Chapter 511: Fall of the World

"Guards rushed in after him, stabbing him in the back, and yet all he did was stare me in the face with a wicked smile... I remember it clearly; it made my skin crawl... it was as if the Fallen itself was staring into my soul, and not its Vessel... and I had no idea who he even was at that point.

He didn’t draw his blade... so I glanced at my people to let him go; after all, the blood he was covered in was his own." The King looked at his wife and took her hand. Sighing, he continued the story.

"He had come in peace, with no intention of fighting, and I believed him; after all, if he was here to bring death, the time to start wouldn’t be in the room with a Breaker. So I heard what he had to say."

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...

"The world’s going to fall," Cain said, smirking, as the last spear retreated from his back. With blood flowing on the ground, he slowly made his way towards the throne, no one looking away.

"I have already seen it with my own eyes, I must say; it’s horrifying. What will happen next..."

Rashid frowned, clenching his hands. "That’s what you wanted to say? And I’m supposed to believe you... I have no idea who you even are."

"You do," Cain said, bowing quickly to show respect before getting back to his feet. "At least, you have an idea of who I am, but don’t wish to admit it."

"...You Devil... I believe you even less now. It’s ironic to believe the Fallen’s words about the world’s fall. Leave this room before I kill you. Silas couldn’t because he believed in you, but I don’t. There are only three Gods worthy of worship... at least in this Kingdom. If you don’t like that, go back home, to the Kingdom that was blessed by your God. I’m sure they will accept you there."

Cain sighed, shaking his head. "I only have one home, and that’s the Withered. And I have no intention of running away." He tilted his head. "Believe me or not, fine, do what you want. I’ll be coming in three days to see if you still have the same opinion... and believe me, you won’t."

The King gritted his teeth... before sighing. "What do you want? Let’s say that you’re right; what do you wish to achieve by telling me?"

...

"The one thing you love too: Freedom. Help me liberate the Withered."

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Iris blinked twice, bewildered. ’There are two now!? Both the Abyss and this new Fallen guy? And more importantly...

...

It seems my father knew about him, and never told me.’

She sighed. "And... if I may ask, what was your response?"

Rashid looked into her eyes, serious, before bursting into laughter. "What do you expect? Of course not; I said no!"

Praise sighed in relief; after all, if Oasis became allies with the Withered, it would be anything but good. Not only would the Blue Rose lose a very valuable connection, but a war at the moment would be a disaster; after all, almost everyone was inside the Wonderland.

"Of course," Iris said. "I don’t know why I thought otherwise."

She cleared her throat. "Now... for the expedition. We have gotten little to no information about what’s happening inside. But what we know is that it’s probably not anything good. The wall was broken, and more importantly, when we sent more people to see what’s going on, they didn’t return, and there’s no sign of them."

The King massaged his beard, thinking. "So, then, this expedition isn’t going as planned. I’m surprised, since from what I heard, Keres was one of the leaders; I would have thought that guy would have things under control." He chuckled. "I even made a bet that he was going to find his truth inside this mission; guess the odds are stacked against me on that one, huh?"

Iris chuckled. "Maybe..."

...

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"Do you believe he’s dead?"

Iris’s eyes widened at the sudden question; there were many things to ask, but this one was definitely not the one she expected to hear next. After all... she didn’t consider it that important, and... wasn’t the answer obvious?

"I believe he’s alive. It’s pretty hard to kill him," she said, slightly nervous; after all, it was her brother she was talking about. Even if she knew how powerful he was, her love for him still made her worry.

The King chuckled. "It is, isn’t it? What an Affinity... I’m quite jealous... Adaptation... it makes my skin crawl; if it wasn’t for his bane, he would have become unkillable long ago. But the Codex knows what it’s doing; it would never have allowed such a being to exist, at least not without being a Vessel, since Lilith also exists, and his bane does nothing to restrict his Affinity."

Rashid clapped his hands. "Well, I thank you, Iris, for the information. The road must have been rough; why don’t you all rest here for tonight? I’m sure that you would like that, and you aren’t the only one who likes this idea," he said, glancing at his daughter.

Iris nodded happily, and as she did, Farah grabbed her wrist, pulling her to her room. Iris looked back at the Celestials, who looked more confused than they had ever been. But she was sure the King was going to take good care of them.

For now, she had other things to do, like enjoy a night with an old friend, and she was sure she was going to have fun.

She was just sorry for the Iris who would have to wake up the next morning.

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"Ugh..." Iris groaned, woken by the sound of people screaming through the streets. Hearing people rush through the castle with fast steps, she quickly got up and shook Farah, who was still asleep. The girl staggered awake before calming down as she saw her. "You scared me-"

Iris put a finger to her lips as she heard the King talking by the door.

"And you’re sure that he isn’t from any other Kingdom? Are you one hundred percent sure that he’s really from Wonderland, as he says?"

...

"Damn it, let’s go."

Hearing a door open as the King and another person left, she quickly grabbed Farah, heading towards the door. Putting her ear to the door, she made sure there wasn’t anyone else before opening it and following the King at a distance to the dungeon of the castle, where they hid in the shadows, as Rashid and the other person, whom she could now identify as Idris, walked over to a man chained to the wall.

The King sighed as he walked over to the man, frowning. "Why did you kill them? Why did you mercilessly kill that family?"

The man chuckled, amused by the situation he found himself in. "They were Readers... that was my reason, but now... the more time I spend in this place, I start to realize this isn’t... the Wonderland, is it?"

Rashid clenched his fists. "Of course it’s not."

...

"Then you two must also be Readers... everyone in this place must be a Reader, huh... looks like I hit the jackpot."

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"Everyone in this place is going to die-"

The King slapped him, of course, without putting all his force into it, since if he had, he would have easily killed the man, but that was in no way what he wished to do; it would have been a big waste if he had.

"Stop spouting nonsense... who are you, and what do you mean when you say you are from Wonderland?"

The man, even after being slapped, could only continue laughing. "You would want to know, huh? But why would I ever tell you? I don’t get anything out of it."

...

"I’ll tell you one thing: since I’m not so sure of what’s happening myself, I won’t be the last one... There will be more, and more, and we will kill every single one of you. This world will be ours-"

The King smashed his head with his bare fist, frowning deeply.

"...What the heck is happening in the Wonderland?"

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Aether sighed, taking the blade out of a bandit who had tried to kill them for their bounty. Turning towards Elise, who had finished killing the others, he saw her holding something very interesting; it was a Blue Rose bracelet...

His eyes widened as he saw it, and he quickly walked towards the girl to take a better look at it.

... ’The Merge... is it starting? So soon?’

...

’The world is in big trouble... if the Merge has happened, there’s a big chance humanity will fall... after all, when it comes to the expedition, more than 75% have already fallen... 75% with a lot of the strongest people from the two Kingdoms...’

He sighed, glancing at Elise. "What do you think we should do?"

Hale took a deep breath. "What else? What we’ve been doing all this time, trying to find an exit.

We should probably hurry."