The Amber Sword

Chapter 779 v4c150 The Age of Mortals (2)

It seemed as if Korfa had gone crazy, not knowing who was her enemy and who wasn't at that moment. She floated above the hall as she spoke gibberish. Brendel didn't fall down into the abyss as he was holding onto the bridge, he lifted his head and looked at that Lizard Sword Saint who was hanging from somewhere higher than him. He was gripping onto the wall with one hand and holding Duke Arreck with the other. Brendel looked at both sides but he didn't see Aloz. Did she make it? But the star-shaped star wasn't in Arreck's hand anymore, seeing as he looked frustrated, the stone must've been taken or lost.

All For One that came with Arreck had scattered everywhere, those who were lucky enough to survive were those who had at least Elemental Awakening. Except for those floating in the middle of the hall, Brendel counted a total of 11 more. Even if he excluded two to three lucky ones, there were still eight to nine of them. This number was terrifying as Brendel had already defeated Devard outside the hall, and every one of them here was at least Elemental Awakeners, which had outnumbered the entire Aouine's superiors' strength.

This was the situation in the hall-

On the highest level of the hall, only Mephisto was left. Further down a little, there was Veronica and those black-robed knights that fought with her, about four or five of them. Further down even more, was Korfa mumbling to herself beside the shattered purple crystals. The throne of Milos beneath her had crumbled into the dark abyss and none of the All For One members on the platform survived, except that Elemental Awakened Mage that flew back up from the dark. The Mage was obviously injured.

Looking around the hall, the black-robed knights that were on the bridges and Aouine's noble knights were all injured and in despair. Only a few that had astonishing reaction time were hanging from the cliff, while the rest had fallen down below. The hall was full of smoke. Except for Arreck, the Lizard Sword Saint and Scarlet, Brendel couldn't spot anyone else. He was extremely worried for Ciel, Medissa, and the young price, especially when the Frost Devourer was slowly rising from below. Its teeth were spinning in its mouth like a food processor, no one would survive something like that.

After that fatal force swept across the hall and vanished, the Laws of Lines stabilized again. Brendel felt himself regain the power to fly, so he flew from the bridge. But he didn't dare to get too close to that Red-Ring Lizard Sword Saint, as he knew how big of a threat he was after that sword slash. Its power might be greater than when Veronica was in the Loop of Trade Winds. Although both of their powers weren't too big of a difference, one of them had an upper hand at defence while the other had better attacking sword skills.

And since the star-shaped stone was no longer in the hands of Anrek, Brendel did not intend to stay any longer either. With the cover of the diffusing smoke, he carefully flew in the direction of Scarlet- the hall buzzed, the surrounding walls started cracking significantly, which indicated that there might be a second collapse. Brendel felt that the dome of the Hall of Spirals would collapse this time as well, which would make it ridiculous to even stay on for a minute longer.

"Korfa, what are you doing!?" It was at this time that Anrek's low, hoarse growl came from behind him.

No one expected that Korfa would choose this time to retaliate, she had hidden her dark side and was waiting for the right moment. Anrek's face turned pale, but at this moment it was too late to repent, Korfa single-handedly turned the entire battlefield into a mess, and completely overturned his plan.

"You will not be able to imprison me, human." Korfa smiled somewhat smugly, "Don't you want to see the Awakening God? It's about time."

"What do you mean?"

Korfa did not answer. She suddenly had a look of extreme pain on her face and opened her mouth slightly, along with her scream, a stream of black smoke came out of her mouth, then her eyes, nostrils and ears; the black smoke rolled together above the girl, forming a blurred human-form object. While Korfa herself hung her head down helplessly and curled up in mid-air, her skin was so pale that it was nearly bloodless, she was like an empty shell that had lost its strength and soul.

"You don't understand what happened in that war, human." A voice like thunder came out from the rolling black smoke, and Korfa's icy voice could be heard faintly, "That was the only time in several eras that the Twilight was repulsed."

"This can't be!" Anrek roared, "After the battle of Ebabel, even the gods failed, the Golden Folk was almost wiped out, and the Silver Folk were hidden from view. This was the greatest victory that ever belonged to Chaos."

The Duke raised his arms in the air and hissed like a madman, "What is left of Vaunte today? The gods have abandoned this land long ago, the most glorious era has passed, and what remains is just insignificant trash. When the Twilight comes again, what can the trash resist? They themselves are still fighting for power and profit, drunkenly living and dying for some fleeting illusions, such a group of people, is the so-called civilization?"

At the end, he said, almost contemptuously, "It's ridiculous."

There was a moment of silence in the hall, but faintly one could hear the sound of the believers of All For One chanting prayers fervently.

"You are simply insane, Anrek." Veronica never thought a person would be so crazy. She had never believed in the fallacy of the All For One.The war between the Twilight Dragons and the gods was long ago, and only those evil-minded cultists would hail these nebulous myths as scripture. She didn't know what the future of Vaunte would be. Would it be destroyed, or would it last? But none of that mattered, for humans with short lives, so what mattered most was the present.

As for her, as long as the Kirrlutz Empire still existed, she must fight for it. Whether for her family or for the Empire itself.

Ash Sword Saint Mephisto also shook his head.

"Ridiculous indeed," the voice in the black smoke sneered, "Who told you that the gods left Vaunte after defeat? Who told you that the Golden Folk died on the battlefield at Twilight? The Silver Folk are not hiding, not because they are discouraged. Those human legends that have been passed down to this day, some of them are not empty, but you just don't want to believe them."

"But there is one thing you are not wrong about," the voice in the black smoke sighed, "Today's Vaunte, indeed, no longer takes to be that classical and glorious era."

"When authority is given into the mortals, the time that belonged to the gods will never return."

Brendel was quietly crossing the lowermost smoke-filled area of the hall, and he was soon to return to where he had entered the hall earlier - that is, the other side of the direction where Anrek was. The argument between the two sides above the hall was going on fiercely, the scene was a bit like the long opening scene of many important BOSSES in the game, but the aura of gravity really hung over the whole hall, everyone could feel a storm of energy gathering in the air - Brendel felt something, and realized that the key to summoning the Awakening God was actually in Korfa, and no one in the game seemed to have pulled Kovacs to this place.

But this design was indeed a pain in the ass, although from the plot it didn't seem to make sense, Brendel couldn't help but slander the planner in his heart a few times.

He looked down and saw that the Frost Devourer had risen another hundred feet and was almost within reach. This discovery took him by surprise, so he hurriedly flew up a few more times. Korfa, Veronica and the others were almost above his head now, but he didn't dare to fly up anymore for the others to discover his presence, especially Korfa. Who knows if this demigod-like being will hold a grudge for what happened earlier?

"This is a time for each of you to choose your own destiny, so take care of yourselves." The rumbling voice in the black smoke still echoed.

Under the black smoke, Korfa moved her eyelashes slightly, "Don't." She murmured softly.

The black smoke sighed, "You are free, Korfa."

"And I, too, will be reborn."

Mephisto's face suddenly changed, "Get out of the way!" He shouted, the words just landed when the group of black smoke enveloped above Korfa's head and spread out suddenly, rising up towards the hall dome. Several dodging black-robed knights were caught in it, before they could let out a scream, they completely disappeared without a trace. Assimilation. Veronica also turned pale. This was the most typical power of Chaos. She hurriedly flew upwards, but unfortunately it was still a little too late, Korfa's dark soul rose very fast, and was about to swallow her up when the female army chief felt someone tugging her from above, dragging her out of a certain death.

Veronica's face turned pale and she looked back to find that it was Mephisto who had struck. She was a little surprised, but then blushed. She frowned and complained, "Where are your noble manners, Mr. Mephisto, how could you grab a lady's hair?"

Mephisto didn't answer, but just gave her a look.

"Thank you." The female army chief was stunned for a moment before she replied in a small voice.

A dramatic change was taking place in the middle of the hall.

The black smoke had completely merged into the dome, and the voice let out a loud, arrogant laugh. A silver bell-like laughter lingered throughout the hall for a long time. But the change did not stop there, the echoing sound in the hall became louder and louder. Brendel saw several long bridges had broken completely and fallen into the abyss below, bitten by the Frost Devourer that climbed up from below. Its appetite was good and it wasn't picky at all. It gladly swallowed everything, be it stone or metal, it was just like a gradually approaching black hole.

The walls around the hall cracked in all directions, some were already several inches wide. The whole hall was shaking, large chunks of rock fell from above, and in a short while a 'sky window' was opened in the dome. It's just that outside the sky window wasn't a bright sky, but a pitch-black mountain. In fact, the whole mountain shook at this moment, and the rock wall split into two parts, half of which had begun to slowly sink.

"Holy shit!" Brendel finally reacted - this was going to be a landslide.

"Get out of here!"

He looked around and had a hard time finding the exit he had entered from earlier. In just a blink of an eye, the place was already like a fallen castle of sand, falling apart into a pile of rubble. There were a total of seventeen arches in the hall and half of them went missing in just a second. Brendel's jaw dropped when another third of the remaining disappeared. He hurriedly flew towards the last remaining exits, but it was at this time that he felt a mass of something hit him from above, knocking him downward. The thing let out a muffled grunt, or a girl's voice.

There wasn't any woman from Anrek's side, so Brendel subconsciously thought it was either Medissa or Scarletor, the scholar girl. But the voice wasn't very familiar, and he thought it might be the scholar girl, so he wrapped his arms around her immediately. Due to such a delay, the last few arches disappeared. Brendel took a look and felt as if he couldn't do anything but cry, because at this time the whole hall had apparently come to the end of its long life, with the walls on all sides falling towards him, and there was no avoiding it.

……

At some point, as if from the depths of the mountain, the humming sound became louder and louder but Freya was unaware of it. She quietly listened to Milos' narrative, which was a long story, as if it brought her thoughts to that distant and glorious era as well. The tall towers that stood in the sky, the floating cloud-like cathedrals, the Golden Folk dressed in white linen robes, prostrating themselves in pilgrimage outside the palaces made of gold, the air seemed to be filled with the faint smell of vanilla- it was a world of Order and civilization. While nowadays, humans instead seemed to be struggling in obscurity.

After a long time, she blinked her eyelashes slightly, raised her head and asked, "That is to say, the gods gave the mortals the power to choose their destiny, and after that, the Azure Knights led our ancestors and defeated the Twilight Dragon instead. After the stars fell to earth, to fulfill that pact, the gods turned away from Vaunte and completely handed the land over to us. That glorious era is gone, and Vaunte today is an era where we choose our own destiny, whether it be destruction or rebirth in the future."

"You are wise." The gentle voice replied.

"But there is still something I don't understand… Why is it that what the gods cannot do, we can do instead?"

There was a moment of silence in the room.

"Because you are people of this world and you don't have to fight against it."

Freya paused, "I'm sorry, I don't understand what that means."

"I remember I once mentioned that half of the Twilight's bloodline flowed in the bodies of the Black Dwarf, but unlike the Bronze's generation, you completely gave up your power, and that's why you didn't turn into those magical creatures whose sanity was corrupted by the darkness."

Freya nodded her head.

"That's why." The voice replied, "The world of Vaunte was woven out of a Chaos by Marsha, and when She lowered the Laws of Tiamat over the sea of Chaos, the world was born. The root of our world comes from the Order that is built on top of Chaos, so from the beginning of the world, this opposition is rooted in it - the stronger the power of the Order, the stronger the resistance from Chaos. The power of Chaos has no limit after all, which means that one day, this power will even surpass the control of the gods, and our world will vanish. This is where Twilight comes from."

"Over the course of several eras, Vaunte has in fact long since experienced several destructions, and the history of the earliest the Golden Folk is long since far from traceable. This is called the error of the gods, and for countless ages, the sages and wise men from other servant races and the gods have searched for a way to end this cycle of error. We have established countless civilizations and Orders, but in each case, without exception, they have failed."

"Dusk has come six times, and we have failed six times."

"The only time we came closest to success was at the end of the last era, when your heroes, the Azure Knights, shattered the heavens and caused the stars to fall to the earth, separating Vaunte from each other, but also truly ending the Twilight. It was the only time that civilization was not completely wiped out, and although it had hit hard, it at least showed us the possibility of success."

"The root of everything stems from a proposal of the Darkness Dragon."

"Is it Odin?" Freya interrupted.

"No, earlier than him," although not visible to her, the girl could feel the owner of the voice slowly shake his head, "The previous generation of the Darkness Dragon had long since perished in the battle of the Twilight, but like Odin, it was a figure of great wisdom. It was he who made us think about the problem in turn, not just to enhance the power of the Order, but to simply preserve the fire of civilization. Therefore, we could have created a weak civilization, which is no longer glorious, and can even be said to be compromised to Chaos, lack of power, obscurantism, and even penetrated by the Twilight Dragon. However, in this case, we almost succeeded. "

"Because even Chaos could not devour itself."

Freya opened her mouth slightly, she vaguely felt that Milos seemed to be hiding something, but what this voice just said was already the most heavenly legend she had ever heard.

The gods had actually given in to the Twilight Dragon.

"No matter how bad it is, is it okay to just exist?" Freya was a little less than comfortable, after all, no one wanted to be treated like a bugbear.

"No, little girl, civilization grows." Milos' voice rose with pride, "This is the greatness of the Mother, because this time, it will be a civilization rooted in this world, no longer created and interfered by us, it will carry the mark of the Twilight Dragon, growing up little by little, gradually growing, and finally becoming one with the origin of this world, and at that time, no one can destroy it anymore."

But civilization was after all a civilization and Order is, after all, different from Chaos. Freya vaguely felt that something wasn't right. She shook her head, "Then when will the Twilight Dragon descend?"

It was silent for a moment.

"It will."