"Huh? Didn't you say you wanted to stay outside the camp alone?"

I asked in surprise. As for the other four, I recognized three of them - Adonis, Judith, and the astrologer we had met briefly in the Elara Woodlands after first traversing here. What was her name again?

Although I forgot her name, her outfit was still the same, too distinctive to not leave a deep impression!

"Actually, they appeared right after you two left, using teleportation magic to come straight to me. That blue bird was basically a scout sent by the Sage Council."

Adrian explained sheepishly while scratching his head. Even so, this didn't fully clear up everyone's confusion.

"But why did you come running back here? And why did they come to this place?"

It really felt too baffling! Well, Judith was one thing, but I recalled Adonis was the Chairman of the Sage Council, right? He could be considered their top leader! Add the astrologer and another unknown mage with a blue bird, and they practically formed a whole regiment!

The Sage Council had kept out of sight before, but now they suddenly sent their elites after everything was over. What were they trying to do? Trying to snatch the fruits of victory? But Lantine Oasis had already collapsed, so what was left to snatch?

I couldn't figure it out, but what I feared most eventually happened.

"It's Adrian, the King of Parristol! And the Sage Council that betrayed us by staying neutral!"

The sudden appearance of these "top enemy" caught the attention of the surrounding kingdom soldiers who didn't know the situation. The military camp was instantly in an uproar, with many soldiers taking up arms again in confrontation.

"Adrian, I've learned about what happened inside Chronos Tower. I understand the role you played in this incident, your difficulties, and your stance. But even so, I can't act like nothing happened! If you hadn't shown up it would be fine, but since I've seen you, I have to take you into custody and send you back to the capital. As for how you'll be dealt with then, that's up to His Majesty the King!"

Although Douglas had heard our clarification and didn't totally disbelieve us, as the military commander he had to maintain his stance. To be fair, this was understandable. But to my ears, it sounded a bit excessive.

The King of Astralrealm was a pig-headed fool! If he got to decide Adrian's punishment, it definitely wouldn't be anything good! If Douglas insisted on taking Adrian back to the capital, I'd have no choice but to intervene forcefully!

The key was, Adrian clearly knew this, so why did he still come here? Could there be some other complication? This time I learned my lesson and didn't voice any objections right away, prepared to observe first.

"What if the Sage Council insists on protecting him?"

Sure enough, things weren't as simple as they seemed. Adonis immediately stepped forward upon hearing this.

"You? On what grounds?"

Douglas scoffed coldly, his attitude full of disdain. If the other side hadn't brought it up, it would be fine. But once mentioned, he instantly flared up in anger, not caring about the other's status as he loudly berated them.

"If I recall, it was you Sage Council who chose to stay neutral and withdrew from the alliance initially! And now at this point you have the nerve to want to shelter a fugitive from my country? If it was somewhere else, maybe. But don't forget this is still Astralrealm's territory - I absolutely won't allow you to take him away!"

With a wave of his hand, a squad of soldiers immediately rushed forward to surround the group. He didn't care whether these supposed strongest human fighters could truly defeat them - this little show of force was still necessary.

"We don't need to take him away, because this time our grounds aren't based on the alliance itself, but on following the Continental Human Covenant!"

Adonis calmly refuted. Then he nodded to the person beside him, and the astrologer stepped forward to declare:

"According to Chapter 5, Article 1 of the Continental Human Covenant, once a human Fate Breaker is discovered, all nations must immediately provide sufficient protection and strive to enable them to fulfill their duties!"

"Fate Breaker?"

Those words caused a thousand ripples. Although most of the soldiers present still didn't quite understand, as the commander, Douglas clearly knew the implications. He immediately stepped aside and gestured for them to enter with a wave.

"Let's discuss this in the tent!"

......

Apparently, the entire crux revolved around the moment when Adrian gave up attacking Fernando to instead rescue me from being trapped by the Slime King - that split second where the predetermined future drastically changed!

The Sage Council's astrologer had made a divination before the incident occurred. Then combined with Adonis' ability to control time, they clearly foresaw the situation that would unfold at that moment. Although the time span was not very long, it was completely different from what we actually experienced.

In the prophecy, Adrian did not give up and resolutely fired that critical arrow at Fernando. Although the enemy still managed to escape and the explosive bugs were detonated, my situation was completely different.

According to the astrologer, I was enveloped by the Slime King but reverted back to my blue-winged state. Relying solely on my own power, I supposedly repaired the entire city. So the end result they ultimately witnessed was Lantine Oasis, the sky city, still safely floating in the air.

"What? I repaired the city? You can't be serious, right?"

Hearing all this in the tent, I felt it was really far-fetched. Releasing some healing spells in my blue-winged state was definitely possible, but the city wasn't a living being - no amount of healing magic would work on it!

Moreover, in the prophecy, I was similarly suffering from wing damage and serious injuries. It was precisely because I couldn't control the water element to transform again in that state that I had no choice but to slowly heal with low-level magic. Otherwise, all those embarrassing events afterwards wouldn't have happened.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"The water element isn't just for healing - that's merely its most superficial use!"

Adonis smiled and told me, then turned his gaze to Cyra beside me.

"The report said you seem to be a Fate Breaker too? Unfortunately not a human one. But your relationship with the Pope is worth studying..."

In the following conversation, we learned that Fate Breakers were extremely rare, so rare that they were hard to find even among millions of humans and other races. What's more, not only were they few in number, but confirming them was also very difficult.

This undoubtedly gave Fate Breakers immense strategic value - because without them, the existence of prophecy would be completely useless. In other words, if the future couldn't be changed, what use was prophecy? Even if Fate Breakers only had about a 50% chance of altering predetermined futures, in the face of major crises, this still represented an immense hope for all humanity. Hence, they were naturally included in the Continental Human Covenant.

The only trouble was that Fate Breakers could only be truly discovered by comparing prophecies to reality. This was like finding a needle in an ocean - it was not uncommon for prophecies to be inexplicably changed without knowing the reason or crux. So being able to accurately locate Adrian this time was like a one-in-a-million stroke of luck.

The reason was simple - they foresaw everything from the Divine Punishment attack on Fernando up until the very end. The time span was not too long or too short, but happened to be almost identical to reality up until the turning point, and Cyra didn't actually participate during that period. Hence, all evidence pointed to Adrian indeed being a Fate Breaker.

Although they still couldn't be 100% certain, the probability was extremely high by any measure, so they couldn't let this chance slip by.

"But I still don't understand. The Sage Council wanted to stay out of it from the beginning, right? So why did you go through the trouble of coming here? With Cyra also being a Fate Breaker, isn't she enough to change the predetermined future?"

Adrian clearly still didn't fully trust them. The Continental Human Covenant was just a piece of paper - whether they would actively abide by it was another matter. After all, Adrian's status as the King of Parristol was sensitive, and showing up here would inevitably bring some responsibility.

"Of course it's because I urged my son! While Fate Breakers can't definitely change the future, more is definitely better! All the prerequisites fell perfectly into place, so he couldn't refuse!"

Judith naturally came over to answer, putting her arm around Adrian's shoulders as she couldn't resist admonishing Adonis further.

"If not for Adrian, I wouldn't have been able to get out of the cave in Volcano Sulide. Of course your mother and I have to find a chance to repay him!"

"Could you not always act like this? It's been hundreds of years and your character still hasn't changed. So many people are watching..."

Adonis' aged face showed some embarrassment, but he didn't want to say much more. Helplessly, he could only lean in and quietly remind her.

"Don't make it seem like I suddenly have an old father at this age, that misunderstanding would be too much!"

"Judith, can I hit him?"

Although I would likely lose, this deathless hag was really too much to take. Assuming I didn't exist, was he? I couldn't help but raise my fist, gritting my teeth in anger!

"I don't want to fight you. Based on my observations, you likely have some connection to the legendary Water Angel. If you want to find out, you're welcome to visit Crescent City. I'll take my leave first!"

The sly old fox was as cunning as ever. Adonis said those words and instantly turned around, vanishing from sight. By the way, this spatial movement ability looked very similar to Fernando's tricks! Could there be some connection there?

"I remember previously inviting your companion. But I don't see her presence here. Why don't you accept the Chairman's invitation and consider it?"

The Sage Council's Chairman had left, but the astrologer and others remained. Through the introductions, I finally recalled her name was Meredith. However, my response this time would definitely be different. Faced with the invitation, I was more than happy to accept!

"Of course I can. In fact, I also have some questions I want to consult you about!"

This was the ultimate purpose of this journey after all. After going through so many twists and turns, we were finally back on track!

We all agreed to deal with the matters here first before heading together to Crescent City. With this, the Parristol chapter was basically concluded, leaving only the kingdom's military and church affairs remaining. After all, the various follow-up matters and handling of the Pope's "death" were equally thorny issues. It was possible the Cresthaven Papal Dominion would soon face a turbulent era of changing leadership.

......Time skip to night.

"So you were here!"

I finally found Cyra in the makeshift prayer hall set up by the church. I hadn't seen her since the meeting, she even skipped dinner. Seeing her devoutly kneeling before the crucifix statue, I made my usual teasing remark.

"It's been so many days since I last saw you pray. Have you finally remembered your Lord?"

"Do you think everything that happened today was the Lord's will?"

Cyra didn't turn around, suddenly asking me this out-of-nowhere question. This really stumped me.

"Well..."

It was really hard to answer! In truth, I still had many doubts about whether this world even had that God. But Cysper's demeanor at the time didn't seem like an act, so I could only skip past it and ask her a different question instead.

"Then do you think the Pope is really dead?"

This was also something I was quite concerned about. He had no reason to commit suicide at that time, right? If it was just to boost Cyra's power to escape danger, that seemed a bit too self-sacrificing?

"I don't know either..."

Cyra shook her head, it seemed even she, the person directly involved, didn't understand the situation. But at least she told me some useful clues.

"At the moment the ranking-up was completed, it was like the first time I clearly felt his soul. Unfortunately, it was rapidly departing from me, seeming to head in that northeastern direction..."

"Isn't that just the Holy Capital?"

I froze for a moment, quickly pulling up the map to confirm. In that direction, there was only the Holy Capital Jethrobaines. But according to Elara, in this world, souls usually return to the cycle of reincarnation after physical death. So unless reincarnation was in that same direction, it could only mean Cysper was truly quite special.

"345.1751, 175.4356...are those the geographic coordinates of the Holy Capital?"

Cyra stared at the map, murmuring those numbers before suddenly looking up to ask me.

"Maybe we should return to the Holy Capital to investigate?"

"You're thinking too much! Those are just guesses. Besides, that's the True Church's headquarters - even if we could investigate something, it wouldn't be our place!"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. We had agreed to go to Crescent City! If we went off on another tangent at this point, I really wouldn't be able to take it!

"Alright..."

Finally she didn't insist. Cyra was probably tired too, realizing this she said good night and headed straight back to sleep after leaving the prayer hall.

But I still wasn't sleepy for the time being. After all, too many things had happened today...

Sitting on a large boulder outside, I gazed at the twinkling lights flashing on the distant blackened ruins, clearly people rummaging through the night, possibly soldiers from the kingdom's forces. But more than that, the vast starry sky overhead drew my attention.

This world had no galaxy, but the star density was much higher than on Earth. Gazing up at the myriad of stars, I sensed someone approach and sit beside me to also stargaze. I didn't need to look to know it was Adrian.

"Did you know? I once thought replacing my father to achieve the dream of restoring our nation might be the most unattainable ambition in my life. But now it seems I've come to terms with everything!"

"You really don't regret it?"

I was a bit doubtful. All evidence proved he had a chance to save that city at the time, but in the end abandoned it all. If Nicola could help, perhaps there was still an opportunity for a redo. But that would be rather complicated, a bit difficult to pull off...

"Of course I don't regret it!"

To my surprise, Adrian remained very resolute in his answer, further explaining:

"Actually, that was just my initial thought. After the adventure in the Elara Woodlands, I realized the new desire in my heart might be even more difficult in comparison..."

"Oh? What desire is that?"

I turned curiously, only to see his face reflected in the starlight with an inscrutable smile.

"Hasn't it already been realized?"

He finished speaking and tightly grasped my hand. In this moment without interruption from others, our lips met again, lingering before finally parting.

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End of Vol 4.