VIP Chapter 571: Bestowing Birth (5k)
“Just letting her die repeatedly, and approaching life through ‘revival,’ is not enough.”
“Bring it out.”
“Show me.”
“Show Daisianwei.”
“The ‘life’ you have comprehended from the ‘death’ of the Death Hall—”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{How to “Live”?}
Liya watched the silver head passing overhead, which had already been cut into countless pieces by Treya’s sword.
Her eyes ignited with a beautiful red.
When it came to methods for killing a Dungeon BOSS, even if it was just a “flame” type, she could come up with at least a hundred methods.
But now, in the final battle, to make Daisianwei, who had already been killed by them, leaving no corpse behind, experience “life”…
She took a deep breath.
Closed her eyes.
And pondered this problem.
The exact opposite of the question that gave her “answer” at the moment of her death.
The instant she was engulfed by the flames of the auto-da-fé, she did indeed experience the moment of death. As Daisianwei advertised, death here was not in vain.
The “death” of the Death Hall was true “death.”
The flames from the dungeon were like a thrilling “auto-da-fé” offered to the “Witch,” instantly consuming her body and taking away her will at that moment.
The final sensation of intense heat, the stinging of smoke at her nostrils, and the burning of her melting fingertips all vanished in the instant of “death.”
One death did not lead you to “heaven,” nor did it cast you into “hell.”
There was no afterlife, and no “will” after death.
What followed was an infinite, chaotic darkness. Reaching out with the hand of consciousness, the fingertips brushed against tangled, incomprehensible, and illogical thoughts—
“It all ends like this.” “Finally, let him remember your shining side.” “Turn into the most dazzling star in the flames you loved the most.” “You saw it too, his last deep blue eyes were full of you.”
…
The jumbled “fragments” turned into her voice, as if sketching out an “ending” befitting her final sacrifice, chattering on.
The “death” of the Death Hall represented the end of a “fictional story.”
It made you experience that everything up to this point was “perfect,” that all that had happened had come to a close, and that everything up to this point should be concluded.
With a dazzling enough ending, an ending that he would remember for his entire life, an ending of complete self-immolation…
To draw a conclusion to your entire being.
This was the death of the Death Hall, the death that wrote the final period to your life.
However…
—I don’t want an “ending.”
She grasped a red “thread,” within which something was “gurgling.”
—Dream on. He told me that you wouldn’t experience true “death” here at all.
—After I open my eyes, I will walk deeper and deeper into the Death Hall, and I will see him again. I will fight as his best output by his side.
—So…
It was blood.
Spreading from her fingertips were veins.
Twisting in the darkness, intertwining in the darkness, pulling in the darkness.
To the fingertips, to the toes, to every organ of the body, to every small pipe, to every large artery.
—Listen carefully, I live here, born as a “Witch,” I am Liya Ferrarmour Eremon, who serves as Liya, a teacher at the Magic Academy.
—I will always research more Ancient Magic, I will always make the magic circuits within me pulse more intensely and strongly, I will always…
—In the days to come, even in peaceful days without any turmoil or conflict, looking up at the gentle sunlight, why should I admit to an “ending” to conclude my own life?
They were waiting.
They were looking forward.
They were re-coalescing into a body that had already turned to dust.
Waiting…
Thump.
Thump-thump-thump.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
Heartbeat.
The increasingly intense heartbeat transported blood from the deepest part of the heart to every capillary, finally connecting the Witch’s proudest magic circuits.
{How to “Live”?}
Undoubtedly, for Liya, she could so clearly feel her heart pounding because she saw someone she liked, because she was doing something she liked, because she had performed the best magic.
This was how she perceived her own life.
She opened her eyes.
“Ignorance begets darkness, obscuring the blue sky, with no light nor shadow, distant and faint.”
She wanted that person to look at her.
“A gentle warmth in the palm illuminates a corner.”
She wanted that person to hear her heart’s voice.
“Thus, humankind commands the authority of heaven.”
She wanted to stroll with that person under the afternoon sun.
“Thus, with the foundation of all flames.”
“Proving humanity’s life—”
“This is the Candle of First Creation.”
So naturally, as if etched in memory, she recited the words from the ancient magic book “Candle of First Creation,” which no one had ever deciphered.
If ancient magic did not exist, but was merely the imagination, interpretation, and possibility of present-day humans…
Then, this was her interpretation of the answer of the “Candle of First Creation.”
Thump.
Beginning with a thrilling “heartbeat” originating from antiquity, a heartbeat that resonated from her chest as the first candle flame was lit in the darkness.
Seeing flames in the darkness, hearing her own heartbeat in the silence, thus igniting the Candle of First Creation that represented everything—
This strike was not a “launch” of a fierce attack, nor was it some earth-shattering explosion.
But it planted a seed in Daisianwei, like cracks spreading on the ground after an earthquake, vivid red blood vessels growing from where her “heart” had been.
“Look, Will, I’m going to make that Daisianwei experience the same intense flow of blood, like falling in love.”
She put down her staff, tilted her head, and reached up to adjust her large hat that nearly covered her beautiful red eyes.
She smiled at Will.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{Why Live?}
Iaar saw the flames Liya released. Even Iaar, who was relatively “sluggish” with magic itself, felt the difference in those flames.
In the sky, the flame “burning” in Daisianwei’s chest had transformed into the shape of a “heart.”
Her severed head and damaged body were converging to form a new “body” for Daisianwei, centered around the heart reshaped by Liya’s flames.
Now, it was time for her to show her skills.
After all, this was the order Will had given to the three of them.
Iaar gripped her shield tightly.
Her wagging tail gradually stopped, and the ears on her head perked up.
However, Iaar didn’t know how to “kill” a Dungeon Emperor, nor did she know how to “revive” one.
All she knew how to do was to protect the one she loved…
But, if…
If she wasn’t asked to answer the question of “death” or “revival”…
“I… am an idiot. So… for me, I don’t know how to live better, nor do I know how to define life—do I truly have the right to define life…”
She took a deep breath.
The “death” of the Death Hall was true “death.”
She could recall that when she experienced death, she said her final words to Will, and her consciousness instantly sank into the coldest depths.
It was a white expanse, a place symbolizing “cold” using white symbolizing snow, as if it couldn’t be more fitting.
Colder than the deep winter when she first walked through the forest.
Like being in the deepest part of the polar ice sheet, her body buried in thick snow, unable to remember anything, completely immobile.
She stood there.
Unable to remember who she was.
Unable to remember where she was.
Unable to remember where she should go.
But…
Forgetting even her own name, forgetting her own location, forgetting her destination.
“It’s okay, this is your final ending.” “How moving, you endured and sacrificed without a word for the one you loved.” “Before him, after saying such touching last words, he’ll surely remember you forever.”
…
In the white expanse, as if symbolizing her end, snowflakes were about to submerge her body. She could feel the stiffness.
Iaar seemed to understand that the “death” of the Death Hall represented a fictional “ending.”
Her ending was like this: she walked out of the cold winter and then returned to the cold winter.
—Is this… my ending?
—Am I… dead already?
—Or, have I successfully achieved Will’s intended goal?
But, Iaar picked up her tail from the snow that engulfed her.
Run.
Run.
Before she could think, she had taken a step, and she was moving faster and faster, forging ahead.
—Right, come to think of it, why am I running?
—I already… died?
—And, I haven’t been trapped in that winter forest for a long time.
Her footsteps grew faster and faster.
Even if she didn’t know the destination, didn’t know the direction, didn’t know how long this road would take, she had to keep moving forward.
She wanted to get out of here, she wanted to see Will, she wanted to see where Will had progressed to, she wanted…
—I want countless days…
—I want countless times…
—I want countless years…
—To be by his side!
—I want to be his lover.
—I want to hold his hand and walk to the hall.
—I want to sit with him in a rocking chair when we’re old and tell stories to children.
—Therefore, she would never admit to this ending!
“No matter what, one should always live for something.”
When Iaar opened her eyes, she found that time around her had stopped. The only thing that hadn’t stopped was her time, and also…
Also the time of Daisianwei’s “corpse” in the sky, which was slowly taking on a “human form.”
“This is my will, and I hope you can too…”
Iaar’s finger traced across her shield.
She had broken through the “frozen time” that the Ice Array had told her about. Now she saw, outside the frozen time, the small possibility that could accelerate it.
Daisianwei’s body, which had previously only consisted of blood vessels and a spine, transformed into a “complete” being the moment Iaar closed and opened her eyes.
She grew limbs, she grew a torso, and on the ground, she wavered, trying to stand up, struggling to stand.
Her body was naked, without the clothes she had just been wearing, standing naked on the ground.
Fear appeared in her eyes. She was afraid of the four people before her, staggering like a child learning to walk.
“Then…”
Iaar took a step back, positioning herself one step ahead of Will.
“Dear, the current Daisianwei, like us, like me… will not want to die and will want to live.”
Iaar tilted her head and smiled with her eyes closed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{What is “Life”?}
Treya saw Liya’s firelight.
Although she was not skilled in “magic,” and could even be considered one of the few magic-averse individuals in the team, she understood the meaning of that firelight.
Treya witnessed Daisianwei, who suddenly stood on the ground with a twisted body after a brief “severe cold.”
“Then, it’s my turn…”
She picked up her sword again and walked towards Daisianwei.
From the first time she picked up her sword, Treya had never stopped “practicing.”
From the first time she picked up her sword, Treya had never thought that the “sword” in her hand would one day not be used to kill, but to create the value of “life.”
Even though she practiced the Entak Style, which demons had used to fool every king of the Entak Empire for two hundred years…
She always thought of aiming the sword at the enemy’s neck, especially the necks of certain “enemies,” making their heads fall and their bodies shatter.
But…
If the enemy before her had no idea of the meaning of “life,” and even pursued death repeatedly, laughing aloud in the process of dying…
Then, wielding the sword with “death” was meaningless. What was meaningful was wielding the sword with “life.”
She stood firm, in front of Daisianwei.
Daisianwei no longer seemed to possess the same “clear” consciousness. Her entire being was extremely chaotic, muttering words that couldn’t form a coherent sentence—
“You… I…”
She was afraid of the sword in Treya’s hand and retreated frantically. Her bare feet stepped on the ground, seeming to leave sweat prints with a warm shape on the ground.
Treya stopped and sheath her sword back into its black scabbard.
If she were to condense life into her sword tip, what should she show Daisianwei?
The “death” of the Death Hall was true “death.”
When she could not resist countless illusions, her consciousness plummeted towards “death,” finally stopping at the final rest note like a passionate piano piece.
She was not a person with strong “perception,” but only then did she realize that every sense in her body was so important.
“Without consciousness, you will no longer have feelings.” “It’s alright, you escorted him on his final journey.” “In a way only you could.” “This was also part of the plan, his desired ending.”
…
Having lost her five senses and also her emotional perception, Treya was in a void where there was nothing.
It was only a few days ago that Treya seemed to be able to capture her own emotions, so…
Was this her ending?
At the end of her consciousness, she felt nothing.
No sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness. There was only the coldness she had always felt inwardly.
Was this the ending left for her?
—If I have no feelings, I will create them.
Treya’s fingers slid through the darkness, stirring a faint green.
—The green trees seen from outside the window, which outlined the appearance and silhouette of the Royal Palace, that joy.
Her fingers traced a light yellow in the air again.
—The table illuminated by the sunlight in the meeting room, the disputes of the chattering ministers beside it, the anger that made her want to clench her fists every time she heard it.
Following that, red.
—The flowers in the garden, always carrying a faint fragrance, unfortunately, the sorrow of Will not being by her side at the time.
Blue.
—The blueberries that felt elastic, the sweet and sour taste when put into the mouth.
Finally, black.
No matter what, it was black that would be drawn.
—It’s the color of this sword. Touching it reminds me of when Will gave it to me, as if he bestowed all these feelings upon me…
Treya was not good at drawing, but she always interpreted this world through “colors.”
Looking back now, it was very simple.
—I was never unable to feel this world.
—It turns out I just couldn’t capture the taste in between.
—I still want… I still want to see more of the beautiful and colorful Entak that he brought back to me.
—I still want… I still want to cherish and experience my feelings for every sight and sound in life that I finally obtained like a treasure.
—I still want…
—I still want to say all of this, tell all of this!
She opened her eyes.
She took out her sword from her waist.
Unlike others, as the final Empress of Zeroth Heaven, it was unlikely for her to gain any insights from “death.”
But…
Precisely because she came from Zeroth Heaven, which symbolized humanity’s beautiful “dreams.”
She was able to give some perception of “life,” a feeling of “life” that didn’t need explanation, reason, or action to be felt, to the Daisianwei before her.
Daisianwei looked up.
One of her wings unfurled to its maximum. She drew her black sword, which then slowly landed on Daisianwei’s shoulder.
Instead of “killing” her, she did so by “bestowing an honor.”
“I bestow upon you…”
“The ability to feel life.”
Like a true empress, she placed the Shadow Nightmare Sword firmly on Daisianwei’s shoulder.
“I… I…”
Daisianwei still couldn’t utter any words, but her eyes began to brighten, to glow…
And Treya had finished this “bestowal” and turned around.
“Will, what I could do, I have done.”
Treya sheathed her sword and patted Will’s shoulder.
“Just like before…”
She smiled, a little mischievously—even though the old Treya was terrible at joking.
“Can you praise me?”
Author’s note: I can’t break it apart anymore, so I’ll combine two days into one update.
