I will be crowned king

"Chloe... cluck... cluck..."

In front of the Clovis Cathedral, Sera Virgil was standing there, her body shaking violently as if she was being restrained. She opened and closed her mouth with difficulty, making a slight vibration of her vocal cords, and her cheeks were filled with blood red in great pain. His pupils protruded outward, and there was a hint of fear in his eyes as he looked at Anson.

Almost at the same time, Anson, who had no time to be surprised, suddenly felt that the light around him dimmed without warning, and he felt a burning and tingling sensation in his chest and heart.

Professor Mace Honnard...the Black Mage...he's here? !

Anson turned around suddenly, and what he saw in front of him made his eyesight freeze instantly:

The suffocating smoke billowed slowly in the burning streets. The shouting rioters stepped on the broken limbs and meat everywhere. Between the barricades and fortifications, they almost launched waves of madness. A wave of fierce and death-defying attacks.

Under the cover of infantry artillery, the soldiers of the Storm Regiment used volleys of guns to disrupt the formation of the rioters, slow them down, and retreat to the cathedral in an orderly manner.

The two sides fought among piles of corpses, collapsed houses, blazing barricades and fortifications; roars and screams stirred in the smoke that almost blocked all vision, and one figure after another shuttled, crossed, and rolled through the smoke, Falling down, trampling and being trampled over... All faces are carved with eagerness and panic, desperate cries and fanatical roars resounding throughout the world, like the drama of hell descending.

And in the middle of this drama, stood an extremely abrupt and thin figure.

He was wearing a tall black double-breasted tuxedo and a top hat. A stiff-collared white shirt and close-fitting trousers made his figure look very slender. He opened his shoulders, put his hands behind his back, and had ice-blue eyes under the brim of the hat. Don't mix in any unnecessary emotion.

Bloun.

A young bachelor in formal attire appeared in the middle of the chaotic red brick street battlefield. With an indifferent expression, he shuttled among the crowd as if he were strolling in a garden.

The roaring rioters rushed past him, and the body whose head was shot off collapsed to the ground, "happening" to make way for him;

The flying lead bullet grazed the hem of his clothes and hit the forehead of another line infantryman a few steps away;

The two figures hugged each other and struggled on the ground. They raised their bayonets and daggers and stabbed each other's chests. Not a drop of the blood splattered on him;

Everything around him seemed to be a projection from another world, an extremely clear fantasy, an immersive dream; no matter what happened, it would not leave any trace on him.

In the sight of the stunned Anson, Bloen simply walked through the entire battlefield, stepped onto the stairs and walked towards him; figures kept passing back and forth in front of the cathedral door, but no one seemed to Instead of seeing him, I saw myself, or Sera Vigil, who looked painful and her lips were gradually losing color.

It was obvious that the moment the other party took action, he was not the only one affected.

Looking at the pair of icy blue eyes that were getting closer and closer, Anson, who quickly calmed down his expression of shock, suddenly turned back, frowned and said in a deep voice to the young bachelor who was walking towards him:

"Where is Professor Mace Honnard, and why are you alone?"

He deliberately emphasized his tone, using a solemn tone to cover up his feelings that he had not yet completely calmed down.

"Don't worry."

Bronn, with an indifferent expression, slowly stopped and his mouth relaxed slightly:

"Professor is nearby, but he has to wait for a while and make some necessary preparations before he can come. In order not to waste precious time, he ordered me to come first."

"Because he is different from us. In other words, he has become a 'blasphemous mage' believer of the old god. There is an essential difference between him and ordinary spell casters."

Bloen saw the confusion in Anson's eyes: "Strictly speaking, they have transcended their original selves and become another form of life. Only the appearance still retains the appearance of the past."

"It may not be a problem at ordinary times, but there will be some slight discomfort; but once you need to use the power of the three old gods, you must first 'transform' the surrounding environment into something that meets his needs, so that it will not be affected."

As he spoke, he stretched out his right hand and pointed to the sky.

The dark clouds covering the dome of Clovis City quietly dissipated at some point, and in the sky filled with fire and billowing black smoke, hung a full purple moon!

Under the strange moonlight, the entire city was tinged with lavender light in a dim light, just like the dark night in a dream - but the time now was still noon.

The shocked expression was fixed on Anson's face as he looked up. At this moment, he didn't even know how to describe his mood.

Fear, shock, disbelief... countless emotions flashed through his suddenly shrinking pupils.

After a while, Anson finally came back to his senses and his eyes regained his composure.

That's right, there's no need to be nervous... all these things you see before you are just illusions and illusions created by the black mage. They cause substantial distortion and reshaping of reality. That is the power that only the conjurer has!

If you think about it carefully, creating such a large-scale illusion seems to show the strength of the black mage, but on the other hand, this is also what he has to do; only by maintaining this illusion, his strength will not be damaged.

Not to mention using magic on such a large scale, he directly exposed himself to the eyes of the church and the inquisition in the city without any disguise.

That's right, the person who is really desperate now is not himself, but the black mage - the beloved Professor Mace Honnard.

He had no second option and had to make a desperate move!

After thinking about all this, Anson finally calmed down completely, but his expression when looking at Blown still remained in disbelief.

"Yes, this is the true strength of Professor Mace Honnard."

There was a smile of reverence on the corner of Bloen's mouth:

"The professor's power is 'Nightmare' - if he wants, he can drag everyone here into the dream world he created at any time, and they will never wake up until they die."

"Originally, the professor did not intend to do this, but on the one hand, he considered protecting your identity, and on the other hand, he also wanted to teach some church lackeys who are hostile to us; let them understand how wrong their previous guesses were. .”

While speaking, her ice-blue eyes turned to Sera Vergil who was standing aside; the female inquisitor with a painful face could no longer make any sound, and the blood-red in her pupils was gradually receding, revealing her white eyeballs.

The slightly twitching body was stretched upward, still struggling.

"Is it painful, Sera Virgil?" the indifferent Bronn said softly:

"I have always believed that the believers of the old gods who follow Mutt, the King of Dark Magic, are the least likely of all spellcasters to betray the original ring and become lackeys of the Church of Order. After all, we were told the moment we received the blessing. The truth about the whole world.”

"So I must thank you. It is your existence that broke some of my 'innocent' illusions."

The female judge, whose eyes rolled white, had lost consciousness, and a little foam flowed from the corner of her slightly opened mouth.

Bloen seemed to enjoy watching her die step by step, and he took out a pistol from his waist.

"boom!"

Gunshots rang out, but it was not Broen who fired.

His ice blue eyes looked to his side with a hint of astonishment. The expressionless Anson took out his gun before he knew it, pointed it at Sera Vigil's chest and pulled the trigger.

The delicate body shook violently, and then large areas of dark red spread on her coat; the unconscious female inquisitor collapsed on the ground in a pool of blood like a puppet with its strings cut off.

"Let's go."

Looking at the slightly surprised Bronn, Anson put away the revolver and said eagerly:

"Since that's what the professor wants, let's not waste any more time."

Bronn looked startled, then nodded lightly towards Anson.

"good."

He put his hands behind his back again and followed Anson towards the interior of the cathedral.

The two people walked through the door one after another and walked along the natural marble floor towards the back of the cathedral; the purple moonlight penetrated the stained glass window on the left side of the corridor, and a strange light flashed on the faces of the two people with different looks. .

Along the way, the two of them kept passing by the wounded soldiers of the Storm Regiment, the panicked church deacon, and the shivering nun huddled in the corner. Anson, who was not looking away, looked calm and walked straight ahead.

Feeling the cold gaze from behind, the footsteps always remained about five steps away from him... As long as there was something wrong with him, Bloen would not hesitate to attack him from behind.

Just like with Sierra Vigil.

Thinking of the female inquisitor, Anson couldn't help but glance at the revolver under his coat. The situation just happened so suddenly that he had to fire the shot in front of Blown, trying to avoid the gun in her chest. organ.

Perhaps from that shot, Bloen was already doubting himself.

But it doesn't matter. He knows very well that the cronies around Professor Mace Honnard have never truly believed in him from the beginning to the end; the other party is most likely just acting in front of him because of the black mage's order.

The real trouble is still the black mage.

Even though he was fully prepared and couldn't be more fully prepared, and even planned four complete preparation plans, which were absolutely foolproof, Ansen still couldn't contain the anxiety in his heart.

Even though he was fully prepared for the strength of Professor Mace Honnard, Anson never expected that he could directly influence and affect the entire neighborhood, allowing him to walk through the door of Clovis Cathedral openly...

With such terrifying strength, even in a one-on-one confrontation with a gun in his hand, Anson didn't think he had even the slightest chance of winning.

The two walked into the deepest and core ceremony hall of the cathedral; the octagonal hall has no windows around it, and all the light comes from the golden crystal chandelier overhead, making the entire room as bright as day when the VIPs are full.

And now...the quiet and empty hall was filled with only darkness.

Bloen walked into the hall and saw Anson slowing down, so he stood there and looked around:

"right here?"

"yes."

Anson nodded, then shook his head:

"No."

Bronn frowned slightly.

"The storage room of the differential engine and memory cards is the core secret of Clovis Cathedral. According to regulations, only the archbishops of the past and the church members they think they can absolutely trust are qualified to know."

"It was stored in an underground chamber in the cathedral, and the only door to the chamber was in this room."

Anson explained while walking towards the Ring of Order sculpture in front of the hall:

"According to Luther Franz, some messages were periodically stored on memory cards simply because Clovis Cathedral only had one difference engine of this level, but that was not its main function."

"oh?"

Watching Anson take out the key and open a door on the sculpture of the Ring of Order, Bloen followed him unhurriedly:

"Then what is its function?"

………………

"time."

In the quiet study room, Luther Franz said to Anson in a chatty tone:

"That's what St. Isaac's Steam Difference Engine does - it helps you calculate how long it takes for something to happen based on the information you put into it."

"When will a train from Oak Town arrive in North Port? How long will it take for a batch of goods to appear in the market from the transportation stage? When will it rain tomorrow and for how long...it can tell you."

"Time... is the most precious and powerful force in our time; it is so powerful that you don't even need to control it, you just need to understand it, and you can control many things."

“This is why the Church of Order attaches so much importance to it, this is why Saint Isaac, who created it, will become the target of the Church who has to kill, and this is why the Church of Order has controlled the world in its own name over the past hundred years and stands tall. Does not fall……"

The two passed through the secret door and walked step by step along the spiral stone stairs into the dark depths until they reached the end of the stairs and handrails.

Bloen raised his head and looked ahead along the gas lights on the surrounding walls. A closed door appeared at the end of the underground corridor.

"This is it. Behind the door is the memory card storage room, and the difference engine is next door." Anson raised a kerosene lamp and said:

"We need to find the correct memory card in the storage room, then read it on the difference machine, and then we can get the original copy of the "Big Magic Book"."

"Can't you read it all? I heard that St. Isaac's Steam Difference Engine ran two hundred times as fast as an ordinary Difference Engine."

"That's true, but it's still not enough compared to the number of cards stored by the church."

"Then let's go find it now."

"Aren't you waiting for Professor Mace Honnard?"

"The professor won't be here for a while, so we might as well get the cards ready first."

"That makes sense, let's go."

Anson nodded slightly, took out the second key from his arms and walked towards the door.

Bronn smiled at him, but the moment he looked back, his ice-blue eyes were stained with blood.

The right hand behind his back was always holding the handle of the gun tightly.

Never let go.