Puppet

The game, Doomsday Watchers, had a total of four endings.

The best outcome was the Full Moon ending. After the heroes of the Doomsday Watchers sealed the Moon Realm crack, they undonned their armor and returned to the fields, becoming legends. William's transmigration followed on from this perfect ending save.

The normal ending was the New Moon ending. Although the protagonist had repelled the Moon Realm's invasion, the largest crack couldn't be closed. The Doomsday Watchers activated the Eternal Watch at Twilight Fortress.

Then, it was the ending of the Waning Moon. The protagonist sacrificed his soul and transformed into the incarnation of the Seven Holy Spirits, returning the three Void Sovereigns—who had already stepped into Currere—to the Moon Realm. However, after the protagonist sacrificed himself, the next invasion was already brewing in the Moon Realm.

The darkest ending was the Eclipse ending. The protagonist betrayed the Doomsday Watchers and turned into the 14th Void Sovereign. Together with the other Void Sovereigns, he used Currere as his chessboard to control mortals' fates.

William was dissatisfied with every outcome, especially the last one. If it weren't for the sake of collecting all the achievements, he wouldn't have touched that outcome.

The reason was very simple. The Void Sovereigns who addressed others as mortals in-game and casually played with the fates of others were disgusting. As for the game developers, they didn't design an outcome that allowed the gamers to charge into the Moon Realm and chop off the heads of those Void Sovereigns.

In fact, the Void Sovereigns didn't even show Their health bars in-game. The protagonist could only fight Their incarnations.

William didn't know if he would have a chance to beat up the Void Sovereigns if this game released a sequel. But since he had transmigrated here and wasn't suppressed by the developer's plot framework, he had a chance to make up for that regret.

It was just like an extremely controversial game from the beginning of the century. If it weren't for the fact that there wasn't such an option in-game, he would definitely have personally killed the enemy, who had blown up his adoptive father's head, with a golf club instead of choosing to forgive her.

Of course, dealing with the Moon Realm was a war, not a simple RPG adventure. Therefore, he had to seize power first.

"Everything? What does everything include?" Vincent asked solemnly.

"What is included doesn't matter," William said.

"Everything is everything. This mine, the entire Elementium Silver industry, Thorn City, Blackwater Province, and most importantly—the people under your rule."

"You want to be the king of Blackwater Province?"

"I will choose a more suitable person to be the king of Blackwater Province, but that person won't be me."

If anyone else said this, Vincent would only treat them as lunatics. However, if a magic chanter who had reached the Divine Realm said this, it was spoken with a completely different weight.

Many people said that at least half of the reason why Duke Simon could sit firmly on the Thorn throne despite his tyrannical rule was that he had a trump card—the number one person under the Legendary stage was loyal to him.

Vincent didn't completely agree with this, but he had to admit that his existence gave Duke Simon a lot more confidence when making radical changes.

If Duke Simon's political enemies had a magic chanter of the same strength as him, the balance would definitely have been broken.

And this was only at the peak of the Master domain.

What about the Legendary domain?

What about the Divine Realm?

Vincent had no doubt that the person in front of him had the ability to turn the entire Thorn City upside down, so he didn't question it and said directly,

"You choose a king and make that person a puppet you control? Sir, we seek independence from the Empire to prevent our fate from being controlled by others."

"Therefore, you chose to let your fate be controlled by the Void Sovereigns? That's really a good choice."

"So you don't deny that the new ruler will become your puppet?"

"That person will agree with my philosophy and won't have a relationship with the Moon Realm. If you think this is my puppet, I have nothing to say."

"What's your philosophy?" Vincent stared into William's eyes and asked.

The other party pondered for a moment before answering.

"Humans will never have their fates controlled by deities."

The words he had said previously weren't even half as arrogant as this sentence. For a moment, Vincent didn't know how to reply to him.

Vincent muttered after a long time, "This is impossible… Even someone as powerful as William Kane couldn't sever the connection between the Moon Realm and Currere."

"That's because he didn't have that condition previously, but he does now."

The person didn't elaborate on the specific conditions and continued speaking.

"I'm willing to tell you all this because I know your daughter and she more or less helped me previously."

Vincent couldn't help but feel a headache when he heard William's words.

You've done well, Liliana.

Vincent thought.

However, what right did an Apprentice-level magic chanter like her have to help a mage from the Divine Realm?

William ignored the other party's strange expression and continued.

"On the other hand, it's because I've noticed that you don't have the aura of the Moon Realm on you since you came in. Therefore, although you claim to be a believer of the Moon Realm, you haven't really made a deal with the Moon Realm so far, right?"

Vincent nodded slowly.

Using the ancient faith of the three goddesses to replace the Seven Holy Spirits was the Duke's plan. In fact, he had been against it from the beginning.

As for the reason, it was just as he had said. Handing their fate from the Empire to the Void Sovereign might not be the right choice.

However, they were both controlled by others. The gods might not be merciful, but the price of mortal greed was greater than the gods.

After retrieving the Elementium Silver industry, the Empire tightened its taxes on Blackwater Province year after year, increasing its support for adversarial families, reducing the allocation of spots for the Blackwater Province's magic chanters, and mobilizing many legions at the border between Blackwater Province and Platinum Province for various reasons.

These practical pressures couldn't be ignored.

In addition, the Holy Sepulchre, which Duke Simon used as his final trump card, needed the help of the three goddesses to awaken the power there.

Therefore, even from the most pragmatic point of view, replacing the Seven Holy Spirits with the three goddesses' faith was imperative.

Just like many other choices, these were necessary sacrifices.

However, Vincent only believed in his strength. Therefore, he had never chosen to embrace the power of the Moon Realm like his fellow mages.

Even though the duke had found him a powerful Moon Realm spirit that could allow him to break through the limits of the Legendary stage, he chose to give up that opportunity.

On this point, he held the same opinion as the mysterious magic chanter in front of him. He just couldn't agree because of his standpoint.

Strength is yours. Others will never be able to snatch it away. Power borrowed from elsewhere ultimately doesn't belong to me.

"So what do you mean?"

Vincent asked when he thought of this.

"Didn't you say that becoming the king of Blackwater Province with my help would only make you my puppet?"

William smiled and said, "Then, if you have enough faith in your will, you can be this puppet. What do you think?"