novelraw Chapter 366: God of the Sky of the North
Chapter 366: God of the Sky of the North
"A human... who likes demi-human species?"
In Fisher's mind, the mysterious contributor of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook he had in his embrace immediately popped up. That Transferred Person who used square characters somewhat similar to those of the Magic Lord. He had previously guessed that if that fellow was someone who greatly liked demi-human species, then there must be acquaintances among the long-lived demi-human species. However, he didn't expect that the Moon Princess behind him, who had been dead for a long time, actually knew them.
"Oh, so you really do know her. No wonder you, a human, could grow so robust, turns out you have some connection with that pervert... However, this is also why my prophecy showed you appearing here."
"Her?"
Although Valentiina's mouth was controlled by the Moon Princess, she still listened carefully to the conversation between the two of them along with Eimhart. She was obviously very curious about exactly who this person the Moon Princess and Fisher were talking about was.
Fisher remained silent for a moment, then continued to run forward while asking,
"Tell me about that human. This is very important to me."
"Okay, let me think. After all, it's been so long... That fellow was a very strange human. She was clearly a very formidable person, but she always spoke nonsensically. I met her when I went down the mountain to search for traces of my teacher. Guess what was the first thing she said to me?"
"What?"
"Ahem, 'You Phoenixes have such large wings and they're on your backs. Does your underwear also have a special design, otherwise how do you tie up your breasts... Wow, yours are so big, can I rub them?', exactly this sentence.""..."
Fisher remained silent. For some reason, he always felt that the person who wrote the Demi-Human Completion Handbook was indeed someone who could say such things. The Moon Princess, on the other hand, felt like laughing whenever she recalled it. She stretched out a finger and continued,
"See? Isn't she very weird... Moreover, that fellow came and went without a trace, liked traveling and exploring everywhere, and liked casually becoming sworn siblings with others. Sometimes, she wouldn't come back to the Northlands for decades. And similar to you, that fellow was very, very powerful, so powerful she didn't seem like a human at all."
"Even though I didn't meet her many times, she helped me out greatly on several occasions, which is why I call her my friend. You should know that my mother, myself, and several elder brothers all had weapons forged with the help of the Holy Progeny. But if we were very close with the Holy Progeny, the subsequent wars wouldn't have been so tragically fierce."
"It was that fellow who heard we were going to war and said she had a sister in the Sanctuary who could forge some handy weapons for us. I thought it was just a boastful joke from her. Who knew that a few years later, that fellow actually brought back several precious holy artifacts to the Sycamore tree, and even forged some for other races. The slime's circle, the pale bird's feather garment, the Troll's True Ice Giant Lance... such precious items, she just gave them away as she said she would, without asking for anything in return. She didn't even finish listening to my thanks before waving her hand and running off to travel somewhere else."
Eimhart opened his mouth in shock, murmuring,
"No wonder. I was wondering at first why the Holy Progeny would forge weapons for you, and so many of them... Wait, who exactly are you talking about? I should probably know their name."
But the Moon Princess shook her head and said,
"Regrettably, I do not know that fellow's true name. First, every meeting was very brief, and second, that fellow never spoke formally, making normal communication very difficult. Anyway, our relationship continued in this eerie manner until I finally died... However, I do know that that fellow seemed to have come from the sea, because the first time we met, she rode a very large crab as a mount. She said it was a gift from a friend at the bottom of the sea, and it suited her taste very well."
"Crab... mount?"
Fisher raised his brow, suddenly thinking of the Crab-person Reinar he had met on the sea earlier. She said her father went to work by riding a big crab named 'Haru'. It seemed the contributor of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook truly had very good relations with many races. So far, he knew of Angels, undersea demi-humans, and Phoenixes. What about Demons, then?
"Mhm, and the last time I met that fellow was when my child was born... that fellow helped me one last time... You may know that I was afflicted with an illness since birth. My legs were crippled, and my body was very frail. In the end, it was my teacher who helped me so that I finally recovered to normal. But the descendants I had with other races did not have such good luck."
"My child, from the moment of birth, was a stillbirth."
Although the Moon Princess's words were calm, everyone present froze slightly, clearly shocked by what the Moon Princess had said.
"My husband was an Ice Kite whose life level was far inferior to mine. He died in that war against the Stars, yet miraculously left our bloodline in my womb. I cherished this hard-won bloodline, viewing her as more important than my own life... But, heaven's good luck has its limits. The defect in my bloodline was ruthlessly about to take away her fragile life."
"My clansmen tried their utmost but couldn't save my child. Yet that fellow rode her crab back into the sea without looking back, and not long after, brought back a Whale-person from the ocean, also claiming him to be a sworn sibling. That Mr. Whale-person was an extremely excellent doctor. He actually managed to halt the drain on the life of my dying child, pulling her back from the brink of death."
A Whale-person? Possessing a healing blessing? Or was it vital energy manipulation similar to Jasmine's?
"My child doesn't have any sentience, because at the time of her birth, the Spirit World deemed her a stillbirth and didn't bestow a soul upon her. But under my meticulous care, she still managed to grow up, possessing the most beautiful traits of both her father and me. It's just a pity that the time I spent with her was far too short in reality..."
"And this is the entire story between me and that human. It's not considered long, but it leaves a profound impression. She should have even better-connected... sworn brothers and sisters. If you meet them later, you can ask them more."
"I see. Thank you."
Fisher thanked her after listening. Eimhart, flying around beside him with a shocked expression, could hardly believe what he had just heard.
"Such an outrageous Whale-person? Why am I constantly hearing such things I've never heard before today? According to what you said, a life that wasn't even bestowed a soul by the Spirit World should have died long ago. How could she survive and grow up? But this actually happened, oh my Holy Progeny..."
Fisher didn't speak, just continued to run forward under the guidance of the Moon Princess on his back. But now he roughly understood why the Moon Princess never brought her child out to be seen by her own people.
Now Fisher felt that these Phoenixes who stood alongside the common people of the North shouldn't have looked down on mixed-bloods as the legends claimed. The reason the Moon Princess never brought her child out of the Snowflake Castle was entirely because that child had no sentience at all, being merely a living shell. Whether it was the trickery of fate or not, this child without sentience unexpectedly preserved the final bloodline of the entire Phoenix race.
And this also explained why the bunch of humans from the Turan family, who couldn't even use magic, could subdue the Phoenix descendant and steal her bloodline. Otherwise, even a mixed-blood from a common Phoenix could send humans without a tier rank flying with a flap of their wings.
In order not to fight the Moon Princess for the mic, Valentiina remained silent and listened, but obviously, she came to thoughts similar to Fisher's, associating this with her own family.
Fisher sprinted all the way, passing through long corridors and closed rooms. Many Phoenix-style items in the rooms and halls were arranged neatly. One couldn't tell at all that anything had ever gone wrong here; only the dead silence and pitch-black darkness proved that the owners here had long departed.
"It's right ahead. Open this door in front and we'll arrive at the place where we lived... Be careful, our design differs greatly from humans, it will be a bit tiring."
Fisher looked at the small door before him, pushed it open without hesitation, and prepared to continue his sprint, only to almost fall into a bottomless abyss as soon as the door was pushed open.
He stopped blankly at the doorway. He saw that behind that door was a cylindrical space about a thousand meters long with an unknown depth. The walls of the space were engraved everywhere with extremely exquisite sculptures and murals, dotted with tightly closed doors. In between, there were occasional bridges and platforms. The very top was an almost transparent mineral, and looking up, one could still see the moonlit sky outside.
On Fisher's back, using Valentiina's body to gaze down the bottomless space all the way, the Moon Princess smiled faintly and spoke to Fisher,
"You should know that we Phoenixes possess the ability to foresee the future. This ability is awakened through 'True Ice', and True Ice isn't a natural mineral, but something we manufactured. The God of the Many Faces bestowed life upon the world, but unintentionally created three tyrants. My ancestors originally lived beside a Giant Tree Tyrant, but suffered oppression from her and her children, causing them to flee their original homeland."
"Coincidentally, the tyrants also fought among themselves. In a world-destroying war, the roots of the giant tree were stolen and thrown into an unknown corner. My ancestors then followed the scattered roots and settled here. We created True Ice based on the power of the tree roots, continuing the precognitive ability we used to obtain by gazing at the giant tree."
"But this ability isn't omnipotent. Except for the first time it is bestowed, Phoenixes can only see the future when they are unintentionally stimulated. Moreover, only Phoenixes with stronger individual abilities can see further into the future. The child on your back, along with most Phoenixes, should only be able to see the future within a month."
"When my father died, Mother saw a terrifying war that would happen in the North in the future; when my elder brother got married, she saw it a second time—the specific time and place when those Stars would come ashore. Because of this, we prepared for the war in advance. But after the war ended, my other elder brother's son passed away. He saw an even more distant future, where there was another war... a war of Mythical Species..."
The Moon Princess's voice sounded reminiscent, slowly revealing the truths buried beneath this Sycamore tree bit by bit.
"In the war against the Stars, we witnessed the terror of the Mythical Species for the first time. Unlike beings like us who transcended tiers later, they possessed the unfair favor of the gods. The Order established by the gods fixed the positions and abilities of living beings. The numerous weak but tangibly existing beings in the Northland could be crushed by Mythological Creatures in just one second during the war, as if they had never come into this world. This initial unwillingness catalyzed into panic and anger upon receiving the prophecy of an impending mythic war in the future..."
"The wings of the Phoenixes seemed so fragile under the terror of myth. The war against the Stars severely depleted the vitality of the Northland, yet an extremely terrifying battle awaited us in the future. The oppressive feeling of powerlessness, of watching helplessly as the Phoenixes and the Northland faced annihilation, birthed despair... as well as resorting to extreme measures."
Fisher narrowed his eyes. Inside the Sycamore tree, it was still pitch-black and dead silent, leaving only the words spoken by the Moon Princess using Valentiina's voice.
"And the visit from that Demon God was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Her descent at the victory banquet told us through reality that a war of Mythical Species wasn't even needed; just her alone could crush all living beings in the North. This feeling of having a knife held to our throats reminded us of the pain our ancestors suffered when they were chased everywhere by the wars between tyrants. We did not wish for us and the Northland to repeat past mistakes. We wanted to escape this terror... we finally found a method through our former enemies."
"During the war, my sword could damage spirit bodies, so I used it to chop off the arm of a Star. Among his fallen body parts was a portion of his true body... The Stars came from the Spirit World, a world unconstrained by the Order of the real world. We wanted to use that fallen part of his true body as a key to open the Spirit World, using the power there that transcended everything to break free from reality's constraints. This way, we could survive the future mythic war, and the beings of the Northland could survive."
The Moon Princess didn't continue her following words, but Fisher seemed to suddenly have an epiphany. Bits and pieces of past clues connected, entirely leading toward the term he muttered out loud,
"'Spirit World Contamination'..."
The Moon Princess leaned on Fisher's arm, closing her eyes, unwilling to face the homeland that had fallen into dead silence before her. She sighed and said with emotion,
"Because Phoenixes could see the future, we achieved many great things, yet at the same time we were constrained by every prophecy we obtained... We, pressed forward by the terror of myth, overlooked a very, very basic question. That was, why would those benevolent Stars, who loved gazing at the scenes of our world at all times, suddenly invade the Northland?"
"Their level was too high, having absolutely no need for so-called secular desires. Thus, the reason for their descent was very, very simple—they were 'fleeing'... In the Spirit World, there existed an entity ten thousand times more terrifying than them, making even their survival extremely difficult. It forced them to leave the Spirit World they relied upon for survival and come into conflict with us in reality."
Eimhart was frightened into silence. Fisher, however, furrowed his brows tightly, his heartbeat constantly accelerating. He soon opened his mouth to complete the rest of the Moon Princess's words,
"You used the body of the Chaos-kin... that is, the Stars, as a key to open the door to the Spirit World, wanting to use the power of the Spirit World to break away from the constraints of tiers and have your entire race enter the Mythical Species. But the existence in the Spirit World that struck fear into those Stars set its sights on you. Thus, your entire race perished in an instant. That curse is the thing born after your entire race was contaminated, and the true body of your wholly contaminated race should still be inside the Sycamore tree, correct?"
The Moon Princess nodded and said with a smile,
"Yes, we did indeed break free from reality's constraints in a certain sense, but in the end, all we obtained was inescapable chaos. The contamination swallowed the consciousness and bodies of our entire race, mixing them together with an unavoidable trend. That is a maddening existence residing in the Spirit World, comparable to a god, attempting to use the physical bodies of our entire race as the Base for His descent."
"My mother and I snapped back to our senses at the final moment. She used her own sword to freeze the true body of Chaos on the throne, subsequently merging with Chaos and dying. Struck with heavy injuries and nearing death, I saw the future right before passing away, and had the races that happened to be outside the Sycamore tree deliver my final testament. But I died before I could fully activate the mechanism. The Sycamore tree was not entirely sealed off, which resulted in that incomplete 'Base' frequently escaping pursuit in spirit form to hunt the very last Phoenix who hadn't entered the Base—which was me."
"But I am already dead, so its target of pursuit became the inheritor of my bloodline. You must go down to the very bottom level, where the discarded tree roots are located. Using the mighty power within it, you can form a complete closed loop of the space here as an insurance policy, and you can also open the large door sealing the Base to deal with that yet incomplete descent vessel."
"But I must remind you, Mr. Fisher, I sense that another existence has arrived at the entrance of the Sycamore tree and is rushing toward the depths of the Sycamore tree. Before going down to reach the tree root control console, you'd better make a decision. Once the Base absorbs my final bloodline, even I am unsure what will happen... However, that entity in the Spirit World can be addressed as a god. By borrowing our lives to descend, hasn't He, to some extent, also fulfilled our past aspirations?"
The Moon Princess revealed a faintly mocking smile. Lying on Fisher's shoulder, she looked at a stretch of gloomy stars in the sky and said in a soft voice,
"In the past, among the beings of the Northland whom we sheltered, there was no shortage of those who praised us with the title of gods. At that time, of course, we were far from worthy of such praise, but at least we wanted to protect them. Yet now, once that Base possessed by madness becomes complete, I'm afraid it truly will turn into a 'God of the Sky' sweeping across the Northland..."