At the top of Mount Xikar, due to the eruption of the volcano, the ring sorcerers of the Orthodox Church who were originally stationed here had already evacuated. Some went into the mountains to fight against the evil spirits that tried to enter the city, some went into the city to maintain order, or some joined the battle above the city.
The eruption of the volcano, the gods' slamming of the mountain top, and the silver moon's sinking into the mountain pass completely destroyed the appearance of the mountain top. Although the volcano has been extinguished, only a few sparse trees remain on the mountain top, and the lake on the top of the mountain has become an abyss leading to the underground.
Countless white shadows walked out of the abyss and headed towards the starry sky along the silver path of broken light. On the side of the mountain top, a protruding cliff slightly extended above the abyss.
The wind was strong and the late autumn night was cold. No one noticed that a ray of silver light fell from the sky, and then Shade landed on the cliff at the top of the mountain.
He fell on the uneven ground, curled up, with the starry sky above his head and four cards of the Unpredictable World spinning and falling beside him under the starry sky.
"oh!"
Shad was groaning in pain. It was not that he didn't want to go to Lake Bena, but the excessive use of strength was enough for him to end up here at the moment.
It was as if all the muscles in his body were melting, and his soul was more like shattered into fragments, with termites gnawing at each fragment. He was unconscious after burning his divinity last time, until he was rescued by Iluna and Luvia. But last time, he was still in the "divine overflow" state after swallowing the second drop of divinity from the Lord of the Blood Feast, and the divinity in his soul could still protect him.
This time, the divinity obtained from the blood-sucking god was used to defeat the evil god, and then he transformed into the dark moon to guide the thousands of souls in the narrow space to truly leave. He no longer had divinity at this moment, and although he would not die at this time, the painful torture made the outsider truly feel that life was worse than death.
Miss Feliana said a long time ago that even if Shad's soul could carry divinity, there would always be a price to pay for burning divinity in a mortal body.
Because of the intense pain, Shade fell into a state of semi-consciousness. The pain and emptiness tortured him, and he curled up on the ground, with black blood flowing from the corners of his mouth. His body seemed to be burned by flames, but also like he was thrown into an ice cave in the far north. It seemed that there were insects gnawing at his internal organs, but it also seemed that someone was cutting his muscles piece by piece with a knife.
The night was very quiet. The mountain pass was just around the corner, and it was the soul that was walking towards the starry sky along the path of broken light. Shade, who was sweating all over, was close to the edge of collapse. If the pain was still bearable, then the extreme emptiness of the soul was unbearable even for Shade who claimed to be strong-willed.
His soul and body had been sublimated to a very high latitude, but in an instant, he fell back to being a mortal. Without another drop of divinity in his body, this feeling of emptiness that penetrated his bones and soul made Shade feel that his soul was turning pale and his body was about to disintegrate into pieces of meat.
Do you regret it
I saw many hallucinations and many people in my drowsiness, but the voice in my ear was the clearest.
“No regrets.”
The hazy consciousness gave an answer, and the misty eyes looked at the starry sky above, at the light band moving in the starry sky:
"At least I can't die now. I volunteer to help these souls."
Outsider, you are really stupid.
"She" was chuckling, and under the sea of stars, Xia De, who was looking up at the moon, actually saw a double image of the silver moon at the end of the sea of stars, splitting into three moons of red, silver and yellow.
He closed his eyes in pain, his body twitching but still unable to move, and he didn't even have the strength to reach out and take the Eternal Youth Leaf.
And "she" was singing softly, the hymn just now, the wild and primitive song praising the moon.
In a state of half-sleep and half-wakefulness, it seemed as if a gentle body was hugging him. In the embrace, his consciousness sank deeper, but he also felt that the embrace was so warm.
But when he tried to see who was hugging him, he was still lying alone on the cliff at the top of the mountain. In the sky above the distant city, the sound of fierce fighting rang out again. The four-color aura combined with the completely indistinguishable high-level magic to fight against the last strength of the narrow space. He even saw the ancient phoenix fall into the mouth of the giant beast.
But these things have nothing to do with Xia De anymore.
I don't know how long it took, maybe just a few minutes, maybe a few hours. When Shade finally managed to control his arms, he trembled and took out the pocket watch from his pocket. He tried several times to open the pocket watch cover, but his hands trembled and the pocket watch fell to the ground again.
His fingers fumbled on the ground in a panic, trying to pick up the pocket watch, but he heard footsteps coming from the direction of the stairs leading up the mountain.
Shade tried to stand up, or at least crawl, but in the end he just went from lying down to lying prone.
He didn't know who came here, but the sound of footsteps indicated that only one person had come.
A pair of white hands beside him picked up his pocket watch but did not give it back to him. Then, a bright flame lit up beside him, and someone lit a bonfire.
On the mountaintop cliff in the late autumn night, the fire was so warm. When the warm firelight illuminated half of Shade's body, he realized that although the horrible pain and emptiness were still there, he could at least barely support his body.
He was lying prone at this time. He tried to stand up by supporting himself with his right hand, but failed again.
But at least he saw who was at the campfire.
It was Sister Defulin, still wearing a black and gray nun's robe that looked like silk, a shawl of the same color on her shoulders, and a silver crown-like eye mask that reflected the light in the bonfire.
The nun slowly squatted down until she knelt on one knee in front of Shade. Behind her were Helen and Grace lying by the bonfire, and Mia also ran over happily. Seeing Shade's appearance, she meowed again, her voice full of sorrow.
It seemed that Sister Deverein had gone down to the lake and brought them all with her.
"Over the city..."
"That's my clone."
"Sister, please... give me the pocket watch."
He lay prone on the ground, and all he could see were the pebbles on the ground, the nun's left knee touching the ground, and her robe.
The white hand that took the pocket watch appeared in the field of vision by the light of the fire. The pocket watch was placed in front of Xia De's eyes, and the small shadow of the pocket watch jumped in the firelight:
"Help me... open it."
"No."
The nun refused. Shad wanted to look up in surprise, but the severe pain made it almost impossible for him to control his body. Mia had come to Shad's side, rubbing her face against him, meowing as if she wanted to help him get up.
"Why?"
"Shad Sullen Hamilton, are you willing to accept the power of the First Flame?"
A cold and serious voice asked.
"What?"
"Not everyone can accept the power of the First Fire. But you have proven in your death that you can. This power can support your empty soul and partially fill your missing strength. Now, you only need to reach out your hand to the flame I hold, and you will inherit the power of this ancient fire."
Sister Defulin knelt on one knee beside the campfire, raised her hands in front of Shade, and the slender flame appeared.
"Sister, you lent me strength when you were dying, and then appeared again at this moment. How, how come it seems like you were planning step by step, planning to let me, let me touch..."
He spoke in a halting manner, and even just saying these words took a lot of energy:
"Sister Develin, what do you want to do?"
“Find a hero who can bear the First Fire, and work with him to collect fire and light firewood, so that this extremely weak flame can continue to burn.”
"you... ... "
"It is indeed a despicable act of mine to propose such a condition when you are so weak. But the flame of civilization has weakened to the extreme. If nothing is done, the world will fall into decline sooner. I'm sorry, the moon's favored one."
"What do you want..."
"Everything has its own mortality, even the world itself."
The nun's voice was very soft. She remained kneeling on one knee in front of Shade, but did not try to help him up:
"Everything will eventually die, and the end of the world is not far away. From the ancient First Era to the present, the power of the supernatural has been declining, and the scope of the material world has been shrinking. I, who have inherited the responsibility of guarding the First Fire, believe that perhaps the Sixth Era will be the last Era."
Shade lay on the ground, no longer wanting to talk. The fire of the bonfire was on the side, and the cat was lying beside him. He wanted to stay there like this, instead of thinking about whether the world would be destroyed after a big battle.
"Maybe I'm wrong, maybe this is just my illusion. But the vigor of the first fire can feed back to civilization. Although this is not the decisive factor, it can at least allow this world to last longer.
Shad Suellen Hamilton, I am the mean one and you are the noble one, I ask you, I beg you, touch this flame, even if it is just with one finger.
For a moment, Shad thought Sister Defulyn had gone mad because her words were trembling.
He struggled hard on the ground, trying to rely on his own strength to barely sit up, but still failed. Sister Defulin was right in front of him, with her head slightly lowered, and flames dancing on her white face; she knelt on one knee, holding her burned hands forward, with a cluster of slender flames.
To the side of the two was a silvery-white path of fragmented light leading to the sea of stars. The souls paid no attention to the scene at the mountain pass and ran quietly towards the destination, the Dark Moon.
The wind was very strong on the top of the mountain. Xia De thought that everything was over tonight, but he never expected that something like this would happen:
"Sister, you could have just told me directly, why are you doing this?"
His voice was still trembling, but "she" had already given a hint that touching the flame and absorbing some of the flames could indeed effectively cure his current condition, especially the emptiness of his soul. Even though the First Fire was far inferior to the power of divinity, it could at least temporarily restore that terrible feeling of emptiness to normal.
"Because not everyone is willing to take responsibility. I am the mean one, and I am willing to make it up to you in any way I can."
The fire moved closer to Shad.
"No need. But after this incident, you have to tell me in detail what is going on with the Spiritual Cultivation Order, the First Flame, and the end of the world that you speculated."