Chapter 1179: Wuhlfaros 3.2 (225)

——

"Ah? Wait wait wait..." Mimi immediately reacted, "So, Xiaodie… the girl born from the dragon's embrace, the embodiment of 'death' spoken by those spirits… is you?!"

Xiadie's face showed the same bewildered expression: "From just now… I've had a vague premonition. But everything about Stikokisia, I truly know nothing…… My memory… should have started when Amonnet brought me to Ai Diliya."

In search of answers, they all went forward and arrived at an alchemy workshop, where the soul of an alchemist, upon seeing them, his eyes lit up instantly: "Living ones?"

"Oh…! Could you be descendants of Stikokisia? You've heard of the great work I'm doing here, and you've come specially to deliver the final ingredient for its completion?"

Feeling the fervor in the other's pupils, Xiadie warily took a step back: "Great work?"

"Have any of you heard the great name of Bolukesi?"

"Today I've actually heard a lot about it."

"You've heard of it? Then it's easy to say." The alchemist opened his arms, as if eager to embrace the sky, "In the age of myth, perhaps you weren't even born yet, but in the field of alchemy, no one can surpass me. I will, on the shoals where this Underworld River flows, make Bolukesi soar again… letting 'death' return to the world!"

Mimi: "But… isn't it what brought death into the world?"

"Oh… it seems you don't know." The alchemist said, "Indeed, that missing girl can cause death. Yet Bolukesi, who brought her into the world, paradoxically makes people 'unable to die'."

Xiadie's pupils quaked.

"So… is it really like that?"

Xing silently looked at Xiadie: "You and the dragon… are the two sides of life and death?"

——

Marvel Universe.

"Oh? This is getting interesting……"

Tony walked into the room holding a cup of coffee he hadn't moved much, plopped down on the sofa, and said, "…Could this girl's half be Bolukesi? That evil dragon? Actually, the authority over death is split into two parts—one in the dead evil dragon's hands, the other in Xiadie's hands."

"That's how it looks now," Strange said. "Boluxia might be that evil dragon; the sister in her next life becomes the evil dragon and is born together with the elder sister, each holding part of the Death Titan's authority. But for some reason, the elder sister died at birth, so that part of the authority never took effect."

"No no no, that doesn't make sense." Tony waved his index finger, "Guys, if that evil dragon were the Titan, then after its death it would surely leave a spark. But if it really did, Xiadie wouldn't have to scour the world looking for it. So I guess—there's a 'BUG' in the life‑and‑death system of Wuhlfaros; the code that should let people smoothly return to the underworld has stopped running, and as the administrator, the Death Titan, having revived the sister in this life, failed to obtain part of the authority and lacks the power to edit the code, so it's just stuck here——"

Steve crossed his arms, furrowed his brow, obviously still trying to digest Tony's series of half‑understood metaphors: "So, Tony, you mean the Underworld River is like the house's drainpipe, now clogged by the dead dragon's corpse, causing the kitchen water to flood out…… Is that right?"

"Exactly right, Captain, although your metaphor is full of early‑20th‑century retro vibes." Tony snapped his fingers, "Reviving the dead dragon requires alchemy—I didn't expect this to be from several thousand years ago…… hold on."

Tony's pupils dilated sharply, as if he'd suddenly thought of something.

"What's up?" Steve asked.

"If Kesha said 'Recreation of the World' is a cycle, then is there any knowledge that can pass through 'Recreation of the World' into the next world?" Tony stood up, had Friday pull up earlier images of Sexisi, "When Kalupuso taught alchemy to Boluxia, could they also have been conducting an experiment through these sisters—namely, 'Can the knowledge of alchemy be brought to a new world?'"

——

"This is my guess…" Xiadie lowered her head in thought, "The departed should drift along the Underworld River to the west wind's end. But this river of souls… has been blocked by Bolukesi's downfall."

"Not bad! So I must make it return to the world and spread its wings. I've already laid an alchemy array beneath the tower, but… I'm missing the most crucial ingredient." The alchemist's gaze unconsciously drifted to Xiadie, "That final offering—is the girl who coexists with death!"

As his words fell, a dark‑red light sphere suddenly appeared beside the alchemist.

"Everyone, I know I can no longer turn the tide. Take this, and I beg you to fulfill that supreme undertaking for me……"

"This is……"

The memory inside the light sphere suddenly inserted itself into this conversation.

Queen of Stikokisia: "We indulged too long at the feast of Fajina before we began seeking the god‑granted 'death' to escape the fickleness of fate… yet we brought harm upon ourselves. We failed to summon the venerable god, and instead welcomed the monster that cuts across the Underworld River. That hateful dragon, Bolukesi, bars all the dead from entering the underworld."

"The souls unable to die swept over Stikokisia like a flood. My city‑state, my people, are now gone…… That infant girl is the sole survivor I could save. She was born in the evil dragon's belly, innately gifted with 'death'. She must be the gods' gift to us for atonement……"

The Queen of Stikokisia bowed her head before the executioner: "Please be sure to raise her to adulthood… don't let her suffer the hardships we endured."

Amonnet nodded: "... I promise you. I will raise her like a mother, protecting her from harm by death."

"Fajina above, thank you for your kindness… as a mother, please give this girl a name… so that before I am swept away by the Underworld River, at least let me know how to call her in the next life."

Amonnet, lost in thought: "Like a butterfly, landing on the branch of death……"

"Xiadie… I think that is her name."

——

Fullmetal Alchemist.

"'In the new world promised by the prophecy, I will sow the first flower bud for you.' Those were Boluxia's exact words."

After closing the wooden door of the inn room, Alfons's voice sounded muffled inside the armor: "Brother, the Alchemy of Wengfalusi seems completely different from ours; as long as you pay an equivalent price, you can fully revive a dead person. I don't know what price Boluxiya paid to use the dragon's bones and blood to revive his sister."