IRM Chapter 103

Catherine was so startled she stepped back, staring at Evan in a daze. From the first time she met him, she had effortlessly seen through this gentle, harmless boy.

Most of the time, he was silent. Whether he had just killed a monk full of evil deeds or handed a freshly baked loaf of bread to a homeless person on a street corner, he never uttered a word or even revealed his emotions.

He was like a warm sun, silently driving away darkness and silently giving warmth.

Catherine’s feelings toward him were complicated. On one hand, she hated such a selfless, harmless personality; on the other, she longed for that warm sunlight to shine upon her.

But now she understood—this kind of treatment could only be fully enjoyed by certain people.

Evan now looked at Catherine with the same gaze as the priest before—they were both despicable, shameless predators who wanted to take away the treasure he cherished.

In an instant, dots of light appeared around Evan’s body. Each point of light was like a marble-sized orb, spinning rapidly around him, emitting bursts of air-splitting sounds and faint explosive noises.

This was the magic Saintess Coralie had used. At that time, she had used a single light orb to drive back a goblin squad. But now, Evan seemed to be standing in a sea of light, and through the gaps where the light orbs passed, his eyes appeared frozen like ice.

Catherine’s face turned pale. She gripped the dagger in her hand tightly, suppressing the urge to flee in panic, and shouted sharply, “Stop him!”

The guards behind her surged forward. Multicolored sword auras wrapped sharp gleams around snow-white longswords. The warriors’ formidable strength allowed their blades to cut through the magic array’s obstruction and slash toward Evan’s frail body!

Catherine retreated to a safe distance and made a snap decision, ordering the remaining people, “Tell the mages to stop channeling magic power into the array! Destroy the magic arrays elsewhere!”

“But those nobles…” one guard asked reluctantly, unable to help himself.

“There’s no time to worry about them!” Catherine stepped on William, who was trying to escape, her tone harsh. “We can’t control them anymore. Prepare to leave now!”

She frowned and glanced at where Linton was, knowing he was also an uncontrollable factor. She pointed her dagger in their direction and continued ordering, “Have the remaining people go seize that old man and try their best to bring him with us!”

After giving orders, Catherine yanked William from the ground and ran into the distance under the escort of two swordsmen.

The guards who had just rushed forward were going to their deaths. They definitely couldn’t beat Evan, but they could buy her some time… Catherine calculated in her mind. She looked back, but suddenly her eyes widened!

Rays of light pierced through from among the group of guards. More than ten high-level warriors didn’t even have time to resist. Under the explosion of more than ten light orbs, they screamed as they were thrown far away. Shattered armor and sword fragments scattered on the ground like rain.

The light orbs around Evan’s body didn’t seem to have decreased at all. He turned around and quietly gazed in the direction of their escape.

Catherine observed his movement and quickly shouted, “Stop!”

The two guards didn’t understand but obediently halted their steps. Sure enough, as soon as Catherine’s words fell, a wall of light suddenly rose right in front of their noses!

When William stopped, his body leaned forward. After the light wall erected itself, he felt his scalp heat up and cool down, and a tuft of brown hair floated down from his eyes to the ground.

His throat made a gulping sound in fright. He fell backward, sitting on the ground, his legs trembling. If they had stopped any later, the four of them would have been cut into eight pieces!

Catherine’s fingers were also trembling. She closed her eyes, forced herself to calm down, and turned around. She said to Evan coolly, “The smartest thing you can do right now is to immediately take your friends and leave. If it’s any later, no one will be able to leave.”

As if he hadn’t heard, Evan continued walking toward them with an icy face. The light dots around his body stopped and transformed into clusters of sharp light cones with their tips pointing at them.

Just as the light cones began rotating, explosive sounds rang out throughout the arena. The magic array covering the entire venue was gradually collapsing, leaving only the array near Evan still flickering and operating.

The moment the massive magic array completely shattered, the affected nobles all came to their senses. They regained their rationality and the use of their abilities.

They recalled the scene of being toyed with and slaughtered moments ago. The anger in their hearts swelled even more. Their sinister gazes were drawn by the remaining array’s light and fell upon the black-robed mage surrounded by light dots.

Catherine pulled at the corner of her mouth, a hint of madness in her eyes. She retreated behind the two swordsmen. “You don’t have the power to immediately deal with two swordsmen. Are you sure you want to keep fighting us? Aren’t you afraid of being besieged by those lunatics?”

Catherine looked at the nobles surging madly toward them. She was betting that Evan would be afraid, and she felt her odds of winning were quite good.

Sure enough, Evan stopped. He looked carefully in their direction, withdrew the light cones around his body, and said softly, “Of course I’m not afraid, because I have someone protecting me from behind, and you’ll never know what that feels like.”

Not only did Evan not attack, but he also withdrew his palm and instantly shattered the light wall behind Catherine.

Catherine saw a flash of cold light in his clear eyes and reacted quickly. She didn’t even have time to call for her guards. Her breath caught, and she was about to dodge to the side!

But a hand like an iron clamp grasped her ankle, preventing her from moving. William lay on his side on the ground and turned his head, his forehead bare, grinning maliciously at her.

“Puchi.” The sound of a longsword piercing through a chest was very dull. Catherine blinked. In her increasingly blurred vision, she only saw the remaining two guards’ faces change drastically as they turned and fled.

Catherine stood there alone. By her side and behind her were two half-brothers with different thoughts. In front of her was a collaborator who had turned against her. Her hands lost strength, and her dagger clattered to the ground.

In the last moment before her consciousness dissipated, she suddenly understood why her mother had committed suicide in that silent prison cell. It was because their entire lives had been lived searching for people they could use, and once it became impossible to find any, it was time for them to give up.

Louis pulled the longsword from Catherine’s chest and coldly watched as she fell prone on the ground, twitching slightly as her life drained away.

Catherine was powerless, yet her dying moments lasted longer than the King’s. She struggled to raise her head, but she looked in Ji Chi’s direction, spitting blood foam indistinctly. “Why… why are our souls… both very strong, why can’t I… be like you?”

Ji Chi met her unwilling gaze and sighed softly. “You did work very hard to resist, but this world isn’t yours alone. You also need companionship and salvation…”

As Ji Chi spoke, he became lost in thought. He suddenly realized that the game from his previous life was actually no different from the current world. The main storyline was a predetermined fate. All players, all main storyline bosses were like puppets on strings, with every action trajectory clearly controlled.

Hidden quests, however, required the players’ own efforts, wisdom, and luck—using spontaneous actions to break through an unprecedented path.

Ji Chi suddenly looked back at Chloe. This main storyline boss who should have been beaten to pieces by players was now sporting the appearance of a charming young girl, punching little friends one by one, beating those villains trying to approach the arena stage until they howled.

There was also the fallen angel Reize, who should have been carrying hundreds of lives on his conscience and been slain by players in hatred and sorrow. Now he had infiltrated the Church and seemed to have risen to a good position, becoming a bishop in some unfortunate place.

Ji Chi unconsciously murmured aloud, “Yes, I must save them. They are the key to changing fate…”

At the same time, at Yura Summit, the highest point of the Angel Kingdom, a pair of extremely pure blue eyes slowly opened. He sat on a divine throne woven from divine power, gazing at the azure light screen before Him. On the screen was displayed a miniature version of the Demon Sword Continent, but it was falling apart.

“Why… is [Control] losing effect?” He asked in disbelief, but no one could answer. He became angry, struggling on the divine throne, but the power of [Control] was also controlling Him, preventing Him from even leaving the throne. “I am the god! This entire continent is under my control! How… how can this be?”

Ji Chi vaguely understood something, but couldn’t sort out his thoughts for the moment. Not far away, nobles of various professions began fierce resistance again, gathering in twos and threes to kill the death knights. The death knights’ levels weren’t very high, and they weren’t as agile as humans. Under the nobles’ organized siege, they scattered into bone piles one by one and disappeared as pools of bloodstains.

The nobles didn’t pursue the scattered and fleeing Gladiolus Guild believers. Their gazes were fixed firmly on Ji Chi and Evan, wanting to cut them into a thousand pieces. As long as they eliminated these two tumors of commoners, they could slowly deal with the rest.

Evan vigilantly watched the approaching nobles. He lowered his eyes to look at the child in his arms, somewhat hesitant.

At this moment, the old butler walked out from behind Brandon, stepped forward to take the child, covered the child’s ears, and smiled. “I can help you with this small matter, but I apologize—I cannot let the young master be dragged into this storm.”

Brandon’s eyes widened as he complained dissatisfiedly, “No, I can’t just watch them—”

“Young Master Brandon, you are the sole heir of the Earl Elliott family, representing the position of Earl Elliott as a noble. You’ve grown up and can’t be willful anymore.” The old butler said indifferently, his tone allowing no room for compromise.

Brandon choked, like a pufferfish being held in someone’s hand, holding a bellyful of anger but unable to truly explode and hurt others.

“Brandon, just protect yourself.” Ji Chi turned his head and smiled at him. “Besides, your battlefield is over there.”

Ji Chi nodded his chin toward Louis, who was silently wiping his sword.

Brandon reacted after a moment and suddenly understood—Louis had the best relationship with him. He was the person most likely to prevent Louis from repeating the mistakes of Stuart IX.

“Don’t worry, I’ll hold him back. He’ll definitely be a very good monarch.” Brandon clenched his fists and promised Ji Chi.

The old butler smiled with relief. “Moreover, the master and mistress won’t be stingy about helping a benevolent monarch.”

Ji Chi nodded with relief. At this moment, only Evan remained by his side. He glanced at him and raised the corner of his mouth. “Now it’s time to settle your account.”

Evan was stunned. “Huh? At this time?”

The ferocious faces of the nobles ahead were already close at hand.

Ji Chi: “Mm, to be precise, it’s not me who’s settling accounts, but another person. She’s been putting up with you for a long time.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a sinister voice came from behind Evan. “How impressive, Evan. You really want to be a brave hero who confronts enemies alone? Has your brain been assimilated by Brandon?”

Saintess Coralie wasn’t so easy to fool either. Having deceived a group of shrewd people in the Church for so many years, Evan’s disguise was as flimsy as a cicada’s wing in her eyes.

So she went along with Evan’s intentions and pretended to be tricked into leaving the arena, then made a decision she had been planning for a long time.

She watched the chaotic arena from the stands and smiled. “It’s so messy. How many factions are there now? Nobles and commoners, the Church and rebels—the conflicts between them all run very deep.”

“What if we add another one?” Saintess Coralie’s scarlet eyes were full of smiling intent. “We dark creatures have also been suffering for a long time. We’re all intelligent races—why should we be inferior?”

Saintess Coralie’s right hand reached into the air, and a rose scepter symbolizing the Demon King materialized in her palm. She raised her chin proudly. “Then let’s start with the Saint Trilley Empire. The shadows of demons will walk openly in the center of this continent.”

Lilith, standing behind her, smiled with curved eyes. “As you command, my master.”

Lilith waved her hand, and countless nightingales took flight out of nowhere, circling densely above the arena, blocking the sunlight pouring down.

The nobles halted their steps and looked up with terror and confusion, hearing the noisy sounds instantly explode in the arena.

“Oh! The little master is summoning us!”

“What’s wrong? Did we do something wrong? Are we going to get beaten again?”

“No, no! Can you have some ambition? This time we’re the ones beating others!”

“Oh! That’s good! Little master, here I come~”

Demonic bone wings that covered the sky replaced the nightingales’ wings, flapping in the arena and stirring up irregular air currents that disrupted the nobles’ breathing.

“How can it be demons? What are demons doing here?!”

“Is this ever going to end? Lowly commoners, filthy dark creatures! All of you, go die!”

Ji Chi laughed with interest. He raised his hand and rubbed the dazed Evan, borrowing some luck, and immediately summoned the world boss Necromancer he had summoned before.

“Then let’s make it even livelier.” Ji Chi smiled. “To change a group of people’s mindset, first you must stand squarely before them.”