Chapter 1849: The Umbra Sanctum: Part-1

No.25’s POV

In order to protect a life... there were things that needed to be done, even if it cost another life.

That’s Life.

It’s not just the things that walk and talk that are alive... if one looked deep enough, everything had life. Everything held a soul within its own unique vessel.

Each one was different, yet each one carried a different purpose in their existence.

The Lion eats Deer.

The Deer eats Grass.

The Grass eats Soil.

And... the Soil eats everything.

That’s life.

In order to survive, one had to take the life of others to stay alive. There was no justice in it, no cruelty, and no mercy.

It was simply the way existence continued forward.

That was the universal truth.

Even life itself could not disagree.

And I... a mere nobody stood among piles of twisted metal and mangled bodies. Blood ran between the cracks in the ruined ground, mixing with ash and fragments of armour. The smell of iron clung to the back of my throat with every breath.

The lives that had come to take ours... I took theirs with the very hand that had sworn to protect everyone.

"Cough, cough..."

The coughing sound echoed through the dead silence of the bloody land.

I looked down at the person impaled upon my spear.

The Ruler of Terra.

The Arcane King.

His body trembled around the weapon buried through him. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and dripped onto the ground beneath him, one drop at a time.

"The Ruler of Terra, The Arcane King... Are you willing to submit?" I asked one last time.

The helmet covering his head shifted, revealing the young man with brilliant brown hair, who slowly raised his head.

His face was pale from blood loss, yet his eyes still burned with defiance.

He shook his head.

"In your dreams..." he spat furiously, his voice cracking from the pain.

"This is our land, and you guys are the ones who are leaching on this! After annihilating my armies and my Arcane Queen, do you think I would submit to you?"

His fingers tightened around the shaft of my spear, as though he could somehow drag himself closer to kill me even with his body pierced through.

There was hatred in his eyes.

There was pain.

But beneath all of it... there was something else.

A life he wanted to live.

I looked at the man who was screaming at me with pain and fury...

Then looked at Arcane Queen... a young girl with red wine-long hair lying motionlessly on the bloodied ground.

Her pale turquoise already lost their colours as she blankly stared at the sky before her final moments.

My heart trembled seeing this.

’She is a brave one...’

I thought with pity... and I looked at Arcane King... I could see his genuine flames flaring inside him.

I could see his soul, though corrupted, still lingering onto the hope that someone would come and save what remained of his world.

He wasn’t fighting because he wanted to die.

He was fighting because he still believed there was something worth living for. He looked at his Arcane Queen; his eyes teared up in pain.

"L-Lily... I... I am sorry... L-Lily... I-I couldn’t protect you..."

Watching him cry broke my heart.

"Oh, poor child."

I shook my head in pity.

The spear in my hand suddenly began to glow. A pale radiance crawled along its length before reaching the person impaled upon its tip. The light seeped into his wounds, illuminating the blood beneath his skin.

His trembling body stiffened.

He could feel something happening to him.

His eyes widened as the pain changed into something deeper, something beyond the reach of ordinary suffering.

I closed my eyes.

"May the Light descend upon you. May its radiance cleanse the sins that stain your soul. May the Holy wash away your suffering, and may the gates of eternity open unto you. Cast aside your hatred, surrender your pain, and be freed from the chains of this mortal world.

May you be reborn beneath a merciful sky... and may your next life know the peace this one denied you."

"FUCK YO—"

His final curse never finished.

With those cursing words still hanging in the air, his body began to disintegrate.

His flesh broke apart into black fragments, peeling away from his bones like ash caught in an invisible wind.

The light consumed him from within.

Black fragments drifted through the air before scattering across the blood-soaked ground.

I stared at the ashes before me.

"...Another life," I mumbled before shaking my head.

The sacred flames around my body erupted.

Heat surged through my flesh as the flames crawled over my wounds. Torn skin knitted itself together. Blood dried across my body as the deep cuts and severe injuries I had suffered while fighting these people slowly closed.

For a moment, I could still feel every wound.

Every broken piece of flesh.

Every impact.

Every life I had taken.

I clenched my teeth and took a slow breath.

Then the pain finally began to fade.

!~🛎️~!

A chiming sound echoed across the sky.

I raised my head.

Above the battlefield, golden letters of Gaius Terravita slowly disappeared.

Among the 6 Empires now... Only one Empire remained.

Elysiumis Aurora.

!~🛎️~!

[Congratulations on completing the Fourth and Fifth Trial]

The golden letters were written across the sky.

"Congratulations?"

I shook my head in indifference.

Everyone died... for this trial of the gods.

Everything suffered death and pain.

And yet... congratulations? As if we had shared some happy moment?

My spear slowly lowered. Just as I was about to walk away to meet my people and tell them there was nothing to worry about, I suddenly felt something in my palm.

Cling~

I frowned and unclenched my fist.

A strange little golden coin rested in my hand.

"...What’s this?" I frowned in confusion. "Was this some kind of reward?"

"Yes. A reward for completing the trial."

A gentle voice came from behind me.

I smiled as I slowly turned around. "How did it go on your side, Prophetess?"

The Prophetess, holding her wooden staff, stood before me.

"The people are enjoying themselves to the fullest, not knowing what’s going on here," she said.

I smiled gently. "It’s good... there’s no need to make them worry. Life is, after all, happiness."

The Prophetess stared at me for a moment before her eyes shifted toward the coin in my hand... it seemed she was curious.

"Do you want it?"

"Can I?"

With a chuckle, I placed the coin into her hand.

She stared at it, slowly turning it over between her fingers and examining its strange golden surface.

I looked toward the sky.

There were no more golden letters written across it.

The battlefield remained beneath that empty sky, stained with blood and littered with the remnants of those who had fought. The silence that followed felt strangely unnatural after everything that had happened.

As if the world itself was pretending nothing had happened.

"Is that it?" I asked softly. "The gods just wanted us to fight each other? Is that all they wanted?"

I couldn’t understand the so-called gods who had caused all these nightmares.

The Prophetess shook her head as she slipped the coin into the folds of her white robes.

"No. This is just the beginning."

"Beginning?"

I let out a quiet laugh.

"Ahah... I already feel a little tired now."

"I guess I can acknowledge that part."

She said it with a slight chuckle in her voice.

"Haha..."

"Hahaha..."

We laughed together, almost happily, as if we were truly celebrating our victory.

I slowly lifted my head and stared at the starry sky.

The stars remained untouched.

Beautiful.

"It’s been a long time since I saw the wonderful stars."

"Indeed."

The Prophetess nodded with absolute certainty, as if she genuinely agreed with me.

For a second, neither of us said anything. The silence between us was strangely peaceful after the chaos we had just endured.

Then, curiosity got the better of me.

"Hey, Prophetess... Can I at least know your name now?"

The Prophetess fell silent for a moment.

She lowered her head slightly beneath the shadow of her hood before quietly asking,

"Why do you want to know?"

I smiled.

My eyes turned warm as I looked toward the shining stars scattered across the night sky.

"Because even the stars deserve to know who outshines them."

"...."

The Prophetess went completely silent.

She slowly looked at me.

Her lips parted, but no words came from beneath her hood. For the first time, the calm composure she had carried throughout everything seemed to crack.

She looked completely taken aback by my words.

There was something in her silence that made me chuckle.

Sensing the awkwardness settling between us, I turned toward her again.

"Then, I’ll—"

Chuckk!

Her wooden staff suddenly drove straight into my chest.

The blunt-looking piece of wood pierced through flesh with horrifying ease, tearing through my chest before emerging from my back.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

My body froze.

Blood immediately spilled from the wound, running down my stomach and dripping from the tip of the staff behind me.

I slowly lowered my gaze.

The wooden staff was buried deep inside me.

My fingers trembled.

I raised my head and looked at the Prophetess.

"Pr... Prophetess?"

My voice came out weak, almost unable to believe what had just happened.

She stood before me without moving.

The warmth that had accompanied her gentle voice was gone.

The kindness in her tone had disappeared.

"I told you to kill me when you had the chance..."

She spoke those words in a voice I had never, ever heard from her before.

"...You should have listened."

She tightened her grip on the wooden staff.