Chapter 167: Protect the World Where Even Ordinary People Can Smile
In the pitch-black ocean, that brilliant corona suddenly collapsed.
All the brilliance converged at that moment, gathered together, and then extinguished.
It was as if a total solar eclipse occurred at high noon, when the dark firmament and the crimson moon veiled the blazing sun.
The entire world fell into silent darkness. Whether Ancient Dragon or colossal tree, everything lost its luster.
In this painting crafted solely with black and white, with the ocean as its base and the sky as its overlay, only that bright corona spread across the dark canvas like a shadow born alongside sunlight.
A clear flame ignited in Cisel’s chest—radiant and dazzling, yet carrying a touch of illusion.
This was the Fireseed inherited by the Shoreguards to this day—power named "The Fool’s Library."
As someone who had once borne this Fireseed for hundreds of years as a Shoreguard, even though he had already passed it on, there still lingered remnants and residual heat deep in Cisel’s soul, allowing him to utilize such power once more when needed.
However, that was merely the lingering heat within the furnace ash, sparks already doomed to vanish without even a breeze.
In the years after passing "The Fool’s Library" on to Little Grey, Cisel had done his utmost to avoid using that power, hoping the residual warmth within him could last a little longer.
But at this very moment—
Cisel abandoned his previous restraint, forsaking the preservation of this remnant Fireseed, and instead released it unreservedly, erupting.
Snow suddenly began to fall in the pitch-black sky—
That was snow-white ash, the remaining embers after the firewood in the hearth had been burned to the end.
The power of "The Fool’s Library" was unleashed without reservation, enveloping both Cisel himself and the corona he had become in a distortion of time.
That was twisted time, a power called "Fate." As the leader of the Shoreguards, just like Little Grey, Cisel had also unlocked the Higher Sequence of Fate’s Sequence Grimoire and could use the corresponding abilities.
Only, the power Cisel wielded now was not "Stagnant World" or "Time Rewind" that Little Grey had once used—
Though such skills were undeniably powerful and capable of directly turning the tide of battle, this Fractured Coastline now housed five Legendary beings. Targeting all five at once meant the cost for freezing the world or rewinding time would skyrocket geometrically...
With only the faint spark left in his body, akin to rootless duckweed, Cisel simply didn’t have enough energy to support a full invocation of such abilities.
Hence, what he used now was another ability of the "Fate" Sequence—
"Life Rings"
This was a temporal ability not aimed at the entire world but targeted solely at Cisel himself as an individual, thus requiring significantly less consumption to cast.
The effect of this ability was, in truth, very simple.
In the soul of every creature that possesses the concept of "life," there are etched rings representing their age and the years they’ve experienced—just like the rings that appear on the cross-section of a tree once felled.
This was the proof of a living being’s existence and the embodiment of the concept of "lifespan."
What "Life Rings" granted its user was the power to manipulate those rings at will.
If one pushed the rings forward, the user would return to youth, their physical state briefly reverting to when they were young.
If one turned the rings backward, the user would rapidly age, cross life stages, and prematurely acquire a more mature body of the future.
Allowing the feeble elderly, whose bodily functions were near collapse and confined to bed, to once again possess the robust physique of their youth.
Allowing adolescents, still tender and not yet fully developed, to instantly step into the peak of adulthood.
Enabling the user, no matter which stage of life they were in, to obtain the optimal condition for battle... This was the most common usage of "Life Rings," functioning more like a pure support skill.
Compared to the "Stagnant World" and "Time Rewind" that Little Grey had once used, it cost less but its upper limit was also far lower.
Even with Cisel using it now, it should not have been enough to even the overwhelming power disparity at the Fractured Coastline—
That should have been the case.
...
In the flowing time and distorted fate, Cisel’s features grew increasingly aged.
Originally, though Cisel had already shown signs of aging, his hair streaked with grey, his movements and expression still bore the majesty and strength of a lion, instilling awe in all who beheld him. People knew he was still in his prime, standing at the very end of his peak.
Like a lion king who had grown old but had not yet fallen, the power of time had not conquered his proud spirit. He still had the strength to watch over his domain and pack, and to tear the throats of all intruders.
Cisel, at that moment, was truly aging at a speed visible to the naked eye. The last strand of black hair vanished, leaving only a head of pure white. His back and waist, once firm and straight, slowly hunched, and deep creases covered his aged face.
If Cisel previously resembled a lion king who had just stepped down from the mountain peak but could still walk the downhill path for a long time, now he was like an old elephant who had left the herd, lying quietly among the bones of its kin, waiting for death to arrive.
Behind him, the once-blazing corona gradually dimmed and withdrew. No longer like the midday Fierce Sun, it visibly weakened, and even its radiance became faint and imperceptible.
Not far away, Noah furrowed his brow slightly, unable to comprehend Cisel’s intention.
He knew Cisel would never sit and wait for death. "The Fool’s Library" had originated from the Gravekeepers, and Noah would not be surprised at any powerful trump cards it contained. Cisel’s desperate strike was undoubtedly perilous.
The appearance of "Life Rings" had not been beyond Noah’s expectations.
However, Cisel should have turned his Life Rings forward, returning to his youngest, peak state—when all bodily functions were at their height. Though Noah did not believe such a boost could bridge the massive gap of four versus one, it would still be a positive enhancement.
Yet, Cisel chose the exact opposite path.
In the Spiritual Sight that every Legendary could activate, Cisel’s spirit manifestation showed the Life Rings that were already densely layered, circle upon circle... marking nearly a millennium of lifespan.
Not only were the rings not turned forward to reduce their number and regain youth.
Quite the contrary, the age instead began to rotate clockwise, endlessly accumulating and growing more intricate.
Moreover, the speed of this accumulation continued to accelerate, as if in just a few seconds, Cisel’s body had undergone an eternal aging process.
His body grew older and older—so aged that even the term “elderly” could no longer describe him. He was like a half-buried skeleton in a grave, no longer distinguishable from the youthful vigor he once possessed.
Around Cisel, the blazing sun he embodied dimmed gradually.
The corona faded and diminished until it fully dispersed and vanished.
In the end—
The last trace of sunlight was stripped away by eternal darkness.
The blazing sun that Cisel had become, that immense furnace radiating light and heat without cease, was extinguished.
Only the sun’s core remained, a phantom stellar nucleus forged of pure metal.
It hung alone in the pitch-black ocean like a silent, dark dead star in the endless cosmos, drifting in the deepest part of the universe’s dark side, where eternal black and cold became the silent world’s prevailing theme.
“He didn’t choose to make himself young again and return to his peak state.”
“Instead, he accelerated the loss of his own life and willingly aged?”
Noah watched the pitch-black sea surface vigilantly, as the last ray of sunlight gradually faded. Cisel, whose life force and solar pressure had dwindled to the extreme, left Noah even more puzzled.
At this rate, none of them would even need to act. In just a few more minutes, Cisel’s life would naturally end from aging alone, without any external force.
But at the same time—
A vague premonition flashed across Noah’s mind.
At first, it was just a minuscule sense of danger, barely noticeable on a Legendary battlefield. But soon, that small seed quickly sprouted and grew into a towering tree, enveloping Noah’s entire consciousness.
Not only Noah—every other Legendary lurking in the sea.
The black dragon, whose dragon blood had been revived to rival a true Ancient Dragon, the Iron Cross King...
These powerful Forbidden Creatures all sensed, with their beast instincts or so-called intuition as Legendary beings, that something terrifying was about to happen.
Yet no matter how they prepared themselves, they couldn’t grasp the source of this ominous feeling.
...
Thousands of meters from the battlefield, on a rocky shore, Rast sat leaning against a boulder, gazing at everything unfolding on the battlefield.
At that moment, his life force was so weak it was indistinguishable from that of a small animal. Coupled with his distance from the battlefield and Cisel’s deliberate diversion of the participants’ attention, none of the Legendary combatants noticed Rast’s presence.
Among all the living beings present, only Rast, observing from afar, understood the true meaning behind Cisel’s actions.
The Higher Sequence Tiers were the path of simulating the world’s laws with the power of the human soul.
A so-called deity was the manifestation one reached at the end of this Divine Ascension path. The authority held by true gods was the embodiment of a fragment of the world’s rules. For instance, the Death God Sequence held the rules of "Death", while the Bounty Sequence reflected the laws of "Life", in contrast to death.
Cisel’s power was no different.
His Higher Sequence of "Sun" was a simulation and analysis of the rule and principle behind the sky’s blazing sun—specifically, the celestial body known as a "star".
Although it was merely a simulation of stellar construction, the power Cisel could exert as a Legendary was less than a trillionth of that of a real star. Even so, it was already powerful and unique.
Cisel’s exclusive solar domain as a Legendary was a pseudo-star created in his Mental Image World through the simulation of stellar principles using his imagination and spiritual force.
Existing in the rift between fantasy and reality, it was a manifestation reflected by the landscape of the soul. Though illusory, it could interfere with reality... Its internal structure and form of existence were no different from that of a true stellar body.
And now, under the hyper-acceleration of "Life Rings", both Cisel’s own lifespan and the simulated star within his Mental Image World were evolving at high speed.
From a vibrant prime into the twilight of their life cycle, toward the final end.
So then—
When a once blazing and powerful massive star completes its stable Main Sequence stage and enters its decline—what awaits this star in the end?
This was a question no one in the Sixth Era could answer—not even an ancient Legendary like Noah who had lived tens of thousands of years.
However, in the not-so-distant future, in the Present World where Rast lived—
The answer was printed in common textbooks. Even elementary students with a mild interest in astronomy could answer it with ease.
This was the limitation of the era—a cognitive gap that could not be crossed.
Yet in this ignorant and undeveloped age, a time where civilization had not yet been enlightened—
This elder named Cisel, through sheer force of imagination and spirit, simulated and deduced a never-before-seen finale—
The dying act of a celestial body named "star".
...
“When this battle at the Fractured Coastline ends, there will be no more Legendary beings walking the lands of the Western Continent.”
“But that doesn’t mean peace. Quite the contrary… without the suppression of the highest-tier powers, the world ahead will only become more chaotic and turbulent. Every inch of safe land, every opportunity to survive or secure resources, must be fought for with blood and bone.”
“But I really like the future you depicted. I like it very, very much.”
The sea breeze carried Cisel’s frail and indistinct voice to Rast’s ears.
“So protect it.”
“Little Grey, and Rast—”
“Protect that beautiful world where even the humblest mortal can smile in happiness.”
Beneath the dim firmament, in a pitch-black sea as silent and cold as the deep void of space, a single starlight suddenly shone.
At the same time, the stellar core, forged of pure steel and realized through the elder’s Mental Image, suddenly collapsed.
A radiance far more brilliant and scorching than before erupted from the metallic core of that star.
It was the final elegy of a perpetually burning star at the end of its life.
It was also the most dazzling firework in the entire universe.
Its name was—
"Supernova Explosion"