novelraw Chapter 2000 - 21: Brief Lives Burn Bright
Chapter 2000 - 21: Brief Lives Burn Bright
He saw that there were deserters on the battlefield, a couple holding hands as they left the battlefield, disguised as civilians, returning to the Fiery Flame Land to live hidden in the deep mountains.
For the three months before they were discovered, they used all their strength to love each other, to spend those peaceful days they knew would not last long, burning their brilliance before the judgment.
They all found it.
Found the ’true sensation of living.’
What about me?
Dastiel thought so.
At the final stage of the war, even he, the Crown Prince, and the Fifth Energy Level of the Fiery Flame Land had to appear.
He slaughtered along the way, burned along the way, but even when besieged by The Three Great Knight Orders of the Empire, Dastiel still couldn’t find that feeling, that feeling of truly wanting to live, of burning regardless of death.
At this moment, Dastiel sincerely... envied those ordinary people.
He was jealous.
Why could these people so easily find the ending they wanted? Why was there always a sense of unwillingness in his heart? Why did he always feel that this world was so dull, that such a monotonous cycle wasn’t worth burning his life for!
In the end, he became King. He even became the heir of the Top Seat’s Blood.
[You are the strongest Abassalom of the young generation]
The King of Jiyi handed the Heritage Treasure to Dastiel and left his advice: [You are the strongest, as long as you can find your desire... you can be more brilliant than anyone else]
My wish...
[I want to break this cycle] Before the last King died, he said softly: [I want everyone to be able to burn forever, to shine forever]
This world is too uninteresting, the weak are always weak, sacrifices are always sacrificed.
All with blood are like grass, all waiting for the day of withering and burning.
Life is a seed, life is a weed.
Weeds burn away in destructive flames, seeds sprout in the ashes of time, humanity’s long and dull life eventually becomes a brief and brilliant flame, that momentary light, that instant blaze, is the meaning of life.
Beyond that, all is ash.
And now.
Just now!
Amidst the wind and thunder, the Ashen King steps from the past, walking towards the present!
He’s finally understood what’s been troubling him!
Things that he couldn’t change, those solidified, immutable things, the weak can only be weak, the strong will always be strong, those rock-like unchangeable classes and fates made him feel bored and suffocated!
Weeds can only be burned, civilians can only bow; monkeys obey the monkey king, people live their lives insignificantly, leaving no name whether alive or dead!
People, stripped of individuality by the wind, faces obscured by ash, claiming to be intellectual beings, superior to other animals, yet ending up like reeds, like the nameless swarm of bees on this tiny planet, waiting to turn into ash!
But now! Everything has been broken!
Staring into those azure eyes, the white-haired Prophet who shattered all that was assumed and stepped on all fates underfoot, breaking even the cycle!
The enlightened Ashen King laughed and stepped forward, stepping toward a different sun.
That Arcane Pathway, that Perpetual Motion Machine, this world that has already changed, the Fiery Flame Land shedding its past decay and once again full of hope... and the now common Fifth Energy Level bloodlines, all things he could see but couldn’t do or change.
The humans imprisoned within the planet, perhaps they can step towards further horizons.
And only the one before him, only Ian Silverpeak could do it.
If it were him, perhaps even the light of the sun would change for him, shine for him, extinguish for him!
And now, he needed himself to be his enemy.
How fortunate!
How exhilarating!
So it’s now, it’s now!
—Now is the time to throw a punch!
Endless flames swell, each step expanding tenfold, and after five steps, a radiant light like the sun bursts from the Ashen King.
And a god of Yanyuan, like an entity stepping out from the Earth Core’s flames, also raised its kilometer-long fist to strike at the Oracle in front of him!
The [Undying Flame Spirit] is a mantle flame flow lifeform, a rare pure thermal energy lifeform, unlike the light-induced lifeform Sunbird born within the sun, the high-energy particle stream that makes up the Undying Flame Spirit rises and falls continuously within the mantle layer with the motion of the Earth Core, never leaving the lava area its entire life.
They are known as the eternal, undying flame, but are also shackled by the chains of life, never able to leave those high-heat waves and lava.
Nor can it break through the crust, reach the outside, see the stars... reach into the universe.
Unless the volcano erupts.
Unless death occurs.
Just like humans, because they can die, they have memory and desire.
—I must defeat you, or be defeated by you.
—Brief life burning brilliantly, that is the meaning of my existence.
So that’s it... At this very moment, I truly ’exist’!
The Ashen King’s punch fell like a meteor, massive golden-red hyperthermal flames transformed into a vortex, pouring and whirling towards Ian—since the standoff began, the Ashen King had been storing power, and now the force that erupted surpassed the explosion of hundreds of volcanoes, striking the surface, not only could it thoroughly ruin half of the Fiery Flame Land, but it could also cause noticeable tremors across the entire Terra Continent.