Lin Ze'an let out a deep sigh, slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again. The confusion, pain, and weakness in those emerald-green eyes faded away.
The Elf Kings around him, who had been arguing intensely in worry, along with the divine beasts and other elves.
In his eyes, they began to blur and distort, like reflections in water after a stone had been thrown in, sending ripples spreading outward.
"So... that was it."
The next moment—
"Bzzz—"
An invisible will swept silently outward from Lin Ze'an at its center.
Like a fleeting dream.
Everything around him rapidly faded and turned transparent, eventually transforming into specks of flowing light before vanishing completely.
It was as though the entire world had been muted and drained of color, returning to absolute nothingness.
Only Lin Ze'an himself and... the Tree of Life before him, still radiating light, remained real.
No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that, at this moment, only Lin Ze'an was real.
He quietly gazed at the Tree of Life before him, which bore countless hopes as well as endless pain.
"The long dream... should end."
"The power that has wandered afar... should return as well."
As his words fell, Lin Ze'an slowly raised his right hand toward the Tree of Life.
"Come back."
The next instant, a sudden change occurred!
The towering Tree of Life, which supported all worlds, abruptly let out a deafening roar like countless leaves rustling at once the moment Lin Ze'an finished speaking.
The entire colossal tree, from its crown to its roots, began to emit a dazzling emerald-green radiance.
Immediately afterward, the massive form of the Tree of Life began transforming, at a visible speed, into countless specks of pure life energy.
Those light specks gradually gathered into endlessly surging rivers of