Chapter 133: An Unexpected Reunion

His head felt somewhat dizzy.

Amy shook his head, and the blurred world before his eyes slowly merged into focus, finally coming to rest.

“I’m back.”

The surroundings, empty of everything but darkness, gave him a strange sense of reassurance—or perhaps reality. But that realization came a little late, and doubt arose of its own accord.

Was this… truly the real world?

The Glorious One’s suspicion was not without reason. The most questionable thing was not anything else, but the condition of his body.

It was completely unharmed.

Before he had fallen into the dream, Pandora had cut him in half at the waist, and his dislocated shoulder blade had been grievously displaced. Now, not even a trace remained.

That was impossible.

Naturally, he thought of the possibility of multiple layers of illusion.

If the dream world was regarded as the first layer of illusion, then the reality before him was evidently a second layer, intricately linked to it. Human thought possessed an inherent inertia. Once the first layer—so obvious and riddled with flaws—had been exposed, a person in the midst of victory would easily overlook the hidden dangers and, without realizing it, fall into the carefully woven second illusion.

From that perspective, everything he had experienced could be perfectly explained.

But… something still felt wrong.

Pandora—

Like a meteor streaking across the night sky, like a spark illuminating the long darkness, the incongruity within the puzzle called truth suddenly revealed itself to him.

Although they had spent very little time together, Pandora had left an extremely deep impression on him.

However one looked at it, she was no puppet conjured from thin air and manipulated by the weaver of an illusion. She was a real person, flesh and blood.

And besides…

The Glorious One lowered his eyes, his black pupils almost blending into the darkness around him.

Could a mere mortal truly connect thousands of years of Hemetica’s history from beginning to end, and create a world so vast, magnificent, and exquisitely detailed?

The answer was obvious.

Impossible.

Then there was no need to waste time on pointless speculation.

Having established that, Amy temporarily set aside the doubts raised by his unharmed body. He reined in his wandering thoughts, adjusted his condition for battle through the rhythm of his breathing, then took a pure fire crystal from his breast pocket, rubbed it between his fingers, and ignited it.

The faint firelight illuminated the road ahead. Using the landmarks around him, the young man determined his location.

It was somewhat unexpected.

This was… Hanselton Avenue.

His dark gaze swept over the surrounding landmark buildings. The Glorious One’s expression did not change in the slightest, nor did his footsteps hesitate. He ignored the familiar yet strange scenery emerging from the darkness and stubbornly continued toward the direction of the Supreme Tower.

But the young man was not nearly as calm as he appeared.

In fact, he was extremely anxious.

The flame of the fire seed had already been extinguished. Before he knew it, Hemetica had become a silent, lifeless city. Whether there were any survivors left was one question—but even if there were…

Was Yulia still alive?

He did not know. He had no answer. Everything was uncertain.

Only now did Amy realize that he hated the unknown. He hated uncertain factors.

Fortunately, Hanselton Avenue was not far from the Supreme Tower. The two were separated by fewer than two blocks. At the Glorious One’s pace, even without deliberately increasing his speed, he could make several journeys between them in the space of a few dozen minutes—let alone at an accelerated pace. Before the minute hand had advanced more than a few marks, he would probably already have arrived before the Order’s tower, which rose into the clouds.

But—

Plans could never keep pace with change.

On the way to the Supreme Tower, beneath the dim glow of the flames, he unexpectedly encountered someone.

“Amy Ulysses.”

The young Glorious One looked up at the silver-haired friend before him, who appeared to have seen a ghost. With little ceremony, he frowned.

“Even if this is an unexpected reunion after a long separation, you don’t have to be quite so moved, do you?”

His gaze passed over that face, which looked more frightened than delighted, and he spoke the other man’s name.

“Joshua Onions.”

“Moved? Of course not—” The silver-haired, red-eyed Glorious One was slightly older than Amy, standing in that ambiguous span between youth and manhood. “I was merely startled.”

“Looks like you need to work on your courage.” The black-haired, black-eyed boy pursed his lips and shook his head.

“You—” The heir of House Onions stepped forward and seized his friend by the collar. “You actually have the nerve to say that to me? Who was it that died at Alfred’s hands without a word? You made me develop all those pointless resolutions for nothing, like some fool. You… idiot!”

“I see.”

From their brief exchange, Amy had more or less pieced together what had happened. He felt somewhat guilty about his earlier sarcasm, but the only thing he could say now was, “Thank you.”

A simple, insignificant “thank you.”

“By the way… how did you come back to life?” Joshua, his emotions slightly calmed, released the boy’s collar and looked him over from head to toe. “I have to say, you’ve even started to look a little like a warrior.”

“Well—” Amy drew out the word as he searched for an answer. No matter how he thought about it, he could not summarize what had happened to him in a few words. In the end, he could only let out a helpless sigh. “A lot happened.”

“Exactly. It isn’t something that can be summed up in a few sentences.” Joshua nodded in understanding. What had happened in the Upper District was no different.

“Sounds like you’ve been through quite a lot too,” the young man said with some feeling.

“Yeah. Who hasn’t?”

After murmuring his agreement, Joshua Onions suddenly fell silent. Instead, he fixed Amy with those bright red eyes, dazzling as flames.

“Amy, I have some bad news. You need to prepare yourself.”

“Tell me.”

Anyone who heard such words would feel an ominous premonition stir in their heart. Amy was no exception. His brows drew slightly together, and in a voice as calm as the sea before a storm, he forced out a few concise words.

“I just came back from the Supreme Tower.” Joshua spoke as evenly as possible, as though he hoped his voice might soothe the emotion burning like an erupting volcano within his friend. “Yulia, she…”

Yet almost the instant that name left his lips, a killing intent cold as a saber burst forth.

“Stay calm. You need to stay calm.” Joshua vaguely remembered that his friend had once joked about some nonsensical notion of “a sister-obsessed man destroying the world,” and for some reason, the scene before him inspired an extremely strong sense of déjà vu. “Don’t let impulse and anger rule your mind.”

“I am calm, Joshua.”

The young man’s voice was cold in a way it had never been before. Something indistinct seemed to emerge in the depths of his black eyes.

“So tell me. What happened to Yulia?”

“Actually, it isn’t anything in particular.” The silver-haired, red-eyed Glorious One shook his head. He had no intention of adding fuel to the fire. He did not know what Amy had endured during this time, but that solemn killing intent alone was enough to make him understand how serious the matter was. “Everyone inside the Supreme Tower has disappeared, as though they had simply vanished from the world. Nothing was left behind.”

“The Swordbearers and the Grand Swordbearer?” Amy raised a brow.

“They’re missing as well.” Joshua tried to reassure him. “So don’t worry. With the entire Order having disappeared without a trace, it’s unlikely that anything happened to Yulia.”

“That’s good.” Amy let out a breath. “You think I’m going to say that, do you?”

“Huh?” His familiar friend feigned astonishment. “Wouldn’t you?”

“I’ve never liked entrusting everything to some ethereal fate… No. Perhaps fate itself is not ethereal at all.”

The black-haired, black-eyed boy spoke words whose meaning was obscure—or at least obscure to anyone else listening.

“So a simple statement that something is unlikely won’t be enough to send me away. I will—no, I shall uncover the truth. At the very least, I have to determine whether Yulia is in danger.”

“What are you planning to do?” Joshua asked.

“I intend to awaken Hemetica’s fire seed.”

Amy instinctively touched his chest. There, the nascent flame leaped weakly, so faint that it was almost impossible to sense.

“But the time is not yet ripe.”

Yes. The time was not yet ripe.

Just as a person could naturally sense hot and cold, he could now perceive the condition of the nascent flame.

It was extremely weak.

It needed rest. More than that, it needed nourishment.

And the so-called nourishment…

Amy moved his gaze away from his friend and let out an inaudible sigh in the depths of his heart.

If nothing unexpected happened, it was probably the Glorious Ones—or rather, the blood of order within their bodies.

Sacrifice.

Once he realized this, that not-unfamiliar word rose to the forefront of his mind.

He needed a stable environment in which to perform a grand ritual. If all the sacrifices possessed qualities comparable to Joshua’s, perhaps ten to twenty would be enough to make the nascent flame burn anew, to awaken the fire seed from that pile of cold ashes.

But…

Did he truly intend to do this?

Was sacrifice really the only way to save this wretched world?

Doubt still remained in the young man’s heart.

“Awaken Hemetica’s fire seed?” Joshua had not noticed his friend’s hesitation and inner struggle. He merely shook his head with a bitter smile. “Don’t joke around. The High Priest is gone. The Temple of Hephaestus is gone too. Hemetica is beyond saving.”

“But I’m still here,” Amy said quietly.

“Yes, you’re still here. And so am I.” The silver-haired, red-eyed Glorious One patted the boy on the shoulder. “As long as we’re alive, there’s still hope. So don’t push yourself too hard.”

“No. You’ve misunderstood me.”

Amy Ulysses neither nodded nor shook his head. He simply looked at the friend before him and spoke in a low voice.

“I… am probably different. Lord Edgar entrusted me with the duty of passing on the fire seed.”

“What did you say?”

Joshua failed to react for a moment.

“The inheritance of the fire seed has not been severed.”

The young man placed a hand over the left side of his chest, feeling the nascent flame burning within him. Then he raised his head.

“I am now the High Priest of the Temple of Hephaestus.”

“You’re not joking?”

Joshua frowned.

“I’m not joking,” Amy repeated.

“You…”

The silver-haired, red-eyed Glorious One was deeply moved. It was as though he had seen the first ray of dawn in the midst of an endless night. A complex expression, mingling astonishment and exhilaration, appeared on his face. He then struck the boy firmly on the shoulder.

He seemed to have more to say, but in the next instant, a powerful, resonant horn blast rang out across all of Hemetica. The joy and excitement that had just surfaced on his face froze in place.

What had happened?

Amy failed to understand for a moment—but only for a moment.

This was—

Within the space of a few breaths, the young Glorious One remembered what the horn blast meant.

It meant…

War!