Volume Five: Return from the Other Shore - Paradise Lost

"Time and time again you've been driven to the brink of despair, time and time again you've risen from the ashes thanks to your sheer number of lives—is that all you've got? That's far too predictable!"

The Blood Prison Space flickered in my eyes, and the roaring Serpent of Eden rushing towards the lady seemed not to have been released by me. Amidst the chaotic and skewed senses, only the lady's voice was clear!

"What's wrong with being monotonous? Simplicity has its own kind of beauty!"

I replied, and at the same time, the enormous Flame Wings, thousands of feet long, lashed out at the booming sound, creating a series of massive explosions in the sky—of course, without causing any effective damage!

"Simplicity and monotony are different! Simplicity contains humanity's appreciation of the so-called mundane, what remains after the glitz and glamour have faded, while monotony is merely the depleted inspiration lying in a coffin! Humans are so interesting! Two seemingly similar concepts contain completely opposite contents!"

"Does your constant claim of liking humanity stem from your love of art, which indirectly leads you to love the humans who create art?"

"Don't you understand? Ye! Yes, I love art, and at first I loved the existence that created it because of my love for art. But later—especially after meeting all sorts of people, including Warrensding —I truly fell in love with humanity, with human wisdom and greatness!"

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not really able to appreciate it!"

The torrent of blood and the torrent of sound clashed once more, and I was still at a disadvantage. Each impact seemed to tear the world apart, even though our conversation seemed completely unrelated to the battle. At this moment, the lady was the most dazzling opera singer in the world, dedicating every movement and every word to this cruel yet comical opera!

"It would be such a waste not to appreciate them! Look at them, look at us, Ye! What beautiful appearance! What elegant manners! How like an angel in behavior! How like a god in wisdom!"

"Don't be ridiculous! Angels can fall, and gods can be obliterated! You may be free to express your love for art, but is pleasure built on my pain really that great?"

"Of course! It's absolutely wonderful! I'm so happy right now, it's like I own the whole world! The essence of the universe, the primate of all things, is nothing more than this! How many wonderful episodes our existence has added to this world!"

"But in my eyes, what does a life sculpted from clay matter?"

As she spoke, the towering pillar of fire condensed into countless Lycoris radiata, seeping into the hurricane stirred up by her voice. Originally intended to use life (petals) as fuel to ignite an explosion, it now seemed more like scattering flowers for her in the opera!

"What does it matter? Indeed! This magnificent world, adorned with all its wonders, is nothing more than a collection of filthy miasma once you peel back the layers! But so what? The flowers that bloom proudly amidst the filth and miasma are the truly beautiful ones!"

"Yet the flower of my life will forever bloom on the other shore, blooming on the shore of the Blood Sea!"

The giant crystal wall that had been created once again shattered with a deafening roar, and each flying fragment transformed into a Lycoris radiata. These flowers neither burned nor exploded; they simply fluttered down, falling into the ever-deepening Blood Sea. The scene was both poignant and eerie.

Exhaustion made me breathless, but she remained perfect. At that moment, she was still playing with the small fan in her hand, looking down at the sea of the Blood Sea, and sighing.

"A flower of life blooming in such hell... Is this a waste of nature, or a different kind of beauty?"

"Huff... huff... that's hard to say, maybe it's a combination of both... Eden, have you heard of it?"

I don't know.

"I don't know... Of course, this is the mythology of my homeland, a world so pure it's almost tiresome. The ancestors of humankind could live happily there forever as long as they obediently listened to the gods and didn't eat the fruit of wisdom..."

"Then what's the difference between them and livestock? Are you telling me this story to suggest that human artistic wisdom is no different from that of livestock?"

Despite saying that, she crossed her arms and lifted her magnificent breasts with great interest, looking quite intrigued.

"And then? Even though it's a terrible story, it's not right to keep a lady in suspense."

"Then... the man and woman, tempted by the serpent, ate the forbidden fruit, bearing original sin, but also truly gaining wisdom... and thus they were expelled from the Garden of Eden by God... it seems a bit tragic, but I really like this ending."

Why?

"Because... I hate being bound, I hate handing my fate over to others, I hate the lack of freedom in my heart... If it were me, I'd probably rather feel guilty than not pluck the forbidden fruit and eat it..."

I raised my hand.

As I moved, the Lycoris radiata floating in the Blood Sea simultaneously burst into a boundless tide of blood, surging across the entire world and filling every corner of the Blood Prison Space.

The blood finally filled the vessel.

"And now... I will also abandon the Blood Prison Space, which is both my shield and my prison... 'To be reborn from the ashes,' that's a truly apt saying. Try this move! My strongest physical attack—"

She showed a momentary look of surprise, which pleased me somewhat.

"--Paradise Lost!"

Just how terrifyingly destructive power must an attack possess to be considered "powerful"?

Super Divine Spell capable of wiping out a city the size of Tianjin or Beijing in one move?

No, I'm afraid that's not enough.

Compared to this attack, which was enough to rewrite the topography of the West Saint Continent, it was nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

This is no exaggeration. If the explosion from Paradise Lost were to spread indiscriminately in all directions, the direct impact would exceed the combined area of Xinjiang and Tibet. The endless continental shelf would be completely blasted through, and if the location were chosen well enough, the ensuing massive changes would be enough to tear the entire continent in two.

This is my strongest physical attack—not my own, but the self-destruction of the Blood Prison Space. It fills the Blood Prison Space with blood and then explodes. Although sacrificing the Blood Prison Space is a pity, it is ultimately just a finished product. The remnants of the Blood King and the "blueprint" of the space are all inside me. I can recreate it later with some time.

However, I'm not so crazy as to drag hundreds of millions of mainland residents down with me just to eliminate that last bit of uncertainty, and I certainly don't want to hurt my hard-won companions.

So I chose to compromise. Fortunately, when I went to find Blood Fiend's hometown, I searched through the map of the West Saint Continent and vaguely remembered which direction to take if I started from Gloria in the center of the continent to avoid human settlements as much as possible.

So, hundreds of millions of people of the West Saint Continent, thank my companions! If I weren't worried about the safety of Haoyue Sakura Dance, and the others, and if I weren't afraid of being blamed by the very conscientious Xiao Wu Little Ying, I probably wouldn't have considered your safety at all.

"Faster, faster, faster!!!"

"Sister... you can do it..."

"Aaaaaaah, yes, yes, I know, please stop rushing me!!!"

"Although we hate to admit it, our lives depend entirely on you, Miss Si Nan."

"I told you not to rush me!!! And why did you have to bring such a big box! It's heavy and cramped, just throw it away!!!"

"This is the only thing I can't do; it contains the remains of the man who instinctively became my confidant."

The fiery light enveloped the surface of the flying bubbles, reflecting a dazzling luster. The bubbles, which were originally quite large, were now packed to the brim. Little Ying, Little Butterfly, Little Spider, and Nid were all crammed inside, and Nid was also carrying a large box on his back, the contents of which were unknown.

After Little Ying met up with the loli and the little girl, they started leaving the city to get away from this dangerous place. Then Nid sent another message, asking them to go through the side entrance of the Cathedral of the True God and take him with them. So this is what happened. It turned out that they were lucky to have retreated in time. No sooner had they left the Cathedral of the True God than it was engulfed by towering Blood Flame, and a hellish blood-red rift opened up from above, radiating deafening sound waves everywhere. I really don't know what kind of monster battle could cause such a commotion.

"We're already on the edge of the city!" Little Butterfly exclaimed.

"Ah... finally... finally leaving the city! I'm exhausted... Now that we're here, we don't have to worry about getting caught in the crossfire anymore..."

Little Ying had just breathed a sigh of relief when Nid's eyes suddenly sharpened. He looked towards the center of the city, his ominous premonition growing stronger...

"Don't slow down! Speed up! Faster!!!"

"W-why are you yelling all of a sudden--"

Then she saw it.

Just seconds ago, something that had been overlapping with the Cathedral of the True God detached itself. At first glance, it looked like a huge, irregularly shaped glass container filled with a crimson liquid, like...

"... Blood?"

"Run!!!!!"

Just as Little Ying frantically accelerated forward, the Blood Prison Space filled with blood finally exploded with a deafening roar! Centered on the Cathedral of the True God, the spherical Blood Flame Domain expanded outward at dozens of times the speed of sound, and all matter that came into contact with it disintegrated at the atomic level, ultimately being completely annihilated into nothingness!

Little Ying accelerated the flying bubble to its maximum speed, but the blast radius was far beyond her escape range! The Fierce Flame were already closing in behind her, threatening to engulf the four people and a corpse in the next instant—

Just then, the explosion suddenly stopped.

As if someone had pressed pause, the Blood Flame didn't disappear, but rather stopped expanding. It was more like an invisible giant hand forcefully choked them, limiting their reach. The colossal fireball, which had already enveloped the entire city and almost reached Little Ying and her group, began to tremble unsteadily, its shape twisting and contorting, changing from a radial pattern to a javelin-like shape pointing in one direction.

At this moment, the mysterious controlling force finally dissipated, and the earth-shattering explosion continued—but in a completely different direction! A surge of energy, many times greater than a nuclear explosion, roared towards one direction—behind Gloria!

The deserted outskirts of the city were transformed into hell in an instant. Fierce Flame devoured everything, melting a bottomless, gigantic canyon along the path it had taken, with the faint glow of magma from deep within the earth's crust visible below.

Even more distant, vast forests were covered up, and countless plants and animals were slaughtered because of someone's selfish desires, turning the once natural scenery into a scorched volcanic area.

The main city of Liu Province narrowly escaped the Fierce Flame heat, yet its climate was transformed into one far exceeding tropical levels. Lava canyons lay beside it, and it's likely that no one will live in this sweltering city for the next few centuries.

Flames streaked across the three major cities of the Kasser Province. People who had just awakened from their coma had no idea what was happening. The sudden scorching air and the firelight, which could be clearly seen even hundreds of kilometers away, left them stunned. Those who came to their senses hurriedly knelt on the ground, shouting that it was a manifestation of the Supreme God.

The Starfall Mountain Range were split in two by the Fierce Flame, and from the sky, it looked as if they had been cleaved open by a crimson finger, with a bottomless gash stretching all the way to the deserted coastline on the other side.

Hundreds of millions of tons of seawater were completely evaporated, and countless others poured into the abyss carved out of the continent by the Fierce Flame. When the last wisp of Blood Flame dissipated in the air, the eruption of "Paradise Lost" finally came to an end.

And I was almost completely exhausted.

Just to gather enough blood to fill the Blood Prison Space, I used up a huge amount of life (Lycoris radiata).

Hopefully, this strike will...

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Congratulations to my best buddy on passing all three exams!