Chapter 223 — Fate

Liora flipped through the pages, going through their contents one after another.

A large part of the diary consisted of the feelings she had as she sensed the "unknown being" awaken.

Another part was related to the matters regarding her younger brother and his future after her "death", while the final part was talking about none other than Liora.

In total, the phrase "they have not returned" was written just under two hundred times, one for each day.

Liora’s fingers flipped the pages, and she was about to continue her reading. But her movements suddenly halted.

Unknowingly, she had reached the end of the diary.

The final entry in the diary was not a string of words just like the rest of it, but a painting made of fresh ink.

The painting depicted the garden of a large mansion.

Corpses were scattered throughout it, some of them belonging to ferocious golden-armored Knights, while most of them were of maids and servants.

The painting was centered on two women who stood at its very center, one standing upright and the other hiding behind her as if fearful.

One had red hair and one blonde, while both of their figures were covered in fresh red blood.

Coupled with the scenery surrounding them, the image should have looked as if it had come out of a terrifying horror film.

However, the opposite was true.

Sunlight descended from the sky and gathered around the woman, making her appearance grand and her aura warm and peaceful.

Part of the sunlight draped over her and fell onto the woman behind her, as if it were protecting her.

This seemed a random action of the painter.

But as someone very familiar with painting, Liora understood that this unintentional action revealed a lot.

For example, it made the mood of the person painting it obvious.

Clearly, although the red-haired woman looked terrifying, she was in fact more of a protector in the painter’s mind.

Just like the blonde woman hid behind the red-haired woman’s back in fear, the painter also held similar feelings towards her.

Liora stared at this page for a few seconds.

Her fingers subconsciously traced over the fresh ink for some time before she eventually closed the diary.

She hesitated whether to put it back in its place, but after a bit of thinking, she shook her head.

With a move of her mind, she gently stored it within the demi-plane of the Space Orb.

Then, she sat in a nearby chair and closed her eyes.

--

No one knew that the person solely responsible for the newfound Empire’s rise had unknowingly disappeared from this world.

The common people couldn’t possibly know, and neither did the ministers and Eleanor’s own brother.

Perhaps the only people who knew of it were Liora and what little was left of the Will of the World.

However, neither of them had the intention to reveal it to others.

--

Sitting at the back of the imperial palace, Liora looked speechlessly at the white canvas standing before her, as if she were quietly sizing it up.

Standing a few meters behind her, Alpha couldn’t help but show a hint of worry.

As a mechanical puppet created by Liora, she had long known that Liora was still alive and had not died in the Zerg Hive’s hands.

After all, their lives were linked. If Liora died, she would too.

However, she was still very happy when she saw that Liora had returned and had even recovered to her fullest while she was gone.

She originally believed that with the enemies having been dealt with and no longer being in a rush, Liora would finally take some time off and relax.

Unfortunately, she soon found out that she was wrong.

For the past week, Liora had remained alone at the back of the imperial palace, staring blankly at the empty canvas in front of her.

Alpha would have been led to believe that Liora had gone insane, if not worse, if she didn’t know any better.

Just when she was pondering whether to step forward and try to wake her up from her stupor, Liora suddenly moved.

Still seated on the ground, she stretched her right hand and lightly brushed her fingers against the canvas.

She didn’t use any paint, nor any blood, yet surprisingly, ink appeared out of nowhere on the canvas’ surface.

It was not composed of Devil Runes, but was instead ordinary yet absolutely real ink.

Liora did not show much surprise at this. Her expression remained indifferent as she waved her hand one more time.

Her fingers brushed against the canvas once again before repeating that exact same action.

In the blink of an eye, huge amounts of ink had covered the canvas’s surface.

However, although Liora’s movements were unconventional and completely defied common sense, a beautiful painting was slowly unveiled.

It was of a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, sitting calmly in an ordinary room.

Her clothes were plain while the room was mostly empty, as if she were a common person rather than a noble.

Though she was a mere image, the woman displayed a variety of different emotions.

Calmness, kindness, joy, serenity... Several emotions would directly "assault" the onlookers’ minds if their eyes were to land on it.

By the time Liora landed the final stroke, the painting had been completed.

The woman, Eleanor, sat silently in the room, looking towards the viewer with a calm and gentle expression.

The painting was already perfect. There was no longer a way to improve it any further.

But Liora’s movements did not stop.

With a move of her mind, her consciousness connected to the Space Orb, and a trace of white mist materialized within her hand.

As she opened it, the white mist’s identity was revealed.

It was the soul of a person, a woman who looked exactly the same as the one in the picture.

But if anyone were to take a closer look at it, they would discover that Eleanor’s soul had been gravely injured.

Many cracks had formed across her fragile body while her aura fluctuated violently, like a candle that was about to be extinguished.

Liora glanced at the soul for a mere moment.

Then, she stretched her hand and gently placed it on the painting.

Immediately, the ordinary-looking, unassuming painting had an intense reaction.

Many colorful lights flashed across the canvas as the soul slowly seeped into it.

Eleanor’s soul seemed to have transformed from three-dimensional to two-dimensional.

It truly entered the painting and floated towards the sitting woman.

The moment the two touched, the soul and the painting merged.

A trace of intelligence flashed in the sitting woman’s eyes for a brief second.

It looked as if the imbuing of the soul had truly brought her to life.

However, this illusion soon shattered.

The intelligence in the woman’s eyes soon vanished, and with it disappeared all her lifelike features.

For this result, Liora did not show much disappointment. Instead, she calmly nodded her head.

"The wait has been worth it. By merging her soul with this specially-created painting, I can extend her lifespan."

"Moreover, if enough time passes and the painting becomes a weapon or even a special creature, the soul’s memories might awaken.", Liora thought and nodded her head in satisfaction.

Then, she put the painting away.

The moment it disappeared, the various emotions on her face and the sense of gloom she had subconsciously exuded all this time immediately vanished.

"I’ve done everything I could.", she whispered.

"From this point onwards, it all depends on your luck. If you’re lucky, you may revive soon. If you’re not, you’ll remain like this forever."

"Perhaps by then, you will only be able to wait for my strength to reach a level where I can easily revive you."