Chapter 392 - 295: There Are Things Ahead That Must Be Avoided, But Long Live Love

For the countless victims of the Frenzied Flame sickness, this was undoubtedly a day they would never forget.

Only moments earlier, atop the watchtower, those sufferers who had been tormented by unbearable pain were still trapped in the depths of madness and chaos.

Called forth alongside their despair and suffering was the Frenzied Flame Sun.

The more severely they were ravaged and tormented by the Frenzied Flame, the more powerful the Frenzied Flame Sun became, and the more unbearable their suffering grew.

They were not followers of the Frenzied Flame.

They had never believed that the Frenzied Flame was some form of salvation.

Without knowing the true nature of the Frenzied Flame, all they could see was an unquestionably terrifying contagious disease.

The spread of the Frenzied Flame did not change according to their will.

Unable to stop it, they could only continue suffering for the rest of their lives, until despair completely destroyed their minds and they became one with the chaos, indistinguishable from it.

Yet today, that Frenzied Flame Sun, the very symbol of madness, had been shattered.

一

After shooting down the Frenzied Flame Sun, Lucian calmly flew toward the watchtower.

From where they had taken off, the watchtower happened to be on the way. From there, they would continue west toward the Frenzied Flame Village.

Although he had dealt with the Frenzied Flame Sun hanging over the watchtower, there was still some follow-up work to handle.

Something as troublesome and contaminating as the Frenzied Flame had to be properly dealt with. It could not simply be left lying around.

In other words, it needed to be recycled.

Otherwise, the remnants of the Frenzied Flame would continue affecting the environment. The valley where Midra's Manse was located was the best example of what could happen.

Lucian arrived beneath the watchtower, where there were also creatures infected by the Frenzied Flame.

For example, the giant rats that could be found everywhere, as well as the infected people on top of the watchtower who had summoned the Frenzied Flame Sun.

Lucian casually waved his hand, and the Frenzied Flame-infected rats were instantly erased from existence.

The faint traces of Frenzied Flame that had once dwelled inside their bodies slowly drifted toward Lucian's arm and merged into it.

Yet the moment they came into contact with him, those wisps of Frenzied Flame began leaping as though they had suddenly been brought to a boil.

This was only natural.

Lucian's Frenzied Flame had already been thoroughly tamed. It was now something completely different from theirs.

Lucian grabbed that tiny fragment of Frenzied Flame and refined it in an instant.

Under the overwhelming suppression in both quantity and quality, it merged into Lucian without causing even the slightest ripple.

The power of the Frenzied Flame in his arm increased by an utterly negligible amount, so little that it could practically be ignored.

After confirming that the recycling had succeeded, Lucian nodded and looked toward the top of the watchtower.

Seeing the Frenzied Flame patients up there with numb expressions, clutching their heads in agony, Lucian raised his hand.

But after hesitating for a moment, he lowered it again.

Other than followers like Shabriri who actively spread the Frenzied Flame, the other victims of the Frenzied Flame sickness were not people Lucian considered necessary to purge.

They were simply powerless.

They had lost hope in this world.

And the Frenzied Flame itself was contagious. In the Lands Between, it was a disease that was extremely difficult to cure.

Lucian knew the true nature of the Frenzied Flame, but the people of the Lands Between who knew nothing about it could only regard it as a sickness.

A considerable number of these people had never willingly embraced the Frenzied Flame.

They had simply been infected against their will and were consequently subjected to its torment.

In the past, Lucian had no particularly good way of dealing with this.

But now, there was Irina, who had inherited the power of the Fairy.

With the power of the lakelight, she should be able to cure them.

Unfortunately, Irina was not with him right now, so having her come here to treat them was somewhat impractical.

But Lucian was not prepared to simply abandon these patients either.

By now, he had already analyzed the Frenzied Flame thoroughly, and he also possessed part of the power of the Lord of Frenzied Flame.

When all was said and done, no matter how many strange properties the Frenzied Flame possessed, it had not transcended the laws of the world.

It was simply a special energy, a special kind of flame.

In Lucian's eyes, it was still a power whose workings could be traced.

Perhaps he could try treating them himself.

The Frenzied Flame in Lucian's left hand was completely released, but he did not make any further move.

As the Frenzied Flame rose, the unique pressure of the Lord of Frenzied Flame once again spread outward.

And this time, there was something slightly different.

Within the pressure of the Lord of Frenzied Flame, Lucian transmitted his own will to the Frenzied Flame.

The Lord of Frenzied Flame possessed the ability to control the Frenzied Flame beneath it.

That was one of its authorities.

But now, part of the authority and power of the Lord of Frenzied Flame had already been seized by Lucian.

When Lucian tentatively tried to exercise that authority, the result was unexpectedly excellent.

One tiny wisp of Frenzied Flame after another obediently flowed toward Lucian from the watchtower and the Frenzied Flame Village, without the slightest resistance.

The Frenzied Flame dwelling within the eyes of the infected people easily abandoned its hosts.

One person's flame was weak.

If one wanted to ignite the entire world, the barriers separating everyone first had to be burned away.

Just as Hyetta, the Frenzied Flame Maiden, had said, the lights on the other shore were distant, their flames tiny.

So a single person's eyes could not possibly make them out.

Only when countless eyes were gathered together could one sense them.

But with a powerful Lord of Frenzied Flame leading the way, there was no longer any need to continue spreading it so inefficiently.

However, the Frenzied Flame slowly falling into Lucian's hand was immediately snuffed out and transformed into harmless power.

It had clearly gathered here only after sensing the dominion of the Lord of Frenzied Flame...

'Your Majesty, why have you rebelled?!'

As the Frenzied Flame gathered, Lucian also gained a deeper understanding of it.

If the flame of the sun was fueled by burning one's own kindling, using it to generate heat and release warmth into the world...

Then the Frenzied Flame was a fire that used other people as kindling, attempting to ignite and burn the entire world through them.

Pain and despair were its fuel.

As for what the kindling itself thought, that was completely irrelevant.

After all, the Frenzied Flame had only one purpose: to burn away everything that separated one person from another and return the world to chaos.

Once everything returned to chaos, those emotions would mean nothing.

一

After the Frenzied Flame had been extracted, the damage caused by the burning did not disappear.

Those hollow eye sockets were the evidence of the crimes left behind by the Frenzied Flame.

But then a gentle sunlight descended.

The eyes that had once housed the Frenzied Flame and been destroyed by it gradually recovered.

After casually treating the Frenzied Flame patients, Lucian did not linger, nor did he care about their gratitude.

Right now, he was eager to reach the Church of Inhibition and meet that Vyke.

When he had been recycling the Frenzied Flame just now, he had already sensed a powerful Frenzied Flame aura over there.

Unlike the others, it had not obediently come to him.

Vyke's will was resisting the return of the Frenzied Flame.

Having once received the gift of the Frenzied Flame, Vyke had also gained tremendous power from it.

Even though that power was incomplete, the Frenzied Flame bestowed by the Three Fingers was originally meant to turn him into the Lord of Frenzied Flame.

Therefore, even without fully becoming the Lord of Frenzied Flame, the Frenzied Flame within Vyke was not something Lucian could simply seize with a wave of his hand.

Now that he had confirmed Vyke's existence, Lucian was naturally eager to study him.

As they headed toward the Church of Inhibition, Melina walked beside Lucian and could not help speaking up.

"Lucian, the power of the Frenzied Flame is still far too ominous..."

Recently, Lucian had been using this power rather frequently, and Melina was somewhat worried.

Although she knew that Lucian was confident in what he was doing, she still could not help feeling concerned.

Lucian stroked his chin.

If it were ordinary Frenzied Flame, then she would indeed have reason to worry.

But after being purified by the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, this Frenzied Flame truly posed no danger to him.

He had mentioned this to Melina before, but he could not really explain the specific effects to her.

So for now, he might as well attribute it to the Sun.

Lucian gave Melina a reassuring look.

"Don't worry. Things are different now."

"After all, the Sun itself intervened back then. There's no need to worry."

"How could mere Frenzied Flame possibly be compared to the Sun? Everything is already completely under control."

Melina puffed out her cheeks slightly.

She felt as though her concerns were being somewhat dismissed.

Still, as long as Lucian knew what he was doing, perhaps she really was worrying too much.

She said nothing more, and the two continued onward until they reached the entrance to the Church of Inhibition.

On the grass outside the church, as though sensing intruders, a force rapidly gathered.

A single eyeball, burned yellow and rotten, with the marks of scorching fingerprints clearly visible across its surface, inexplicably floated in midair.

The power of the Frenzied Flame continuously poured from it.

A violent burst of Frenzied Flame suddenly exploded around the eyeball.

Within the Frenzied Flame, the figure of Vyke slowly emerged.

The eyeball had already been incorporated into armor covered in countless scorched fingerprint marks, its light flickering brightly beneath the helmet.

Vyke swung his right hand, and a twisted war spear shot out from the Church of Inhibition, flying straight into his grasp and pointing directly at Lucian.

Lucian watched the entire process as Vyke condensed into existence.

In fact, Lucian had plenty of opportunities to interrupt him while he was still forming.

But Lucian had no intention of doing so.

It was not that he was trying to preserve some strange rule where a transformation could not be interrupted.

Lucian simply wanted to see how strong Vyke was.

Besides, Lucian had always rather liked Vyke as a character.

He had once been known alongside Bernahl as one of the foremost contenders for Elden Lord, and in the past, he might even have been somewhat stronger than Bernahl.

Such a powerful knight, combined with his moving history, was someone Lucian greatly admired.

So Lucian decided to settle this like knights.

After observing him, Lucian finally had a somewhat clearer idea of what exactly this existence was.

Obviously, Vyke's true body was still inside the Evergaol.

There was no doubt about that.

What was here was merely a projection, a manifestation that used his eye to project his power across space.

The Evergaol could not imprison the Frenzied Flame.

By borrowing that power that could cross the boundaries of space, Vyke was able to protect the maiden's corpse.

However, this war spear was also completely real.

Vyke had left his sharpest spear here.

Before Lucian could think any further, Vyke struck first.

A burst of Frenzied Flame erupted from his eye and shot rapidly toward Lucian.

Then Vyke raised the great spear and charged toward Lucian at tremendous speed.

Watching the Frenzied Flame streak toward him through the air, Lucian casually raised his left hand and blocked it.

The Frenzied Flame was caught tightly in his grasp.

When he opened his hand again, Lucian had already prepared his response.

"Using the Frenzied Flame against me isn't going to work."

"With the power of the Lord of Frenzied Flame, victory is only natural!"

The Frenzied Flame on Lucian's left arm twisted into the shape of a bizarre weapon, forming three repeating crossbows arranged one after another.

The Arbalest.

One of Lucian's favorite crossbows, while also paying tribute to a certain bow-and-arrow demon.

In an instant, countless Frenzied Flame arrows erupted forward at a bizarre rate of fire, shooting straight toward Vyke.

The terrifying firing speed was practically comparable to the legendary secret technique.

Lucian's knightly spirit was burning fiercely.

Faced with the barrage of Frenzied Flame arrows, Vyke immediately abandoned his forward charge and began rapidly dodging to the side.

He moved so quickly that even the incredibly fast Frenzied Flame arrows could only graze his body. Only a few arrows fired ahead of time managed to strike him.

The completely different Frenzied Flame power sank into his illusory body. Vyke was clearly suffering, but he had no choice except to continue shifting and dodging.

Suddenly, however, Vyke stopped in the middle of his mad sprint.

He swung his war spear, creating a storm directly in front of himself.

The dense barrage of arrows immediately engulfed him.

He was forced backward again and again, his body swaying as though it were about to collapse back into primordial Frenzied Flame.

One of the walls of the church behind him suddenly collapsed, burying Vyke beneath the rubble.

Lucian had wanted to have a proper contest with him, but unfortunately, the difference in their strength was simply too great.

After all, this was only a projection of Vyke. If it possessed seventy or eighty percent of his full strength, that would already be impressive.

Lucian stopped firing the Frenzied Flame and looked behind Vyke.

Only then did he understand why Vyke had done this.

The church behind him had already been riddled with holes by the barrage, and from this particular position, the corpse of the Finger Maiden was located directly behind him.

If Vyke had not blocked the attacks, the shots that pierced through the church would inevitably have struck the maiden's corpse.

Lucian withdrew the Frenzied Flame from his left hand and clicked his tongue.

That had almost caused accidental damage.

He had no intention of harming the maiden's corpse, so he would have to be more careful from now on.

At that moment, Frenzied Flame surged out from the collapsed rubble, continuously filling Vyke's body back in.

Once again, he grasped his war spear and charged toward Lucian.

This time, Vyke held the spear with both hands.

He leaped high into the air, descending toward Lucian in an attack.

However, just as Vyke reached the air, his vision suddenly went dark.

He discovered that Lucian had already risen into the sky even faster than he had.

And in Lucian's hand appeared another weapon.

The Greatsword of Damnation.

"You should endure this for a little while."

The Greatsword of Damnation in Lucian's hand stabbed straight down through the top of Vyke's head, piercing all the way through his chest and abdomen.

With a thought from Lucian, the Greatsword of Damnation suddenly unfolded inside Vyke's body.

Golden thorns spread in every direction, piercing through his body.

Even his mindless, maddened form could not help letting out a beast-like roar of pain.

The body made of Frenzied Flame exploded apart, leaving behind only that Frenzied Flame eye.

Because of the Frenzied Flame, Vyke had long since been trapped in madness and suffering.

But even so, this level of pain was something he had never experienced before.

Yet very soon, amid that pain, Vyke remembered something.

Something like an unyielding will.

The indomitable human spirit.

The Frenzied Flame once again gathered his body together.

Cracks gradually appeared across the charred eye, as though it were on the verge of completely shattering.

He paid no attention whatsoever to his own existence, stubbornly rebuilding himself again and again.

Lucian did not activate the Greatsword of Damnation's skill again to make it explode.

He simply controlled Vyke with the sword.

Watching Vyke struggle madly upon the blade, Lucian couldn't help but stare.

Thanks to the power of the Frenzied Flame, Vyke was capable of standing back up again and again.

But the pain was completely real.

What exactly was driving this body?

There was no consciousness.

No soul.

Nothing remained except an empty shell.

What filled that shell was love.

Nothing more.

Within the madness of the Frenzied Flame, Vyke had lost everything, yet he still remembered that period of happiness.

Even though all love, hatred, grudges, and attachments would eventually be melted away within the Frenzied Flame, at this very moment, he was still holding on.

And that was enough.

Watching Vyke, Melina, who had been observing the battle from the side, finally could not remain silent.

"That's enough. It's time to let go."

"Once, you were a Roundtable Knight whose figure was as noble as a raging storm..."

"Vyke, the way you're refusing to let go now is truly disgraceful."

Melina walked in front of Vyke, who was impaled upon the Greatsword of Damnation, and spoke again.

"She was a Finger Maiden. She knew her own fate and chose to walk this path with determination."

"Those who walk alongside the flame will eventually encounter their destined death."

"Please, do not trample upon her resolve with the Frenzied Flame any longer."

As Melina's words fell, Vyke suddenly froze.

Gradually, his struggling arms fell still.

Impaled upon the Greatsword of Damnation, he was forced to keep his head tilted upward.

Vyke's Frenzied Flame eye gazed toward the sky.

For the first time in a long while, clarity returned to his eyes.

Even at that desperate end, when everyone ultimately succumbed to madness without exception, Vyke still managed to remain just slightly stronger than the Frenzied Flame.

He had reached a dead end, but he was not despairing.

He merely wished to bear the responsibility of sacrifice.

Here, in one of the rare places in Liurnia where the sky could be seen so clearly, he finally looked upon that blue sky once more.

Even after his difficult journey had come to a halt, the clear, azure sky still embraced him.

That was the noble figure like a raging storm, the figure engraved within the maiden's eyes and heart.

'So this is what it meant when you chose this place?'

'Was this what you were thinking?'

Yet beneath that same sky, the one struggling was now a miserable and ugly figure.

'Looking like this, how could I possibly resemble a hero anymore?'

If she were still here, she would surely have said that.

It was the Frenzied Flame that had blinded Vyke's heart.

Because he treasured this journey, and because he treasured these feelings so deeply, the Frenzied Flame had instead used them against him.

Vyke stopped struggling.

His figure slowly dispersed, drifting toward Lucian's arm.

All that remained in his place was the charred eyeball and the war spear that had accompanied him throughout his life.

His voluntary disappearance was proof of the final time Vyke had defeated the Frenzied Flame.

Seeing this scene, Lucian could not help sighing.

"Frenzied Flame... there really are so many tragedies surrounding it."

"The Frenzied Flame is something that must never be touched. It is the chaos that devours all life and all thought."

"Even if this world falls into ruin, filled with pain and despair..."

"As long as life still exists, as long as the world continues to live and grow... everything is still beautiful."

This was also why Melina did not want Lucian to touch the Frenzied Flame.

...To deny all of that would mean he could no longer be called a king.

In a world without life, where would there be a king?

Lucian picked up the eyeball and carried it into the church.

Looking at the Finger Maiden's corpse, Lucian chose to bury the two of them together here.

After completing the burial, Lucian picked up a massive stone and gathered flame at his fingertips.

As though writing down a final maxim, Lucian left a single sentence here:

"Ahead lies something that must be avoided, but long live love."