"Although thinking about Annelisa waking up crying and cursing makes happy... after that, don't let her shed any more tears, Ansel."
Flalle stroked his son's head. He could still see traces of youthful innocence on the boy's face… He couldn't help but wonder, what was he doing at Ansel's age, and how was his life then?
With these thoughts, he felt no regret.
Because he could give his child, who bore far more pain than he ever did, the power to clear away all problems.
Thinking of the gift he left for Ansel, Flalle felt that, in the end, he had finally done sothing right.
"You too, Ans."
A serene and contented smile appeared on the man's face.
"Take everything from and destroy all that would make you cry."
"From now on, live without pain and be happy."
Just this alone, to bring his wife back to life and give his son a new beginning, Flalle never felt so accomplished.
He closed his eyes and lay peacefully in the flower field, as if returning to the past he so cherished.
His wife embraced him, whispering in his ear, scolding their son, while the boy occasionally said things that baffled him but were incredibly impressive...
The abyss, vast and overwhelming, seed to swallow and grind everything, pulling all into its ultimate pitch-black descent.
Flalle finally felt at ease; he had always worried that Ansel would be unable to make up his mind.
The legacy of the Flafeast Royal is carried by the crown. When the previous emperor sacrifices himself to the Source Fla, the crown absorbs that sixth-stage power. The next emperor only needs to don the crown to instantly beco supre.
However, for Hydral… the purest of magical beasts, the continuation of their legacy is far simpler.
They devour the previous Hydral.
Literally and physically, they consu the flesh and power of the forr Hydral, allowing their own strength to rise from the abyss, surpassing all, and becoming divine.
When Flalle sensed the abyssal descent, a power infinitely greater than his own, seemingly engulfing the sky and this very space, he finally felt completely at ease, ready to end his own life.
But at that mont, his eyes snapped open in disbelief.
He saw Ansel pressing a glowing orb into his chest.
"Ansel!!!" he roared in shock.
"What are you doing! How do you have—how could it be in your hands!"
The last ti Flalle had lost his composure like this was when Annelisa died. What had Ansel done… to make him so astonished, furious, and even mad?
Flalle struggled and raged, but before he could take his own life, Ansel, with just one hand, held him, a divine species, down.
His consciousness began to blur, and the madness and violence that only Ansel could withstand … were dissipating at an incredible speed.
"Father," Ansel's face was sowhat obscured by the glow.
But Flalle could see that he was smiling—a smile of relief and joy he had never seen before.
"Before you ca, I knelt by Mother's bedside, recalling everything we had been through together."
The young Hydral murmured softly, inch by inch, pressing the orb into Flalle's chest.
Flalle, struggling, grasped Ansel's arm, his tone turning almost pleading, "Stop... Ansel... stop... stop it!"
"I wanted to make up my mind by rembering everything I had been through with Mother and you, by recalling Mother's choice and my own despair at that ti," Ansel continued to smile, his eyes and tone as gentle as the child he had been… six years ago.
"But then I rembered what Mother told ."
"If I ever reached a point where I couldn't make a choice, where it was so difficult and painful that I didn't know how to go on..."
As the orb fully entered Flalle's chest, Ansel, after six years of suffering, finally saw his own heart, hidden in the endless darkness.
"I must live for myself."
Fate... Fate.
Since that day, all of Ansel's actions have revolved around fate. Whether good deeds or evil, everything he did, his sole purpose for living, was to defeat and destroy fate.
Even at this final mont, all his thoughts were consud by fate—was fate preventing him? Were his recent thoughts another deception by fate? What was the right course of action? How could he triumph over fate just once? How could he completely conquer it in this ga?
Ansel pondered endlessly, yet never considered himself.
He never thought about the imnse pain in making this choice, the cruelty and pathology he had to embrace to resolve this decision, or what he would beco after truly doing it...
He never considered what he truly wanted.
"Father... What I desire is for you, mother, and to survive."
This was Ansel's deepest, earliest longing.
He wanted to live happily with his family.
"An... s."
Flalle, whose consciousness was on the brink of complete obscurity, still clung to Ansel's arm, weakly murmuring his na.
Ansel gently removed his hand, softly saying, "I know you have many questions. When you wake up, I will tell you and mother everything."
"Including my struggles, my pain, my gains, my... resolve."
"The story is long," the young man smiled, "You and mother can listen for a long ti, don't worry."
"Do... not."
As Flalle feebly uttered these two words, Ansel gently closed his drooping eyelids.
"Next ti."
With a resolve to live for himself, Hydral softly said:
"Let's watch the flowers together with mother, father."
He lifted the sleeping Flalle from the flower field and walked towards the nearby wooden house.
Flalle of Hydral, the greatest alchemist of the past millennium, and perhaps the greatest ever, spent nine years gathering countless materials to create sothing. What was it?
The answer was evident in the changes in Flalle.
It was... a miracle among miracles, capable of severing the Hydral family's millennia-old curse, truly liberating them from the abyss, and completely ending the endless erosion!
Although the price was the loss of Hydral's imnse power, falling from the sixth stage and no longer being the supre deity, this was insignificant compared to what was gained.
The only thing worth Flalle's imnse effort, even postponing the resurrection of his wife, was this.
—To ensure his child could truly have a happy life. Find more to read on empire
He believed that as long as Ansel inherited his power, he could sweep away all enemies, even the Flafeast Royalty would be destined to be ruled by his son.
And when everything was settled, as long as Ansel rged with the miracle he created, he would have a truly brilliant and perfect life.
But he did not know that Ansel had long been aware of everything, that he had known where this gift would be placed.
Right there... in that wooden house, in Ansel's own bedroom.
Flalle also did not know that, influenced by the emotions of his friend, his mother, and his father, Ansel had made another decision.
He would use this irreplicable miracle to save his father, to salvage the life he still had a chance to save.
To do what he truly wanted to do.
Regardless of whether it was a trap set by fate, regardless of whether he could defeat fate.
At this mont, Ansel of Hydral acted solely to fulfill the vision in his heart.
He carried Flalle to the bedroom, laying him beside Annelisa, quietly watching his slumbering parents.
Ravenna's soul strength could not compare to Annelisa's, even though Annelisa had fully recovered, it would still take a long ti for her to awaken.
And Flalle... that miracle, Ansel had never used it in the original future because he lacked the strength to do so. How long it would take to take effect, how long before Flalle would wake up, was unknown.
But it did not matter... it just needed ti.
This ti, Ansel did not sacrifice, but chose to save, saving the most important things in his life.
As he looked at his parents' faces, his heart was no longer troubled by the madness of fate, nor was there any self-inflicted pain.
There was only an unprecedented, pure... serenity.
Ansel did not know if he had made the right choice in his battle against fate, but he knew that in his battle with himself, he had made the most correct choice.
Even if the enemies he would face next were terrifying to the point of despair, it did not matter.
"Fate."
The young Hydral, no longer frenzied or mad, no longer filled with hatred and anger.
He looked up at the sky with such calmness and ease, smiling softly:
"Co, kill ."
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