Chapter 80: The Enemy Must Be Eliminated
At that moment, Amelia felt as if mountains of weight were pressing down upon her chest.
’He is lying... isn’t he?’ she questioned bitterly within the silent walls of her mind.
Why did she keep listening to him? Why not shut the door on this conversation immediately, turn her back on this traitor, and leave? What compelled her to stand here, in this dark street, listening to what she had categorized just minutes ago as mere nonsense and carefully woven lies? Had she become so contradictory?
Everything about this situation felt meticulously designed to place her in the greatest dilemma she had ever faced in both her lives. Yet, as she gazed at Roger’s trembling frame, his erratic pulse, and then recalled his panicked face from her ancient memories... doubts began to seep in.
She remembered that day in her past life with absolute precision, when her other disciples had stormed her chambers, claiming that Roger was merely a masterful actor who perfected the role of the victim. Even at that moment, his expression had conveyed genuine, horrifying shock. In the past, she had assumed he had simply immersed himself so deeply in playing the victim that he could not immediately snap out of it... but now, did the situation not demand a re-evaluation of those memories through a different lens?
’And even if he is being truthful...’ Amelia thought with a coldness laced with sorrow, ’nothing will change. I no longer wish to be that Empress again. I no longer wish to be anyone’s mentor... I have had quite enough of my past life and its struggles.’
Now, possessing a warm family and a father who loved her like Cain did, wasn’t this far better than sitting upon a throne of skulls?
Amelia sighed. Looking down at Roger with absolute coldness, she spoke in a quiet but resolute voice: "It is useless, Roger... Even if I believed every single word you just uttered, I am no longer the same person you knew in the past. I have a family now... a real family, just as I had always secretly wished deep down. I only want to forget the past with its pain and move forward in this new life... I want to live my childhood in peace, free of trouble, without anyone dictating to me how I should carry myself as an Empress."
Her words struck Roger like a thunderbolt. His body shuddered violently, and his bloodshot, dirt-smeared eyes widened in a shock he had never anticipated. What did she mean by not wanting to be an Empress again?
He cried out in a hoarse, grief-stricken voice, tears streaming down without pause: "My Master! I beg of you... please, reconsider! I desire nothing from this world other than to remain your loyal servant and follower for the rest of my life! I believed you were dead, and that my sins would never be forgiven... until I found you in this body. Even now, I cannot believe my eyes that I stand before you once more... Please, just allow me to be your subordinate for the remainder of my days!"
Amelia could only look at him in sheer helplessness. His hand still gripped her wrist with a desperate strength that refused to let her go. She did not know how to act; she utterly rejected any bond that would drag her back into the hell of her past, yet here was her disciple, pleading with her to make him his subordinate!
Furthermore, wouldn’t this arouse the suspicion of her father, Cain, if he discovered a link between his daughter and this mysterious man? And to this moment, she still did not understand how Roger had fallen into such a wretched state.
Deciding to settle the matter, she hurled all her questions at once in a sharp tone: "How did you end up in this state? When and how did you ascend to the [Prince Level] with such miraculous speed? And why did you burn your magical core?!"
She needed to know the facts first to properly evaluate the situation.
Roger replied with a trembling voice as his consciousness began to slip away: "My Lady... you do not know the truth! This man... Cain... he is exploiting you! He is deceiving you into believing he is a loving father, building the illusion of a warm family just to drain you and exploit your latent abilities! His subordinate—Hazen—tried to block my path and prevent me from reaching you... I beat him severely after my magic level suddenly ascended, because the black shackles that bound my heart and soul shattered completely the very instant I realized and learned that you were still alive!"
Amelia froze in her tracks. The worst possible scenario ballooned within her mind after the phrase "I beat him severely." Though she was disturbed and angered by Roger calling her father Cain an exploiter—a misunderstanding she was confident she could clarify later—assaulting Hazen was nothing short of a declaration of war and the ignition of a devastating conflict!
She asked in a tense, apprehensive tone, "And what happened after that?"
Roger continued, his eyes gradually losing focus, "He refused to tell me where you had gone... making my patience wear completely thin! And it did not stop with him; he summoned reinforcements from the Valkyrie warriors afterward... and then..."
Roger began to recount the details of the fierce battle he had waged against the Valkyries and the defenses he had faced, explaining how he had consumed every drop of mana and burned his magical core to survive and reach this place... but, for a reason unknown even to himself, he did not utter a single word about his encounter with the mysterious man in the black suit!
Amelia’s eyes widened in genuine shock and horror as she listened to his tale. Only now did she comprehend the reason behind her father Cain’s sudden, lightning-fast disappearance earlier!
Her disciple Roger had annihilated her father’s subordinates and destroyed their defenses, and Cain had now gone to inspect the catastrophe Roger left in his wake!
’Damn it... this must not happen!’ she screamed in her mind.
While Amelia was drowning in a vortex of horror and analysis, she was entirely unaware that another entity in this place was listening to every single word with absolute seriousness. An entity that could not be defined as a person, currently residing secretly within her soul.
Suddenly... a sharp, cold, mechanical voice rang in her mind, causing her entire body to shudder in fright:
[WARNING! WARNING! An enemy posing a danger to the Host has been detected... Initiating automatic defense mode to eliminate the target immediately!]
"What is this voice?!" Amelia looked around in panic, but suddenly, a glowing blue screen overflowing with mental energy manifested before her eyes.
The "System" nestled within her soul was preparing to launch a crushing, direct mental strike to obliterate the motionless Roger lying on the ground.
However, before the System’s magical programming could be fully executed... something incredibly bizarre and terrifying occurred.
The blue screen began to flicker violently, distorted by static white and black lines, emitting strange, mechanical glitches:
[E... Er... Error!.. Interference in the System’s magical codes and framework from an external source detected... The... System’s... entire... framework... has... been... completely... dis...abled...]
The screen distorted, freezing entirely in a severe, unyielding glitch.
A few steps away, within a patch of absolute shadow that no mage could ever hope to pierce, stood the man in the black suit. He was completely hidden from both spiritual and physical eyes, gazing with a faint, calm smile at the frozen magical screen before Amelia.
Placing his hand in his pocket, he murmured in a quiet tone that carried a hint of ancient, mocking nostalgia:
"Oh... I truly did not expect that little toy made by ’Ranzan’ to appear here... How I miss that old scoundrel and his whims."
He looked at the deteriorating blue screen struggling desperately to regain control, then added with a sly grin:
"It seems I shouldn’t ruin his precious toy that he crafted so carefully... lest that old man gets angry."
With a simple flick of his finger in the air, absolute silence enveloped the area, while the System waged a futile struggle against complete paralysis.