Chapter 626: Battle of Fate (I)


    Trantor: TransN Editor: TransN


    Was everything... a dream?


    Rnd blinked his eyes as he walked step-by-step to the fence in order to look down at the school’s panorama against the sunset.


    No one was in the spacious yground. Under the orange sunset, the goal looked lonely and its very long shadow was reflected on the ground. Far away were the familiar library and dormitory and the sunset painted the luminous windows with a ray of gold.


    Rnd had studied here for almost seven years so that he had been familiar with everything. He knew that he was standing on the rooftop of a teaching building and that this was his favorite ce to spend his spare time.


    Rnd had many memories here.


    Such as that iron gate behind him that was driven by the warm wind to open and close constantly.


    This iron gate was billed as a unique view of the teaching building’s rooftop, and its cover looked as ancient as a cultural relic excavated by archaeologists. When he hade to this school, the gate had already been torn and tattered. As long as it was pushed lightly, it would make noise continuously as if it were out of breath. Yet it was extremely quiet after it was opened and then closed. As far as Rnd was concerned, the gate would fall apart soon, but still, at the time of his graduation, it stood still on the rooftop.


    "But since this was a dream, why did I look the same as Prince Rnd?" thought Rnd.


    Rnd lowered his head to see his slender hands, and then touched his gray hair on his shoulders. Apparently, the height and shape were different from what they were when he indulged himself in his studies.


    "So... What had happened?" thought Rnd.


    Rnd frowned, after a while he remembered that thest scene he had seen was that Nightingale had pushed him away, and then after a sh, he had only seen her panicking and despairing face.


    "Who on earth... are you?"


    A tactful and intangible female voice suddenly appeared beside him.


    Rnd was scared and abruptly turned around only to find that ady with long white hair was walking toward him. She had a pair of ruby-like eyes and her red and white robe dropped down to the ground with a golden pattern embroidered on its bottom, which obviously did not belong to this era. Besides, the golden throne of her head showed her identity.


    "You’re a pure witch of the church?"


    "Yes. But I’m also the 15th Pope of Holy City of Hermes." She paused and continued to say, "I’m Zero, while you’re definitely not Rnd Wimbledon."


    Well, Rnd frowned and said, "So did you create this ce?"


    Everything made sense. The sh should be Zero’s ability that Nightingale had wanted to help him to escape from. And the scenery before him should be an illusion or a virtual space, something like that. The moment he opened his eyes, Rnd thought that he hade back to the modern world again.


    Even though Rnd knew that perhaps the church was originally the Union, it never urred to him that the pope was a pure witch. Therefore, it was so incredible to see that these witches boldly turned other witches into inhumane monsters.


    "No, you created this ce." Zero walked toward him step-by-step and said in an exciting tone, "The ce is hidden deeply in your memories and appears frequently in most of your daily life. But I’m curious as to where this is. We both know that Prince Rnd of the Graycastle would have never lived in such a ce."


    "Why should I tell you?" Rnd moved to the other side of the fence and kept a distance from her.


    What could he do to shake off the illusion? Rnd thought of many ideas in his mind. Maybe he could jump off here? Based on his experiences of nightmares, he would instantly wake up from a nightmare if he jumped off of a high ce.


    Zero smiled and said in a sweet tone, "It’s okay that you won’t tell me. I’ll spend a little of time finally figuring out that who you’re, where you’re from and why you’ve be Prince Rnd."


    Would she finally find out? "You mean to tell me that you’ll read my memories?" Rnd asked in a very cold tone, "Don’t tter yourself."


    Zero suddenly stopped and said, "You know what? I would exin to each one trapped in the illusion the effects, rules, and the impact of my ability. Everyone except for you."


    "What?"


    The moment Rnd asked, he found that Zero had appeared in front of him. And a sudden pain made him lose his hearing.


    Rnd trembled and lowered his head to only find that a knife was inserted into his chest. Rnd wanted to shout, but he could not make any sound. His chest was destroyedpletely and the opening and closing of his thoracic cavity could not squeeze even a little air into his throat.


    Just like an electrical current, the strong pain spread over his body. Rnd would rather die immediately than suffer one more second.


    "Because I don’t like anything that’s confusing."


    At the other end of the knife was Zero’s calm face. Half of her body was sshed and wet by Rnd’s gushing blood. Due to hypoxia and the self-protective syncope of his brain, he quickly became unconscious.


    But the next second, Rnd stood still beside the fence, his body intact. In addition, Zero also stood far away from him, like she had never left that spot.


    "What had happened?" Rnd took deep breathes. "Was it just an illusion?" He covered his chest that was moving up and down fiercely, and the wound still hurt. Looking down, he saw the shape of a pool of blood.


    "Damn, what had happened just now was true," thought Rnd.


    Staring at the knife held by Zero, Rnd was quite surprised in his heart because there had been nothing in her hand before.


    "Could she create something out of nothing?"


    Just at the moment, Zero rushed toward him again. She was so quick that Rnd could not see her clearly.


    Rnd instantly turned around to escape, but just after a step, he felt a pain in his abdomen.


    Then, Rnd experienced death again. Zero wielded her long knife to cut him into two halves. The pain this timested longer thanst time and he fell down into his own blood and outflowing guts. Thesting pain made him shout so miserably that even he was frightened by his own voice.


    After his second resurrection, Rnd had realized something.


    This is a nightmare that can’t be broken by jumping off of a high ce or from feeling fierce pain. It’s like a cyclical arena.


    Damn it. What’re conditions of escaping from this? What about defeating the white-haired witch in front me?


    "Zero can create weapons out of nothing, but what about me?" Rnd gritted his teeth and started to concentrate his spirit. "If I had had a shield, I would be able to fight against her."


    A blue light shed.


    A transparent anti-explosive shield appeared in Rnd’s hand. He had stopped her attack, but there was a deep scar left on the shield. What was worse, Rnd was blown away by the huge sh.


    "Well, this was what had happened," Rnd said a dirty word in his heart.


    When rolling over, Rnd dropped the shield and manifested an automatic rifle.


    When Rnd raised the rifle to shoot, Zero disappeared.


    "What was going on?" thought Rnd.


    "I’m right here."


    Her voice emerged next to his ears.


    After a white light shed, his arms dropped to the ground, so did the rifle.