Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

As she slid down the stair railing, she witnessed this scene, which seemed to mock her previous naiveté. Despite being warned of the dangers of the corrupted by Ash Flame long ago, she had deceived herself into ignoring their potential dangers after Ash Flame's rough inspection, and continued to carry out this exaggerated operation as always. She was practically pushing everyone to the edge of a cliff.

Da Shan was in despair. Even his most trusted commander couldn't save him now. Was he just supposed to watch helplessly as the sharp, cold air pierced his skin and froze his heart?

What are you hesitating for!

At the critical moment, Ash still had to save the day. A ghoul who had been knocked unconscious crossed the distance between several people and, before his sharp teeth could bite down, slammed into the advisor who had turned against his comrade.

"Tch, Dashan, grab him!"

In the end, she didn't pull the trigger. Yuri rushed towards the fallen staff officer, while ordering the completely stunned baby-faced man to try to catch the ghoul with his bare hands without weapons.

That's absolutely out of the ordinary.

Zhi quickened the pace of his sword hilt swings and began to chant the deeds of the gods in a low voice. Just as Yuri had run a few steps, he threw the miracle into the pile of corpses.

[Miracle? The Force Bursts Forth]

The impact, enveloped in golden flames, had an exceptionally significant effect on ghouls. The sun has always been the nemesis of dark creatures, and the Sun Knight should be an expert in dispelling darkness.

She couldn't let Li rush in like that; it would only lead to the complete loss of the most crucial core of the battle line.

So she didn't have time to check whether her heavy blow would burn these weaklings alive with her flames. After clearing the area, she immediately charged toward the staff officer.

It seems the ghoul's master gave the advisor a different order. He wasn't a moth drawn to a flame, but rather a rat unwilling to see the light. As Zhi rushed forward, he suddenly threw the ghoul that had hit him back at Zhi.

After waving aside the projectiles that were obstructing his view, Babyface finally showed some reaction after a series of unexpected events. Perhaps he wanted to save his best friend, he reached out his hand as the strategist turned to run away.

Unable to stop him, the staff officer didn't even glance at Yuri and Oyama before rushing into the cafeteria's emergency exit.

boom--!

Xiao Yan's powerful blow to An Ling only reached the ears of the group at this moment. The cafeteria was in chaos for a while, but the girls in the band brought it back to the rhythm of rock and roll.

Zhi wanted to chase after them immediately, but then she remembered the corpses scattered all over the place, so she stopped in her tracks and looked at the silent leader.

She seemed lost in thought, her head bowed, her bangs obscuring her eyes, making it impossible to discern her expression.

"Humans really can't even wait ten minutes."

Seemingly having finally figured things out, she suddenly raised her head, banishing the previous confusion and wavering from her mind. She reverted to being the absolutely dominant leader, calmly pulling down her headset and beginning to assign tasks.

"Calling Hinata! Have the task force enter the cafeteria and locate the target—Frontline Staff Officer Takamatsu!"

"This is Hyuga, obeying the captain's orders!"

"This is Flame. Dark Spirit has been confirmed dead. He shouldn't be showing up again anytime soon."

“Very good. Go to the first floor and take over the suppressed members. At the same time, keep an eye on the other students who have been invaded by the dark spirits. They should also be under control.”

"clear."

Xiao Yan was already clearing out the ghouls mixed in with the crowd. She switched to a sniper rifle with rubber bullets and, based on her memory, shot them one by one, breaking their necks. This allowed the brats who had blended into the crowd to carry these guys out of the crowd one by one before they fell and alerted the others.

Zhi saw the two dolls with different art styles, threw the ghoul back onto her previous battlefield, and knew that Xiaoyan had begun to take over the entire cafeteria. Without hesitation, she chased after the one who had slipped through the net.

Yuri pulled up the slumped mountain, who was sitting to one side, and without saying anything, followed Zhi into the safety passage.

The battle seemed to have come to an end, but as long as the concert continued, the noise in the cafeteria would not stop.

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

"As expected, I still can't eat this kind of food that looks like it's burning."

There are always two people who can isolate themselves from the noise of rock music, as if the whole world has nothing to do with them. Compared to ordinary students, they are more like NPCs. They come to the cafeteria just to eat and do things that are as normal as can be.

"Awoo...chew...awoo...chew..."

One was chugging water, while the other was devouring tofu—super spicy Mapo Tofu.

They claim to be shut out of the noise, but they may actually be the ones at the very center of it all.

"Hey, Kanade, now that you've stepped down as student council president, how about we go sightseeing somewhere else together?"

The dark-eyed girl had completely given up on trying this food. She pushed the plate in front of the silver-haired girl, watching her devour it, and quietly offered her suggestion.

“I’ve been to every part of the school.”

After quickly finishing her plate of Mapo Tofu, the former angel didn't stand on ceremony. She took the leftovers from her friend and continued to enjoy what she considered delicious food, even squinting her eyes slightly.

"It's not a school~"

"Chew... But in the afterlife, there's only one school."

"This is just the world after death—have I told you that? I used to think that death was the most equal gift that the gods gave to all living beings. All creatures, at the end of their lives, could not escape the embrace of death. But it wasn't until I actually died that I realized that death is not equal at all. Only the lucky ones can embrace death."

"Cheer... I don't understand."

The silver-haired girl tilted her head, and a drop of chili oil slid down her lips to the corner of her mouth.

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Just know that after you die, you will be able to see more of the world."

She took out her handkerchief and gently wiped the corner of the innocent girl's mouth, then continued to smile.

"Chew...you won't die here."

“I can turn you into one of my own kind, so that you can come with me to other worlds.”

"Chew...swallow..."

After finishing another plate of Mapo Tofu, the girl put down her spoon, looked at the clean plate, and pondered.

After a long while, amidst the smile in her dark eyes, she silently shook her head.

"I can't leave here, I'm still waiting for someone."

Intermittent Twenty-Six Fire Ashes Water Mist

Whether they are ghouls or ashes, what is their most distinctive characteristic?

They all originated from other species, yet they are monsters far surpassing their originators.

The Ashes, or rather, the Ashes of Another World, are still too inexperienced as a race. They don't even know how to treat the world they are most closely connected with, let alone how to treat other worlds.

The ghouls are different. They have explored human civilization for hundreds of years and know their place. They will never confuse themselves with humans.

Their habit of feeding on human blood served as a yardstick for distinguishing themselves from humans. It was precisely because they fed on human blood that even if some of them were lucky enough to turn to ashes, they could still clearly distinguish between the fire of the torch and the fire of the heart.

The flame is not their world, nor is their bloodline.

Her already withered heart could not ignite a flame, so she was one of the first ashes to fall into the shadow of the heart's fire.

So what if there is no fire? At least some dark, viscous substance still flows in their hearts. As long as they know that this substance is enough to support their new life form, that is enough.

To distinguish themselves from the burning ashes, the first fallen began to call themselves "Mist".

The remnants of fire are ashes, so aren't the fragments of water just mist?

She is an exception within the fog, a special case possessing both ghoul and vampire characteristics. Therefore, the next consideration is how to utilize her new, mutated vampire traits to fulfill her long-held ideal: to create a vampire utopia.

The world of Bloodborne is no good; the people there have long been corrupted by far more terrifying "gods," and there is no room for their little ghouls.

The world of the torchbearer is even worse; she never wanted to get close to those who were on fire in the first place.

But this is no challenge for the "Fog" who were once "Ashes". What they have no shortage of are madmen and geniuses. They were the first to figure out the rules of "intrusion" and the first to realize how to deal with the "intruders".

Madmen whose hearts are filled with a thick substance have no morality or order. They believe that the "body of mist" is the best gift that the gods have given them—not some gods who only want to have children, of course. What kind of gods they have in mind is probably only known to their crazy consciousness.

Therefore, their behavior was unbridled, which gave her the opportunity to realize her ideals.

The foundation of society is population, and naturally occurring ashes are scarce, not to mention that the residue must degenerate before it can become mist. Their companions were once very rare. No, no, they had no sense of companionship, so it can only be said that their kind were once very rare.

But now that problem is solved, several of the fallen ones were originally dark creatures in their previous lives, and dark creatures naturally have their own way of reproducing. As a result, their power has soared, and they have even begun to challenge the Ashes.

However, these things are not relevant to her. She hopes to find companions who share her "moral values" through her own characteristics.

This seems somewhat unbelievable; compared to many beings who are inherently human, she possesses a stronger sense of human morality.

She had been to many worlds, but indeed, a world that could produce madmen was also mad enough. She had been to a world overrun by demons, a world plunged into despair, a world filled with war, and a world ruled by demons.

Those places were absolutely terrible, so she chose to be an experimenter for the "new invasion technology" to invade other Ash Intermittent Worlds.

This time she was lucky; she encountered a peaceful and tranquil afterlife, and could finally begin her plan.

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

Xiao Yan stared at the corpses scattered all over the ground... It should be said that the half-paralyzed ghouls had their spines basically broken by the weaver, but this kind of injury, which could immediately cause ordinary people to faint, only took away their ability to move. At this moment, most of the guys piled up in this corner could still open and close their mouths with fangs, trying to bite anyone who came near them.

Like Gao Song, they still don't look much different from humans, but their scarlet eyes and fangs at the corners of their lips are their most distinctive features.

The other ordinary members stayed far away from this corner. It was already quite remarkable that they didn't run away in this situation. However, that was all they did. Everyone was trembling like a leaf, not only because they were terrified of the pile of corpses whose heads could still move, but also because they were terrified of the girl with long black hair and her doll-like familiar.

There was nothing they could do about it. Zhi had displayed monstrous power in front of them, and Xiaoyan was Zhi's companion. When she came, she was carrying several non-member ghouls. After the thing that terrified them the most was no longer a threat, the monster that could suppress those threats naturally became their new object of fear.

She had no time to pay attention to their thoughts; she was wondering whether the lurking mastermind would actually come to this noisy cafeteria.

When did these ghouls become active?

It seems that they only revealed their bloodshot eyes and fangs after Hyuga reported the arrival of the angels.

So she's an angel? No, she's fought against dark spirits before. Unless it's an act, she should be a normal person.

Although she has never had direct contact with the angel, Zhi activated her magic when they fought, so she should be fine. That means the people near the angel are highly suspicious.

"You two, keep an eye on this place. If these guys try to fight back, beat them until they can't move. Don't let them disappear."

After giving a brief explanation to her familiar, Xiaoyan suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight.

She went back to the roof beam, took out a pair of binoculars, and carefully searched for traces of the angel.

Actually, she didn't need binoculars at all. Because the two girls were out of place among the surrounding fans, she easily found them at the only table where everyone else was sitting.

"Is it that girl with the dark eyes?"

Through the binoculars, the girl pushed her plate towards the angel, something only very close friends would do. The angel ate the food from her plate without hesitation, seemingly without any discomfort. It was a heartwarming and ordinary scene from a youthful day, and she couldn't decide whether to test the waters.

Ori and Yuri made a mistake earlier; they didn't share the information that the angel had a new friend with the others, and because of Ori's magic eye, they didn't notice anything unusual about the girl.

Perhaps it's better that they didn't share information; at least Xiaoyan isn't abandoning her idea of ​​testing this suspicious girl.

The binoculars were replaced with an M200 sniper rifle, and the optical sight encircled the girl's head. All she had to do was pull the trigger to know whether this guy could actually react in a way that matched the ash.

What if she really was just an ordinary girl?

An ordinary girl should be able to be resurrected, right? Although letting her friend die for no reason might make the angels completely turn against them, they really can't give up this opportunity. What if she guesses right?

Her heart stirred, and the last trace of hesitation was burned away. She had decided that no matter the outcome, she would bear the consequences of firing the gun.