Memes

“Ba da ba ba da da~” Inside the eerie green tunnel, Li Yue walked slowly with a blood-red longsword in her hand. She hummed a song, feeling an unprecedented sense of inexplicable well-being—even a touch of joy. She sang a tune she didn't know where she had heard; perhaps in that bizarre dream, or perhaps by Clo’s bedside.

“Hmm? An aura of danger?” Li Yue felt so good that she didn't even want to offer any unnecessary resistance.

She gently rubbed her eyes, forcibly suppressing the strange emotions that kept surfacing in her heart. Taking several deep breaths, she repeatedly slashed her own wrist with her blade, using the faint sting of pain to stimulate her senses. The scenes before her began to flash in rapid succession; the eerie green landscape full of vitality would suddenly transform into a crimson nightmare. Between the trees, spikes that looked like flesh yet felt fibrous began to sprout, lunging toward her body.

“Hallucinations? Mental pollution? When did it start...” Li Yue dodged the attacks, severing all the areas where eyes had sprouted with a single sweep of her sword. She adjusted her breathing, frowning slightly as she sensed the increasingly heavy aura of danger surrounding her.

Deep within the heart of the tree, she could hear rapid, rhythmic heartbeats. The area was saturated with an intense aura of life. Li Yue suspected this was where the Sovereign of Madness was shaping its own body. After all, besides the gods, only the World Tree preserved the vast majority of vitality from the Old World. Only such a massive amount of life force could shape a body for an existence whose tier surpassed even the King of Gods.

“Why... is there such a strong, strange sensation?” Li Yue murmured softly. She tried to contact the Underworld, but was met with a sharp, stabbing pain.

“It hurts...” Li Yue was stunned. In the next moment, she snapped her eyes open within a cramped space overgrown with tangled branches. Her body was covered in shocking, dense wounds; branches had pierced through her flesh, rapidly draining her vitality.

“It seems His influence on me for so long has finally erupted here...” Li Yue opened her blood-red vertical pupils, an inexplicable sense of anger rising within her. The “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust” magic activated instantly, turning the surrounding space into void and dust. She flicked her wrist as the wounds on her body, large and small, began to slowly heal.

“I can't save my mana anymore... if this continues, I'll go mad.” Snake scales began to appear on Li Yue’s face, and a pair of demonic, pitch-black horns emerged from between her white hair. She flicked her snake tongue, and the gates of the Underworld behind her swung open with a boom. The River of the Dead, carrying a powerful aura of death, instantly flooded this dark space.

Countless blood-red eyes that had been open were now forced shut. With a casual wave of Li Yue’s hand, blood-red magic bombarded the pitch-black space. The authorities she had collected began to manifest around her one by one, her attire shifting closer to her divine raiment. Behind her, the silhouette of a massive, spreading black serpent appeared.

In a daze, Li Yue seemed to see that majestic divine throne within the heart of the tree as she drew closer.

“Just a little more...” The corners of Li Yue’s eyes twitched slightly. She could even see hands growing out of her own body, trying to pull her back.

The symptoms of her erosion were becoming increasingly severe.

...

In a place where the sunlight still shone gently, many students sat in circles on the grass. They were protesting the Academy’s passive attitude. Their former homes were now all flying the blood-red and black snake flag of the Royal Court.

All the world is the King’s land.

They did not know that the current ruler of the Royal Court was that Five Staves mage who governed time, nor did they know that the world was being consumed bit by bit.

“The strike has been going on for two days. Isn't this getting a bit too lawless?” An old man in a deep green robe, his pale curly hair slightly disheveled, stood by the window watching student representatives give impassioned speeches on a podium.

“If this were two hundred years ago, back in that era when we knew nothing of the apocalypse or the twilight, I suppose I wouldn't have been willing to endure such humiliation either. I would have died on the dueling platform against that Lord of the Fallen Court.” Albert, dressed in red robes, shrugged candidly. “But only the version of me from two hundred years ago had the guts to fight a powerhouse like that. Now, both my body and mind have grown old...”

“Clo said no one knows where that Lord of the Fallen Court went. It seems to be some desolate, dark land beyond the maps.” The principal cleared his throat. He looked at the crowd below with exhaustion, his hand resting on the contract Li Yue had signed with them. He let out a quiet sigh.

“You should just spar with a phantom of that Lord of the Fallen Court. Once you show them the gap in strength and the fear of death, they won't have this rebellious mindset anymore,” Albert joked casually.

“The younger generation shouldn't be taught to simply submit to power, but... it seems there is no other way.”

“How is the collection of the world's authorities going?” He didn't dwell on the previous topic, moving on to a more important one.

“The four members of the Five Staves and several accompanying professors have reported finding at least four leads. They are currently attempting to see if they can be brought back using magic.”

“What does she want with so many authorities?”

“Don't her three existing authorities already grant her unparalleled power?”

“Perhaps... that existence is even more terrifying than we imagined,” Albert frowned. “By a significant margin.”

In a dark corner where the sunlight could not reach, blood-red and deep blue intertwined to create a quiet, solemn space. Li Yue descended into it with a cold expression. Shrouded in blood-red light, she radiated a powerful, majestic aura.

She gazed at the heart before her, which was throbbing like living flesh. The power in her hands grew stronger. There was no trace of nostalgia for the past in her eyes, only a profound coldness.

“As expected, this place is polluted...” she said softly. “But... why... is there no trace of His descent here?”