Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 170 The Vanished Future

“Poor woman, even now you still don’t understand why you’ve ended up in this situation.”

The strands of hair filling the field of vision were like millions of venomous snakes, and the dark purple lips seemed to mock, uttering low murmurs as they opened and closed.

In my line of sight, those lips curled up.

The mocking lips grew increasingly eerie, eventually transforming into a sinister grin.

"Since you trust Charlie so much, I'll show you the true face of that king!"

In an instant, a flood of images and sounds rushed into Jeanne's mind...

……

"That woman..."

A magnificent palace appeared in my mind, and a person wearing a short hat was standing in front of a person sitting on a throne, humbly saying something.

However, the man in the short hat was speaking English, not French. Jeanne could only understand a little. The man talked on and on, sometimes gesturing animatedly, and occasionally trying to persuade the person on the throne in front of him.

The man on the throne seemed to be still hesitating. His hand rested on the throne, stroking it with some hesitation, sometimes clenching into a fist and sometimes relaxing, as if two intense emotions were battling in his mind.

Finally, the person on the throne spoke...

"Then..."

It was a familiar voice, tinged with insecurity, a trait stemming from his unfortunate past. In the past, the owner of that voice, Jeanne, had always revered him as her king, but now, that voice uttered the very words he should never have spoken.

Compiègne.

……

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!!"

Amidst the throng of people, a heart-wrenching female voice suddenly rang out from the blazing pyre. The figure, vaguely visible in the flames, seemed to be struggling in agony, but the soot-smoked throat made the sound resemble the scream of a non-human monster.

The crowd looked terrified upon hearing the sound.

In this era where mystery had not yet faded and superstitions abounded, what would have been the consequences of burning her alive, given her status as a well-known saint? Nobody knew, and some even instinctively took a few steps back.

"Don't be afraid! That's just the witch being purified by fire."

Seeing this, a pastor hurriedly shouted, and upon hearing this, the crowd that had been retreating in fear of the inhuman screams stopped and did not continue to retreat.

Amidst the flames, the woman accused of being a witch by the priest had been burned beyond recognition, her body covered in charred marks. Yet, she did not die, as if some inexplicable force was supporting her.

The disfigured "person" opened its mouth, as if it wanted to say something.

"..."

However, his throat had already been burned by the hot smoke and air, and he could not speak at all, only making strange roars.

She wasn't stupid. She had never been defeated in dozens of battles, and victory was wherever her flag pointed. However, there were some things that she herself deliberately avoided and didn't want to think about.

Why weren't troops sent with her when she was sent to the south of France? How did the Burgundians somehow learn of her movements and surround her? Why did the soldiers, "out of fear," close the city gates when she was fighting desperately to cover their retreat? Why did Charles show no intention of rescuing her after she was captured?
Are all these unexpected events really just accidents?
Everything... was just something she didn't want to think about, something she dared not think about.

She gave so much to France, but how did France repay her?

The King... the Generals... the Marshals... the French People...

"..."

The "person," burned beyond recognition, opened its mouth wide, but despite its best efforts, only a weak, dry roar could be heard from its throat. Filled with anger and sorrow, it could not utter a single word.

at this time……

A gentle touch touched her cheek. She looked up and saw only a pair of pupils... What pupils they were! They were like black holes, swallowing everything, unable to let even light escape, and so transparent that they didn't reflect anything at all.

Anger, despair, sorrow, resentment, discontent, jealousy...

All the negative emotions surged into his heart, a feeling that even surpassed the body currently being burned by flames. Although his heart was filled with anger and despair at being betrayed, when he saw those pupils, all the negative emotions turned into a strange sense of peace, as if just seeing those pupils was enough to satisfy him.

"Jean..."

In her vision, accompanied by that deep voice, the owner of the pupils gently stroked her cheek. His hand was unusually gentle, as if he were handling some rare treasure. In those pupils, which were only darkness and nothing else, the unrecognizable "person" seemed to see the calmness and pity in those pupils.

Are you angry?

All that could be seen was those dark purple lips opening and closing.

This was the third time the pupil's owner had questioned Jeanne. It had already questioned her three times: once in prison, once while she was tied to the stake, and now once more. The first two times Jeanne said she wasn't angry, but now…

"I..." she said again in a hoarse voice, but she no longer knew how to answer.

"Jeanne, if your kindness only brings you misfortune, then abandon your kindness."

That deep, mesmerizing voice rang out again, and a cool sensation touched her burning cheek. The owner of those pupils held Jeanne's face in his hands, and the pupils drew ever closer, so close that Jeanne could see every single detail within them clearly…

It was completely pure black.

The pure blackness that devours all things glorious, great, dark, and decadent—since even light cannot escape it, what can perceive that pure blackness?

Evil? Sin? It's far more than that.

The things before us are also gods. If good has a good god, then doesn't evil also have an evil god? Good tries to save the stubborn and wicked, but isn't evil also trying to save the obstinate and rigid good?
Stubborn good people, evil is not a sin, it is just self-love. If goodness only brings you wounds, then follow the guidance of evil...

The whispered voice spoke those words in my ear.

"Jeanne, do you love France?"

The woman's consciousness gradually blurred in that pure black vision, and she could not even hear what the owner of the pupils was saying. She simply spoke instinctively according to the surging desire in her heart.

"Love."

She murmured to herself, completely unaware that the invisible darkness was slowly seeping into her body.

"Then let your anger become flames and burn those who betrayed you... The king, the generals, the people of France, they have all betrayed you, but I will not abandon you."

In my ear, a bewitching whisper slowly spoke, like a lover's murmur.

“Jeanne, trust me, just as Ramses did, just as Alexander did, just as Caesar did, just as Charlemagne did, just as King Arthur did… just as so many kings have done. Trust me, and I will give you the power to take revenge on those people.”

“Charles should not be the King of France. What the people need is you, the invincible maiden of Orleans, the one who has received divine revelation. You will become the Queen of France.”

The voice rang in Jeanne's ears, and her body, which had been burned to a crisp, was gradually reshaped. The owner of the voice possessed infinite power. Even though there was an agreement that gods and demons could not interfere with the mortal world, it could always find many loopholes and do some tricks.

Many monarchs have met the owner of this voice and achieved unparalleled feats; now, this young woman from Orleans has received the same honor.

She will emerge from the stake as Queen of France, for one of the two great powers that rule the world has made this decision.

This world is a chessboard, and humanity is the chess piece. Gods and demons sit on either side of the board, deciding humanity's fate. Just like this girl, she was chosen by the gods and simultaneously chosen by the demons. Whether it has been a thousand years or ten thousand years, it has always been so. Gods and demons are the only players.

The corruption of the girl is gradually taking place, and when it is complete, she will transform into a queen reborn from the ashes.

But faced with this erosion, the girl, whose consciousness had already faded, began to move her fingers. She hesitated instinctively, as if she still felt some reluctance in her heart.

"Why hesitate? You are sure to become a better king than Charles."

The whispered words came from beside my ear.

"But then... how am I any different from the King of England?"

The girl, already in a daze, was unable to answer. Only a barely perceptible thought surfaced, which was caught by the whisperer.

Once, the King of England declared war on the King of France in anger over his rightful claim to the throne, which led a girl to leave her village and take up the banner for the suffering French people. But what meaning would all that the girl had done be if she were to try to seize the throne out of her own anger?
"It's meaningless."

The voice owner whose consciousness entered the girl's body also sensed all of the girl's memories and emotions from the past ten years, but the voice owner who sensed all of this only made this assessment.

The girl remained silent, her consciousness completely dissipated, beyond waking. What was about to awaken was a French Queen modeled after her, possessing all her memories, yet with a completely different personality. It was like piecing together shattered porcelain into something else entirely; the raw materials were the same, but the pieces were entirely different.

As the owner of the voice carefully experienced the girl's life, trying to piece together a new soul, the owner of the voice suddenly discovered something in the girl's memory—something that had been deliberately hidden...

"impossible!"

Upon realizing this, the owner of the voice almost screamed in surprise.

……

In the underwater temple, a silent attendant stood beside the empty throne. She was the most favored daughter of the demon, a deceased spirit who had followed the demon from the previous universe. Since her body had long since died, she naturally had no desires, only pure worship and faith.

The demon went to the place of execution by burning to reap the fruits of his labor, while she stood guard there. But just as the demon cried out in alarm, she also suddenly opened her eyes.

Her pure white pupils were filled with astonishment. As a Norn, she naturally possessed the power to see through fate. The mists of time did not exist for her. Even gods and demons bound by the gamble could not see the future like her.

However, just now she witnessed a scene she had never seen before.

The future... has vanished.

Like a river that has been interrupted, the ever-flowing river of time has broken in front of us and fallen into that bottomless abyss.

(End of this chapter)