Ed pondered and said:
"I've thought about this question for a long time. Do you think it's possible that this is the truth?"
"All knights of the Eternal Domain essentially have bodies, but they change after leaving the Eternal Domain."
"We've seen a similar property in Gray; his mechanical body can't leave the Graycast Corridor for long and must return periodically, which is a characteristic of the domain."
" Low Tier knights can only maintain their armor for a short time, so it won't be long before it turns into empty armor."
" Middle Tier knights can maintain this for a relatively long time, as evidenced by Silvis and Xilǐ'er now, and also by Xilǐ'er in the past."
Willow's face showed a hint of surprise:
I think it's very likely!
"You previously mentioned that Xilǐ'er's memory was damaged after his resurrection, which means he was delayed on the journey for too long, so..."
"Can I say something?"
Just as Willow was about to deduce further from Ed's idea, a somewhat timid voice suddenly came from behind.
It's Noya.
The unpretentious lich gestured for the dragon soul to share its thoughts, but to everyone's surprise, Noya immediately refuted Ed's earlier deduction.
"Boss... Master, you, you're wrong. When I first met Xilǐ'er in the expedition, he already had a human body."
"But he was just a Low Tier back then."
Ed frowned slightly, tentatively retorting:
"It's possible the expedition team hasn't been at your lair for very long."
Noya shook her head:
"However, the advance team from the Eternal Domain consisted entirely of empty metal canisters, and some of those guys weren't just Low Tier..."
"What?"
Upon hearing this fact, Ed was suddenly stunned. Although Noya hadn't explicitly stated it before, upon careful consideration, he realized that the entire Eternal Domain couldn't possibly have an advance team without even a Middle Tier member. If that were the case, encountering even a marquis in the Demon Realm would be a hurdle, let alone exploring the Demon Realm.
If what Noya said is true, then whether armored humans have physical bodies or not seems to have no necessary connection with Low Tier, Middle Tier, or High Tier.
But if the contact isn't here, where else could it be?
Lost in a mental fog, Ed felt the logic he relied on slipping away from him once again.
Just as he was about to put the problem aside for the time being, a name suddenly popped into his mind—
Silvis, the old knight Silvis.
Xilǐ'er is not the only one who can be used as a reference; there is also Silvis. More importantly, Silvis also represents the external strategy of the Eternal Domain over a period of time.
Last year, the Eternal Domain confirmed the location of Grand Duke Antos's seal, and about six months ago, it sent an expedition to try to capture Antos alive.
While Silvis and his men were marching across the wasteland, Ed was bidding a reluctant farewell to Gray and Xilǐ'er.
Xilǐ'er returned to the border between the Eternal Domain and the Graycast Corridor in his mobile fortress; by then, Silvis should have already entered Klaf City.
Then came a long period of information gaps: the expedition failed in battle, Silvis held fast in the dungeon, and information about Xilǐ'er was completely unclear.
However, shortly after, Xilǐ'er, who possessed a physical body, appeared in the Dragon-Hunting Expedition, and the player advance team encountered Silvis, who also possessed a physical body, in the underground of Klaf City.
At this point in time, both of them already possessed physical bodies.
Ed recalled the enormous crater in the ground in front of the gate to the Antos Sealed Land, with a deep sword mark in the very center that perfectly matched Silvis's sword.
The old knight slaughtered his way through the Klaf City, leaving behind a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Looking back at that crater with those thoughts in mind, one can then discover—
That crater looks just like a Blood Pool...
It's not surprising that Silvis once ventured into the Demon Realm and killed a count from the Wens Lineage.
In the silence of the crowd, Ed softly uttered a name:
" Antos."
All eyes turned to Ed, who had roughly organized his guesses and began to explain.
Facing several surprised and uncertain gazes, Ed continued to drop bombshell after bombshell:
Xilǐ'er possessed a body not because he returned to the Eternal Domain, but because at that time Antos had already been brought back to the Eternal Domain by the expedition and was initially controlled by the Twin Kings.
" Antos's Authority is blood and flesh, and the racial characteristics of the Blood Corpse dictate that their power is transmitted from the upper to the lower levels."
"Etc!"
Willow suddenly stood up and looked at Ed with disbelief:
"If it's really as you guessed, wouldn't that mean..."
"Oh..."
Ed felt he had never shown such a bitter smile since his reincarnation. He looked at Willow and said:
"That's right. If it can be confirmed that Hall is indeed in a sealed state, then the King of Domination can only be Vanessa, whose Authority is still uncertain!"
"In this way, the loyal Xilǐ'er, the righteous Silvis, and even the many Knight of Conquest who followed the code of chivalry in the Eternal Domain, the farmers, the merchants, the soldiers... were all, in essence,... the Blood Corpse of the King of Domination."
"But they are clearly Amber Dragon's collection."
Willow retorted, seemingly unwilling to believe it.
" Willow, think about it carefully. Are these two things really in conflict? The King of Domination provides Blood Corpse as commoners of various professions and a portion of the nobility, Immortal King provides collections as officers, knights, mages, and another group of nobles. Together, they have built a sustainable kingdom."
At this moment, Ed felt that all the clues were connecting in his mind.
A top-down power system, the power of resurrection, and...
After each knight of the Eternal Domain dies, the solidified infinity symbol on their chest armor, and the two pupils encircling it—
One type has dark yellow, vertical pupils, belonging to the Amber Dragon; the other has blood-red, radiating pupils, belonging to the Vampire.
The truth behind a century-old deception is slowly revealed to Ed.
Should he be excited?
Ed didn't know, but he was clear that he felt neither the excitement of uncovering a scam nor the anger of being deceived; all he felt was an unusual clarity and calmness.
The Eternal Domain, a force that was previously just mysterious, neutral, and seemingly difficult to deal with, has now changed sides and has been completely categorized as an enemy by Ed.
Immortal King? Amber Dragon!
King of Domination? Vampire!
The Eternal Domain was established by these two individuals, hidden within the human order, composed of Blood Corpse and artifacts; though still functioning, it was long dead.
machine.