Chapter 54

The sun and the moon. One is the emperor of the day, and the other is the queen of the night.

In ancient times, people thought of them as the celestial couple. They seemed almost the same size, a perfect pair. Of course, the moon is just a tiny satellite, not even worthy of being a servant to the sun, let alone its spouse.

“Ah.”

Far, far away, the sun and the moon, which seemed similar in size, floated in the vast emptiness of space, approaching Roka. As they got closer, their true size became apparent.

First, the moon passed by Roka. Its gentle gravitational pull tugged at her. It was shocking to see that this pockmarked, crater-filled sphere was the same beautiful moon she had seen earlier.

“Is… is this the moon?”

The child, who had believed that a rabbit lived on the moon, was stunned by the revealed truth. There wasn’t even an ant living on the bumpy, cratered backside, let alone a rabbit.

This was a dead star. A dead satellite. There was no life anywhere.

The moon’s surface wasn’t as beautiful as it appeared in the night sky. The child was deeply shocked by this realization.

But in a way, the moon’s ugly appearance was a form of sacrifice. Suddenly, a comet with a blazing tail streaked past Roka from the distant sky. Her pupils dilated as she saw where it was heading.

She hadn’t seen many jewels, but she was certain.

There, more beautiful and valuable than anything else, was a jewel. Seven parts ocean, three parts land. She was mesmerized by the jewel named Pyros.

“That is the home of us all.

That is the home of us all.

Within this beautiful star, all the joys and sorrows of the world unfold and fade. The light of life flickers within this living Pyros.

But now, a white comet was approaching this star, threatening to bring an unprecedented disaster. The comet, carrying destructive energy, had become the most deadly arrow, now falling toward Pyros.

“Boom!”

But before the comet could invade Pyros, it collided with the moon. There was no sound, but a magnificent sight unfolded before her eyes.

The ground flipped, and a dust cloud rose. If it had hit Pyros, there would have been massive casualties, but the dead satellite, the moon, absorbed the comet without harm. Another crater was added, but that was all.

“The moon is blocking the meteor… becoming our shield.”

Why am I seeing this? What is Kamira doing now?

Such questions didn’t even cross her mind. The universe gently lifted its veil, revealing its secrets. This cosmic revelation was so shocking and awe-inspiring that Roka could barely process it. To her, this wasn’t just a curious event.

Roka, the child who wielded the power of the sun and moon, knew nothing about either. In fact, wasn’t she the only one? Unless you were an astronomer, most people knew nothing about the secrets of the sky.

The priests of the Aldehir faith, who worshipped the celestial god, held much knowledge about the heavens, but such secrets were usually shared only among them. And even they would never have the chance to see the moon this closely in their lifetimes.

“Ah…!”

Suddenly, Roka’s gaze turned to Pyros. The ocean of Pyros shifted slightly toward the moon, and it became clear that the moon’s gravity was pulling the seawater. Of course, the tidal force wasn’t solely caused by the moon’s gravity, but without the moon, that force would greatly weaken.

“The moon is pulling the sea.”

Though the actual phenomenon was far more complex, knowing that much was enough. In any case, having glimpsed the moon’s true nature, Roka felt she had learned something.

But as the moon passed and the sun approached, Roka realized that what she had learned was nothing. The blazing sun, incomparable in size to anything she knew, drew near.

Someone who had only lived on the ground had never truly seen the sun. This time, the girl was too stunned to even gasp. Here, everything was a hundred times larger than the continents. All that came out of her mouth were short exclamations like, “Wow, wow.”

Two black vortexes pierced the sun’s outer layer, swirling through the fiery plasma. Flames crossed the sun’s surface faster than anything on the ground.

The pure power it held was beyond fear—it was on a completely different scale. It was incomparable to any power humans could wield.

Roka’s mouth hung open as she watched the gas clouds rotate as if alive. Unlike the static, dead moon, the sun was dynamic, as if it were alive.

The uneven gas arms created spiral nebulae, forming whirlpools that could swallow a hundred Pyros. Rivers of flame flowed at an unimaginable size and speed.

Amidst it all, something mottled and red appeared. It wriggled as if alive. No matter how small it seemed, it was still far larger than any continent.

If Roka’s eyes could see electromagnetic waves, she would have seen much more, but in the visible spectrum, it looked like a ball of fire. A glowing orb of light.

“Whoosh!”

For a moment, the thing on the sun’s surface trembled. Somehow, Roka thought it resembled her shivering when she was cold. But that was ridiculous. This was the surface of the sun.

She had never been there, never would, and never could, but just looking at it, she could see how hot it was. Cold? Ridiculous.

“Is it… alive?”

But watching it twist and sink deeper into the sun, it seemed like it was fleeing from the cold.

Was it some kind of spirit? Did spirits live in the sun too?

One thing was certain: the sun was definitely not a dead star.

As Roka watched the fiery mass wriggle, ignoring its surroundings, her vision shook again. Narrower, even narrower. The vast universe shrank to the size of a bathroom.

Everything vanished like a dream upon waking. The only difference was that, even after waking, what she had seen remained vividly in her memory.

Kamira, with her unchanged expression, pointed at the dazed girl. She hadn’t seen what Roka had, but she was furious upon seeing the shattered Scarlet Stone.

“You… how could you break that necklace? Did that jerk Ollok sell you a defective product? How could this happen?!”

The violent storm of dark energy from the shattered Scarlet Stone kept Kamira at bay for a moment, giving Roka some time.

She quickly checked her condition. Nothing had changed from before.

The power of the sun was depleted. Her own power was drained from suppressing the Blood Flame.

Only the power of the moon remained, but that alone wasn’t enough to defeat Kamira. It seemed the gods had given her nothing.

Of course, Kamira, though fuming, prepared to capture Roka again. This time, she vowed to bind her even tighter, not just with a necklace.

“I won’t run.”

Facing the spirited little princess, the wolf steeled herself.

A different determination flashed in her eyes. Running and being caught twice was enough. If she ran a third time, she’d spend her whole life running.

“I won’t run anymore.”

Even if it was terrifying, there were times when she had to stand her ground.

Now was such a time. Only when she was ready to risk her life did the girl realize what she had gained. No matter how strong Kamira was, could she be stronger than the blazing sun?

She had seen what no human could ever see in a lifetime.

The true form of the sun surpassed all her knowledge and standards. When the sun and moon shed their dazzling veils and revealed their true selves, her understanding of wielding power also advanced. She grasped the form of magical power.

Princess Ardein used dragon-shaped power techniques, but that was just a method passed down through the royal family. It wasn’t Roka’s path, nor should it be.

What form could contain the power of the sun? The answer could be found in the morning sky. Yes, the sun itself. The power of the sun should take the form of the sun!

By the same logic, she began to understand how to wield the power of the moon.

The only power Roka had left, the power of the moon, stirred within her, and the pockmarked backside of the moon lingered in her mind. After all, she was the only person in the world who had seen the moon up close.

“The sun is the sun, and the moon is the moon. The answer wasn’t in a difficult place.”

Sometimes, the most natural thing is the most profound.

The power of the moon condensed into its most natural form. A pure, unadulterated image of the moon began to take shape within Roka.

“Blood Sea, sweep away!”

Kamira gestured again. A tidal wave of blood surged to the ceiling.

The fierce wave crashed down, and this time, there was no power of the sun to counter it. Seeing the surging wave, Roka suddenly thought of the sea. And the moon that had pulled the sea.

The girl coldly shouted a single word.

“Pull.”

The bright moon rose. Compared to the real moon, it was ridiculously small, but it was unmistakably the moon.

It was as if the full moon from the night sky had descended above Roka. As it emitted a mesmerizing moonlight, a powerful tidal force was generated. The moon pulled the blood sea.

This moon was as small as a speck of dust compared to the real moon, but Kamira’s blood sea was just a drop compared to the real ocean. The surging blood wave couldn’t resist the moon’s gravity and began to be pulled in.

“What, what is this…?!”

The moon’s form, perfected after Roka saw it directly, pulled in all the blood around it. The blood wave, the blood sea, the blood mist, the blood wind—all were drawn in by the tidal force.

The bright full moon absorbed the blood, turning into a blood-red moon. As the blood moon rose, the surroundings were bathed in a bloody hue, but not a drop of blood remained in the bath. The greedy moon had sucked in all the blood.

“Gulp!”

Then Roka opened her mouth wide and swallowed the moon. The blood-attribute magical power boiled within her body. Kamira’s eyes widened as she saw this madness.

Has she gone insane? She’s not a vampire, so what does she think will happen if she swallows that? Won’t her body explode from the excessive blood power? All the blood in her body will go out of control and run wild. Why would she do that?

“Ugh…”

Seeing Roka in agony, Kamira sneered. In the end, the wolf had bitten off more than she could chew and was now suffering.

After all, a beast is just a beast. As Kamira was about to say something, Roka’s eyes snapped open. A red flame flickered in her pupils, and a blazing mass of heat formed between her hands!

She had used the swallowed blood power as fuel to ignite the sun’s flames. Of course, it was reckless. She would probably need to rest for days afterward.

But if she could kill the enemy before her, she could worry about the consequences later. The sun. A shining sun now rested between Roka’s hands.

“What is that…?!”

Seeing the forming shape, Kamira tried to flee in terror, but it was too late.

Deceiving the heavens, stealing the sun! The blazing sun shone brightly. For this moment, it was day here. It was smaller than a coin, but it was undoubtedly the sun!

The moment she saw the shining sun, Kamira realized something. She had desperately tried to mock and belittle the sun, but in truth, she had always feared and revered it.

“No, no…! Suuuuun!!!”

The moment the sunlight touched her, the woman who thought herself special realized she was nothing but ashes. But some realizations come too late.

The sun delivered an equal end. To other vampires, to the progenitor, the sun was always fair.

With a crackling sound, a pile of ashes crumbled. A tiger leaves its skin when it dies, but the naked woman left only ashes.

The sunlight exploded, sweeping through the surroundings. A small candle can light a room, so what about a small sun? It lasted only a moment but illuminated everything before vanishing.

“Pshhh…”

Originally, Roka had intended to shoot the sun at Kamira, but she didn’t have the strength.

Roka staggered and finally collapsed. The child had been through too much today.

But she had won. She hadn’t run away, she had won. So she was happy.

“Roka, Roka! …Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness. Yes, just rest for now. It’s good you’re not seriously hurt…”

When the princess and Kyle, who had seen the sunlight and come looking, found the collapsed Roka, the girl was smiling softly in her sleep. Today, the girl had overcome a part of her past.

It seemed like she would have a pleasant dream.