**Chapter 138: Light and Dark (35)**
The Dead Smoke billowed up from beneath my feet, flowing like a veil, obscuring the white light and enveloping both me and Iliush, spreading into the sky and brushing against the drifting azure and white luminous smoke.
One by one, they vanished.
“Ah…”
Iliush’s body twisted even more violently.
Large patches of skin on her face sloughed off, her once smooth cheeks cracking like a suddenly shattered mirror, with countless fissures quietly spreading, rapidly creeping over her entire body. Blinding white light burst from the cracks, her little grayish-white eyes reflecting the emptiness of life, devoid of any vibrant colors.
Her body began to pale and stiffen, resembling a shattered porcelain doll, with chunks of “mud” continuously flaking off around the cracks and falling to the ground, turning to dust.
“Uh… ah…”
The little girl’s mouth could no longer close.
Weak, pain-filled murmurs emerged from the depths of her throat, growing fainter by the moment.
“Don’t be afraid…”
I said to her, slowly raising my right hand and gently waving it to the side.
In the next moment, the swirling, tangible Dead Smoke morphed into greedy little snakes, rushing towards the little girl and clinging to her fragile, worn-out body, devouring the bursting white light entirely.
Then, they returned to my body.
Ah…
The power of Chaos…
A surge of exhilaration coursed through my body, invading my very bones, and my vision turned hazy with a sheen of tears.
With trembling hands, I gently cradled the girl’s shattered face, leaning in closer to her, gradually closing her eyes.
“It’ll be over soon…”
My lips barely brushed against her cold forehead before pulling away.
“Relax… don’t struggle anymore…”
Just like that, let’s escape to a world far away from pain.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a gentle breeze caressed my cheek.
I opened my eyes to find, amid a sea of fallen blossoms and leaves, the silver-haired, crimson-eyed little girl standing right in front of me, taking my hand with a beaming smile.
“Sister Peilo.”
“Mm.”
“You said… if the two of us really survived like they say… then we’d be super amazing, like real heroes. What do you want to do the most then?”
“I don’t know…”
“Why not?”
“I’ve never thought about it…”
“But I often do!”
“Sister, they say we are favored by the Deity. Isn’t that supposed to be really powerful? Like the Saintess. Just a wave of her hand brings wind, a flick of her wrist brings rain, showering the world with blessings… Maybe, we’ll be even better than her! When people see us, they’ll have to kneel and pray, lining up in long lines—”
“Pure nonsense.”
“I’m not! Didn’t you say we would survive… I want to go back and show my mom that a girl raised on a ranch can be someone really important… and I have a cousin who always bullies me… Sister, can we go home? I want to go home…”
“It’ll be over soon. Iliush, don’t be afraid… just hold on a little longer, okay… After this, we won’t have to stay here anymore. We will gain our freedom, that’s what they promised.”
“But what if those chanting, stinky faces are just lying to us…”
“They’re not.”
“But what if they are? What do we do then…”
“… I don’t know.”
“Sister, you’re not happy…”
“That’s not true.”
“Sister, do you hate those people?”
“Hate?”
“Don’t you?”
“I just want you to live.”
“Then… I wish your legs could be healed, and we could walk together in the fields, bouncing and chasing butterflies, how fun that would be!”
“Haha.”
“Sister…”
“Mm.”
“You think in the future… could we become heroic Pope Knights, the kind that… saves people from disaster, wherever we go, flowers are thrown at our feet, and we get written into stories—”
“Pfft…”
“Sister, you’re laughing at me!”
“I’m not.”
“You are!”
“I’m not.”
“Sister…”
“Mm.”
“I want to be a hero… to live well with you. No more pain, no more suffering, just to become heroes together…”
“… Okay.”
The breeze suddenly stilled.
I blinked my somewhat teary eyes.
The beautiful scene before me gradually blurred, transforming into flickering lights and shadows, before coalescing once again. I returned from memory to reality, back to the streets engulfed in crimson flames and drifting Dead Smoke.
The little girl’s cracked, grayish-white face was losing its shape, swept away by the countless swirling strands of black smoke.
“Mom… Mom…”
She seemed to say something, her obscure voice barely interpretable.
In the next moment, the last flicker of pure white light from her body vanished into the dispersing Dead Smoke.
Boom—
The surging black smoke burst forth around us, transforming into thick, smoky whirlwinds that shot up towards the sky, smashing into the cataclysmic scarlet fireball in the blink of an eye.
The world seemed to fall silent for a second.
No earth-shattering tremors, no thunderous roars. Then, a nauseating “sizzle” echoed from above. The massive flow of Dead Smoke, upon contact with the fireball, acted like a terrifying net, rapidly spreading along the flame’s movement and almost completely enveloping it.
The power of Chaos ate away at the blazing inferno in the sky, the erupting shockwaves pushing it gradually back into the heavens. The scarlet flames struggled within the dark fog, two vast energies clashing continually. In an instant, golden rays rained down from the sky, mingling with the intertwining black mist and red flames, creating eerie hues.
Boom, boom, boom, boom…
The fireball began to tremble violently.
I could faintly hear Margaret behind me shouting something.
I looked up.
Before my eyes, the raging flames, propelled higher by the swirling Dead Smoke, ascended into the blinding golden light above, then exploded.
The firelight illuminated the entire sky above the Royal City.
BAM—!!!
In the next moment, the thunderous crash shook the city, sweeping it with a scalding whirlwind that echoed to the heavens.
Billowing dust rushed towards me, and I stood still as a statue.
And the little girl named Iliush was gradually dissipating in the dust, turning to ashes that brushed against me and then blew away with the wind.
Ah…
I’m sorry I can’t remember much.
But Iliush…
“We stopped that thing…”
Can you go home now, peacefully?
With a ‘thud,’ a beautiful golden shawl fell to the ground. A wisp of red smoke quickly engulfed my chest.
I reached out my hand to the empty space before me.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
My heart was pounding like a drum.
Then, the swirling Dead Smoke, wrapped in the bright embers of the explosion, slithered into hundreds of thick smoky snakes, all returning back into my body.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—
So hot…
My body began to heat up, boiling as if tossed into a bubbling lava pit.
“Ha—”
I exhaled deeply.
The rich black smoke diffused with my breath.
My limbs trembled.
“Haha…”
My long hair danced in the wind, a few strands floated in front of my face, obscuring it.
At the tips of my hair, a bright silver glow rapidly spread.
