noveltune Chapter 369 Interlude: The Past of the Old Gods
Chapter 369 Interlude: The Past of the Old Gods
Chapter 369 Interlude: The Past of the Old Gods
The fall of the Shadow World continues, while the storm raging over the Irish Sea is slowly subsiding.
The raging winds that had been sweeping across the sea finally began to subside.
The howling wind, which had been like a vast army passing through, gradually weakened. It was no longer a deafening roar, but turned into a low whistling.
The dark clouds in the sky stopped surging rapidly, their edges began to calm down, and their color was no longer as dark as before. Gradually, a sliver of silver light shone through the previously chaotic sky.
The light was initially very faint, as if it were cautiously peeking out from the distant horizon.
As time went by, the silver light grew stronger, gradually widening the gaps in the dark clouds and spilling onto the sea surface.
The bright moonlight soaked into the black seawater, and the surging waves were no longer raging. The huge waves began to recede slowly, as if a dancer had finished a thrilling performance and was slowly returning to calm.
The power of shadow dissipated in the moonlight, and the dark seawater gradually returned to its original state, crashing against the rocks on the shore wave after wave with the rhythm of the waves.
On a cliff overlooking the coast, stood a beautifully dressed young woman.
She wore a gorgeous evening gown, its vibrant colors blurred by the darkness, and the hem of her dress was whipped about in the evening breeze, making a fluttering sound.
The girl's fair face was faintly visible in the night. Gazing at the rapidly shrinking shadow on the horizon, her beautiful face was filled with doubt and solemnity.
Beside her, an elderly butler held an umbrella. His white hair was disheveled in the wind, but he held the umbrella steadily, seemingly unaffected by the gale.
"Miss, it seems the calamity here has already been resolved ahead of time."
The noblewoman gazed at the distant sea emerging from the darkness, a flicker of something unusual passing through her eyes.
"Yes...it's already been resolved..."
She murmured softly, her expression somewhat complicated.
"Am I still too late...?"
The splashing waves against the umbrella made a crackling sound, as if reflecting her turbulent inner world.
The white-haired butler stood silently beside her, his eyes filled with worry, yet also with a hint of relief.
"But...this is also a good thing for us, isn't it?" The old butler opened his mouth, then said in a deep voice.
Rather than risking your life, someone has helped us solve this problem, and you are now free.
"free?"
The noblewoman slightly raised her head, gazing at the distant sea, where the surface shimmered, echoing the faint light of the distant lighthouse.
It's been a long time since I've heard this word in vocabulary.
She took a deep breath, feeling the sea breeze blowing, its salty scent ruffling her hair.
Closing her eyes, the various memories that surfaced in her mind made her already unsettled emotions even more chaotic.
"Our Rosedale family has guarded the seal of the Shadow Kingdom since the time of King Arthur. To prevent those monsters from the shadows from escaping and wreaking havoc on the world, each ancestor has been prepared to die. Our family's sacred artifact exists to reseal the Shadow Kingdom..."
After a pause, the noblewoman tilted her head slightly. "Now you're telling me the calamity of the Shadow Kingdom was resolved ahead of schedule?"
"Resolved ahead of schedule?"
The noblewoman's voice trembled slightly.
The old butler sighed softly. He knew how much his young lady had paid for all of this, and he also knew how difficult it had been for the family he was loyal to.
Throughout millennia of conflict and countless dynastic changes, the Rosedale family has never forgotten its mission, nor has it forgotten Merlin's prophecy: the shadows will eventually return, and the entire world will be doomed.
To prevent this prophecy from coming true, the ancestor, one of the Knights of the Round Table, abandoned her original surname and changed it to Rosdale. She lived a life of seclusion, and from each generation of her children, one was chosen to use the relic, with the aim of sealing it back when the Land of Shadows returned to reality.
However, sacred objects are not something ordinary people can use. If it were the ancestors of the Rosedale family, they might have been able to wield them with their extraordinary bodies. But after a thousand years, their family's bloodline had long since faded. Later, the appearance of the Rainbow Crystal Flower gave them hope again.
The dazzling magical light brings miraculous power to the world. Only by becoming a magical girl can the Rosedale family be qualified to use sacred artifacts.
Since then, the Rosedale family has become one of the few families in the world that produces magical girls as heirs, and the "sacrifice" chosen by the Rosedale family in each generation has changed from male to female.
The young girl standing before the old butler at this moment is the one who has sacrificed herself in this generation.
She had long been prepared to sacrifice herself for this day; wielding the power of a sacred relic comes at the cost of one's life, and even a magical girl is no exception.
She had also felt lost and in pain. She couldn't understand why she was born into such a family, as if her fate had been predetermined from birth.
She also longed for the life of ordinary people, to go to school and make friends like a normal person, but she knew that this was just an unrealistic wish. The moment she was chosen, her fate was sealed.
After going through those incredibly painful days, she finally chose to accept her fate. She gave up her simple and free life and took on that heavy responsibility.
If sacrificing herself could save the world, that wouldn't be a bad outcome—that's what she told herself.
She never imagined such a situation would occur. The bad news was that the end of the world had come and she was late. The good news was that she wasn't actually late; rather, an unknown entity had resolved the end of the world for her in advance.
At this moment, she was unable to describe her feelings in words. If this was the outcome, then what was the point of everything she had experienced since childhood? What was the purpose of her family's unwavering commitment?
Just as the noblewoman was deep in thought, a pure white colt slowly walked over and affectionately nuzzled her arm.
"Congratulations, Afran, you are free."
"Yes, Nemia..."
The noblewoman, known as Afran, gently stroked the white colt, a complex smile on her face.
"I finally..."
"I'm free..."
Above the Shadow World, with the fall of the Shadow Kingdom, the entire world began to become unstable. This dimension was originally formed by the lives of Scáthach and countless shadow races. Now that it had lost its energy source, the shadow power gathered in the Shadow World surged wildly towards the Shadow Corridor.
"Run! The space here is about to collapse!!"
Feeling as if the whole world was collapsing, Chang Lei suddenly appeared on the roof of the steam train and shouted loudly to Qin Nan and Tan Zhixin, who were not far away.
Qin Nan flapped her wings, constantly dodging the falling rocks. After hearing Chang Lei's voice, she subconsciously looked in Tang Zijun's direction, only to find that Tang Zijun and Scáthach had already disappeared into the darkness.
Seeing this, Qin Nan couldn't help but speak up. "Tang Zijun hasn't escaped yet!"
"Never mind him. If we don't leave here soon, we'll all be swept into the spatial turbulence. I can already feel the inversion passage being affected," Chang Lei replied, holding onto the front of the car with one hand.
"But"
"Don't worry, Tang Zijun won't die that easily." Tan Zhixin transformed into a green streak of light and arrived beside Qin Nan. "Don't forget, he's a god in the Mirror World; we must believe in him."
"this"
Hearing this, Qin Nan bit her lower lip and turned her gaze back to the direction where Tang Zijun had disappeared, her eyes filled with worry.
Although she didn't want to do it, there was no time for her to hesitate. After a brief moment of thought, Qin Nan gritted her teeth, turned around, and flew towards Chang Lei's direction with Tan Zhixin.
"What about those people down there?" Tan Zhixin asked softly as she landed beside Chang Lei.
"That was just an illusion I extracted from Qin Nan's memories. Once the power of greed is exhausted, they will naturally dissipate," Chang Lei shrugged. "But judging from the current situation, they will likely be the first to die in the spatial collapse."
"I'm not talking about Sir Skull and the others, I'm talking about Katie and the train conductors," Tan Zhixin said quickly.
"Ah, them? Then there's even less to worry about. Katie's true form is this train, and the train conductors she summons are all illusions. You can think of them as a fallen version of the Dominator." Chang Lei waved his hand, then shouted loudly, "Time to go, Katie!"
As if to confirm Chang Lei's words, the golden train's smoked meat suddenly spewed out white steam, then rushed upwards and plunged into the shadowy corridor.
And below, in the gradually collapsing shadow world.
The deformed, fleshy mass, formed from countless shadows, was constantly writhing. Above it, Tang Zijun, wielding two earth-riding swords, silently watched the enormous black humanoid creature beneath his feet. On its chest, a gaping, gaping wound could be seen, with black, viscous substances constantly surging, seemingly trying to heal the wound. However, the rapidly decaying shadow aura made the process incredibly difficult.
Having lost the connection to the divine realm, Scáthach's divine power gradually began to dissipate, transforming into pure shadows and disappearing into the vast darkness.
He had persisted in this dimension for far too long; thousands of years of wear and tear had depleted his power, and compared to this moment, the combat power he had unleashed before seemed more like a final burst of energy before death.
Gazing contentedly at the Shadow Kingdom collapsing in the sky, Scáthach coughed up a few pieces of black substance.
"Cough cough... In the end... is it still like this...?"
35
Tang Zijun frowned slightly. He could feel that as Scáthach's divine power dissipated, the maddening voices that had been serving as ambient noise were also gradually disappearing.
"We could have ended all this in a much more peaceful way," Tang Zijun said indifferently. "If you were the real Scáthach."
"...You noticed." Scáthach's gaze slowly moved to Tang Zijun.
"I only noticed it myself just now... You're no different from those deformed monsters stitched together from shadows. The only difference is that you're filled with divine power imbued with the aura of corruption." Speaking calmly, Tang Zijun's gaze shifted downwards. "I don't even know if this is your original divine power or if it's been tainted by some being."
Upon hearing this, a smile flashed across Scáthach's face. She seemed to want to raise her hand, but as soon as her palm made a move, it turned into black slime and dripped down.
"What exactly happened back then?" Tang Zijun asked in a deep voice.
Scáthach did not answer immediately, but instead looked Tang Zijun up and down with her eyes, as if trying to see through her.
After a pause, he slowly spoke. "It was a mistake... a mistake that no god wants to mention, but one that we have to face."
"You're strong... a young god... but this won't be the end..."
"They're coming...they're almost here..."
"Who are they?" Tang Zijun's eyes flickered slightly, then she suddenly realized something. "Are they those guys from the dream world?"
"You know them...you know them..." Scáthach gasped. "...Then why are you stopping me...it's the only way..."
"The only way you're talking about is to pull together all of humanity—the very people you should be protecting—using their spirits as a gateway to the dream world, and their shadows as fuel for divine power?"
"Dreams and reality cannot coexist. I spent thousands of years studying the history of that world. The war between the gods of the Void Realm and Nightmare is our best opportunity. Victory itself means sacrifice, and this is just a price we can pay."
"Do you know how many families will be destroyed by the price you so easily uttered?" Tang Zijun's eyes were gloomy.
"Your laughable mercy will ultimately leave you with nothing." Scáthach's tone was devoid of emotion, her voice even carrying a sense of oppression. "Humanity is merely a link in the chain of natural evolution. When the dream world perishes, I can use my divine power to replicate this evolution at any time..."
"Then what role did your divine power play in that war back then?" Tang Zijun asked coldly in a low voice.
Upon hearing Tang Zijun's words, Scáthach showed no reaction. He was neither angry at her words nor lamenting her past defeats. He simply stared directly at Tang Zijun.
"It's no use saying all this now..."
"The connection between the dream world and the real world has become closer... just like it was back then..."
"They will one day realize the existence of the real world... If they come... they will definitely come... When that day comes... I hope you can continue to cling to this ridiculous kindness..."
"Watch... young god..."
"Your humanity will eventually push you into the abyss..."