Elegy from Another World

Everything seemed to have settled down. Tia slumped to the ground, and after a long while, she slowly stood up and staggered toward the shredder that had been overturned by the shockwave and was almost completely destroyed. She knelt on the cold ground, staring blankly at the few pieces of flesh and blood scattered around her, tears streaming down her face again.

"Lysya..." she choked out, reaching out her hand but not daring to touch the wreckage.

Zoimem's massive dragon head lowered, emitting a mournful groan, and it gently nuzzled Tia with its nose. Tia could no longer hold back, embracing Zoimem's cold scales and bursting into tears. They both believed that, under the double blow of the Crusher first and then "Divine Punishment," even I had no chance of survival.

"Alright, stop crying."

A clear voice suddenly rang out in the empty cave, carrying a hint of helpless weariness.

Tia and Zoimem were startled, their crying stopped abruptly, and they looked around in panic, searching for the source of the sound.

"It's me, Liscia."

The sound rang out again, seemingly coming from... some piece of minced meat on the ground? They looked at the ground in disbelief.

"It seems that with Aslo's death, that damned 'anti-magic field' has also disappeared," I explained, speaking through a tiny amplification magic circle using the last vestiges of my restored magic. "I'm in terrible shape right now, but I'm still conscious."

"Lysya! You're alive!" Tia and Zoimem were both surprised and delighted, and immediately gathered around. Tia didn't hesitate to cast a healing spell, a soft light enveloping the shredded flesh. However, after the light faded, the shredded flesh remained shredded flesh, and the healing process was extremely slow.

"It's no use," I sighed. "The damage this time was too severe, and the body's regenerative system seems to have been affected as well, with the recovery speed being alarmingly slow."

Zoymem immediately cut his claw and dripped a few drops of glistening dragon blood onto the chunks of flesh. Dragon blood contains powerful life force, but this time, apart from making the minced meat emit a faint glow, it did not bring about any significant healing effect.

"Why didn't even the dragon's blood work?" Tia asked anxiously.

"I don't know either, maybe... this time we really hit some kind of limit." I tried to keep my voice calm.

Tia lowered her head, her voice filled with remorse: "I'm sorry, Lady Liscia... It's all because I was too impulsive that you ended up in such a dangerous situation..."

"Never mind," I interrupted her, "the outcome was good. Aslo was killed, Tina was saved, and we are all still 'alive.' That's enough."

I paused for a moment, then made a request: "By the way, could you do me a favor? Could you collect as many pieces of meat as possible that I've scattered around here? Also, contact Sellebrett and send a reconnaissance vehicle over; I'd like to record the entire recovery and reconstruction process... I'm quite curious about it too."

"Okay! We'll get right to it!" Tia and Zoimem immediately sprang into action.

The collection work was no easy task. The power of "Divine Punishment" was simply too great; fragments of my flesh were scattered everywhere by the shockwave, some even flying more than two hundred meters away into the passageway. It took them several hours to barely collect the larger pieces they could find and pile them into a small heap.

While clearing the altar ruins, Zoimem suddenly let out a low, wary growl. They discovered that at the original core of the altar, a constantly writhing mass of black energy emanating an unsettling aura was suspended. It pulsated slightly as if it were alive, radiating powerful magical fluctuations.

"Lyssia, there's a very strange energy here!" Tia reported.

Although I can't "see" it, I can feel that familiar, nauseating fluctuation. "It's probably a remnant of the 'Demon King's Power' that wasn't completely destroyed. Leaving this thing here is a huge hidden danger."

I thought for a moment and said, "Tia, find a well-sealed magical container, carefully collect it, and keep it safe. This thing is dangerous, but perhaps... it will come in handy in the future."

Tia nodded, took a specially made crystal bottle from her tool bag, carefully guided the ball of black energy into it, and closed the lid. The energy surged restlessly within the bottle.

However, just as Tia was holding the bottle, preparing to place it on the reconnaissance vehicle, something strange happened. As she passed the pile of my collected flesh, the "Demon King's Power" within the bottle suddenly and violently stirred without warning! It seemed to be strongly attracted by something, violently slamming against the bottle wall!

"Crack!" The sturdy anti-magic crystal bottle actually cracked!

A few seconds later, accompanied by a slight cracking sound, the ball of black energy broke free of its restraints and, as if it had a life of its own, pounced on the chunk of flesh on the ground and instantly merged into it!

"Oh no!" Tia and Zoimem exclaimed, but it was too late to stop them.

At the same time, deep within my consciousness, or rather, in my shattered "mind," a cold, alluring voice, seemingly emanating from the depths of the abyss, suddenly resounded:

Do you want power?

What's going on? I was stunned for a moment.

"Do you want power?" The voice repeated, carrying an undeniable authority.

"No, who are you?" I responded telepathically.

Your hidden talent will only be buried in mediocrity. Come to me, and I will make you a legend of the new world, not just an anonymous speck of dust in history.

Good heavens, what is this... wait, that tone, that content... "Are you the Demon King?" I asked tentatively. Apart from the "Demon King" coveted by Aslo, I couldn't think of any other possibility.

How about it? Join me!

"Forget it," I scoffed. "I don't want to become a demon who brings destruction like you."

Are you still fighting for a false sense of justice? Look at this fragile world; justice is nothing more than rules set by the strong.

"Well said," I retorted, "but at the very least, the bottom line of 'justice' that I believe in is not to kill innocent people indiscriminately."

The faith you uphold is as fragile as your past life.

"At least I'll live to old age and die," I retorted. "If, as you say, I lived in a chaotic world dominated by you, I probably wouldn't even live to be twenty."

But when disaster strikes, the savior is always late, only destruction never fails to arrive. Become my blade, and you will understand—chaos is the eternal feast.

"Come on!" I said impatiently. "You might fool a three-year-old with this excuse. If chaos were so formidable, why would you need to go around finding people to be your 'weapons'? Besides, reconstruction has always been present in every disaster. Order and chaos are two sides of the same coin; destruction inevitably leads to rebirth—that's the reality of the world!"

But human history is a recurring cycle of mistakes. Join me, and we will rewrite this tedious cycle! Destruction is creation, chaos is true fairness!

"Ha, hahaha," I couldn't help but laugh, "Do you know? Your very statement is one of the most frequently repeated 'mistakes' in human history. Countless tyrants and madmen have used the guise of 'breaking the cycle of reincarnation' to bring about even greater disasters and deeper suffering. What you're inviting me to do now is precisely to jump into this oldest and most tragic cycle of reincarnation. History is an epic of humanity stumbling in the darkness time and time again, yet each time relying on small acts of kindness, courage, and wisdom to prop itself up a tiny inch. Every 'repetition' is not a simple cycle, but an accumulation of experience, the growth of civilization through pain! So! You ultimately cannot convince me!! Get out!!!"

My refusal seemed to have thoroughly enraged that being.

"Your struggles, your persistence, are like dazzling fireworks in my eyes—beautiful but fleeting." The Demon King's voice turned cold and threatening. "So, you have no choice, because I am your only answer. Refusing me... might lead to something terrible, you know?"

I could feel my "mind" being forcibly expanded, and an enormous figure appeared out of thin air. He simply stood there, his very existence distorting everything around him, as if this space of consciousness couldn't bear his weight. It was a perfect body composed of pure, condensed shadow, his black armor flowing with lava-like crimson patterns like living things. His face was cold and stern, like a divine sculpture, his pupils burning with golden flames like two blazing suns, radiating endless majesty and indifference, looking down upon my insignificant fragment of consciousness. Before him, I felt like an insect being stared at by a primordial beast, even my thoughts sluggish.

This is the final warning, join me!

"Sigh," I sighed, but my mind was clearer than ever before. "It's ridiculous that you try to subdue me with force when you can't win an argument. Since you've shown me your 'existence,' I'll show you what kind of 'I' am as I know me."

With my will, a gentle yet undeniable light illuminated this space of consciousness shrouded in darkness. The light did not emanate from any specific image, but rather from "existence" itself. At this moment, I am the "paper" carrying the story, the "perspective" observing the world. When my will is focused here, heroes, kingdoms, and even the trajectory of history all reveal a fragility and malleability akin to "text." The stars are the punctuation marks I casually sprinkle, and the rise and fall of civilizations are a passage in my writing that can be examined and transcended.

[What makes humanity great is that] my thoughts spread like a tide, not out of confrontation, but out of inclusiveness, [because even knowing we may be merely characters in a story, enveloped by a grander narrative, we still struggle to become authors, to carve our own mark on a predetermined destiny. Having recognized our own insignificance, we still choose to gaze at the stars, forging ahead through the long river of time! This indomitable spirit, this pursuit of freedom within limitations, is true eternity!]

[Impossible!] The Demon King's figure trembled violently, seemingly unable to comprehend this form of "existence" that transcended the level of power. He wanted to say something more, releasing an even more terrifying pressure.

But it's no longer necessary.

"Then, farewell."

My thoughts brushed past gently. It wasn't an attack, nor a banishment, but more like... closing an unimportant page of a book, or wiping away a discordant color from a canvas.

The Demon King's seemingly invincible, enormous figure vanished silently and completely within the light representing the "narrative level," like snow exposed to sunlight or a pen mark erased by an eraser, without even causing a ripple.

……

In reality, Tia and Zoimem saw the black aura merge into the flesh, after which the flesh suddenly trembled violently and emitted an ominous black and red light. But just a few seconds later, the light suddenly dissipated and the flesh returned to calm!

They stood nervously by, afraid to approach. This process lasted for a full day and night.

When my body was finally fully reconstructed and I opened my eyes, I saw Tia and Zoimem's bloodshot but joyful eyes.

"Lady Liscia! You're finally awake!" Tia rushed over and hugged me tightly, her voice trembling with tears. "A whole day has passed! We thought..."

"I'm fine now." I patted her back, feeling her body again after so long, and moved her hands and feet. There was nothing wrong.

Zoemeem also let out a reassuring murmur.

They immediately told me that the "Demon King's power" had escaped and merged into my body.

"I see..." I nodded thoughtfully, carefully sensing my body. I found no abnormal residual energy or influence of will, as if that clash of consciousness had never happened. "I feel fine now, without any discomfort. It seems the problem is solved."

Although doubts still linger in my mind, now is not the time to delve into them.

"Let's go back to Utopia." I stood up, looking at the chaotic battlefield around us. "Let's leave this place quiet for a while. We... need to get some rest too."

This long and brutal battle has finally come to a complete end. Weary and wounded, but also filled with the satisfaction of revenge and the hope of a new beginning, we embarked on our journey home.