The Righteous Player(s)

If Annan hadn’t heard the biggest secrets about the Silent Lady, the Mysterious Lady, and the Grail-holding Lady from the Sacrifice Saint—[the Man Against Himself], Henry Worden, he might’ve had to seriously scratch his head to crack this nightmare.

However, Annan happened to know the secret.

The Mysterious Lady was once the daughter of the Grail-holding Lady “Cybele” who sacrificed her unborn child to the “dark night” along with her womb.

It was precisely because of this ritual sacrifice that Mysterious Lady, the Deity of Rituals, was born. It was also because the “dark night” gave Mysterious Lady part of her power that she was demoted from the “dark night” to a deity.

This happened in an era before mountains and rivers were born.

Cybele, as the world’s first living, breathing thing, only managed to kickstart the whole “Blood and Desire” concept in the world after pulling off that sacrifice. From then on, that was when new life started popping up.

And this secret, telling the “Secret of Creation”, fell on the timeline after the secret of the “Austere-Winter”.

The word “Austere-Winter” was born before the birth of the four seasons, and even before the birth of light and fire. It was originally used to describe the silence of the sky when the earth was first born, as quiet as a dying old man; and the “earth’s” hatred for all things that would pass away but would not die.

The earth here referred to the Bone Burying Grandma from the dawn of creation. The “devoid of light and fire” and the “sky tranquil like a dying old man” naturally pointed to the “night.”

Since there was no birth of light and fire yet, naturally, there was no distinction between day and night. A sky without light was what was called the “night.”

That was the reason only the Bone Burying Grandma and the Silent Lady rituals did the trick back then. Now, why Bone Burying Granny responded quickly…

“In this place, the correct name of Bone Burying Grandma is [Earth].”

—If there is day, there will be night; if there is earth, there will be sky.

“Elle” stood in the pure, warm darkness, looking at the three rotating runes. She said calmly.

“Let’s talk about it from the very beginning. I think, Elle, you should also be able to realize that this world is created with you and the Venerated Skeleton as the core, supplemented by everyone else’s ‘desires’.”

“Then, you should be able to figure out the reason why this world will cycle endlessly and stay on this day.”

[Could it be ’cause I’m dreading Mom’s return but still kinda wanna see that upbeat Amos?]

Elle answered from the bottom of Annan’s heart immediately.

The girl’s voice was full of guilt and hesitation.

Obviously, she herself had already thought about this matter.

[If it weren’t for me…]

“You are wrong, Elle. This is not what you are afraid of.” Annan asserted.

His pupils shone brightly in the pure darkness.

That was the light called [Understanding].

“Elle” was silent for a while, then sighed.

She whispered, “Perhaps even you have forgotten… You are not Elle Morrison, nor Elle Buckel. You are Elle Angelo.”

“Your real name is Angelo.”

—Elle is already dead.

“Joseph told me that Angelo was sealed in the Freezing Water Port by them. And the Gallery Nightmare was what was left after Angelo, ‘the Divine Child,’ died. Elle was just a tragedy that repeated 1834 times. It’s just a resentful spirit.”

“You have been the Venerated Skeleton’s daughter from the very beginning.”

Elle was just a human being.

After her death, she had no spirit remaining — the Bronze Rank Transcender would have a smoky soul, the Silver Rank Transcender could turn their condensed souls into droplets, and the Gold Rank Transcender would have a crystallized, solid soul.

Even a demon could not extract a “tangible” soul from a mortal corpse.

The reason why the Venerated Skeleton could retain Elle’s soul was because when she was still alive, Amos traded her to the Venerated Skeleton. By absorbing the curse from the Gallery Nightmare, Elle’s spirit body gradually formed.

Then, there was a problem.

Since the formation of the Gallery Nightmare had nothing to do with Elle, then what was the relationship between Angelo and Elle?

A memory that had not yet faded flashed past Annan’s eyes.

That was after “Angelo,” who was like a little ball of flesh, transformed in the blink of an eye into a baby girl weighing about seven or eight pounds.

“What should I call you?” At that time, Annan asked softly, “The Venerated Skeleton? Angelo? Or…Elle?”

“—You may call me Elle… Annan. This is the privilege I give you, for the sake of staying with me until the end and watching my birth.”

The baby girl in front of Annan made a girlish voice, “And my real name is Angelo.”

“Angel of Betrayal…the Venerated Skeleton’s daughter, Angelo.”

The person who signed the covenant with Annan was the dead Elle… or rather, the newborn “Angelo”.

And now this innocent girl who knew nothing…

The Angelo who thought she was “Elle”.

Just like the man who thought he was “Nicholas II”, the artificial man with Nicholas’ memories.

“Obviously, you have forgotten the pain. But I must help you remember it.” “Elle” narrated.

But deep down in Annan’s heart, the real Elle remained silent.

She didn’t respond as if she had disappeared.

Annan kept going on his own track, “Once we nail down that you’re Angelo and not Elle… well, another piece of the puzzle falls into place.”

“Why does the Venerated Skeleton need you as his Half-deity? How can you help him complete the Betrayal truth? What is the meaning of your existence?”

The Venerated Skeleton was a genius ritualist.

He noticed the loopholes in the ascendancy ritual and created a new ritual that did not require the necessary step of [prototype of truth]. This achievement already proved his talent.

So, what was the meaning of “Elle’s” existence?

“You may not know that Mysterious Lady is the biological daughter of Grail-holding Lady.” Annan said suddenly.

[…What?]

This huge revelation totally floored Elle; she just couldn’t keep it together.

“Yes. Mysterious Lady is the unborn daughter of the Grail-holding Lady. She sacrificed her daughter and her womb to the dark night, thereby gaining the power of [the Holy Grail]. The dark night gave half of her own power to the unborn baby, giving her existence and truth.”

“The night is the Silent Lady.”

What exactly was the so-called Half-deity?

By now, the truth was already there, clearly revealed.

“What you fear is not your mother. In other words, it is not Elle’s mother, Lady Clara. It is [your] mother — your creator, the Venerated Skeleton.”

“When the Venerated Skeleton returns, you will be dedicated to the night as a sacrifice and become the ‘Mysterious Lady’ of this world. You will complete this world, but be left in this world.”

“The Venerated Skeleton will become flesh and blood with the power of the ‘cup’, freeing him from the undead body that he hates the most.”

This was the only way to go.

After abandoning the truth of [Skeleton], the Venerated Skeleton no longer had the power of [Skeleton] to support its existence. He must regain a physical body to exist in the world.

And he originally hated undead… In the beginning, he only altered himself to be undead so that the tragedy would no longer be reenacted.

“That white armor is the proof of the former Paladin.” Annan narrated, “That’s why the Venerated Skeleton wears it all the time.”

This nightmare was actually structurally identical to Sporeggar Mill.

“Spider” Grover and “Bear” Alice respectively control half of the nightmare’s unique property. Alice tried her best to use the power of [Fantasy] to keep the Purifiers away from the “spider web”, but she was unable to do anything.

However, in this nightmare, it was “Elle”, or…Angelo, who occupied the dominant position.

As long as she didn’t want to, this nightmare would never arrive at the next day.

As a result, the real Venerated Skeleton would never return.

But it also meant that the nightmare would keep repeating itself on this day.

The part that the Venerated Skeleton was responsible for was “everyone fulfills their duties and lives a peaceful life following their own lifestyle.”

Just like the country he once ruled in the human world — Eternal Dukedom.

But the difference with that was…

The Venerated Skeleton was unwilling to let them die so easily. 𝐛𝐞𝐝𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝗺

“That’s… a deity filled with hatred for the mortal world. Not only did he betray everyone, but he’s also the Grand Duke who was betrayed by his own people.”

Annan muttered in a low voice, “It is only [remembered] by everyone, but has no meaning… ‘something that cannot be forgotten’.”

Its name was—

Eternal Duke.

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