Rewrite That Witch
CH1422 · Rewrite
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Chapter 1422: Plan B

This was memory extraction.

The only difference was that instead of exposing memories to the King in the Presiding Holy Sea, Hackzord was sharing them voluntarily.

Silent Disaster accepted the connection after a long while.

Memory could not be faked and was far more precise than any spoken account—but it carried its own flaw: the ease of stumbling into other memories beside the intended ones. He had not expected Sky Lord to bare his mind open without any defense. The gesture was remarkable in its recklessness.

“You—”

“There is no need to say anything.” Hackzord’s voice was subdued, the transfer having clearly drained him. “If I hadn’t done this, would you have believed a word of what I’ve been through?”

The answer was unquestionably no.

A source of magic power in the shape of an island, lurking near the Blackstone region. Even after passing through Hackzord’s memories, Silent Disaster still found it somewhat unreal.

“You can form your own Realm of Mind domain?” Silent Disaster changed the subject.

Hackzord looked at him with distrust. “I thought you would be more concerned with Valkries’s location. But you’re right—without it, I wouldn’t have been able to transfer the memory to you. When I saw the tree of light, my understanding of the Realm of Mind deepened suddenly. If not for the Sky-sea Realm’s interruption, I might have gone a step further. Of course… compared to the King’s Presiding Holy Sea, my domain is far smaller.”

“I see.” Silent Disaster sat back in the pool, his back to Sky Lord. “I yearn to know of Nightmare Lord’s whereabouts. Even after seeing that piece of paper, I badly want to find her in the human kingdom. But my rationality tells me to refuse you.”

“Refuse… what?” Hackzord turned and looked at the other’s clean back and long blue hair.

“I rarely speak—that does not mean I do not think.” Silent Disaster’s voice was flat. “Your goal was self-evident the moment you came to me first instead of reporting to the King. You wish to stop the Battle of Divine Will, or find out the truth before making a decision. Either violates the King’s decree. No different from betrayal. The King will not overlook it once he knows. You cannot do this alone and require support. So you chose me.”

“No, I am absolutely loyal to the King!” Hackzord’s refusal came as a whisper. “Since we know the Battle of Divine Will is a trap, why throw ourselves into it, waiting helplessly for fated ruin? Do you think the King will cling obstinately to his course? As long as I find a way to reach Valkries, the King will understand which choice is right, and then—”

“Damn it, you saw everything?”

“Yes.” Silent Disaster acknowledged it. “It was not intentional, but memories cannot be sieved like words. Since your departure for the Bottomless Land, you have known the King will not sanction your actions.”

The entire Battle of Divine Will was a lie. The Realm of Mind concealed a deeper and darker secret—one that did not necessarily conflict with the destruction of humans and the Sky-sea Realm. If the information on the paper was genuine, as long as the demons did not combine the legacy shards, the so-called “upgrade” would never occur, buying them the time to unravel the mystery. On every count, handling the matter of the Divine Will themselves was safer than leaving it to the enemy.

Of course, destroying humanity might also mean the end of Nightmare Lord. But measured against the entire race, a single senior lord was insignificant, even if that senior lord was Valkries. The King never allowed emotion to cloud judgment. Everything he did was cold logic. He would never take the risk of allowing humanity to outpace the race’s advantage—Hackzord knew this as well as anyone.

“Any other time, I would have cut you down and delivered you to the King for judgment.” Silent Disaster sighed. “But since you did all of this in hopes of saving Valkries, I will act as though I heard nothing.”

“Since you understand, shouldn’t you do something about it! And—” Hackzord’s eyes moved to Nightmare Lord’s body across the Red Mist Pond. “Your supposed respect for Valkries is a lie. What you desire more is to see an empty—“

BANG!

Silent Disaster’s fist struck the pool. Cracks spread through the rock foundation, and Sky Lord’s sentence died.

“First, your entire plan rests on a piece of paper of unknown origins. It is definitely Valkries’s handwriting—that is all.”

“But she foretold the Bottomless Land.”

“And she said the Deity of Gods was not safe, but that humans were incapable of stopping us.” Silent Disaster’s voice did not waver. “You want me to openly defy the King over a piece of paper? Listening to you and pretending it never happened was already a risk. If our positions were reversed, you could not have done even this much.”

“That is not what I meant—we can slow the pace of the offensive and investigate quietly. As long as Mask does not find out…”

“That is the second point.” Silent Disaster cut him off. “You returned too late. The King issued a new order. The Western Front has been handed to Mask, and Plan B is being implemented. You are no longer the commander. In other words, there is no longer a Western Front Commander.”

“How is that possible…” Hackzord lurched upright in the pool, then clutched his chest with a pained expression.

“You must have felt it—the ripple from the Realm of Mind.” Silent Disaster’s tone was unchanged. “The situation is worse than you imagine. Not only is Resentful Heart dead, the Blackstone Region’s defensive line has been declared breached. In the emergency, the King merged with the core and transformed the city into a new Deity of Gods. The entire race is migrating. Everything you have been thinking of is impossible. To buy time now would mean defying the order—no different from defying the King in the open. I cannot agree.”

Hackzord understood then that the situation had slipped entirely beyond his control. The loss of a senior lord was rare in war, but it was not unheard of. He had never imagined, though, that the collapse would arrive so suddenly, so completely.

Could it be that the appearance of the Blades was not a singular phenomenon?

He already knew what Plan B meant.

While researching the Deity of Gods, Mask had once floated a mad tactic: compress the core and God’s Stone mine to their limit and push the Deity of Gods to a terrible altitude. At that point, its immense weight alone would transform the floating island into a weapon. When it plummeted, the effect would rival God’s Punishment. The land would crack, the dust cloud would blot out the sun across a thousand kilometers. Lava would seep from the fissures and turn the earth into a flaming abyss.

One strike, one Deity of Gods. Hackzord had assumed the plan would never be used. The King had agreed to it.

If that was the truth, then everything he had imagined was empty talk.

To defy the King alone? Even if the race’s future was dark, his own fate would be certain. Nothing awaited him but pursuit by the other senior lords.

“Perhaps you’re right.” Hackzord lowered himself back into the pool. “My reasoning was out of date and I nearly made a grave mistake. Since Plan B is now active, I should return to Sky City and follow up with the deployment…”

BANG!

More cracks split the pool wall.

Sky Lord went still.

Silent Disaster stood. He turned and walked toward Hackzord, then looked down at him with cold eyes—as though the word yes would unleash something that could not be recalled.

“Are you planning to abandon Valkries?”

“I…” Hackzord had no words.

I cannot save her, but I cannot leave her either. How can you be so unreasonable?

In that moment, Hackzord felt he understood Mask.

“Refusing your request does not mean I am abandoning her.”

“What you’re saying is…”

“I do not know. And because I have no idea what to do, you are the one who needs to think.” The words were not a request. “Whatever happens—do not hope to escape this by running.”

He withdrew the coldness from his voice and closed his eyes.

”… Especially,” he said quietly, “after you have given me hope.”

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