
Eventually, not a single living being remained.
Only then did Selena finally stop.
The massive barrier surrounding the Capital slowly disappeared, leaving the ruined city exposed to the outside world. Selena remained there for a brief moment, surrounded by the destruction she had caused, before her figure finally vanished without leaving behind any explanation.
The memory continued for a few more moments, but there was nothing else to see. The Capital was completely silent, with only the remains of the destroyed city left behind.
The memory suddenly began playing again from the very beginning.
Selena turned toward Cassie, her expression completely blank, as if she was unable to believe what she had just witnessed.
Selena then asked Cassie, "Where are you in this future?"
Cassie looked at Selena for a moment before turning toward Audrey. The memory then shifted.
They found themselves inside the Church.
The entire place had been reduced to ruins, and the corpses of countless Church members were scattered throughout the area. Even the Immortal-rank cultivators of the Church had been killed.
Then they saw something that made the atmosphere even heavier.
The corpse of Cassie herself was lying among the ruins, and beside her lay the corpse of a young girl.
Cassie and Audrey had already seen this part of the memory before, yet even they couldn’t remain completely calm after witnessing the scene again.
Selena looked at the entire scene in silence, but her gaze soon shifted toward the young girl lying beside Cassie’s corpse.
She stared at the girl for a moment before finally speaking in a trembling voice.
"Is that... Amelia?"
Cassie looked at Selena and answered in a controlled tone, still trying to suppress her anger.
"Yes, it is."
Selena remained silent for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. She then finally asked, "How many years ahead is this future?"
Cassie replied, "It is eight years into the future from today."
The scene around them changed once again, and this time they found themselves within the territory of Velmora.
However, there was nothing left of the once-prosperous territory. The entire place had been reduced to ruins, with buildings destroyed, streets covered in debris, and corpses scattered throughout the area. The silence that filled the territory made the scene even more unsettling.
As the memory shifted through the ruined territory, they eventually came across the corpses of Audrey’s family.
Among them were her brother, Marcus, and her niece, Aria.
The sight was enough to make even Audrey and Cassie fall silent. They had already witnessed this future before, yet seeing the deaths of their family members again still left a heavy silence between them.
The scene continued changing, showing one ruined part of the Continent after another. Wherever they looked, there was nothing but destruction, abandoned cities, and countless corpses.
After witnessing several more scenes, Selena finally spoke.
"Enough."
The memory immediately stopped, and the surroundings became completely still.
Cassie looked at Selena and then said, her voice filled with anger and hatred, "Why stop now? There is still the Astrean territory left. Or are you finally not strong enough to watch the sight of your own family dying?"
Selena looked at Cassie and calmly said, "It is only a possible future. It isn’t guaranteed to happen. We can still change it. Didn’t you see any way to prevent this?"
Cassie remained silent for a moment before finally answering, "I tried to change it many times, but no matter what I did, the result never changed. No matter how many times the future shifted, it always eventually led to the same ending."
She paused for a moment before continuing, "As long as you remain alive, this future continues to appear. It doesn’t matter how much the details change or how different the events become. In the end, the result is always the same."
Selena remained silent after hearing that, while Cassie’s words continued to linger in the quiet surroundings.
Selena then asked, "What was the cause of all this?"
Cassie remained silent for a moment before answering in a low tone, "I don’t know. I never saw what actually caused it. In every vision, there was always a period where you would simply disappear. No one knew where you had gone, and there was never any clear explanation for your disappearance."
She paused before continuing, "Then, after some time had passed, you would suddenly return. By then, you had already reached the Saint Rank. I never saw how you broke through, where you went, or what happened during that period."
Cassie lowered her voice further and added, "All I ever saw was what happened after you returned... and by then, the future had already begun moving toward the same ending."
Then Audrey, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.
"And the future seems even more ture now considering that you have already reached the Immortal Rank, it makes that vision even more believable."
Selena remained silent for a moment, seemingly thinking about what she had just seen.
She then asked, "How much did you tell the Church’s higher-ups about this vision?"
Cassie replied, "Not much. I only told them that I had seen a future where you would betray the Church. That alone was more than enough for them to agree to the plan to kill you."