Chapter 527: The Me from Another Timeline

Night had fallen over the kingdom. The sky was shrouded in gloom, devoid of both stars and moon, as if eternal darkness itself had descended upon the land, ready to swallow every trace of color.

Around the hospital encampment stood four towering statues depicting a valiant general, an elegant middle-aged scholar, a benevolent old man, and a pure young maiden. Together, they formed a barrier of light and shadow. Beyond it lay an abyss of endless darkness, while the camp within remained bright and vibrant.

From her office on the hospital's top floor, she watched the believers below begin the night's revelry. Bloody deathmatches, breeding and mating, storytelling, games, and entertainment filled the grounds. The participants were not limited to followers of the Four Pillars Cult. Even the abstinent Calamity Flame sorcerers captured during recent battles quickly blended into the festivities, offering no resistance.

No one found it strange. Many followers of the Four Pillars Cult had themselves been devoted to other Grand Laws only weeks or months prior. The moment they lost their Grand Law, they were instantly drawn to the Four Pillar Deities, abandoning unattainable ideals to embrace a life of indulgence.

The ascetic Calamity Flame sorcerers proved even easier to corrupt. They believed they had resisted desire through sheer willpower, holding off the Calamity Flame itself. They never realized this resistance was merely the Flame's subtle influence. The more power they drew from it, the deeper its corruption seeped into them, gradually making them more diligent, selfless, and righteous, yet increasingly devoid of personal desire.

Calling it infection by the Calamity Flame would only provoke disgust. Framing it as maintaining one's will against the Flame, however, ensured believers readily embraced the concept.

Among the many sects across the Myriad Continent, the Temple of Calamity Flame stood out. Unlike every other sect, it never demanded absolute devotion to the Flame. Instead, it taught its followers to remain wary of the Flame, resist it, and constantly scrutinize it. Ironically, that philosophy forged the most cohesive religion on the continent, turning it into a major contender in the War of the Gods.

She lowered her gaze to the little Blazing White Tiger perched on her shoulder, then glanced at the other Grand Laws sleeping lazily around the office.

Losing a Grand Law is no different from losing everything, she thought.

In this endless night, humanity could rely on only two things to protect themselves: ideals and desires. Perhaps they had always been one and the same.

The Temple of Calamity Flame had already become a relic of history. Even if a sorcerer inheriting the Flame's will became the next Grand Law, it would no longer be the Calamity Flame. It would simply be a new flame.

Across the Myriad Continent, most people were like fallen leaves, and sorcerers were no exception. Sometimes the winds of the Calamity Flame carried them. Sometimes the winds of justice did. Wherever the wind blew, they drifted, utterly incapable of controlling their own fate.

When the wind finally died, they could only settle into the soil of desire, slowly decaying.

She turned away from the festivities below, returned to her desk, and resumed examining the four cards lying upon it.

A moment later, she confirmed all four were genuine. As expected of the deeply rooted Temple of Calamity Flame, these cards are even more valuable than the Grand Law of Eternal Calamity Flame itself!

They were the Dragon Gate Formation Shopping Cards. These shopping cards served as strategic resources across the Myriad Continent. They allowed anyone possessing them to acquire leftover resources from the Age of Gods effortlessly, with a validity period lasting until the year 9999 and requiring no identity verification whatsoever.

Just then, a voice from the side snapped her out of her thoughts. "You shouldn't have these shopping cards at this point."

She swiftly pocketed the cards, but the moment she turned and saw the unexpected visitor, she relaxed. "It is you."

A soft-spoken, refined young woman had appeared on the nearby sofa. Closing the book in her hand, she glanced at the Blue Flame Squirrel resting on the cushions. "Addressing one's own self in the second person feels rather strange, does it not?"

"It is my first time meeting you, Orchid Weiser."

"Likewise, my other self from a different timeline."

The squirrel smiled. "You seem much older than me."

The other Grand Laws looked back and forth between the squirrel talking to itself and the silent female sorcerer seated in the chair, completely bewildered. It seemed as if they had all fallen into a strange illusion.

"Why?" the girl asked. "We look exactly the same."

"Your voice, your tone, and your eyes," the squirrel replied. "Perhaps that is why the Truth Class is so irritating."

The girl nodded. "You have a point."

She tilted her head slightly. "You don't seem surprised to see me."

The squirrel shrugged. "Counting carefully, you make the twenty-fourth 'me' I have met. The Phantom Mirage Dragon seems to enjoy checking in on me whenever it feels like it."

Her appearance came as no surprise. On the very day she became a sorcerer, she had encountered another version of herself in her room. Only later did she learn it was one of the Phantom Mirage Dragon's pranks.

Whenever the Phantom Mirage Dragon turned its attention toward her, it pulled in another Orchid Weiser from a different timeline.

Most of them got along well enough to exchange knowledge. A few, however, attacked the moment they met[1].

Information from alternate worldlines was rarely reliable, but knowledge never lied. Because they were fundamentally the same person, they shared sorcery with astonishing efficiency. Every time she met a new version of herself, she almost always mastered an entirely new sorcery class.

Eager as the squirrel was to extract more knowledge from the soft-spoken girl's mind, she immediately caught something off about the girl's statement. "Why do you think I should not have these shopping cards right now?"

The girl pointed at the Blazing White Tiger. "Let me guess. You just returned from the Calamity Flame Bathhouse Camp, where you successfully seized the Grand Law of Eternal Calamity, and these shopping cards came from the Temple of Calamity Flame. Am I right?"

"That is correct. Why?"

The girl smiled. "Things are fairly similar in our timelines. I went to the Calamity Flame Bathhouse Camp too. The only difference is that I could not defeat the person wielding the Grand Law of Eternal Calamity Flame, so I never obtained these."

The squirrel looked genuinely surprised. "You actually lost? He could perfectly channel the Eternal Calamity Flame, but he was weak and held moral scruples. If he had wiped out the other believers first and fought us through guerrilla tactics, he might have caused trouble. Instead, he tried to scare us off first and walked straight into my Armament."

The soft-spoken girl replied absentmindedly, "Ahaha. Maybe it was a different person. The one I met was not nearly as merciful as the one in your timeline. Not only did I fail to destroy the Temple of Calamity Flame, but under his leadership, it grew stronger and launched a counteroffensive against us. Because of that..."

She smiled. "I escaped disaster."

The squirrel narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Only after seizing Sense's position did I realize she wanted me dead all along. Back then, the Temple of Calamity Flame was advancing too aggressively, leaving her no choice but to rely on me. Now that the Calamity Flame is extinguished..."

The girl looked at the squirrel with a smile. "Tell me, can you think of any reason Sense would still let you live?"

A single gunshot shattered the endless night the instant her words fell.

The alluring, mysterious sorceress sat in her chair with her back to the window as the single shot blew her head apart.

1. I! Am! Kang! ☜