novelraw Chapter 610: Return of Destiny
Chapter 610: Return of Destiny
"You bastard!! What did you do to Fisher?! I will kill you!!"
Raphaela's furious roar before her caused Agreas, who had just grown half a head and hadn't even fully regained her senses, to blankly raise her head. Panting, she arduously dragged her ruined body up, finally seeing the vast, dark ocean of mud before her. Yet right now, it seemed as if a fog had risen over that mud ocean, preventing her from seeing anything clearly...
Or rather, it wasn't that she couldn't see clearly, but more like her originally bizarre-seeking instinct felt fear, refusing to continue observing exactly what kind of existence resided within it.
"Lala... lalala..."
She only felt as if she heard that shiver-inducing song from within. It made her feel terrified, a foreboding premonition rising from the bottom of her heart.
She blankly lowered her head, her brain a blank slate. Yet the Raphaela beside her was already burning with anger, naturally assuming that the beautiful woman before her was the chief culprit causing Fisher to be like this.
With a flourish of her spear, the scales over her body all stood on end, continuously spraying out steam from within.
Yet Helaire in the distance merely embraced Fisher, looking at her coldly. Subsequently, she smilingly said,
"How laughable. The polluted blessing within your body is terrifyingly close to erupting, yet you still have so much energy..."
"Blessing, what blessing? Stop your noise and quickly let Fisher go!!"Raphaela, however, completely disregarded everything. The veins on her forehead bulged. Gripping the longspear, she fiercely kicked off the ground and leapt into the air. But gazing at the boundless black mud, that trembling sensation originating from the depths of her soul still caused her body to weaken uncontrollably, resulting in the spearhead thrusting towards Helaire becoming somewhat limp.
That crimson flame burned robustly, enveloping the spearhead intending to pierce Helaire's skull. Yet she merely waved her hand gently, and Raphaela's body was tightly bound by countless rays of morning light, tugging her to a halt mid-air.
"Urg!"
Feeling the pull of the morning light, the blood-formed longspear in her hands powerlessly turned to liquid and dripped down. She gritted her teeth, still attempting to tear apart the morning light on her body. However, the disparity in rank was right here. She could only glare fiercely at the smiling Helaire below...
"Your ancestor, the origin of your bloodline, Fafnir, was bestowed a blessing by Dagon derived from his own authority. He could act as the guardian of the Crevice, freely opening the crevice leading to the Spirit World. But thousands of years ago, during the Mythic War, he was killed by a Soul Disaster. The blessing on his body thus detached, circulating along with his bloodline until returning to your body..."
Pinching the morning light, Helaire felt Raphaela's intense fear regarding the black mud near the ground. At this moment, a crimson flame uncontrollably burned on Raphaela's body. Similar to a dazzling sun, it made her soul and Dragon Horns exceptionally eye-catching.
But Helaire merely looked straight at that flame and continued,
"What Fafnir didn't know was that the blessing detached from his body had already been polluted by Chaos, turning into a ticking time bomb capable of igniting the Crevice at any time. The moment that blessing detaches from your body again, it will take effect. Igniting the [Flame of the Soul],貫通ing the passage between the Spirit World and Reality... Originally, half a year and five years ago, it should have been like this..."
Looking at the crimson flame burning on her body, the scenes from her nightmares countless times also seemed to be ignited by the fiery light of the blessing within her body right now.
She suddenly remembered that back in Pherone City, when Pherone intended to use the machinery created with soul technology to plunder her soul, such dazzling firelight similarly erupted from within her body. That firelight originated from her soul...
That was a warning bell, yet it was treated by her as wind past her ears.
Pherone didn't truly want her soul as fuel; rather, he was beguiled by the incompletely grown Soul Chaos within his own body to subconsciously release the polluted blessing of Fafnir.
At that time, she should have died and then burned down the Crevice. But, someone changed her destiny back then...
Raphaela's eyes turned red. Looking at Fisher who had already completely turned into black mud at this moment, she murmured a single sentence, recalling everything he did for her back in Pherone City.
"Fisher..."
"Yes, my poor Fisher didn't know that everything he obtained had its price secretly marked long ago. The destiny that was supposed to be borne by all of you was completely transferred onto his body by that damned fish that escaped the net..."
Even though Helaire still maintained a smile, there was clearly a fake insincere feeling mixed within.
From beneath her feet, a thread of destiny extended from within the countless black mud. That thread stretched straight ahead until it reached its end in annihilation. On this line, her figure faintly flashed, yet it seemed she had never entered this destiny, nor had she ever been discovered by any existence.
She was Helaire, she was Gui, she was Baimon, and just like countless other living beings in this world, there wasn't anything special about her. She merely silently experienced everything, ultimately meeting their end like characters...
Caleb Uz had once mentioned that the Stars were naturally the most devout audience in the world. And the master of souls evidently surpassed any Chaos-kin in this aspect.
Until one day, within the cage of the Sanctuary, she saw an existence even more precious than this world sent back from the future. From that day on, the calm destiny began growing branches like a tree, filling with countless choices.
Yet perhaps to her, the most important choices were only two.
The first was the day she finally penetrated the "Hidden" and discovered that fellow.
That fellow clad in rags with long hair covering his face finally had nowhere left to run under her long pursuit, revealing his true form from beneath the Hidden's cover. He also seemed to abandon fleeing, merely sitting on the ground with a smile, appraising the passing demi-human females with great interest.
That was a fork. One choice would continue forward, while the other would destroy all forks, returning everything to the original simple annihilation.
That day, destiny continued forward. That day, the "fish that escaped the net" was born.
The second was the death of a nun. Only then did she finally locate that treasure embedded within destiny.
That was shortly after Fisher turned eighteen and came of age. Back then, he had just lost his adoptive mother and established a close connection with the prominent princess of the Golden Palace. Much like Adam and Eve secretly tasting the forbidden fruit, they savored unripe romance, forming a continuous connection and vitality with this world desperately waiting for annihilation.
That was similarly a fork, after which lay two different destinies.
In one choice, Fisher never obtained the relic of that fish that escaped the net. His and Elizabeth's romance was destroyed by possessiveness born of estrangement. He wouldn't go to Schwari looking for Witches. He wouldn't go to the Southern Continent looking for Dragon-kin. He wouldn't discover a Whale-kin had infiltrated his school. He wouldn't know Erwind's plans, nor would he know what the Turan family in the Northern Border actually did to find the Base...
He would become the most famous professor in Saint-Nazareth. He would become the hottest human leader in the entire West Continent. He would attract even more women, yet no one would ever walk into his heart.
Then, just like everyone else, welcome the arrival of annihilation in complete ignorance.
Of course, he wouldn't return to the past, bringing destiny back to that calm line either.
Everything would be overturned. Helaire naturally wouldn't be affected, but everything else within the rest of the world would return to the starting point, return to the starting point where he wouldn't be born.
Because he returned to the past, that fish that escaped the net created him.
And once he returned to the past, the goal of that damned fish that escaped the net was achieved, until taking steps towards today.
Those world-destroying knots were all tied onto his body by the fish that escaped the net. Once the destiny of annihilation pushed forward, those agonies falling onto the world, those prices would all fall onto his body...
"Baimon! Is it you?! Are you planning on honoring your promise or not!?"
Just then, from afar, looking at all the foggy black mud, Agreas finally couldn't help but speak out to confirm. Because right now Raphaela entered within, plus she saw Baimon's signature morning light in the fog, so she immediately shouted out.
Raphaela also seemingly regained her senses. Looking at the smiling woman before her, she growled,
"Baimon... it's you! You plotted all this, forcing Fisher to use this kind of power, you..."
"Yes, everything here is because of me. But have you ever thought that very soon it won't just be here, but the entirety of this world..."
Helaire's smile gradually faded, and countless shadows fell upon her expression. That sort of immensely terrifying feeling far exceeded any walking living creature, making Raphaela quickly realize that the existence before her was very possibly far more than simply a demon.
Taking advantage of Raphaela's pause, Helaire pointed at the blazing flame burning endlessly on her body, softly saying,
"Even though you yourself probably couldn't realize it, ever since your escape in Pherone City, the explosion of the polluted blessing within your body was merely a matter of time. Even without Barbatos and Agreas sent by me, one day it would still violently erupt within your body... Barbatos beat you half to death back then and you were perfectly fine, but what about two and a half years later, after seeing Jasmine throw herself into his arms, didn't you dream about it becoming increasingly uncalm?"
Raphaela panted heavily. Only at this moment did the scenes of those plundered dreams surface one by one.
She thought of battling the sky-filling black mud. She thought of the robustly burning anger and fear. Those fluctuated not because of others, but because of herself...
"Bump!"
"I..."
Thinking of this, the blazing flame burning brightly within Raphaela's body grew even more robust, seemingly validating everything the woman before her said.
"Even without me, the blessing within your body will eventually erupt, becoming the gospel initiating annihilation. At that time, he will be incomparably full of regret for losing you. And the remaining five existences glaring greedily at this world will not spare this world either. Guided by that fish that escaped the net, he will also fight those Chaoses with even greater determination... How selfish, Raphaela. How many more times do you want him to endure such pain?"
Raphaela truly hadn't expected that the one making Fisher suffer such agony today would actually be the herself who survived Pherone City more than five years ago.
She did all this to be able to stand equally by his side, wanting to help him. Yet she didn't anticipate that the price she had to pay for surviving was currently all being borne by Fisher.
Looking at the Fisher below who turned into such an appearance, her heart couldn't help feeling incomparable remorse as well. Fafnir's blessing on her body also grew increasingly scorching due to her emotional fluctuations.
Wouldn't it have been better if she had died in Pherone City back then?
"And my fueling the flames like this is merely to create an opportunity. Right now, the Chaos within his body has fully grown, no different from the Chaos that polluted Fafnir back then. It can completely swallow the blessing about to erupt within your body, no longer letting it burn the Crevice, delaying the arrival of annihilation..."
Raphaela's body enveloped by morning light no longer resisted. She merely blankly stared at the gradually expressionless Helaire before her, softly asking,
"Then... the price?"
Helaire smiled faintly. Looking at the Dragon-kin before her, she said,
"Fafnir's blessing is bound to your soul. After its eruption, it will vanish entirely, resulting in your soul being deficient. If 'I' handle it properly, you will survive. But when that time comes, annihilation will arrive, and Fisher will undergo unimaginable trials and torments in the future...
"Conversely, if my Chaos completely swallows it, your soul will thoroughly vanish with it and die. But, the demons will return to the Dynasty, and annihilation will be delayed. And the consciousness of Fisher who cannot accept your death will likely hide. This is also the best opportunity for me to take him away..."
"Where are you going to take him?"
"A place beyond your imagination. Far away from everything here, he will be very safe together with me forever."
"..."
Raphaela was silent for a moment. She lowered her head, letting the scalding tears fall along her cheeks until they dripped into the endless black mud. As if touching Fisher's body, wanting to convey her emotions to him.
But afterward, answering Helaire was merely a simple sentence:
"Then please take him away. Return the destiny I should bear from my lover to me."
"Okay."
Helaire nodded with a beaming smile. Following that, like a black hole, a profound darkness leading to endless dark expanded behind her.
Within it, from the suppression-resisting Great Void, from The Ultimate beyond the Barrier, an illusory, indiscernible song resounded within the hearts of all souls. Right on the heels of that, she released her hand, throwing the morning light-enveloped Raphaela into the black mud.
Raphaela closed her eyes, quietly being thrown into the black mud while enveloped by Fafnir's flame.
"Puchi!"
The moment she touched the black mud, the flame on her body abruptly blazed vigorously, quickly about to transform into a pillar of light piercing the sky. Yet Helaire merely smiled faintly, letting the endless black mud tightly wrap it, burying even those flame light pillars within.
In the distance, Agreas seemed to sense something comparable to a True God rank erupting within that thick fog of black mud. Before joy could even hit her expression, in the blink of an eye she felt that thing being swallowed and corroded.
She froze slightly. Looking at the continuously dissipating flame within the black mud, she powerlessly roared resentfully towards the black fog:
"Baimon!!! You bastard!!"