Chapter 345: The Emperor’s Armor, the One Truth, the Trolley Problem

— Very well, it’s over.

This was the first thought that popped into the socially anxious cat’s mind.

If she could initially doubt that Thousand Faces was a believer with a special Disaster Debris ability, after taking the Taboo Technique without injury, moving the Holy Dragon back to its original spot, and separating herself “coincidentally” from Sister Aurora…

Then the other party could only be the Archbishop.

Moreover, judging by their words and actions, they seemed to possess a uniquely strange ability, with slightly above-average intelligence, making them one of the most dangerous types.

Tang Liuli held back her instinct to tremble. She gathered her courage, trying to mimic Little Xuan and Honey Qing by putting on an air of confidence and cool authority, attempting to “intimidate” the archbishop in front of her, who wore a smiley mask.

At the same time, the wise mind of the cat began to work hard.

The young girl began to count the resources she had. She had not been granted any blessings, nor had she had time to “Fully Bloom.”

Currently, all she could rely on were the basic boosts from Magic Armor, the early form of Patronus Magic—Spirit Power, various little gadgets gifted by Little Sakura, and the genius known as “Aisha Fez,” which served as additional magical reserves for a First-level Magician, along with free knowledge of spells.

But even with all of this combined, she was only about equal to a Superfine Magician, and might not even win against them, let alone confront this archbishop directly who wielded the unpredictable power of the Calamity God.

Theoretically speaking, after she leveled up and reached “Fully Blooming,” she might have a chance to hold her ground for a bit; right now, it was pure luck, and she could only rely on her friends.

However, seeking help from Little Sakura was not possible, even though she could create a finishing move more impressive than the Holy Dragon’s Taboo Technique using Tempering of the Heart.

Yet facing such a seemingly causative power was difficult to deal with in one strike; the margin for error was too low, so she still needed to rely on Honey Qing, Little Xuan (temporary enhanced version), Charlotte, and the other captain-level witches.

The green-eyed cat became more and more scared, her lovely face struggling to keep a cool expression. If it weren’t for the Magic Armor not being a dress, her little legs hidden underneath would be trembling in embarrassment. She wished she could snatch the hourglass from her opponent’s hand to show the Ideal State.

At this moment, the Holy Dragon was fighting with Grand Duke Tiffany high in the sky. Her dragon eyes shone with a fierce light, mixing beastly and divine nature, radiating a power that could shatter souls, controlling the sky and solidifying space, slicing through the air with sword energy strong enough to split mountains.

Aurora’s rational thoughts broke entirely after being separated from Aisha. Her heart pumped with a raging magic essence, filled with strong anger and a protective spirit, unlocking the key to her soul’s evolution and making the deep imprint in her blood burn brightly.

In that moment, the Holy Dragon shone with glowing green scales like floating feathers. Her body continued to compress, her hundreds of meters long body and over a thousand meters of wingspan shrinking until only thirty meters remained.

Finally, she appeared as a mysterious dragon form, carved like emerald, made of elements and interwoven light, far surpassing other legendary dragons in elegance, dazzling the world with her perfect presence.

Even without a beast master who could connect with her, she still relied on her love for Aisha to step into the ultimate form of the Lapis Lazuli Radiant Dragon, entering an energy form that could match magic essence and rules infinitely like the Elf King!

“Auguste, I don’t care what your intentions are; if Aisha is even slightly harmed, the Fez family will make you pay with blood.”

Auguste’s white hair danced wildly around him as he was surrounded by a magic barrier strong enough to withstand a Dimensional Slash, powerful like the life force of ancient dragons, resonating with the sound of his heartbeat, concentrated in this mortal form, terrifying like a ghost.

“Very good, Aurora, you are stronger than your predecessors, getting close to being a Saint with the body of a legend. Only at this level can you be called a gift worthy of the Emperor.”

“But it is still not enough.”

“You, Aisha Fez, that young girl, Olga, and even the entire Fez family, your awareness is not enough, far from enough.”

The man looked indifferent as he stepped into the void. The alchemical great sword in his hand expanded tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold, under the control of a magical spell, creating the armed slashing sword.

Aurora felt a great danger.

This was the traditional secret skill of the Tiffany family. Every generation of the family master spends most of their life forging, alchemizing, and using magic to create a perfect weapon that fits their body, merging it with flesh and soul, known as an Armed Weapon.

Once the battle begins, the alchemical field on it will expand, becoming the most deadly threat to the enemy.

So, in rumors, the Tiffany family has the deepest foundation among the Oath Family. No one can imagine how terrifying the power of this ancient alchemical family would be if all the family masters’ alchemical weapons were brought out.

In fact, Auguste has already shown this brilliance.

A hundred years ago, a divine curse arose, using the ruins of the ancient dragon nest as a sacrifice to give birth to a multi-headed dragon beast that combined many dragon characteristics. The beast god used it as a vessel to bestow authority and will, forging a half-Saint.

In the beginning, almost all of the legendary warriors of the empire took part in the campaign. Auguste was among them; he was still quite young at the time, but he controlled four Alchemical Puppets and used the Armed Weapons of his family’s master from the past, showcasing an incredibly terrifying fighting power, making him the strongest after the Adjudicator.

At this moment, this family master, who was unmatched in Tiffany’s history, had a cold look in his eyes, filled with killing intent. The Armed Weapon he unfurled devoured the dominated sky in the alchemical realm, creating patterns that looked like frozen frost, as if he wanted to slay the Holy Dragon directly!

Aurora remained fearless in the face of danger; her dragon language echoed in the heavens, reciting a chant with her throat and soul that summoned the powers left behind by the neutral gods, thin yet strong elemental concepts. Finally, with a clever structure of magic, she formed a burning ring of ten overlapping layers, blocking the heavy horizontal slash. The daytime sky sparkled like iron flowers, filled with a beautiful yet tragic red fire.

Auguste’s gaze was indifferent; he frowned and said: “Does the Holy Dragon also need to borrow the powers of the gods? How ridiculous.”

“The emperor personally eradicated religion; it is a poison that has lasted for a thousand years. It twists human nature with superstition, fear, and ignorance, creating pigs that do nothing but pray and stay away from the law.”

“Yet the citizens of the empire in later years, including the nobles, craved the convenience of divine power, actively intervening in the Holy Sophon through public voting, loosening the Golden Law, and reaching for the gods’ powers, thinking they had gained an advantage.”

“And the result is one divine calamity after another, along with the great disaster from beyond that has now arrived. Such a foolish approach, wasting the Emperor’s blessings, has only made this world filthy.”

Aurora said with a cold smile: “So what? Is this your reason for betraying your oath? Do you intend to destroy this empire that belongs to the Emperor for such a reason?”

Once she finished speaking, she continuously unleashed the Unrestricted Technique, releasing a spell with power multiplied dozens of times in its ultimate form, creating a boiling sea of magic essence that unleashed complex Taboo Technique, distorting the light in the sky. This truly changed the heavens for miles, coloring the ground in brilliant hues, as if drawing people into a magical world.

If it weren’t for the powers and domains of the two covering the sky above, forming a temporarily closed giant arena, even the slight ripples would be enough to stir an eighth-level hurricane, blowing away the green-eyed cat below.

Auguste could not remain still either; the thousands of layers of magical crystal walls swirling around his body shattered almost with every breath, and the alchemical force that he relied on for protection would eventually be unable to withstand such outrageous power. Yet the man remained calm. He replied: “In all of heaven and earth, no one has the right to destroy the legacy that belongs to the Emperor.”

“My goal has never been to destroy the empire, but just like the Fez family is willing to give everything to continue the Holy Dragon, the Tiffany family has its own way to show loyalty to the Crown.”

Auguste said as he grasped the giant blade, the air around him sighed, and six paths filled with the charm of history emerged, supporting different fields of alchemy, telling tales of past glory with the Armed Weapon.

Before him appeared the masterpieces of the generations of the Tiffany family masters, creations born from their hard work and lifetimes. The moment they arrived, the lingering Taboo Technique was briefly separated, and the magic essence particles surrounding him trembled, singing a beautiful and mighty hymn.

At this moment, it felt as if the deepest truths of the world were laid bare, explaining the laws of the Golden Sea through a greatly mysterious and intricate alchemical formation, transforming into a golden light that wrapped around him from ten meters away, linking seven paths of alchemical armor.

The Grand Duke Tiffany’s ice-blue eyes glimmered, and he looked at Aurora and quietly stated, as if presenting a fact: “You have done your best with the Holy Dragon of the Fez family.”

“Come and see, this is the scale armor forged for the emperor with our thousand years of effort, called—The One Truth.”

As he finished speaking, the giant blade in his hand, along with seven paths of alchemical armor that stepped into the legendary realm, shattered in the golden light, countless fragments like awakened truths gathered behind Auguste, weaving together a broken yet majestic shadow.

This large and incomplete golden illusion had not yet formed a complete armor shape, inscribed with the empire’s medals. The entwined alchemical rules shook the world, its figure spanning the entire Autumn Maple Hill, powerful like a roaring wave, resembling a Giant God.

Even if it was not complete.

Even out of respect for the emperor, the Tiffany family was unwilling to give the family master the right to wear it.

But even so, the elemental domain created by the Holy Dragon was still instantly overwhelmed, and the Unrestricted Technique – Elemental Conservation came to an end in the overwhelming brilliant light, as the surrounding Taboo Technique disappeared like splashes of water in the frozen silence of everything.

Aurora was injured and coughed up blood from the backlash; she watched this shockingly powerful scene, with the shadow of golden armor reflected in her pupils, momentarily forgetting the pain she felt, and murmured in a daze: “The Tiffany family is really… trying to create that impossible armor? And they have continued for a thousand years without giving up?”

The Holy Dragon sighed:

“Although the outline was now visible, every step on the path to truth was a great divide. Auguste, are you really hoping for Lucy Tiffany to finish this millennium’s work?”

“It’s impossible, even if…”

Aurora, halfway through her sentence, suddenly understood something; she looked at the Grand Duke Tiffany with a complex expression, knowing that communication was pointless. Abandoning her attempt to persuade him, the intense magic energy gathered in her mouth, and the brilliant light once again colored the cleansed sky, heralding a new round of battle.

The Emperor’s Armor summoned by Grand Duke Tiffany—The One Truth—was incomplete and still lacked Lucy’s Armed Weapon. After it appeared and shattered the Holy Dragon’s Unrestricted Technique, it reversed itself.

Thus, the battlefield in the sky was once again entangled.

However, anyone could tell that victory was shifting toward Auguste.

In fact, as long as the opponent was willing to wear The One Truth, even Saint Aurora would not be able to stop him for a moment.

The green-eyed cat trembled on the colorful ground, feeling overwhelmed.

Wasn’t the Tiffany family also fans of the Emperor?

Moreover, it was a bit ridiculous that they had been crafting a piece of armor for the Emperor for over a thousand years; it was entirely akin to the Fez family’s insistence on inheriting the Lapis Lazuli Radiant Dragon.

So the question arose: since Sister Aurora was the culinary product of the Fez family, wouldn’t her battle against the armor crafted by the Tiffany family be a fresh cooking competition?

Tang Liuli thought to herself, appearing calm and unafraid on the outside, certainly displaying the demeanor of a general, while secretly manipulating spiritual threads to quickly use Alchemy Crysta from her pocket to assist Charlotte and Honey Qing.

Thousand Faces smiled as he admired his “daughter’s” awkward situation. He tossed the hourglass back and forth in his left hand while his right fingertips played with the hundred-faced dice. Then he gently said:

“Tang Liuli, do you know why I haven’t made a move yet?”

The green-eyed cat quietly stepped back a little, but her gaze never left the hourglass in his hand. Like a child warned by her mother not to talk to strangers, she ignored him and began to pull out a Magic Potion from her ring.

This clever and ambitious boss tended to talk a bit much; she needed to seize the moment and drink more magic, as she already had an incredible plan in mind for when there would be no one to rescue her, and she had to fight alone.

As long as she succeeded, even the archbishop might not be able to defeat her!

Thousand Faces didn’t seem to mind her silence; he continued to speak to himself:

“People’s destinies are all different. The weight, the opportunities, the possibilities, and the endpoints of the future are all filled with unknowns. But as long as you pay the price, you can choose a future from many possibilities.”

“To steal these witches from the Holy Dragon, I paid with the power of 10,000 people. This caused the Holy Dragon’s retreat to fail and successfully separated you and her, multiplying the stakes by fifty times.”

“The Ideal State is a promised land abundant with gold for me, but even so, I cannot pay the price to let you die.”

“This is not because of the gift of planetary consciousness, but due to another being—a greater, more terrifying, and indescribable presence—that favors you and protects you.”

The green-eyed cat’s mind raced quickly.

Fate? Possibility? Existence? This sounded like a power similar to Little Xuan, could it be… the authority of Helldir?

If that were the case, it would be quite troublesome; such an authority that deceives reality and weighs everything like a scale, abstract like a wishing machine, was not something she could deal with at present.

But if that’s the case, the favor and protection indicated by the other party were clear. Is it that they see Little Qing while observing the future?

Then it made sense; even if Helldir were to observe, encountering Honey Qing would only reveal a future of silence, let alone a bishop who had inherited some authority.

Thinking this, Tang Liuli suddenly felt like a balloon, filled with a sense of security. She confidently looked at the other person with her emerald eyes and coldly issued an ultimatum:

“Since you know, give me my companion back and get lost.”

Thousand Faces was not angry at all; he smiled and said:

“Don’t rush, how about we play a game?”

The man did not lie; just as when he spied on Elise and accidentally locked eyes with Chu Yuanqing, he had to pay the price.

The future of Liuli’s death, no matter how it was anchored, reset, observed, or planned, would ultimately be consumed by the red-black flames, indicating a cost even more terrifying than death.

Interestingly, if he did not act against her and simply caused half of the magical girls in the hourglass to collapse, it would not lead to the same outcome.

This implied that the unknown entity, comparable to the Calamity God, doted on his “daughter” to such an extent that even if she were severely injured, a few strands of pure white could spill out from the future timeline, making Helldir’s authority tremble.

Thus, as previously mentioned, he truly did not want to confront Tang Liuli right now.

At least in the Ideal State, he feels restrained; one wrong move could lead to his immediate demise, making it difficult to find joy in reuniting with his “daughter.”

But conversely, if not killing Liuli or harming her became a rule of the game, then using this premise to defeat and torment the other would constitute a new game, wouldn’t it?

The man found it increasingly interesting; his remaining chips were no longer sufficient to pay the price of peering into the “pure white.”

On the other hand, perhaps after Liuli collapsed, he would still meet his end because of that person’s indulgence. Essentially, this was still a gamble between life and death.

But what of it?

The thrill brought by this unknown was precisely where the fun lay. Just thinking about how much joy the forthcoming game would bring made him entirely forget about hastily seizing the Vow Ring and retreating.

Tang Liuli sensed an unease; her cheeks were puffed up from the Magic Potion, and she felt that the bishop was harboring a lot of malicious thoughts.

Thousand Faces admired the little girl’s subtle expressions. He snapped his fingers, and a swamp filled with black mud and disaster aura began forming a miniature abyss. The hourglass in his hand fell into the swamp and slowly sank.

“Let’s make a choice.”

“In three minutes, creatures will swarm from the hourglass, randomly selecting half of the magical girls for a symbiosis.”

“You can choose to take the hourglass; I won’t stop you.”

After he said this, a hand emerged from the swamp. A slim man, struggling like someone drowning, crawled “ashore.” He awkwardly knelt on the ground, coughing continuously, and his handsome yet ravaged face had green eyes filled with confusion.

Eiwas instinctively straightened his suit and wiped the dirt off his face, just like that harsh, down-and-out, yet still elegantly noble useless painter. He helplessly looked into the distance and whispered:

“Liuli?”

Thousand Faces grabbed Eiwas’s hair, his fingertips extending toward the disaster aura wrapping around his neck like a wild snake, causing his face to turn red with the struggle for breath. The smile on his mask remained unchanged as he continued:

“But the moment you take away the hourglass, the bomb inside your father will explode.”

“So now, choose: will you pick this worthless father who is no different from trash, or will you use his life to ensure the safety of your other companions?”