Chapter 143: After the Battle
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 143: After the Battle
Strictly speaking, the people below were all tied to her by a thousand tangled threads.
Thanatos and his group went without saying.
Among the Northern Lords standing on the deck of the Void Dragon, many had personally witnessed Xie Bai’s power. Sending the three strongest lords of the Northern Territory to their graves with a single strike was not something an ordinary person could achieve.
As for the remnants of the Expedition Fleet, Xie Bai saw no need to concern herself with them. Their presence was so faint that she didn't even feel the need to hide her identity or veil her face.
Whether they would spread word of her prestige... that was for Atoris to worry about.
The only ones worth noting were Taro Ball and his party.
Although Xie Bai had little direct interaction with them, since they had successfully accepted her class inheritance, they were, in a sense, her people.
It was worth mentioning that the five hundred or so players who had participated in the battle earlier had long since been sent back to the respawn point by Sacred Light’s wide-area skill. After the battle ended, Heavenly Mountain lost its "Dungeon" status, meaning it could no longer be reached quickly via system teleportation.
Furthermore, since the preceding battle had lasted only a few seconds, no other players could have made it back in time to witness Xie Bai’s feat of one-shotting Sacred Light.
At this thought, a flicker of relief crossed Xie Bai’s mind, yet it was accompanied by an inexplicable touch of disappointment.
Then, she thought of someone else.
Maomao.
The player with the livestream.
Could it be... that she had recorded the battle just now?
As the possibility occurred to her, Xie Bai’s small hands involuntarily clenched. She felt a sudden urge to find Maomao immediately and confirm if she had successfully captured that moment.
But she also felt... a strange nervousness.
Ultimately, she decided to set the matter aside for now.
Her gaze swept over the crowd on the deck. Most of them had direct ties to her, but they had very little interaction with one another.
Xie Bai felt a slight sense of awkwardness. Given the current situation, how was she supposed to get them to know each other?
"Then again..." Xie Bai shook her head gently. "Even without my intervention, many of them have already met and become acquainted through various means."
For instance, Maomao and Aisarakus. Or Atoris, Cecilia, and the two little ones.
With Xie Bai as the focal point, these people had followed their own trajectories only to become entangled with one another.
"Is this fate...?"
Thinking of this, Xie Bai’s gaze fell upon the petite figure currently being fussed over by the two little ones.
Elania.
"Collecting the Children of Fate and assembling the Wheel of Fate... these were things I originally intended to do."
However, in her memories, there existed another True God in the Supreme Court whose status was second only to Gliese.
The God of Fate, Prospero.
Xie Bai had never truly understood this being, but at this moment, she clearly felt fate drawing closer to her. To be honest, she really didn't want to touch something as ethereal and elusive as "fate"—especially after learning that a True God actually presided over it in this world.
Previously, she had only told Thanatos and the others to keep an eye out for news regarding the Children of Fate while she herself slowed down the process of officially recruiting them. She had been worried that the God of Fate might be pulling strings from the shadows.
But fate was the kind of thing that drew closer the more one tried to avoid it. The scene of everyone gathered here now was proof of that.
It seemed she had to make up her mind to face it all.
Regardless of what schemes the opponent laid out, she had the strength to tear through them. Just as she had killed Sacred Light moments ago—no matter what hidden calculations were at play, she only needed to use absolute power to crush all laws.
As the thought surfaced in Xie Bai’s mind, the Ring of Seven Curses on her finger blinked imperceptibly.
It quickly returned to silence.
"Come to think of it, Thanatos mentioned that the Cult Leader of Chaos knows of an organization on the Western Continent also called the 'Wheel of Fate.' Most likely, they are the authentic ones, and I am merely misappropriating the name for now."
She narrowed her eyes slightly.
"However, it remains to be seen who will be the 'authentic' one in the end. That Wheel of Fate on the Western Continent... I will have to settle things with them eventually."
Xie Bai reined in her thoughts and slowly drifted down from the sky, landing on the deck of the Void Dragon.
Only a few seconds had passed since she killed Sacred Light. The entire process had been far too fast—so fast that no one present had time to react to what had happened.
They only felt a flash of white light before their eyes and experienced a momentary, inexplicable sense of palpitations and terror. Then, they saw the white-haired girl raise her blade and strike; the golden figure that had loomed over heaven and earth simply dissipated.
Seeing Xie Bai arrive on the deck, the crowd parted to both sides, carving out a path for her.
Xie Bai ignored the fear and awe in their eyes as she walked straight through the crowd. Her bare feet stepped onto the deck; combined with her petite frame and delicate features, she couldn't help but evoke a sense of protective pity.
Yet, not a single person dared to overstep.
Her long hair, a blend of silver-white and crimson, fluttered gently behind her. Wherever she passed, the crowd instinctively shrank back.
After that battle, anyone who wasn't a fool understood who had saved this nearly defeated allied force. Even Sacred Light had been able to slaughter them to the last man with a single blow.
And Xie Bai had killed Sacred Light in an instant...
At that thought, the crowd looked toward her.
Among everyone present, the one with the deepest connection to Xie Bai, the most loyal, and the only one who dared to face her directly was Thanatos.
Xie Bai looked up at the gray-white figure.
"Thanatos."
Her voice was soft, yet it reached everyone’s ears clearly.
"You certainly made quite a scene. I almost didn't make it in time."
To be honest, if the two little ones hadn't dragged her here to play, she might have remained entirely ignorant of all this. Under normal circumstances, she probably would have only learned about this battle from browsing the forums out of boredom after the little ones got tired of wandering.
But if it had come to that, she likely wouldn't have been able to arrive at the critical moment.
Facing Xie Bai’s inquiry, Thanatos dropped to one knee and bowed his head slightly.
"My Lord... this was our failure. We did not anticipate that the Main God would descend personally..."
As he spoke, his gaze involuntarily drifted toward Taro Ball.
In the entire plan, the suggestions provided by Taro Ball accounted for at least forty percent. In the end, they had indeed dealt a heavy blow to the Holy Church and even managed to trap the Lord of the Supreme Court.
But—
How did the plan end up being realized in this manner?
Noticing Thanatos’s look, Xie Bai followed his gaze to Taro Ball.
That Reborn One truly had some skill.
She had originally thought that after viewing all of his memories, she would be able to predict all of his schemes. But she hadn't expected that ever since Taro Ball stepped into the realm of a Demigod ahead of schedule—thanks to the unplanned factor of Aisarakus—the plan he executed had completely deviated from the trajectory she had seen.
He had actually gone so far as to overturn the plan he had prepared for an entire lifetime in his previous world, drafting a new layout that even Xie Bai was unaware of.
And in the end, he had relied on Xie Bai’s power to bring the plan to its conclusion.
"I get the feeling..." Xie Bai mused inwardly. "That every single person under me seems to possess some extraordinary talent."