After steadying herself, Shumu Huali turned to the next page of the story.
Just as in the trailer, Otto Apocalypse... was walking alone through a certain place. Not a wheat field, but red sand.
He clutched his arm, his body covered in wounds, a ghastly sight. He no longer possessed his former noble elegance. It seemed that only now had he cast off every burden and revealed his true self.
He gazed into the distance, where the Imaginary Tree stood.
As Otto walked, he reflected on everything he had done. Every step seemed to drain all the strength from his body.
"Life... really is such a fragile thing!"
"When I was little, my sister died in battle... They told me her soul was immortal, that her spirit would ascend to heaven."
"Generation after generation, humanity has always been eager to deceive itself with such lies. Believing in a so-called afterlife, believing in the eternity of consciousness."
"They dress up the human world as though death does not exist... until death suddenly invades their lives and descends upon the people they love."
"Even then, they deceive themselves all the more fiercely..."
"Believing that love can transcend all things, convinced that affection can endure forever."
"Heh, indeed... love, and emotions in a broader sense, can all bring about miracles..."
"But the creators of miracles can only be those who are still [alive] at that very moment."
"As an ordinary person once deceived by them... I too once imagined that human souls existed in a higher dimension. I imagined that one day, the one I loved could return to this world through a new body and live on in a better future."
"Unfortunately, the rules of this world are not so. Death truly is the dissipation of consciousness, the end of everything..."
"We