Chapter 357: Anything Imposed Upon Me Is a Shackle
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 357: Anything Imposed Upon Me Is a Shackle
"Damn it! What the hell does the Main World Consciousness think it’s doing?!"
The Abyssal Demon Lords responsible for infiltrating the Main World from the Abyssal Demon Great World had gathered.
Or rather, after the Weakening Witch, Mei Lind, had descended upon the Abyss, they had promptly abandoned the reckless Demon Lord who had acted on his own initiative. They congregated here to begin a new round of information exchange.
As for whether their reputation would suffer because a Transcendent Witch had struck their home world without retaliation—they didn't give a damn. How much was "face" worth, anyway?
Risking their lives for a bit of pride—even if it was just the life of a lowly lesser demon—was a bad deal for these Demon Lords.
Even among those gathered here, if anyone’s actions jeopardized their own interests or the interests of the majority, they would be discarded as quickly as possible.
Betrayal, selling each other out, isolation, bullying the weak, and fearing the strong... these were common occurrences among Abyssal Demons.
However, when it came to shared interests, they would engage in this sort of symbolic exchange of intelligence.
Gathering like this wasn't purely for the sake of mutual information sharing; it was to probe the depths of other Abyssal Demon Lords. These lords were truly disgusting creatures—not just toward outsiders, but toward their own kind as well.
Whenever an Abyssal Demon wanted to make a move, the first person they had to guard against was their "neighbor."
Right now, they had originally intended to discuss how to make a final summary of their failure to seize the Main World’s Luck. They wanted to take this opportunity to see how the struggle for Luck would conclude. After all, a certain Demon Lord had sacrificed his life to stir up chaos; by now, he was likely being devoured by his own subordinates back in his territory.
But they hadn't been watching the images for long before they witnessed this scene.
The Main World Consciousness actually intended to scrap all the other Luck Seeds for the sake of one little brat!
God knows how much it had cost them to interfere in the Main World’s affairs. They had happened upon the Script and spent an enormous price to plant so many Luck Seeds just to muddy the waters.
If the World Consciousness acted on this whim, all their efforts would be for nothing.
Of course, it wouldn't be entirely for nothing—at worst, they could just wait for the next Script to begin—but demons were an impatient lot.
"Don't you all have anything to say?"
"What is there to say? I never should have held out hope for invading the Main World."
"If you have no hope, then get out. There are plenty of lords itching to join. Have you even contributed anything to our group? Do you even have the right to bark here?"
"We must mobilize! We cannot let that brat accept it!"
"That Weakening Witch might not have left yet! If you want to die, go find her yourself! What do you have in your head? Excrement from the bottom of the Abyss?"
"You're the one who's brain-dead. Don't lose sight of what we want. We want that brat to not destroy what we've already invested. Do you think, given her performance, she’ll actually accept? She was just hacking away at the Ley Line Shackles."
"Then why mobilize? Isn't it better to wait and see? Why go looking for trouble?"
"It’s a favor. Our previous recklessness offended the one Witch we should never have provoked. Now, their new generation needs an 'accident' to divert conflict and attention. The Dream Demons we arranged have already caused quite a mess..."
"As long as you know. We should probably destroy those Dream Demons; keeping them around is just a nuisance."
"You say destroy them just like that? Dream Demons are our means of exploring the Dreamscape. Ever since that Soul Truth Witch burst onto the scene, exploring the Dreamscape has become a mandatory project for every powerful force in the Void. This trip to the Main World collected a lot of dream-level data for us. You didn't raise those Dream Demons, so of course you don't feel the sting."
"Useless trash. You should think about why the things you value so much were curb-stomped by a newcomer who just touched Transcendent power."
"Dream Demons aren't meant for combat! You lot unilaterally agreed to that Witch's terms and sold out my Dream Demons, and now you're blaming me?"
"Enough arguing! You... tell us about the mobilization." At that moment, the Demon Lord sitting at the head of the table slammed his hand down, and the room fell silent.
"Send some lesser demons as cannon fodder. Give those academies a reason to intervene directly. Things have escalated to a point where they can't easily wrap it up either. If we don't do this, are we just going to keep struggling? If we keep the pressure on, who knows what other 'surprises' that brat with Innate Spirit Vision will explode with? Would everyone be happy then?"
"We demons have to wipe their asses for them?"
"What? Of course, you don't have to. Those cowards in the Main World who want to overthrow us are mostly just talk. But the Witches? They actually do it. Don't you understand the Witches' stance? They are the faction that tacitly allows us to reside in the Main World. We aren't enemies."
"What! The Witches agreed to it? How is that possible! Those Witches are always talking about—"
"That's why I said those without brains should speak less. Your idiotic comments only make you look stupider in my eyes. Only a few groups within the Witches of the Main World truly have a say, and they lean toward allowing various Transcendent Races to move in. As long as they don't oppose it, they support it. If the Main World develops behind closed doors, that's exactly what the Witches don't want to see."
"..."
"Besides, do you have any idea how popular Demon Witches are among the Witch community?"
"You! You want to betray the Abyss!"
"I never said that."
* * *
At this moment, I looked at the Luck Seed before me with a complex gaze. For a moment, I didn't know what to feel. Honored? Grateful? This was the affirmation of the World Consciousness itself. "It" was even willing to make me its "Only Child" for my sake.
What did "Only" mean?
It meant I could receive the same treatment Tan Han had at the very beginning.
Furthermore... I wasn't that same helpless puppet anymore, a marionette controlled by others. I could now ignore most anyone below the level of an Academy Dean who tried to interfere with me. This was the benefit of having a powerful backer.
And there was one more thing: I wouldn't be as easily fooled as Tan Han was. Simply put, I knew too much.
But... I wouldn't choose this path.
To put it lightly, it would be a betrayal of my choices, my current sacrifices, and my hard work. To put it more bluntly, it would be looking for trouble where there was none.
In this instant, it was as if the entire world had fallen silent. Even that Abyssal Demon didn't dare to move.
No one knew what that Abyssal Demon was experiencing right now. It was the terror brought about by the gaze of the World Consciousness upon a non-native life form. It wasn't a Transcendent life form yet; if an entity on the level of the World Consciousness truly wanted to target it, it had absolutely no chance of resistance.
Clearly, for me, this was a pivotal choice. it involved so many things that the World Consciousness had "intervened personally."
Once the choice was made, it would affect every Child of Destiny here.
I turned my head slightly, looking at everyone who had stopped moving. In this sparse crowd, there were always those who stood out—the ones chosen by the Luck Seeds. At this moment, invisible threads of Luck connected all the seeds. A thought echoed in my mind: if I chose to accept, all their Luck Seeds would be destroyed, and the Luck they had gathered would be transferred entirely to me.
It felt as if an Emperor were appointing a Crown Prince. If I accepted this "Imperial Decree," all the other princes would be reduced to commoners.
Among them, the one who would be happiest was probably Tan Han, right?
If she knew the truth right now, she would likely be the one who wanted me to accept the most.
But from a perspective I couldn't see, all the students had instinctively turned their gaze toward that spot, as if it were the focal point of everything in this world—that Luck Seed.
None of them knew what was happening; they could only passively accept the unfolding events.
But at this moment, all the Children of Destiny felt as if something was slipping away from within their bodies, until a phantom, seed-like object floated before each of them.
This would be their only chance to see what their Luck Seed actually looked like.
Only now did everyone clearly distinguish who the Children of Destiny with Luck Seeds were. Many were shocked to find they were among them—Lucianne, for instance—while others remained calm, merely curious about the existence of the seeds.
They gladly accepted this identity, but because of it, their gazes toward the distant figure were filled with complexity.
In this moment, they too faced a choice, but they had no right to make it. Rather than a choice, it was more like waiting for someone else's charity.
Despite how terrifyingly those Dream Demons had described concepts like Luck and the Script, these people were smart. They understood the benefits of Luck. To gain benefits, one had to pay a price; it was merely an exchange of interests.
Now that they knew they truly were Children of Destiny, many didn't want to give up that status.
But they were powerless because they couldn't interfere with the choice. Thus, they could only look around at the state of the others.
Even at a time like this, the competitive nature ingrained in some people's bones still showed.
The world had granted them eyes that could see Luck, and they could naturally see that even among those with seeds, there were tiers.
Some Luck Seeds were withered and parched, while others were vibrant with life, surrounded by a golden aura—the manifestation of Luck.
This "journey" to Ninglan New City had been the most level playing field for these Children of Destiny. Unlike the previous Dream Exchange Competition where the winner took all, everyone had a chance here. As long as they had slain a Nightmare, they received the blessing of Luck.
Looking at those Children of Destiny who had yet to obtain any Luck, the gap between individuals became painfully clear.
And in the midst of the crowd, the most conspicuous was Tan Han. After all, she was the Child of Destiny who had monopolized an entire portion of Luck through the College Entrance Examination Ritual—the original "Sole" Child of Destiny.
That Luck had already transformed into a pillar of light, enveloping Tan Han’s entire body. In this moment, they finally understood why Tan Han, as the only one with a perfect score at the start of the term, had been fought over by so many academies before being whisked away to the Witch Academy.
If the academies had known Tan Han possessed such potential from the start, they would have fought tooth and nail for her.
But Tan Han wasn't thinking about that.
This was also her first time seeing her Luck Seed so directly. The Spirit Eye nurtured by the seed was also fully revealed at this moment.
Compared to all that, Tan Han cared more about the figure in the distance.
Reason told her she should persuade Xiao Han to accept that Luck Seed so she could escape her own cage. But her heart wouldn't let her say the words that would ask someone else to take her place and suffer the whims of fate.
At that moment, seeing me turn my gaze toward them, many people urgently began to shout, pleading with me not to accept.
But only I knew that my turning to look at them wasn't because I was indecisive or seeking help.
I was simply admiring their expressions. Mostly, I wanted to see what kind of faces Tan Han and the others I was watching would make. They were... quite spectacular, weren't they?
However, after I turned my head, I found that the faces of those shouting for me to refuse were the most amusing of all.
I stepped forward, looking at that brand-new Luck Seed. It floated there, right above the Ley Line Shackles where the Dreamscape and Reality intersected.
As I drew closer, I noticed fine cracks on the surface of this new seed. They were cracks caused by the impact of the Dreamscape itself while it was inside. After all, a Luck Seed was merely a vessel for Luck. It was currently healing at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
Earlier, I had asked those Dream Demons if a Luck Seed could be destroyed, but unfortunately, I hadn't received an answer.
And now, I had proven through my own means... that the concept of a Luck Seed could be broken!
Just like the Ley Line Shackles.
Perhaps the World Consciousness truly viewed me as a high-level laborer and thought I should be profoundly grateful for the status of a Child of Destiny?
But humans are humans because they have reasons to stand their ground.
Not everyone is driven solely by profit.
In this moment, I finally understood why those from outside the world called the umbilical cord that restricts a person to their cradle "Ley Line Shackles"—such a negative term.
Because people always yearn for freedom. To say "people" is a bit narrow; there are more than just humans outside the world. It should be said that life always yearns for freedom.
What I need is freedom. Anything imposed upon me is a shackle.
I cannot feel resonance or faith for a world to which I feel no sense of belonging. That was one of the reasons for my decisiveness.
I am no longer a child who will happily accept the status quo just because I'm given a piece of candy.
"I choose... to refuse. Heh, hahahaha!"
In that moment, I firmly voiced my choice. And I wasn't just going to use words to express my thoughts; I was going to use action to prove my resolve!
"Main World Consciousness... I will be the one you can't have, even if you try to keep me!" I whispered the words "World Consciousness," savoring them, and then loudly and formally announced my declaration to everyone. A person must make decisions for the sake of their convictions, just like right now!
Consider it my own brand of wicked fun.
After I finished shouting, I looked toward Tan Han, a cryptic smile playing on my lips.
"Tan Han, didn't you once hope to get the answer you wanted from me? At that time, I didn't know how to respond. But now... this is the answer I give you..."
As I spoke, I pushed the Dream Rewriting Spell to its absolute limit. Ritual runes swirled around me. This time, the strike would be even more terrifying than the one I had prepared to pierce the Ley Line Shackles.
I bet everything on my dignity, my promise, and my confidence!
"Watch closely, Tan Han... this strike is going to be cool!"