I don't want to be an elf!

At the end of his life, young Swan left behind his final wish.

"I also sincerely wish that you can always soar in the sky, and never have to be covered in mud like me."

Chapter Sixty-Two: The Last Legacy

As the spirit crystal was extracted, the source of distortion that had merged with it fell silent.

Swan's consciousness space will soon disintegrate and disappear completely from this world.

Tohka Yatogami felt slightly sad.

With the passing of this sage, an era came to an end, and once again, he died for his ideals.

Although it was a bit of a regret that he couldn't witness the day the ground was reclaimed, it was still a somewhat satisfactory ending for him.

With the collapse of the consciousness space, Tohka Yatogami's consciousness finally returned to her body.

She slowly opened her eyes.

Just as she was about to sigh to express her frustration, her breath suddenly caught in her throat.

"!"

A jet-black skull floated on her face, staring intently at her.

Before the startled Yatogami Tohka could even think, the skeleton was pointed at her face, and without a second thought, she instinctively threw a punch.

"Hey hey!"

Black Candle Lord reacted very quickly, rising abruptly to dodge the attack: "Why are you so violent, girl! Every time you see me, you want to fight!"

"I told you not to scare me!"

As her consciousness gradually returned, Tohka Yatogami realized that the skeleton in front of her was the true form of Kurokatsu.

Sure enough, she still wasn't used to suddenly coming into contact with the skull.

That said, can this thing actually move on its own?

She had previously seen him being pushed around in a wheelchair by orc maids, and she thought he was incapable of moving around.

It seems he's just lazy.

She shook her head, braced herself against the ground, and was about to get up when she felt something pressing on her palm.

Upon closer inspection, the object in his hand was a jet-black spirit crystal.

"It seems the mission has been successfully completed."

Having also seen the spirit crystal, Black Candle Master said cheerfully, "As expected, my idea was right. You will definitely be able to complete this task."

"So, the floating islands are safe now, right?"

“Of course.” Black Candle used his magic to lift a cube containing the curse sealed within Swan’s body. “This is Swan’s original curse, which I have already sealed. It will probably be long before the remaining curse remnants on the second floating island are reduced to a level that is harmless to ordinary orcs.”

"This is beyond my control. Don't blame me if anything goes wrong."

"However, guiding the spirit crystal should be a simple task. What just happened? You fainted?"

“Swan pulled me into the realm of consciousness.”

Upon hearing Yatogami Tohka's answer, Kurokatsu was taken aback.

But soon, even without further explanation, he figured out what had happened.

After a moment of silence, he said with a sense of loss, "I didn't expect that guy's consciousness to be attached to the spirit crystal. I thought he probably died when the curse went berserk."

“Not only did he not die, he also figured out the method to refine the fragments of the Star God’s soul.” Tohka Yato pointed to her head. “In the consciousness space, he passed on this part of his knowledge to me.”

"Anything else?" Black Candle Master pressed. "Besides this, did he leave me any last words?"

"There were some last words, but they were for William."

"Nothing... was left for me?"

"No."

"Damn it! That old bastard!" Black Candle Master was furious, "We've been cooperating for five hundred years, and the last thing he thought of before he died was that William instead of me! Believe me or not, I'll throw his ashes down the toilet!"

The ashes clearly refer to the original curse sealed by the Black Candle Lord.

Their relationship is quite complicated. They were enemies before, but are now partners. Although they argue from time to time because of their positions, they have been getting along for five hundred years with some bumps along the way. Their relationship can't be called good, but it can't be called bad either.

Black Candle Master even felt a sense of kinship with this guy.

He had thought Swan would leave him some words before he died, but to his surprise, the bastard didn't mention him at all.

"Forget it, if you don't have it, you don't have it. I don't care anyway!" Black Candle Master said grumbling. "Girl, copy down the refining method that guy left me. I still have to finish the work he threw at me."

"oh oh."

Finding a pen and paper in the room, Tohka Yatogami wrote down the memories in her mind.

It was also thanks to the ability to directly transfer memories within the consciousness space that she was able to memorize so much in such a short time.

It took Yatogami Tohka over an hour to write ten pages before she finally put down her pen and handed over Shion's last legacy to Kurozuki.

Sheets of paper covered with writing floated in front of Black Candle Master, and he began to study them carefully.

"Hmm...it seems he wasn't completely idle in the consciousness space. This method seems to be at least theoretically feasible." Black Candle Master said thoughtfully, "Without further ado, now that the problem here is solved, let me try to refine the soul fragments."

"Please." A look of joy appeared on Yatogami Tohka's face.

It seems that the true liberation of the Golden Fairy is not far off.

Although none of them could guarantee whether the Soul Crystals would be usable in battle once they were created, the answer to that question would soon be available.

Next, all we need to do is wait for Black Candle Duke to complete the final step.

"It's just my duty. Now that I've gone this far, I'd like to see what the Soul Crystal will look like after it's finished."

After saying this, Black Candle Master prepared to leave the room.

Before leaving, he remembered something and turned to ask, "By the way, the situation was critical just now. I haven't asked you why you came here. Is there something you need from me?"

“My friend Nephren suffered from symptoms of past life corruption during the battle, so I came here to retrieve the spirit crystal.”

"Can spirit crystals heal the erosion from past lives?"

"Yes."

"how do you know?"

"Uh......"

Yatogami Tohka remained silent for a moment.

She can't say it's because she played Kurumi Tokisaki, can she?

So she could only vaguely say, "I feel okay."

"How do I feel?"

Black Candle Master had no doubts.

After all, in terms of knowledge and application of spirit crystals, he was inferior to Yatogami Tohka, a creature who used spirit crystals as the source of her life.

Moreover, he wasn't one to pry, so even though the answer was somewhat ambiguous, he accepted it.

"Then take it. That thing is useless to me now. I'm going to the place where Eluko's soul fragments are stored to continue my experiments."

Instead of going through the main entrance, Black Candle flew out through the window, its destination unknown.

"I'll send someone to let you know once I succeed. Just wait for my good news!"

Chapter Sixty-Three Absorbing Spirit Crystals

After resolving this unexpected incident, Yatogami Tohka and Kurokatsu bid each other farewell.

One headed to the place where the Star God fragments were kept, while the other left the castle and returned to the garden gate.

She didn't come here to remove the curse.

Although she was delayed for a while by what had just happened, she did not forget the fundamental reason why she came to the second floating island.

In order to heal Nephren's past life corruption in order to obtain Tokisaki Kurumi's spirit crystal.

Soon, she returned to the garden and saw Nephren standing there without moving.

Nephren also saw her, and her anxiety, which had been building up since she hadn't returned for so long, gradually subsided.

"If you hadn't come back soon, I was about to go inside to look for you," Nephren said. "Did something happen inside?"

"Yes, there was a slight mishap in the experiment between Kurozuki and Swan," Tohka Yatogami said briefly. "But it's all taken care of now, so don't worry. The experiment is progressing smoothly, and I've retrieved the Spirit Crystals."

With a flick of her wrist, Tohka Yatogami's spirit crystal appeared in her hand.

The spirit crystal, which had been stained black by the curse, gradually regained its original color from its initial pitch black state.

The ominous curse contained within had long since vanished, revealing a black and red hue that looked mysterious and beautiful.

"This is a spirit crystal? You have something like this in your body too?" Looking at the gem-like crystal, Nephren asked curiously.

“Yes, that’s right.” Yatogami Tohka nodded. “However, this spirit crystal has a different power from my spirit crystal. My intuition tells me that it has the ability to heal the erosion from my past life.”

"Let's give it a try then, it's a last resort anyway."

Although intuition might not sound very reliable, Nephren doesn't resist it.

After being afflicted by the past life erosion, she wouldn't have more than a few months to live, even if she did nothing.

Since that's the case, we might as well trust Tohka Yatogami and try the method she mentioned.

If the disease is cured, that would be great, but even if it isn't cured, the loss isn't significant.

Despite having this mindset, Nephren was also feeling somewhat uneasy at the moment.

"I'm ready. Is there anything I need to do?"

"No, Lian just needs to stand still; leave the rest to me."

Yatogami Tohka made a gesture to reassure her.

Although she knew she could definitely heal from the erosion of her past life, her heart was not at peace at the moment.