"The initial flame has faded away, and it will not be long before darkness falls...... However, one day, a small cluster of fire will appear in the darkness, which is the ember fire inherited by the kings. ”

……

"Finally...... Is it finally over? He let go of his sword and shield, and he removed his armor.

Watching the flame seedlings she was holding gradually dimmed, the faint sparks slowly slipped, and the fire of the whole world slowly faded. The dazzling ring of darkness in the deep space seemed to have exhausted its last rays of light.

"Lord Ash, can you still hear me?"

……

The steel helmet in his hand slipped and fell to the ground in recklessness, stirring up a cloud of ash residue, then cracked earth, and flying boulders.

"No!"

It's like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, oh, it's the whole world is collapsing. At this moment, he only felt deception and betrayal, and the shame and self-blame that he had nowhere to release were about to be extinguished and burned again.

Even in the midst of this irreversible darkness, his humble body bloomed with a spark that could not be underestimated, so beautiful that it even temporarily blocked the darkness and depth that surrounded them.

The woman who collapsed in his arms reflected his firelight, and the beautiful and fading whiteness was still so touching on her face.

Perhaps she was going to die completely, as she had hoped. Still, through the silver half that covered her eyes, she could still feel the eyes that were as dazzling as all the flames.

Is it love or attachment, reluctance or guilt?

She struggled to raise her hands, still trying to hold his face as she had done before, to touch his soul again, to give it to him again......

"Ash-sama......"

She said that when the flame was extinguished, she would take off her mask with her own hands and crown him.

Just because he had asked if her mask was a crown, and she covered the corners of her mouth and laughed softly.

Now, they hug each other until the end of the world, and he keeps his promise, but she becomes a lie when she gets the eyes.

Even the first flame will eventually burn out, and in the end he will burn himself out, but not for the sake of the world, as the gods have arranged.

After a short time, it was plunged into darkness.

……

But in this world, he still has too much reluctance. I vaguely remembered the scene when he first came to this world......

It's like waking up from a dream, in the soft call of a woman named Fireproof Girl, Ash, let's call him "Ash".

Ember woke up in a daze, and he shook his head as the flames in front of him became clearer. It was a long, black, red-burned, spiral-shaped sword, slanted into a campfire that burned without firewood.

But to the surprise, Ember spoke.

"This ...... This VR experience is too realistic! OMG, that's amazing! ”

The firefighter looked at the ash lady who had just "woken up" from the campfire in front of her, and it seemed that it was very different from usual, no! It should be said that this ecstatic and dancing person is really Lord Ash?

But in this world, she, who is his only fireproof woman, can only serve the only ash lord. Obviously, he is the only "Ash Lord" who can return to the fire sacrifice ground through this campfire.

While the other Ash could use the campfire, she could feel her connection to the man in front of her.

"Welcome to the campfire, Lord Ember without fire." The fireproof girl bowed slightly to Lord Ash as usual, and gently spat out the words that were remembered by countless Ash people.

"Tut-tut, this modeling! This feel! Drink, look at the nuanced silver hair, this texture is amazing! ”

"Lord Ash! Please...... Excuse me, is there anything I can help with? In the face of this hairy man, while holding someone's hand, while stroking the excited Ash Lord who praised other people's hair, the fire prevention girl shrank her head slightly, very panicked.

But she didn't put up any resistance, after all, even if Lord Ash took up the blade to end her current life now, she would gladly accept it!

"Alas...... This...... This AI setting is too exaggerated. Ah, I'm sorry for the fireproof girl! I thought you were ...... You. ”

Ember felt as if he was facing a living person, and a sense of shame came over him, and he couldn't help but put away his stupid look in embarrassment.

"Lord Ash, if I say something inappropriate, please forgive me." At this time, the fireproof woman leaned down and looked more and more humble, and her voice seemed to be desolate.

"No, no! It's me who is bad. I just want to apologize to you for what you just said! Ember scratched the back of her head and leaned back.

But I couldn't help but think in my heart, this fireproof girl is probably not AI, I'm afraid it's GM. It's miserable, it's embarrassing, I'm afraid I'm going to be banned. The reason for the ban is to flirt with the fireproof female NPC or something......

The hurried Ember retreated farther away, "Ahaha, I'll wander around, you're casual, casual." ”

Surprised, puzzled, the firefighter tilted her head and watched as Lord Ash quickly disappeared into the end of the stone staircase in the sacrificial ground...... Could it be that Lord Ash has been infected by the abyss?!

"Wait! No, although I'm a fat house, I'm not good at talking and communicating with people, but I shouldn't be bluffed by a realistic AI. ”

"Besides, the fire girl must not be a GM or something, after all, according to Article 46 of Chapter 5 of the treaty, game staff cannot be directly involved...... Well! That's right. Hmph, no wonder it's a love development game...... The VR remake is amazing! ”

……

"Ahh What's going on with this damn VR, log out! Log off! I'm going out...... Yes! His wails echoed throughout the fire sacrifice ground.

"Quack, quack, beep, knock!" The sound of a bird's nest on the arched cross beam at the top of the sacrificial arena sounded.

Ember standing on the bird's nest originally just wanted to come up and exchange some treasures and go offline, but he was desperate to find that he couldn't log out of the game no matter how many voice commands he used, or he held his head and used manual commands.

"Isn't it! Do you want to tell me to jump off the building! Looking at the small sacrificial campfire at my feet, an emotion called fear of heights inexplicably crept into my heart, obviously it was fine just now.

A wave of dizziness! And he fell.

Hurt! It hurts a lot. I can clearly feel the shattering of bones, the cracking of skin, and the sputtering of serous fluid when the face, torso, limbs and the ground are in close contact at that time! Then there are pointless, intermittent convulsions all over the body.

But his consciousness was very clear, but he was still suffering from all this, as if every nerve was violently transmitting this pain, despair, and sorrow to his brain......

He felt some kind of power in his body passing by at a rapid pace, and it only took a blink of an eye.

"Could it be...... I'm going to die, ah, this...... This feeling of being hollowed out of the body ......"

Until he lost his sight completely, and the dark, cold, razor-like torment of piercing the bone marrow suddenly disappeared.

He seemed to be fully immersed in a warm and powerful embrace, the fiery power that permeated his limbs, making him feel like he was reborn.

That's right, like he woke up not so long ago.