With the official appearance of the fifth royal candidate, the Royal Selection ceremony could finally be held.
All the turmoil and movements would gather in the Royal Capital, and Subaru arrived at the Royal Capital with Emilia.
He would participate in this Royal Selection as a knight. Since his beloved Emilia had no knight, he would fill that role himself, telling the girl that there was still someone willing to stand by her side, support her, and shield her from the wind and frost.
Meanwhile, Caelus was not participating in this political game. He was currently on the Great Plain of the Royal Capital, beneath that incredibly massive tree.
"Nice scenery. It would be even more beautiful at sunrise or sunset."
Caelus spoke, then turned his head to look at the white-haired girl walking toward him.
"Witch of Vainglory, Pandora."
The memories Caelus obtained from the Sin Archbishops contained some information about her. Those Sin Archbishops didn't know how long Pandora had existed. They only knew of her presence after they received their Witch Factors and became Sin Archbishops.
Her existence was very hidden, yet she substantially interfered with the progress of the world.
Her ability was very special, possessing the power to rewrite the constants of the world, making the false real and the real false.
The Sin Archbishops were also unclear about the specifics of that ability, only knowing that Pandora was mysterious and powerful.
"And what about that Warlock of Melancholy?"
"He is still searching for the person he needs to find. And where does a young man like you come from? An existence like yours shouldn't be completely unknown."
The mysterious white-haired girl named Pandora smiled as she looked at Caelus. She wore only a single long robe that barely covered her thighs.
"I guess you're here to kill me. After all, I seem to have changed the fate of this world and caused fluctuations in your plans."
"Your guess is quite accurate. I am here to eliminate the exception. Because of your appearance, many things have changed in ways that don't quite fit my expectations."
"Then, do you want to tamper with the facts?"
Caelus was somewhat curious. What kind of changes would occur if Pandora's ability to rewrite reality was applied to him?
Pandora maintained that mysterious smile. Caelus could feel the surrounding world attempting to exert some influence on him as an individual. It was the world as a whole trying to persecute him.
It seemed Pandora's ability directly affected the rules of the world, utilizing the planet's power to cause harm or rewriting the world's laws to achieve her desired outcome.
However, this rewriting was definitely not permanent and required certain conditions to be met.
But there was no need to consider those for now.
Caelus looked at the sky, feeling the rules eroding him, and then said, "Speaking of which, since the Holy Grail War ended, I don't think I've ever gone all out once. Now that I have so much power, I'm curious myself, what would happen if I went all out?"
Hollow Nihility began to spread, and all memories turned into frozen ice crystals.
Everything rushed toward Finality, where all things must return to one, yet all existence was embraced by the Abundance that loved all things.
A drop was added to time, which began to ripple.
Ultimately, Equilibrium gathered everything, balanced every fluctuation of power, and harmonized all conflicts.
Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory before Caelus, no longer had any smile on her face.
He calmly took out a book and then drew a portrait of her.
When every frown and smile had been sketched and the book was completely closed, the existence named Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory, vanished from this world, past, future, and present alike.
From beginning to end, there was only a mysterious existence known as the Void Walker.
Caelus closed his eyes. After digesting what he had gained, he took out his quill and lightly sketched in the void. Subsequently, parts of the world's rules were tampered with, and a red-haired woman landed in front of him.
"The ability to directly interfere with the world's rules is indeed nice. It can be done using memories and other Path powers, but it's definitely not this easy. After all, this power itself comes from this world."
The essence of this power was deception and trickery, deceiving the logic of the world's rules to a certain extent to achieve one's goals. However, once this lie was exposed, the resulting backlash would be particularly terrifying.
But exposing this lie was also extremely difficult.
Caelus looked at the red-haired woman who had fallen before him. This was Reinhard's grandmother, Heinkel's mother, and Old Man Wilhelm's wife.
The former Sword Saint, Theresia van Astrea.
This former Sword Saint did not die at the hands of the White Whale, but at the hands of Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory, and was transformed into a corpse soldier.
"It's the person's actual body, but unfortunately, the soul has already dissipated. No matter, I just happened to acquire Pandora's power."
Caelus had originally wanted to use the power of the Third Magic to create a fake soul with Theresia's memories, but after remembering his previous questions to the system and Venti's answers regarding such matters, he abandoned that choice.
He used Pandora's power to deceive the world and briefly deceived himself, forcibly raising his status by a level. Then, using the power of Finality to create ripples in time, he pulled that dissipated soul from the past into the present.
Fortunately, this world itself had the ability of Return by Death interfering with time, so Caelus did not encounter any strong resistance when fishing things out of the past.
It wouldn't have been so easy in other worlds.
Firstly, the Witch of Vainglory's ability could only be perfectly utilized in this world. Secondly, more than half of this world had been swallowed by the Witch of Envy, leading to inherent operational issues. Thirdly, because it was washed by Return by Death, time itself was already fragile, making it possible to interfere.
Of course, there was a fourth point. Caelus was strong enough, and because he was composed of Nihility, he didn't really fear the world's backlash.
The physical defects were mended, the soul's damage was healed, and then it was filled back into the body.
The red-haired woman first regained her breath. Though weak at first, it soon became stable. Her pale complexion began to turn rosy, her heart beat strongly, blood flow returned to normal, and her internal organs began working again.
With a flutter of her eyelids, the red-haired woman opened her eyes, looking at the world with a slightly dazed gaze.
She didn't quite remember what happened before her death. She only remembered that after repelling the White Whale, something seemed to have happened, but she couldn't recall it at all.
"Hello, Lady Theresia. You've had a very long sleep. A long time has passed. Your husband, Wilhelm, has become an old man, your son, Heinkel, has become a middle-aged man, and your grandson, Reinhard, has inherited the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint and become the strongest in the kingdom."
"Huh?!"
Theresia, who still looked very young, no more than thirty at most, had a face full of bewilderment.
"Forget it, it's better to let your relatives discuss these things with you. Let's go, I'll take you to see your now white-haired husband."
Caelus stood up and led the bewildered wife to see her husband.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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