BXBX NOVEL Chapter 170: Return
"Huh–?"
Finn looked over, finding himself standing beside the man he had just plunged his dagger into. What he discovered immediately is that the wound he left on Sirius was gone–no, there was a scar there, though it made no sense. Even if the God of Heroes had the ability to heal, the ["Art of Dying"] would\'ve bypassed that. .net
He immediately gripped the handle of his dagger, taking a step back with caution, though the careful response only brought a light chuckle from the man.
"Don\'t worry. No hard feelings," Sirius said. "You\'re probably wondering how I\'m alive, aren\'t you?"
"...Yeah, I\'d say that," Finn answered.
"Remember back with that gross leech deity? What did I tell you?" Sirius asked.
Though he wasn\'t very open to being asked questions himself, Finn pondered on that encounter again, though there was no need as the eccentric figure answered for him–
"Gods have a second life. Well, I told you as much, but I honestly didn\'t think I would have another," Sirius admitted, placing his hands on his sides with a small exhale. "My godhood was an authority I earned, not a birthright."
"What\'re you going to do, then? Pointing out the obvious, but…this world is done for," Finn asked, watching pieces of the sky trickle down like snowdrops.
The fact that he pointed out brought a melancholic smile to Sirius\' lips, one that reminisced and lamented, though didn\'t sulk.
"To be honest, when the time came, I wanted to be dead already. The last thing I wanted was to see it all fading away–I couldn\'t think of a sadder end," Sirius admitted. "But, I guess that was just me being weak. I stood with this world all these years, so the least I can do is be with it \'till the end."
With that proclamation, the God of Heroes simply sat himself down on the shallow, ankle-high water that used to be a grandiose ocean. Seeing how accepting the man was of reality, Finn couldn\'t help but feel bad about it all–even if it was something beyond his control.
"Sorry," Finn quietly apologized.
"No need. All of you had no choice in the matter. It was a simple matter of choosing your world over this one–and I\'d be a fool to think you\'d make any other choice," Sirius assured him. "I\'m a hero. Trying my damndest for the happiest ending, even if it\'s impossible, is my job."
Hearing the logic of Sirius, or almost the lack thereof, a sense of relief filled Finn for the first time in a long while. Part of him wanted to see the end of it as well, though he felt it was out of place for him–something he wasn\'t welcome to, seeing as he was an outsider.
A light cast itself down, encapsulating each of the foreigners to the transient world.
Finn looked up, feeling the warmth engulf him as he stood there.
[First Order Complete.]
[The Boon of Heroes has been bestowed to Earth.]
[Returning all survivors.]
"Guess it\'s time to go," Finn remarked.
Sirius glanced over, "Good luck. Listen, nowhere is safe—I told you that already. But, there\'s a chance to change that. I\'ve seen the strength of you and your peers—given time, you might reach the point to fight back."
"If you couldn\'t…" Finn said.
"You beat me, right? You\'re on the rise, so chin up, assassin. It might be your blade that repels the Apocalypse," Sirius assured him.
Before anything else could be said, Finn found the otherworldly light lifting him from the ground. It was a unique feeling of weightlessness, as though his entire existence was compressed painlessly.
\'It\'s time to see what this all led to—the "Boon" given to the world,\' Finn thought.
The unique sensation furthered before he blinked, finding himself emerging from the light. Somehow, he found himself standing in a familiar room—a marble interior decorated with velvet drapings.
"The Bazaar?" Finn questioned, blinking a few times.
"Finn?"
The familiar voice brought him to look over, finding the spellblade beside him, with the knight another step away.
"Charlotte…Jasper, you\'re fine—thank goodness. I was worried," Finn let out a breath of relief, patting each of his companions on the shoulder.
"Did you do it, mate? We wanted to join in, but…Godfrey was a damn handful, I\'ll tell you," Jasper lamented.
"I had a lot of help, but somehow we pulled it off. The question is…" Finn looked around.
Charlotte seemed to have the same thought in her mind, "The Boom for clearing the First Order…What do you think it is?"
"Let\'s go see," Finn recommended, leading the way down the steps of the Bazaar back to the base of the Tower.
Even within the boundaries of the mystical structure, periodic rumbling was felt coming from outside. It made it a careful task in descending the stairs, bringing a sense of caution to the assassin as he truly wondered what state the world was in.
The bottom of the steps led to the light-filled doorway, not allowing so much as a peek to what waited a step beyond.
"Alright…" Charlotte said, staring at the threshold.
"Almost forgot what our world was like, honestly–the air we breathe, all that jazz," Jasper remarked.
"Well, we\'re about to get a reminder," Finn assured him.
The way was led by a single step, bringing his foot forward past the nebulous threshold. It caused him to flinch for a moment as the light shunned his eyes before feeling the outside wind against his body.
A look at what laid past the exit of the Tower brought him to a perplexing discovery, one that he didn\'t account for–
The landscape was different from that which he originally entered from. Far from the cityscape of Korea, what he found was a tucked-away, remote village that had been reclaimed by nature. The sparse housing was gripped in overgrowth, blooming with colorful flowers that encapsulated the abandoned homes.
Behind him, Jasper stepped out as well, taking in the foreign sight, "--Hold on, it spit us out somewhere else? I almost forgot about that whole thing."
"Where are we? It can\'t be anywhere close to where we were before," Charlotte wondered.
"I\'m not sure, but at the very least–it seems quiet. I\'ll take that as a positive these days," Finn said, beginning to walk out from the base of the Tower.
Exploring the overgrown village, what he looked to find was any clues that indicated where the Tower had placed them. There were a few broken down trucks that looked as though they\'d been out of commission since before civilization was shattered.
While his companions scoped around as well, he found a sign by one of the homes, though it was heavily covered in grass. Tugging the overgrowth away, he found the letters imprinted on it, though it was nothing he could read.
Even so, he knew enough about what he was looking at to figure out where they had found themselves.
"A slavic language…I\'ve seen it before," Finn said before calling out. "I think we\'re in Russia."
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In the shattering world of the First Order, the lonesome god sat there on the shallow sea. A melancholic look inhabited his expression as he clearly reminisced of the world\'s memories in its final moments.
\'Well, in the end I couldn\'t stop it. I tried–I tried my hardest. For the first time in my life, there was something beyond my power of saving. It just had to be the most important thing to save, didn\'t it?\' Sirius thought.
Not a single other soul persisted in the world, yet it wasn\'t quiet as the planter\'s crust fractured and crumbled, as the sky rippled. A breath left the man\'s lips as he stood himself up, looking up towards the falling sky.
Hovering over the fleeting world was the sight of the faceless colossus that brought about its end–the calamitous entity, dwarfing the planet in its entirety. The one force that he couldn\'t harm, let alone defeat, though the lonesome god found himself rethinking that.
Across his fingers, a unison of magenta and white lightning coiled as he stared at the looming Apocalypse.
\'It\'s almost funny. After dying and initiating my second life, I\'ve felt this power welling inside me–it\'s completely beyond anything before. It\'s too late, though…No, that\'s not exactly right. Even if this world is at its end, I can still do something. There\'s always a choice, always a fight,\' he considered as the electricity surged, coiling around his arms as his heart thumped.
Going out quietly seemed sadder than anything else in the universe to the lonesome god as a smile reemerged on his lips. It was wild, almost far too stupid to think of, though staring at that far-too-large, devastating entity hovering over the world, his heart and soul resonated with his electric spirit.
\'I\'ve never been the vengeful type, but…I guess if there was ever a time,\' he declared.