Chapter 991: Burdened by Destiny
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
After Zooey bid farewell to His Majesty, she led the God's Punishment Witches who were part of the expedition back to the Third Border City.
After she took care of the arrogant Senior Demon, she was guided by Alethea to a secret chamber in the deep underground, where Pasha and Celine were waiting as well.
Other than the captured demon, they were apparently more concerned about other matters.
"What do you think?" Shutting down the heavy Stone Gates, Alethea anxiously dropped in front of her. "Can we win?"
"Didn't we already win?" Zooey said matter-of-factly.
Alethea pointed at Zooey's forehead with her tentacles. "Don't tease me anymore. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
As she was the only Extraordinary of Taquila, she undoubtedly had a closer relationship with the Senior Witches than anyone else.
After the collapse of the Union, the ancient witches who survived began to follow the principle of "every witch is equally important," but the old class system still had some influence.
"Since she's so relaxed, I think it should be a good answer." Pasha smiled lightly.
"In fact... I'm not sure," said Pasha. Zooey also began to act more seriously after hearing Pasha's remark. "Nowadays, the demons are probably considerably different from the enemies we faced 400 years ago, not only in the use of magic but also in the varieties of species." She then elaborated on the entire battle process. "Arguably, Lady Alice's idea was correct, but according to her plan, mankind would inevitably fail."
Evidence has shown that the God's Punishment Witch was indeed a viable weapon for restraining the Senior Demon. Unfortunately, this weapon alone meant it would still be difficult to contend with the enemy on the battlefield— powerful armor did not indicate they would be spared injury. After being placed in front of the new war machines, the God's Punishment Witches' advantage would be formidable and impenetrable. Once they were at war, the plan of the Queen of Starfall City would lose its meaning.
After confirming this, Pasha seemed more relieved and looked as if a heavy burden had been lifted off her. "So that means we didn't follow the wrong leader— Lady Natalia's decision was correct. This is really great news..."
"Yeah, this is really great news..." Celine whispered. Her voice was faint and choking with emotion. This was an incredible thing for someone who had lived for more than 400 years.
But at this moment, Zooey empathized with the rest of them.
While the majority of the Union's leaders supported Alice, they stood by the Queen of Sunchaser due to their different ideologies. They were utterly torn apart by an unjust assault on the witch's empire that entirely destroyed the foundation of the Union.
Zooey would remember this scene till her dying day, when a severely hurt Blessed Army comrade lay dying in her arms and said, "You were the ones who ruined it all."
Since then, they have felt this huge burden in their hearts.
Death was nothing to be afraid of after all.
What was frightening was to be misunderstood and abandoned by their companions, while searching for a glimmer of hope in the dark.
If they failed in their mission, that would mean that they have destroyed the only way the witches would continue to survive. That kind of sin was unforgivable and could not be offset even by death.
It was with this firm determination that everyone endured the unconscious shells and have persisted until now.
Now that Alice's plan has been proven to be wrong, they naturally felt a long-lost liberation—even if the final outcome were still the total destruction of humankind, the fate of the survivors would not be as critical.
"Even so, Lady Natalia was just on par with the Queen of Starfall City," said Alethea, rubbing her nose that had long since ceased to exist, "We have not yet won the final victory. It's too early to celebrate—"
"Don't worry. Now that you've become like this, even if you cry, no one can see it."
"Pasha!"
Zooey shook her head and smiled. "I haven't finished speaking yet... Although I can't say for sure who will win the Battle of Divine Will, at least I've seen some hope."
After hearing these words, the three Senior Witches became quiet.
In the 400 years of searching in the dark, hope was the most desired thing—No one knew whether the Chosen One really existed, but they had to continue searching. This kind of aimless confusion was always on their mind. The longer time passed, the more intense the suffering felt. In the beginning, people often discussed the abilities of God's chosen person and her apparent age and appearance. However, when "Black Money" was used to begin the search for the Chosen One, nobody dared to talk about it.
They feared creating a false image of the Chosen One as they would not be able to handle the disappointment when they'd find someone fitting their standards and having them turn out not to be the One.
Because of this, hope had become something of a luxury.
However, now they could say this word easily.
The ancient witch who realized this couldn't help but fall into a moment of silence.
After a while, Pasha broke the silence. "So... can we complete the task that Lady Natalia entrusted to us?"
"Entrusted?" Alethea was shocked. "Wait—we haven't even found the Chosen One yet!"
"I don't have an opinion," Zooey said with a shrug. "In the ancient books of the underground civilization, there was no rule stating that the key holders had to be male or female, right? After all, whether or not they had any concept of gender was still unknown."
Natalia had left behind a will that said, if they could find the Chosen One, then everyone should treat her as the chief, destroy the demons, and rebuild Taquila. Although the Five-Colored Stone reflected a Chosen One that was different from what they had imagined and could not activate the Instrument of Divine Retribution, it was consistent in dealing with the demon.
"I also... feel that there's nothing wrong with it." Celine was the last to speak. "The ancient books also did not specify that there should be only one candidate for the Chosen One. After we have discovered the newly selected witch, we can still change the candidate."
"Since you've all agreed... well then." Alethea sighed helplessly.
"Whether there will be a new candidate or not, we can forget about that for now. But I think it's unnecessary to change the candidate," said Zooey, looking at Pasha. "What you were once worried about has already started to happen."
"Did the witches exclude you in battle?"
"It wasn't that obvious." She told the story of Camilla again. "After hearing that I would be the interrogator, she agreed to the request of connecting the demon's heart. This also shows that although she was concerned about the safety of the witches, that did not include immortal monsters like me."
"..." The atmosphere became a little intense. As early as a 100 years ago, Pasha mentioned this possibility. Although they considered themselves to be witches, the new generation of witches did not necessarily think so. Regarding appearance, characteristics or ability, there was no similarity between the two. They resembled neither witches nor humans. Roland Wimbledon, who was able to accept them so quickly, was more like an alien.
As the history of the Union gradually faded, the new Awakened ones might no longer see them as witches. And in an extreme scenario, to explore the mysteries of magic power and the techniques of the underground civilization, the witches might even use them as guinea pigs.
Although this idea was somewhat pessimistic, after centuries or even thousands of years, that could really happen.
When she heard Zooey's self-mockery, Pasha sighed. "I see, but I don't regret it."
Nobody answered, it was their choice as well.
"If we can accomplish the wishes of the Three Chiefs, our mission will come to an end," she paused and said, "what happens in the future is not something we can control... But at least for now we can plan a way out for ourselves."
"Should we hide in the mountains, disappear, or find a place to bury ourselves?" Alethea was displeased.
"Of course not," said Pasha, shaking her main tentacles, "we can be an indispensable force in the human kingdom."