Night Ranger

Throughout Lance’s honest narration, Marvin slowly learnt the ins and out of this Universe.

There was a foundation upon which the entire Universe rested.

Even the World Tree, which winded through the entire Universe. Even the Astral Plane and the Void spread from this foundation.

And the foundation of the Universe was Feinan.

This was also the reason that Feinan was the Prime Material Plane.

Feinan Plane was the origin of everything, and Feinan’s Plane Will was the original consciousness of the entire Universe.

A Plane Will was a very complex thing. At first, Lance gave it a relatively superficial understanding of things, only intending to use it as a tool to create the world.

And later on, when he found out that the Plane had its own consciousness, he didn’t realize how dangerous this fact could be.

When Feinan’s Plane Will first started to think the same way that people did, the disaster had already started.

And all of that had been created by Lance. This was the reason that Lance said that it was his mistake.

”This world seems vast to some people, but in fact, as far as I know, it’s only a small place derived from a bigger world.”

”I was born on Earth and experienced the worst era, the period just after the great quantum storm, and then reached a world where Wizards reigned supreme.”

”You might be familiar with the name of that world, Cridland. The same as your family name. The reason behind it is simple. The first Numen sought refuge from Cridland, and I chose to accept them. Because Laws of that Wizard World and the Laws of this world were different, after I recreated the Laws of Magic, the Cridland clan lost their ability to use magic. But their knowledge came from a world that transcended this one, so shortly after, they started using all kinds of methods that they had brought or developed, and eventually managed to deal with an Archdevil, which let them find the way to get the Sorcerer bloodline.”

”These things were all related to you. But now, we must move on to something unrelated to you. When I first created this world, I actually had no other choice. Once I became Feinan’s God of Creation, I was bound to live and die with this Plane. Thus, after the world stabilized, I sent all my friends to a higher Universe.”

”But during the process, we ran into some problems.”

Lance did not elaborate on the specifics of the issues that came up, but from his sad tone, it wasn’t hard to realize that there were many unknown obstacles in that higher Universe.

A higher level lifeform was involved, the one that Lance and the Night Monarch fought with the help of many other heroes in those old stories that were eventually passed down.

Although they ultimately drove him back, he still managed to scatter his dark seeds in this world.

Seeds of Evil.

That being used those seeds to curse Feinan before leaving. The curse would speed the spread of Chaos in the Universe, and when Order collapsed, the Universe would crumble.

Thus, for many years, Lance paid a lot of attention to shaping Order in various ways.

He even created and strengthened the Universe Magic Pool to keep the Prime Material Plane, Feinan, from being invaded.

But he definitely hadn’t thought that this Seed of Evil wouldn’t just scatter in the Human world, but even directly invade Feinan Plane Will!

From then on, Feinan’s Plane Will began to have thoughts the way a person would, and it gradually became smarter.

One day, it became tired of being restricted by its planar body, partially because of the information within the seed about a higher Universe.

It thirsted for the chance to break out of its cage and leave for that higher Universe.

Thus, it started making secret plans, and a deep, chaotic lie began.

Ancient Gods began to fall one after the other, and later, it made the first three Fate Tablets and insincerely cooperated with Lance, who had yet to discover its perfidy. It pretended to promote the New Gods as agreed, but in reality, it only wanted to use the strength of the New Gods to shatter the Universe Magic Pool.

In many people’s eyes, the Universe Magic Pool was protecting Feinan’s Plane Will.

But from its own point of view, the pool was actually a very loathsome cage.

It wanted the destroy the entire Universe, it wanted chaos to reach its peak. Only in that way could the Plane Will escape its cage.

In fact, its plan almost succeeded right from the start!

Lance was completely caught off guard and even lost his physical body and could only take advantage of a Supreme Law to live in his loyal construct.

And during the tragic scenes of destruction, Lance hid in the Pearl Tower, watching everything.

He was quite helpless to do anything about it.

This was the storyline in Marvin’s previous life. As the game progressed towards its end, that Seed of Evil in the Evil Spirit Sea would finish forming and become the final Destroyer.

But it didn’t succeed in the end.

It was thanks to Lance’s closest partner coming back from the Higher Universe. After discovering Lance’s predicament, and the fact that it had gone too far for him to do anything else about it, Bacon didn’t hesitate to use a Time Spell that could only be used once in his lifetime.

Complete Time Reversal!

It made the world flow back in time all the way up until the point of its creation!

Bacon believed that this way, the disaster shouldn’t happen.

But in spite of how incredibly powerful the Eternal Time Dragon was, there was something that Bacon hadn’t expected.

That invader was powerful, far too powerful. The main Seed of Evil that he left behind was like a virus, and it interfered with the Time Reversal.

Time flowed back to its normal state in the era of the first Ancient Gods, which was even before the first era, the era of the Night Monarch.

And at that time, the Evil Seed had already spread.

After Bacon discovered it, he found that there was nothing he could do about it.

An awkward part about the situation was that because of the Time Reversal, there were two versions of Lance.

A Lance from before the first era, and a Lance that was staying within the construct.

It was very awkward when the two first met. But fortunately, they quickly came to a consensus: They couldn’t let this world be destroyed.

Thus, they quickly took what action they could.

They couldn’t stop the fall of the Ancient Gods, and they couldn’t stop the New Gods from rising. They would go on to shatter the Universe Magic Pool, as they had before, and thus, everything went the same as it previously had.

But the Lance from the 1st era, the one that had yet to experience the fall of his world, began to make his move.

Two main things were done.

First, the Lance in the construct and the Eternal Time Dragon, Bacon, left for the Higher Universe, trying to find a weapon that could stop the Evil Seed from destroying the world. They eventually found one, which came to be called the 4th Fate Tablet.

The second thing was that he returned to Earth, processed Feinan’s original history into a game, and had countless players participate, trying to find ones that had the potential to break through this puzzle.

But the flow of time on Earth and in Feinan was different. When Feinan’s Plane Will already began to show its self-destructive tendencies again, the game on earth was far from reaching its end.

Despite that, Lance had already found the candidate that he liked best.

That was, of course, Marvin.

And after an incident that led to him becoming a paraplegic, Marvin underwent a transmigration under Lance’s special arrangements.

Lance needed someone that was from another Universe and hidden from the Plane Will. Only such a person would be able to use that weapon for what he needed.

And the entire process had to be kept secret. They couldn’t let it be noticed by Feinan’s Plane Will, or else they would fail at the last moment after all these efforts.

Thus, he confided all of this with the Goddess of Wisdom and they worked together to arrange this situation.

The Wisdom Goddess took on the mantle of the God of Deception and wrote the Book of Nalu, deceiving everyone, including Feinan itself, before turning herself into a mortal and entering the circle of reincarnation, just like the Truth Goddess had.

But because she was the Wisdom Goddess, she was still quite extraordinary as a Human, so it was very easy for her to be picked by the Plane Will in this life, causing her to become a Fate Sorceress.

This was Lorie’s origin.

Her presence was one of the most important parts of Lance’s plan because Fate Sorceresses could directly influence the ideas of the inflexible Plane Will.

That was the only way that Marvin could continue to remain hidden from being recognized by the Plane Will. He even obtained the Plane Will’s approval for a time, becoming a Child of the Plane!

But their plan was still discovered in advance. Feinan’s Plane Will realized what was happening, and Marvin lost the Fate Imprint and its associated powers.

After the version of Lance from the first era accomplished everything that he needed to, he left for the Higher Universe once more, looking for other ways to save Feinan in case their first plan failed.

As for the Lance in the construct’s body, he remained in Feinan, preparing to stop the Destroyer in the Evil Spirit Sea in case it managed to fully form.

It sounded like everything was falling into place properly.

But the plan could have been optimized better.

...

”Optimized? What do you mean?” Marvin felt a bit strange when he heard that.

He was already convinced by Lance’s story, but then again, even the Truth Goddess, who had been personally sealed by Lance, seemed to more or less believe him, so Marvin had even less reason not to believe him.

Moreover, as someone from Earth, even if it was from a different era, there was still this sense of trust from someone from the same place. The quantum storm had struck long before Marvin’s time.

Lance gave a wan smile, like he had grown tired. ”When I arranged the transmigration, the Plane Will sensed it to some extent, so I had to use a smokescreen.”

’Smokescreen?’

Marvin suddenly froze. ”Wayne?” he guessed.

Lance nodded.

”The so-called Seers were only people who received some fragments of memories about events that happened in the original chaotic timeline. The things they saw were mostly correct, but some visions had mistakes, and some had never happened at all..”

”In order to trick it, I had one of its people also awaken as a Seer.”

Marvin remained silent.

Wayne and Hathaway... They could considered the two that had the closest relationships with him, and they were both deliberately awakened as Seers by Lance.

But the former was there in order to attract the attention of Feinan’s Plane Will, while the latter was awakened in order to trick it.

In fact, just as Marvin had guessed, his own appearance really was the outcome of the ”game” between Lance and the Plane Will.

Now, it was just a matter of who the Destroyer was.

Lance himself couldn’t destroy Feinan’s Plane Will because he had already become interwoven with Feinan, so there was no way for them to actually kill each other.

And the people of this world couldn’t either because this was where they originated from. Everything they had was granted by Feinan, so they had to comply with its rules.

This was a Law of this Universe.

But Marvin, who had transmigrated from Earth with no prior attachments to this world, would have enough power to stop the Evil Seed if he was able to obtain the 4th Fate Tablet.

”The timing is just right.”

”The Evil Child is being born in the Evil Spirit Sea, and now is the time when it is at its weakest. And because of the Evil Spirit Sea’s special nature, only the two of us can go over there.”

Lance gave Marvin a solemn look and asked, ”Are you ready?”

Marvin popped his knuckles and asked, ”Do I still have a choice?”

This was the real world.

Lance chose Marvin because he had the heart of a hero.

The feelings he experienced, happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy, they were all real.

He couldn’t let White River Valley be destroyed. He had to protect all the things that he needed to protect.

Even if it was a ”game”, even if he was just a tool that was being led forward, he still had to do what was required of him.

But there was a reason that Lance was asking Marvin if he was ready.

Marvin himself wasn’t sure if he really was. When he faced that person, would he really be able to do what he needed to?

But time was pressing, so he couldn’t just hesitate too long.

He grasped Sodom’s Blades as well as the Book of Nalu as he clenched his teeth.

”Let’s go.”

...

The Evil Spirit Sea.

Eighteen Evil Spirit Overlords were kneeling with their heads lowered.

A rotten throne rose up from the center of the sea.

A pretty woman was coldly sitting on the icy throne. Her skin was dark green and her eyes were scarlet.

The heel of a pair of stilletos was grinding against a seemingly thin sheet of paper.

”That group of blood-sucking insects.”

”I already can’t stand them clambering around across me like that.”

”Follow me, destroy that evil world and help me escape from this cage to leave to the Higher Universe!”

The eighteen Evil Spirit Overlords here, besides Tidomas/Hartson, were all the Ancient Gods who had lost their awareness!

And that woman on the throne was the first Anzed Witch, who had recovered her memory. The first representative of Feinan’s Plane Will, and also the first Plane Guardian on Feinan.

Hathaway.

”The Seed of Evil is so powerful. Thinking about it, I originally didn’t defeat him.”

Lightning suddenly split the sky, and two shadows dropped down nearby.

Marvin and Lance.

Marvin looked at Hathaway with a complicated expression.

Only coldness and indifference could be seen in the latter’s eyes. From Lance’s explanation, he already knew that it was because of his deep ties with Hathaway that the Plane Will became aware of the existence of a transmigrator early on, and thus sped up the plans for destruction.

It was a very complicated relationship.

”This has nothing to do with the seed.”

At this time, Hathaway had already become the evil side of Feinan Plane Will. She gave Lance a cold and dismissive look. ”I’m weary of this kind of life. The feelings of those lowly existences seem dull to my eyes, and this world is continuously tending toward chaos. All of this is your problem, God of Creation!”

”I am cleansing the world for you, and when my Will separates from this world, you can also free yourself. Isn’t that great?”

Lance calmly countered, ”I only created the world itself. The lifeforms that sprang forth from it grew from the world. I don’t have the right to decide whether they live or die.”

”But I do,” Hathaway coldly said. ”Life Essence... The evolution of everything originates from my Laws.”

”I granted them their meager lives, I gave them everything. Now they are wasting my gift, so I am preparing to take it back. And you can’t stop me.”

Marvin shook his head, ”A mother can’t claim to have the right to take the lives of her children just because she was the one the birthed them.”

”When these lives were born into this world, they were given the power to make their own choices. Surely they deserve these basic rights.”

Hathaway sneered back, ”There is a Higher Universe that you haven’t seen. Lifeforms come in many shapes and forms. Feinan is just a small, hidden corner of Cridland Universe, and Cridland is only a small drop in the endless Universe.”

”I’ve seen those beings. They naturally ignore lower lifeforms, and they will even use lower Universes as their sustenance. They would go into the Universe and slowly grow their Source of Fire up until their bodies awaken and they begin to swallow the entire Universe.”

”Compared to those beings, I’ve been very charitable by Human standards. After all, I let those lowlives live out their ephemeral lives.”

Marvin’s grip tightened on the pommels of Sodom’s Blades.

He was getting angrier, but he couldn’t vent this anger.

He knew who he was facing. This was the part of Feinan’s Will that had been infected with that Seed of Evil.

And the Hathaway before him was only its representative.

When Lance appeared, he realized that the rumored lifeform in the Evil Spirit Sea wasn’t fake. It was just that the supposed frightening existence in the Evil Spirit Sea was Feinan itself.

Everything made sense to him at that point.

He had recalled every detail, and all the scenes were vivid as if they had just happened.

In fact, he had only reached Feinan about a year ago.

Whether it was this life or the previous one, emotionally, he still couldn’t accept that all the people in this world had to be destroyed!

Thus, he had made proper preparations.

But the eighteen Evil Spirit Overlords were now standing in front of them.

...

”Lance, you can’t kill me. Fighting each other doesn’t make any sense.”

”I’ll kill Marvin. And then I’ll win.”

”But I hate you for preventing me from breaking out from myself. Thus, once I succeed, I’ll immediately kill you in the other world.”

Hathaway was still sitting on that throne while the eighteen Evil Spirit Overlords were still looking at the two unmovingly.

The final page of the Book of Nalu was in Hathaway’s hands, and without it, Marvin couldn’t activate the 4th Fate Tablet that was in his advanced False Divine Vessel.

It seemed like the situation would be quite troublesome to deal with.

Marvin took a deep breath, preparing to make the first move.

In fact, he had prepared himself for battle before setting off with Lance.

The other Gods had no advanced False Divine Vessels, nor were they living in a construct or something like that, the way Lance was. Once they entered the Evil Spirit Sea, they would easily become corrupted.

Thus, only the two of them could participate in this final battle.

Hathaway seemed to already be sure of her victory, yet no expression could be seen on Lance’s face.

”The Seed of Evil has to be destroyed, that’s our win condition,” he slowly reminded. ”And you know these Evil Spirit Overlords can’t do anything in front of me.”

Hathaway stomped harder against the page and sneered, ”But your carefully prepared weapon can’t be used. You are paying the price from trying to hide it from me. Do you like the irony?”

Lance softly said, ”Since I planned for it, I definitely have a trump card too.”

”You are taking the loyalty of your followers for granted.”

Marvin was startled when he noticed an Evil Spirit Overlord suddenly make an unexpected move!

That shadow split from Hathaway’s group and came to Marvin’s side.

The next second, a thin parchment was handed to Marvin.

Tidomas!

Marvin hadn’t expected that Lance would have such a plan!

Among the 18 Evil Spirit Overlords, 17 were Gods that had fallen and become corrupted!

But Tidomas was actually the Chromatic Dragon God, Hartson. He had let go of his own name and managed to successfully trick everyone.

And no one could have expected that he was actually a spy for Lance!

But the page of the Book of Nalu in his hand was the genuine final page!

”Sorry, tricking people is one of my strong points.” Tidomas pointed at the page under Hathaway’s foot and jeered, ”How is it? Do you like the fake one?”

”You took the path that will lead to your death!” Hathaway burst out with anger.

The entire Evil Spirit Sea raged and rumbled!

”I’m only carrying out a deal.” Tidomas looked at Lance and muttered, ”I already gave you the page of the Book of Nalu, and she is now at her weakest. I hope you can keep your promise.”

”Return me my original strength.”

Marvin smiled bitterly. He wasn’t a fool. He understood what had happened.

The last page of the Book of Nalu was in the Evil Spirit Sea. Feinan’s Plane Will had wanted to make sure that this one never fell into Lance’s hands.

But Lance had already prepared something that would let him gain the upper hand here.

Tidomas’ corruption was merely a ruse.

He truly had reached the limit of his lifespan and had needed another way to keep on living.

And when he went to join the Negative Energy Plane, the inflexible Plane Will never would have thought that Tidomas’, no, Hartson’s important Divine Source was actually in Marvin’s hands!

All the way back in the Nightmare Boundary, when Lance’s Fairy gave Marvin the advanced False Divine Vessel and Hartson’s Divine Source, that plan was already put into motion.

Marvin recalled the many times that he had faced Tidomas. Was he only putting on a show all those times? All those fights and grudges, but he wasn’t actually trying to kill him?

This was a real trump card.

He looked at Lance with respect.

Lance just laughed and said, ”When you live as long as I have, you’ll be able to see far enough in the future to make such plans.”

”Well, I can hold them for a while, but I need your help.”

The next moment, the Evil Spirit Sea swept over at them. Lance and Tidomas rushed forward!

As for Marvin, he was in the process of merging the last page of the Book of Nalu with the original book!

8th page of the Book of Nalu – Fate!

When all the pages of the Book of Nalu fused together, its shape actually changed into a winged key!

It flew into Marvin’s body, and the mark of the Wisdom Goddess could faintly be seen!

The Book of Nalu unlocked the Fate Tablet, and then everything fit into place.

Marvin felt a burst of information overloading his mind!

If not for the False Divine Vessel helping him process this information and knowledge, he might have gone mad from the overload!

As it all rushed through his head, he saw a huge planet-like eye!

He saw large swarms of bug-like lifeforms flying in the sky, plundering and devouring an inhabited planet!

He saw a world where normal Humans had been oppressed by Wizards for three millennia before a slaughterer rose up and drove a mecha into a group of Wizards!

He saw countless skyscrapers rising from the ground. He saw a realm that seemed like a giant bookcase where each book was an entire world!

Each different level was a different dimension that spread before him.

At the same time, the power of the 4th Fate Tablet, which was actually the treasure that Lance had sought out from a higher Universe, instantly filled Marvin’s body with power!

With the ever-reliable help of the advanced False Divine Vessel, he could feel that he was getting stronger at an extremely fast rate!

Sodom’s Blades even felt the extreme feelings that Marvin was having, and grew excited yet fearful!

He saw the passage to another World!

Although it was only a flash, the Fate Tablet gave him the freedom to go back and forth between the different words!

Because he wasn’t a resident of Feinan, he wasn’t branded by the will of Feinan and thus could move about freely.

”Quick!”

”Kill her!”

Lance was fighting all the corrupted Ancient Gods in the Evil Spirit Sea.

Despite being the God of Creation, after losing his corporeal body, his strength had diminished by a lot.

Although he could stall for time, he was already at a disadvantage. But that was all he needed to do, since he couldn’t take care of the true problem himself anyways.

Marvin threw a final look at Hathaway as she continued to just sit on the icy throne.

”What will happen once I kill her?” He didn’t make a move yet, asking this instead.

Lance smiled wryly. ”She and I will die together,” he answered. ”This world will temporarily be thrown into chaos, but rest assured, a new Plane Will will be born.”

”What you are killing now is the Plane Will’s Evil Child!”

Hathaway gave Marvin a cold look, before glancing at the daggers in his hands. She looked back up and told him, ”If you kill me, this soul will also scatter.”

”And all the so-called Seers, including that Wisdom Goddess who considers herself to be so smart, will be buried with me.”

Marvin grimaced at the thought of this happening.

He could feel that he was already stronger than ever, and that the newly reborn Hathaway wasn’t his opponent.

With just a slash, a disaster could be narrowly avoided, but many people would die because of it.

Hathaway, Lance, Jessica, Kate, Lorie, Wayne.

He didn’t like this sort of conclusion.

A flicker flashed deep within his mind!

That was the remaining Wisdom Ability from the Wisdom Goddess.

He examined his own power and finally smiled.

”This might not be the only solution,” Marvin quickly said to Lance. ”When I received all the information from unlocking the tablet, I saw many things. There is some being in the higher Universe that is able to spread Seeds of Evil, and there is also its opposite.”

”You lacked the time to look for it and could only go with this plan, but I’m different.”

”I feel that if we have to pay such a bitter price, then it shouldn’t be counted as a victory, only mutual destruction.”

”Thus… I won’t kill her.”

Hathaway sneered, laughing in a teasing way.

Lance helplessly shrugged while Tidomas bellowed, ”Quickly return my Divine Source! You coward!”

”It isn’t up to you to make this decision!”

Marvin’s eyes looked resolute.

The 4th Fate Tablet truly could let one be reborn.

He closed his eyes and hesitated for a moment before he suddenly laughed. ”So much to do. Seems like it’ll be lonely.”

”But I truly don’t wish to see any of my friends lose their lives in vain.”

”It might be a bit too overbearing to decide this on my own, and I didn’t ask your opinion, but you also won’t feel anything while time is frozen.”

”So let me be willful for once.”

The next second, a bright light burst out of the advanced False Divine Vessel.

This dazzling resplendence instantly spread through the entire Universe!

Every place that was touched by it was frozen in time!

[Unfathomable Ability!]

He finally realized the power of that strange spell after getting the information from that higher Universe.

Finding a way to truly freeze time was something that was unfathomable.

But with the power of the Fate Tablet, Marvin succeeded.

The light brushed every corner of the Universe.

Thus, the entire Universe was frozen in this moment.

He was alone, walking around all by himself.

He took a trip around Feinan, looking at his old friends, returning to White River Valley, checking on those that he swore to protect.

He finally chose to leave this world!

The passage to the higher Universe was opened and he left on his own, setting foot on the path to his next adventure.

He believed he could find the way to eradicate this Evil Seed in this mysterious higher Universe.

And when he found a way, he would return to Feinan.

”This is really lonely.”

He walked through the sky, getting closer and closer to that higher Universe, feeling a bit bitter but still resolute in his heart.

The next second, he heard a familiar voice. ”Times sure changed! Lil’ Bro became stronger than Big Bro.”

”But going to an unknown world by yourself like this... You do have great guts. You are worthy of being my Lil’ Bro.”

The Eternal Time Dragon!

Marvin and Tiramisu walked side by side, passing through the edge of the world and finally reaching the Higher Universe.

This was a vast galaxy!

There were countless stars and planets, a completely new Universe, and an endless journey!

He knew that there was another Lance in this Universe, arduously looking for an answer to the problem.

Marvin’s use of Unfathomable Ability only treated the symptoms, but not the issue. To really fix the issue with Feinan’s Plane Will, he would still need to work hard for some time yet.

But when he made the decision, he hadn’t thought that he would have company.

”How? An accident?”

Tiramisu laughed, ”This handsome Dragon is an Eternal Time Dragon!”

”The ability you used is indeed very powerful. You sealed the entire Universe, but you can’t seal me!”

Marvin laughed and gently patted the Eternal Time Dragon’s head. There was a lot on his mind, but it all came out as this one sentence:

”Let’s go.”

Spread before them was an endless expanse of darkness.

With them walking along this seemingly never-ending road together, there would be no loneliness.

___

[End of the Novel]chaptererror();