Chapter 1 The Fall

With the final clang of steel, the towering figure, seemingly an invincible demon god, finally fell.

The longsword in Constance's hand snapped in two. At the last moment, she had poured the power of thunder into the blade, and with Grand Duke Owen's desperate cover, she had finally found an opening and successfully pierced Berrentin's breastplate.

Violent thunderous energy drilled into Berrentin's body from the hole in the breastplate, destroying everything within the armor—whether it still contained human flesh or not. After enduring countless heavy blows, this decisive strike finally exhausted his strength, and even the power of Annihilation could not make him stand again.

Constance was somewhat dazed. She stared blankly at the broken sword in her hand, as if she hadn't yet woken up from the previous battle, until a soldier behind her dropped his weapon to the ground, and she realized it was finally over.

She surveyed the great hall—or rather, the ruins of the former palace. Everywhere she looked, there were broken bricks and瓦瓦 after the collapse and destruction. The entire hall had collapsed for the most part due to the previous battle, and only half of the magnificent archway hung precariously above, while the other half lay shattered on the ground.

Heavy rain poured down unhindered from the cracked archway, washing over this war-torn place, and in the overflowing rain, there was a thick, almost inseparable, blood color.

Between the collapsed ruins, the buried limbs of soldiers could be seen exposed. The owners of those limbs had given their lives to win Constance every chance to attack. Now they had lost their vitality, and the surviving warriors staggered through the ruins, silently gathering the remains of their comrades.

Charlemagne had lost an arm, and a block of ice froze near his shoulder to prevent further blood loss. He supported himself with his remaining right hand holding his longsword, looking down at Grand Duke Owen lying on the ground.

"What are you looking at? I'm not dead," the old general lying on the ground grinned with difficulty. "Compared to the injuries I've suffered before, this is a minor problem. But can someone help me block the rain?"

Constance walked towards Grand Duke Owen, but the latter laboriously raised a hand and waved it in the air, stopping her. "Your Highness… no, Your Majesty, go see your father. I won't die."

Constance nodded and came to Dragon Soul Emperor Berrentin's side.

She bent down, supporting herself with the broken sword, looking at the man in black armor before her. He was still as tall as she remembered, but at this moment, he had a weakness she had never seen in her memory. Rain fell from the sky, landing on the cold armor, gathering into streams in the armor's grooves, flowing as if taking away vitality.

The power of Annihilation had receded. Constance knew this very well, because the soldiers who had been killed or injured by Berrentin had not yet mutated. In other words… it was her father again in this armor.

She reached out, wanting to take off Berrentin's helmet, but the latter raised his hand in an unbelievable manner, stopping her action.

"Don't open it, my Connie. I look scary right now."

"It's all over, Father."

"Yes, it's all over," a hoarse, low voice came from the helmet. With each word, the voice seemed to sink further. "It's all over…"

He was silent for a few seconds, and finally said softly, "Connie, there are some things I want to tell you…"

"I already know," Constance placed her hand on Berrentin's chest. "About my origins."

“…Hate me?”

"No," Constance shook her head. "The inheritance must be completed by the inheritor… and I'm very glad you could be my father."

"Is that so? That's good."

A faint light lit up from behind. Constance felt the surrounding air become warmer, and she heard Leah's voice: "I can't save him."

Constance's hand trembled slightly, and then she said softly, “…I know.”

Berrentin saw the figure that suddenly appeared behind Constance, but in his already heteromorphized and gradually dissipating vision, he couldn't see the figure's true image at all. He could only see a ball of light, a warm light emitting incredible power standing in front of him, and that ball of light was now walking towards him.

Constance watched Leah walk to Berrentin's side, and finally said the first request she had ever made to someone in her life: "Bless him, okay?"

Leah turned her head and glanced at Constance, a slight smile on her face: "You seem to have guessed my identity?"

"After touching that armlet," Constance quietly looked into Leah's eyes, "I can 'see' some things."

Leah nodded: "Go, do what you have to do. I'll stay here with him."

Constance led her soldiers and knights out of the collapsed palace ruins. In the rain, only the small goddess and the dying last inheritor remained.

Leah squatted down beside Berrentin: "Say whatever you want to say. I will do my best to do it. This is what you deserve."

"Give me a dream," a weaker and weaker voice came from the heavy black steel helmet, "a dream about the past… those I have forgotten, those things that happened in the ancient era… drain my soul, tear it apart, whatever the cost, I want to see them again… see those old friends who have been forgotten by everyone."

Leah gently placed her hand on Berrentin's forehead: "Sleep, child, sleep well."

It was a long darkness, so long that it made people almost doubt that light had ever existed, making people wonder if this world had only ever had this deep night, but eventually, the light still came.

He opened his eyes and felt like he had had a very long dream. He couldn't remember the things in the dream clearly, only a very gentle voice sounded in his ears, like a mother.

This voice lulled him to sleep, and this voice awakened him.

He looked around and saw a large lawn. The bright sunshine was shining on the green grass, exuding a lazy and pleasant radiance.

A banquet was being held on the lawn. All kinds of people gathered around the long table, holding wine glasses in their hands, talking and laughing with each other.

Their faces were blurry. Everyone was very familiar, but he couldn't remember anyone's name.

But suddenly, all the blurry faces became clear, and names poured out of his heart, stuck in his throat.

He got up and walked towards the long table. The black armor shattered and fell off his body piece by piece. He was surprised why he was sleeping here in such strange clothes, but his footsteps did not stop at all.

The people by the long table had noticed his arrival. They turned their heads one after another, smiling and raising their wine glasses, calling his name affectionately.

Tumen, Tiamat, Khersonjia… everyone was there.

They raised their glasses and drank heartily, talking and laughing about things that seemed very, very old, but also seemed to have just happened yesterday. Their banquet continued until night, until the stars rose and the magnificent Milky Way covered the sky.

He looked up at the sky, intoxicated by the starry night.

"Let's go," someone tugged at his arm. He turned his head and saw the strong Tiamat standing beside him, and behind Tiamat were his friends with smiling faces. "Everyone is waiting for you."

Khersonjia, the tallest of all, was also smiling at him: "Let's go, it's time for us to leave."

He smiled.

It was time to leave. His friends had already set off a long time ago, and he was too late.

He lifted his foot and walked with his friends towards the starlit world…

The rain gradually stopped, and the low rumble from the sky disappeared unnoticed. Leah remained in her previous posture, one hand on Berrentin's forehead, and the other hand tightly grasping the latter's right hand with an iron glove.

But after a certain moment, she let out a slight sigh and stood up.

Berrentin's helmet rolled to the side as if it had lost its connection, and the components of the black armor shattered and fell apart, leaving nothing in the armor's cavity.

"You can finally rest well."

The dark clouds in the sky began to recede, as if the heavy lead shell had been split in half with a knife, quickly splitting into two halves. Although there was no sunlight, the radiance of the divine power barrier shone through the clouds onto this world that had been ravaged in just one month.

The first ray of light shone into the ruined palace, falling on the warriors resting against their weapons, and the second ray of light penetrated the boundaries of time and space, splitting the remaining sea of clouds and shining on the ancient fleets that were slowly disintegrating.

"All units have ceased attacking," the auxiliary AI reported.

The sea of clouds in the deep world finally completely dissipated. The chaotic and alienated space-time was rapidly repairing, and the ancient remnants that relied on this distorted space-time were finally freed.

The black traces of corruption quickly faded from them, and warships and warriors from different eras were bathed in light and slowly dissipated, merging into the atmosphere. The connection between the deep world and the surface world became closer than ever before. On the screen from the external monitors, the land of Lahrien could even be seen clearly.

However, this was not a sign of spatial collapse. On the contrary, it meant that the distortion of this world had finally been corrected. The deep world created by the Annihilation Cycle was no longer necessary, and it was rapidly calming down to become a part of normal space-time.

Lily and Vivian stared blankly at the scene of space-time transformation, and forgot to speak for a while.

Hao Ren was also staring blankly at the scene outside. He saw the somewhat terrifying starry sky above the chaotic space gradually returning to its original position. The stars were slowly turning back into what they once were, and in the gradually condensing starry sky background, a silver-white giant starship suddenly emerged. It spewed out bright contrails and slowly accelerated away. On the armor belt on the side of the starship, the words "Apocalypse" shone brightly in the starlight.

Hao Ren kept watching it until it, like the other ancient remnants, turned into scattered light particles and disappeared into the starry sky.

Nolan lowered her head and looked at the data that her detection equipment left in the earth's core had just sent back. It was what the "Heart of God" had sent out a few seconds ago. It was only two short sentences:

The last Annihilation Carrier has been destroyed.

The war is over.

(Everyone, the Xiling has a wiki encyclopedia. A group of experts have compiled a set of settings for the *Xi Ling Empire*, which will be continuously updated. For specific information, please go to the update posts on the *Yi Chang Sheng Wu Jian Wen Lu* Bar or the *Xi Ling Empire* Bar. At the same time, fans who are interested in participating in the improvement of the set are welcome. The group number is 437029548)