When the Mountains and Rivers End, Another Path Appears

"At 1:09 AM twenty-nine days ago, you knelt on her bed, comforting yourself while whipping yourself and calling her name thirty-seven times." The Maiden Doctor's voice was concise and effective.

Kal'tsit's mind went completely blank.

Then, it turned bright red.

"You, you..."

"You see, I only need one sentence to break down your psychological defenses. If I wanted, I could have easily modified your mind into any shape I needed without even setting up an illusion," Persephone replied calmly. "Are you still going to be stubborn, Kal'tsit?"

"I..." Kal'tsit opened her mouth, but her face instantly turned from flushed to pale.

If this isn't an illusion, then—

"You have one last chance. This is the only chance I can give you. If you still can't stay by her side during this dream journey, I suggest you get used to living alone after you wake up."

"... What am I supposed to do?"

The phantom of Persephone looked around at its surroundings.

"Go to the right front, do you see that balcony? Go over there."

The balcony was essentially a protruding, massive rock, and beneath it lay a deep, distant abyss—a few pebbles slid down with her steps, and after several dozen seconds, no sound of them hitting the bottom was heard.

"This memory will be erased. I cannot leave any trace of my existence, otherwise everything will be in vain. So I will only say this once."

The phantom of Persephone gazes into the depths of the abyss.

"Jump, Kal'tsit. Surtr might still be watching you, or he might have already left completely. You only have a 50/50 chance; it all depends on whether you dare to take the gamble."

Her form gradually faded. And the memories and traces of her appearance disappeared at a visible speed.

"Jump, Kal'tsit. It's a matter of life and death."

Chapter 184 The Mountains and Rivers End, and There Seems to Be No Way Out

Come down--

The fall was accompanied by shifting light and fire.

With a muffled thud, his back hit the ground, but instead of the excruciating pain of broken bones, he was struck.

It actually feels quite soft to the touch.

"What's wrong with you, Kal'tsit!"

As consciousness returned, a somber forest came into view—barren and dilapidated, yet with a muddy path faintly visible through the grass. A dim sun hung high in the sky, painting the heavens a gloomy white. Beneath the bleak sky and sparse trees, the eyes of the Flame-haired Girl held a hint of anger.

—Surtr is angry.

Why is she angry?

Kal'tsit blinked, suppressing a smile, and then raised her head.

—Oh... I remember now, I jumped off a cliff.

—Because she doesn't want me anymore... She doesn't want me anymore, so what's the point of me living?

She felt like something was missing, but this strange feeling quickly vanished—yes, it was her own thought, her own decision. Her own desperate gamble—that's what she felt, and she firmly believed it.

She saw the woman known as the Fire Keeper raise her hand and shower down a warm light. Something stirred within her, but ultimately yielded nothing.

"There was no contamination or implication, Miss," the Fire Keeper whispered in Surtr's ear. "This lady's decision was made by her own will, without any external interference."

She was stating a fact— Kal'tsit saw Surtr's face turn pale and bitter in an instant.

"You're in such a hurry to leave, so desperate, so resentful... even at the risk of unknown consequences. You don't want to share this world with me—"

Kal'tsit abruptly interrupted her.

"I'm not leaving, I'm staying with you." As she said this, she felt her heart pounding and her chest burning with pain.

"With me?" The Flame-haired Girl's tone rose, but her expression softened. "But I just said it's safe there. There will be many uncertain risks if you come with me—"

"I know." Kal'tsit pushed herself up from the grass. The Fire Keeper reached out and pulled her—she barely managed to restrain her instincts from swatting the hand away—she stared intently at Surtr. "But I don't like it there. I don't want to be alone. You're the only person I know in this world, and wherever you go, I'll follow you—I'll be with you!"

"... This is the first time I've realized that you can be unreasonable, Kal'tsit."

—Perhaps I've been being unreasonable all along.

Kal'tsit gently bit her lip and brushed the grass stems off her skirt.

"Just take it as me being unreasonable, Surtr. Let me go with you, or—" Her voice trembled. "I'll die again." Then she quickly added, "Anyway, anywhere is hell to me without you."

"You..." The Flame-haired maiden rubbed her temples hard—she seemed to want to say something angrily. But in the end, she slumped her shoulders and sighed.

"I don't know why you would say that, I don't know why you would do that— Kal'tsit. Let's be frank. I know you don't have a good impression of me, and in fact, I'm almost fed up with it myself... Never mind the past. But in any case, I will always have respect for you."

"You can come if you want. I won't interfere with what you plan to do. But I'm going to do something big, and if you see any danger, I hope you can protect yourself."

"I won't hold you back!"

"I didn't mean to hold you back. I meant..." The Flame-haired maiden let out a long breath. "Don't worry about me when we're in danger, just run."

She received no response.

Because Kal'tsit just gritted her teeth, clenched her fists, glared at her, and didn't say a word.

This could perhaps be considered a response.

The Flame-haired maiden twitched her eye and turned her gaze to the Fire Keeper beside her.

"I don't sense any powerful presence around me, and this isn't the Sunken Church we arrived at during the last teleportation— Fire Keeper, where have we been transported to?"

"This is the forest near the Sunken Church, miss." — The Fire Keeper replied a few minutes later.

"The teleportation was disrupted, probably because our last arrival alerted the White Sect monks—I sensed a barrier in this forest that obscures spatial coordinates. No matter how we teleport here, we shouldn't be able to reach the church deep within the forest."

"... How long has it been since we last came here?"

"Eleven days, Miss. Lord Aldrich of Cinder should have stabilized his form by now, yet I can still sense the presence of firewood here. This proves that he has control over this chapel. Perhaps he has already organized a guard, or perhaps he is waiting for your return."

Miss Surtr lowered her eyes.

The second time I came... Indeed, the first time, my body hadn't been strengthened much at all. My power was quite weak, and unlike in the God Slayer world, I couldn't use various methods to stimulate my body for a temporary burst of power. After all, I was Ashen Body, with fire flowing in my veins instead of blood. And since I was already burning, the idea of reigniting my flesh, blood, essence, spirit, and will was naturally absurd.