Marika, relying on a life force stronger than that of any sorcerer, united most of the forces within The Lands Between, forming a massive Rebel Army that continuously liberated the oppressed people.
The Gloam-Eyed Queen, wielding Destined Death, led the Serpent People in hunting the Hornsent everywhere. Mysterious and powerful, she was both feared and respected.
The divine Hornsent vessel represented the highest authority among the Hornsent and possessed an incredibly powerful divine authority capable of amplifying the strength of its kin.
As the conflict deepened, the three factions were dragged into a prolonged and chaotic war.
At the beginning, during the War of the Demigods, Marika and the Gloam-Eyed Queen had joined forces to resist the threat of the Hornsent.
However, as time passed, due to the unique nature of the Law of Death, as long as death continued to exist within The Lands Between, the Gloam-Eyed Queen's law would continuously grow stronger.
War was the greatest catalyst for death. Countless deaths were transformed into the Gloam-Eyed Queen's power, causing her influence to grow stronger with each passing day.
In contrast, both life and chaos required the birth of new life in order to grow.
Eventually, the Gloam-Eyed Queen's strength and influence gradually began to surpass both Eternal Queen Marika and the divine Hornsent vessel.
Facing such a situation, Marika decisively betrayed her alliance with the Gloam-Eyed Queen and instead joined forces with the Hornsent and the demigods to surround and suppress her.
The Blasphemous Serpent did not know how Marika managed to persuade the divine Hornsent vessel to personally lead their forces against her, but the resulting great melee also emptied the Hornsent's internal defenses.
At the same time, Marika dispatched her shadow beast, Maliketh, to assassinate the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
Marika herself seized this opportunity to quietly infiltrate the Divine Gate and use its power to become a new god after the Dragon God.
The final result became the history Xiao knew of The Lands Between: Eternal Queen Marika emerged as the greatest victor of this struggle, and her Golden Order successfully came to rule The Lands Between.
The Gloam-Eyed Queen, who had once been active during that same era, completely perished. Destined Death was sealed within the body of a beast, and the Serpent People were reorganized into the Black Hand.
The fate of the Hornsent was even more tragic. Marika directly demoted them into Omens, turning them into cursed children abandoned by the Erdtree's blessing.
The Hornsent even had their history erased. No one in The Lands Between remembered them anymore.
The reason the Serpent People chose to stand with Marika was not because of her kindness, nor because of her strength.
The main reason was that Marika, that betrayer, had actually used the residual power of the Gloam-Eyed Queen to give birth to two children who carried the bloodline of the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
They were the true young masters of the Serpent People, the rightful heirs of the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
In fact, before Rykard became the Praetor, Volcano Manor had always been led by Messmer, and the Serpent People had always remained loyal to the son of the Gloam-Eyed Queen rather than the Golden Dynasty.
The child of the Gloam-Eyed Queen perfectly fused the powers of the Blasphemous Serpent and the Golden Order. Marika named him Messmer. Messmer loved using a spear as his weapon and was also known among soldiers and warriors as "the Impaler."
After the Impaler Messmer grew up, he became Marika's vanguard in conquering and exterminating the Hornsent, slaughtering countless members of their race and even fighting all the way into their royal capital, burning every living Hornsent with the flames of Destined Death.
However, it was precisely during that war to completely eradicate the Hornsent that the Hornsent activated some unknown contingency plan, causing half of the Royal Capital, Leyndell, along with Messmer and Rennala's younger sister, the Twin Moon Knight Rellana, to vanish within that war.
It was also from that point onward that Rykard, as Messmer's deputy, inherited the position of Praetor of Volcano Manor and took over Messmer's responsibilities.
As for her other child, the Blasphemous Serpent did not know.
Marika had deliberately concealed information about that child. If she had not grown up alongside the Gloam-Eyed Queen, she might never even have noticed the faint aura belonging to that child.
Many Serpent People only knew of Messmer and were completely unaware that the Queen had another heir.
However, although the Blasphemous Serpent did not know, Xiao quickly figured out the identity of the Queen's other child: Melina, the "second wife" from the game.
According to the naming conventions within The Lands Between, since Messmer's name began with "Me," his siblings' names would naturally follow the same pattern.
Furthermore, Melina possessed the flame capable of burning the Erdtree and also carried a sealed Gloam-Eyed power within her.
Back when people played the game, there had already been many theories regarding Melina's identity, and most people believed she had an inseparable connection to the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
Now, after deciphering the memories of the Blasphemous Serpent, Xiao could completely confirm that Melina truly was the child of the Gloam-Eyed Queen, absolutely genuine.
Messmer and Melina each inherited the powers of the Blasphemous Serpent and the Gloam-Eyed Queen respectively.
After all, within The Lands Between, only Destined Death possessed the power to burn the Erdtree.
…
…
Xiao reorganized the countless hidden secrets of The Lands Between within his mind once more. These memories made him realize that his understanding of The Lands Between had always been far too superficial.
He had never imagined that so many secrets were hidden behind the game. This crucial information completely overturned his understanding of The Lands Between and nearly rewrote the settings of every known character.
Marika, who had originally been regarded as a selfless and self-sacrificing idealist, now became a sinister, cunning, treacherous, and deceitful schemer.
And those Omen children, once blessed by the Crucible but later reduced to cursed Omens and subjected to oppression, were transformed into descendants of oppressors, inherently carrying the burden of atoning for the sins of their ancestors.
One could only say that this world was truly insane, filled everywhere with old schemers.
Everyone wore a mask, making it impossible to clearly see their true selves.
Only by deeply understanding a person's inner world could one truly comprehend their essence.
Those seemingly pitiful or righteous individuals might possess an unspeakably filthy side in private,
while those who appeared kind and gentle on the surface might hide a fanatical desire for destruction deep within their hearts.
Although the Gloam-Eyed Queen had originally possessed an overwhelmingly advantageous opening, he had merely been a foolish college student before transmigrating and had never truly experienced society's cruelty, causing him to completely fail to realize how terrifying Marika really was.
Perhaps he had been misled by Marika's image from the game and mistakenly believed she was merely a kindhearted character, the type who would fight alongside him for ideals.
However, the real Marika was an incomparably cunning and calculating mastermind.
It was precisely this preconceived impression that caused the Gloam-Eyed Queen to lower his guard, ultimately leading to his defeat at Marika's hands and turning both himself and the Hornsent into her defeated enemies.
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