A woman held a candlestick as she walked up a narrow, steep staircase.
Tap... tap... tap!
Her shoes made a crisp sound as they struck the stone slabs.
The staircase spiraled upward through the building's interior. Its structure suggested that this was a tower.
Elena had removed her armor and donned the long robes of a Temple of Truth priest.
In them, she now looked like a devout apostle guarding the temple.
Outside, she wore a flaxen-colored cloak over her robe to keep out the dust. The Ruhe sword never left her side, hidden beneath the cloak with only its hilt exposed.
Elena lifted her head, climbing step by step toward the top.
The staircase was incredibly high.
Halfway up, she could see neither the top above nor the bottom below. Looking down revealed only a darkness that seed to have no end.
Elena kept climbing without pause, showing neither amazent nor complaint. She refrained from using her transcendent power to fly and simply ascended step by step toward the top of the tower.
Finally, she reached the tower's peak.
Clack!
She set down the candlestick.
She placed her hands on the stone, her eyes gleaming in the candlelight's reflection. A gust of wind soon extinguished the fla, however, transforming it into wisps of smoke.
Looking down from the highest point of the city, crystal lamps glowed everywhere in the darkness.
Buildings of varying heights stood layered upon one another. The upper halves of these structures glead brightly in the lamplight, while their lower halves sank into darkness. Only by gazing into the distance could one glimpse the faint candlelight marking the hos of the Demon Spirits in the surrounding darkness.
Iron chain bridges, corridors, and tunnels stretched between the buildings, connecting the different parts of the city.
This tower was the tallest structure in the city. When Saint Tito once passed through here, he saw this great tower connecting to the bottom of the sea and rising above the surface.
It was once called the Yesael Tower.
It had once been the guiding light and landmark of the Yesael Channel in the Yinsai Kingdom, though few now knew the tower's true na. The Demon Spirits called it the Moon Tower.
This was because when the other crystal lamps in the city went out, the lamp on this tower would light up. Its glow bore a striking resemblance to the moon.
Perhaps there was another layer of aning to it.
Yesael had once been called the Prince of the Moon, and his na ant moonlight.
Elena gazed at the city. She watched people erge from corridors and saw two figures sitting on an iron chain bridge, deep in conversation.
"The people here have everything," she said.
"They can even use miracle techniques."
"Everyone here plays their role. They know what to do and have their own responsibilities."
"So," she murmured, "was my only purpose in coming back to return to my holand?"
Elena had crossed the distance of space and the distance of ti to finally return to her holand, the Abyss Royal City.
But after returning, she did not know what she should do.
"What is the aning of my return?"
There were no enemies here, no crises.
Elena looked at her sword, her most skilled weapon. She could rge with tal, with swords and spears, and could transform into a tal titan. She was born with the gift of combat.
If faced with enemies, she would dare to swing her sword against even the most powerful of beings.
No matter how strong the opponent was, she could fight them until the very end. Even if she were reduced to nothing but bloody mud and dust, she would still manage to sever one of their limbs.
Even the gods of the mortal world, those beings known as myths, were no exception.
In her eyes, there was only one divine being. That divine being was Yinsai.
Redlichia was her ancestor, and she carried the bloodline passed down from Redlichia's eldest son.
But this place did not require her sword. All that awaited her was a temple. Elena finally found an answer. It was not a true one, but it was enough to convince herself.
"Perhaps there was no original aning. Perhaps the return itself is the aning."
"A life like this does not seem so bad either."
"Peaceful, harmonious, stable."
"For everyone, this is already very good."
Elena stood on the Yesael Tower for a short while. She prepared to go down, but just as she was about to leave, she suddenly looked toward the other side.
She circled around the wall base supporting the large crystal lamp and ca to the other side of the tower top.
An unfamiliar Demon Spirit was there.
He was leaning against the wall, seemingly asleep and lying motionless.
Beside the Demon Spirit was a strange machine.
The machine had a pair of wings, a chain structure, wheels, and a propeller at the back.
As Elena's gaze fell upon it, the tal puppet lying there sensed her presence. It moved, looking up at her.
After discovering who she was, he adjusted his slightly crooked head with his hands and formally addressed her.
"Ah, Apostle Elena! My lady!"
Elena looked at the machine and asked him, "What are you doing?"
Seeing Elena's interest in his creation, the Demon Spirit imdiately stood up to introduce it to her.
"This is a machine I built, though I have not decided what to call it yet."
The Demon Spirit puppet fiddled with the chains that were not fully installed and the pedals.
"Look!"
"When you step on the pedals, the chains will rotate, driving the wheels at the back."
"Then, the propeller at the very back will start spinning."
Elena asked, "And then?"
The Demon Spirit replied excitedly, "And then?"
"Then it can fly, of course!"
He said this with particular ease, with a hint of showing off.
It was as if he were saying, "It's such a simple principle, an obvious thing. How could you not understand?"
The forr Elena might have easily understood the principles of such a device, but the current Elena had forgotten almost everything.
Based on his explanation, Elena examined the strange machine again. Although she had not fully grasped its principles, she began to understand what he was trying to create.
"So, you want to build a flying tool."
"But this place is only so large. Walking is sufficient, so what use is flying?"
The Demon Spirit shook his head. "Of course, it is not for use in the city. It is for outside."
"I want to ride it and fly up!"
"Fly out of this darkness!"
"And leap beyond that boundless sea of sand."
After hearing the Demon Spirit's words, Elena's expression finally showed interest.
She stepped forward. The Demon Spirit was quite short, a full two heads shorter than Elena, only reaching her chest.
Combined with Elena's naturally imposing presence, the Demon Spirit unconsciously stepped back twice.
This way, the distance between them remained the sa.
He ended up leaning against the wall, as if facing so terrible beast.
Elena stopped her advance. "Do not worry. I am just interested in what you described."
"But I have a question. How will you cross the storm outside?"
"Neither your machine nor you yourself could possibly pass through that terrible storm."
The puppet could not understand why he felt such fear toward Apostle Elena. It was as if his instincts rembered a ti long ago when she had approached him with the sa commanding presence. He felt like a child caught in the act, unsure of what to do.
However, once Elena asked a question, he imdiately stood straight, answering like a well-trained soldier with complete seriousness.
"I have already noticed sothing."
"Every ti the city rises, there is a short mont before the storm begins."
"Moreover, the storm forms from the inside and spreads outward, pushing everything away."
"So," he said, "I just need to calculate the timing and leave early."
"If I rush out of the city at that mont, as long as I am fast enough, I can definitely break through. The initial pressure of the forming storm might even help push
out."
The Demon Spirit explained his plan and intentions, which sounded sowhat risky but also made one's heart race.
Elena asked him, "What if you do not make it out? Would you not be risking your life?"
He replied, "I think the chances of success are high, at least worth trying."
Facing Elena, he said sowhat embarrassedly.
"Besides," he added with a grin, "my flying machine has never even flown before. It has not left this darkness, let alone ventured anywhere else."
"Let's just get it to fly first!"
Elena examined his machine thoughtfully and said, "I like your idea."
The Demon Spirit puppet's excitent grew. Elena's words seed to resonate deeply within him, touching sothing profound in his heart. He yearned for the approval of others, especially Elena's.
"Lady Elena!" he exclaid. "You agree that we should leave, do you not?"
"The world outside is so vast. Why should we stay here?"
"We once had many cities and many, many companions. Why should we guard just this place now?"
Elena did not understand why he was so excited. He had not been this excited upon seeing her, yet he was waving his hands and feet with joy because she approved of his idea.
But the Demon Spirit's words moved Elena.
She asked him, "When will your machine be ready?"
"Do you need my help? Or is there sothing you lack?"
The Demon Spirit puppet only wanted approval, and now he was full of energy.
"No, I lack nothing. I planned everything a long ti ago!"
He rummaged through his bag, taking out tool after tool.
"Very soon, very soon. I can finish it quickly."
"I designed it long ago, and the parts are all made. I ca here to assemble it."
"Because this is the highest place in the city, it is the most suitable place for takeoff. I plan to build a platform here and fly down from it."
The Demon Spirit puppet continued speaking enthusiastically, "Lady Elena, when the ti cos, I will show you. Watch
as I ride it and soar into the sky."
The Demon Spirit puppet unconsciously called out this title.
Addressing her as "Lady Elena" was not common, and not everyone had the right to address her this way.
This was only possible if the person had once been very close to Elena, such as her student or a junior.
For instance, the Original Sin Evil God Xiao, who was once a third-generation disciple of the Temple of Truth, referred to her as Lady Elena.
As the Demon Spirit puppet moved, Elena suddenly noticed a mark on his hand.
The mont this mark appeared, Elena noticed it.
The mark of the Temple of Truth.
These Demon Spirits, when transford, retained many things from their forr selves, as if reminding themselves that so things must not be forgotten.
This mark could reveal many things.
It was possible that, long ago, he had also been a student of the Temple of Truth, serving as one of its priests.
Possibly, he had even been a student taught directly by Elena.
Elena asked the Demon Spirit, "What is your na?"
The Demon Spirit answered, "Ray!"
Ray, aning the explosive sound caused by lightning.
Elena raised her head, looking toward the darkness above.
"Ray?"
Was that really his na, or was he saying he wanted to beco the lightning that tears through the darkness above?
Would this person before her beco the sound of thunder coming from within the darkness?
Elena returned to the Yinsai Temple, but her thoughts often drifted to Ray.
While cleaning the temple and during prayers, she would sotis find herself wondering.
Had Ray finished building his flying machine?
One day, a sudden commotion broke out outside. Guards from the palace hurriedly rushed out.
One Demon Spirit puppet after another walked out of their buildings and onto high places, all looking to the sky.
A strange machine flew down from the Yesael Tower. It wobbled at first but quickly stabilized.
It circled within the city, sotis descending, sotis climbing higher.
It circled round and round above the city.
"Look!" the tal puppets pointed at the sky, exclaiming.
"It's that fellow Ray. He's made that machine of his again," soone said, recognizing the figure on the machine.
"It's over. He'll surely be punished by the guards again," another said, seeing guards march out from the palace in formation.
The Demon Spirit puppet nad Ray pedaled hard, controlling his flying machine.
The wings cut through the air, and the propeller at the back spun rapidly, emitting a buzzing sound.
This world within darkness also had air. From all directions ca sounds like breathing, and from there, the wind originated.
Ray sensed the wind's direction, adjusting his flying machine and constantly familiarizing himself with it.
He shouted with excitent, his voice filled with cheers and joy.
Woohoo!
"I'm flying!"
"I'm finally flying!"
"I can get out now!"
Finally, he circled over the city center and shouted down below.
"Lady Elena!"
"Great Lady Elena, Yinsai's apostle."
"I have not disappointed your expectations. I have completed this machine, and I will truly set sail on the last day of this month."
"At that ti, please co and watch!"
Ray was overjoyed and excited.
His voice trembled, like a child frolicking.
However, as soon as he landed, a group of guard puppets surrounded him. They inford him that he had violated city prohibitions and would be confined for three days.
He was punished for flying too close to the palace and the inverted pyramid.
Fortunately, he had avoided flying directly over the inverted pyramid, which ant his offense was not considered serious.
He seed to know this would happen.
As the guards took him away, he grinned mischievously, completely unconcerned.
He knew how long they would confine him and that he would be released soon.
When he was captured, he acted as if he were not being arrested at all, waving to everyone around like a hero.
"See!"
"I will succeed! I will fly out!"
"I want to live under the sun!"
"When I return, I'll tell everyone what the outside is like and tell everyone what it feels like to live beneath the sunshine!"
In the temple, Elena extended her ntal power, observing Ray's every move from afar.
Seeing his outlandish behavior, she rely lifted the corners of her mouth slightly.
But when she saw Ray truly flying, Elena was genuinely happy for him.
The normally stern woman actually smiled, perhaps because she felt a sense of familiarity in this Demon Spirit puppet.
She made up her mind. If Ray beca trapped in the storm, she would step in to save him.
A month in this era was much shorter than in the First Era, but the Demon Spirit Kingdom had its own thod of calculating ti.
On the last day of each month, this city buried at the bottom of the endless sea of sand would rise to the surface once, just as Oran had witnessed before.
Soon, that day arrived.
At the top of the Yesael Tower, Ray was checking his flying machine.
Until the end, he had not nad his machine, seemingly suffering from severe decision paralysis. Unlike data and machinery, nas could not be objectively evaluated as better or worse, and he simply could not choose.
Elena finally said it should just be called a flying machine.
Although Ray felt the na was too ordinary, he dared not say it was not good in front of the great Lady Elena.
So the na "flying machine" was established.
"This part could still be improved. This should be thickened a bit. This calculation was not quite precise originally."
"No ti now. It will have to do."
"It should be sufficient."
Ray inspected his machine while continuously voicing his thoughts. He and the usually silent, serious-faced Elena were complete opposites in style.
Elena seemingly found him noisy and talkative, so she cut in with a question.
"Why do you want to leave?"
"Did you want to leave from the beginning, or did sothing happen?"
Ray paused his work and scratched his iron head.
"Why?"
"The idea just... surged inside , it seems!"
Ray turned his head, looking at Elena with a grin.
"But once it appeared, I could not suppress it."
"One day, I was walking on a gallery bridge when light shone down on , and I suddenly had this thought."
The tal puppet stood up, gripping his tools and reaching toward the sky.
He seed to return to that day and said with excitent,
"Look!"
"It's light."
"That light surrounded . It was so bright, so warm, and so brilliantly dazzling."
"Under the power of light, darkness is so defenseless, instantly torn apart and shattered."
"At that mont I thought, why should I live in darkness?"
"I want to go outside. I want to live beneath the sun."
The female knight asked, "Is it not good here?"
"Although it is a bit dark here and sunlight is hard to see."
"But this place has everything. It is a land without worries or crises."
Ray shook his head. "I could tolerate the darkness here, if..."
"If I had never seen sunlight."
"But when that beam of light shone upon , everything changed."
"I cannot live in darkness any longer."
Ray put away his tools, packing them into the bag he carried.
At this mont, an anomaly occurred.
The entire city seed to be trembling slightly, as if it were moving.
Ray imdiately understood what was about to happen. The opportunity he had waited so long for, the day he had spent a long ti preparing for, had finally arrived.
He mounted his flying machine, strapped himself to it, and said to Elena,
"Lady Elena!" he called out, his voice filled with determination. "I am setting off now."
Elena seed to be still contemplating his previous words and only now raised her head to say,
"What you say has so truth, but not everyone thinks that way."
Ray replied, "That is why, right now, only I am on this flying machine."
"But when I return, there will be more people."
"They do not want to leave only because they do not know what is outside."
"Wanting a better life, seeking sunlight, wanting a beautiful future. What is wrong with that?"
At this mont, Ray completely transford from an unruly youth into a true priest of the Temple of Truth.
"They do not act because they dare not imagine."
Ray sat on the flying machine and patted his chest forcefully. "Now, I am telling them they should imagine it."
The flying machine slid down along the platform built from the Yesael Tower.
The machine circled above the city once. Ray sat aboard, waving enthusiastically to Elena, who stood watching from the top of the Yesael Tower.
Elena stood on the tower watching him, her gaze giving him imnse encouragent.
He circled the great tower and turned at a specific point.
At that mont, the flying machine started to ascend toward the sky above.
Ray pedaled with all his might, his body leaning forward.
"Faster... faster..."
His eyes were filled with anticipation, looking toward the darkness above.
Although the entire world remained cloaked in darkness, he understood.
It would not be long now.
Light was coming.
He wanted to break through the darkness, heading toward a world of light.
"Hurry!"
"The door is about to open."
Ray shouted out loud. He was about to crash into the barrier above if the exit did not open, but he seed to have calculated precisely when the door would open, showing no fear at all.
Finally, a door opened high above and began to expand.
The first beam of light shot down from above, tearing through the boundless darkness.
Light shone upon Ray and his flying machine.
At this mont, he was the only protagonist in the darkness, with everyone's gaze focused on him.
He broke through that door, appearing in the outside world.
Ray lifted his head, bathing in the blinding light.
He leapt beyond the horizon, seeing the world beneath the sun, the boundless golden desert.
The clouds above were white, the earth without borders.
This world had no boundaries. You could proceed infinitely in one direction.
His mouth hung open.
"The outside world."
"I made it out."
He did not stop but accelerated forward, wanting to reach the outer layer before the storm grew fierce.
Full of expectation, he believed he would succeed.
He imagined scenes of the outside world, imagined himself returning once more to the Demon Spirit Kingdom.
However, the mont he crossed the boundary of the Abyss Royal City, he ca to an abrupt halt.
He found that he could not move.
Like a machine that had lost its power.
His body grew stiff, as though locked in place.
His stiff head looked down at his body, and rust marks appeared on the once smooth, shining tal puppet shell.
Layer upon layer of rust ford, and his consciousness grew increasingly foggy.
"Eh? What is happening?"
"My body..."
"Why has it beco like this?"
Ray did not understand, having never anticipated this situation.
But he had a vague understanding.
He knew he had failed.
Ray turned his head toward the city in darkness, as if wanting to see the figure atop the great tower.
He cared deeply whether she showed disappointnt.
But the distance was too great. He could see nothing.
He felt sad, thinking he had made a complete fool of himself.
"Great Lady Elena..."
"I have shown you a farce."
With these words, Ray sank into darkness.
The flying machine had not even reached the storm when it began falling from the sky.
Ray successfully soared to the sky and successfully made his voice heard in this city.
It was like the sound of thunder, sudden and powerful, yet it was only a fleeting echo.
It was not even a flash of lightning that could montarily illuminate the world.
The flying machine fell from high above.
It crashed at the edge of the city that had risen to the surface.
Outside, a terrifying storm raged, a black hurricane devouring everything, with fearso shadows wandering within the dark tempest.
The mont the flying machine crashed, Elena appeared at the city's edge.
She walked to the wrecked flying machine.
The machine had broken into several pieces, and the rust-covered tal puppet was half-buried in the yellow sand.
Elena carefully dug the tal puppet out of the sand and cradled the petite Ray in her arms, as if holding a sleeping child.
Elena brushed the sand off him and said, "The storm and darkness could not stop you. Sothing else did, Ray."
Elena had been prepared to rescue Ray from the storm if he beca trapped in it.
But like Ray, she had not anticipated this. What truly kept them from leaving this place was not the black storm.
She placed Ray in front of his beloved flying machine, leaning him against its wing, then went to find his tool bag.
But while searching for the bag, Elena suddenly kicked sothing.
Clatter!
Elena looked over and discovered it was the wreckage of a badly damaged flying machine.
What she had just kicked was the left wing of a flying machine.
It was not the one Ray had just crashed in, but one that had fallen at the city's edge long, long ago.
Most of it was buried and decayed, with only one wing exposed.
This was the city's edge, a very dangerous place where few people willingly ventured.
Elena's consciousness scanned further away.
She saw several more flying machine wrecks buried beneath the yellow sand.
Elena suddenly understood.
Ray was not the first to pilot a flying machine to leave this city.
But he had never truly managed to escape the darkness, not even once.
Elena's gaze turned toward the heart of the Demon Spirit Kingdom, toward that inverted pyramid.
"The pyramid," she whispered with a sense of realization.
After a mont of light, the Demon Spirit Kingdom sank back into the depths of darkness.
In the darkness, circles of light radiated from the inverted pyramid and swept over the puppet lying on the Yesael Tower.
The rust on the puppet receded, and within the depths of his lifeless mind, the fla of consciousness reignited.
After a long while, the puppet gradually began to move.
Ah!
Ah!
Ya ya!
He opened his mouth, making childlike sounds.
After a long ti, he finally gained a vague consciousness. As he moved about randomly, he noticed the Temple of Truth mark on his arm.
"I... I... am..."
"I am Ray."
But beyond these words, he could not say anything more.
The tal puppet stood up and walked down from the tower top.
He felt it.
Far away, at the heart of the city, sothing seed to be calling to him.
He would return to the temple and relearn words from the stone tablets.
Then he would return to his workshop and relearn the divine techniques carved deep within the Demon Spirit shell.
He would make new friends, reconnect with the Demon Spirit Kingdom, hear the ancient myths and legends once again, and listen to others recount stories about the Golden Helt Abyss Knight and God's Apostle.
Perhaps one day, light from above would shine upon him and reflect a dazzling brilliance.
He would make an astounding sound, waving his hands and feet, shouting loudly.
"Look!"
"There is light outside, such bright light."
"This light is so beautiful, warm, brilliant, and radiant. I want to see where it cos from."
This was the life of the Demon Spirit puppet nad Ray.
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