Super Righteous Player-Chapter 1297 - 324: The Fifth Name: Annan

However, at this moment...

Annan suddenly felt a flash of brightness before his eyes, and his vision began to narrow. His body, initially floating in the air, gradually sank and landed on the ground.

His heart skipped a beat.

As expected—unsurprisingly—Annan quickly realized he had been kicked out from the rift in time.

In that instant, a deep crimson inverted pentagram was branded onto Annan’s back.

The crimson power of Kornunos, the Fifth Cursed Object, poured into Annan’s body.

Annan’s Heart of Justice was instantly ignited by it—the crimson power surged into the Heart of Justice as if it were fuel, rapidly transmuting into a dazzling golden brilliance amidst a silent roar.

In the moment Annan reappeared in the void.

Annan clearly saw countless threads of fate of this era converging from every direction, instantly connecting to him. If one were to look down upon the empire’s territory from above, they would see a pale golden mist rapidly emanating from Annan as the center, spreading in the blink of an eye to cover the entire empire.

Or rather... at the very moment Annan reappeared in the world, he activated something anew.

That was the truth hidden in history, the memories sealed away by humanity.

People who had lived since that era to the present, regardless of what they were doing, froze in place—they suddenly gained memories about The Worm. And soon, they realized what that meant.

As the pale golden mist gradually descended from the sky and seeped into the earth, the dead of old were resurrected once more.

Their phantom-like radiance reconstructed their bodies again, as though scanning their forms afresh. Those bodies were the pinnacle of their physical states. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

The revived players immediately realized—the Heaven Wheel had returned—

"It has been a long time... Your Majesty."

Daryl once again respectfully bowed to Annan. "I had actually guessed it just now; indeed, it was you who returned."

"How did you guess?"

Annan frowned deeply. "Logically speaking, the True Gods should have completely erased the memory of this trip. Even if you were present at the scene, you should have even less chance of knowing when I would return..."

Having lost the memories about The Worm, people had no way of knowing that The Worm would emerge after one hundred eighty-six years. This meant they wouldn’t even remember that Annan would ’return after more than a century.’

"That’s correct. To prevent The Worm from gaining intelligence from us, we conducted a global memory wipe."

Daryl explained simply, "We lost our memories, but not our intellect.

"All of us forgot why you left us and when you would return... But those of us present at the time, as well as Lady Kafney and other insiders, still remember that you used the Great Calamity Curio to travel to the future.

"We forgot The Worm, but not your existence. Based on what we know of you, you would never abandon us over something trivial or venture into the future alone... Also, invoking the ’Sixth Aspect Chronicle’ requires the permission of the True Gods.

"But even the True Gods lost their memories. So from that moment, we realized—you must have gone to the future to defeat some incomprehensibly powerful enemy, whose very name cannot be spoken or even remembered.

"And we all believed... regardless of how long it would take, you would undeniably achieve victory and return to us. Thus, we never forgot you. Almost every year, we would mistake some event as ’your return,’ only to find it proven false. Yet even after all that, we kept hoping.

"Because we were certain—you would definitely come back from the future. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in a hundred years... And it would always be in a future within arm’s reach.

"As long as we continued to live, as long as our existence stretched infinitely across the First Chronicle, we would eventually touch your existence again from the future."

Daryl replied, "Everyone was waiting for you, Your Majesty. None of us fled.

"It was the absence of memories about The Worm that compelled your followers to attempt to ascend as gods. Being unaware of the crisis behind the Third Gate resulted in more deaths along the way than successes... Yet some still managed to break through The Worm’s blockade and ascend as gods.

"Looking back now, I guess The Worm might not have wanted its existence exposed, which is why it didn’t fully block their path to ascension. Perhaps The Worm wasn’t as overwhelmingly powerful in sealing paths beyond the Heaven Wheel.

"In any case, this worked in our favor—The Worm’s conservative approach allowed our strength to grow."

"...Thank you all for your tireless efforts. Forgive my inadequate expression, but I truly don’t know what else to say."

Annan sighed. "Though for me, it felt like just a moment had passed, for all of you...

"Additionally, I still don’t understand why I was abruptly cast out. Logically speaking, I should still be missing one name... Yet somehow, I suddenly obtained Kornunos."

"I remember now." Daryl nodded. "The five names, correct?"

"Indeed... Among my players, a significant number aren’t natives of this world. Their threads of fate don’t originate from this realm, nor would they link me to this world."

Annan furrowed his brow. "After ascending as gods, Maria and the others are now independent of the First Chronicle. They cannot be part of my support, my five names.

"You didn’t guess—Clearstream brought me here. But since you didn’t interact directly with me, you shouldn’t have suddenly wrenched me from history’s rift."

Moreover...

What was it, then, that became the "fifth name," seemingly absent from Annan’s memory, yet triggered Kornunos’s mechanism?

Although on the surface it seemed trivial...

Annan instinctively sensed something amiss—

Why would Haoyun make "five names" the key for Annan to obtain Kornunos? She could undoubtedly foresee the future... What exactly had Haoyun seen?

While pondering, Annan unconsciously raised his head to look at the large floor mirror in Daryl’s office.

He suddenly froze.

After a brief moment of contemplation.

Annan took slow, deliberate steps toward the mirror.

He extended his hand and lightly touched the reflection of his cheek.

"...So that’s how it is."

Annan murmured softly, "Should I say... no wonder it is me.

"We’ve all been tricked, Daryl."

"You mean...?"

Daryl hesitantly inquired.

Annan slowly responded, "If my understanding is correct, then the situation should be as follows...

"After gaining my intelligence, The Worm realized—so long as I still existed, all its actions would be meaningless. The Heaven Wheel and The Worm are mortal enemies, but aside from the Heaven Wheel, no other god is even worth considering.

"Previously, I believed that the moment I encountered The Worm, it gained my wisdom and physical form..."

The faded memories began to resurface once more.

It was the illusion Annan fell into after viewing the Paper Princess’s painting—

[—Finally, I’ve found you.]

A voice, identical to Annan’s, spoke in Annan’s heart, brimming with delight:

[Lend me your wisdom and body for a while... Heaven Wheel.]

In that instant, Annan’s inverted Winter Heart seemed to fail. The long-lost emotions of fear, anger, despair... surged in an uncontrollable torrent, like a tsunami crashing onto a city in one brief moment.

Those feelings were so intense, so vivid.

So much so...

[—As if they didn’t even belong to Annan himself.]

"Because they weren’t my emotions to begin with."

Annan answered.