"Was this where it all began?"
Richard looked at the final scene in the scroll and spoke softly.
The three great civilizations had given up their own chance at survival, utterly nailing Civilization Devourer's future shut.
As the flames dispersed, the molten-gold Runes on the Miracle Furnace seemed to come alive. They drifted out of the Furnace and merged into Richard's spiritual space.
At the same time, a spark leaped from the Furnace, transforming into the phantom of a Furnace People leader before Richard.
[My inheritor, whom I have never met, I know that you have already learned of that dreadful future, so I have given you a choice.
If you continue to hold the Furnace, you will follow that future and walk toward the end of self-destruction.
But if you believe you do not yet possess that resolve, then relinquish this Furnace and choose a new master for it.
This is not cowardice. It is wisdom.]
A mocking smile flickered across Richard's face as he looked at the Furnace People leader.
"Give it up? Hand my fate over for someone else to control!?"
Richard stared at the fiery phantom, his gaze as fierce as an enraged lion.
"This is my fate! The fate I chose!"
Richard's answer seemed to cross a million years and reach the ears of the Furnace People leader.
A smile appeared on the face of the illusion formed from furnace fire, as though it were saying, I knew I had not misjudged you.
[Then, my inheritor whom I have never met, may furnace fire light the road ahead of you. May the obstacles on that road be burned to ash by furnace fire. May your soul return to furnace fire at the end of that road.]
The next instant, the phantom shattered, and a flood