Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

Infinite Journey: Dark Souls Author: Liu Yun Can Yang

Normal Introduction: The fire has been extinguished, and the king is nowhere to be seen; but the ashes without fire will come in droves. You are all nameless, not of this world, and undead summoned; but for that very reason, pursue the embers you thirst for!

Synopsis of True: This is a story about girls suffering in the Dark Souls world and their own world.

Bad Synopsis: This is a story about death.

Prologue

The sky looked like it was burning with flames.

The hurricane generated by the missile explosion tore apart the crimson clouds.

The clouds swirled, drawing spirals across the sky, twisting and reflecting the enormous figure below.

Gears meshed in layers, and an exquisite doll hung upside down on them, its face embroidered with a mocking smile.

The hem of the evening gown swayed in the wind, and even a direct hit from a Tomahawk cruise missile could not shake it in the slightest.

Homura Akemi lay on the ruins of the building, helplessly watching the catastrophic figure. She didn't know how many times this had happened; each time she faced the Witch's Night, a profound despair seeped into her heart. She thought she was fully prepared this time, but even a creation representing the pinnacle of human strategic wisdom had succumbed to this ancient calamity.

She tried her best to straighten up, but could only barely lift her head. The wounds from the witch's wicked magic continued to bleed as she moved.

She had exhausted all her prepared methods. The failure of the Tomahawk cruise missile also meant her failure, but at least she could bear this second failure—she touched the shield with the hourglass embedded in it.

In the distance, a girl seemed to be screaming something. She turned her head and once again imprinted that figure in her eyes.

"Xiaoyuan, wait for me."

The cracked hourglass was activated, and time began to rewind.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the next cycle to begin.

But this time, the wait was a bit long.

She sensed something was wrong and hurriedly opened her eyes, but everything was still dark.

She could still feel her body, and instinctively straightened up, as if she had bumped into something on the top of her head.

In an instant, the firelight came into view, and she squinted and slowly stood up.

Finally, her eyes adjusted to the light, the firelight dissipated, and she could see her surroundings clearly.

There were no familiar hospital beds, no familiar lights, no familiar smell of disinfectant; all that remained were rows of tombstones, decaying coffins, and a seemingly lingering gray mist.

"Where...am I?"

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Chapter 1: Even the lingering warmth of ashes can be scalding.

"Where...am I?"

Even after countless reincarnations and battles with witch after witch, the decaying and desolate world before her, especially the dilapidated coffin where she stood, held a profound meaning that made her tremble uncontrollably.

A sense of danger lingered, but her battle-hardened nerves finally helped her overcome her fear. She understood that the environment before her was not one to be explored slowly; the pervasive crisis seemed poised to send her into the embrace of death at any moment.

Moreover, she had goals she absolutely had to achieve.

"Xiao Yuan..."

As she murmured the name, her gaze hardened once more.

She quickly checked her condition and found that the wounds from the battle with Witch Night were still there, but strangely, no blood was seeping out. Since the wounds were still there, the magical girl's battle suit was naturally also damaged. Fortunately, although it looked tattered, it was not to the point of being completely naked.

She tried to repair the clothes with magic, but found that the magic she used to control was now sluggish, and the clothes that were once one with her had lost their connection and could not be repaired with magic at all.

The fact that her magic was not working properly startled her, and she quickly raised her left arm in front of her eyes.

The shield with the hourglass still fits perfectly in my hand, even retaining the cracks that appeared from overuse.

She breathed a slight sigh of relief, but then she remembered something and slowly poured her magic into it, intending to test the ability she relied on for combat.

A strong wave of dizziness hit her brain, and her magic power was instantly depleted. She hurriedly stopped her attempt and reached out to hold onto the coffin next to her.

The dizziness quickly subsided, but the exhaustion from depleted magic still bothered her.

This was the first time she had experienced the feeling of magic depletion. The magic that she used to have as long as the Soul Gem was not tainted seemed to have left her. And the channel through which she communicated with magic no longer seemed to be the gem that imprisoned her soul—or rather, her soul had been liberated.

She glanced at her right hand, which was supporting the coffin. The purple gemstone was still embedded there, but now, having lost its translucent luster, it had become nothing more than an ordinary decoration. She wanted to try it out and see if throwing it away now would cause her body to lose control. The fact that this curse, which had plagued them since they became magical girls, might have been dispelled made her want to put this idea into practice, but her last bit of reason prevented this blind impulse.

If the curse isn't lifted, wouldn't she be left helpless and at the mercy of others?

My own nerves kept reminding me that danger lurked here.

She looked away, propped herself up with her right hand, and jumped out of the coffin.

She took one last look at the coffin, making sure nothing else was left inside, and with a sigh, she pulled out the only weapon she still had stored away from the shield.

Although the ability to interfere with time is unusable, the function of storing items remains, only...

She swung the golf club in her hand with a conflicted expression. This weapon actually held some sentimental value; she had used it in battle when she first became a magical girl, and now she had to pick it up again.

Well, it's better than having no weapons at all.

She thought somewhat resignedly, wondering how much help this weapon, which was more for entertainment than for attack, could provide in this dangerous world.

After reviewing her condition once more and realizing it couldn't get any worse, she took the first step on this long journey, heading towards the center of the cemetery.

As she moved, the rows of tombstones suddenly opened up before her, revealing a spacious cemetery.

Not far in front of her, there was a figure wearing a tattered cloak with his back to her.

Despite sensing a hint of danger, seeing her own kind in such a strange place made her unconsciously move closer, attempting to engage in the most basic form of communication in human society—language.

"Hey...can you hear me?"

The sound she made successfully elicited a response from the other party. The person wearing the tattered cloak slowly turned around, revealing a deathly pale face.

"Ughh ...

A roar that was not uttered into words came from his throat. The moment he saw Homura Akemi, he raised a broken sword and charged forward.

The hostile act ignited her fighting spirit; the broken sword swung down, and she raised her left-hand shield to block it.

As the impact came, her body, strengthened by magic over a long period of time, easily deflected the gravedigger's attack, and her right hand swung the cue stick upwards in the process.

The perilous environment and the hostile attack from her opponent made her strike merciless. The hard head of her cue slammed heavily into the gravedigger's jaw, knocking him to the ground.

"What's going on? They attacked without saying a word!"

Estimating that the blow should render the opponent unconscious, after confirming that the opponent was lying on the ground and no longer moving, she did not take the opportunity to finish him off, out of a modern mindset that one would not kill one's own kind. Instead, she walked past the strange man she thought was unconscious and continued forward.

Not far away, in the center of the cemetery, a huge stone basin with a chipped hole is placed here. A figure in armor lies on the chipped hole, his body shimmering with a white mist. Not far behind the stone basin, a row of bright red characters, as if branded on the ground by flames, glows with firelight.

This peculiar phenomenon was undoubtedly eye-catching, but the sight of another figure squatting in front of the stone basin with his back to her aroused her even more suspicion.

The tattered cloak and the pale arms peeking out from it reminded her of the dangerous scene that had just unfolded.

However, she still clung to a last glimmer of hope, hoping that what she had just experienced was just an isolated incident and that these humans were still able to communicate normally.

"Excuse me……"

"Ughh ...

Before he could speak, he was interrupted by a roar from behind.

Hearing the whooshing sound of something hurtling towards her head, she didn't have time to think and rolled to the side.

Using her back to brace herself, she stood up while simultaneously facing the direction from which the attack originated.

The gravedigger, whom she had just knocked down, was slowly straightening up, his body bent over from swinging his sword. In his roaring mouth, one could still see the teeth broken from her blows.

She cautiously kept her distance from him, instinctively holding her shield in front of her as she pondered how to handle the situation.

Another gravedigger in front of the stone basin, upon hearing the noise, also approached her, holding a broken sword.

Unsurprisingly, this guy also shattered her illusions about communication.

He quickened his pace, raised the broken sword, and as he charged forward, he thrust the broken sword at her without hesitation.

Since communication had failed, she naturally wouldn't sit idly by and wait for her fate. She swung her left arm out again, blocking the broken sword while simultaneously swinging her cue stick.

But now, she wasn't facing just one enemy; the gravedigger she had struck had launched an attack simultaneously. He leaped up, closing the distance in an instant, gripped his broken sword in reverse, and thrust it straight down at her.

She caught sight of the rapidly approaching figure out of the corner of her eye, barely managing to stop her swing and rolling backward.

The broken sword grazed her as it pierced her back, leaving a burning sensation.

Slightly disheveled, she got up, only to have the gravedigger, whose attack she had blocked, charge forward again.

Instead of parrying, Homura Akemi used the length of her weapon to smash her cue stick into his face before his broken sword could strike her.

Just like the original, the gravedigger was sent flying by her force and collapsed unconscious on the ground.

But there's still one guy who's launching an attack.

With only one person left, she had many more options, but she still chose the most practical method: deflect the attack and then counterattack.

The gravedigger was knocked to the ground by her for the second time.

However, this was far from the end. After the first person she had knocked down struggled to his feet again, she realized that an attack aimed at rendering the other person unconscious would not solve the current situation at all.

Does this mean that we must resort to killing to stop their hostility?

Homura Akemi, a magical girl who has gone through countless reincarnations, has killed countless witches and familiars, but the term "fellow beings" has never been on her list of those she would kill without hesitation.

She hesitated, but her enemies did not.

The gravediggers, who had gotten up from the ground, roared and launched another attack on her.

Faced with the relentless attacks, she chose to run away.

She ran past the stone basin in the center of the cemetery and headed towards the cemetery gate.

Torn between killing and not killing, between reason and humanity, she overlooked the possibility of more enemies in the cemetery. By the time she saw the third gravedigger crouching beside the exit, it was too late to react.

The flaming crossbow bolt struck her shoulder in that instant.

The pain of her flesh being torn apart and the scorching heat of the flames continued to torment her, but what made her even more miserable was the murderous intent from her own kind. Her legs gave way uncontrollably, and she tripped over a stone brick and fell to the ground.

The consequences of his escape were not yet over. A fourth gravedigger rushed out from behind a rubble, wielding not a broken sword, but a perfectly intact longsword. He charged to the fallen Homura Akemi, pointed the sharp tip at her heart, and plunged it down without hesitation.