Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 930: Win-win Situation

Anya Romanoff began to explain the lore and history behind the Fruit of Dawn.

“The Fruit of Dawn is a Fruit that was found at the Blessed Land, or the Cursed Land as most of you know it. Well, not technically within the Blessed Land itself, as nothing valuable has ever been obtained from there, but a few meters around it. It was a Fruit harvested by an Empress of the Velkarin Empire over fifteen thousand years ago,” Anya’s voice remained calm as she simply relayed what the Overlord had told her.

“After fifteen thousand years, the item came to be known as the Fruit of Dawn, and someone with an appraisal ability determined that it possesses the power of evolution. The ability to evolve a single ability belonging to whoever eats it,” she stared into Asher’s eyes before adding in finality, “and as a Wargrave, you possess your soul weapon, your elemental affinities, and your Physique, meaning that one of those three will evolve the moment you take even a single bite of the Fruit.”

The moment she finished speaking, the entire hall descended into absolute, unbridled silence as nobody could believe what they had just heard. Who didn’t know what ability evolution was? Who didn’t know how difficult it was to achieve? Throughout even a family like the Wargraves, the Second Great Elder, Morgana, had only managed to evolve her Cloud affinity halfway, and that had taken over three hundred years of relentless training to accomplish.

And now, right before their very eyes, something capable of bypassing such a painstaking and hellish process had appeared before them.

How could they not be shocked? How could they possibly remain calm after witnessing such a thing?

It was widely believed that all abilities possessed the potential for evolution. And with that belief, one couldn’t help but ask…

If Azaron, a man, no, a being, with the Nebula affinity ate the Fruit of Dawn, what sort of existence would he become? Forget that, just how outlandish would his already ridiculous Physique become?

If Arianna, a woman blessed by the World who possessed the Genesis Archive ability, ate the Fruit, what would her ability evolve into?

If Fatty Wang ate the Fruit of Dawn, how absurd would his Luck become? Even William Canestane, who possessed a Copy ability, would become a being who might rival even Asher if he got his hands on the Fruit of Dawn.

People swallowed hard, their eyes fixed upon the Fruit resting within the box, taking in its brilliant golden hue and almost divine beauty.

At the side, Empress Nymeria Sol Virelle of the Velkarin Empire wore a deep frown. She had put forward the Fruit of Dawn as the reward. When she had offered it, she had believed Arianna was going to win, as she knew just how ridiculous Arianna truly was, well… aside from her World Embodiment ability.

The other three Empires had also contributed extraordinary rewards, but none of them compared to the Fruit of Dawn. Hence, Empress Nymeria Sol Virelle had been compensated with the rewards of other three Empires for providing the superior reward, which was why there was only a single grand prize.

She had believed Arianna would emerge victorious, consume the Fruit, and in doing so, the one who benefited from it would be someone loyal to the Velkarin Empire.

But one couldn’t help but ask, this was a fruit that had existed for over fifteen thousand years. Surely one Emperor or Empress from the past would have eaten it, right? Even Empress Nymeria Sol Virelle herself should have attempted to do so, right? It was only logical for one to assume that.

So one could only ask… why was the Fruit still here after all these thousands of years?

The answer was simple… everyone who had eaten it had… died.

None of them could withstand the overwhelming energy contained within the Fruit of Dawn. The moment they consumed it, they exploded into nothingness as the Astra energy contained within the Fruit simply erased them from existence.

Every Emperor and Empress of the Velkarin Empire who had eaten the Fruit of Dawn had died in exactly the same manner. Crownstar Life Ranker or not, every single one of them had met the same fate… Death.

Empress Nymeria Sol Virelle had personally read those ancient records, which was precisely why she had never attempted to eat the Fruit of Dawn herself. After all, what made her any different from those powerful figures of the past who had perished? Absolutely nothing.

But one still needed to ask, what made this Empress believe that Arianna Haellight could survive something that had killed even Crownstar Life Rankers?

The answer was simple. She believed Arianna was blessed by the World itself. There was no greater blessing than that.

Even to this day, Empress Nymeria Sol Virelle still kept a branch taken from the very tree upon which the Fruit of Dawn had once grown within her personal backyard. Every single day, she poured vast amounts of Astra energy into it, nourished it with the finest resources available, yet… nothing.

Not the slightest change. Not a sprout. Not a single leaf. Nothing at all. Yet she refused to give up and simply continued pouring Astra energy into it day after day, year after year. The previous Emperors and Empresses of the Velkarin Empire had merely kept the branch as a souvenir or historical relic, but she had instead decided to put it to practical use.

But again, one couldn’t help but ask, if other people had already eaten the Fruit of Dawn in the past, how was it still here? How had it remained pristine?

The answer was surprisingly simple.

After each death, the Fruit of Dawn would mysteriously return to the hidden vault of the Velkarin Empire, completely untouched, as though time itself had reversed for it.

Although none of the Emperors or Empresses of the past understood the phenomenon behind it, they couldn’t have cared less. Their only objective remained finding someone loyal to the Velkarin Empire who could actually survive consuming the Fruit of Dawn.

Empress Nymeria’s eyes flashed as she silently hoped that Asher would eat the Fruit and die just like everyone before him. That way, the Fruit would mysteriously return to her vault without anyone finding out about it, preventing anyone from waging war against her Empire over such an absurd treasure.

And in the process, the Wargraves would lose one of their members, and that would be the monstrously talented Asher, a premature death.

It was the perfect win-win situation.

Although she had already considered that if Asher died, the Wargraves would undoubtedly storm the Velkarin Empire, as she was the ones who had offered the Fruit of Dawn as the tournament reward, she wasn’t overly concerned. While the Empire would certainly suffer losses, she would simply present the historical records detailing the numerous Emperors and Empresses who had consumed the Fruit of Dawn before Asher and met the exact same fate.

Besides, Arianna Haellight of her own Empire had always been the top favorite to win the tournament, not Asher, as no one had even known the true extent of his abilities before the competition.

Meaning no one could reasonably accuse her of deliberately targeting Asher or the Wargraves with this ancient, seemingly suicidal Fruit of Old.