From the moment I was chosen by the holy relic

Eileen stared at the tiny spark, as if if she continued speaking, even the wind would fall silent, just to hear that final whisper.

"From that moment on, the tower was no longer a tower."

"It's starting to live."

"It's not that it was dead before."

"Instead, after the Alliance broke through the second line of defense of Misty Mountain and severed its underground 'Tower Word Vein'... it was forced to awaken from its disguise."

"The Tower of Abyss, as a physical structure, has begun to grow."

"The person we used to call the 'Tower Master' is actually no longer a single individual."

"That was the first spirit seal core that the five tower masters fused together."

"It slumbers beneath the misty mountains, constantly nourishing itself with the dark magic imprint of the world."

"This time, it woke up."

The ground cracked open.

"The tower is twitching."

"Its roots, like nerves, meander between the soil and the incantations."

"Can you imagine? The mountain is trembling, but it's not an earthquake; it's the tower pulling its roots out of the ground."

"The Tower of Abyss was originally a broken pillar, but on that day, its upper part began to extend into spiral spine-like segments."

"Circling around and around, as if the joints are being reconstructed."

"Its crown transformed into an inverted sphere of brain matter, its surface covered with remnants of the tower master's spiritual words."

"It didn't open its eyes."

"It marks the beginning of the reverse absorption and release of consciousness."

Do you know what happened on the battlefield in that instant?

The alliance had assumed the tower would launch an attack.

"No, what it does is shut down all exits outside the battlefield."

"The sky darkened, not because it was night, but because it was sealed off by the Spirit Seal Dome."

"The Spirit Seal Dome is the Abyss Tower's last trump card."

"It covers the entire battlefield within a semi-realistic, semi-polluted 'Tower Imprint Domain'."

"It no longer produces new recruits."

"It begins to corrupt those who already exist."

"The warriors of our vanguard, who had just swung their swords and were still roaring, had their runes altered."

"They were not defeated."

"They were turned into enemies."

That night, wild beasts rushed out simultaneously from the mountains, valleys, caves, and sand gullies.

"They are not the Tower's army."

"It is a deformed product that has proliferated from the world's wars."

"They have long been corrupted by the Ghost Ashes, their minds are on the verge of collapse, and they only recognize 'blood'."

"But they are flesh, teeth, and blunt instruments."

"Bone spurs protruding from their spines, roaring throats, and rotting foam—they were cannon fodder, but also real fire."

"That night, the fire defenses on the eastern front were breached, and the entire 7th Battalion of Iser's Rune Sorcerers was wiped out."

"The 9th Reforged Dwarf Company self-destructed simultaneously with the enemy at the third moment of the battle."

"You have no idea what that scene was like..."

"The iron bones shattered, the rock armor flew off, and the entire hillside burned for three days."

"In the deepest part of that chaos."

"He's here."

"Spiritual Dragon, Isova."

"As soon as his shadow fell, a second language resounded throughout the dome."

"That's not a spell."

"That's purifying language."

"Not elimination."

"It's a rewrite."

"With each circle he soared through the sky, he would take away a contaminated area, 'logically' erasing the black magic runes on the ground, stroke by stroke."

"He doesn't breathe fire or spit poison."

"What he uttered were the 'laws of the old world'."

"His dragon roar was not meant to intimidate the enemy, but to shatter the chain of corrupt logic within the Tower of Abyss."

"That day, Yu Yong Ash evaporated for the first time in the sunlight."

"On that day, the tower's language fell silent."

"But at a price..."

Eileen paused for a moment, then gently touched the cool stone beside the fire with her fingers.

"Thirty-one thousand four hundred and twelve people."

"That's the instantaneous death count under the Tower Master's backlash logic."

"They weren't poisoned, injured, or involved in an explosion."

"They have lost their meaning in the language of the tower master."

"The name has disappeared, the body has not decayed, and the soul has not returned."

"Even the altar cannot remember their existence."

"Because the tower said, 'They never lived.'"

The firelight gradually dimmed.

Eileen finally closed her eyes, as if she had returned to a time when even dreams had decayed.

When she opened her eyes again, her voice was no longer calm, but contained an indescribable emotion—not sadness, nor hatred, but more like a calmness that comes after passing through all the corpses.

"On the last night of that battle, nobody called it the Fifth Tower."

"It is no longer a building."

"It is the mark of apocalypse, the bone of a broken dream, and a question mark left by the whole world before it."

"The tower is already unstable."

"Under the cleansing of the Spirit Dragon Isovia's Purification Domain, the core structure of the Abyss Tower began to disintegrate."

"Every wave of magic emanating from the tower is reshaped by him with mental vibrations."

"From the earliest earth symbols to the most complex sacrificial incantations, they are all being gradually erased."

"But the Tower of Abyss still has its last defense, Soye Elnot."

"He was standing on the floating platform at the top of the tower's core."

"It is not the body, but himself, that is a huge black mark."

"His body is no longer flesh and blood."

"He is a living inscription composed of the remnants of the five pagodas; he is the writer of the pagodas."

"When the five pagodas are destroyed, I will become the heart of the pagodas."

"That was his first sentence when he appeared."

"Nobody understands."

"Kota understands."

"The tower began to respond to him; its base surged, its language activated, and murmurs of ashes rose up, forming a 'reverse field' several miles in diameter."

"This is the only time that all five dragons have entered the combat radius at the same time."

"Fire Dragon Azdaran cut in from the southwest, directly tearing open the outer shell of the tower core; Illusion Dragon Sorezel spread its wings and pierced through the Dream Realm, causing frequency distortion; Forest Dragon Loresia rushed to the front, uttering a dreamlike dragon roar, trying to awaken the soldiers who were still under the control of corruption; Golden Dragon Karnrus rammed its body into the tower ridge structure, causing resonance and collapse; Spirit Dragon Isovia resided at the center of the formation, exhaling its last breath of pure divine intent."

"The entire mountain range was trembling."

"A tower is battling five divine dragons."

"At the last moment, Sawyer activated the deepest structure of the Abyss Tower, the Spirit Seal Core."

"That is his true authority as the Sixth Night Speaker."

"The Tower of Abyss doesn't rely on magic or soldiers; it relies on 'polluting reality'."

"And after the nuclear explosion, the logic of pollution was fully unleashed."

"The mountain collapsed, the wind stopped, and time spiraled out of control."

"An entire Southeast Theater Command was reset in that instant."

"Not death."

"This war has never happened before."

"The alliance's command center crashed, the tactical disk shattered, and half of the army became sluggish under the mental reconstruction."

"It was the Spirit Dragon that stepped in at that time."

"Isovia ascended to the top of the sky and unleashed the deepest strike of the Spirit Realm."

"That was a sound of light."

"It's not sound, it's light."

"The entire sky turned white."

"It's as if the world has turned a new page."

"The tower is broken."

"It's completely over."

"From the Spirit Language to the Tower Language, from the Foundation to the Sacred Mark, the Tower of Abyss collapsed into a sky full of black rain."

"It's not broken."

"It has lost its meaning."

"And Sawyer Elnot..."

"He simply turned and walked into the fog the moment the tower collapsed."

"After that, no one ever saw him again."

"He is both the last Night Whisperer and the one who brought an end to the Five Towers Era."

"The allied forces declared victory."

"The Five Pagodas were destroyed."

"The Black Demon contamination has been completely ended."

"The Tower of Abyss no longer exists."

Eileen looked down at the campfire.

The fire had just gone out.

"That is the end of the Tower of Abyss."

"Indeed, it was the deepest battle in our history."

"From then on, a new era began."

Eileen stared at the extinguished fire for a long time before speaking again.

"After that, it truly marked the beginning of a new era."

"But people thought it was an era of peace."

"They are wrong."

She gently brushed away the ashes around the fire, as if brushing away the dust of time.

"Nine days after the collapse of the Tower of Abyss, the Alliance declared victory."

"On the tenth day, the alliance began to disband."

"No declaration, no celebration. It's not about who betrayed first, it's just that no one can hold onto that five-dragon banner anymore."

"Humans, elves, dwarves, mages—after that night, each race silently took away their armies, their glory, and their unspoken ambitions."

"And what about dragons?"

She looked up at the starry sky.

The night was deep, the firelight no longer flickered, and only the stars shone quietly.

"They want to keep them."

"They even want to control it."

"Some people say that since dragons can destroy the Five Towers, they should also be controlled by humans to protect the country and establish their prestige."

"They began to try to tame, imprison, and even establish blood pacts."

"But soon, they understood."

"Dragons are not tools."

"Dragons are not pets either."

"They weren't created for anyone in particular."

"They came into the world with a mission."

"They were born to destroy the tower."

"And when the five towers collapsed, their mission was also swept away by the wind."

"That early winter."

"Five dragons took flight from their respective roosts on the same night."

"No warning, no response."

"They hovered in the skies of their respective countries, remaining silent for a long time."

"Then, it flew towards the horizon."

"They did not return."

"And no one knows where he is anymore."

"People say that a second shower of stars fell that night."

"It is said that the five dragons each transformed into a shooting star, falling towards the distant shore of the sea of ​​clouds."

"From that day on, they were written into poems, painted into scriptures, and regarded as miracles, symbols, and fairy tales."

"Some people say they're dead."

"Some say they returned to the deep space where they were created."

"And many more simply believe that they never existed."

"But peace did not leave with them."

"The world did not return to peace after the alliance disbanded."

"Although the various ethnic groups exchanged oaths, pledges, and festival gifts on the surface, all of those things were written on paper."

"What's written in my bones is ambition."

"That was a chaotic era."

"Many small countries originally thought that the great powers had been severely weakened by the Five Towers War, and that this was a good opportunity to take advantage of their weakness."

"They amassed troops, frequently provoked the border, harassed supply lines, and even assassinated envoys and instigated defections of vassals."

But they forgot.

"The five great nations, though wounded, are no ordinary beings."

"The warriors of Nostria, even the wounded, can still flatten a border fortress."

"Even with five floors destroyed, Iser's Tower of Curses is enough to swallow an entire rebel army."

"The crown princes of Astra are sharper blades honed in the struggle for power than any army."

"The forge of Ferian's Craftsmen, forged amidst turmoil, produced an immortal war puppet that annihilated seven small kingdoms in the North."

"But the elven arrows can always pierce your throat before you even declare war."

"And so, one by one, the small countries fell."

"Some were defeated."

"Some of them collapsed internally."

"More often than not, it's about voluntarily surrendering."

"They wrote a document recognizing the five great powers as the legitimate rulers, pillars of the state, and guardians of the world."

"They offered tribute and sent their children as hostages in exchange for a peaceful piece of land."

"This system is known as the Five Pillars Order."

Eileen's gaze slowly swept across the darkness. Her tone was no longer as heavy as during the Tower Battle, but it was not relaxed either, as if she were walking along the banks of a blood river that had not yet dried up, with the lingering warmth of the old era still on her fingertips.

"After the alliance was dissolved, the Five Pillars of Order stabilized the world."

"But this doesn't mean the world is truly at peace."

"Those small countries—"

She shook her head slightly, revealing a smile that was almost mocking:

"Their surrender was not willing. They acknowledged the five great powers as pillar states only to survive."

"But once the heat dies down, the five countries get bogged down in internal affairs, and their borders are left vulnerable, they'll start making moves again."

"Assassinating envoys, illegally building military camps, seizing mineral veins, and even colluding with bandits and summoning uncontrollable cursed spirits..."

"Therefore, in the decades that followed, the demise of small countries became the norm."

"Some were absorbed."

"Some of them burned themselves out because of internal strife."

"Some disappeared so much that they didn't even leave behind their names."

"And what about the five major powers?"

Eileen hesitated for a moment, then her tone softened slightly:

"Their journey wasn't without its challenges."

"The dragon is gone."

"The tower is destroyed."

"The fears and missions that once united them are now a thing of the past."

"What remains are border disputes, battles for trade routes, accidental killings by border troops, clashes between legal codes, and the discontented gazes of the crown princes towards each other."

"They fought too."

"But not a major war."

"It's an accidental clash, a small-scale conflict, or those 'border military exercises' that aren't marked on maps and are only briefly mentioned in history books."

"For example, Nostria and Astra had a dispute over the five mineral rights in Frostridge."

"Isel's third largest spellcasting tower was besieged by the Elven Kingdom's archer cavalry for three days and three nights."

"The artisan guild of Ferian and the merchant guild of Astra have fought seven rounds of arbitration wars over the patent for the forging of artifacts."

"But they both understand one thing—"

"Yes, you can."

"But we can't really fight."

Eileen spoke quietly, her tone slow, yet clearer than ever before.

"So they survived."

Even if they don't trust, like, or understand each other, they still maintain the stability of this world.

"They are the enemy."

"Also an ally."

"They are the reason why this era has survived to this day."

Eileen glanced at Eric, the firelight reflecting in her eyes like an ancient battle still raging.

Do you understand now?

The world you live in is not peaceful.

"Instead, it was the flames of war that were firmly suppressed by five pillars."

The fire had gone out, but a faint light still flickered beneath the ashes, like a lingering dream.

She didn't speak again, but turned to the last page of the book, which was an extremely old parchment. The paper was yellowed, and the edges seemed to have been burned by something, leaving only a small section of slanted writing in the center.

The ink stains are mottled, making it almost impossible to distinguish whether they are words or marks.

She read the passage aloud softly, her voice as low as the wind recalling:

"The sword of falling stars once shone on the other shore."

"Where the fire is extinguished, ashes will rise again."

"Though the five pillars are broken, the gate seal remains closed."

"The one behind the door is not dead."

"Walking at dawn, the seven dreams resound once more, the tower's echo continues."

"He will appear in the shadows."

"Holding the old sword, not for domination, not for glory."

"He will not be sung about."

"But he will make songs possible."

She closed the book, her fingertips still lingering on the last line of poetry.

"What is this?" Eric asked in a low voice, his throat feeling a little dry.

Eileen didn't look at him, but stared at the ashes after the fire had died down, her gaze deep and unfathomable.

"A broken prophecy," she said slowly. "It is said that the one who wrote these words was a diviner who was born a Bloodstained One during the Five Pillars Era."

"He once entered the ruins left behind by the Starfall Swordsman."

"You know," she turned to look at Eric, her tone undeniably calm, "that while there are many Bloodstained Ones, they are not all the same."

"The Gold Tower confirms frequency, but frequency is not everything and cannot reflect the purity of bloodline."

"The Gate of Relics will only respond when the purest bloodline is offered."

Eric asked in a low voice, "Did he turn it on?"

Eileen nodded: "It's activated. But he wasn't chosen by the sword."

"At that moment, he realized that he was not that person."

"So after he got out, he left this book behind."

"I guess he thought that since he couldn't be that person, he should leave something behind to light a lamp for those who could truly walk in."

Eric remained silent for a long time, sitting still like a boulder on a cliff edge, neither moving nor speaking.