Chapter 170-A Very Red Fountain

“What… what’s happening?!” Feeling the icy chill on her neck, the black-clad woman cried out in terror, “I can’t control myself!”

She trembled as she raised her curved blade, forced to adjust it to the perfect angle for a beheading. Strands of jet-black hair were sliced off by the blade, drifting down into the nearby river.

“Wait—”

“She’s a devil who manipulates minds… Someone save me…”

Hiss—!!!

With a synchronized, crisp slicing sound, it was as if basketball-sized heads dropped to the ground, crimson liquid spouting out like pillars, the heavy scent of blood spreading thickly through the air, even the flowing water couldn’t wash it away.

Vicky stood beneath the many ‘fountains’, her face expressionless. Scarlet blood spilled onto her hair, her skin, her white dress, only making her look even more bewitching and beautiful.

Zijingyue and Lie Lie stared at the scene, their faces instantly turning pale with fright. Scenes like this would be censored even in movies, yet they were forced to witness it with their own eyes.

Bai Yue Zero wasn’t as frightened, but she still opened her delicate cherry lips in shock.

Actually, all this time, Bai Yue Zero had never thought much of Vicky as a Mental Mage, because her own mental power reached 99 points, and under her powerful mental defense, Vicky’s attacks seemed utterly powerless.

But at this moment, she suddenly realized just how terrifying Vicky was to those without high mental strength.

With just a single glance, she had invaded all the black-clad figures’ minds with overwhelming force, and with one offhand comment, forced all of them to commit suicide… Was this the power of a level 40 Mental Mage?

“No… please…” Watching the blood flow out, one of the black-clad women cried out in fear, “I don’t want to die…”

What “pure Red Rose”? She was clearly a “Bloodstained Red Rose”.

Bai Yue Zero shook her head, puzzled. “Why are these black-clad people here?”

“No idea.” Vicky shook her head, gently wiping away the blood on her body. “But I’d guess it has something to do with the Theocracy.”

Bai Yue Zero thought aloud, “Their base is right on the border with the Theocracy. It’s very possible they came from there…”

“Um, can you talk somewhere else?” 

Lie Lie pinched her nose and waved her hand in front of her face, trying to disperse the smell. “The stench of blood here is too strong! My nose can’t take it!”

Zijingyue also complained, “If Miss Vicky could take a bath, that would help too…”

Upon hearing this, Vicky looked down at her bloodstained white dress, a complicated and strange emotion flickering in her eyes. Then she silently jumped into the nearby river.

She immersed herself in the icy water, gripping the rocks on the bank, staring blankly into the darkness upstream. Her delicate brows furrowed, as if weighed down by endless worries.

After a moment of thought, Bai Yue Zero jumped in beside Vicky, her soft, ample pink bunnies gently rising and falling with the waves.

She silently raised the temperature of the jelly covering her body, warming Vicky up.

Vicky seemed not to notice, only speaking lightly: “Actually, ever since I started working with the black-clad ones, I suspected they had some ties with the Theocracy. An enemy we met earlier only confirmed my suspicions.”

Bai Yue Zero thought for a moment, then asked, “You mean that Grand General of the Iris Theocracy, who’s also the Archbishop of the Order of Order—Ya Jian?”

“That’s right. For a Theocracy general to appear so close to the Kingdom’s border can only mean one thing…” Vicky said in a low voice, “The Theocracy is about to launch a war.”

Bai Yue Zero was stunned. “So soon?”

In Bai Yue Zero’s previous cycles, the Theocracy did launch an attack on the Kingdom, but not at this time—only a week after Qing Jin’s death, when the Kingdom was thrown into chaos, did the Theocracy launch its surprise assault.

But this cycle, things were completely different.

Bai Yue Zero fell into deep thought. Was it because she had changed something?

Compared to previous cycles, this time the attacked Druidic Order didn’t just blindly accuse everyone like headless flies after their priest team was assaulted, but quickly locked onto the true culprit—the black-clad ones.

Naturally, this was for the best.

And the Third Princess Vicky, who had worked with the black-clad ones, was toppled by Bai Yue Zero, losing all her power within the Kingdom.

Even the dying Queen Qing Jin had her life barely sustained by Bai Yue Zero using Dark Corruption.

All these factors combined made the situation in the Rose Kingdom far more stable this time around.

Was it because things were so stable that the Theocracy grew anxious and changed their strategy?

That was Vicky’s worry. If the Theocracy chose to attack now, the Kingdom wouldn’t be able to respond in time.

But the problem was, how would they get past the Panlong Mountain Range, that natural defense?

“Priest Hero, though I’ve had many conflicts and disputes with you in the past, and even tried more than once to kill you… that was all my own doing, and had nothing to do with anyone else.”

Vicky turned, gazing into Bai Yue Zero’s eyes, pleading, “I hope you won’t take your anger at me out on the Rose Kingdom.”

“All the wrongs I’ve done were because I wanted to change that desperate future… I saw the capital fall, the church at war with itself, the Theocracy and the Empire’s armies at the gates, the people homeless and wandering… I didn’t want all the good things to be destroyed in the future, so I used any means necessary to strengthen my own power. Even if it meant sacrificing some people, I didn’t care.”

She paused, her gaze growing incredibly complex in that instant, her knuckles whitening as she gripped the rock, as if suppressing something within herself.

“But today, after hearing what you said, I was shocked to realize that in front of a stranger like you who’s only been in the World of Fate a few days, everything I’ve done in the past year was utterly meaningless—like a pathetic clown…”

She had manipulated Aya, hypnotized Shixila, even aided the black-clad ones and General Taima, turning a blind eye to their crimes.

She did all this because she could only trust herself—only by ascending to the throne could she use the Queen’s power to change everything. If she succeeded, then all the sins committed would be sacrifices that could be accepted.

But all of that was built on the premise that the Rose Queen, Qing Jin, was terminally ill and wouldn’t live much longer.

If Qing Jin could recover, could rise from that sickbed, then everything Vicky had done to compete for the throne up to now would be pointless.

So she ridiculed, despised, and hated herself in silence—even soaking in the icy river meant nothing to her.

“Priest Hero, I hope everything you’ve said is true.” Vicky whispered, “Even if you hold the power of darkness and corruption, it doesn’t matter anymore. The Goddess of Judgement herself has acknowledged you. As long as you can save this kingdom, then go ahead—do whatever it takes.”

Hearing this, Bai Yue Zero was silent for a while, then suddenly said, “You know what? Now I kind of want to punch you again.”