Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

"I'm sorry! It's all my fault! It's all my fault! So please... don't fight..."

Her eyes were filled with tears, and her heartbroken appearance left Huang Quan, who understood everything, completely speechless with blame.

"Huang Quan is like an older sister to me, and after we get married, Xiao Ji will become like an older brother. Wouldn't it be better to have more family and live in harmony?"

"That's why I...I'm...sorry."

Kagura became more and more emotional as she spoke, and tears streamed down her face. Just as Yomi was about to make peace with Iizuna Noriyuki because of this girl, another magic bullet flew over and hit Kagura's hands, which were clasped behind her back. She lost her grip and dropped an eye drop bottle to the ground.

"Huh... um..."

Huang Quan's gaze immediately fell on the eye drop bottle, and before Kagura could react, she picked it up.

"Hehehehe, Kagura-chan~"

"Wait, Sister Huang Quan! Let me explain!"

Before Kagura could struggle, Yomi grabbed her and rubbed his face against hers.

"Questions and answers are useless! Compared to these stinky men, Kagura-chan is still the best."

"Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"Let's go, let's go! Sister Huangquan will treat you to ice cream, let's forget about these worries~"

Then, holding Kagura, he walked away from Iitsuna Noriyuki, who was still crouching on the ground, clutching her stomach.

As she left the park, she glanced briefly at a large tree to the side.

Xiaoyan and Zhi watched them leave from the treetops, with faint firelight leaking through the treetops.

Chapter Forty-Three: On the Eve of Fate

In another world of Ash, Ash, dressed in a low-ranking knight's suit, along with White Spirit in an unnamed knight's suit and Sun Knight in his golden spirit form, also stormed into the temple of the Undead Settlement.

That's right, they charged straight through the ranks of the Pope Knight, the Deep Church Mentor, the Bell-ringing Woman, the executioners carrying flesh and blood, and a large number of villagers who were trying to dissuade them, and then stormed into the temple.

This was an arduous battle, but also a simple and honest one.

If Xiaoyan and the others were there, they would find that none of the three of them had any particularly special abilities, but their simple fighting style was exceptionally pleasing to the eye.

The Sun Knight's lightning spear heralded the start of this battle.

They had clearly suffered at the hands of the Bell-Ringing Woman before, so as soon as the two sides made contact, the Sun Knight used his proudest miracle to take down this potentially most dangerous guy.

Afterwards, under the radiant light of the Sun Sword, the lower-ranking knight alone drew the aggro of the Pope Knight. Compared to the way the Pope Knight danced on the edge of a blade during his fight with the Weaver, the lower-ranking knight steadily brought the battle into a turn-based rhythm.

He possessed a beautiful and dazzling shield parry technique. Any irrational attack while he was holding his shield would be parried, which made the Papal Knight extremely frustrated. She didn't even have a chance to swing her sword freely and could only circle around him, looking for an opportunity to attack.

Even when the Papal Knight used combat skills, he would always use his shield to withstand the damage, and then use his excellent positioning to get behind her and find an opportunity to backstab her.

At this moment, the huge number of miscellaneous soldiers around them became the Papal Knight's greatest advantage. If it weren't for the occasional attacks from other forces intervening in their battle, the Papal Knight, who was being dragged into the rhythm that the Ashes knew best, would have died long ago.

However, the attacks from the grunts only caused some trouble for the lower-ranking knights.

He had companions, the nameless knights who had transformed into white spirits, who always roamed around him, clearing away the surrounding villagers and skeleton hounds. Even when an attack broke through his defenses, they showed different understandings of this skill when they had no choice but to roll away.

Each roll they made was not just to dodge attacks, but to control the enemy's movement, allowing the overly aggressive enemy to enter the safest position for themselves or their comrades to attack.

The golden figure of the Sun Knight remained standing behind the two, continuously providing them with the blessing of the Sun Oath, while also conjuring lightning spears in his hands to suppress the obese mentors who were hiding in the crowd, waiting for an opportunity to use evil miracles to launch a sneak attack.

Therefore, the executioner became the most troublesome enemy, possessing considerable strength and a robust physique. Most importantly, those damned wooden planks made them fearless of backstabbing—although it wasn't impossible to pierce the planks, firstly, the damage was greatly reduced, and secondly, it was extremely troublesome to pull out the weapon stuck in the planks.

Therefore, their strategy is to parry the executioner's attacks with their shields, but not to execute him immediately, keeping him constantly vulnerable and vulnerable, thus buying time for their own battle.

Thus, through the skillful and simple application of shield parry, roll, backstab, and miracles, the three of them solved these problems one by one, and entered the temple with dignity, facing the cursed tree.

The ensuing battle was rather uneventful. Without any other interference, the three of them unleashed a brutal beating on the cursed tree. The tree didn't even have time to destroy the floor and cause everyone to fall into the blood pool and perish together before it was reduced to light fragments and annihilated.

This meant that the three who didn't encounter the Cloth Bag Brother didn't actually discover the secret of the Blood Pool. Just as they were about to enter through the large hole in the side wall of the temple to investigate, ominous blood-red mist drifted out from this hole, which should have led to the Ghost Cave.

The three men's battle-hardened intuition warned them of the extreme danger of the fog. Without even communicating, the lower-ranking knight, as the master of the world, ran directly to the campfire that had appeared on the ground after the death of the Cursed Tree, while the nameless knight and the sun knight, as spirits, returned to their own world.

The three of them were progressing at the same pace, which meant that this was the third time they had experienced that battle. The Nameless Knight and the Sun Knight, who had returned to their respective worlds, were also in the temple, and from that cave, there was also a blood-red mist.

They immediately returned to their sacrificial site via the campfire.

At this moment, whether it is the real Lordran or the projected Lordran, regardless of which timeline or point in time, the same anomaly is occurring in the Undead Settlement region.

A crimson mist enveloped the area, plunging the entire undead settlement into a nightmare.

The crimson quickly faded, but from then on, the undead settlement that had been "vibrant" and "bustling" with some kind of experiment, which only a few ashes had ever encountered, disappeared. Those who came after would still encounter the ordinary, simple, and honest undead street.

However, this area was always shrouded in a light mist.

Anri lit the first bonfire on the path of the living sacrifices. She was also a witness to the anomaly of the Undead Settlement, and possibly the only one who watched the entire settlement turn into a nightmare.

Quite by chance, instead of going to the temple to conquer the Cursed Tree, she went directly to the Path of Sacrifices, and just as she boarded the elevator at the bottom of the tower, the blood-red mist began to spread.

She was there for a moment, but thankfully she escaped. She swore the experience was like being invaded by that evil hunter, as if she had fallen into a nightmare and struggled desperately to get out.

As the crimson mist lingered at the tower's exit before dissipating, she thought for a moment and then teleported back to her sacrificial site.

Having just rescued the saintess, she felt it necessary to exchange her soul for some miracles for self-defense—though she didn't know if it would be effective in this bizarre situation.

————————————————————————————————————————

However, before the aftershocks of the Undead Settlement incident could spread, Homura and Orihime, who had returned from the Intermittent World, were already preparing to travel to Homura's original world.

"Perhaps you could consider having the blacksmith help you upgrade a few more of your exclusive weapons. That should make dealing with the 'witch' you mentioned much easier."

When Homura explained the enemies she faced in her world, Ori's first reaction was to recall the name a certain evil hunter had given Homura. However, Homura kept emphasizing that she was a magical girl and the mortal enemy of witches, so Ori didn't delve into it further.

"But we didn't see any more of those large crystal lizards along the way."

"That's true... But in that case, wouldn't you, now that you've lost your powers as Ash, be even less likely to defeat that 'Witch's Night' thing?"

Speaking these harsh truths now that Homura has finally been able to go back might be hurtful, but out of a knight's duty, Ori still raised the question.

"...I've thought about this question. Although my biggest goal in my endless cycles seemed to be to defeat Witch Night, in fact, I was just sacrificing myself to stop Madoka and defeat that guy! In the end, I just wanted Madoka to stay by my side and protect her."

"Therefore, I don't care whether Witch's Night comes or not! My purpose in going back this time is to find a way to bring Madoka to the World of the Flame!"

This was the first time Zhi had seen Xiaoyan so excited. It seemed that this rest in the intermittent world had allowed her to completely let go of some concerns. She suddenly felt that since this world was so wonderful, wouldn't it be a win-win solution to bring Xiaoyuan along as well?

The change in mindset directly impacted her spirit. Once she understood this, the slight confusion and even emptiness she felt in the intermittent world, with her goal so close at hand, vanished. Although she remained expressionless, Zhi could clearly see the unusually fervent flame burning in her eyes.

"However, so far, no one has found a truly feasible way to bring the inhabitants of the other world to this world. The generation of ashes has always been random."

Zhi felt a pang of jealousy, a feeling she hadn't experienced in a long time. The last time she felt this way was when she was facing Kurogiri Mikiya, but if possible, she didn't want to let go this time.

"I already have a plan! As long as I put Madoka's Soul Gem and body into my shield storage space when she becomes a magical girl, I can bring her over!"

This is a very dangerous idea. I really want to say that this is no different from some girls cutting off the heads of their loved ones so that they can stay by their side.

But the fanatical Xiaoyan was completely unaware of how terrifying her thoughts were; she was simply excited about her plan, and even the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Zhi moved her lips, but in the end she didn't speak. She could only accompany Xiao Yan, who had made up her mind, to Rudos's side.

“Mr. Rudolf, I have brought the powerful soul and the Soul Forge. Now, you should be able to send me back to my own world.”

Rudolph glanced at Flame, whose face was brimming with excitement, and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"No problem. I will use the Soul Forge to refine the power within your souls, and this power will, through the information remaining in your ashes, bring you back to the world that once existed."

He lowered his hand from under his chin and slowly extended it towards Xiaoyan.

Xiao Yan immediately placed the vortex-like soul furnace and the candle-flame-like soul of Bordo into his hands.

Rudos was about to withdraw his hand, but then paused and looked at Zhi behind Xiaoyan.

"Child, do you also want to go to that world with her?"

Zhi paused for a moment, then subconsciously glanced at Xiaoyan, who was also stunned, before nodding vigorously.

“Very good. Since you have made the Oath of Ashes, the information remaining in the ashes has already merged to a certain extent. So as long as you hand over your Soul Furnace to me and provide a powerful soul, I can send you there through this connection as well.”

Zhi immediately pulled out the Soul Furnace that he had inexplicably obtained when defeating the Cursed Tree, and also offered up Bordo's soul.

Xiao Yan stared at the two other phantom-like souls and the furnace placed in Ludos's hand, and couldn't help but speak.

"Zhi, are you really going to give up the chance to return to your own world?"

Unexpectedly, even now, Xiaoyan still projected her own needs onto Zhi. Zhi clearly remembered mentioning many times that she had no ties in her original world.

"Of course, for someone like me who no longer needs to go home, isn't visiting a friend's house a better option?"

Looking at Zhi's cheerful smile, Xiao Yan had no reason to refute it for a moment.

"But in return, I have a condition for the exchange."

At that moment, Rudaus's voice reached their ears again.

"No matter how your journey ends, once you return to the World of Fire, you must earnestly shoulder your responsibilities in this world."

"No problem!" ×2

Because of this unexpected situation, Zhi also became excited, and together with the already excited Xiaoyan, the two of them never thought about how heavy the promise they were making at this moment was.

Destiny leads to home, home...?

There is a group of people who pray for hope, accept curses, and fight endlessly; they are magical girls.

As the price for achieving miracles, their souls were destined for battle.

Their estrangement, however, is a redemption achieved through destruction.

To disappear from this world, thereby freeing oneself from the despair of cause and effect, awaiting the inevitable end, awaiting the guidance of the principle of cycles.

Our endless battle, in this hopeless world where only sorrow and hatred endlessly cycle, is fueled by dreams of meeting that cherished smile again.

————————————————————————————————————————

As the flames subsided, a gentle breeze drifted into the ward, lifting the pale blue curtains.

Xiao Yan, lying on the hospital bed, paused for a moment. Looking at the familiar ceiling and then at the familiar ward, she suddenly sat up. Her heart was filled with joy, and she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hahaha...hahaha..."

A bitter liquid streamed down her bright smile.

She wiped away her tears, opened her palms, and called upon the power that had accompanied her through countless reincarnations.

The power responded to her, but what appeared in her palm was not the purple soul gem, but a faintly burning purple flame.