Chapter 238: The Eternal Flame

He had completed the Concept of Death, the Concept of Life, as well as those of Time and Space.

Although he didn't have a bloodline directly tied to the Abyss, his affinity with void energy was already complete, which meant he possessed a perfect, inherent concept of void energy as well.

Normally, all of this would already be more than enough to attempt ascension. But he understood that doing so now would only bring him up to roughly the same level as that Supreme, and that wasn't what he wanted.

Eliminating the Supreme was one thing, but getting rid of the threat posed by the Abyss was another.

He needed to make sure that, this time, everything ended once and for all. And to do that, he needed to get his hands on all five fundamental concepts that governed this universe, concepts he already possessed, having already reached 100% affinity with each of them.

But over the course of his cycles, he had developed one additional concept, one that was part of who he was, and without it, he couldn't achieve a complete ascension, only a partial one.

That was why, instead of attempting ascension right away, he had decided to first complete this last missing piece. And it was toward that piece that he was heading in this very moment.

***

[Emberia - Royal Castle]

Among the various kingdoms bordering Solren, Emberia was the closest.

It sat along the western border, and just like Solren, it served as a wall between the Fallen Lands and the rest of the remaining human territories.

But that wasn't what made this kingdom so remarkable. No, it was because Emberia was one of, if not the strongest of the six human kingdoms, and that was thanks to its ruler.

Iris Valthera.

A Paragon Rank awakener who, until a year ago, had been the closest among all of them to reaching the Advanced stage.

But after the battle at BranLeaf, she had a breakthrough and successfully reached the Advanced Stage, becoming the strongest of the six human rulers and gaining absolute power.

Had it not been for the Abyss, she would likely have begun asserting her dominance over the other kingdoms by now.

After all, although the six kingdoms appeared peaceful on the surface, they were filled with schemes and hidden conflicts.

None of them would hesitate to take advantage of the slightest opportunity to undermine the others.

And Iris was no exception.

Unfortunately, the Abyss had ruined many of her plans.

But it had also given her something else.

The realization that the divine fragment belonging to the Concept of Fire was truly gone.

In other words, the highest rank she could ever hope to reach would be that of a DemiGod.

That realization had left her more frustrated than ever, but there was little she could do about it.

Still, she hadn't entirely given up hope, and that was thanks to her family's heirloom, a national treasure of immeasurable value.

The Eternal Flame.

At this very moment, she was in the deepest reaches of her castle, in a place almost no one knew existed.

Down here lay a vast, circular chamber, buried far beneath the earth, filled with light, light that came from the very thing it guarded.

Iris, currently standing there, looked toward the center of the chamber, where a flame hung suspended within a cocoon of mana formed by countless high-tier formation arrays, the lifeblood of this kingdom, and the only reason she hadn't entirely given up hope.

Around the flame, at six points where the restraining formations were anchored, were six figures, both male and female. What was particularly striking about them was the state of their bodies.

They were shriveled and emaciated.

They sat on the ground with their legs crossed, almost motionless, and anyone unfamiliar with the situation might have mistaken them for dead. But they weren't. The flame of their lives still burned faintly, and it was precisely that flame that fueled the formations containing the Eternal Flame.

They were the elders of the Valthera family, all of them Overlord rank beings, all of them centuries old, all of them having dedicated their entire lives to preserving their family's heirloom, waiting for the day when someone of their bloodline could finally take full control of the Eternal Flame's power. And that someone, they hoped, would be Iris herself.

The Abyss's assault had ruined many of her plans, including those concerning the Eternal Flame.

For a long time, she had searched for a way to assimilate the concept of fire held within the flame, because she could sense that the power it contained far surpassed that of a mere Paragon like herself.

She was certain that once assimilated, she would be able to reach at least the rank of Demi God, and perhaps, just perhaps, even go beyond that.

She had tried once before, only to nearly burn alive in the attempt, an almost comical outcome, considering she carried an ancient bloodline tied to fire, and her mastery over her own concept was already extremely high. And yet, that attempt had ended in failure. Now that she had grown even stronger, she decided to try again.

Iris stood before the Eternal Flame for a long while, watching it in silence.

After a moment, she finally made her decision and stepped forward. A few paces from the flame, a runic formation had been carved into the floor, prepared specifically for this purpose. Iris stepped into it, and the moment she reached its center, the runes lit up one after another.

The Eternal Flame reacted almost instantly.

Its flames, which until that moment had burned with a certain stability, began moving with far greater intensity, growing rapidly as a powerful wave of heat filled the chamber.

Iris felt it immediately.

It was as though an immense force were flowing through the formation and pouring into her. The sensation was different from every previous attempt. There was something about that flow, something that, for a brief instant, made her believe she had finally found the right way.

Maybe, this time, it would be different.

With that conviction, she moved her mana and tried to make contact with that force, attempting to assimilate it.

It was then that the Eternal Flame exploded with power.

Its intensity surged suddenly, and before Iris could even react, a terrifying force tore into her body.

A searing pain tore through every fiber of her being.

It felt as though she were burning from the inside out.

The blood in her veins seemed to boil, her bones felt as though they were about to melt, and even her very soul felt wrapped in flame. Iris gritted her teeth, but in the end, her legs gave out beneath her.

A terrifying scream tore from her throat, a scream that didn't sound human at all.

She collapsed to her knees and coughed violently, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

But she wasn't the only one. The six elders, who had remained motionless in their positions for years now, suddenly opened their eyes, empty, hollow sockets, and let out screams that held nothing human in them, as their bodies began burning from the inside.

Smoke began pouring out of them as dark veins started spreading across their skin, like cracks trying to expand and release whatever was trapped inside their bodies.

Their screams were agonizing as they died from some whim of the flame that no one could understand or explain.

Iris, still on the ground, felt all of this happening, but she had no time to worry about any of it, consumed as she was by her own pain and the exhaustion crashing over her.

She finally lifted her gaze toward the Eternal Flame.

The frustration she had tried to suppress for so long surged back to the surface.

"Why do you keep rejecting me?"

Her voice was low, but it trembled slightly.

Iris lowered her gaze, gritting her teeth before speaking her next words.

"Am I really… not worthy?"

That sentence came out differently.

Weaker, almost painful, as though simply saying it out loud was already a defeat.

It wasn't the first time she'd asked herself that question.

She had tried to assimilate the Eternal Flame long ago, and the result had always been negative, though never as severe as this time. Back then, she had assumed she simply wasn't strong enough yet. But now she was a completely different person.

Her understanding of Fire had grown immensely. Her ancient bloodline was directly tied to flame, and her mastery had reached a level very few could match.

And yet, the Eternal Flame kept rejecting her.

It was impossible for Iris not to reach that conclusion.

She wasn't worthy.

But no matter how hard she tried to understand why, she couldn't accept it. And the worst part was that she couldn't even force the assimilation.

That flame was Emberia's national treasure. She couldn't simply rip its power away by force, partly because she lacked the means, and partly because she feared damaging it, or worse, triggering some consequence that she or her kingdom couldn't withstand.

"Damn it!"

Iris slammed her fist against the floor.

A crack spread out beneath her hand.

She struck it again, and this time a section of the stone gave way completely.

She didn't care.

She didn't know what to do anymore.

She had reached a point where even the Eternal Flame, the last hope she had of reaching divinity, seemed to have turned its back on her.

It was while she was trying to figure out what path remained for her that a voice from behind made her stiffen.

"Worthy, you say?"

Iris stayed perfectly still, her body trembling, every instinct screaming at her not to make a single reckless move.

She heard footsteps echo, drawing closer, and the voice spoke again, this time nearer than before.

"You're right. You're not."

Her body reacted before her mind could even process the words.

Flames burst around her as she spun around sharply, immediately dropping into a combat stance.

A man stood only a few steps away from her.

He looked young, though not too young, somewhere past twenty, with long white hair that gave him a regal appearance, one that only made his divine features stand out even more.

And yet, it wasn't his appearance that left Iris speechless.

It was what she sensed from him.

A power so deep and unfathomable that it made her feel, for the first time in her life, an almost absolute sense of inferiority.

It was as though simply standing before this man awakened some inexplicable instinct inside her, one that told her to lower her head and submit.

Iris was shaken by that sensation.

"W-who the hell are you?" she demanded, her voice trembling slightly. "And how did you find this place?"

The man looked at her for a moment.

Then his gaze shifted past her, settling on the Eternal Flame still burning behind her.

"I'm its owner," he said. And as if to confirm his words, the flame, which had been violently thrashing until moments ago, suddenly moved, effortlessly shattering the restraints holding it in place, and shot toward the figure at high speed, flying straight past Iris without a moment's hesitation.

From the way it behaved, the flame seemed almost eager to return to its owner, so much so that the instant it reached him, it wasted no time and struck his chest, sinking into him without any resistance at all.

Watching this, Iris's already stunned expression turned ashen.

She wanted to scream at the intruder, accuse him of stealing her family's heirloom, and maybe even try to capture him to pry the flame's secrets out of him, but she knew better.

She understood that this being existed on an entirely different level from her own.

Not a Demigod.

Perhaps... a God?

That was the only conclusion she could reach, and the long standing suspicion that a god who controlled the Concept of Fire still existed somewhere in this world suddenly felt far more certain.

She said nothing for a while, and in the end she seemed to simply sigh, as though resigning herself to the way things were unfolding.

She lifted her gaze, ready to say something to the figure, only for the words to die in her mouth.

'Huh?'

The unfathomable figure that had been standing before her moments ago was no longer there. Just as he had arrived, he had left, without her even noticing.

The realization hit her hard.

Today, she had lost six elders of her family, her family's greatest treasure, and had nearly died herself.

Needless to say, this was the worst day of her life.

"What in the world did I do to deserve all of this?" she murmured, dejected, words that no one heard, because no one else remained there to hear them.

She forced herself up and tried to move, but nearly collapsed, her body's strength almost entirely gone. Realizing this, she understood that her wounds were far more serious than she'd thought.

Seeing her current state, and knowing the current state of her kingdom, she felt a deep bitterness.

"Ha… it can't possibly get worse than this," she muttered to herself, trying once more, with great effort, to move. But at that exact moment, as though the universe had decided it wasn't quite done with her yet, something changed.

Suddenly, the atmosphere around her shifted, and she felt an overwhelming sense of mortal danger.

Her body froze in place as her instincts screamed at her, trying to make sense of what was happening.

'This… what in the world is this?!' she cursed internally as her instincts painted a picture far worse than the situation itself.

It wasn't just her. It wasn't just her kingdom. No, this shift seemed to have struck the entire continent, and whatever was responsible for it wasn't something present on this continent at all.

No, it was much higher.

When Iris tried to trace the source of this sudden sensation of death, she felt a terrifying presence descending from above.

That was when she understood.

Something extremely dangerous was about to make its appearance in their world.

Something that gave her a far greater sense of death than the Abyss Gods that had appeared not long ago.

It gave her a sense of helplessness equal to, if not greater than, what that man had made her feel, except that man hadn't radiated any negative feeling at all. This presence was overflowing with it.

In that moment, for some reason, she felt that perhaps there was no longer any hope left for their world.