Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

"Us—"

"—It is ashes without fire."

"—If there's a chance next time."

Goodbye—

They smiled slightly, and in the darkness, their smiles, burning with light, were so dazzling.

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Late at night, the municipal hospital received a group of high school students who had been injured while testing their courage in an abandoned building.

One of the boys was hit on the wrist by a heavy object and injured, but fortunately the injury was not serious. After a little bandaging, there was no major problem.

The most serious case involved one of the girls, who was abandoned in the building by her companions. She seemed to have suffered excessive shock and remained dazed after being taken to the hospital.

After receiving psychological counseling, the girl named Kasuga Nozomi stopped talking about her experience and seemed to have lost her memory.

But only she knew how unforgettable her night truly was.

"How could such a memory be forgotten?"

She was in the bathroom, splashing cold water on her face.

After Homura and Ori left, Makina found her and told her to completely forget this memory and never have anything to do with these things again.

"After that, where did they go...?"

"I don't want to think about it anymore, I never want to think about it again, are you not going to say anything more? I'll never care about these things again..."

Suddenly, she stared at herself in the mirror, completely stunned, as if she had seen something incredible.

The bathroom door opened, and Maki leaned against it, staring at Nozomi Kasuga, who was frozen in front of the mirror.

"You see it now, 'your own dead face'."

"This is the fate that comes after being associated with 'corpses'."

"Because corpses are 'death,' once you come into contact with them, you may see your own 'death.'"

"But it's okay, I'll recover soon... though I don't know how long that will take."

She finished speaking to herself and left on her own, never giving Haruhi Nozomi a chance to speak.

But Chunri Wang never looked away from the mirror from beginning to end.

There, her face dehydrated and decayed into a mummified corpse, but flames faintly burned on it.

PS: Yunxi: 744486102 tried a new way of writing about battles (and fights), so the word count was reduced a lot.

PS2: Actually, the original title of this chapter was—"Show off and run away, so damn exciting."

Chapter Twenty-Two: Long May The Sunshine!

The pleasant break was over, and Xiaoyan and Zhi returned to the World of Fire, having gained a great deal this time.

Especially Xiaoyan.

"Huh? How did you bring things from other worlds here?"

As soon as he returned to the campfire at Ice Dog's location, Little Flame couldn't wait to pull out two P220 pistols and test-fire two shots.

"Can't you bring anything else back?"

"I don't know either, but look, the kimono I was wearing outside wasn't brought back. I'm still wearing the kimono I wore when I was fighting the ice dog."

Xiaoyan finally snapped out of her joy at bringing back the guns. She looked at herself and realized that her school uniform was also gone.

"Um... could it be because of my shield?"

She explained to Zhi the feature of her shield that it could store items.

"I see, this must be an overlooked hidden ability, but speaking of which... Homura, you have so many kinds of abilities!"

"Strictly speaking, my original ability was based on the manipulation of time, and I have only recovered a small part of its extended abilities. In essence, they are actually the same type."

"But there are all sorts of cool ways to use it, unlike mine, which is simple and straightforward."

"Often, simplicity and brute force are the most practical. When you can kill a powerful enemy with a single blow, you won't complain about your own weakness."

"It's not like we haven't tried before... cough cough, I mean, no matter how powerful an ability is, it's meaningless if you can't hit anyone."

"Isn't this what you should be thinking about? Your attack power is clearly overflowing right now, but you're not finding it easy to find opportunities to attack."

"Isn't that perfectly complementing you? With your current abilities, your movements are so graceful. As long as you can deflect my attacks, what enemy can't you take down?"

"But you have to defeat the enemy once first."

"All right……"

Zhi immediately deflated. She had originally made up her mind to become her princess's sword and shield, but now she had indeed become a sword, and one that the princess herself had to pick up and wield.

Ah, a murderer who only knows how to kill people, now she can't even solve the problem of killing monsters, what use is she?

Ignoring Zhi, who was lost in self-loathing, Xiaoyan enthusiastically planned her weapon enhancement scheme.

"Last time I heard the blacksmith say that we can upgrade ordinary weapons into our own exclusive weapons. I wonder if these two guns can be upgraded. If they can, it would be great if we could use magic to replace bullets."

"Shall we go back to the sacrificial site and take a look?"

Zhi suddenly remembered that the Ice Hound they had taken down this time seemed quite unusual. Maybe she could also complete her abilities with the Fire Keeper? The thought was quite exciting.

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The feeling of being transported by the campfire was just as good as ever, and the Fire Keeper's greetings were still as timely as ever.

"Welcome back, Lord Ash."

"I'm back... The sacrificial site is as lively as ever today."

At some point, Xiaoyan began to have the illusion that something big would happen every time she returned to the Firelink Shrine.

But this sacrificial site was more than just lively. She glanced around and found that, according to a rough calculation, the number of people had exceeded double digits. It was the first time she had ever seen so many ashes gathered together.

I was just about to ask Zhi what was going on when that guy came back and went to find his Fire Keeper. It seems my abilities had a huge impact on her.

She sighed and could only scan the hall herself to see if there was anyone she recognized there.

The arched sacrificial hall was now divided into three distinct groups. One group sat around a campfire, two of whom were dressed in common knightly attire, except one had a full-face helmet while the other's helmet only covered his forehead. The last guy's attire also looked like some kind of knightly outfit, but under his cylindrical helmet, he wore a coarse cloth robe with a sun painted on it, and the sun's expression... well, let's just say it was inexplicably irritating.

The three guys sat around the campfire, staring at each other, completely oblivious to the noisy surroundings, as if they were immersed in their own world.

The second group consisted of four people, two of whom Xiaoyan recognized very well: the short man with a special device hanging from his waist and equipped with dual swords, whom she had encountered the first time she arrived at the sacrificial site, and the tall, slender young man dressed in a wanderer's style.

Although the two were in the same group, they seemed to ignore each other. The short, roguish-looking man sat cross-legged on the steps, his face gloomy, lost in thought, while the young man was watching the last group of people.

Between them were two men: one burly with a red beard and red hair, arms crossed and a serious expression; the other wore samurai armor, had short silver hair, dead fish eyes, and was picking his nose.

Compared to these two silent groups, the last group, led by Granny Wolf, was much more lively.

"Grandma Wolf, what's going on? Why did the enemy's position change after I memorized the map of the Cathedral of the Deep?"

"I also encountered the Farron Undead in the Carthus Cemetery."

"...I encountered a strange conquering knight."

Three teenagers, who looked to be about the same age as Xiaoyan, chattered on and on, asking their own questions, much to the annoyance of Granny Wolf. Meanwhile, Teresa, who had returned at some point, did not have her signature smile on her face. Instead, she stared at Granny Wolf, who was busy explaining, with a grim expression.

Although there were two familiar faces present, it seemed that neither of them had time to pay attention to him. Instead, it was the knight in the sun robe by the campfire who greeted him.

She returned the greeting but didn't introduce herself, intending to first go to the blacksmith to see if her new weapon could be upgraded.

The cave was as deserted as ever, with only the sound of a hammer striking an anvil echoing through the air.

"Sir blacksmith, excuse me, but I would like to ask you to take a look at this weapon and see if it can be enhanced as you mentioned before."

"Oh, is there a new weapon?... Hmm, this weapon is ingeniously designed. Through this transmission mechanism... it should be able to be launched. The thrust comes from... the gunpowder inside. I see..."

Xiaoyan originally wanted to explain the basic principles of firearms, but as soon as she finished disassembling the firearm, the blacksmith deduced how to use the pistol based on the bullets, trigger, and firing pin, and then began to assess the possibility of strengthening it.

"This thing doesn't look like it can be made by hand. If you want me to replicate it, then I really can't do it. However, as for whether the exclusive enhancement will be successful in the end, we'll have to try to find out. After all, I'm just fusing the crystals you obtained into the weapon. As for the result, it depends on your individual abilities."

"So, does that mean that as long as I bring you the crystal, you can try to strengthen it?"

"Of course, but if the enhancement fails, the weapon will be fine, but the crystal you found will be wasted."

"It's alright. I just remembered where I got the crystal lizard you described earlier. Please wait a moment, I'll get it right away."

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Zhi completed the awakening ritual with some excitement. Her previous prediction was correct. The mutated Ice Dog did indeed give her an opportunity to awaken, and her remaining Demon Eye was strengthened once again.

Although she hasn't reached the level where she could kill even gods if she understood them, she is now extremely sensitive to weaknesses. She still hasn't reached the point where she can see the death line, but she can clearly see the flaws in movements and moves and find weaknesses. And the characteristic of being able to cause powerful bleeding to any creature whose weakness she can see has been retained.

With this level of magical vision, she was confident that when facing enemies of similar size who relied solely on martial arts, she would be invincible thanks to the skills she had honed at the Ryougi family.

She can even perform well against large enemies without many special abilities.

After saying goodbye to her Fire Keeper, she was eager to demonstrate her abilities to Little Flame, but when she turned around, she found that the Firelink Shrine was unusually lively today.

"Oh dear... I don't see Homura."

She crossed her left arm over her chest, placed her right hand on top of her left, and pinched her chin with her fingertips, striking a pose rarely seen on a young girl.

"Wait, wait, wait! What am I seeing? The Sun Knight!"

However, Zhi, who had finally managed to act like a girl, immediately revealed her true colors after seeing a certain sun pattern.

"Praise the Sun! Hello, hello, my name is Zhi, and I'm a newly contracted Sun Knight. Judging from your clothes, you wouldn't happen to be the famous first-generation Sun Knight—Solar, would you?"

Excitedly, she ran to the campfire, ignoring the gazes of the other two knight-like figures, and sat down next to the Sun Knight. She even tried to pat him on the shoulder, but she passed right through his phantom.

"Praise be to the sun! I am indeed the Sun Knight, but I'm not sure if my name is Solar—because when I crawled out of the Ash Graveyard, my memories were fragmented. I only vaguely remember that I seemed to have had an experience of searching for fire before."

"It's alright, it's alright! You probably haven't been to Undead Street yet, which means your oath was there as soon as you woke up. Maybe it really is the great hero I saw in the legacy when I signed the oath."

"Haha, I'm just a beginner with a few tricks up my sleeve, Ashbringer. But if you need any help, please don't hesitate to call me."

"Of course!"

The two knights beside them, seeing these two somewhat foolish fellows, silently moved aside.

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Homura Akemi's Intelligence Compilation Manual