Volume Five: Return from the Other Shore - Blood Flower

Strands of blood appeared on the ground.

The sky was stained crimson.

This was an absolutely nightmarish and bizarre sight.

It resembled the blood-soaked hell described in religious texts.

"W-What is this?!"

"Blood! So much blood!"

"An enemy attack? Where!?"

Blood rose to the surface.

Large amounts of blood seeped from the ground, increasing rapidly. At first, it only wet the soles of shoes, but soon it reached above the ankles, rising at an alarming rate. It was as if all eighty or ninety thousand paladins, including Jack, had been thrown into a giant container, and someone was pouring water... no, blood into it from the outside.

Kara... Kara...

Just as Jack was about to give a loud command to the paladins not to panic, Jack suddenly heard a strange sound.

It evokes the image of ice, but it's not quite the same.

On the surface of the building, brilliant red crystals were spreading, first condensing and climbing up the columns, pipes, and eaves, and then spreading out on the walls. He had never seen such crystals before. They were like all the beautiful reds pieced together, shimmering slightly in the blood-red shadows cast by the sky. They were so beautiful and so dazzling, yet they instilled in him an instinctive fear.

The familiar Papal Army base was completely unrecognizable.

It was completely enveloped by this bloody yet magnificent space.

A completely different world.

"What... what the hell is going on?! My supreme god, I pledge my loyalty to you!"

With his roar, the longsword in his hand emitted a dazzling light. This was a precious sword personally bestowed upon him by His Holiness the Pope, blessed by three generations of Prayer Goddess, an indestructible divine weapon. Coupled with his unparalleled wind control abilities, even Saladin, the Fourth Seat warrior, could only fight him to a draw. How could he be intimidated by this bizarre sight? (Author's note: Kid, wake up! Among the Templar Knight, only Uncle Yu Jie is a true top-tier Special Class Combatant. You bunch of idiots are lucky if you're not played to death in the organization.)

But in the next instant, his precious sword fell with a thud into the knee-deep pool of blood below, disappearing in the blink of an eye, as if it had been rusted away in an instant.

My head feels so heavy.

Weakness in the limbs.

He couldn't even grip the sword.

"Gurgle... Ugh? What's wrong...?"

My vision became blurry.

Her legs seemed to be made of syrup.

Look up at the sky.

I noticed that, without me noticing, thick clouds had obscured the sky; the clouds were a dark red, as if they had been washed with blood.

Raindrops began to fall.

Red rain of blood.

Blood and tears shed from the sky.

It rained on me.

This same sense of powerlessness begins to spread from the parts that come into contact with the Blood Rain.

"This rain... can make people... lose their strength!"

No, it's not just physical strength! My energy and spirit have also become weak!

We must immediately use divine magic to regain our composure and begin our self-rescue!

However--

Before launching the operation, Jack smelled a fragrance.

It has a very faint, delicate fragrance; you can barely smell it unless you sniff carefully.

Is it the scent of flowers?

If so, what flower's fragrance would it be?

It is very understated, lacking any sense of glamour, and instead evokes a feeling of sadness.

Yes... it's sadness.

The moment he smelled it, Jack's restless heart calmed down. The impatience to eliminate the enemy vanished, replaced by a strange sadness. It wasn't a heart-wrenching grief, nor was it a restless depression; this feeling was more like homesickness—very faint, yet capable of evoking a deep resonance in the soul, making one unconsciously immerse oneself in it.

It felt like stepping back into my childhood, to a lower-class noble family in a remote northern town. My loving parents, the stern old butler, the kind nanny, the efficient kitchen hand, my crybaby siblings, and myself, aspiring to become a great paladin...

Today, my childhood dreams have been far fulfilled, but where are those people now?

The year he became Templar Knight, his hometown was struck by a devastating white blizzard, the worst in a century, which cruelly claimed the lives of hundreds, including his parents and siblings who happened to be traveling outside the city at the time. When he proudly led his troops back home to visit his family, all he saw were the ravages of the snowstorm and countless frozen corpses. The despair he felt then remains vivid in his memory to this day; it was an emptiness in his heart that no amount of honor or merit could fill.

Now, the figure of that person from the past reappears before his eyes.

This was a sea of Lycoris radiata, countless crimson blossoms surrounding him. Beyond the flowers, his father, mother, brother, and sister smiled and waved to him. Happiness radiated from every face. Jack felt as if he had been transported back to the past, back to the carefree and joyful days of his childhood...

The Lycoris radiata were in full bloom, beautiful, vibrant, alluring, awe-inspiring, and abundant. Countless slender petals, like winter snow, drifted in the wind carrying a faint scent of blood. In this breathtaking scenery that could make one forget everything, Jack's consciousness began to blur. It wasn't weariness or exhaustion, but rather the peacefulness of a child falling asleep in their mother's arms.

So comfortable... Really, so comfortable...

I've probably not felt this relaxed in a long time.

Although it was only for a moment, Jack even had the thought that "it might not be so bad to die like this."

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, his vision grew increasingly blurry, the world tilted, and he fell to the ground, into a sea of Lycoris radiata, enveloped in their delicate fragrance, and drifted into a deep sleep.

In the last instant, an unfamiliar scene appeared in my blurred vision.

A crimson sky, blood-stained earth, countless fallen soldiers—

"--!?"

A flash of lightning struck his mind, and Jack was jolted awake as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. His eyes widened instantly, and the reality that greeted him made him realize the truth.

The blood-red sky was covered with dark red clouds.

The blood gushing from the ground was already above knee-deep.

Crimson crystals covered all the buildings.

Countless swords and blades were haphazardly stuck in the ground, and countless tattered suits of armor were piled up like mountains.

It was as if a fierce and tragic battle had just taken place here.

But... what about his tens of thousands of soldiers?

"... ah..."

At first, he thought they were small flower beds.

A few seconds later, he realized what he had seen.

Nearly 90,000 paladins and Divine Spellcaster have been reduced to corpses lying in the pool of blood.

Each corpse was covered in red flowers, countless Lycoris radiata growing from their bodies, blooming in the gaps of their armor like patches of red clouds, proclaiming their deadly beauty.

The flower of life, the flower of death—each flower is a condensation of the life that the corpse once possessed.

Such a scene can probably only be described as poignant and beautiful.

"Ugh... Guh... Ahh..."

I wanted to shout, but all I could make were muffled whimpering sounds.

He wanted to stand up and fight, but his body was completely immobile, as if it didn't belong to him.

I want to deny reality, but it's all so real that there's no escaping it.

Just then, Death appeared.

A very young woman, who looked to be only twenty years old.

A face as beautiful as a nightmare.

Long, peach-pink hair fluttering in the wind.

A scarlet right eye that reveals absolutely no emotion.

A golden left eye that gleamed with an eerie light.

Blood splattered from his slightly raised right hand.

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It can't be wrong.

She is the culprit behind this tragedy.

The woman stood there for a moment, then walked forward.

Two equally beautiful girls chased after her. One was a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl with pink gradient hair, and the other was a little girl with black hair tied in a ponytail who looked to be under ten years old.

They seemed to be calling out, "Mommy, slow down," in a pleading tone.

A single mother taking her two children for a walk?

If he weren't in this Blood Prison Space, Jack probably would have really thought that way.

"Ugh... Ugh..."

Jack's gaze was filled with murderous intent as he looked at her, but the woman didn't even glance at him. It wasn't so much that she didn't notice him, but rather that "although she realized there were still people who weren't quite dead, she ignored them because they were too troublesome."

What... joking... you, Blasphemers... the Supreme God's... divine punishment... will come one day...

My thoughts abruptly ended there.

Jack's consciousness was plunged into complete darkness.

The sky was full of stars, the March sun shone brightly, insects chirped in the grass, and a refreshing night breeze blew.

A typical outdoor night view.

In stark contrast to Gloria, which is filled with magnificent white stone buildings, there is no trace of human civilization.

By continuously navigating the underground waterways, the two finally managed to escape Gloria.

"Alright, your body reconstruction is now basically complete."

Sin Annihilation straightened up and wiped her sweat, even though she hadn't actually broken a sweat, and the entire job only lasted a few minutes.

Thank you so much...

Nid tried to turn his new eyes to look at his body. His new limbs were still wrapped in gauze and he could barely move them. The shocking wounds on his body had mostly healed, and the iron nails, steel pins, insect eggs, and other debris that had remained in his body had been cleaned up, but there was still a strange sense of unease about it.

"It might feel very strange right now; you'll need a few days to get used to it."

"Oh, thank you... but how strong are these new limbs?"

"The performance will only be better than before, and since it's made from my flesh, it might also provide some enhancements to your body."

As he spoke, Sin Annihilation took a banana leaf, which he had broken off from somewhere and was at least two meters long, and covered—or rather, threw— Nid with it as a blanket, before walking away.

"Thank you."

Your body needs sleep.

Sin Annihilation simply uttered a sentence, and then many small, winged eyeballs sprouted from its body, landing in the surrounding bushes as sentinels.

"Goodnight... it seems like most people say these two words before going to sleep."

As Sin Annihilation turned to leave, she tilted her head, as if remembering something.

"Oh, right, your body seems to need dinner."

"Thank you for remembering..."

"Actually, it's very easy to handle." With a thud, Sin Annihilation pulled off his left arm, the pale, smooth skin contrasting sharply with the blood gushing from the severed wound.

He placed it in front of Nid.

"Here, eat it while it's fresh. I'm going to look around."

Then, with a flicker, he disappeared into the night, vanishing without a trace.

"... well."

Nid stared at the still-bleeding severed limb and sighed.

"I don't expect to get anything normal... but please at least cook it properly."

Moreover, since his limbs were almost completely immobile, if he wanted to eat, he would probably have to crawl on the ground and bite directly with his mouth.

"Well... it's okay, at least... I made it out alive."

Looking up at the starry sky, Loxue's voice and smile appeared in his mind.

But that's just a memory.

Having walked through the gates of hell, I suppose that counts as having died once.

So, am I... resurrected now?

"Now that I've been given a second chance, I can't let it go to waste... But I'm afraid I won't be a good little brother anymore, please forgive me, Sister Xue."

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Ye Jiang's Super Evolution~