Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

"Where's my dad?"

The woman's deep blue eyes revealed a deep sense of confusion and bewilderment. Although she said nothing, her inner thoughts were clear to everyone.

This is her father's mausoleum, suppressed by the power of the "Black Emperor," all of which indicate that Roselle is in this mausoleum.

But there's nothing here, no Black Emperor, no Roselle...

But if he's not here, what's the point of all she's done?

No! This is his mausoleum. He must be here; she just hasn't discovered it yet!

Bernadette's gaze swept over every inch of the mausoleum, finally settling on the mausoleum's main entrance—

Before the two heavy, open stone doors stood a dark figure engulfed in flames. The figure was curled up in a ball, occasionally letting out painful and piercing screams. The voice sounded male at times, and female at others, making it impossible to determine its gender.

If this is Roselle's mausoleum, then who is this dark figure?

Bernadette's gaze darkened, and suddenly sensing something, she slightly opened her mouth and pronounced a Chinese word in a clear and accurate accent:

"home……"

This is a protective spell left to her by her father, something she must remember forever. If He truly is Him, He will surely react to this amulet!

The dark shadow that had been convulsing wildly under the scorching flames suddenly stopped. It struggled to raise its upper body and looked at Bernadette.

A dry, hoarse voice then echoed in the hidden space:

"home……"

The voice carried a hint of hesitation, a touch of confusion, and a desire for confirmation, as if it were coming from another world.

Bernadette pursed her lips; his reaction confirmed her suspicions, but her heart grew even sadder.

She glanced at Yu Jin instinctively, her eyes filled with hope and pleading.

It's unclear whether he hoped the embers would extinguish the flames and alleviate his pain, or whether he hoped the embers would save him and help him escape his misery.

Regardless of her thoughts, Ember did not retract the flames that were wrapped around the shadowy figure.

He simply pointed at the shadowy figure, and the figure vanished the next moment.

Bernadette turned around instinctively, and a dark figure appeared on the central platform, sitting down in the huge, iron-black high-backed chair.

Two slits immediately appeared on its face, as if two asymmetrical eyes had grown out.

However, those 'eyes' had no pupils; the crimson color reflected the raging flames that surrounded them.

Immediately afterwards, another crack appeared below the two 'eyes,' filled with the same pure blood-red light. This finally gave the black figure a 'mouth.'

It raised its head, its eyes gleaming crimson, and looked at Bernadette, dozens of meters away, before laughing in a dry, hoarse voice:

"You've truly become a big shot in the mysterious world, able to come here all by yourself."

Come here, let me see what my little princess looks like now.

Bernadette's eyes suddenly reddened, but she did not take a step.

Suddenly, Emperor Roselle's body convulsed, the pain causing him to lower his head even further, and he spoke with great effort:

"Stop!"

"No, come any closer!"

"I've been contaminated..."

His voice was filled with unspeakable pain.

Bernadette stood there, staring blankly at the central platform, at the black figure, her eyes filled with indescribable sorrow.

She could sense it, and she was certain that the black figure was her father, the man who called himself "Caesar," Russell Gustav.

Emperor Roselle gripped the armrest tightly with one hand, and said in a low, extremely pained voice:

"Get out of here! Don't come back!"

As they spoke, the crimson light regained its dominance.

More fissures appeared on the black figure, blooming from its head down into crimson flowers on different parts of its body. This made Roselle appear as if he were nothing but a shadow, enveloping a crimson entity radiating pure light.

At this moment, Roselle seemed to have transformed into a shadow, trying to obscure the red moon, but it was torn open one hole after another, allowing more and more moonlight to shine into reality.

Once these openings are joined together, the dark shadow will completely split open, giving birth to a brand new red moon.

But soon, the flames engulfing Roselle's entire body grew even more turbulent. The flames, along the torn opening, seeped into the shadowy figure's body and rapidly swept towards the crimson moon!

Bernadette looked at the embers beside her and whispered a prayer:

"Sir, please, please save him."

Ember glanced at Bernadette, waved his hand to create a 'door' radiating a deep blue light in front of her, and calmly replied:

"Please wait outside for a moment."

Bernadette glanced at the dark figure on the platform, seemingly wanting to say something more. But in the end, she didn't utter a sound and silently passed through the 'door'.

The next second, she found herself back on the edge of the original island.

The seawater had covered the island's surface, but she could still see the black mausoleum standing in the center of the island.

She neither left nor came any closer.

He simply gazed at the mausoleum from afar, his eyes filled with sorrow and worry.

-

Ember waved his hand, dispelling the 'door,' looked at the dark figure on the platform, and said with a smile:

"Now, we can have a proper talk."

Rosell rested one hand on the armrest, leaned slightly forward, and looked at him intently, asking:

"Are you undead? Or embers?"

Ember answered calmly:

"Yes, all of them."

"I see."

Roselle chuckled softly. "Then I won't ask your real name; it's pointless. Ember is your real name. As for my name, you should already know it, right?"

"really."

Ember nodded slightly and said:

"After all, you wrote it directly in your diary, Luo Ritian."

"Cough cough cough!"

Russell coughed violently a few times, his eyes darting around as he said:

"Those were all mistakes made in youth. A man who isn't a bit of a playboy in his youth is a wasted youth, and a hero doesn't dwell on past glories."

Although he considered himself to have a fairly thick skin, especially considering his many years as consul and "Caesar," making him quite shrewd, the sudden dredging up of his past embarrassing moments was still quite awkward for him.

He wanted to change the subject, but Yu Jin just smiled and looked at him without saying a word.

This left Emperor Roselle quite helpless, and he could only adhere to the truth that "as long as I'm not embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed," while smiling at Ember. However, compared to Ember, his smile lacked a bit of confidence, because he really didn't have any of Ember's dark history.

Just as Roselle, who hadn't spoken to anyone for over a hundred years, was at a loss for how to defuse the awkward situation, a semi-transparent vortex composed of illusory and mysterious symbols suddenly appeared beside Ember.

A paper figure passed through the vortex and transformed into a human in front of the central platform.

This human, with black hair and brown eyes, bears some resemblance to Gehrman Sparrow, but his features are not as sharp, his lines are not as defined, his demeanor is not as aloof, and his facial features are also somewhat different. He also has a little bit of extra fat on his chin and stomach, which is exactly the image of Zhou Mingrui that Klein originally had.

Rosell's eyes lit up immediately, and he said with a serious expression:

"You've arrived."

"I'm here." Klein nodded almost imperceptibly.

"You shouldn't have come," Rosell sighed.

"I'm already here." Klein naturally picked up on the joke.

Russell straightened his posture and chuckled softly.

"I was originally planning to ask where you were from to see if I needed to discriminate based on your region, but after thinking about it, I realized there was no need. You're all from another era, pitiful creatures without a hometown."

Klein waited quietly for him to finish speaking, then pointed to the red moon within him and asked:

"You plan to communicate with us in this state?"

Rosell chuckled, and the shadows around him vanished abruptly. The flames that had been repelled surged toward the red moon like wolves released from their cages, devouring it in the blink of an eye.

Only then did Rosell's body finally return to normal.

The dark shadow reformed into the real Roselle—

He had long, slightly wavy chestnut hair, blue eyes, a high nose, thin lips, and a neatly groomed mustache. He wore a dark red coat with gold thread, the same outfit he wore when he was "Caesar".

"In this version, the initial fire is still stronger."

Rosell raised his arms, looked at his body from side to side, and sighed:

"I have sought the help of more than one god. Although they have the ability to kill me, they are powerless to undo the corruption I have suffered. Even the one who possesses the King's Soul is no exception; after all, that is merely a power derived from the Primordial Flame..."

Klein clicked his tongue:

"You really do know a lot."

Rosell chuckled softly:

"I haven't lived these years in vain."

"really."

Klein nodded in agreement:

"After all, I've never seen many witches in my life, while you've already started playing with them."

Russell blushed and coughed lightly:

"Can we not bring this up?"

Klein shrugged, ceasing the discussion and trying to save face for Rosell, but Ember suddenly smiled and asked:

"Then tell me about Mrs. Alice, and her daughter and granddaughter, and the story of how you single-handedly defeated them all."

Rosell suddenly felt dizzy and decided to play dead, pretending he hadn't heard anything.

As long as he's not embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed!

Klein chuckled unkindly, but still came to his rescue, asking:

"Can you become a god now?"

"Can."

Upon hearing this, Rosell's expression finally softened somewhat, and he sighed, saying:

"In fact, I could have been resurrected at any time over the past hundred years. But even if I were resurrected, I would not be able to get rid of the corruption. Even if I became the 'Black Emperor' again, I would only be a puppet of the Outer God. That's why I chose to seal myself away and give up resurrection."

"Now that the pollution problem has been solved, the only thing preventing me from ascending to godhood is the believers."

The resurrection of the "Black Emperor" is not without precedent.

For example, Solomon, the "Black Emperor" of the Fourth Age, fell due to the betrayal of Thudor and Trensost, and even his extraordinary properties were divided up, but he was still resurrected and returned not long afterward.

Tudor and Trensault, who had already integrated and digested the extraordinary properties of Sequence 1, fell back to Sequence 2 and had to take the risk of switching to other paths.

However, the resurrection of the "Black Emperor" Solomon requires two major prerequisites—

First, at least one of His nine mausoleums must remain, or a certain number of remnants of the order He established must still exist.

Secondly, He needs enough believers to support Him in opposing divinity as He becomes the Black Emperor once again.

The "Black Emperor" Solomon satisfies both of these conditions.

Firstly, He had only recently fallen, and the Solomon Empire still had many remnants who worshipped the "Black Emperor" Solomon. Even the Tudor and Trensost dynasties still retained the asymmetrical aesthetics of the Black Emperor's era, which meant that the order established by Solomon was preserved to the greatest extent possible.

Under these circumstances, even if His tomb is completely destroyed, He can still be successfully resurrected.

And once resurrected, he can immediately accept the faith of the remnants of the Solomon Empire.

When Russell isn't Solomon, he can't do it.

He was content with the former, for although the Intis Empire had collapsed, his mausoleum still stood, and he could ascend to godhood again at any time.

But the latter, the problem of believers, is something he cannot solve.

More than a century has passed, and the Republic of Intis no longer holds the belief in "Rossel".

Although the famous quotes left by Emperor Rosell are widely circulated and regarded as classics by many, none of these people can be considered Rosell's followers.

If he were to rashly become a god without any believers, the consequences would be out of control—the divinity would completely take control of him, turning him into a perfect divine body, at which point the initial power would be fully restored within him.

Upon hearing this, Yu Jin immediately spoke up:

"That's not a problem. I will help you suppress the extraordinary characteristics and uniqueness of Sequence 1, so that you can be resurrected as Sequence 3 only."

Sequence 3 is the watershed moment for whether extraordinary beings need faith to confront divinity.

Of course, the embers can also be replaced by the First Flame, just like Grosser, allowing Roselle to ascend to godhood without needing faith.

But this did not align with his interests—Roselle was destined to become a god, and he needed the support of faith to ascend to godhood.

Because the essence of the First Flame's "replacement" is to burn away the divinity within extraordinary characteristics, transforming the "divinity of the Creator" into the "divinity of the First Flame." And since the First Flame does not need to be revived, its possessor naturally does not need to worry about divinity overpowering humanity.

However, if one wishes to further refine the 'Source Essence' and become an ancient entity, this cannot be done.

Because the "Divinity of the Creator" among the extraordinary traits is the key, only by possessing this key can one be successfully accepted by the Source Matter. However, if the "Divinity of the Creator" is replaced by the "Divinity of the Primordial Flame," then the possessor will be rejected by the Source Matter.

Therefore, to date, no being with the opportunity to ascend to godhood has used this method; they all need the support of faith.

The same goes for Russell.

Klein thought for a moment and said:

"Then I'll have to get you another Sequence 3 'Frenzy Mage' extraordinary traits."

"Need not."

A slight smile appeared on the lips of Emperor Rosell:

"I can be resurrected directly at Sequence 1 level; you just need to help me suppress 'uniqueness'."

Klein frowned:

"And what about the believers?"

Without believers, there is simply no reason for Roselle to become Sequence 1.

Taking the path of the First Flame is also unrealistic, because Roselle is a key part of the plan. The Black Emperor path, and even the Judgement path, are both necessary; there is no one more suitable than him to ascend to godhood, and he cannot take this path.