Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 472 The Twins of Destiny
lie.

Amid the faint rumbling of the platform, Thales stood frozen for a full three seconds.

In those three seconds, gazing at Ricky, who seemed to be pointing something out in the firelight, Thales' mind flashed through many scenes of face-to-face encounters with his former "predecessors":
Ashida's calm elegance.

[Not just me, every mage in the world could, in their own way, easily...destroy the world in an instant.]

Giza's horrifying smile.

[You are going further and further down the path of misfortune... Magister, this is neither talent nor blessing...it is curse and doom.]

The mysterious figure of Torros.

Remember, child, stay vigilant... even if you think you have it under control... you still cannot let your guard down.

The ascending platform trembled slightly, startling Thales from his reverie.

"So what do you mean?"

A surprised Thales hurriedly asked:
"The sorcerers didn't kill the gods? That's a lie they made up themselves? Or were they deceived themselves?"

But Ricky just gave a cold laugh.

Sacel stood to the side, watching them with a deep and silent gaze.

Thales was still unwilling to accept it:

"Or is it that the calamities have never surpassed the gods, and the gods' power is far beyond that of magic users? Exceptionally powerful?"

Ricky remained silent, simply closing his eyes as if savoring the urgency and confusion on Thales' face at that moment.

"Ha ha……"

Under Sackel's thoughtful gaze and Thales' questioning look, Ricky's shoulders shook violently, unleashing an uncontrollable burst of laughter.

"Hahahahahaha..."

Ricky looked up from his laughter, staring at Thales who couldn't understand his joke at all:

"Kill, surpass, far above, powerful?"

“Look at these words you chose.”

In that instant, Ricky's smile slowly vanished, and his gaze became incredibly sharp, as if he wanted to pierce Thales' eyes.

“Mortal understanding is always barren and narrow,” Ricky said slowly, “yet they are always self-righteous without realizing it.”

"Just like you now, darling."

Thales was stunned.

"I don't understand," the boy said instinctively.

Ricky turned his head away to himself:
When you talk about two related things, you always imagine a chessboard, right?

checkerboard?

Thales was completely confused again.

Ricky slowly raised his hands, clenching them into fists in mid-air, a cracking sound coming from his knuckles.

"Then the two parties involved are placed at opposite ends of a chessboard in your imagination, starting a game of chess, following the rules you made up, playing against each other to determine who wins and who loses, who is superior and who is inferior, who is stronger and who is weaker?"

He looked at his fists, his tone full of mockery and disdain.

Thales frowned. "You mean gods, and calamities?"

Perhaps there's more...

demon.

Thales glanced at Ricky furtively.

Ricky scoffed softly. He looked at Thales, his fists slowly approaching each other in mid-air, then gently touching.

“You’re like a stupid little kid who can’t think and just nods and grins. You’re picking out two characters from a mythological bard’s poem and a historical play and debating who’s better. The standard is ‘see who can lift that big, smelly, hard rock covered in mud from the ditch at the second left corner outside his house.’”

He said this with the same disdain as always.

Thales paused for a second, then shook his head violently, as if trying to clear his overwhelmed mind.

"Wait, wait... Can you, could you please stop using metaphors?"

Thales said in frustration:
"I was already confused enough, I just couldn't stand this."

The prince looked frustrated.

Ricky simply lowered his fists, squinted his eyes, shook his head, and clicked his tongue.

But Sacel, who had been silent all along, spoke up at this moment:

"You mean we assume that both sides in a game of chess can follow the same rules for comparison, but in reality, one side can ignore the rules we assume and directly cross the board to capture the opponent's pieces?"

Sackel stared intently at Ricky, while Thales, who was listening nearby, paused slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

Ignoring the rules we think we should follow?

He means……

This time, Ricky finally put away his teasing and looked at Sackel seriously.

"No, I mean..."

The demon and the knight of punishment stared at each other for a few seconds before finally speaking softly:
"The two sides in a game of chess should perhaps never have been placed on opposite sides of the chessboard in the first place."

Thales was taken aback.

Shouldn't they be placed on either side of the chessboard?
Ricky's eyes narrowed slightly, and he pointed to his head:
"They are not playing the same game of chess, not the same kind of chess, not even chess."

"It's not even appropriate to have them all in your mind at the same time."

Sacel's expression changed slightly.

Ricky turned back to Thales, seemingly enjoying the feeling of teasing the prince:
"And my dear, what you just asked me so presumptuously was: who won this game?"

Thales was stunned and speechless.

Sakel's expression was grave.

Ricky's expression remained calm and slightly content.

But at that moment, Thales recalled many memories he had long ignored:

A tense confrontation inside the Temple of Sunset.

[Yes, I am Lishia Arend, the High Priestess of the Temple of Sunset, the Goddess of the Sunset, and her sole representative in the mortal world.]

Unusual exchanges within the Bright Moon Temple
If a deity truly exists, and if it is indeed the creator of all things, how could it allow such a thing to happen?

Even in the dark path beneath Dragon Sky City, the silver shadow figure's body shimmered with light.

[After my death, I was quite lucky; I received blessings and favors from some great being...]

Thinking about all his history of dealing with "gods" in more or less, Thales was slightly shaken!
"Mortals often use their limited imagination to understand the gods in their hearts—the gods they expect, fear, loathe, admire, love, and worship."

Ricky and Sackel were both taken aback.

They both turned their gazes and saw Thales, who was staring blankly into space, instinctively repeating what they had heard before:

"Mortals always try to understand the divine with their own limited and impoverished minds."

"Because of their short lifespans, deities are imagined as eternal and indestructible beings."

"'Because of their weak power, gods are presupposed to be beings of unparalleled might.'"

"Because they consider themselves one of the masses, they imagine gods as a higher and stronger kind of being."

Thales took a deep breath, his face showing a solemn seriousness.

"The problem is, eternity, power, life—these mortal things..."

"If deities truly transcend mortal comprehension and stand from a different perspective, do they really perceive these things?"

Amid Ricky and Sackel's strange and surprised gazes, Thales lowered his eyes, staring steadily ahead, his tone heavy and his voice ethereal:

"Because the true gods may be far beyond our imagination, existing in another form."

Thales exhaled and fell into quiet contemplation.

On the slowly ascending platform, Ricky and Sackel exchanged a surprised glance.

"Who said that?" Sacel asked softly.

“The Bright Moon Temple in Dragon Sky City,” Thales said without turning his head, seemingly still lost in thought.
High Priestess Jewel.

Upon hearing the name Dragon City, Sakel frowned deeply.

Ricky remained silent, then let out a soft sigh.

"very nice."

"This is probably the most detailed description of the indescribable gods I have ever heard in my life."

Unspeakable deities...

Thales frowned.

He suddenly realized that what the seemingly eccentric High Priest Jewel had said to him six years ago, on that night filled with bloodshed and conspiracy, in the Temple of the Bright Moon, might have been…

Extremely important.

“Your Highness,” Ricky sighed, unconsciously reverting to a more formal form of address, “you always manage to surprise me.”

Ricky's expression turned serious:
"The bright moon."

"Indeed, when the Church of the Bright God perished, the Church of the Holy Sun split, the Sunset remained stagnant, and the Sunrise was corrupt and decadent, with the two great temples using the guise of Errol to cheat and exploit each other, only the seemingly weak and unassuming Bright Moon remained..."

Ricky sighed:
"Even though the mountains are gone, the bright moon still shines in the sky. The people of the North are indeed quite resourceful."

But the next second, Ricky dropped his unusually solemn tone and changed the subject:
"But... are you sure she won't get her wages docked for saying that?"

This joke brought Thales and Sackel back to reality.

Under the thoughtful gazes of the other two, Ricky smugly pulled over the bag and took out a piece of jerky.

“Eat up, there’s only one,” Ricky laughed, tossing the jerky to the weakened Sackel.

"For the sake of your prince."

Sacel was taken aback and glanced at Thales.

The prince shrugged and gave a complicated and helpless smile.

The knight said nothing more. He lowered his head and quickly bit off the piece of jerky.

The three remained silent for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.

You haven't answered my question yet.

With clear eyes, Sakel put the last piece of jerky into his mouth.

"What on earth do you want to do?"

But this time, the Knight of Punishment raised his head and looked around at the mercenaries:
"Furthermore, as a subterranean demon, how did you become the leader of this group of traitors from the Tower of Ending? They willingly follow a non-human being?"

Sacel narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing each member of the Blade of Calamity:

"You really trust these people that much?"

Following the gaze of the Knight of Punishment, Ricky also looked at each of his subordinates.

Crassus, the Sword of Calamity, remained silent for a moment.

"Do you know, Knight of Punishment?"

Ricky's gaze was deep, but his tone carried a hint of regret and sigh:
"Do you know why we're always short-handed? Even this operation required the help of the Shadow Shield?"

Sacel did not answer, but waited quietly.

In Thales's eyes, Ricky rested his chin on his hand, let out a very human-like sigh, and pointed to a spot not far away.

“Sarand Klay”.

Thales and Sacel's gazes followed his finger, turning to the middle-aged calamity swordsman whose swords moved with incredible speed.

"He comes from Rebuilding Tower, one of the dishonorable products of the Northlanders' pioneering wars decades ago—his father was a nobleman of the Northland, and his mother was a barbarian who was captured from the mountains. For this reason, he will never be accepted as a member of either of his parents' families."

Clay, who was not far away, turned around alertly and, upon discovering that Ricky and the others were looking at him, immediately gave them an inquiring look.

Ricky waved to him, indicating that everything was normal.
"The northern lords who rebuilt the tower outwardly regarded him as a pawn to appease the barbarians and whitewash the situation after the war, but inwardly they only thought of him as a dirty and ugly little bastard. The barbarian elders relied on him to negotiate and bargain with the northerners, but at the same time they despised him as a symbol of their conquest and a disgrace to the tribe for being pregnant by rape."

Ricky's tone turned somewhat sad:
"No matter how skilled he becomes, Clay's identity will always precede his abilities. He will never know who he is because he is neither a Northman nor a Mountain Barbarian, but a homeless orphan who wanders between the two groups."

Thales and Sackel didn't speak, they just exchanged a glance.

Ricky gave a soft snort and turned to the other side.

“Falken Josh, he was a man from the Thornlands of Kalenza, who once served in the royal spies of the Kingdom of Allenby.”

Thales recognized the man resting by the stone platform as the spy the mercenaries had sent to the prison of bones.

"In the ridiculous and pathetic political struggles of Allenby, like many of his peers, he lived in a daze in a muddled world, blindly following his superiors' orders for a 'mission to the kingdom' that he didn't know was real or fake. He didn't hesitate to sell his conscience, get his hands dirty with blood, and arrest, torture, interrogate, and persecute batch after batch of 'enemies of the kingdom' in order to exchange for his own peace in the world, so that he could deceive himself every night when he held his wife and children, saying, 'I just have to support my family.'"

Ricky's expression was complicated as he shook his head at Josh, who had also turned around in a similar mood.

“Until one day, his father-in-law was also designated as an ‘enemy of the kingdom’ and imprisoned.”

“And Josh’s superiors—also in order to support their families—used Josh’s wife and children as bargaining chips for torture and forced confessions.”

"From that day on, the excuses he used to deceive himself crumbled."

Whether it touched on something or not, Sakel sighed softly after listening.

Ricky seemed to be stirred up; he turned to Thales, his eyes slightly darkening.
"And the unfortunate Sonny who died in battle was a Niedaman from the Kingdom of Ligudan on the Eastern Continent."

Thales paused, remembering Sonny, who wielded an axe and ultimately died in battle with Barney Jr.

"That's right. He used to be the most promising and representative of the Nieda people—a bandit. He was quite good at it and achieved remarkable results, until one day, he fell in love with a girl he had kidnapped."

Ricky stared at Thales in a daze, but it was as if he were looking at someone else: "Sonny gave up everything, just to marry her, start a family and have children. For this, he was willing to turn against his gang and fight many battles."

Ricky sighed softly, his voice filled with unspeakable sorrow:
"But after countless trials and tribulations, when everything had settled down and he was living a happy and fulfilling life with his wife and children, on a tragic night, his wife, whom he had forcibly taken from him, poisoned the food of herself, her daughter, her son, and everyone in the family except Sonny..."

Thales opened his eyes wide.

Ricky continued:
"...the final, most tragic, most helpless, and also most cruel revenge of a frail woman who could not grasp her destiny."

Ricky said slowly:
“From that day on, Sonny understood that perhaps his fate was sealed: he did not deserve happiness, but only hell.”

Sakel pursed his lips and remained silent.

Ricky took a deep breath and, as if snapping out of his reverie, gazed into the distance:
"Of course, there's also your royal guard colleague, Colin Samir, who lost everything after the tragedy eighteen years ago, and his daughter, Marina Norfolk, who was born into nobility but ended up in dire straits."

Upon hearing Samir's name, Sakel's expression darkened, and he blurted out, "I'm sorry."

I don't know who I was talking to.

Samir.

Marina.

Thales stared blankly at the two people in the distance, then looked at Klay and Josh.

This is... the sword of calamity?
Ricky stared at the knight for a few seconds, then shook his head dismissively.

“Everyone who becomes a successor outside the tower has their own story,” Ricky said, his eyes growing serious.

"Everyone is a non-human being rejected by this world."

Rejected by the world...

Non-human beings exist.

In that instant, Thales recalled a long time ago, that lonely figure with only a sword.

There's a reason it's called the Sin of the River of Hell.

We should have left this world forever, but time and again we deceived the ferryman of the River of Hell, narrowly escaping death's call at the last second.

Therefore, our existence is the sin of the River of Hell, proof that it has failed in its duty to govern death.

Thales was lost in thought.

"Do you understand it?"

Ricky looked up seriously and answered the question the Knight of Punishment had just asked:

"They are not following me."

"What they follow is the resentment and anger that originates from despair and injustice, which grows stronger because of it, but has nowhere to be vented and can only burn endlessly in the empty wounds of their hearts."

Sacel's eyes narrowed.

At that moment, Thales clearly sensed that Ricky was different.

The power of destruction within him surged once more, giving the boy an overwhelming sense of danger:

Scorching hot.

Repressed.

heavy.

Thales shuddered, the image of the Blade of Calamity and the Shield of Shadows locked in a fierce battle flashing before his eyes:
Ruthless, insane, and leaving no room for compromise.

Sacel clearly sensed something as well; the Knight of Punishment froze, his right arm trembling slightly, as if suppressing his urge to strike.

But Ricky paid no attention to the strange behavior of the Punisher Knight; his eyes were like knives, coldly cutting through the air in front of him.

Even his voice had taken on that chilling quality it once had:
"This is far beyond what those so-called End Swordsmen in the Tower of the End, who have been corrupt for many years, are used to flattering and currying favor with the sons of nobles from various countries, and who play both sides among the major powers, whitewashing the truth and being hypocritical and aloof, could imagine."

The next second, Ricky stared straight at Sackel, as if he could see into his very soul.

"Join us, Knight of Punishment."

His tone was firm and left no room for argument.

“We have so much in common: you are a powerful warrior, but like other pitiful creatures, you still cannot escape the cage of fate.”

"You may not understand our meaning, but you will, we will show you—fate is not inescapable."

Sakel remained silent.

Ricky's expression remained terrifying as he extended his right hand to the Executioner:

"In this gloomy world, we find each other in our loneliness, just so that one day we can both see a hopeful tomorrow and step into the hall of peace."

Thales raised his eyebrows, sensing a deeper, inexplicable meaning in Ricky's words.

But Sacelle simply shifted his position, clutching his injured left arm, and turned his head away.

"I'm sorry, I made a vow."

"This sword is wielded only by the Emperor's command," the knight's voice was hollow and hoarse, yet it possessed a certain composure and determination.
"It has no other use."

The knight's words were simple and direct, which made Ricky's face stiffen, just like his outstretched hand.

This sword is wielded only by the Emperor's command.

Hearing these distinctive words translated from the ancient empire, Thales felt a slight pang of sadness: he recalled the way Naki and Nai looked before their deaths.

Ricky frowned as he looked at the stubborn and unyielding Sackel.

Finally, filled with disgust and helplessness, he shook his head:

"Damn Imperials."

"An imperial decree, huh?"

The demon then turned to Thales.

Caught up in the battle between the two, Thales subconsciously shifted his position, changed his posture, and straightened his demeanor.

The boy raised an eyebrow:
"Um, cough cough, maybe you should go find that red-haired guy over there with the crossbow... he might be helpful for your group's propaganda and recruitment..."

But before Thales could finish speaking...

"Do not."

“Forget it,” Ricky ignored what he said, simply looked away, and waved his hand with a disappointed expression. “Just forget about it.”

"Not the time."

Thales, who had been inexplicably looking forward to it, hadn't even finished his joke, and the smile on his lips hadn't even faded yet.

A faint, indescribable embarrassment welled up inside him.

Am I really that bad?

Just then, the Knight of Punishment added, "By the way, apart from madmen, no one is interested in self-hypnotic cults."

Ricky paused for a moment.

"You mean a madman? Self-hypnotized?"

Ricky chuckled softly, reverting to his composed and profound leader's demeanor.

"You know, a long, long time ago..."

"I mean, before the two magic queens were queens."

Ricky leaned back against his stone platform, a disturbing smile playing on his lips. "They have another nickname among the mages, another nickname that has been forgotten."

Thales was stunned.

The Magic Queen's...

nickname?

The boy tensed up, instinctively perking up his ears.

Sacel was also slightly taken aback. His gaze bypassed Thales and returned to Ricky:
"The Magic Queen?"

Ricky didn't rush to answer; he tilted his head, observing the Executioner Knight with great interest.

“Sakel, tell me.”

"When you purchase magic-powered gun cores from the Empire, don't you find it strange? Why is it that only the empresses possess that kind of technology and influence the entire world's situation?"

"And eighteen years ago, your colleagues, your kingdom, your past... When you look back, do you feel that the world is so unfair?"

The next second, Ricky's tone became deep, as if he were a mysterious fortune teller:
"Do you feel that fate is so...heartless?"

fate?

Ricky's barrage of questions nearly left Thales and Sackel completely bewildered.

Sacel frowned:

"What are you implying?"

Ricky laughed.

He glanced to his left and right, as if he was considering something.

"Listen carefully, darling."

"Just like the Truth Brothers, before becoming 'Empresses,' those two mage masters—Bloodthorn and Black Orchid—were called by the mages as..."

At that moment, the demon looked at Sacel and Thales, his eyes filled with both mockery and warning:
"Twins of Destiny".

Thales and Sackel were both stunned.

destiny……

Gemini?

Wait, considering what he said earlier...

Is he implying what I'm thinking?
In a state of near-incomprehensible astonishment, Thales saw Ricky speak in the most complex and incomprehensible tone:

"Knight, your king is truly great."

"But he couldn't overcome fate."

Sacel stared blankly at the demon, his expression changing drastically, and he instinctively shook his head.

“Trust me,” Ricky looked up, gazing at the dark walls around him in the dim firelight:
"The prison of bones is not the end; fate is an even greater prison."

Fate is a bigger prison.

Thales, his mind in turmoil, breathed in a daze.

“And we have the key to open the prison…”

Ricky pulled out the green crystal from his pocket, looked at Thales, and the eagerness in his eyes sent a chill down Thales's spine.

"Perhaps it's... the only key."

For a moment, both Sacel and Thales were speechless.

“Now,” Ricky laughed:
"Who's the madman, and who's just hypnotizing themselves?"

silence.

long silence.

Amidst the endless noise, Sacel finally sighed.

But he eventually lowered his head.

"You, your name is Ricky, right?"

"My name is Ricky now."

Ricky shifted to a more relaxed posture, his alarming expression vanishing, and he smiled. "Would you like to reconsider my proposal?"

Sacel looked up, his eyes regaining their clarity.

He stared straight at Ricky:

"I suddenly have a feeling that you... are not a demon."

"On the contrary, they are more like...humans."

For a moment, Ricky was stunned.

His loss of composure and Sacelle's words suddenly brought Thales to his senses: the guy in front of him was an anomaly.

What he says... cannot be entirely trusted.

"interesting."

Ricky seemed to remember something and chuckled:
How do you know what a demon looks like?

Sackel didn't speak immediately; he stared at Ricky for a very long time.

“In countless accounts, demons from hell are described as cruel, harsh, and tyrannical,” Sacel said in a slightly somber tone.
“Inhumane.”

Ricky raised an eyebrow.

He stroked his chin, seemingly lost in thought:
"Hmm, that's true. A real demon is indeed utterly inhuman."

The next second, Ricky suddenly leaned forward, braced himself with his hands on the ground, lowered his gaze, and looked up at Sackel and Thales.

He gave the two of them a mysterious smile:
"For example, they can be so inhuman that... you might think they are human."

Thales trembled slightly.

Looking at Ricky's rather human-like smile and pondering the deeper meaning hidden behind those words, the boy felt a strange chill run down his spine.

Someone messaged me asking for a map again...

Since you asked so sincerely, I'll be merciful and... show you the geographical map of the Western Continent again, and also give a preview of the upcoming Volume Six... That's it, meow~
By Wujian, who looked completely serious.

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(End of this chapter)