Chapter 011: The Brotherhood

Moreover, she discovered that in this world, she was not the first ability user, nor the most powerful psychic, but she was undoubtedly a very powerful one.

So she began deliberately collecting everything related to psychics, including artifacts they had used or knowledge they had left behind.

These things became the foundation for Himiko's growth.

Soon, Himiko grew powerful and even established the Yamatai Kingdom, becoming the Sun Queen in her people's eyes.

But this did not satisfy Himiko.

Her ambition grew with her power, becoming ever more vast; she wanted to conquer the whole world.

Yet Himiko knew well that her power alone was not enough to help her conquer the world, so she needed even greater strength.

But just then, Himiko discovered a new problem.

She was indeed a psychic, she indeed possessed great power, but psychics were not gods; they were still human, still subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death.

As time passed, she would inevitably face death.

This terrified Himiko.

So she took the initiative to study death, and eventually achieved results: not only did she create the Stormguard, but she also found a way to survive—body possession.

When Himiko grew old, she would select several commoner girls to enter the inner palace and attend her, while officials taught them various cultural courses; these girls were called 'Miko.'

When Himiko was near death, the Storm General would conduct the 'Fire Ritual' to choose Himiko's successor.

The Fire Ritual was a very cruel ceremony.

The Stormguard would tie each Miko in turn to a pillar and burn it from below; if the girl was not the queen's chosen successor, she would be burned to death. If a girl was the chosen successor, the queen would raise a great wind to extinguish the flames and spare her life, ending the ceremony. The ritual was highly secret; only the Storm General and the queen knew how it was conducted.

But in reality, Himiko had already chosen her successor when the Miko entered the inner palace to attend her.

This successor had to match her soul and be able to bear her soul and spiritual power.

Once the successor was selected, she would enter the secret chamber for the coronation ceremony.

The so-called coronation ceremony was actually Himiko using dark arts to inject her soul into the successor's body. After the ceremony, Himiko's original body would die, and her soul would live in the successor's body.

The successor's original soul was driven out of the body, or perhaps destroyed—no one knew.

Through this ceremony, Himiko lived life after life, accumulating considerable power.

And the strength of her power, along with the ceremony never failing, made Himiko grow lax, or rather, careless.

Hundreds of years ago, a new succession ceremony was about to begin.

The Miko chosen this time was the shamaness Wang Bo knew... Hoshi.

Hoshi had been selected to enter the palace early and lived with Himiko for a long time.

Himiko's carelessness allowed Hoshi to gradually discover the secret of the queen's coronation and succession, realizing that living inside the current queen's body was an evil, twisted, dangerous ancient evil spirit.

Being chosen as successor meant her soul would be destroyed by this evil spirit, and her body would be taken over.

Hoshi feared this fate but was powerless to resist. Finally, she decided to pay with her life to disrupt the coronation and prevent this evil spirit from continuing to rule the people of Yamatai.

So she stole a dagger from the Storm General, hid it in her clothes, and entered the secret chamber with the queen.

Just as the queen was about to begin injecting her soul, she stabbed the queen's body with the dagger.

When the Storm General entered, Hoshi raised the blade and killed herself.

Thus, Hoshi destroyed the queen's current body and also ruined her own body so the queen could not use it, and with the queen's wounded, dying body, she could not quickly find a new successor to complete the coronation.

So Himiko's soul had to remain in her current body.

Himiko never expected that her momentary carelessness would leave her in this half-dead state. Enraged, she raised a great whirlwind around the secret chamber and altar, raging day and night until today.

At the same time, she did not spare any ships or planes approaching the island, destroying them with storms, causing refugees to wash ashore for centuries.

Her purpose in doing this was to find a suitable vessel to free herself.

As time entered the modern era, a man named Matthias drifted to this island.

At that time, there were almost no others on the island besides him and a few companions.

He and his companions tried to build small boats to leave the island, but twice they set out and were thwarted by sudden storms. Matthias sensed that there was a secret within the storms and that it was impossible to leave without unraveling these secrets.

At first, Matthias wanted to go it alone; he urged his remaining companions to try again, but he did not go with them. As a result, all his companions perished.

After this incident, Matthias wandered the island alone, and under Himiko's intentional or unintentional guidance, he explored more and more secrets.

Eventually, he discovered Himiko's secret.

Under Himiko's influence, he decided to recruit assistants, find a suitable Miko, complete the coronation ceremony, release Himiko, calm the winds and waves, and then leave the island.

These seemed to be Matthias's decisions, but in fact, they were influenced by Himiko.

Afterward, Matthias founded an organization... the Sun Brotherhood.

All members of this organization were refugees who had drifted to the island.

But human nature is fond of infighting.

Even among refugees on an island, there were many different ideas; not everyone was willing to join the Sun Brotherhood founded by Matthias.

So, to prevent these people from holding him back, Matthias carried out a bloody purge.

Anyone willing to join his organization, Matthias gave a chance to live.

If unwilling, then die.

Under this high-pressure policy, combined with excellent tactics and ruthless methods, Matthias won a great victory. Soon, only the Sun Brotherhood remained in the ancient Yamatai kingdom, and most people became Matthias's subordinates.

Those unwilling to join the brotherhood either died or went into hiding, becoming fish that slipped through the net.

And Matthias, among the refugees, kept searching for a suitable vessel for Himiko's transfer, holding the Fire Ritual and continuously burning the women who drifted to the island.

But he never found the right person, until... the arrival of the Endurance.

The Endurance carried Lara and her companions. As they neared the island of the Yamatai Kingdom, they too encountered a storm; the Endurance broke apart, and everyone was separated.