Release that Witch

”It sounded just like she had explained,” Roland thought. Ashes once said that the difference between the God’s Punishment Army and the Extraordinary was not their strength nor reaction, but their wisdom. If a God’s Punishment Warrior had a witch’s mind and were immortal, her combat experience which was accumulated over centuries would reach a horrifying level. Such fighters would be even stronger than the Extraordinary.

If he were fighting against the full version of God’s Punishment Army in Coldwind Ridge, the result would most probably be reversed. The church only needed to split the whole corps into many squads to infiltrate the base of Kingdom of Graycastle. These squads could start battles through widespread harassment and he would not be able to guard against them.

So it seemed that the long adaption was not the main issue. As long as the soul could continue to transfer, it would be natural to keep the powerful veteran warriors.

Only one question remained. How many God’s Punishment Warriors did Alice save before the Bloody Moon? The powerful shells also had a higher tolerance than normal people. They would enter the old age when they were about 100 years old. If one were involved in the incarnation ceremony at the age of 20, it could be used for seven or eight decades. Even without calculating the failure rate of the transformation and soul transfer, a witch could only create two shells. This directly restricted the number of the corps. If one wanted to create an army of thousands of God’s Punishment corps, the number of witches consumed in the succession of 400 years would be terrible.

When he asked this question, Phyllis bit her lip and replied, ”All.”

Roland was startled, and suspected he had heard wrongly, ”What?”

”Other than the Transcendents, she planned to transform all the witches into the God’s Punishment Army, to withstand the final doomsday.” She repeated.

”Wait a minute, how could this be done? If you wanted to overpower the Senior Demons, one had to be a very well-trained God’s Punishment Warrior. But to get such warriors, wouldn’t many shells needed to be reserved to transfer the souls?”

”That’s right, but there was another way to preserve the soul, and that was to move it into other vessels first.”

”Other... vessels?”

”We call it hibernation.” Phyllis’s words caused Roland to shiver. ”During this period, the person hibernating did not need to consume anything, and felt nothing, until it would be awakened again. How else do you think we could survive that difficult period of the early days? After the fallout with Starfall City, we did not have any usable shells of the God’s Punishment Army, so we survived purely on hibernation. Of course, with the exception of some witches... such as Lady Pasha.”

”What about her?”

”When you see her, you will understand.” Phyllis did not elaborate. ”In short, Lady Alice intended to train and form sophisticated God’s Punishment Warriors in a century, and then let the souls hibernate in order to cut down on the consumption of the shells. As a result, Starfall City would be able to continually transform the God’s Punishment Army. When the Bloody Moon arrived, all the souls would be awakened, and the number of the God’s Punishment Warriors would far exceed the limits that the witch community could bear.”

This meant that every witch alive on the eve of the battle would be transformed.

Wendy, Sylvie, and Leaf lost the color from their faces. Although he could not see the expression on Nightingale’s face, Roland knew she would certainly look gloomy as well.

”And Alice herself... Was she also going to participate in the transfer of souls?”

”No,” Phyllis sighed. ”And that’s what I later heard from Lady Pasha. Queen of Starfall City and her followers never wanted to extend their lives from the very beginning. They wanted to devote the rest of their lives to the recast of the new order, in order to ensure that the plan of the God’s Punishment Army would not deviate from the intended track. Only when she was transcendent, would she have the strength and prestige to govern the Union... And only that flaming red hair would symbolize the neverending morale of Starfall City.”

At this point, her eyes revealed a touch of extremely complex light, with fear, sigh, and respect.

Roland vaguely understood her intentions. They were both obviously in disagreement, yet he was still shocked by her spirit. In order to defeat the demons so that the witch group could continue to live, the Queen of Starfall City would be willing to pay any price and move forward without hesitation. Such an opponent would certainly be worthy of respect.

The gaps of the incomplete historical records had finally been filled. Perhaps the complete version of the God’s Punishment Army was too cruel. Hence a split became unavoidable when something was uncovered in the ruins and the plan of God’s Punishment Army no longer became the only viable solution to fight against the demons. After the split, the Union was severely battered. The Starfall City witches evolved into the church, and after Alice’s death, they gradually swayed from the Queen’s original path.

”Were the vessel, Soul Transfers, and The Chosen One all related to what was found in the ruins?” He asked.

Phyllis recollected her thoughts and answered, ”You could say that.”

”And you still can’t disclose it now?”

”Only Lady Pasha can make this decision.”

”How would The Chosen One be able to defeat the demons?” Roland frowned and said, ”I can’t possibly agree to work with you without knowing anything.”

”I’m not sure about this either. The person in charge of researching... the instrument of Divine retribution is Celine.” She said slowly,” We could first identify The Chosen One, and then continue this discussion. Confirming the candidate will pose no danger to the witches of Neverwinter. And Taquila would never harm its own kind in order to fight the demon. Otherwise, no one would follow Lady Natalya until the end.”

”What do we need to do?”

”It’s quite simple. Every member of the Union would just need to demonstrate their ability once.” Phyllis raised her ring. ”Through it, I can see the witches who have the talent of The Chosen One.”

Nightingale had already briefly described to him the fact that the Magic Stone could cast a strange beam of light. Roland considered for a moment. ”After finding The Chosen One, will Pasha be able to come immediately to Neverwinter?”

”It’s impossible for Lady Pasha to leave the maze, but she will talk to you directly... with the help of some magical means.” Phyllis replied, ”She’ll be able to sense my position instantly once I crush this Five-Colors Stone. So I can only call her after I have found The Chosen One.”

”I got it,” Roland nodded finally. ”In the afternoon in the castle garden, you would be able to see all the witches of Neverwinter.”

Phyllis looked a lot more at ease after she got his approval. She did the formal salute again touching her chest and bowed. ”Thank you for your promise. After the defeat of the demon, your name will be revered just like Taquila. ”

However, Roland did not care about how long his name would circulate. He promised her request because he had a strong curiosity about The Chosen One and what was found in the ruins, but the rest was due to Agatha’s trust in him. Since she wanted to help these survivors, he also did not mind helping out.