Chapter 113: Mother, Daughter
“Bai…”
The dark-gold young woman murmured the name, the designation she had used to replace her own erased true name, now truly belonging to the silver-white girl, her “true name.”
From this moment… no, from the moment the silver-white girl had been born, from the moment she had met Neily, she had been the real Bai.
Not just any name could be a true name. It had to be acknowledged, recognized.
And a true name held the meaning of one’s existence.
Yes… to have one’s true name erased was to have one’s existence erased, to become a nameless “ghost,” or worse.
“I… am truly ridiculous,” the dark-gold young woman said, her gaze fixed on the dazzling light in the silver-white girl’s hand, a flicker of something in her indifferent eyes.
Sorrow, or longing, or envy.
The silver-white girl didn’t speak, the brilliant light illuminating her face, her weak expression now filled with a dazzling, piercing resolve, like a faint, yet undeniable, glimmer of light in an endless darkness.
“My daughter, Bai, you are very weak now,” she said, her gaze on Bai, having now acknowledged “Bai” as her true name. “In your current state, your strength is even less than when you last came to see me.”
“And this time, there is no ‘Zi’ to help you, no Dream-Illusion Fox’s strange abilities, no river of time to escape from me.”
She stated the facts, her tone calm, and she was right.
Last time, Bai’s chances of victory had been slim. This time, they were nonexistent.
But even so, she had come, her body battered and bruised, walking resolutely towards destruction, towards the Place of Divine Advent.
She knew what the end of this battle would be. Whether she succeeded or not, there was no going back.
So, she had deceived Ara, for the first, and last, time.
She had to walk to the end of her long journey alone, to meet her predetermined end.
—”Death.”
Or rather, to die with God, to end all suffering.
No matter what, even if the dark-gold young woman possessed her soul, to slay God, she would have to use the Place of Divine Advent as a vessel, to bury her forever.
And as a price, the “God-Slaying Weapon” would be buried with her.
Only by dying with God could she truly sever her connection to destruction, could she prevent her from being reborn.
That was why Zi hadn’t understood her. Because no matter what, her end would be the same.
Either at the hands of the dark-gold young woman, or forever buried in the void of the Place of Divine Advent… and the latter would be even more painful, more torturous.
But in the end, Zi had decided to help her, because she had seen in her the shadow of the little foxes, a resolute determination to walk a hopeless path.
“Yes… Mother,” Bai said, closing her hand, and the light from the emotions hidden deep within her faded. “Your goal has been achieved. I am powerless… in the past and in the present, I am the weapon you forged.”
“From the very beginning, you anticipated all possibilities. No matter what I chose, even if I bypassed the Place of Divine Advent and faced God directly, you would have taken my place then… wouldn’t you?”
The dark-gold young woman didn’t deny it. “Tens of thousands of years of solitude, a long, boring time. I’ve waited for so long. I couldn’t possibly fail.”
“But I am not willing,” Bai said, her head held high, her dark-gold vertical slits for eyes meeting her mother’s, a brilliant light in their depths.
“No matter what, my fate is mine to control, because I carry the hopes of all. Even if the final end is destruction, I will not entrust it to another—even you, Mother.”
“But my daughter, Bai, you have no choice.”
The dark-gold young woman walked towards her, her long hair floating around her, a silent, menacing presence.
“I want to kill you, and I don’t even need the Word of Command. A single touch, and your consciousness, a flickering candle in the wind, will be extinguished.”
“And then, all you’ve said will be meaningless.”
Bai was silent for a moment, then she chuckled softly.
“Heh… you still don’t understand, do you, my mother.”
“Hmm?” the dark-gold young woman paused. “What should I understand?”
“To stand here, that is the meaning of my journey,” Bai said, and a standard-issue Knight’s longsword appeared in her hand, and she slashed at her. “Even if the path ahead is uncertain, I will cut through all obstacles, no matter if I fall along the way…”
The dark-gold young woman waved her hand, and the attack was neutralized, the sword dissolving into nothing.
But then, Lin Yan’s sword, the pure frost longsword, Shaya’s blood blade, Vivian’s Knight’s longsword, all appeared, all aimed at her.
But they couldn’t even get close. They were annihilated a few feet away.
“Why bother?”
To her, Bai’s struggles were as futile as a child throwing stones.
“Why… when everyone else has despaired, has accepted the fate of destruction, why do you refuse to fall? Even if you can’t change the outcome, why do you still struggle?”
She reached out, and no matter how Bai tried to dodge, she couldn’t escape her slow, deliberate fingers.
Her fingertip touched Bai’s forehead, a cold, chilling sensation.
“That’s enough. I’m tired.”
A brilliant golden light erupted from her finger, and her hair also turned a brilliant gold, her dark-gold eyes, once so sinister, now a majestic, golden hue.
Bai didn’t close her eyes. She stared at her mother, at the will of the Place of Divine Advent, at the ancestral dragon.
“…”
Suddenly, she smiled.
Not Bai, but her mother.
It was… a smile Shaya, who had been with her for so long, had never seen, a smile filled with a deep sadness, and a hint of a doting affection.
“So, I’ll leave it all to you, Bai.”
The dark-gold young woman opened her arms and embraced the weakened Bai, her lips gently touching her forehead.
“You are my daughter. What reason do I have not to believe in you? And who else is more important to me than you?”
“No one… so, do what you must, Bai. No matter the outcome…”
A brilliant golden light flared, and after a brief, glorious moment, only an endless darkness remained, the whispering phantoms now gone.
“From now on, the emotions, the memories, you carry, a part of them will also be mine.”
