Chapter 116: Light

Chapter 116: Light

For Beyonders at the level of demigods, because the soul is powerful and has undergone a qualitative change, even after death the spirit can remain for a period of time—unless the enemy deliberately destroys it. And if the deceased high-Sequence Beyonder still holds an intense desire for certain matters or emotions too deep to let go, that remnant will can endure even longer. It may even slowly assimilate the surrounding region, causing it to overlap with the spirit world or even the underworld, helping itself transform into an evil spirit.

Therefore, although Colin Iliad’s aura had already faded, as he sat atop the highest step of the ancient god’s staircase in ruined silver armor, he still heard Derrick’s low call. He turned his head, looked at this demigod who was not yet truly an adult, and smiled.

“Compared to the elders of the past, one after another, Lovia and I being able to die here is a kind of fortune.”

Hearing this, Derrick opened his mouth, wanting to say something, only to feel as though something pressed against his heart and blocked his throat.

Not far away, Klein lifted the Staff of the Stars and attempted to reproduce Will Auceptin’s Restart to save Colin Iliad. However, after several failed attempts, the ability he finally managed to use did not reverse anything. Its effect seemed significantly inferior to the original, and it involved a Uniqueness—Amon had descended in His true body.

He’s already dead. Even turning him into a marionette won’t work. The only thing to consider is transforming him into an evil spirit, but evil spirits that can retain their humanity are almost nonexistent. Even the Dark Angel Sasrir failed to do so… The only exception is the Red Angel Medici and those other two, but that was after they left their “territory” and went to Bansy Harbor… This Chief doesn’t seem very willing to take that road. For the residents of the City of Silver, becoming an evil spirit is undoubtedly a curse… Klein sighed inwardly and shifted his gaze elsewhere, observing the Giant King’s palace after the shadows had receded.

Colin Iliad examined Derrick’s face and said with a sigh,

“When you return this time, you will become a member of the six-member council.

“I know that, for your age, this is an extremely heavy responsibility. But everyone in the City of Silver must be prepared at any moment to shoulder the fate of all.”

Derrick nodded forcefully, his voice nasal.

“Yes, Your Excellency Chief!”

A gentle smile appeared on Colin Iliad’s face.

“You do not need to worry about being misunderstood. I will tell you a secret. At present, in the entire City of Silver, only Waite and I know it.

“After you return, immediately repeat this matter before Waite. He will then understand that Lovia’s death and mine had nothing to do with you. Otherwise, you would never have learned this secret from me.”

At this point, Colin Iliad lifted his head and looked toward Gehrman Sparrow. He gave a faint nod and said,

“From today onward, everyone in the City of Silver may freely change their faith to that Mr. Fool.”

Derrick did not show the slightest excitement. He merely nodded heavily, indicating that he understood.

Colin Iliad then withdrew his gaze. On his visibly exhausted face, solemnity and a trace of bitterness appeared.

“That secret is related to the second god-level Sealed Artifact of the City of Silver.

“It is called the Gift of the Land.”

Derrick wiped his eyes with his arm and listened attentively to the Chief’s account.

Colin Iliad sighed and continued, “It is precisely because of it that black-faced grass could grow in the region around the City of Silver, allowing us not to sink completely into darkness during the darkest age…”

Derrick’s pupils widened slightly. His grief eased a little.

He remembered very clearly that the general education textbooks regarded the discovery of black-faced grass as a crucial turning point in the City of Silver’s history. Without this safe and harmless staple food, perhaps the City of Silver would long ago have become a paradise of monsters.

At that instant, Derrick thought of many things. He finally understood why the mushrooms Mr. World had provided had undergone giant mutations in the City of Silver, unlike the original description.

Colin Iliad’s gaze swept across his face. His voice suddenly lowered.

“It is also because of it that we bear a cursed fate. Only those slain by their direct blood relatives will not become terrifying evil spirits.

“Bounty has a price.”

Derrick’s expression froze.

Killing his own parents was the wound in his heart that could never heal. He had always blamed the corresponding curse on this land abandoned by God. Yet now, the Chief was telling him that the truth was not like that. The curse came from the food they depended upon for survival.

Colin Iliad, his hair graying and his expression weary, lost focus in his eyes for a moment, as though he too had remembered the father, mother, elder brother, younger sister, eldest son, youngest son, daughter, and eldest grandson whom he had killed with his own hands.

Because of that, his voice became drifting.

“Lovia once said that after leaving the City of Silver, a warrior who died in battle did not mutate into an evil spirit.

“At the time, I did not tell her that this was the truth, because the Gift of the Land covers a very wide area. Most of those near death cannot leave the corresponding region in time.

“This is a secret that only each Chief may know. I have worked hard to explore and fight because I hoped those who came after us would no longer have to bear this pain.”

The City of Silver’s Chief, visibly aged, slowly exhaled. Without giving Derrick a chance to promise anything, he seemed to recall something and said,

“Also, the information about Rose Redemption recorded inside that palace cannot be fully trusted.”

Hm? Klein stopped examining the surrounding environment, while Derrick’s expression showed a trace of confusion.

Colin Iliad added in a deep voice,

“The Earth Mother cannot be the Giant Queen Omebella.

“Omebella died long ago. Her remains are in the City of Silver. She is the Gift of the Land…”

This… Klein’s pupils abruptly widened, and a chill rose behind him.

The true Giant Queen had died in the City of Silver long ago, becoming a Sealed Artifact. Then who was the present Earth Mother?

…

Inside that dark “kingdom” covered in moon flowers and night vanilla, the twilight giant’s longsword struck the heavy pitch-black scythe and froze in midair.

Within the darkness, more than half of which had already been destroyed by the previous fierce divine battle, time seemed to stop. Whether it was the giant clad in decaying armor and bathed in twilight, or the humanoid demonic wolf wearing a star-studded dress and possessing six arms, both seemed to become part of an oil painting, standing in place while maintaining their previous postures.

However, into the twilight giant’s back there had been thrust a dark-brown wooden staff. It was wildly absorbing the deity’s life, dragging Him back to the earth, back to the embrace of Mother.

The dark-brown wooden staff was held in the hand of the full-bodied giantess. Together with the flowers, grass, and mushrooms constantly withering and fading across her body, it formed a scene of deep autumn.

The twilight giant slowly turned His head, looking toward the lady who held the illusory infant in one arm. In pain, He spoke.

“Li—Lilith?”

At that moment, the demonic wolf wearing a starry dress and possessing the head of a female human let out a low laugh. She allowed the bird-shaped golden accessory in Her hand to fly out on its own, accurately entering the gap in the twilight giant’s visor. Then, with another two hands, She tossed the crimson “moon” She had been cradling to the full-bodied lady.

In the next second, part of the twilight giant’s body collapsed. Masses of orange-red dusk pierced through that tranquil darkness and fell back to the real world.

Some landed on the battlefield, causing countless soldiers to die directly. Some crushed mountains, creating a lake that could make all living things age. Some merged with lucky creatures, turning them into powerful and insane monsters. Some enveloped the great twilight hall outside Saint-Milon, extinguishing the frozen orange-red light there in an instant…

In the Amantha Mountains, outside the Cathedral of Serenity, the Abomination Suah and the other mythical creatures who had been helping the angels of Feysac and Intis besiege this place seemed to sense something and stopped fighting at the same time.

On the pitch-black tree covered in arm after arm, the bloodshot black-and-white eyeballs rolled. The Abomination Suah immediately stepped into the void and fled into the spirit world.

In a small, unnoticed church on the outskirts of Backlund, a devout priest in a simple white robe, with a pale blond beard, opened his eyes, revealing a clarity and innocence like that of a child.

Calmly, He took out a bottle of golden potion from His robes, unscrewed the cap, and poured the liquid into His mouth.

…

And just like that, the war ended.

If Audrey had not seen and felt it with her own eyes, she would never have believed that the war could end just like that.

After deep night swallowed the orange-red twilight and then receded on its own, the Silver Knight before her seemed to have suffered a tremendous psychological blow. Even after recovering his state, he did not continue attacking his enemy. Instead, he retreated, looking somewhat disheveled and lost.

Just like this Silver Knight, the angels and Saints within the Feysac and Intis allied forces fled one after another, while the army built around Beyonders collapsed uncontrollably.

However, the demigods, mid- and low-Sequence Beyonders, and ordinary soldiers on Loen’s side did not attempt to pursue, because they were equally perplexed, bewildered, and confused.

Audrey walked back into the city. She saw the surviving residents of Backlund emerge one after another from their homes, from shelters, and from other places where they had hidden themselves, staring blankly at the primeval-forest-like scene before them.

They did not cheer. They did not shout. Nor did they curse or vent. Their faces were numb, their eyes vacant, and they did not know why the calamity had suddenly ended.

Among them were many who had once received relief from the charitable foundation, many faces Audrey found familiar. Yet compared with when they had stood in line to receive food, their present state showed little difference.

Audrey silently examined this scene and returned all the way to Queen Borough, to her family’s villa.

She saw that her father, mother, eldest brother, butler, male servants, and maidservants were all staring blankly out the window. Their expressions were exactly the same as those of the citizens on the streets.

For reasons she could not explain, a sentence suddenly flashed through Audrey’s mind:

They die without knowing by whose hand. They live without knowing why.

…

A mass of orange-red twilight calmed the storm filled with frequent lightning and sank into the deep blue ocean whose bottom could not be seen, nearly covering the Dawn.

The Queen of Mysteries, Bernadette, used another Grade 0 Sealed Artifact in time, allowing the ship to avoid that terrifying disaster.

Her brows furrowed slightly, as though she had sensed something. Then they quickly relaxed, and she let the Dawn continue traveling along the unsafe sea route, battling against gale winds, gigantic waves, lightning, sea monsters, and every kind of danger.

In that pitch-black environment, Bernadette’s gaze seemed to pierce through layer after layer of obstruction and see the ray of light she wished to pursue.

No matter how many obstacles there were, she would never stop drawing near.

…

Inside the Giant King’s residence, upon the steps filled with orange-red light.

After finishing the secret, Colin Iliad said to Derrick,

“Go and open that door. I want to see what the sunlight outside looks like…”

“Mm!” Derrick’s eyes reddened again. Pressing his lips together tightly, he stood up.

He put down the giant hammer in his hand. Under Klein’s encouraging gaze, he steadily circled around the iron-black throne and arrived before the grayish-blue door upon which a twilight scene was depicted.

Derrick stared at it for a second. Then he bent his back, stretched out both hands, and pressed them against the two sides of the crack between the doors.

Then, muscles bulging, he pushed with all his strength.

In that moment, he seemed to see his father and mother. He saw Joshua, Antierna, and the other comrades who had died. He saw Lovia in her black robe patterned with purple, and Colin Iliad with his graying hair.

They stood beside him, pressing their hands against the door at the same time, pushing the grayish-blue door together with him.

Drops of water slid down Derrick’s face. A heavy creaking sound rang beside his ears.

A gap appeared, allowing golden sunlight to shine inside.

The gap grew wider and wider. A sea shimmering with golden radiance gradually appeared in Derrick’s eyes, and in Colin Iliad’s eyes.

Seeing that sight, bathed in warm sunlight as his body “evaporated” little by little, the corners of Colin Iliad’s mouth moved slightly. A smile without the slightest haze appeared, along with a faint and indistinct longing.

Light is the meaning of everything.

(End of Volume 6)