Rainbow-colored streamers flickered at the top of the Sighing Cliff, as if occupying the entire canopy.

Slowly regaining his ability to think, when the boy's eyelashes moved slightly, and the aura of psionic energy in his eyes brightened again, all he could see was Hilliard's face, and the rainbow light that filled the entire top of the cliff of sighing.

"Happen...... What? ”

Ian struggled to speak, but felt that his body was not as heavy as he thought: "I remember...... Did I win? ”

"Hmm."

Sitting on the rock, the old knight smiled and nodded, and he replied calmly, "You did win—but is it really worth it to get your body in tatters?" ”

"Hahaha, look at what you said, teacher."

Relieved, Ian laughed, he tried to straighten up, but found that the arm on his side was still very sore, and there was a paralyzing feeling that he couldn't control his body after drinking, so he had to give up: "We're all alive, isn't it worth it?" ”

"Stinky boy who is not afraid of death......"

Hilliard snorted, and said with a serious face, "Listen, Ian. I have removed most of the toxins from your body, but because of the impact of the thunder and the influence of the nuclear toxin of Sumo wine, your body will still leave extremely serious sequelae. ”

"You will lose many of your physical senses, including most of your sense of smell and taste, as well as the ability to perceive pain, which is almost irreversible and can only be cured when you reshape the phase neural network in the future."

"Really?" Hearing this, even Ian, who was still smiling just now, was stunned for a moment.

But soon, he continued to smile indifferently: "It's a pity, but I'm really looking forward to it...... There are still many flavors in this world that I don't know and haven't tried. ”

"It's time to say goodbye for now, but the longer you wait, the more fun it will be to taste it later."

“…… Anything is interesting, you kid, you're overly optimistic. ”

Stunned for a moment by his disciple's answer, Hilliard laughed.

But he immediately straightened up: "These sequelae, I also cured them for you just now, and at most I will be a little unsavoury in a month or two." ”

The old knight whispered, "Look at your chest." ”

Ian bowed his head.

Immediately afterward, he saw a wound on his chest that was slowly healing.

With the boy's knowledge of the human body, he could judge that this wound had cut open the flesh and blood in his chest, and if he sensed it carefully, it seemed that even the bone plate had been skillfully pried open and closed.

On the inside of the wound, a pale golden mist was shining.

"What is this?"

Blinking in surprise, Ian looked up at the old knight.

He wanted to ask Hilliard what kind of high-grade secret medicine he had put in his body, and if he couldn't eat it by himself with such a thing - he didn't have a sense of taste, and it wasn't a big deal that he couldn't smell the fragrance, so the teacher who made the situation look worse should use it first.

But a bolt of lightning pierced the night, staring at the massive wound in his teacher's chest and abdomen.

It was a huge wound that could be called 'disembowelment'......

But strangely, Hilliard didn't have any internal organs in his belly, just a mass of grayish-white mass like a stone.

And that's not all.

From Hilliard's legs up to his chest, the gray-white marks spread.

Stripped of all color and subtlety, the old knight's body is gradually turning into the most ordinary rock...... Lifeless stones.

"What's going on?!"

Stand up - Ian seemed to break free from all the pain and restraint in his body in an instant, and stared in shock at Hilliard, who was smiling indifferently.

Then, with the quickest possible slench, he tried to touch the huge wound: "What's going on...... Teacher, are you ...... Is it ......?"

Even with Ian's acumen and intelligence, he didn't have the ability to figure out what was going on in the first place.

Or maybe you don't want to figure it out.

The boy touched the gray-white rocky substance, they were stones, but they were not hard, as if they only needed a little force, they would completely shatter and turn into dust, so that Ian subconsciously withdrew his hand, not daring to touch it again.

He was completely panicked.

"Calm down...... Ian, calm down. Haha, you're actually much calmer and more rational than me, and that's probably the last thing I need to tell you. ”

Compared with Ian's panic, Hilliard stared indifferently at the gray-white marks that were still spreading on his body: "Even if you don't die, you will lose your sense of touch, taste and smell due to excessive toxins, and the excessive toxins will cause your internal organs to fail, and your brain will be flooded with all kinds of impurities, and you may become a fool with condensed thoughts." ”

"Your mind shouldn't end up like this, I firmly believe that your wisdom can change the world."

"So, I gave you my heart core, and used my last essentia to expel most of the toxins for you."

"How do you get it back?"

Without any hesitation, Ian leaned against the rock with his arms around the teacher, and his tone resolutely did not allow for any questioning: "My toxins have almost been removed." ”

"Tell me how to get it back."

Hilliard looked at Ian with a strange look that seemed to want to laugh, but his gaze pierced through Ian, as if he were looking at someone far away.

"I'm going to die."

The old knight's tone carried an inaudible emotion of regret or relief, contradictory and extremely complicated, and the lithotic gray-white marks had already climbed over his abdomen and towards his chest.

He said softly, "This is the Hell's Ashes, a poison that will turn everything I set a goal into ashes - I guess my life is too hard, and even it can only slowly turn me into rocks, so that I can survive for a while." ”

"My death is inevitable, in that case, it is better to let me save your life with my last remaining sublimation organs."

Hilliard turned his head sideways, looked at Ian, and smiled, "Don't worry, my student, this is equivalent to you having the fifth-level ancient dragon material from the beginning!" At the beginning, I led the army with my king to collapse dozens of mountains, and you were able to pick one for nothing, which is really good luck, haha......"

Noticing that Ian didn't care about this at all, the boy just stared at him in amazement, and he said patiently, "Don't worry, Ian, I'm dying. Without Weiggers, I probably wouldn't have survived this winter...... At the latest, next winter. ”

The grayish-white marks had begun to spread across the entire chest, forming spiderweb-like marks.

At this moment, Hilliard raised his hand and grabbed Ian's hand, and the boy felt the amazing strength of the teacher: "After I die, send my body to the South Sea...... I'm going to watch there...... Keep watching. ”

Ian and Hilliard looked at each other, and the old knight said in a deep voice, "Promise me." ”

"Don't be sad, child."

"I promise you......"

Ian replied blankly, "But I still don't want you to die...... How could I not be sad? ”

"Teacher, I want to cry so much, I know I should cry at this time, but I can't cry, I don't have tears......"

The boy held his teacher's hand tightly, there were no tears in his eyes, only the brilliance of psionic energy in his eyes.

He wanted to see the trajectory of the future, but there was only a grim black ash in Hilliard.

All the light was dimming, and the knight in the foresight was dead.

He simply continued to remain in his dead body with a will transcendent from the material world.

This is a hesitation that is more desperate than despair, and Ian can only endure it, endure this unspeakable grief: "Teacher, I can only feel a silence and emptiness, a heavy feeling. ”

"I ...... I can't describe that hollow ......."

"Yes. That's the kind of person you are. ”

But Hilliard raised his hand and stroked the boy's head in relief: "You are a strange child, an abnormal child, a child who is different from other children, a child who is hesitant and curious. ”

"I ...... I think of a man who is just like you, a guy who can never really be presumptuously happy, who can never really grieve and grieve with joy. ”

He smiled a little weakly, and looked upwards at the dark sky.

Hilliard, who was already a little demoralized, seemed to be communicating with Ian, and as if he was communicating with some dear friend from the distant past: "What can fill the void in your heart?" Isn't it even this world? ”

"So...... Do you want to go to the heavens? ”

Hilliard paused, as if gathering strength.

Then, in a clear and consistent voice, the old man spoke, "I am Hilliard Lesi, the thirty-ninth Emperor of the Settar Empire, and a knight of the Pioneer Inaga the Great. ”

"I am also the highest-ranking wanted criminal and traitor in the Syetar Empire today - I am the last poison of the 'Black Tyrant'."

"I'm sorry, Ian, but I'm going to give you your Majesty's legacy...... It's going to bring you a horde of enemies, and they're the lords of the world, they're the outnumbered side, they take over everything in the land, they have all the resources, they're all on these guys' side. ”

"They are the kings of the earth, the oracles who walk on the earth, the generals who sit on a large army, and the rulers of this world."

Lowering his head, the knight's gray-brown eyes stared at Ian, and the old man looked at his disciple's sad expression, then raised his hand and stroked the young man's face: "What, aren't you afraid?" ”

The gray marks have spread to every part of the chest and abdomen, and have even begun to spread towards the neck and skull.

"How so."

Taking a deep breath, Ian replied softly.

Already aware of the moment, his tone became firm, like an eternal rock: "This is what I am going to do, they are the enemies I should destroy." ”

"Teacher—I came into this world to do these things."

Eye to eye with Ian, Hilliard staring at the gaze.

Bright eyes. Familiar gaze. Steadfast gaze.

Just like the eyes of the king.

His eyes were dimming.

- Actually, I haven't understood it, I really haven't understood it all along.

The old man's mind had begun to blur a little, and his complicated life was rotating in front of his eyes, turning into endless flying fragments.

He muttered to himself, but also asked from the heart, "Why, do you all want to go to the heavens?" ”

So. In response to a close friend, in response to a teacher.

Those in memory, those in reality, they opened their mouths and answered seriously.

[Hilliard, we can't just look at the land in front of us]

Among the fragments of lights flying in front of him, a figure that was shorter than him, but enthusiastic, walked in front of him, and he gestured, as if to explain the future plan: [We can't be trapped in our earth, we can't be trapped in this cradle......]

The young man seemed to be saying something, but he was actually quite unimpressed at that time, and the earth was just a cradle...... The earth is everything! All riches and glory are on the earth!

Everything that human beings have comes from the land, from cultivation and labor, and not from such vain dreams, staring at the empty void!

But the figure didn't care about his own rebuttal and rebuke, he just smiled, smiling and expounding his opinion.

Hilliard...... Above all, a civilization, a civilization that can go to the void, must be great. It can make everyone have enough to eat, and it can make everyone have abundant wisdom and wealth—my friend, only when people are full of food and nothing to do, will they have leisure and the desire to appreciate.

[In an unhappy country, no one will look up at the starry sky with hope and anticipation! 】

[On the other hand, I need to build such a kingdom in order to achieve my desire!] 】

[Moreover. ”

As if someone was answering themselves, as if someone was talking, the illusory shadow gradually overlapped with reality, and the words that echoed in the heart were gradually replaced by real voices in the ears.

The men of yesteryear and the teenagers of the present are overlapping.

They were silent for a moment.

They were a little embarrassed.

They seemed a little embarrassed.

But in the end, they spoke.

"Because I want to."

They speak calmly, as if they were expounding a truth that does not need to be repeated a second time: "It is like a question that longs for an answer, and an equation that longs for a result." ”

[Hilliard/Teacher, I just want to, I think for no reason. ”

[I want to touch the stars with my own hands.] ”

So he went crazy and went to accompany the fool in chasing the trajectory of the stars.

[Do you regret it?] 】

In the endless fragments of time, there seemed to be a figure who asked softly: [Don't you regret accompanying me through a life where I have gained nothing and achieved nothing like this? 】

Regretted it.

Regret not protecting that person.

So......

Ian heard his teacher whisper to himself, "I can't regret it a second time." ”

He coughed, but it was also gray, muddy.

Gray-white marks have spread to the neck.

But just after coughing, Hilliard's eyes widened, and his gaze was incomparably bright, like a rekindled charcoal fire.

"If I could, I really don't want to die, you haven't grown up yet, Ian, my disciple...... How I want to see you grow up, be who you want to be, and then achieve your dreams. ”

"How I wish you could touch the stars."

He chuckled and laughed, and the old knight's eyes lit up with a silver streamer.

Then, he raised his right hand, which he had been clasping, and showed it to Ian's eyes: "Look, this is the legacy of Inaga, the last thing that everyone is fighting for, enough to change the world, enough to transform the world, the hope of humanity returning to the stars." ”

"That's what it is...... The world's greatest treasure, the key to unlocking the eternal labyrinth.

- My disciple. ”

It's a blessing and a curse. ”

Get it, and you will get hope. ”

and there will be no peace forever. ”

A silver, thin chip that didn't seem to exist in this world at all was sent to Ian by Hilliard.

The silver chip shone with endless runes, like a bright starry sky.

And in the Foresight Horizon, the bright, endless rainbow glory flows like a river, and the sea surges, but in the end it is all confined to this small chip.

"As I wish, Teacher."

Stretching out his hand, Ian took the silver chip with no more solemn and more prudent respect: "Whether it's a blessing or a curse...... I'm glad to accept it. ”

And in the next moment, it melted into Ian's body.

As he watched this scene, the last of the glint in Hilliard's eyes dissipated.

He vaguely saw a thin figure gradually shattering. The knight chuckled softly.

…… I am the king.

He vaguely saw a white-haired child staring blankly into his face, and he looked sadly and firmly promised.

…… Ian.

…… It's mine...... Stars.

Hilliard smiled and closed her eyes.

Grayish-white petrification marks spread throughout the knight and teacher's bodies.

He left.

……

After a long, long time.

Just when the stars are gone, and both moons are setting.

The white-haired boy stood up.

He hugged the last remnants of his teacher, step by step, and walked towards the bottom of the cliff.

The morning sun rises slowly from the edge of the sky, the colorful glow of the sun tints the edge of the coastal clouds and mist, and the warm sea breeze blows from the depths of the ocean towards the other side of the earth.

On the windswept shore, the boy raised his head and looked up at the sky in the distance.

The light fell.

The stars shine on the land as they have for billions of years.