Chapter 100: A Journey Through a Vast Ocean (4)
The Place of Divine Advent, once a thriving world, had been home to countless races, some of them so powerful they were considered gods.
Besides the will of the world, the ancestral dragon “Bai,” there had been other powerful beings, like “Ice,” the origin of frost, “Hong,” the master of dreams, and “Zi,” the mistress of illusions…
And all of them, besides “Zi,” had faced the destruction of the Divine Advent head-on. Even “Ice,” who had managed to send a small remnant of her people away, had remained, to face her end with her world.
Only “Zi” had fled.
And for that, “Bai” could never forgive her.
“Hmph, just words. If she truly regretted it, why didn’t she come and tell me herself?” the young woman said coldly. “With her power, it wouldn’t have been a problem for her to come to the Place of Divine Advent.”
“Because…” Bai hesitated. “She’s dead.”
To send Bai through the river of time, to appear before “Bai” in her dream form, Zi had used the last of her strength.
She had sustained Bai’s Dream-Illusion Fox bloodline, preventing it from being consumed by the river of time.
She had been clinging to life for so long, the illusion she had created a constant drain on her power.
And even if she hadn’t, she would have just… faded away, her despair a slow, agonizing death.
But now, she had seen hope, hope in the Bai she had met.
So, as she had faded away, a faint smile had been on her lips, a smile tinged with a deep, wrenching sorrow.
Success? Failure?
She would never know… and that was the most painful part.
The young woman was silent for a moment. “She should have died long ago. She’s a hundred thousand years too late. She wronged not me, but her people, and that little one, Hong…”
Although she spoke with a cold indifference, Bai could feel her sorrow, a sorrow that resonated deep within their shared bloodline, and tears streamed down her face.
“Heh, if that was her plan, to bet everything on you, then I’d say she was wrong,” she said, looking at Bai again. “No matter how you were born, no matter what our relationship is, your identity, from the very beginning, has been a weapon, a God-slaying… weapon.”
“I know,” Bai said softly.
She had known for a long time.
From the moment she had learned Ara was her substitute, from the fear and hesitation in Sister Neily’s eyes, from her strange connection to the Abyssal Lord, from Neily’s diary…
All of it pointed to a single, undeniable truth.
She was a God-slaying weapon.
Neily had known this from the very beginning, but she had never told her, had tried to shield her from it.
To let her live a normal life, even a short one, was better than to face a hopeless god.
But… all her efforts had been in vain.
And when she had finally realized this, she had left the choice to Bai.
And now, Bai was at the final step of her journey, the step that would lead to her destiny.
And before her stood the one who had created her, her “mother.”
“If you know, then you should also know that a weapon… is meant to be used,” the young woman said, her ethereal hand reaching out, touching Bai’s body.
“I created you, as a weapon. And the one who wields you, from the very beginning, has been me.”
“Whether you call me master, or mother, that has never changed.”
“I will use you to reach the awakened God, to slay her, to end all this suffering.”
“No,” Bai said, her gaze fixed on the young woman, on her “mother.” “It shouldn’t be this way. I am me. I am a God-slaying weapon, and I am my own God-slaying weapon.”
“I will stand before God, as myself, not as a substitute for anyone, and I will face my final destiny.”
Hearing her words, the young woman sneered. “You were created by me. Without me, you can do nothing. All your efforts are in vain.”
Bai was at the final step of her journey, and the young woman was at the final step of ending all suffering.
They both held to their beliefs, even though their final destination was the same.
The young woman didn’t believe Bai could face God. The hope she had waited for for so long, she couldn’t let it go.
And Bai would not let her fate be controlled by another, not even the one who had created her.
But the young woman had lost her patience. Her ethereal form began to coalesce, a brilliant, dazzling dark-gold light in the endless blackness.
A pair of cold, dark-gold vertical slits for eyes formed, and their gaze fell on Bai, and for the first time, she felt a fear of them.
And then, “Bai’s” true form appeared, a young woman almost identical to her, even in height and skin tone.
The only difference was her hair. As the dark-gold light solidified, a cascade of dark-gold hair fell, the same color as her eyes.
“I command you—” her voice was filled with an overwhelming authority, her very presence a crushing weight, “—to wither!”
—Authority: “Word of Command,” the true “Word of Command.”
A fusion of the will of the world and the destruction of God, a God-slaying weapon. That it would develop a consciousness of its own was to be expected.
But that consciousness, Bai, was an unforeseen complication in her eons-long plan.
She had been prepared to erase her from the very beginning.
And with the “Word of Command,” Bai’s consciousness began to fade, a slow, irreversible decline.
Once her consciousness was gone, her soul would be possessed by “Bai,” and she would become the God-slaying weapon she was meant to be.
“Goodbye, and farewell…” the young woman whispered, turning away, her expression unreadable.
