Chapter 1016: The effective way -5
"No, no, no..."
Kiri muttered absentmindedly as she darted like an arrow, praying that her mother's home had somehow survived. But...
"No!!"
Swoosh!
The house was a bit farther from the center of the conflict, so it hadn't been crushed under the
warlords' feet. However, the flying debris from shattered homes and the collapsing ceiling had fallen on it, leaving half of it destroyed.
"Mother... Mother!!"
Kiri rushed inside, frantically breaking apart rocks and wooden beams that made up the house's roof. Finally, she saw what she was looking for.
"Mother!!"
"Pfft..." There lay an old woman with pale silver fur and empty white eyes. Her usual chair was shattered, and she herself was pinned beneath a massive wooden beam, barely clinging to life.
"Please, hold on!" Kiri kicked the beam away and held her mother in her arms, tears streaming from her eyes.
"I'm sorry... it's my fault... it's my fault..."
BOOM BOOM
Behind her, the battle raged on, the ceiling growing unnaturally hot and beginning to melt, dripping molten rock onto the demi-cats below.
"My daughter... it is not... your fault..."
Queen Tao spoke with difficulty, trying to lift her hand to touch her daughter's cheek.
Kiri guided her mother's hand to her face and continued, sobbing. "It is my fault. I don't know how they found this place, but they must have followed me. It's my fault... everything I planned was wasted. I should've handled things outside on my own..."
"Sniff... Sniff..."
"My daughter... it is not... too late..." Queen Tao's voice was soft and fragile, as if clinging to the edge of life.
"Do you have any advice, Mother?!" Kiri's eyes lit up with hope.
"My daughter... go out and surrender... perhaps they will... perhaps they will spare some of us..."
Queen Tao then began coughing blood. Cough Cough.
She struggled to continue. "If this battle continues.... we will perish... everyone will perish..." "But..." Kiri looked at the battlefield with despair and a heavy heart. At that moment, most of her race were desperately trying to ignore the heat that had begun to scorch their fur, throwing themselves at the warlords and the still-pouring army of the True Beginning from the four portals.
But this direct, desperate clash only added to the casualties. The amount of spilled blood and burnt corpses had reached horrifying levels.
"My daughter... listen... In the past, we managed to rise again, even after they killed your grandmother... after they killed all the elders... because the army was still standing. If this battle continues and all our strongest warriors die... there will be no fighters left to inspire hope, no one from the royal family to carry the banner. Our race will have no future." Queen Tao struggled to breathe as she finished her plea.
"Do it, my daughter... they might hate you for a while, but years later... they will appreciate what you did today. Surrender, and perhaps we will find mercy among them."
"
Kiri stared into her mother's blind eyes for a few seconds before nodding several times. She gently laid her mother down, turned her back to her, and prepared to go out and declare their surrender.
But after a few steps, she stopped, looking back with a cold expression.
"What's my father's name?"
"Ah... Ah... He..."
The old woman clutched her chest, writhing in pain. She tried to speak, but no sound came from her mouth.
Kiri raised an eyebrow before gripping her dagger.
"My mother isn't this weak. I'll give you three seconds to answer... What's my father's name?"
"....Heh... Hehehe~" The old woman lifted her head, letting out a sly laugh. "And who would know, little bitch?"
Swoosh!
Kiri raised her blade, her eyes wide and her fur bristling with intensity.
"Speak, Demon. Where is my mother?!"
"First, May I ask how you knew?" The blind old woman's smile was chilling, as if it came from a ghost.
"The word 'surrender' would be the last thing Queen Tao would ever say. She'd prefer the complete annihilation of our race over uttering that word!" Kiri shouted again, wanting to kill whatever stood before her but fearful of losing the chance to find her mother.
"Hahaha."The old woman's face began to change rapidly, her body growing larger and transforming until she turned into a youthful human woman, round-faced with large eyes. "Hmm, plausible. But what a question you've chosen... Who knows your father's name, sweetie? Over the past three days, I've captured several of your kind and interrogated them. None of them know anything about your origins except your mother, and I couldn't get a thing out of that old hag. You're likely an illegitimate child and your father is some random dog, yet you ask as if it's your greatest secret."
"No..."
Kiri stumbled back several steps until she tripped over a stone and fell. "You... You're dead! I cut off your head myself!!"
Of course, the figure before her was none other than Elizabeth, and she didn't bear a single
scratch.
"What kind of monster are you?!" Kiri screamed, forgetting her intent to find her mother. She simply leaped from the ground, her eyes burning with the desire to kill. Slaaash!
BANG!
In a disturbingly familiar scene, Elizabeth's head fell to the ground, rolling a little before
coming to a stop.
"Hey, this is ruining my pretty face. Could you grow up a bit?"
Elizabeth's head spoke with a little anger. Her body took two steps, picked up the severed head, and casually tossed it in the air like a leather ball. "Perhaps it's time to think rationally?
Killing this body will get you nothing."
"How... How?!"
Terror and fear gripped Kiri's heart and feet.
Elizabeth's head chuckled. "Hehe, it's a simple trick when you have complete mastery over the fourth stage of the Plant Path. Didn't you know there are plants of all colors and shapes? Some plants produce blood-like liquid; others have skin-like textures. Crafting this body required just a bit of basic knowledge about different types of plants. Then came the first stage of the Life Law and the first stage of the Soul Law to create a connection with it. What can I say? I enjoy studying various laws to expand my horizons. Hehe." Finally, her body grabbed the head and placed it back on her neck with a grin.
"A replica? All this time..."
Kiri's eyes widened before she shouted angrily. "Didn't you say you'd trust me? You're all the
same! Traitors, all of you!!"
"Hahaha, look who's talking!" Elizabeth laughed softly.
"I accompanied you with my real body at first. But when I noticed your repeated glances
behind you and your unjustified pauses along the way, I swapped bodies without you noticing. True, I'm neither the strongest among His Excellency's generals nor the best army leader. But I wasn't born yesterday to let a child like you and a muscle bitch like her assassinate me. When I was running intelligence systems and wreaking havoc in the other three empires, your mother hadn't even ascended the throne yet!"
Creaaak!
Next to Kiri, several roots and leaves emerged from the ground. They oozed liquids and began forming into more Elizabeths. One by one, duplicates of Elizabeth appeared.
The nearest one grabbed Kiri by her short hair.
"Ahhh!!" Then it dragged her toward the battlefield and lifted her head high.
"Do you think the outside world is full of roses and peace? Do you think you have known suffering yet? You Have seen nothing! I accompanied you with my real body, genuinely intending to negotiate a deal that would grant your people a decent life. And what did you do? Look at what you've done to your people! Look at the consequences of your actions!!" "Mercy... Order them to stop... please..." Kiri spoke weakly, her body void of any will to fight. What good would it do to cut through these plant replicas? How would that help save her
mother or stop the massacre of her people?
It would only provoke this human further. Elizabeth's gaze turned cold as she stared directly into Kiri's eyes.
"...I saw and heard everything that happened to that replica. I tried to speak through it to plead for mercy. Did you show me mercy? Can you imagine watching yourself get killed, only
to hear two harlots discussing your corpse like it's a dead dog?! But no matter..."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"When His Excellency gave us permission for total annihilation, I didn't understand at the
time why he would grant such an order. But after dealing with you all, I understand now. I understand perfectly."