I weave fate in parallel time and space

Ebony raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't come to Europe to be some underground emperor." Mycroft said calmly.

"Everything I do is for Britannia and the people of that land, not for any rights.

I am not interested in Europe, and I am even less interested in Asia. Britannia has tens of millions of square kilometers of land that I have worked hard on, so why should I become your leader and wipe the butt for you incompetent guys? "

Ebony narrowed his eyes slightly, "Incompetent?"

"Isn't it?" Mycroft said, "How many years has it been since that person died? Has it been ten years?"

"Absolutely," Ebony said.

"For at least ten years, you haven't even chosen a decent leader. Isn't it incompetence?" Mycroft asked. "You call yourself the messenger of justice, walking in darkness and serving the light. But you have never been able to choose a decent leader." Even if everyone takes a step back and chooses a truly capable person, they can’t do it. Isn’t this incompetence?”

“Even if you don’t obey anyone, then use the most democratic way, through public voting, to select a leader that the majority of people trust. Isn’t this difficult?

The three major empires were destroyed by you behind the scenes, and you are driving the process of democratization behind the scenes.

But you are unable to achieve democracy within your organization. This only shows that you have violated your creed and are only focused on fighting for power and gain, which is why you have the current limitations. "

Mycroft spoke so mercilessly that even Sherlock was worried that he would be stabbed in the throat by Ebony with a hidden arrow at the next moment.

But apparently his worries were unfounded.

As a student of Heilang, Ebony was never the kind of person who would be stirred up by a few words. As a qualified assassin, emotional control is necessary.

He sighed softly, "In order to deal with the Nightmare Cult, we chose to allow some people to enter high-level Europe and get in touch with politics and business. But looking back, this was undoubtedly the wrong choice. Power and Wealth It corroded their hearts and led them to the path of depravity."

"We should let non-staff personnel do this, not core personnel." Mycroft said, "Your ideas are too simple."

"The brotherhood at that time actually didn't have many people." Mycroft whispered.

But he still said unwillingly, "Are you really not going to think about it?"

"You'd better stop asking." Sherlock looked at Char's statue and said, "We have regarded each other as rivals for more than ten years."

"Only you." Mycroft interrupted.

Sherlock was not affected by him, but continued, "I am the person who knows him best in the world. The decisions he makes are generally not easily changed. For him, rights are indeed the least interesting thing to him. thing."

"I can give you an idiom from Beichen." Mycroft said. "It's called neither destruction nor establishment. Disorderly expansion will inevitably bring about unnecessary bloat. If you want to maintain the purity of this organization, then you have to cut off the excess parts."

His eyes were sharp, "Otherwise, they will inevitably become the source of turmoil in this world."

"This is not an easy task." Ebony said with a solemn expression, "And we also have an enemy that has been entangled with us for hundreds of years. Once we get tired, they will crazily lie on us and bite us."

"At this point, I don't mind helping." Mycroft's eyes shimmered slightly.

Ebony fell into silence, a struggle evident on his face. He might be able to kill those enemies of the Brotherhood without hesitation, but it would be much more difficult for him to face his former colleagues and comrades-in-arms.

Mycroft obviously had no intention of continuing to persuade him. He just raised his head and continued to look at the statue of Char in front of him.

"How much do you know about him?"

Hearing this, Eboni slowly raised his head and looked at it, then shook his head, "We don't know much, we only know that he saved Kuro Monique. All the knowledge and martial arts skills of the mentor belong to him. Professor. Nothing else."

“Some elders in the past seemed to know his name, but the mentor obviously wanted to keep his existence secret, so nothing has been passed down except this creed.

but"

He paused before saying, "I do know something else."

Hearing this, both Sherlock and Mycroft turned their heads to look at him.

"I saw a portrait of him in the imperial palace of Tsarist Russia." Ebony said seriously, "It was a portrait painted by Emperor Catherine the Great herself."

Hearing this, Mycroft seemed to have thought of something, and his pupils shrank slightly.

He was not shocked that there would be a portrait of him in the imperial palace of Tsarist Russia.

Instead, the mysterious woman he saw in Sissi's villa who was called the Dragon Slayer by the other magicians suddenly appeared in his mind.

She is also powerful and mysterious.

It hasn't been seen since.

Her name also seems to be Ekaterina.

Mycroft felt that this could not be a coincidence.

But if it's not a coincidence.

Some more terrifying conjectures emerged in his mind. I don’t know whether it was excitement or trembling, but a chill rushed from my tailbone to my forehead.

When the middle-aged man was chatting with Tesla alone, Eboni was actually there.

He did not leave, but silently hid in the darkness and guarded them.

So he heard something too.

"In the Hermitage, of course, it is now part of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. In the exhibition gallery, there is a painting." Ebony said in a low voice, "It was a painting by an unknown person. Many painters and cultural and historical researchers in Northern Russia regard it as a national treasure, and it is praised as a painting as famous as the Mona Lisa's smile."

Mycroft seemed to be aware of this painting and spoke. "Portrait of Catherine. When I was young, I visited there with President Su Yitingning and saw that painting. I stood under that painting for a long time."

When he said this, he froze in place again.

All the details of the painting he had seen appeared in his mind.

His memory is very good, not much worse than Sherlock's.

As a famous painting boasted by many Russians, there is no doubt that the details must be the result of careful consideration by the painter.

What impressed him most was undoubtedly the pair of blue eyes, which were sharp, bright, and filled with undisguised ambition and pride.

Standing under the painting, the legendary female emperor seemed to be standing in front of them.

When he first saw the mysterious magician named Ekaterina, he felt an inexplicable feeling of familiarity in his heart.

Now, he finally knew where this sense of familiarity came from.

The magical eyes named Catherine are almost identical to the eyes of Emperor Catherine the Great in the portrait.

"According to what Nicholas II said at the time." Ebony continued, looking at the statue in front of him and said, "That painting was painted by him."

Sherlock caught something strange very keenly, "Two people drew each other's portraits?"

"So there was a rumor circulating in the royal family at that time that Paul I at that time was not the child of Peter III, but"

Sherlock and Mycroft both raised their eyebrows.

"This is breaking news." Mycroft raised his eyebrows and said with a strange expression.

Ebony shrugged and said, "But my mentor has always thought this was a rumor. But what is certain is that he must have met Emperor Catherine the Great. Even Emperor Catherine has always missed him. , I heard that his portrait was still hanging in her palace until her death."

"I have met Ekaterina." Sherlock stared at Char's statue, "Then he must be at least one hundred and fifty years old."

"Perhaps, it will be much longer than you think." Ebony murmured with a hint of meaning.

"Why don't they show that painting?" Mycroft said doubtfully, "After all, it was painted by Ekaterina herself. Although it may not be a good painting, it still has some historical commemorative significance, right?"

"That gentleman, even Tesla has actually met him." Ebony said, "He even saved Tesla's life."

Mycroft's eyes flashed with light for a moment, "How did they meet?"

Ebony recalled, "A tavern, where they all met."

"where?"

"Anywhere," Ebony said.

Mycroft opened his eyes.

"The gentleman entered the tavern in Switzerland to avoid the rain. Tesla entered the tavern in Moscow. At that time, he was chased by the Tsar and entered by mistake.

But interestingly, they met in the same pub. "

"A mysterious tavern with an entrance that may appear anywhere," Mycroft whispered thoughtfully.

"Emperor Catherine the Great, the gentleman who overthrew the rule of Tsarist Russia, and Tesla." Sherlock touched his chin and said thoughtfully, "All the people he has met are good enough to be in power. People who left their names in history.”

"What's interesting is, did they achieve such success after meeting him, or before that." Mycroft's eyes were filled with excitement.

Sherlock seemed to realize this, his pupils trembled slightly, and then he couldn't help but turn his head to look at the statue of Char again.

Things that were originally dead seemed more alive at this moment.

This time, those eyes full of wisdom were completely different in Sherlock's eyes.

This mysterious white-robed magician seemed to be standing outside the world, overlooking everything from a high position, and the river formed by the entire human history was rushing forward in his eyes.

But he stood still, watching the waves of the world rise and fall. (End of chapter)