Chapter 1364

"Hah… how could that be possible?" Fengjin gasped violently, "Facing patients tormented by illness, I cannot… show a worried expression."

"Yaxintes…"

Karsuslana stepped onto the rainbow bridge, and with each step he took forward, countless familiar faces rose from the ripples of memory.

Aglaea, Wandi, Tibao, Nachxia… they had no blood, no wounds, only pairs of gentle eyes, smiling as they looked at him.

"Return the dawn to the world."

"Become the scorching sun that illuminates the world."

"Bring tomorrow to the world."

"Complete the sun's work."

"…"

Karsuslana slowly clenched his fists; each of his comrades' words was like a sharp knife, gouging into his chest. But he could no longer feel the pain.

"I swear, I won't let you die in vain……"

"As…… always"

——

Overlord

The Ninth Floor of the Underground Tomb of Nazarick.

Usually solemn to the point of near rigidity, the throne room was opened today as an exception to all the guardians. The reason was simple: the great Ainz Ooal Gown himself had personally summoned all the guardians.

However, at this moment, Ainz had not yet arrived. While speculating on why Ainz had summoned them, the guardians stood in small groups in the hall, their gazes all unconsciously turning toward the fire-bearer in the celestial canopy.

"Human will can actually reach this extent…… Demiurge, it seems we must also revise our view of humanity."

Sebas turned his head to look at Demiurge beside him, his tone carrying a hint of admiration. Ordinarily, aside from paying homage to Ainz, such admiration would hardly ever appear.

However, Demiurge's facial expression showed no change.

"Sebas, I can understand your feelings." Demiurge pushed up the glasses on his nose, "However, Karsuslana's perseverance is also partly because he is essentially data, not true flesh and blood? How could true humanity possibly endure the heat of hundreds of millions of fire seeds?"

"Their skin would carbonize at 500 degrees, their bones would dissolve at 1,000 degrees, and their nerves would fill the brain with unbearable pain in the instant of burning. So-called human will cannot ultimately surpass the physical limits imposed by this body. This is an indisputable fact."

He turned around, and the eyes behind his lenses curved into two elegant arcs.

"Looking across the universe, perhaps only those who have received the blessing of 'Abundance' have a slight chance of achieving this. Even so, that is merely a 'possibility'. After all, the temperature of four hundred million fire seeds would likely be hotter than the sun."

"No, Demiurge, it's not the fire seeds I'm worried about." Sebas's brows furrowed slightly as he lifted his head, his gaze seeming to pierce the tomb's walls and barriers, turning toward the depths of the distant universe."

"What I worry about is human will itself. Karsuslana's willpower far exceeds everything we have known about humanity so far, which is why I believe we should no longer measure humanity by old standards."

"Perhaps somewhere in the universe there are others like Karsuslana bearing the fate of the whole world. And the firmament—visible to anyone who looks up—makes it hard to guarantee that, after witnessing Karsuslana's deed of bearing the world, no major kingdom will fail to see people arising who take his spirit as their banner."

"In other words, this man's spirit has already spread like fire seeds across the world——that is likely the true reason Ainz summoned us today."

——

"Karsuslana walked to the center of the platform, and his departed companions stood before him all at once."

""Lead us toward the dawn.""

"But when he opened his eyes again, only Fengjin remained before him."

""I believe… you are the golden heir of 'bearing the world,' and you will surely lead us… this world…" Fengjin trembled as she lifted her head; her jade eyes held no glimmer anymore, "But… I don't understand why? In the sun on your shoulders…""

""That warmth belonging to ordinary people… to yourself… is it so faint?""

Karsuslana's voice broke intermittently: "Compared to the blazing divine fire, the human part… is truly tiny."

""Then… don't, discard it.""

Karsuslana shook his head: "I… have never discarded it. Every person's wish… I keep in my heart."

""Even if the divine fire is already so blazing that… each time I return to the starting point, it instantly burns me up…… but each time it is your wishes… that guide me to the end of reincarnation… to pass this flame to the next me……""

""Countless times… countless times… countless times.""

""Actually, you are not a lone piece of firewood… but a bonfire piled from countless of your own skeletons." Fengjin slowly closed her eyes, "But… what about you? What are the countless wishes of your own self?""

"……"

"This time, Karsuslana could not answer."

""Ah…… Lord Karsuslana… so that's how it is…" Fengjin raised her head in realization, "'Flawless'… that is the deadliest flaw the golden blood has given you.""

""When you bear the world without complaint…… your 'self' can never be born.""

——

Absolute Zone Zero

""Flawless……"

Those words were like a sharp dagger, making Ye Shunguang gasp in shock.

Yes. She should have realized this earlier…… Aglaea's 'most perfect' golden heir in her mouth was precisely Bai'e, the source of all this tragedy. This 'perfection' is both a boon from the golden blood and the cruelest curse fate has laid upon him.

Since the time of Nicadoli, when he absorbed the conflict's fire seeds into his body without burden, it had already been foreshadowed. Although some past events have grown hazy in his little light‑brain memory, this detail she remembers very clearly.

""Yeah, I've never heard Bai'e mention his own wish either. As a child he only wanted to protect the village in the Heichi and be an ordinary person. But as fate forced him into the fire‑bearing squad, I've never seen him speak of his own wish again." Yixuan let out a soft sigh.

""Master, isn't 'completing the Recreation of the World' Bai'e's wish?" Ju Fu Fu raised her head and blinked her eyes.

""Strictly speaking, that should be Aglaea's wish. Back in the little fairy's tree hollow, Bai'e had indeed remembered everyone's wish. It's just that the wish of 'Recreation of the World' cannot be fulfilled.""