Am I going to be controlled by the players too?

After saying this, Sky and Wind King Dvalin closed his eyes, and his soul suddenly left his body, transforming into a pale blue wind shadow that flowed upstream along the river of time.

The three dragon kings, representing earth, water, and fire, nodded and stepped forward to protect the wind king's body.

On the high platform, the "sage" watched this scene quietly, a fierce killing intent flashing across his gentle face.

The Dragon King, who rules the sky and the wind, is the embodiment of time and stories. He never thought he could keep the deception for long… but he never expected to be discovered so soon after fooling history. It's likely that before long, all the erased truths will be unearthed once more!

We must intercept and kill them!

On the long river of time, the past, present, and future overlap, and countless scenes flash by.

Dvalin, the Wind King, drifted along the river and soon arrived at that strange point in time, layer upon layer. He then used his powers to begin touching this hidden history.

The next instant, all the erased images reappeared.

Under the crimson full moon, the imposter sage gradually lured Sylvia, offering her a shortcut to godhood through death and tempting her to sacrifice the lives of an entire nation, leading her into a carefully laid trap... Then, the mysterious youth suddenly attacked, using the source of chaos to launch a surprise attack, piercing the demon's heart with a single sword strike...

The truth is becoming clear one by one.

King Dvalin was deeply shocked, only then realizing that the four-hundred-year-old game of national destiny was a devilish deception from beginning to end!

"Damn it...we have to kill it!"

Dvalin immediately prepared to turn around and return to the present to tell everyone the truth, but at the very moment he turned around, a dark shadow silently hung in the void deep in the river of time, having been waiting for a long time.

Magical Demon!

A magical demon capable of manipulating history and time can naturally see the river of time and thus interfere with it!

"Whom do you want to kill?" the demonic phantom spoke softly, its voice echoing through the long river. "You've discovered something you shouldn't know... You're the one who deserves to die the most."

"Demon! Who are you?!"

Dvalin roared, trying to break free from the river of time, when he saw the demon open its arms and whisper:

"Fooling time!"

The next moment, the time laws that belonged exclusively to the King of the Sky and the Wind were "fooled".

The Wind King suddenly realized that the "future" had vanished from his time, and all his actions in the river of time had become "moving towards the past." He desperately flapped the wings of his soul, trying to rush back to the present, but each effort only caused him to fall further into the distant past in the river of time!

For the first time, despair filled the eyes of the Wind King.

"Get ready... to drown in the past."

The demon sneered, the phantom vanished, and it returned to the real world, no longer paying attention to the Wind King who was drifting eternally in the river of time.

In this world, time passes second by second.

The Wind King's body remained standing still, showing no sign of waking up. The three Dragon Kings grew increasingly anxious as they waited, a nameless unease weighing on their hearts.

The "sage" lowered his eyes, his mind racing with calculations.

To everyone's surprise, the most unruly Himegami actually showed up... It had to prepare to escape.

Even if I possess the power of three legendary flames, I would never be a match for a true god, and even my authority would be difficult to exert when encountering source matter.

run!

Serafina has likely realized her mistake; she can no longer retain the identity of a sage...

"Unfortunately, I have no solution for the Death Demon. Please leave now."

The "sage" suppressed all his hostility, spoke to Sylvia in a seemingly peaceful manner, and prepared to leave.

Just as I was about to set off, I suddenly scratched my head, realizing I had forgotten something.

"What...was I going to do just now?"

"Run away? But why run away?"

"I can handle just Sylvia, Freya, and Seraphine. Felix is ​​a coward who disappears at the first sign of danger... Wait, I seem to have forgotten something?"

"Pfft—!"

A cold glint cuts through the wind; the sword's light is chilling.

A dull thud suddenly rang out as a long sword pierced its heart!

Then, a mournful sigh came from behind: "Sage, it is not I, Cheng Cheng, who has harmed you, but this chaotic world!"

Magical Demon: "???"

The "sage" stared wide-eyed, his face filled with disbelief, and slowly turned to look at Cheng Cheng behind him: "This time... why is it this time?"

Haven't I already distorted and fooled history without showing any abnormality?

"I don't know."

Cheng Cheng scratched his head: "Freya told me to stab you with my sword when you were about to leave, and I did it... You were killed by my sword of righteousness, so you died a worthy death, Sage."

Magical Demon: "..."

Magical Demon: "You do whatever she tells you to do? Is she your mother? If she tells you to lick her feet, would you lick them too?"

Cheng Cheng was overjoyed: "Such a good thing!?"

Holy crap...!!!

The magical demon was so enraged that he was speechless, almost wishing he could commit suicide, but he forcibly suppressed his surging blood and looked at Freya, who was walking slowly towards him: "Why did you want to kill me?"

"Alas... Sage, it's not that I, Freya, have harmed you, but rather this chaotic world has ruined you!"

Freya sighed softly, her eyes filled with helplessness and apology: "Because of a contract. To be honest, I don't know the reason either, but it's a promise I made to the Sky and the King of Wind. Since a contract has been made, it must be kept. I'm sorry, Sage."

contract?

King of the Sky and Wind?

Hadn't I already banished him to the very beginning of time? What contract could he possibly have left?

The demon was shaken to his core, a chill running through him.

No longer caring about its injuries, it activated the Fool's Mask on its face, its gaze piercing through layers of time and space, tracing back the river of time, all the way to the traces of the King of the Sky and the Wind.

Time flows backward, light and shadow rotate.

It saw the Sky and the King of Wind constantly trying to return to the present, but because the souls in the River of Time could not use any power, they could only watch helplessly as they traveled backward in time.

Until a year ago.

…………

One year ago, in the Kingdom of Konoma, in Silvershine City.

A magnificent palace complex sits on an island in the middle of the lake.

All the buildings on the island are white, with towers of varying heights arranged in a staggered pattern, the tallest of which pierces the clouds. The palace walls are covered with vines, blooming with tiny white flowers; when the wind blows, the petals fall like a rain of blossoms.

On the lake, several white doves swam leisurely, occasionally dipping their heads into the water to forage for food; on the willow trees on the shore, orioles hopped among the branches, emitting clear and melodious chirps.

The years are quiet.

The soul of Dvalin, the King of Wind, drifted to this place amidst the turbulent currents of time, and was about to continue its journey into the distant past when a clear, crisp voice suddenly rang out:

"Dragon, dragon, are you here to capture me?"

Dvalin's soul seemed to freeze, and he turned to look.

In the tallest tower, by the window of the top-floor bedroom, sat a beautiful young woman who looked to be about eighteen years old.

The girl had long, fluffy, and shiny pink hair, delicate and clear eyebrows and eyes, and skin as white as jade. She had a slender waist and long legs, and her delicate figure made the snow-white chest even more alluring. Her eyes were clear and clean, with a lively and innocent charm that came from being untouched by the world. The nobility of a royal princess and the purity of a young girl were perfectly blended together.

"This is... Freya? How come she's so big?"

Dvalin was filled with astonishment. He landed atop the tower and looked intently at the girl: "You can see me?"

The next moment, he understood.

This is the Royal Palace of Konoma, protected by the [Understanding] Source, whose power "Forgetting" is related to the "past" and can also interfere with the river of time.

Freya is the next queen of the Konoma royal family, who is to be "armored to sainthood". She has been exposed to the source material since childhood in order to cultivate it in a direction that is more compatible with the source material. Naturally, she has been tainted with a trace of the characteristics of the source material, so it is not surprising that she can see herself.

"Dragon, dragon, why aren't you saying anything?"

Freya carefully climbed over the windowsill and sat on the edge. The evening breeze ruffled her pink hair, and her small, fair feet dangled in the air, swinging gently. "If you're not here to capture me, you'd better leave quickly. This is the royal palace; it's dangerous to barge in here."

"No need."

Dvalin steadied himself—he was trapped in the river of time, and the young Freya before him was his only hope for breaking the deadlock.

"I am the dragon who grants wishes, the king of the sky and the wind who rules over stories and time," said the dragon. "Beautiful princess, what is your wish?"

Upon hearing this, Freya's eyes lit up with joy, but quickly dimmed again: "I want to reverse the kingdom's essence so that every future queen will not have to suffer the pain of forgetting and losing... But even the Dragon King couldn't do that, could he?"

It's simply impossible.

Why don't you just wish for world peace?

After thinking for a moment, the dragon said, "No one can help you with this; only you can fulfill your own wishes."

"Liar dragon, nyah nyah nyah~~"

Freya puffed out her cheeks and made a face at him: "I'm a princess, locked in a castle my whole life, I can never get out. Unless a giant dragon captures me, I won't have a chance to leave here and go on an adventure, and I won't have a chance to fulfill my wishes~~~ wink wink!"

"I really want to help you, but right now I..."

Just as Dvalin was about to say that he had been drifting in the river of time for a year and had no power to interfere with reality, a sudden idea struck him: now that Freya could see him, perhaps he could teach her the ritual to connect with her past self…

“I can teach you a ritual,” the Wind King said slowly. “Pray to the Sky and the Wind King, and receive a blessing. This will allow your body to revert to the appearance of a nine-year-old, and from then on, you will be protected by time. All divination, spying, and fate calculations in the world will be unable to affect you.”

Freya's eyes lit up instantly, her face beaming with joy: "Really?"

"but!"

The Wind King lowered his proud dragon head: "I need you to do one thing for me. Until that thing is accomplished, you will never be able to return to your current body."

"what's up?"

Dvalin, the Wind King, looked up into the distant future and knew that revealing too much about the future would interfere with the flow of time and could even lead to an irreversible outcome. Therefore, he could not tell her too many reasons and only told her what to do.

"If, in the distant future, you were to meet the sage Malphite of the 'Tower'," the King of Sky and Wind slowly began, "as he prepared to depart..."

"Kill him."

…………

"So...it was you all along..."