The tower guardian felt as if he had woken up from a nightmare.
Her vision returned to normal. At this moment, she and the envoy were still in the Astral Lighthouse's Sealing Chamber.
Other than the disappearance of the Mad Box at the end of the room and the ineffectiveness of the 77 backup seals, there were no other changes in the entire Sealing Chamber.
It was as if everything that had happened was an illusion...
Wait, what happened?
The tower guardian cupped her head which seemed to be about to explode in thought.
The complete memories in her mind only lasted until the Mad Box shattered and the black fog surged out. All she could recall afterward were some scattered memory fragments.
Maniacal laughter, black smoke, conversation, music, play, applause...
There was also the appearance of the most mysterious Void Sovereign, the crazy jester, Valk.
The tower guardian felt her stomach spasm at the thought of the name.
Therefore, she must have fallen into an illusion. Otherwise, she would have gone crazy from having such a long period of close contact with Absurdity Jester...
The tower guardian comforted herself.
"No, you had already gone crazy," the Thorn City envoy beside her suddenly spoke.
Such a terrifying comment made the tower guardian turn to look at him.
At this moment, the holy relic that should have been stolen was in the other party's hand.
"Why is the sealing holy relic with you?" the tower guardian asked in surprise as she looked at the illusory crow feathers.
"Since the sealed Demon General has already returned to the Moon Realm, you don't need this anymore, right?"
William looked at the soul fragment of the Father of the Crows in his hand and replied without answering the question.
He looked at the soul fragment and recalled his conversation with Valk.
"Therefore, what help will your so-called bet provide me?"
William asked calmly in the face of the other party's pompous words.
"The birth of a Void Sovereign requires another Void Sovereign to crown Him. I can be in charge of this. Of course, the prerequisite is that you ultimately win," Valk replied.
He wasn't lying. In the Eclipse ending, the protagonist became the 14th Void Sovereign when the Whispering Empress and the King of Deathblood crowned him.
This raised another question—how was the first Void Sovereign born?
Of course, now wasn't the time to think about this.
"Other than that?" William continued asking.
"Other than that, there's also the ticket to the circus," Valk replied with a smile.
After a few seconds, William understood what the other party was referring to.
"The Father of the Crows' soul fragment?"
Valk nodded and continued, "After I obtained it back then, I specially persuaded Mania to come here and protect it for more than 800 years just to wait for the fated one to obtain it... Only people with this ticket are qualified to enter and fight for the candidacy of Father of the Crows. Didn't I specially reserve it for you?"
William frowned and said, "Then, the other party already has two tickets."
According to the Crow Feather Prophet, there were a total of four soul fragments in Currere. Their leader already had one, and the other three were located at the Holy Sepulchre, the Blacklight City's Astral Lighthouse, and with the Riel Empire's empress.
He only had the fragment from Blacklight City's Astral Lighthouse, and the piece that had been in the Crow Feather Prophet's hand had probably been obtained by Coles.
William couldn't help but feel frustrated.
When William proposed this heist, it wasn't that he didn't keep in mind such a possibility. Be it the Crown of Original Darkness or the soul fragment, he even left hidden coordinates on the Crow Feather Prophet.
However, as a former subordinate, the other party was too familiar with his habits. The moment he obtained the item, the other party erased the marks he had left.
The methods he used to guard against outsiders ultimately failed to guard against his own.
"I remember that the last soul fragment is in the hands of the Empire's empress..."
William planned on taking action immediately.
However, Valk shook His head and said, "It's too late now. The other party has long reached a deal with that cute little lady. As long as she gives him the soul fragment inherited from the royal family after he becomes the new Father of the Crows, he will calm the storm in the Shattered Sea and allow the Empire's fleet to sail to Ava State without any obstruction."
"In other words, the other party already has three fragments..." William muttered.
"Heh, what's with the long face!? You should say that the score is 3 to 1, and you're evenly matched."
Valk laughed and patted William's shoulder.
Then, He continued, "Moreover, isn't the Seed of Hope still in your hands? Even if the other party has completely inherited the Father of the Crows' abilities, he still needs the Seed of Hope to take the final step. Otherwise, he won't be able to become a complete Void Sovereign."
Valk's words reminded William of the specific ritual to advance to the King of Hope and Despair in the Eclipse ending.
First, he used the Seed of Hope and the Curse of Despair to mold the initial prototype of a Void Sovereign. Through fusion, his life began to transform into a Moon Realm existence. Only after the transformation did the ascension ritual truly begin.
Based on the different prototypes chosen, there would be two diametrical rituals.
If the domain's embryonic form was created by the Curse of Despair, the trigger activated by the ascension ritual would be an act of betrayal. The fuel needed for the ritual was to cause a huge disaster that swept through Currere; the immense suffering and sorrow in Currere would then stir up an intense storm in the Moon Realm.
If he had used the Seed of Hope to form the embryonic domain, the trigger activated by the ascension ritual would be the act of redemption. As for the fuel needed for the ritual, it needed a country to maintain peace and harmony for more than ten years, allowing the residents here to live a happy life to calm the intense turmoil in the Moon Realm.
The last step of the ritual was a reversal.
If he had used the Curse of Despair to form the embryonic domain, he would have needed to use the Seed of Hope to reverse the situation and save those who had fallen into despair because of the disaster.
On the other hand, if he had used the Seed of Hope to form the embryonic domain, he would have needed to use the Curse of Despair to reverse the situation. He would also have to betray his happy subjects and throw them into the abyss of despair.
William recalled the last scene of the play.
Without a doubt, Coles had chosen the first ritual back then. After all, the second ritual required too much time to prepare. He used the Curse of Despair to create the black cloud-like crow phantom, which was the embryonic form of the Void Sovereign.
He probably chose to hold the ritual in Thorn City's Holy Sepulchre to satisfy the fuel conditions for the ascension ritual. In that era when the Moon Realm rifts and the Seven Calamities were all sealed, the only way to cause a huge disaster was probably to summon the Rotten Moon Undead Tide again.
However, Coles probably didn't expect the embryonic form that symbolized the power of despair to choose Blake, who was in even greater despair back then, as its host.
Blake followed simple restraint logic and believed that he needed the power of the Seed of Hope to suppress the Curse of Despair. Therefore, he swallowed it.
This was equivalent to entering the final reversal stage.
What was worse was that Blake's choice back then was indeed a form of betrayal toward Coles.
Therefore, the trigger clicked, and the ritual was activated.
Finally, it led to the birth of an incomplete 14th Sovereign, the Father of the Crows.
If the two of them hadn't worked so well together, the ritual wouldn't have been activated so smoothly...