NOVEL NEXT Chapter 531
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EP.531 The End of Childhood (3)
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In the flames, the woman crumbled to dust.
Raniel stared at the particles of starlight mingling with ash for a long time.
“Goodbye.”
“My proud junior.”
The voice she left echoed in her ears.
When she burned and crumbled, the eyes of the woman responsible for the star’s essence weren’t platinum. What was revealed as the starlight disintegrated were green eyes. Eyes the same shade as Gletus’s.
Was it her? Or merely a fragment of Gletus exposed as the starlight peeled away?
There was no way to know what the truth was. The star had already burned and disintegrated. In the end, it was up to one’s acceptance. After gazing at the swirling ash for a while, Raniel bitterly smiled.
“Really now.”
As troublesome as ever until the end.
She slightly bowed her head toward the dispersing star. Whether it was Gletus himself or a fragment of hers, either way, it was someone worthy of respect.
Raniel lifted her bowed head.
The star, which had rooted in the night sky for millennia and watched over humanity, had burned to dust. The flames of the heavenly cycle cast away everything left behind by stars.
The stars, the starlight, the blessings of the stars— all of it.
Raniel burned everything that was no longer needed by humanity. With that, she exhaled deeply through the dispersing ash.
“Huuh…”
What a long way I’ve come.
Although she had come far, she had finally arrived. Breathing out long, she opened her mouth.
“Is this enough?”
What was reflected in her eyes was thick ash.
She looked at the ash clinging to her body, now finally blowing away, and Raniel let out a light smile.
The Goddess of Ashes, her future self.
Seeing the remnants that had always clung to her scatter, Raniel smiled bittersweetly. She had truly received much help from her, all the way to the last moment. Thus, the answer she presented here was also a tribute to her future self.
Tack, tak-tak…
With nothing left to burn, the flames slowly dwindled. Amid the fading flames, Raniel took a step forward. There was still work to be done.
“…”
Silently, she closed her eyes.
She covered her closed eyes with her hand and then swept her hand down to her chin. When she opened the eyes she had closed, the light blue ring once etched in her eyes was nowhere to be found.
Raniel spread her hand.
In the palm was the light blue ring of flame. It symbolized her power, divinity, and her rank as a god. Without a moment’s hesitation, she dropped it into the night sky.
For the world needed no more gods.
Such power was no longer necessary for her.
Raniel relinquished her divinity.
With a thud, the light blue flames dropped from the night sky, forming a ring. A light blue ring rose in the middle of the night sky.
“So this is what it feels like?”
Looking at her symbol established there, Raniel unintentionally smiled. If she had wanted to inscribe a law like Yormun, a law would have taken its place there. However, the light blue flame that Raniel left behind was not a law.
Merely a lamp.
A small flicker illuminating the path.
From now on, in the tumultuous world ahead, it was a lamp that would help people not lose their way, to adapt to the changes.
“They will need some time to adjust.”
Especially the mages.
Raniel smiled bitterly.
With the disappearance of the stars, the system of magic would change from what it had been. Until now, mages had traded through the stars for providence, but with the stars gone, they would need to engage with providence directly. And that couldn’t be realized overnight.
Of course, with the stars gone, so too were their constraints, making understanding not too difficult, but still…
They would need time to adjust.
Raniel gazed at the ring of flames she had left behind. That light blue flame would temporarily replace some of the roles the stars once held. Trading with providence, prayers from priests, and other minor tasks.
The flame would remain here until the moment humanity, having taken for granted the cycles they’ve repeatedly experienced over the ages, no longer saw them as such.
“And.”
When the time comes.
When humanity has sufficiently adapted to a changed world and no longer needs the flame, then the flame would dwindle.
Whoosh.
Looking at the roaring light blue flame ring, Raniel smiled. Though her body had lost omniscience and omnipotence along with her divinity, she found this right weight comforting.
Omniscience, omnipotence, and futures.
All these were but trivial matters.
Knowing that being a god was not so great after all made her appreciate being human even more. Raniel was still a hell of a powerful mage and the hero of humanity after relinquishing her divinity.
Thud.
She had come up as a god, but now she stepped down as a human.
Raniel set her foot into the night sky. The footprints that hadn’t left any marks while she was a god were now imprinted in the night sky. Leaving proof of her presence here, Raniel stopped in front of the rift she had ascended.
The rift was healing.
With that, she took a step toward it.
The night sky disappeared, and the blue sky unfolded.
Gazing at the shining sun beyond the azure sky, Raniel fell. Embraced by the incoming wind, she happily stretched her arms wide. Her garments flapped violently, and her hair danced in the breeze.
Raniel’s scream of liberation was swallowed up by the wind’s sound. Feeling the delightful breeze enveloping her entire body, Raniel laughed out loud.
Everything was over.
Now, it was time to go back.
As she fell, the sky started to ripple. With the stars disappearing and the laws fading, signs of the world about to change began to form in the sky.
Like throwing a stone into a lake, the sky rippled greatly. Leaning against the collapsed temple, Yormun observed the spectacle. He instinctively felt the star he had set in the sky had vanished.
Starlight and ash fluttered in the sky.
Yormun felt all the remnants of the stars on his body disappearing, and he sensed his flesh beginning to crumble. Of course, he could resist. If he abandoned his connection with the stars and chose to live as a human, he could survive.
But Yormun had no desire to do so.
He no longer had attachments to life.
Having seen the world change, wasn’t it time for the remnants of the old era to crumble? This stage should have been exited long ago. It was finally time to step down from the stage.
“…Gletus.”
Looking at the fluttering starlight, Yormun muttered.
He smiled bitterly, savoring her name.
In the end, the world she had hoped for had arrived.
Humanity advanced to where she had gone, caught up to her, and now sought to dream of the “next” she had never imagined.
The world had changed.
It had changed, and it would continue to change.
Gazing at the sky rippling like waves, Yormun slowly closed his eyes. Starlight settled upon his crumbling body. Feeling the warmth of the gentle starlight, Yormun exhaled for the last time.
He lived on as the guardian of the law until the very end.
Though he had fallen as a human, he chose to close his eyes with the stars as an ancient god. That was the finality of a transcendent being who had endured millennia.
Rustle.
Old gods crumbled to ash and blew away with the wind. The dust mingled with scattered starlight and drifted off to an unreachable place. Just endlessly.
Kyle looked up at the sky.
The sky was shifting, and the world began to change.
Amid witnessing the historic spectacle of a new page of history being filled… Kyle absentmindedly let his gaze drop. Ash particles that had inhabited his body scattered in the air.
As if to say, “I’ve done what I needed to do.”
Kyle smiled at the scattering ash.
Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve come this far. Saying that in his mind, Kyle exhaled deeply.
“I expected it, but in the end, it disappears.”
At the voice that came, Kyle turned his head.
There stood Destel, gazing at his star gear. The constellations etched onto it had vanished. The platinum starlight was also slowly crumbling.
Everything related to the stars had fallen apart.
However, the star gear itself remained.
Kyle suddenly gazed at the holy sword sticking before him. Next to it was the broken holy spear of Galahal.
“Well, would you look at that.”
As if she saw the same thing, Destel chuckled and took off her star gear, hanging it where the star gear had been stuck.
“Isn’t that something, Kyle?”
Looking at the gathered star gear, Destel spoke.
“When we first became heroes, this generation got absolutely roasted for having no talent whatsoever.”
“…Was that so?”
“Of course, after you shattered the record in just a few months and racked up achievements, that talk simmered down a bit… but still, they said this generation of heroes was nothing worth mentioning besides Kyle Toven.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Not entirely wrong, though. It is true that both I and Galahal were weaker compared to previous generations. It was also true that Raniel helped us more than we did.”
Destel smiled bitterly.
“But we still followed through to the very end.”
Though they had been humble, paradoxically, the heroes hadn’t given up until the very end. Smiling as he looked at Galahal’s spear and the star gear he had taken off, he chuckled.
“We made it to this stage and stood on the same ground as you guys. We were a great help. So, you know…”
He exhaled deeply.
“Tell everyone who roasted me and Galahal to shove it. No matter what anyone says, our generation of heroes was absolutely extraordinary.”
As if he’d always wanted to say such a thing, Destel shouted and laughed. Kyle chuckled at him. It wasn’t incorrect. No one could dismiss the feats they each had achieved.
Amid the laughter and chatter of the two,
Destel, looking at the sky, suddenly squinted. He let out a brief gasp.
“Hey. Shouldn’t we catch that?”
He pointed at the sky with his hand.
There, Raniel was plummeting at a rapid rate. She was diving toward the ground without reducing her speed from the sky.
“…A mage like her wouldn’t not be able to use a slow spell, right? She’ll be fine.”
“Hey, the stars are gone.”
Destel smacked Kyle’s arm repeatedly.
“When the stars disappear, don’t mages lose their magic?”
“…”
“Wait, no way…”
The expressions of both Kyle and Destel turned serious.
They watched as Raniel fell from the sky. Although she presently appeared as a small dot, it wouldn’t take long for her to reach the ground.
“…”
In the silence, both got up in a hurry. Both limped and started running towards the location where Raniel was falling, with Destel screaming.
“Uh-oh, hey, it’s getting closer! This way! Over there!”
Kyle swerved to the side and ran.
Dragging his limp feet, Kyle barely lifted his broken arm. As he awkwardly stretched his arm toward the falling Raniel…
Swoosh…
Raniel, who had been slicing through the air, spun around mid-air and gracefully landed on the ground with reduced speed. Tidying her ashen hair, she shifted her gaze toward Kyle and Destel, who were awkwardly reaching out.
“…What are you guys doing?”
Raniel, who had become a being akin to a god in her battle with Yormun, had no visible wounds and her clothes were neatly restored. Though she had lost her powers now… she was still looking tidier than either Kyle or Destel.
As she glanced at the two of them, looking worse for wear, she couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. Under the blue sky that was changing and swirling around, she spoke.
“Let’s go back.”
Having achieved a great feat and become a god…
The mage chose to remain human and smiled.