29. Silver Will Replace Gold, the Final Declaration of War
"Hi~ Good morning, Kevin."
Kevin felt like he shouldn't have left his house. Looking at the beaming Elysia before him, Kevin felt a headache coming on.
Kevin forced a smile and said, "Good morning, Elysia. What's up so early?"
Elysia, surveying the scene inside Kevin's room, replied with a bright smile, "No, I was just passing by."
Kevin: "...Oh."
"Do you think I believe that?" Kevin rolled his eyes inwardly.
He knew without thinking that Elysia was definitely here to see Xiling, but he couldn't understand why she was so obsessed with Xiling. Faced with this puzzling question, Kevin chose not to think about it.
Kevin: "If there's nothing else, Elysia, I'll be leaving first."
"Oh, then I won't bother you anymore. Goodbye~"
Watching Elysia's retreat, Kevin couldn't help but wonder, "Is she really just passing by?"
Normally, someone wouldn't just leave so easily. Perhaps she was just passing by.
Leaving home, Kevin stopped in front of a breakfast shop and bought a few breakfast items. He then carried them back to his room.
...
In a laboratory, a green-haired woman in a white lab coat sat on a chair, holding a vial of blood. Her gaze was fixed on the vial, as if something about it captivated her. It was Xiling's blood.
The green-haired woman's name was Mobius. She was a scientist, perhaps even a mad scientist. However, she was currently facing a difficult situation. She had also witnessed Xiling slaying the Third Herrscher, and she had sprung into action even faster.
The Fire Moth members knew Kevin was the only one who knew Xiling. Even if Kevin claimed he didn't know Xiling, the Fire Moth leaders wouldn't believe him. They only believed their own eyes. So when Kevin brought a charred man back to the Fire Moth rescue team, the Fire Moth members had already sprung into action.
They didn't know Xiling's appearance, nor did they know if he was injured. They weren't sure he was the one who killed the Third Herrscher. The Fire Moth members weren't foolish enough to just arrest Xiling. They planned to use other methods to determine if he was indeed the one who killed the Third Herrscher. So, Mobius intercepted them when the blood was drawn.
Looking at the blood in her hand, Mobius should have been enthusiastic, even excited, beginning to research the next step. She had found immortality! She had found the possibility of immortality in Xiling's blood—that was what she had been pursuing!
But now, she stared at the blood in her hand expressionlessly, even with a hint of displeasure. From the moment she received Xiling's blood, Mobius had already begun researching it. She quickly discovered a certain property within it: immortality. This discovery was so exciting that she practically broke into a dance. But just as she was excitedly moving on to the next step, her research stalled.
It couldn't blend with anything, couldn't be extracted with anything. Even if she injected it into another animal, then extracted its blood and left it under the sun, the mouse's blood would soon dry up, while Xiling's blood remained unchanged, neither more nor less, and it seemed as if a magnet held the blood together.
Mobius stared at the blood before her in annoyance. She felt like someone who had found a treasure chest but couldn't enjoy its contents. "It's clearly just blood. So why is it so strange? What's wrong with it?"
Mobius turned the object before her over and over again. On the surface, it was just like ordinary blood, but in her mind, it wasn't blood at all, more like a manifestation of some kind of will.
Just as Mobius was getting annoyed,
"Hi~ Dr. Mobius, I'm here!"
...An even more annoying person came.
...
"Come eat!" Kevin walked out of the light portal and handed the breakfast he was carrying to Xiling.
Xiling clasped his hands together, bowed devoutly to Kevin, and said sincerely, "Thank you, great savior, for giving us food. May you have a wonderful day."
Kevin stared at Xiling speechlessly, then walked past him and handed another breakfast to the newly awakened Tarnished.
The Tarnished also took it with both hands, mimicking Xiling's gesture, and clasped his hands devoutly toward Kevin. Houraiji Kyuushou, who had woken up early and been so busy dressing that she completely forgot about breakfast, immediately clasped her hands together and thanked Kevin, saying, "The Savior will be grateful to you forever!"
"...No need."
Despite having eaten a lot this morning, Luo Tianyi, still hungry, gratefully accepted Kevin's breakfast and said, "Thank you."
Lemuen, savoring what looked like coffee or something else, smiled and took Kevin's breakfast. "Thank you so much, Kevin."
Kevin shook his head. "It's just a small favor."
Finally, Kevin placed several servings of food on Morgott's table. He smiled at Morgott and said, "Try it. Our breakfast is pretty good."
Morgott: "...Thank you."
Everyone at the conference table took a serving of food, and the meeting officially began.
Xiling glanced at everyone before speaking: "Today's meeting will mainly discuss a few issues."
"The first issue is that the Elden Ring will be temporarily under the control of Lemuen."
Xiling looked at Morgott. "Do you have any questions or opinions about this? Feel free to ask."
Morgott shook his head. He had also witnessed what happened yesterday. The Elden Ring had already made its choice. What else could he say? Was he going to stand up and angrily tell everyone that there was only one god in the Lands Between, the Eternal Queen, and no one else could touch the Elden Ring?
Seeing Morgott shake his head, Xiling looked at everyone again. The Tarnished raised his hand and asked, "Will this have any impact on Lemuen?"
"Of course it will, but I don't know what the impact will be."
Just as the Tarnished was about to say, "That's quite dangerous, why not just call it quits," Lemuen spoke up, "Everyone, this is my suggestion. I'm ready to take the risk."
Now that Lemuen had spoken, what else could they say? Xiling's gaze slowly swept across each face. After confirming there were no more objections, he continued, "Then, let's return to the unavoidable core issue we discussed earlier—the future of the Lands Between requires order, and the foundation of order, as we all know, is unity."
Everyone straightened up slightly.
Xiling continued, "Raya Lucaria Academy, Caelid, Volcano Manor, Miquella's Haligtree, Mohgwyn Palace," reciting each name one by one, each representing a powerful force capable of establishing its own territory.
"As for those scattered forces, like Scartlet Rot on the rotten lands, we can ignore them for now. Our blades are aimed at these lions and beasts entrenched in this area—and the fragments of the Elden Rings clutched in their claws."
"Great Rune..." Morgott's voice rasped, a complex light flickering in his eyes. He stared at Xiling, his gnarled fingers curled slightly, as if he could sense the pulse of the scattered fragments. "So," he leaned forward slightly, a heavy sense of oppression washing over him. "Where do you intend to ignite your first flame of war?"
Xiling didn't answer immediately. He slowly raised his left hand, and something flew out of his Starry Cloak and landed in his left hand. The shadowy image of a golden ring, breathtakingly majestic yet riddled with cracks and dimly shimmering, emerged—the Elden Ring, a symbol of a shattered world, yet now, its fragmented form betrayed the fragility of its control.
Immediately, he raised his right hand as well, and a completely different light coalesced and flowed within his palm. This light wasn't the brilliance of gold, but rather a cold, pure, and ever-flowing liquid silver. It self-assembled into a more precise, fluid circular structure, seemingly imbued with an endlessly calculated order—the Silver Rule.
Xiling's voice rang out at this moment, striking with uncanny clarity deep within everyone's soul: "Start from here, Morgott. From here."
He slowly brought his hands closer, and the light of the Silver Rule began to erode and envelop the shadowy image of the Elden Ring. "I will replace this broken, unbalanced Golden Rule with the Silver Rule."
"When the new rule is integrated into the heart of the tree, grafted onto the foundation of the world, the mighty tree that towers between heaven and earth will no longer be the 'Golden Tree' you are familiar with. Its essence will be rewritten, its radiance transformed—gold will fall, silver will rise!"
Xiling raised his head, his gaze piercing the dome of the conference hall, as if he had already witnessed the shift in the treetops.
"At that moment, without any announcement, without any messenger, the entire Lands Between, even the refugees in the most remote corners, the most frenzied followers of the Mad Fire, and the monsters most mired in scarlet rot, will feel this drastic change! The very nature of life and death will be redefined—that is the undeniable birthmark of the transition between the old and new eras!" Xiling's voice suddenly rose.
"That is our final declaration of war to all forces across the Lands Between! From the moment silver replaces gold, no matter who you are, from this moment on, anyone standing in our way is an enemy!"