AWB Chapter 126 Within the Devouring Star
Chapter 126 Within the Devouring Star
When everything came together, he suddenly understood his own heart.
Regardless of the timeframe, Mo Wunian was filled with despair due to repeated helplessness.
He was still that same person who, within the mirage, remained as calm as a madman, serenely recounting profound truths he couldn't comprehend.
Or perhaps they were already at the end of the world, but for some unknown reason, they were ultimately wiped out...
They have all wandered through this world, and have all been lost countless times. Amidst the chaos and turmoil of life, hundreds of reincarnations have left them standing in this world with a lucid clarity, like madmen, subject to gossip and discussion.
This world is an echo of their memories.
Their remaining humanity led them to choose to preserve these memories, but the budding new life made them abandon those illusory illusions.
Breaking the Möbius strip...only by reshaping from ashes can one truly break free.
"..."
I have a feeling that I just said something terrible.
"Don't look at me like that. What path I chose before is still a mystery. I just inexplicably believed in myself."
"Why don't we deal with the current issue first?"
With his arms crossed, after figuring things out, he suddenly wasn't so afraid of what that world's consciousness might do to him anymore.
Since everything is pre-arranged, why should he bother to think about it so much?
One day, his true destiny will appear before him, and then he will naturally judge whether it requires his sacrifice.
He patted the wanderer and the shorekeeper on the shoulder, letting the two men, who were too shocked to speak, catch their breath, and then turned his gaze to the room in the distance.
"The frequency has told me everything. This death-devouring star possesses gravity, if I'm not mistaken..."
"It must be the black hole that caused the destruction of Guixu Port."
"However, I didn't expect Darkshore to exploit the Scream itself."
"How exactly to do it still depends on the people guarding the shore."
In contrast to Mo Wunian's calm demeanor, both the shore guard and the drifter were on the verge of exploding.
The other person's words almost made the wanderer draw his sword and knock the other person unconscious with the back of the blade.
Although he didn't know why he had such a dangerous thought, he had a feeling that he had already done it once.
The ball of light that the guardian was manipulating dissipated again when he saw that Mo Wunian's condition had stabilized. He slowly exhaled, and the light in his purple pupils no longer reflected only panic.
Someone suddenly felt a chill down their spine: Strange... I have a feeling someone wants to harm me...
"...Then take him back to the Law Hall. I will erase his error; only I have the highest authority over the Titis system."
"No one will get hurt because of this then."
"I don't have a physical form... so I can only ask you to help me get it."
They walked into the containment chamber, and seeing the Death Star high above, the three of them quickly traversed space and arrived in front of it.
But just as the wanderer reached out to obtain the core, he felt the surrounding space distort. He hurriedly tried to draw his weapon to prepare for battle, but then suddenly felt the space stabilize.
"...Does it really have to be a fight? Just behave yourself."
"Otherwise, after I filter you out, I can't guarantee what you'll be like."
Mo Wunian casually waved his hand in the void, and the surrounding space stabilized. As the sound of authorization being granted rang out, a furry creature flew out.
"Hey! What have you guys messed with this time?!"
"Even if you're hungry, you can't just eat anything. This stuff tastes awful! It's like a culinary disaster where they just threw in all sorts of random seasonings..."
"It looks like a hole you could fall into if you're not careful... I have absolutely no appetite for this stuff..."
"But why is that girl staring at me like that?"
The shore guard calmly watched Abu, then sighed and said nothing.
"He really is here, having accompanied you for countless years..."
"But that's not important now. Let's take this back to the Law Enforcement Hall."
Abu looked at the shore guard with a confused expression, then glanced around. Seeing that no one seemed to care about him, he finally shrank back inside.
However, Abu's words made Mo Wunian more wary. After all, although the frequency of that thing was very complex, it wasn't actually that important to her.
The only thing that terrified him was the smell of his own body burning inside.
He felt the shore guards couldn't handle that thing, otherwise he wouldn't have insisted on following them.
Following the two people, controlling the frequency of the thing beside them, they soon stopped in front of a garden.
Looking at the guardian lying on the chair in the center of the garden, and the increasingly intense Sonora surrounding him, he had already guessed the true purpose of the other party's presence here: to participate in the demonstration calculations and observations of that system.
It's just so intense... it seems like the other person couldn't control themselves.
Sure enough, the instant he approached the wanderer, he felt an intense frequency enveloping them.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw endless flames swirling before him, the destruction of civilizations and the extinction of life constantly filling the scene.
The scenes were almost identical to what he had witnessed during the trial called Ascension. He didn't panic; he simply stood on high and watched it all unfold.
Billions of people disappeared in this irreversible catastrophe.
Despair, resentment, obsession, anger, regret... all remained here along with their names.
Those data, carried by the guardian's body, became the starry sky beneath the earth.
Yet, his heart remained unmoved, even though suffering had already befallen him, even though all he saw was devastation...
But he simply watched it all, like an observer of the story.
"...It doesn't seem so."
He reached out and touched those cold entities, a bone-chilling cold, but in the next moment it transformed into a raging inferno.
He walks amidst lamentations, reborn from despair, along the path that time points to...
Seeing everything in a cycle
Everyone around him had given their all, and he had tasted it all.
He wanted to break not only this cycle of lamentation, but also this endless repetition of the previous one.
He wanted to use his own hands to erase all the pain and rewrite the ending that everyone should truly face.
He sighed, compressed the surrounding frequencies, and gave the person next to him a push, helping them break free from the constraints.
"Sigh, you've been through a lot too."
"As the processing center of the Black Coast, these cries should be transmitted through your body, right?"
"...I knew I couldn't hide it from you."
"But even so, I am still powerless..."
"If I had tried harder, if I had shared more of the burden... if I hadn't been in such a hurry back then... perhaps you wouldn't have done that."
"I know perfectly well how painful that is."
"Since you already know, then don't say it."
"I don't want to hear about my past, especially the things that caused pain to both of us."
"If you're living in the present, you should focus on the things happening in the present."
I'm still here.
Having interrupted the guardian's spellcasting, Mo Wunian didn't care about anything else; all he could think about was handling the situation properly to prevent more people from getting hurt.
As for himself? He's not going to die, why should he care so much?
They grabbed the wanderer who was still trying to speak, pulled him along, and rushed towards the direction of the transfer hall. They dealt with all the remaining debris along the way, and arrived at their destination in just a few minutes.
The woman standing in the middle was pleasantly surprised to see the two of them arrive and spoke up.
"You've finally arrived. Everything is ready; now all that's missing is the core you're escorting."
"Our other containment personnel have retrieved those key star maps, and the Guardians' frequencies have appeared on various star maps, calming the affected frequencies."
"No matter when or where, Darkshore will never let our members fight alone."
Inspired by the woman's words, and seeing the members still busily working, Mo Wunian didn't hesitate. He silently took out the core and asked how to proceed next.
"The core is here, what's next?"
"Just place that black star on the analysis table over there, and we'll start tuning it right away."
With the core back in place, the Titis system began loading.
"...It is indeed related to Guixu Port City."
The wanderer nodded, his expression turning serious. Looking at the input field for adjusting the data, he was about to offer some instructions to the person beside him when he saw a woman slowly walk in through the door.
"Shore-keeper?"
"It's because after the Devouring Star was brought under control, the Titis System's computational demands on me have decreased significantly."
Please let me go with you.
Mo Wunian stood to the side without speaking, but his gaze was also observing the situation of the shore guards. In the end, it was the drifter who spoke up and asked.
Are you sure there's nothing wrong with your health?
"It's alright, I can connect to many Sonora to repair the damage to this body."
"Just like Mo Wunian can fill himself with the frequencies of the four directions."
"As long as I exist in the physical sense, my mission must be carried out. I will be fine, and no one else will be harmed."
"...Please...believe me."
"...You sound just like how I explain things to wanderers every time I go out to do something."
They say they're fine, but their actions always cause concern.
After listening to the guardian's words, Mo Wunian also stepped forward. The other person's energy level was unstable, as if he was barely holding on.
"..."
The shore guard glanced away somewhat guiltily; she had almost forgotten that there was a professional radio operator here.
There's no way to hide your true situation from the other person.
But just when she thought she was about to be rejected, she did see a hint of helplessness in his eyes, and finally he nodded.
"But if you insist, then go ahead and follow along."
"I won't let anything happen to you."
"This is my promise."
Looking at the other person's surprised and delighted eyes, Mo Wunian seemed to see himself every time he wanted to do something and the wanderer agreed. He could only shake his head helplessly.
He tilted his head to look at the wanderer, who seemed about to lecture him again, and simply blinked.
"I learned it from you~"
"...Mo Wunian...sigh..."
Upon hearing this, the wanderer could only sigh helplessly, rubbing his forehead.
The person next to him either learns good things or bad things—but he doesn't seem to be bad.
After confirming the personnel, the three of them stepped into the star map entrance. As the scene changed, Mo Wunian saw the guardian standing by the window, gazing at the scene outside.
As I strolled past, I saw the bustling scene outside, and it was hard to imagine that all of this would soon vanish.
"...With my computing power, I can only pay for the scene of the wailing destruction here, which was happening an hour ago."
"But such prosperity... was created by the people of that era; they had the ability to stand even higher than this sky."
"But it's a pity..."
"All of this was destroyed in that mournful cry."
"Whether in Sonora or in the past, I have never been here in person."
"Everything here was told to me by a wanderer; it's a story he once experienced."
"Back then, when he talked about how prosperous the city was, he always had an unstoppable smile on his face."
"Perhaps the wanderers have realized that one day in the future, which is now, the story of this city may still be the crux of the problem."
Mo Wunian calmly observed all of this, and he seemed to understand why the other person's words did not mention him.
That would probably be another painful experience for both myself and others.
"...Where is the data we need?"
"The redirection data of the Tetis system is hidden in that moment of lamentation."
"We cannot change history, neither the past nor the future."
"...No, all of that has been changed."
"It's just that we... refuse to give up on that person."
"Is that person me from the past? Or me now?"
"..."
He abruptly interrupted the other person, his eyes already seeing far too much; countless fragments of memory surged into his brain like a madman.
This comes from what that being can do.
He wasn't sure if his actions along the way were related to the other party, or if it really had all been arranged...
Even if you say you don't care, you'll still feel hurt inside.
"If you don't want to answer, that's fine. Just finish the task at hand."
"I can also control my space here, moving towards the beginning of the apocalypse."
"Go, go."
He used to enjoy the noise, the atmosphere, but as those memories flooded back into his mind, he found himself less and less comfortable with it.
I've gotten used to pain, and I no longer worry about showing it on my face.
He distorted space, forcibly correcting all abnormal frequencies through his body, and through this, he saw himself appear here.
Faster...faster...
Evacuating one more person means one more life can be saved...
No… the surrounding frequencies are fluctuating faster and faster… too fast…
Is it too late...? Is it too late...?
There's no way out... It has already arrived...
[Amidst the cries of anguish... everyone is clearly innocent...]
Why do people keep dying? Why are there always lives that cannot be brought back?!
【…】
Perhaps... I can go back to that time before it happened...
[Rewriting history]
"..."
The last thing he saw was that person standing atop a tall building, surrounded by darkness. A fierce wind whipped up the debris of the collapsed buildings, carrying everything into the distance.
The sword in that person's hand was so vivid in this pitch-black world; its crimson gleam was like a guiding light in the night, illuminating the person's unfocused eyes.
He raised the sword to the sky, then helplessly lowered it... ultimately choosing to let it fall upon his own neck.
It's just a second chance.
It's just starting over.
[...I shouldn't be afraid anymore]