In the darkness, he felt two hands grabbing him at the same time. At the same time, Nightingale's vigilant voice rang out. "What's going on?"
"The illusion generated by this sigil acts directly on the eyes," Agatha explained. "It looks like everyone has disappeared, but in fact, it doesn't affect reality. We're still standing in the same place."
"If you don't want to see it, just step back and get out of the area of effect of the sigil," Isabella added.
Sure enough, after a while, the darkness gradually faded, revealing a transparent glass dome, a marble floor, and a spacious conference table. Then came the witches in the Union's standard robes. The Queen of Starfall City, with her long red hair, was among them. Although more than 400 years had passed, everyone looked so vivid. Even the teacups on the table were steaming. It was as if the frozen moment in history was happening again.
If such a thing had existed in his previous life, those historians who stared at the soil and turned it over to look for one or two fragments of words would have been moved to tears.
Seeing that there was no danger, one of her hands let go of Roland, but the other hand did not let go. Instead, it slid down and clasped his fingers tightly.
Roland immediately knew who it was.
He raised the corner of his mouth, squeezed the soft hand in his hand, and looked at the center of the illusion.
Isabella's activation sequence was obviously close first and then far. The location shown in the illusion changed from the escape route to Taquila, and then from Taquila to Starfall City. Apart from Alice, who was getting younger and younger, the witches who appeared on the battlefield had changed batch after batch. It was difficult to see even a few familiar faces. There was no doubt that the Union had suffered a great loss in this long and cruel war. Only a few of the higher-ups were able to survive until the day they had to flee.
This was also the flaw of the Witch Empire's system. The more powerful the witches were, the higher the status. It sounded like there was no problem, but when the war broke out, the higher-ups had to go to the battlefield in person, instead of commanding the overall situation from the rear. Roland had heard from Agatha that Alice had advanced to a Transcendent in an extremely dangerous battle, and she had experienced such battles many times during her reign. In other words, if they were not careful, the history of the Union... or even the entire human race would have to be rewritten.
Even the leader of the Three Seats was like this, let alone the other higher-ups.
But in reality, this was very disadvantageous to the training of leaders. A recruit only needed to survive one or two battles and lick a few mouthfuls of blood to transform into a veteran, but a general needed several battles and the deaths of thousands of people to truly mature. Leading the charge was indeed the best way to boost morale, but it was a choice that should only be considered when there was no other choice. If everything went smoothly, even if there was no need to boost the morale of the soldiers, they would still fight with high fighting spirit.
Generals and soldiers were not equal in value — in the face of an all-out war that required people to be expendable, such a method was not advisable.
Roland did not expect to find any earth-shattering secrets from the sigils. The past popes should have repeatedly read the content of these illusions. If there were really records about the origin of the Divine Will or the essence of the relics of the gods, the Church would not have fallen to such a state. Apart from satisfying his curiosity, the rest of the purpose of his trip was to learn from history and see if he could gain some experience.
The actual situation was similar to what he had imagined. Most of the scenes recorded in the images were scenes of important meetings, ceremonies, and war mobilization. Only at such times was it worthwhile to use the Sigils of Magic Stones.
According to Agatha, sigils that could last for a long time were very valuable.
The illusion soon reached the last one — Alice and the other two witches had all disappeared from the image. Instead, they were replaced by a group of elderly witches dressed in a variety of costumes, and the image was no longer as clear as before.
Agatha let out a soft sound of surprise. "These people are..."
"The early founders of the Union?" Phyllis continued.
"Who are they?" Roland raised his eyebrows.
"The Extraordinary witches who survived the first Battle of Divine Will were the predecessors of the Union. Look at the documents on the table. Is this scene... "Phyllis said in surprise.
"It should be." Agatha's voice was also full of joy. "I didn't expect that I could see the famous Three Kings Oath with my own eyes!"
Roland was suddenly confused. He also tried to look at the documents carefully, but found that they were all written with magic power. Only witches could read them.
"Who can explain what this oath is for?"
"Let me do it." Agatha's voice came from the front. "It can be regarded as a symbolic event of the Union's transformation from a loose organization to a unified one. Almost every awakened witch has to learn about it. After the end of the first Battle of Divine Will, the Union was declared to be under the control of witches. However, at that time, there were still many internal voices, whether it was the way to govern the ordinary people or the strategy to fight against the demons. Such debates lasted for many years until three forces stood out and became more and more powerful. In the end, they overwhelmed the other lords and city-states and established the organization structure of the Three Seats, which was proposed by many people and ruled by the Three Seats. "
"They are Starfall City, Taquila, and Arrieta?" Nightingale asked.
"Yes. Due to the special nature of these three holy cities, their lords were often called queens." Agatha replied, "For example, Alice, Queen of Starfall City, Natalia, Queen of Sunchaser, and Eleanor, Queen of Moonlight, were the last Three Seats of the Union."
"I see," Roland thought. For the witches of that era, the Three Kings Oath was probably as important as the founding of a country. It meant that the Union had changed from a pan-alliance organization to a political entity. No wonder Agatha and Phyllis were so excited. Historically speaking, the Second Battle of Divine Will was also of great significance. Although the Union still failed in the end, without the Three Chiefs system, the Second Battle of Divine Will would have been defeated even faster, and there would not have been so many witches who had taken "fighting against the demons and recovering Taquila" as their lifelong beliefs.
However, these things were not so attractive to him. Distracted, Roland shifted his attention to the details in the projection — such as the witches' costumes, the cups, pens, paper, and the furnishings in the hall. Since it was hundreds of years after Alice's era, the furnishings were obviously much shabbier. Obviously, after the defeat of the first Battle of Divine Will, the witches' territories were still in a state of waiting to be rebuilt.
On the wall of the conference hall, he saw more than ten portraits, two of which were men, probably outstanding heroes during the war.
It was obvious that at that time, the Union had not completely regarded ordinary people as inferior people. Even in such an important conference, he could still see the figures of their male compatriots.
Just as Roland was about to ask Agatha if she knew the names of these people, he suddenly felt the blood in his body freeze.
An indescribable chill rose from the soles of his feet and instantly ran through his spine. Because of the intense fear, a series of goosebumps appeared on his arms, and his fingertips trembled slightly.
"What's wrong?" Anna immediately noticed that something was wrong with him.
"That … that painting …" Roland swallowed his saliva and said with difficulty.
"Painting?"
"The person in the painting... I've seen it before."
It took him a long time to finish this sentence — although the clarity of the illusion was not as good as before, he could still distinguish the outline of the person in the second to last painting. It was a middle-aged woman with an ordinary appearance. Her long black hair was coiled on top of her head, and one eye was covered with an eyepatch. She was sitting on a high-back chair with her hands crossed.
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