Never Fade Away

  Bang!

  The st Beta-tier in front of the grand duke had his throat crushed. Alexia pinched his artery and windpipe betweehumb and forefinger, squeezing hard to end his life.

  Thud.

  The corpse fell to its khen colpsed to the ground.

  All six Beta-tier guards had been wiped out by Alexia alone.

  Yet Alexia didn't feel relieved. She lifted her head, looking at the Duke Gamos ahead—a despicable prador who sold out the is of the Grantians just to extend his own life.

  For three hundred years, he watched as oer another of his sons died. He cared nothing for the lives of the Grantians, nor evee of the entire kingdom.

  Duke Gamos slumped on his throne. His once-mighty body was now incredibly emaciated, his muscles atrophied, his ash-gray skin rough like bark and full of cracks. His body was filled with various electrodes and tubes, maintaining his body's normal voltage and iing nutrients.

  Thump, thump, thump...

  The strobeat echoed through the entire room, like a war drum, filled with an eerie sense of oppression.

  His murky eyes could no longer dis colors. All he could do was slightly tilt his head, his massive arm sprawled on the armrest like a Roman n, his gaze slowly turning to fall on Alexia's face.

  "Bride."

  A hoarse roar came from the respirator, reverberating endlessly in the Fme King's Hall:

  "At st, you've e."

  Zing——

  Alexia had nothing to say. She gestured, and the spear o the Medium's corpse flew bato her hand, melting and transf bato a scythe, which she immediately swung at him.

  In respohe duke merely lifted an eyelid.

  Whoosh——!

  Instantly, a ferocious green half-wolf, half-human spirit emerged from the void in front of him. It raised its thick arm to block the scythe's ssh, its three eyes glowing with a pale blue light.

  ‘Grandpa Wolf knows you, hehe, ghost of the old era, there's one of you!’

  The green wolf spirit sneered:

  ‘I know about your rades, hehe.’

  "...What do you know?!"

  Alexia pulled back her attack, urgently asking out of for her homend.

  "Emerald," the duke said displeased, "stop babbling."

  ‘What a shame, Gamos, this one is a relic of the old era just like you. Not tellihe truth would be too pitiful, right?’

  Gamos remained silent, his heavy breathing casting an even darker cloud over Alexia's heart.

  "What happeo the rades of Yamilok?"

  ‘Defiaastes spicy, pain is slightly sweet, and despair is as creamy as butter.’

  The green wolf spirit bared its long maw, ughing sharply:

  ‘It was truly a feast for the taste buds.’

  ch!

  Alexia gripped the scythe tightly, a chilling killing i rising in her dark golden eyes.

  "Getting anxious, hehe, I knew you'd react like this. People of the old era are too naive."

  The green wolf spirit chuckled lowly, its form fading as it left a mog remark before disappearing into the void:

  ‘Don't worry, they lost, and you're !’

  Just as the green wolf spirit vanished, Alexia instantly sliced through its lingering shadow, swinging the giant scythe of judgment at the giant ohrone!

  Ding!

  Duke Gamos didn't move an inch, but suddenly, a vermilion radio appeared in front of him. It seemed like an a artifact from an era even older than the old times. The red radio floated in the air, slowly rotatiing the sound of static:

  ‘Shh——wele to Sunday, Cary's ghost stories.’

  A magic yet terrifying male voice seemed to pierce straight into the depths of one's fear:

  ‘Today, our story is: "The Death of a Giant."’

  Alexia's pupils tracted. She struggled not to listen to the voice, but the radio's sound quietly seeped into her brain, resonating deep in her heart.

  ‘Yinwan was a dying giant, standing on the brink of the apocalypse. His arms had left home, his legs had run off with iants, his head had rotted, crawling with maggots, and his remaining torso was just a pile of sludge.’

  Alexia's pupils expanded and tracted violently, her sciousness being increasingly blurred. She bit her lip, using the pain to stay awake.

  ‘After his death, the evil giants that Yinwan had once defeated became even more rampant. People fot that Yinwan had once crushed the greatest evil and instead hailed Tom door as their savior.’

  Cold, an utterly bone-chilling cold, spread from her marrow to every cell, freezing each molecule.

  ‘So, was this story scary? Miss Alexia Emmanuel Justin?’

  g——

  A cw slowly pushed the scythe aside. An eagle-headed spirit wearing a gentleman's hat and holding a e effortlessly deflected Alexia's on. It spoke with great cheer:

  ‘Good day, madam. It's a pity you didn't witness yreat nation colpse and disie in the face of natural disaster—but I swear by the name of the great 【Greedy Speaker】 Red King, it was a grand spectacle!’

  The eagle-headed spirit grasped Alexia's neck. Her resistance seemed utterly powerless, no matter how much she struggled, as if her will had been pletely shattered.

  Thud!

  Alexia, like a broken puppet, was casually thrown to the ground. The eagle-headed spirit circled around her, stantly mog and desecrating her noble faith.

  ‘Your faith is meaningless because people only live for themselves. Even the poorest worker in Yamilok will proudly puff out their hollow chest whehink of their 'break the inequality' ideals—don't you find that ughable?’

  ‘No one would want to i such a will. You're just a bunch of anti-human lunatics.’

  ‘You're the most evil regime in the world, monsters devoid of humanity and sce.’

  ‘When Yamilok was born, the wained another demonic evil.’

  ‘You wish to take the fruits of the elites' efforts and distribute them to the poor, but as soon as the giants shrug, the entire world will lose its order.’

  ‘Mere mortals are unworthy of ruling the world; only the elite and the powerful deserve that.’

  "Eagle Crest, finish her."

  Duke Gamos, barely breathing, anded. But the spirit called Eagle Crest was ued and tiormenting Alexia with words.

  ‘Let me have some fun, Gamos. You haven't let me out in two hundred years. Let me rex a bit.’

  Eagle Crest waved its arm and jabbed its e into Alexia's spine.

  Gamos's eyes faintly glowed with blue light. Eagle Crest's spirit form was jolted as if struck by aric current. It grunted in displeasure, relutly lifting its d preparing to stab Alexia in the forehead.

  Bang!

  A loud crash echoed—it was the door of the Fme King's Hall, which had been sealed.

  Eagle Crest jumped in fright, muttering:

  ‘What the hell? I feel an unfortable presence.’

  Duke Gamos was breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead as he insisted:

  "Eagle Crest! Kill her!"

  ‘You're so annoying! You're driving me crazy!’ Eagle Crest snapped back irritably: ‘I suggest you know your pce! Without spirits to support your body, you're just a rotting mass of protein! Someone's knog on the door outside? Aren't you going to react?’

  "Don't...mind that...my, my...spiritual...power...is sealing the door!"

  ‘Is that so?’

  As it spoke, it opes mouth, drawing out the faintly visible spiritual energy from Alexia.

  Bang!

  The door, sealed with spiritual power, was struck again. The loud crash was like the tolling of a death knell. Gamos's hand trembled, and his skin rapidly broke out in disgusting purple rashes.

  "Eagle Crest! Hurry up!"

  ‘I've had enough of you, Gamos!’

  Eagle Crest, filled with rage, immediately threw Alexia heavily onto the ground, stomped on her spine, and then turo poun Gamos. Its incorporeal body merged with Gamos's, causing the duke's pupils to tract. He opened his mouth wide, emitting a surge of gray light from within.

  Gamos slowly lowered his head, tearing off his respirator. A gentleman's hat appeared on his head as he spoke triumphantly:

  "Haha, you old bastard, did you really think I didn't know you were at the end of your rope? Now, this body is mine!"

  Eagle Crest said, lifting a finger. An invisible spiritual force began to envelop Alexia's body, causing a yer of white frost to form all over her.

  "Farewell, the st remnant of the old era."

  A e appeared in Eagle Crest's hand, and just as it was about to shatter the frozen Alexia, the door was struck again.

  "Damn it, when will this end!"

  Eagle Crest, burning with rage, looked up at the door—instantly, the spiritual barrier shattered, and tless spiritual fragments fell like sparkling dust, like snowfkes.

  At that moment, Eagle Crest suddenly realized why it felt so unfortable.

  Boom————

  Fmes, burning ceaselessly, reflected a brilliant crimson light in the midst of the falling spiritual fragments.

  Alexia slowly moved her eyes; in her frozen vision, she could barely make out the burning figure.

  "Li Aozi..."

  The fming figure spoke in a hoarse voice:

  "No door block me anymore."

  The burning fmes, apanied by rapid bodily regeion, slowly receded, revealing Li Aozi's scorched face.

  A superpower capsule emerged from his elbow joint, spewing out streams of purple and crimso.

  【Blood of Immortality】—Stag

  'Don't die, live on!'

  Nomi instilled in him the importance of life.

  【Natural Ignition】—Stag

  'If you have the time, go to college.'

  Qiu Ran taught him the dignity of life.

  The power of Omega Energy iwined and coiled, a promise made here as the soul's refuge.

  More and more people entrusted their hopes to him, haheir abilities to Li Aozi, hoping he would do something.

  How annoying, he's so dumb, stubborn, and arrogant.

  Yet so many people were willing to believe in him, hoping he would be okay.

  "As expected, I still don't like thinking too much."

  Li Aozi ched his burning fist; uhe fmes, tender flesh stantly regeed, with the fmes as fuel and the flesh as energy, like a phoenix reborn in fire, embrag new life.

  The abundant Omega Energy provided him with endless power. Alexia, lying on the ground, always reminded him of Qiu Ran, who had transformed into fire.

  "Elly, you 't die here."

  Li Aozi said.

  "Aozi——"

  "If you're afraid you 't find the meaning of living—then, do you want to see the sun?"

  The sun...

  Alexia murmured.

  "The blue sky, white clouds, the sun, the moon, and the boundless Star Abyss."

  "That's too far away, impossible..." Alexia didn't dare to hope. "We've all failed, and you won't succeed either——"

  "Romance is doing what others 't, going where others 't go!"

  "I think, even if your faith has long faded, there's nothing more romantic for the entire Blue Star than going to space. If you believe in me, I'll take you to see space, see the moon and the sun, and walk on the edge of a bck hole."

  "Don't doubt me, Elly—history may fet, but those who follow will never fade away."

  "Going to that unknown Star Abyss, dying on an alie, is humanity's ultimate destiny!"

  Alexia opened her mouth and softly said:

  "...I don't believe humans do it, but I believe in my groom."

  Li Aozi csped his hands, the red and b his pupils expanding to fill his entire eyes, his body engulfed in surging fmes:

  "Dual Unity—Phoenix Bomb!"

  FAL