The warm Core Flame of "sky" gently landed in Khaslana's outstretched palm.
The Core Flame was warm, and the wind blew his tattered golden battle robe, carrying fragments of iridescent feathers that brushed against his cheeks.
Khaslana held the Core Flame, stood on the edge of the cloud cliff, in the gradually brightening, true dawn, and remained silent for a very long time.
He raised his hand and touched his cheek.
"Yes, your sun is powerful enough to burn everything..."
"But how... will the seeds of a new world... take root and sprout?"
" The Core Flame rises, the sky falls. The 23,570,000th cycle of reincarnation has come to an end."
"This time, the end of the Flame-Chase... is no different."
Khaslana's voice was utterly calm, "What rises on the horizon is a pure gold unlike anything the world has ever seen before, so pure it could burn everything..."
"This is the end of the world, and the beginning of the next..."
"In a daze, I saw the ' Destruction ' of the universe."
"That being known as the ' Iron Tomb '... its will to break free from the Black Tide is more intense than the blazing sun..."
"Is this the wrath of Amphoreus?" Khaslana asked himself, "If, in some mysterious way, its choice was already predetermined..."
"Then I will absolutely refuse to comply..."
"Twenty-three million five hundred and seventy thousand cycles, two hundred and eighty-two million eight hundred and forty thousand Core Flame..."
"There's no need to chase after anything anymore; now, I am the blazing fire at the end of the long night..."
" Flame-Chase is not a leisurely stroll through a sea of flowers, but a radical transformation, a revolution where everything is consumed by flames. If ' Destruction ' is its inevitable path..."
"Then I will traverse the embers of the old world, and continue to burn..."
"Until another sun rises on the distant horizon, bringing true dawn to Amphoreus."
There is one more Eternal Recurrence before the world Destruction, the 33,550,336th Eternal Recurrence.
The Hero in the Heart murmured, "33550337... This is the number of times you are about to enter the cycle of reincarnation."
Phainon remained silent. Anyone else would have a hard time recovering from the Remembrance of countless reincarnations.
Countless Remembrance... are flooding back to me. Countless versions of myself... have stood in the same place, facing the same choices.
"They, like you, need to pause here for a moment to process the sorrow, pain, and struggle that have accumulated over countless cycles," said the Hero in the Heart.
"And you, like them, will carry Remembrance and flames... into the chaos of new life."
"I must set off... and I must bear the burden."
"I must say goodbye to you, and then... continue to fight ' Destruction ' against ' Destruction '."
The Hero in the Heart nodded. "Yes, you always make that kind of decision."
"I will burn... I will burn out. I will become the Flame Reaver in this life, to fulfill my promise to Cerydra."
"I will kill gods and my comrades, and steal the Core Flame. Even if my reason turns to ashes along with my body, I will remember my mission..."
"I will stop the Re-Creation of the universe; I will find that newly born 'me'... and let him continue his futile efforts for thirty million lifetimes."
"... It seems you're ready to depart. Then, it's time for me to leave too."
"Where... are you going?" Phainon looked at the Hero in the Heart. "You only live in my heart. Where... can you go?"
"Do you remember what she said? Your childhood dream, the prophesied ' Savior,' a real, living person..."
You've finally found her.
Xing's figure gradually overlapped with the Hero in the Heart, and when Phainon came to his senses, Xing was already standing in front of him.
"Star..."
Xing was also a little dazed. Just a second ago she was watching this scene from the " Eternity " audience seats, and the next second she was transported into it?
"I... got caught up in your Remembrance."
"I see, because you were there too..."
Phainon apologized to Xing, "I'm sorry, I should have taken you home. This was my Journey of Flame-Chase, it had nothing to do with you..."
"No. You should know that if the Iron Tomb is born from Amphoreus's destiny, it will bring terrible calamity to the world beyond the celestial canopy. And your long, futile efforts..."
"It's precisely to rebel against that kind of ending, isn't it?"
"Through countless reincarnations, I bid farewell to each and every one of you here, yet I am powerless to change anything."
The Hero in the Heart continued, "Our exchanges have become increasingly brief. Your flames burn ever brighter, and you are beginning to resemble... pure rage, the embodiment of hatred."
"I... had no other choice,"
"I understand. You must do this to prevent the darkest fate from befalling you."
"But now, everything is different. Your perseverance has paid off, and on the distant horizon, I see... the outline of dawn is slowly taking shape, dispelling the eternal night."
"What illuminates it is indeed not the flame in my heart."
"Remember? In the initial timeline, you and Mydeimos engaged in a 'duel' before the Scales of Justice, weighing what weighed in your hearts 'something heavier than the fate of the world'."
"In your moment of hesitation, the answer you received from me... Ah, what am I saying? I am you—even though you long ago left me in your heart and went down a different path... that hasn't changed."
"Let's try again. The answer you find deep within yourself when you hesitate before the scales—"
The Hero in the Heart reached out his hand to Phainon, "Do you remember it?"
"Remember the past, and become tomorrow's heroes."
"What is heavier than the fate of the world is the determination to carry the unchangeable past and move towards the future," Phainon said firmly.
"Very well. So, Xing, my partner, my comrade... you stepped into this unfamiliar world, entangled by its heavy fate, until this very moment."
"Faced with danger, you never flinched. You saved world after world, without hesitation, imbuing the ticket on your chest with the spirit of 'hero'..."
"If I were to decide to pass through that door and embrace an ending more suited to ' Destruction ': to burn to ashes together with the god of ' Destruction ' and his Voidranger: Reaver, ignited by these hundreds of millions of Core Flame..."
"Then, this world we left behind, this homeland in my heart where hope still remains..."
"Are you willing to take on everything we bear, to return to the beginning of time one last time, to prevent the birth of the ' Iron Tomb '... to save the world we love, and to rewrite its destined end?"