Volume 8, Chapter 56 – The Cascading Souls

Crush the souls…

Looking at Lucitine’s bitter expression, “crush” probably meant physically crushing, not an abstract description.

No wonder when the first-generation Venex mentioned reincarnation, Lucitine looked at it with disdain. From Lucitine’s standpoint, she was simply killing people. If this was to be called reincarnation, the only special quality was that the reincarnation was performed by Lucitine, the Queen of Death.

In the past, one could say this was the heavenly mandate of the Queen of Death, that she was a unique existence. Now, having learned from the first Venex that the Venexes were actually outsiders, and that she became the Queen of Death merely because she was the strongest undead who happened to find the Wall of Sighs that housed souls, and, being from the same world as its creator, utilized and took control of this place.

Compared to a hopeful word like “reincarnation,” the reality was cruel. What’s more, Lucitine couldn’t tell anyone that the first Venex was an outsider. Once the undead realized that reincarnation wasn’t so sacred, it would inevitably change their view of Lucitine.

As expected, being a queen wasn’t easy in any world.

Fia’s gaze fell on the distant, firefly-lit lakeshore. The undead here weren’t like the noisy temple fair of the human world filled with children and couples. They simply sat on the sandy ground, quietly murmuring while looking at their own or others’ lanterns. So although it looked lively visually, there was only murmuring. Under the starry night sky, it gave Fia a feeling that the undead were unexpectedly humane, and her mood became indescribably light along with it.

She should comfort Lucitine here.

Seeing Lucitine’s melancholy expression, Fia looked relaxed with both hands behind her back, gazing at the lakeshore.

“Lucitine doesn’t know whether those souls actually enter reincarnation either. It’s too early to be melancholy.”

“That’s just comforting me, isn’t it?”

“You can’t arbitrarily affirm something you haven’t confirmed. Besides, isn’t it good to have a reincarnation ceremony? Everyone gathers like this, offering blessings to the departed. It adds a bit of vitality to the unchanging kingdom of the dead and gives people something to look forward to, stabilizing their emotions a lot. The reason the first Venex created this ceremony was probably to give everyone hope for the future. Without the concept of reincarnation, the undead gathering in the kingdom of the dead would be reluctant to leave, there will be more and more of them, and eventually problems would arise.”

Saying this, Fia motioned with her chin towards the undead quietly sitting or squatting on the lakeshore.

“See? Just looking at everyone’s hopeful expressions, you can’t think the reincarnation ceremony is meaningless, right? Your actions give people hope. That reason alone is enough.”

Lucitine, whose footsteps made crunching sounds in the sand, faltered slightly, clearly touched by Fia’s words. After a moment of silence, she hugged her left arm with her right hand, and her melancholy face gained more of a wry smile.

“You really know how to comfort people. I definitely couldn’t come up with such nice words.”

“I’m just stating facts.”

“But no matter how nice the words, in the end, the souls that enter reincarnation are all dispersed by my hand.”

“They entered reincarnation voluntarily. Lucitine gave them the chance to stay in the kingdom of the dead. It’s that they themselves have no attachment to this world. Don’t arbitrarily take the blame upon yourself. They believe in the concept of reincarnation and ask Lucitine to help them disperse. If someone else performed the ceremony, they probably wouldn’t be happy and would clamor for Lucitine to do it.”

At the end, Fia spread her hands helplessly.

Lucitine, walking slowly, still looked down at her feet, but her expression was much brighter than before. As if remembering something amusing, she chuckled lightly.

Rеaⅾ οn KatRеаⅾіnɡCαfе

“Hehe, that’s true. A few times in the past, Ruth performed the ceremony instead, and those souls said some unpleasant things, thinking Ruth wasn’t qualified. It made Ruth so angry she sent them into reincarnation on the spot.”

“Exactly that.”

Fia agreed.

The atmosphere between them lightened along with it. Neither Fia nor Lucitine spoke; they just walked silently. Yet both felt cheerful, without a trace of awkwardness.

After a few minutes passed like this, Lucitine, walking beside Fia, leaned closer. She wanted to take Fia’s hand, but stopped midway. It wasn’t shyness or a change of heart, but because she realized they had silently reached the lakeshore—only a hundred meters away. Some undead had noticed her, and their already devout expressions became even more devout.

Truly no sense of romance, both the people and the scenery.

Lucitine sighed inwardly. Looking at the dark lake surface, she began to feel regret. Why had she never thought of replacing the death-energy-condensed water with real water? Even if real water would be polluted by the death energy of the kingdom of the dead and become black and smelly, with frequent changes, it could still be a real lake. Then, when she and Fia walked closer, the rippling surface would reflect their faces, and it would be more romantic when the undead released their lanterns.

But it was too late to regret. She would just have to secretly have the Thirteen Attendants organize people to change the water after this ceremony.

“What’s wrong?”

Fia was curious because Lucitine suddenly stopped. They were still about a hundred meters from the lakeshore, and she didn’t see anything resembling souls—though she did see plenty of azure ghosts.

“The ceremony can begin.”

Lucitine smiled graciously, then her expression became serious. She raised her right hand high. In an instant, the brilliant auroras flowing in the night sky cascaded down towards Lucitine like sand in an hourglass. Lucitine didn’t let these green and pink auroras flow onto herself; instead, she made a throwing motion towards the center of the lake. So all the auroras converged towards the lake’s center.

In just a few breaths, the auroras descended from the high sky to above the lake. They still flowed, but more peacefully and brightly. Fia even sensed a hint of gratitude from them, as if these auroras were the souls waiting for reincarnation.

Are these auroras the souls?

Looking at Lucitine’s profile illuminated by the faint light, Fia wanted to ask but was afraid of disturbing the ceremony. In her view, the reincarnation ceremony should be sacred and solemn, like a king’s coronation. Indeed, she could read solemnity on Lucitine’s face at this moment.

Until Lucitine suddenly shifted her gaze from above the lake to Fia, who was shorter than her. Her blinking pink eyes were as pure as a newborn baby’s, full of curiosity.

“Fia is wondering how I gather the auroras, right?”

“Now is the time for the ceremony. You shouldn’t be talking to me, right…? And starting it this simply, don’t you need some chanting or blessings beforehand?”

“I’d go crazy if I had to face all the undead and give blessings every month. The ceremony isn’t as serious as you imagine. These auroras are the product of souls gathering after crossing the Wall of Sighs. The kingdom of the dead is filled with death energy. If these souls get too close to the earth with dense death energy, pure souls will gradually transform into undead. To keep them pure, a barrier must keep them in the sky like auroras. This isn’t my doing, but a rule that existed since the kingdom of the dead’s inception.”

As the auroras in the sky accumulated more and more over the lake, the lakeshore surroundings grew brighter and brighter. When not a trace of aurora remained in the sky and the starry night was exceptionally pure, Lucitine gently waved her hand. The auroras gathered above the lake instantly scattered into colorful particles of light and dissipated with the wind, accompanied by a faint “poof” sound barely audible. They were reminiscent of dandelions scattered by the wind, light as if weightless.

Rеаԁ οո KαtRеαdiոɡCαfе

At the same time, Fia saw the distant undead cut the stones hanging from their lanterns. The pale yellow lanterns, gradually rose with tiny flames, as if guarding the souls at the lake’s heart, accompanying the colorful particles as they ascended together towards the starry sky.

All the undead stood up simultaneously. Tens of thousands of lanterns sparkled like stars against the night sky, carrying the undead’s hopes for the future, following the souls into reincarnation.

Even the ugliest undead showed not a trace of negative emotion on their faces. They opened their mouths, vacantly gazing up at the lanterns. The azure flames in their hollow eye sockets became small and calm, as if bidding farewell to their future selves.

Should I find a lantern too…?

Fia held the corners of her skirt, momentarily at a loss.

This feeling of being the only idle one made her feel out of place. She also wanted to offer wishes to the departing souls like these undead.

Did Lucitine have a lantern?

Fia wanted to ask Lucitine, but the words caught in her throat. This time, it wasn’t because she was afraid of disturbing the ceremony, but because Lucitine’s profile was too beautiful. She couldn’t bear to spoil this stunning visage, and was momentarily captivated.

This queen, wearing a black veil, was neither her usual ignorant self nor putting on an affected queenly demeanor. She simply gazed peacefully at the ascending soul particles and lanterns. Starlight and lamplight illuminated the curve of her beautiful profile and smooth chin, her dignified features lost in a rapt gaze.

Even Fia couldn’t discern Lucitine’s thoughts at that moment. She could only see Lucitine’s pure pink eyes faintly flickering. It was hard to say whether it was a positive or negative emotion. Fia’s intuition told her that Lucitine was offering blessings to these souls, while also feeling a faint guilt for having killed them.

At this moment, Lucitine was more beautiful than ever before.

After the souls dissipated, a gentle breeze blew across the open lakeshore. Lucitine’s black veil and pink hair lifted slightly. Fia, gazing up at Lucitine’s profile as she looked at the stars, felt a sudden flutter in her heart.

She of course knew Lucitine was a remarkably beautiful girl, but she didn’t harbor any special feelings for her. In fact, she even felt quite ashamed for using Lucitine—that was in the past. Now, she suddenly had some different thoughts. She felt Lucitine had become much more beautiful than before, not physically, but in terms of personal charm. Lucitine was more responsible than she had imagined. She didn’t like using her queenly authority and was always considering others. Yet such a person happened to live in the dull kingdom of the dead, in a position she didn’t like.

A personality like Lucitine’s would be better suited as a saint of a country, or a young lady of a local lord, loved by all while working to solve problems for the suffering. Fia could even imagine the sacred smile Lucitine would show when giving food to hungry children—an expression that would command respect and not allow a shred of profanity. In comparison, the Queen of Death simply wasn’t suitable for her.

It could be called a cruel twist of fate.

…Was she simply sympathizing with Lucitine’s fate, or did she harbor feelings beyond friendship?

Fia was momentarily embarrassed. If it was the latter, then Lucitine’s persistent efforts hadn’t been in vain. Or rather, it was precisely because Lucitine’s persistence, even after being repeatedly rejected, had moved her—Fia didn’t think reality was so simple. She found it hard to explain the slight wavering in her heart just now. She only knew that as a result, at that moment, her heart had loosened a little, moved by Lucitine’s absorbed, faintly melancholic expression.

How embarrassing.

No matter from which angle, I shouldn’t have such feelings.

Anyone could fall for Lucitine, but not her—at least not now. After all, she already had three fiancées and should have been satisfied. More importantly, she had been deceiving Lucitine all along. Even if this deception was for the good of both sides, it didn’t change the fact that once Lucitine discovered her master-servant relationship with the Eye, she would be violently shaken.

Rеad οn КαtRеaⅾіոɡСаfе

Admittedly, she could use emotions to win over Lucitine, just as she had used Tilulu in the past—deliberately catering to Tilulu’s feelings, becoming her pillar of support. That way, no matter what she did, Tilulu would support her. The same principle applied to Lucitine.

As long as she accepted Lucitine’s feelings and they became lovers, when the emotions reached a certain limit, even if she explained her relationship with the Eye, Lucitine would only be confused for a while before forcing herself to accept the Eye’s existence to maintain their intimate relationship.

But one should learn from past mistakes. She had already stumbled with Tilulu and couldn’t repeat the same error. Using others’ feelings to achieve goals was disgustingly despicable. Even in the context of the World Tree Continent, such behavior wouldn’t be accepted.

Back then, with Tilulu, one could say she pulled back from the brink in time, realizing that Tilulu actually loved her, not the attachment of a daughter to her mother. Now that Lucitine had directly expressed her feelings, she absolutely must not show any catering to or going along with Lucitine’s thoughts—before explaining her relationship with the Eye tribe, she must not show any wavering toward Lucitine.

This situation, where everyone was doing the right thing but together it was a mess, was truly fatal.

Fortunately, it will soon be over.

Today’s operation had already been decided. Tomorrow, she will lead the reconnaissance team into the large cavity first. At that time, she would guide the accompanying undead to attack the egg sacs in the Chaos lake. Then Milan and the others would go frantically defend the egg sacs. This would expose a non-existent weakness to the undead: namely, that Chaos would not hesitate to sacrifice themselves to protect the Chaos eggs. This would greatly increase Lucitine’s confidence in annihilating the Chaos, and I could go sooner break away to go to Dragonfall with Claire.

As for the option of directly confronting Lucitine with the truth, Fia hadn’t even considered it. Given the hate Lucitine showed towards Chaos, one basically couldn’t expect her to compromise on the matter. Even if she explained that the Eye were on their side, she couldn’t naively think that, as the Queen of Death, Lucitine should be reasonable. That was an extremely subjective, childish fantasy.

The fact was, Lucitine wasn’t even willing to help find Noreen’s remnant soul for her sake—the reason being that Noreen possessed a Chaos body. Coupled with the hatred Lucitine displayed whenever Chaos was mentioned, if she expected Lucitine’s sense of justice to align with hers, then she didn’t deserve to stand in the position of Eldest Princess. One should never expect others to make the same choices as oneself; opportunism wasn’t a quality a leader should have.

But speaking of which, why did Lucitine actually loathe Chaos? The anger she showed upon hearing the name didn’t seem like she was “forced to loathe Chaos by public opinion like the undead had fought them for years,” but more like a heartfelt hatred for the very existence of Chaos.

According to the information she had, almost all Venexes were like this, including the first Venex, who didn’t know the Eye, yet deeply loathed Chaos.

When she had asked the first Venex why she hated Chaos, the first Venex was unwilling to answer. Thinking about it, the crux might lie with the first Venex.

For instance, the first Venex’s hatred for Chaos was preserved in her soul, and this hatred, existing in the soul, was passed down through generations of Venexes via “replacement.” So each generation of Venex was influenced by the first Venex’s emotions, becoming irreconcilable with Chaos.

This explanation was undoubtedly the most reasonable, and it also matched the first Venex’s ambiguous answer about Chaos.

There was a flash of insight in her mind, a sense of clarity. Fia blinked.

What happened back then probably wasn’t as simple as the first Venex had said. She was either lying or hiding the truth.

She needed to see the first Venex again to confirm.

“It’s over. What’s wrong? You look troubled.”

When all the colorful soul particles had disappeared into the starry sky, Lucitine came back to her senses. There was no longer melancholy in her expression, but ease. As if driving away unpleasant things, she smiled and waved.

“Fia is right. Since I can’t be sure whether these souls actually enter reincarnation, I can’t arbitrarily think the ceremony is killing people. Maybe the identity of Queen of Death really does have some significance. But Fia, you look preoccupied.”

Reαd оn ΚαtRеadіոɡСаfе

“Ah, I was just thinking how beautiful Lucitine looked just now.”

“Beau… beautiful?”

Lucitine’s elegant face instantly showed shyness. She kept looking left and right, clenching and unclenching her hands, her speech speeding up.

“Fi… Fia praising me like this makes me very happy, but it’s too sudden. I, I haven’t prepared yet…”

“What are you being shy about? It’s a fact that Lucitine is beautiful. Anyway, first, let’s talk business. There’s something I want to confirm. I need to see the first Venex again. Is that alright?”

“Why do you want to see her? I won’t stop Fia from going, but I will keep my promise and never return to that godforsaken place—just infuse magic power when pushing open the door. Fia can open that door too.”

Lucitine raised her eyebrows in explanation, clearly genuinely hating the immortal sanctuary.

Fia looked helpless. She followed Lucitine back towards the palace they had come from. As the lanterns disappeared one by one into the night sky, the undead gathered at the lakeshore also dispersed sporadically. Soon, the lake area would become quiet.

“Is it okay to just tell an outsider how to enter the immortal sanctuary like this?”

“First of all, that place is the immortal sanctuary. Killing the memory entities inside will make them automatically revive. More importantly, Fia isn’t an outsider. I trust you.”

“Is that so? Trusting me this much, you might get deceived and end up counting money for me after being sold, you know?”

Fia curved her lips.

This feeling of being trusted wasn’t bad.

Then, the two on their way back noticed Ruth and two of the Thirteen Attendants hurrying over from the lakeshore. For some reason, seeing the three rushing over and the recording crystal in Ruth’s hand, Fia had a bad premonition.

“Ruth? What is it?”

In Lucitine’s memory, Ruth wasn’t the type to rush in front of many undead.

Ruth first bowed to Lucitine, then took a step towards Fia, deliberately positioning herself between Fia and Lucitine. Her movements were full of alertness and wariness. Not only that, Fia noticed the other two Thirteen Attendants quietly moving behind her, flanking her left and right as if cooperating with Ruth to block her escape route.

“Mother, the survey team just handed me this. Please take a look.”