novelraw Chapter 562: The Awakening of the Ice Phoenix
Chapter 562: The Awakening of the Ice Phoenix
The distant Northern Border had always been obscured in frost and snow that had lasted for an untold number of years. Ever since life began here, ever since life started observing the world, and ever since life started recording history, the sky here had been snowing continuously, occasionally pausing for a moment before starting again.
Does the frost and snow also have a source?
If you wanted to seek the answer to this question, you would have to travel north all the way from the southern shores of the Northern Border, crossing many nations that worshiped the Frost Phoenix, all the way to the depths of the vastest snowfield, and arrive at the foot of the Sema Mountains. This gigantic mountain range, which seemed to separate heaven and earth, was the legendary source of the frost and snow.
If one was braver, they would continue to climb upwards, passing through the desolate mountainsides to the peaks sealed by Spatial Turbulence.
At this moment, deep within the Sema Mountains, amidst the upside-down peaks formed by the nested and blurred Spatial Turbulence, it seemed exceptionally lively.
A group of large and muscular women was surrounding a group of people, slowly making their way through this mountain path wrapped in Spatial Turbulence.
"Be careful. If you fall into the Spatial Turbulence, not even the descent of the Phoenix can save you."
The female Giant Troll-kin leading the way leaned on a long halberd as a walking stick while issuing this warning to the dozens of people surrounded by her small Giant Troll-kin squad—although this squad of female Giant Troll-kin only consisted of a dozen or so people, which was less than a third of the guys they surrounded, but due to the disparity in size, it looked like all those humans put together were not even half as many as them.
Right now, those surrounded by these Giant Troll-kin were a group of slightly battered-looking people. Most were women, and they were the robust people of the Sardin Matriarchy.
Among them, there was uniquely one robust old man wearing a crude, cold-proof robe. In his arms, he held a little girl with round rat ears who was shivering from the cold and almost curled up into a ball. Beside him, an old woman who looked fat yet strong was also holding two Ratman Race little girls in her arms.If Fischer were here, he would naturally recognize them. This was his old classmate's father, Old Jack, the first mate of the Iceberg Queen, Pakhz, and her three Ratman Race adoptive granddaughters.
In front of this group of people from the Sardin Matriarchy was a rather lean girl with short blonde hair. She had the extremely noble appearance of Naris bloodline, with blonde hair and golden eyes. However, because of sleeping in the open for a long time, she had lost that noble and frail look, instead appearing more like a little lioness.
She was precisely the younger sister of Elizabeth Gothrin, Isabelle Gothrin.
At this moment, she was supporting a tall, listless, and rather weak-looking Sardin woman.
This woman's long white hair drooped lifelessly behind her head. Her usually elegant and serious face was slightly lowered at this moment, and her extremely pale complexion could occasionally be seen through the scattered white hair.
She gently clutched her lower abdomen, wrapped her body in a robe that was crude to the extreme, and leaned powerlessly against Pakhz beside her. Jet-black smoke constantly billowed from her lower abdomen, as if at the end of that permeating smoke, something had deeply drilled into her body, currently extracting everything she had.
"Cough, cough..."
With the freezing weather and physical factors, this Sardin woman couldn't help but cough lightly.
Isabelle beside her gritted her teeth, looked at the female Giant Troll-kin leading the way, and couldn't help but speak in the Northern Border tongue:
"Exactly how much longer until we get there? We've already been walking for almost half an hour!"
The Giant Troll-kin in front continued walking, just scratching the back of her head, and said blankly:
"We're almost there, probably. I don't know either. Usually, you just see it as you walk."
Isabelle gritted her teeth in speechlessness, but she had no other choice.
She had heard that there were many Demi-human Races on the snowy mountains now, and the remaining bloodlines of the legendary Six Tribes of the Snowy Mountains had all returned to the snowy mountains. Among them, there seemed to be a race called Slimes that could teleport.
But now, their ship had sunk during their escape, and even Captain Alajina was severely injured because of the Black Chieftain's Relic. They urgently needed a place to seek refuge and rest right now. She had thought that returning to the Northern Border would allow them to be slightly more at peace, but she hadn't expected the Turan family here to be acting in collusion with Naris and the Black Chieftain.
In the past few years, Isabelle had truly realized the sorrow of "the world being vast yet having no place to settle down."
Her older sister was simply too powerful. Her forces and puppets were everywhere, leaving Isabelle somewhat breathless.
"...It's fine, Isabelle. I can still hold on."
Right at this moment, Alajina beside her suddenly spoke hoarsely, causing Isabelle to snap back to her senses in worry.
She looked at the pale Alajina in front of her, suddenly felt a bit guilty, and whispered:
"I'm sorry, Captain Alajina. I'm the one who dragged everyone down... Back then, I should have returned to Naris, and that way everyone wouldn't..."
Alajina's long white eyelashes caught some frost and snow of the same color. Hearing this, she shook her head and said:
"Even if it wasn't because of you, someday in the future, because of Fischer, Elizabeth still wouldn't let us go. It's just a matter of sooner or later. In that case, this time might as well arrive earlier... Moreover, the Phoenix hasn't completely severed all our hopes, has he?"
"The Phoenix..."
Isabelle's expression was a bit hesitant. She didn't know if she should believe such a vague and illusory legend.
It was just that the entire Northern Border was rumoring right now that inside the Sema Mountains, the legendary Frost Phoenix had reincarnated and descended once again, wanting to reclaim the Northern Border anew and place it beneath the shadow of her wings. But could such a judgment be made just based on the migration of those Demi-human Races, just based on the Giant Trolls truly existing at the top of the Sema Mountains?
Isabelle didn't know, yet she spoke no further. She merely supported Alajina silently, leading all the remaining crew members of the Iceberg Queen tighter towards the front.
Although these female Giant Troll-kin looked dense, they were unexpectedly honest and frank, because it didn't take long before a different sight truly appeared before their eyes.
"Look, we're here..."
Hearing the muffled voice reminder from the Giant Troll-kin, Isabelle also subconsciously looked up towards the front. However, she found that they had unknowingly passed through the Spatial Turbulence from before. Along with the change in space, the scene ahead had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.
She could only see that at the end of the gradually flattening snowfield ahead was a massive, towering sky-piercing giant tower. Its radiant luster was rare in the world; it was exactly the legendary True Ice.
That miraculous radiance of True Ice hung upside down from the firmament, laying out across the entire snowfield they stepped on along with the sunlight. And it was only until now that Isabelle realized the place they were stepping on was also made of True Ice...
"Is that the Frostwood Sycamore Tree?"
It was as if an imposing giant tower grew upside down with the sky as the soil and the earth as its target. Bfore it, countless statues of living beings kneeling on the ground—whether they had long vanished or still existed—wore pious expressions, recording the past glory of this place.
But what made Isabelle care more was that the doors of that Frostwood Sycamore Tree were wide open, revealing many Giant Troll-kin and Snow Fox-kin inside.
"Screech!"
At this moment, in the sky above, a shadow wearing a simple robe similar to theirs quickly flew towards this side. Behind her followed a colorful parrot that was fluttering its wings constantly while having lost quite a few feathers.
"Sister Aoxi!"
That was an Azurebird-person. After seeing everyone below, she immediately landed in front of them and shook her unretracted wings, knocking off the wind and snow clinging to the upper parts.
Behind them, First Mate Pakhz, who looked quite a bit thinner than before, hurriedly stepped out and asked Aoxi:
"How is it? What do those Slimes mean?"
Aoxi looked at Pakhz, pondered for a moment, and then spoke:
"...They said... they are still considering."
"What?! Still considering? Then what do we do if they don't agree? We climbed up here going through untold hardships just by listening to their words. If they don't agree, what should we do? Go back the way we came?"
Aoxi's ears hurt from Pakhz's loud voice. She raised her feather-covered wings a bit and rubbed her ears hidden within her long white hair, then explained:
"It's not that they aren't considering our matter... it's just that they have... more important things to be busy with."
"Busy! Busy with!"
The parrot beside her, which had lost many feathers but still looked unaffected in spirit, nodded and repeated this.
Pakhz glanced behind her. The group of Giant Trolls that had escorted them here had all walked away, not knowing where they went to rest, and not a single one came over to greet them, as if leaving them to fend for themselves.
Whenever she thought of this, Pakhz got angry. She crossed her arms, looked at the spectacular Frostwood Sycamore Tree behind Aoxi, spat violently onto the snow nearby, and cursed:
"Fuck her father, these mud-eating Play-Doh Slimes. Being snobs is one thing, but demanding an exorbitant price—not teleporting us up unless they paid the fee for all of us—made us run this far! Alajina is injured! If I hadn't asked you to come up halfway to check the situation, would we still have to be left hanging here for a few days to know the result!? Fuck her father, what are this group of reclusive Six Tribes of the Snowy Mountains busy with all day? Are they going to war with Naris too?"
Isabelle helplessly reached out her hand, wanting to stop Pakhz who was hurling abuse right at the other party's doorstep. After all, they were here to seek help. But she really couldn't get a word in, so she had no choice but to turn back and look at Old Jack who was nestling the three Rat-girls in his arms for warmth, who knew that he also shook his head, expressing that he had no solution.
"Pakh...z..."
It was still Alajina beside them, who was in poor condition, that spoke softly to stop their First Mate's rude remarks.
Pakhz fell silent, but the expression on her face still wasn't pleasant. She just puffed up her cheeks and looked at the female Giant Trolls nearby, who were lying sprawled out sleeping in this ice and snow as if they felt nothing.
Aoxi also sighed. She looked at the Frostwood Sycamore Tree behind her and couldn't help but explain:
"I have no choice either... They seemed to say the Phoenix is about to awaken, so everyone is very nervous because of it..."
Pakhz's originally angry expression suddenly blanked at Aoxi's words, and all those behind her, especially the people of the Sardin Matriarchy, looked at Aoxi in disbelief.
"Wait... What did you say? The Phoenix? Do they really have a Phoenix here? Have you seen her?"
"...No, but it's most likely true. I went inside and saw it. The decorations inside are truly where the Phoenixes used to reside in the past... This is indeed the Frostwood Sycamore Tree..."
"..."
Pakhz opened her mouth wide. No matter how angry her facial expression was, as a person from the Sardin Matriarchy, she no longer dared to throw a fit.
One must know that disrespecting the Phoenix in the Northern Border could be likened to disrespecting the Mother Goddess in Kadu. Furthermore, they themselves were believers in the Frost Phoenix, so of course they understood the taboos...
Pakhz curled her lips and, like a withered rooster, could no longer utter a word.
She had no choice but to kick the snow mound beside her, and after waiting for quite a while, she mumbled another complaint softly:
"Then couldn't they take us to a warmer place? Old Jack is freezing to death..."
Isabelle helplessly reached out her hand, wanting to stop Pakhz who was hurling abuse right at the other party's doorstep. After all, they were here to seek help. But she really couldn't get a word in, so she had no choice but to turn back and look at Old Jack who was nestling the three Rat-girls in his arms for warmth, who knew that he also shook his head, expressing that he had no solution.
"Pakh...z..."
It was still Alajina beside them, who was in poor condition, that spoke softly to stop their First Mate's rude remarks.
Pakhz fell silent, but the expression on her face still wasn't pleasant. She just puffed up her cheeks and looked at the female Giant Trolls nearby, who were lying sprawled out sleeping in this ice and snow as if they felt nothing.
Aoxi also sighed. She looked at the Frostwood Sycamore Tree behind her and couldn't help but explain:
"I have no choice either... They seemed to say the Phoenix is about to awaken, so everyone is very nervous because of it..."
Pakhz's originally angry expression suddenly blanked at Aoxi's words, and all those behind her, especially the people of the Sardin Matriarchy, looked at Aoxi in disbelief.
"Wait... What did you say? The Phoenix? Do they really have a Phoenix here? Have you seen her?"
"...No, but it's most likely true. I went inside and saw it. The decorations inside are truly where the Phoenixes used to reside in the past... This is indeed the Frostwood Sycamore Tree..."
"..."
Pakhz opened her mouth wide. No matter how angry her facial expression was, as a person from the Sardin Matriarchy, she no longer dared to throw a fit.
One must know that disrespecting the Phoenix in the Northern Border could be likened to disrespecting the Mother Goddess in Kadu. Furthermore, they themselves were believers in the Frost Phoenix, so of course they understood the taboos...
Pakhz curled her lips and, like a withered rooster, could no longer utter a word.
She had no choice but to kick the snow mound beside her, and after waiting for quite a while, she mumbled another complaint softly:
"Then couldn't they take us to a warmer place? Old Jack is freezing to death..."
At this moment, inside the Frostwood Sycamore Tree, passing through the outer areas and arriving within the deep, enormous cylindrical courtyard of the Phoenixes.
Unlike the pitch-black and dead silence when Fischer came here four and a half years ago, it was brightly lit and noisy here now. Although by today, after the baptism of time and the massacre of the curse, the numbers of the Six Tribes of the Snowy Mountains were far fewer than before, even if they had all entered here, it still didn't look too lively. But after all, it had gained some popularity.
And right in the depths of the sycamore tree, above the roots left behind by the World Tree, was the place where the Moon Princess had died and left only her corpse in the past. The ruined walls here had been cleared away by the Giant Trolls, and the Moon Princess's corpse had been properly buried. Subsequently, some temporary dwellings were built here to protect their master who had been slumbering below all these years.
But at this moment, several prominent figures of the Six Tribes were pacing back and forth anxiously here—except for the incredibly massive Slime King, Barion, who looked like a giant infant shape. He was truly too gigantic to move even a little bit.
The two Giant Troll-kin elders, Darivuvu and Kokolia, were looking at the World Tree root below that was emanating a patch of resplendent light. Darivuvu said with a serious expression:
"It's no good. The root has actually grown branches, and those branches have entwined the Phoenix's eggshell."
Behind them, a very tall Azurebird-person woman wearing a Sardin Matriarchy steel helmet glanced downward and asked coldly:
"What does this mean?"
Kokolia cast a glance at the Azurebird-person in front of him and said:
"Hamlia, it means that the root has entwined the eggshell, leaving us with no way to take out the nirvana eggshell. But the problem is, the surface of the eggshell is already full of cracks. The Phoenix's descent is coming very soon."
Hamlia was the leader of the largest remaining Azurebird-person settlement within the Northern Border, and also the superior of Aoxi's maternal grandmother. She was a child of mixed Azurebird-person and Giant Troll-kin blood, and because of this, she grew to be much taller and stronger than the other Azurebird-people of the Northern Border.
Upon hearing the call of the Slime-kin, Giant Troll-kin, and Snow Fox-kin four and a half years ago, she weighed the pros and cons and finally decided to lead the Azurebird-people who were willing to leave the Sardin Matriarchy with her all the way north, returning to the Sema Mountains, the homeland where their ancestors lived.
Hamlia was slightly startled. She seemingly hadn't understood what they were worried about, but she still asked:
"Then can't the Phoenix just be born directly like this? What would happen if she fell onto the World Tree root?"
"She would die."
Darivuvu's straightforward answer gave Hamlia a formulated scare. She hurriedly flapped her wings and came to the edge of this platform, looking at the about-to-break Phoenix egg floating amidst the resplendent light of the World Tree below.
"Fuck her father, then what if we just fish the Phoenix up using weapons?"
"It's no good. The Spatial Turbulence near the root is even more severe. Even peerless divine weapons would be dissolved, unless..."
"Unless what?"
In the back, the enormous Schwari-native Barion, who was sitting on the ground, chewed on the pacifier in his mouth and spoke in a muffled voice:
"Use the Sword of the Phoenix King. That sword is currently lying in the room above."
"Then go get it, what are you spacing out for?"
Everyone present was rendered speechless by Hamlia. They didn't know if this fellow had been a guard in the Sardin Matriarchy for too long or if the Azurebird-person and Giant Troll-kin bloodlines produced a strange chemical reaction in her body, causing her brain to be burnt and making her not quite bright...
She was good at fighting, but every time they discussed such matters, she always made shocking statements, leaving the other leaders of the Six Tribes completely lost on how to deal with her.
"We can't pick it up. The weapons of the Phoenixes can only be fully utilized by the Phoenix bloodline. Even if you went to get it, and picked it up with a great price, if you can't fully control it, you still won't be able to fish the Phoenix egg out from the root's grasp."
"Wait, so what you mean is, right now we need a sword that can only be used by the Phoenix bloodline to save the only Phoenix bloodline in the world?"
"In theory, yes. Of course, if we could think of other ways..."
"Can your Slime teleportation be used?"
"With the power of the root there, there's no such possibility."
"..."
At this moment, the few leaders at the bottom of this sycamore tree suddenly fell into silence, seemingly having no better solutions.
Hamlia gnashed her teeth in anger, flapped her wings in impotent rage, and couldn't help but look at the shacks around them, asking:
"...Where is that woman?"
All the leaders looked at her. They all knew who Hamlia was talking about, but none knew where she had gone.
It was Dar, the very small patriarch of the Snow Fox-kin tribe located beside Barion's enormous body right now, who spoke. He glanced upward and said:
"Earlier, she was still here discussing with us how to rescue the Phoenix that's about to complete nirvana, going over quite a few methods with us... As for now, it seems she heard there were guests arriving. She seemed to have thought of something, and ran out with Nun Ilos a moment ago."
"With Ilos? What guests?"
Darivuvu turned her head slightly curious, and Dar pondered for a moment before saying:
"It seems to be a pirate who's at the end of her rope, a Sardin Matriarchy person. What Iceberg Queen was she called..."
"Alajina?"
Hearing this, Hamlia spoke up and stated that name before Dar could even finish.
"Yes, yes, that's her..."
"Heh, this treasonous cur with a broken spine also has her day. I heard she not only killed her biological mother but also stole her mother's Ice Prince Sword and went into exile. We have to be cautious about taking her in, watch out so we aren't backstabbed by her someday."
Hamlia sneered and commented in this manner.
"Enough, Hamlia. You are no longer a person of the Sardin Matriarchy. From now on, the Northern Border will only have the Sycamore Tree. Of course, if you want to go back and serve your country, I have no objections. I would even gladly teleport you back for free..."
Barion, playing with the pacifier in his hands beside her, unquestioningly interrupted Hamlia's words. Among the Six Tribes of the Snowy Mountains nowadays, this Slime King was the well-deserved voice of authority.
After stopping Hamlia who had quite a few complaints beside him, Barion scratched his chin that had an unknown number of wrinkles, and muttered to himself:
"Alajina, the Ice Prince Sword... Putting it this way, I do know what that woman is thinking. The power of the Sword of the Phoenix King is too immense, completely controlling it is truly impossible. But the swords of the three Children of the Phoenix might be worth a try... The Moon Princess Sword has sunk into a deep sleep along with Valentiina, the whereabouts of the Frost Prince Sword are unknown right now, and now Alajina has the Ice Prince Sword. Perhaps we can try."
Darivuvu also looked seriously at the tottering Phoenix egg below, turning her head and saying:
"We can only try this. We must hurry. Valentiina is about to break out of her shell soon; we can't wait any longer. Have them come over immediately!"
Valentiina's consciousness had always been in the darkness, seemingly as blurry as when Chaos first emerged, yet sometimes becoming slightly clear, flashing with terrifying dreams.
She seemed to have seen a giant, golden, illusionary giant tree suspended in the universe, looking down at all living beings below resembling a god. But uniquely, when it looked at 'herself' and the 'two people beside her', for some unknown reason, Valentiina could feel a different kind of emotion...
This tree... felt like a mother... looking warmly at 'herself' just like a mother.
"Tao..."
Her soft voice was like comforting a baby in swaddling clothes, and also like an entrustment with high hopes.
"You must protect... your younger brothers and sister..."
Tao?
Who is Tao?
Have I seen or heard this name before?
Following that, the scene before her eyes abruptly changed. 'Herself' seemed to have seen a terrifying war, seemingly saw a chaotic life form descending from the sky. 'It' sang a poem formed from a certain unknown language, turning flesh and blood into a part of this poem.
It infected everything, bringing a vibrant continent into disaster, turning countless powerful life forms that Valentiina couldn't even imagine into its puppets, and snatching away 'herself's' mother...
Mother?
Valentiina was slightly startled, but her consciousness suddenly sobered up a lot.
No... This doesn't seem like what I should be seeing... This isn't me... Whose memory is this exactly?
This is...
"Tao... you must protect your younger brothers and sister..."
Valentiina's perspective gradually pulled away. Finally, Valentiina's consciousness seemed to only just now peel away from an "existence"... No, it should be that that "existence" peeled away from her own body!
Valentiina felt that the consciousness of that existence, like tree roots entwining her body, was currently being chopped apart by a sharp sword, and that existence was also getting further and further away from her.
With the stretching of this distance, Valentiina finally saw the true form of that "existence", although it was merely a back figure.
It turned out to be an eccentric little girl.
She had soft and shiny black hair, neatly tied up on her head, turning into an immortal-flight topknot style that Valentiina had never seen before. On that immortal-flight topknot, a pink and tender Peach Blossom was beautifully tied or blooming right there.
She was wearing a pale pink ruqun, exactly the same color as the flower on her hair bun. It looked very pretty, making her petite body appear increasingly cute and elegant.
But right now, she was pitifully hugging her own knees, curled up into a ball. Her expression seemed somewhat blank and helpless, letting herself drift further and further away from her.
And as this separating process occurred, Valentiina quickly discovered that frost-covered wounds were appearing out of thin air on her ruqun, as if there were sharp blades all around hacking at her body.
Scarlet blood splattered down from her body, falling into the darkness and quickly disappearing, leaving behind only a faint scent of peach blossoms.
This little girl, however, turned a deaf ear to it, as if she couldn't feel anything at all. She merely continuously hugged her knees in despair, remaining motionless.
Valentiina felt her heart ache watching this. Perhaps the kindness in her heart couldn't bear watching such a child get hurt. Her consciousness grew increasingly lucid, and she couldn't help but remind the other party:
"You... you have... wounds on your body, child..."
The moment after Valentiina spoke, on both sides of her cheeks, with a 'swish', a pair of slender and fair long ears trembled and raised up. Many tiny earrings hung on them that made 'ding-ling-dang-lang' sounds, giving Valentiina a fright.
Unexpectedly, this little girl glanced at the nearby Valentiina, then shrank back into her original posture, mumbling in passing as she spoke:
"Don't be a busybody, small fry."
"..."
Valentiina's face darkened, nearly suffocating from being blocked by a single sentence from this little girl.
She squeezed her fists, wanting to brutally hammer this impolite little brat. But very quickly, she also seemed to feel the deep, hidden despair and sadness in the other party's words...
She didn't understand why the child in front of her was so sad when she was clearly still so young...
But the wounds on the little girl in front of her grew more numerous. That scarlet, fragrant blood made Valentiina snap back to her senses. She said worriedly:
"What exactly is wrong with you? Are you really going to just be hacked to death in front of me like this?"
The little girl didn't even look at her and said:
"Everyone will die anyway, there's no harm in me dying now... Only a small fry like you, insignificant as an ant, would lament the passage of life."
"Hah, what kind of words are those? Isn't the passage of life worth lamenting?"
Hearing this, the girl before her was slightly startled, as if scenes that made her sad flashed before her eyes again. She didn't refute it, but her voice became even lower:
"You're right, small fry."
"You little brat, you really are..."
Valentiina originally felt annoyed. She felt like she hadn't been clear-headed this whole time and didn't know where she was. She had only just woken up, yet right after waking up, she encountered this little brat who didn't know her own insignificance.
She stood up, gritted her teeth, and reached out a hand wanting to grab this little brat's long ears, but didn't expect this child's speed to be astonishingly fast. In an instant, she appeared not far away, making her grasp empty air.
That child shot her a disdainful glance, then mumbled another sentence:
"What a small fry..."
Valentiina, her face dark, was instantly enraged into charging at her again. But every time she was about to get close, the other party always went to another place again, making it impossible to touch her no matter what.
As if being walked by this fellow, Valentiina got angrier the more she chased...
But in the next moment, her chasing movements abruptly stopped, and along with it, those feelings of anger also vanished.
Because she suddenly discovered that she could actually stand up.
"I..."
She looked down beneath her and saw that below her fair, naked body, a pair of flawlessly intact legs was standing powerfully in that gloomy darkness.
"I can stand up..."
Valentiina no longer went to chase the girl in front of her. She merely blankly regained her senses and looked at that girl, watching helplessly as the blood on her body increased, gradually soaking that ruqun entirely, while she still didn't care.
Valentiina hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help but ask:
"What exactly is wrong with your body? Why is it bleeding continuously?"
That little girl stopped being foul-mouthed and instead lay down in the darkness, looking like she was waiting for death. She replied listlessly:
"Someone is using those angels' Holy Artifact to hack at the place where my consciousness is lodged. The quality of this Holy Artifact is quite good. It should be forged by the angel who gained his wisdom under Michael... [Youfeile], it should be her."
Valentiina completely couldn't understand those names she was saying. She just pursed her lips, slowly walked to this little girl's side, and said:
"Then how can I help you? You can't just keep going on like this forever, right?"
"So what if it keeps going on forever? It's just death. Besides... we will all die."
"What kind of talk is this? Can you just not live just because you will eventually die? In the past when my legs were paralyzed and I couldn't live past twenty, I never once thought that way. You're still so young, why are you so dispirited instead of working hard?"
Hearing the word "young," a trace of mockery appeared on the little girl's face. She merely closed her eyes and murmured:
"...You wouldn't understand. My mother, my brothers and sister, everyone I cared about is dead. Now in this world, I am the only one left of my race. My existence has therefore lost all meaning..."
"My race... also only has me left. Besides, I haven't even met them... No, I have met them, even if it was after they died..."
Valentiina crouched beside this little girl. The originally turbid memories in her mind grew increasingly clear. In an instant, she recalled what seemed like things from not long ago.
She thought of the Turan family, thought of the Sycamore Tree, thought of the curse, thought of the Moon Princess and the Phoenixes who sacrificed for this world, and also thought of Fischer.
"They are my blood relatives whom I have never met. They placed the future of our race upon me... I'm not clear if I can achieve it all by myself... but they believed in me... I feel that I should also believe in myself. Even if I'm the only one left, I can't let down their expectations."
The little girl before her opened her eyes. Amidst the increasing scarlet on her body, it was unknown what she thought of, what she saw...
She merely suddenly turned her head to look at the adjacent Valentiina and chuckled, laughing in spite of herself:
"I completely forgot, you are a Phoenix."
"Phoenix... Yes... I am the last Phoenix..."
It was exactly the instant this thought of Valentiina's burst forth that her body seemed to undergo an earth-shattering change.
Cyan feathers covered in frost slowly blanketed a part of her body. Behind her, a pair of giant and powerful wings gradually spread open, seemingly bringing the wind and snow of the entire Northern Border.
Her posture was growing taller bit by bit, no longer retaining her previous frailty...
The light of True Ice blossomed in her eyes, bringing a bit of the Light of Destiny.
The little girl before her looked at this Phoenix lingering in the entire world before her. After a long, long time, she suddenly sat up. Along with a wondrous power blossoming on her body, the wounds on her body instantly recovered to their perfect past state...
She opened her mouth and asked:
"Small-fry Phoenix, what was your name again?"
"Small fry, you little brat, if you're going to make an introduction, introduce yourself properly!"
Valentiina stretched out her pink fists and rapped this little girl's head. This time she didn't dodge, but let that fist fall lightly onto her head, as if to beat her awake from this gloom as well...
"My name is Valentiina."
"Valentiina..."
She chewed over this name, then stood up, abruptly coming close to Valentiina, and said to her:
"I am Tao, one of the three Elf Children... Lord Tao."
In the next moment, a terrifying brilliance erupted violently in the entire gloom, as if being blasted apart by that peach blossom, thereby radiating lucidity.
Urged by that bright light, Valentiina violently opened her eyes, as if the previous opening of eyes, everything she saw previously, were all hallucinations.
What reappeared before her eyes was the bright lighting inside a room, and a scattered eggshell?
She curled up inside the eggshell, dazed, opening the eyes of her brand-new body for the first time, sizing up everything on the ceiling, yet appearing so unaccustomed to it...
"Thank goodness, Eldest Miss, you finally woke up, thank goodness..."
"Eldest Miss..."
This voice...
Was so familiar...
Valentiina blankly turned her head to look outside the broken eggshell, only to see that in the quiet room, there seemed to be only that one person outside speaking. Right now, that person was looking at her very worriedly...
That person's beautiful black hair was elegantly tied up on her head, completely wrapped in a gem-encrusted coronet, presenting an appearance Valentiina had seen countless times.
Looking at that coronet and the appearance of the person in front of her, countless memories instantly filled in their places. She blinked her eyes, yet surprisingly found that tiny, beautiful snowflakes actually drifted down from her eyelashes out of thin air due to this movement.
Had she already become a Phoenix?
But before she had time to explore her present appearance, looking at the woman in front of her who was staring at her with extreme worry, she also couldn't help but reveal a slight smile, murmuring as she spoke:
"Thank goodness. Heidelin, it's good that you're okay."
The bright candlelight illuminated the appearance of the woman outside the eggshell. Her worried expression froze slightly upon hearing Valentiina's words from inside the eggshell. Then her eye rims reddened as if she was about to drop tears.
"It's me, Eldest Miss... It's me, Heidelin... Wuwu... thank goodness, you finally woke up..."
The Phoenix of the Northern Border had finally awakened at this moment.