High Above

Path of Ashes.

In the past, Ian has foresaw many paths, whether it was the initial swarm of insects, or the subsequent spiritual disaster, whether it was the further extinguishing stars and eternity, or the ongoing arcana... every path. All have their own unique characteristics.

The wild imagination that is beyond ordinary people, the technology that far exceeds this era itself, and the attempt to reach the stars are enough to turn their color into 'gold' or even dye it into 'rainbow'.

However, the Ashes path is different.

This time, the first thing that both Ian and King Jhin saw was darkness.

It was composed of endless scarlet fire and ash, a deep darkness that could swallow up all light and burn out all hope.

Then, in the darkness, a little rainbow appeared.

"Unexpectedly..."

Even Ian couldn't help but feel shocked at this moment, because all the roads he had seen had never seen such darkness that was almost 'certain to death'... It would be better to say that he hadn't seen anything that could cause him any harm in a long time. The future is threatened by death. In today's Terra continent, there is no possibility of killing him without any resistance.

But speaking of this, I, who was on the path of Xiuxing, met the end at the end. In theory, it should be an inevitable death, but for some reason, there was no dark omen.

Is there any difference between the two?

have no idea. So keep reading.

Under the prophet's gaze, the path to the future emerges from nothingness.

It all starts in Port Harrison.

Without a younger brother, Ian's experience in Harrison Port was very different from his current life. The Ian who developed the Ashes Path should be an earlier Ian. His mode of action was not a normal exploration. It's like a reborn person who 'explores different possibilities through multiple rounds'.

Relying on his identity as an appraiser, he ventured into the jungle many times, chose to be loyal to Viscount Grant, and became a member of the core circle of Port Harrison as the successor of Elder Puder. Ashes Ian did not show much 'curiosity' about the outside world. Because he hadn't deleted too many memories at that time.

He has a good relationship with many of Viscount Grant's loyal subordinates, City Defense Officer Sir Yam and Treasurer Lamar. Both of them take good care of him as a young child, and Ian also knows the 'branch' behind these two people.

Sir Yam is relatively simple. As the right-hand man of Viscount Grant, he has several smuggling lines in his hands and has accumulated a lot of wealth. He also guards the various potion materials and wealth stored by the Grant family.

He is not corrupt. This old man mainly has a bit of hamster disease. He obviously has a lot of money but hides it all. In one life, Ian even took all his money as start-up capital, but when he returned to his hometown rich and powerful, he was not corrupt. By the time Port Harrison was ready to return it to Sir Yam, he hadn't even discovered that it had been stolen.

And Lamar is a little more serious.

He has private contact with the Feiyan Special Forces!

It sounds very nerve-wracking, but in fact it’s okay. As a wandering red people who fled from the Flying Fire Land, Lamar holds a high position in Harrison Port. In the eyes of the Flying Fire Land Special Forces, this is the best thing. Therefore, various instigations and threats against Lamar emerged one after another, and Lamar had no idea of ​​betraying Viscount Grant and firmly refused every time.

Even after knowing this, Viscount Grant wanted Lamar to pretend to agree to the other party in order to seduce those flying flame bugs, but Lamar also refused.

Although he did not tell Viscount Grant the reason, Ashes Ian got to know the conversation between Lamar and his sister by chance.

Conversations are more complex and more intimate.

Clondel's meaning is very simple. The Viscount does have a life-saving grace and great love for them. It is absolutely impossible to betray them. But if the Viscount abandons them, then she will warn the Viscount one last time in order to save her life. , and then left Port Harrison.

Lamar also admitted that the reason why he did not contact Feiyandi was because he was afraid that after the Viscount abandoned them in the future, he would not be able to help but contact Feiyandi and do something harmful to Harrison Port - he could not withstand the temptation, so Don’t get involved with temptation in the first place.

They said so, but from their tone, Ian could tell that these two would not run away at all... they would stay in Harrison Port and die with Viscount Grant, or even take Viscount Grant with them!

"How come the Lamar brothers and sisters have such yandere personalities? Viscount Grant is so dangerous? If you are just a little more carefree, I'm afraid you won't need me, and your lives will be at risk..."

Ian is a little nervous. Viscount Grant's harem seems quite difficult to deal with, and he doesn't know how he can perfectly coordinate in this world... But if you think about it carefully, Viscount Grant is pure and dedicated. After having a child, he will directly Transforming into a good father, according to Terra's morals, he is truly a first-class, pure and perfect nobleman, and it is normal not to fall over.

All this is quite interesting to Ian, but to King Jhin on the side, it is a bit unclear.

However, he keenly noticed something was wrong.

——These don’t seem to be the future… but the past!

From Ian's perspective, Ash Ian himself can't actually be seen, but it can be inferred through various relationships with the people around Ash Ian, and the King of Ash can also vaguely see that all this seems to be consistent with their original strategy for the Empire's South Ridge. Action related.

That was quite some time ago, and development seems to be different from reality.

Could it be that... is another possibility?

King Jhin suppressed the curiosity and doubts in his heart and continued to follow Ian's perspective.

In this world line, the order of development of most things is the same. In the Great Maze incident in the South China Sea, Ashes Ian did not participate too much like in the original life. He only entered the Great Maze in the South China Sea with Wagers at the end, fought against the swarm of insects, and finally... Together, Isengard and others witnessed the end of Hilliard.

【Really? ! 】

During this process, King Jhin opened his eyes wide, and the majestic fifth level also became a curious crowd.

Even he didn't know the many events in the Great Labyrinth of the South China Sea, and Hilliard actually passed away at this time. Doesn't that mean that Ian Yinfeng simply relied on his own strength to develop the arcane path? , instead of inheriting the legacy of Inaga and Hilliard as they thought?

Thinking about it this way, it was not unfair for him to lose.

And the reversal happens here.

I don't know what went wrong, maybe it's the 'difference' in parallel time and space. The news from Wiggs was leaked - a new generation of patrol knights who knew the news about Hilliard, led by Deputy Commander Frost Trace. Most of the patrol knights of the team rushed directly to Harrison Port at full speed. Viscount Grant was controlled immediately, and the entire Harrison Port and the South China Sea Great Maze were under martial law.

There were even rumors that His Majesty the Emperor was touched by the news and would personally come to the South China Sea border.

Theoretically speaking, if the Sun Bird wants to come, it will arrive the next second. But Ian knows that at this time, Axel is probably still at the edge of the orbit of Terra's solar system to deal with his disaster of light, and he will not be able to come back until he sets off for the Imperial Capital, which should be a projection clone.

If you think about it carefully, the prophecy of the Hall of All Souls was at that time. Axel should also have known the news about Isengard and the Great Labyrinth of the South China Sea before setting off back to the Imperial Capital, and he happened to be at that time after the other party came back. He immediately sensed the danger and returned to his hometown to farm.

Under the comparison of multiple time and space, we can discover the logic behind more events.

But for Ash Ian, this is the worst situation - although he has obtained the inheritance of Immovable Castle, the empire's eyes have noticed him, and he cannot go on a trip to the imperial capital or other adventures. Sengard was directly protected as the emperor's grandson.

There is only one possibility to escape the empire's sight.

run!

Run away to Flying Flame Land, Whale Song Cliff or Canaan Moore!

This choice may have determined the difference in the path, but obviously, Ashes Ian chose the Flying Flame Land.

Then……

Time begins to speed up.

【What? 】

King Jin was also shocked: [You joined Feiyandi? I do not know how? ! 】

[No, why didn’t you join Feiyandi when you saw this possibility? 】

King Jhin didn't quite understand the nature of Ian's prophecy. He thought that this was Ian's prophetic ability - to directly see through a possible future, so he couldn't figure it out at once. He could obviously follow the passage of time. The trend is moving forward, why not?

But soon, he also figured it out: [I see, this is your prophetic ability... You must have seen a better future, which is who you are now. It’s just that the future I see now is based on the possibility derived from the cause and effect between you and me]

[In this future...can I, as you see, burn for longer than I imagined? 】

"That's it."

Ian responded softly, carefully observing the details of it all.

After Ember Ian joined the Flying Flame Land, he quickly gained the attention of this generation of Flame Abyss King. As a 'temporary teammate' who had a certain relationship with Hilliard and Isengard, he met the Ember King.

Then, there was rapid development.

The character of King Jhin is destined to not care about how incredible Ian's genius is, but to accept it indifferently.

And Ian has undoubtedly grown rapidly. After helping King Jin solve many local people's livelihood development problems, as well as development and progress issues related to the way of sublimation, he was directly appointed as the Crown Prince of Yanyuan. The next step is to work with Ah Others of the Barsalom bloodline compete for the right to inherit the 'Blood of the Top'.

The competition process is quite cliché, it is nothing more than military exploits, group competitions, research paper releases, etc., and Ian smoothly pretends to be a pig and eats the tiger, and blows the heads of a group of old antiques with a paper that is beyond the times (World View) ), he successfully became the only two supreme heirs of Feiyandi.

Then he confessed his prophethood.

【ah? 】The reaction of King Jhin at that time was exactly the same as that of King Jhin in reality. It could even be said that they were exactly the same and incredible: 【You just revealed your identity as a prophet at this time? What did you waste so much time on before? ! 】

"Mainly to collect data." Ian mused: "After such a competition, I have collected all the data on the king's blood in Feiyan Land, and my prestige plus the prophet makes it unrivaled. "

Unlike the Empire, the Empire's bloodline is too stable and its power is too large to be easily changed like Feiyandi.

Having become the de facto second-in-command of Feiyan Land, Ashes Ian is extremely easy to promote various social improvements and sublimation research.

And King Jhin also let Ian do what he did.

It was at this time that Ash Ian participated in research related to the ‘Reincarnation of Fire’.

As Ian thinks now, the Reincarnation of Fire itself is very crude, because the Flying Flame Land does not have the resources of the Empire to advance the details of the plan, but as the host, King Jhin has indeed mastered the core skills, at least in the Demon Legion. In this regard, King Jhin and the Chrysalis have indeed determined the possibility of 'artificial demons' and conducted a series of experiments respectively.

Under Ian's auspices, the details of the Reincarnation of Fire were rapidly fleshed out, and related research on 'human nature', 'virtual distortion', and 'ether circulation' were completed in sequence, and the world war started as scheduled.

This time, there was no arcane way to ease the war between various countries, and the power of the Flying Flame Land became stronger with the help of Ember Ian. It withstood the Empire's floating city attack and dragged the Empire's power to the ground. Around the Absalom Mountains.

Then... Mikael raided the imperial capital, Axel was severely damaged, the empire lost its ability to attack foreign countries, and wars around the world became more and more intense.

That was a harbinger of the end of the world.

The endless flames of war have burned the entire world. As the wars between countries around the world become more and more cruel and real fire is fought, the death toll is also rising. Various dangerous technologies that should be used with caution are being put into practice one by one.

The four orthodox religions gathered a group of civilians, but this was only the last seed and could not stop the continuation of the war - but it was the Far Coast Island that completely intensified the war and pushed the world into doomsday.

——Since you are not willing to let us have land, we will not take any responsibility for the continent of Terra.

With the beginning of the 'Great Migration' plan, all members of the Far Shore Island withdrew from the Terra continent. Cang Xing led the national immigration fleet to the New World. The mantle plume originally located on the Far Shore Island soon disappeared due to the war and war in western Terra. The ether shook and erupted, and the terrifying flames spread, instantly engulfing all the areas west of the Outer Flying Flame Land and the Dark Mountains.

High-heat hurricanes, tsunamis and horrific earthquakes swept across western and central Terra. Countless civilians, ordinary people and even some weak Ascended Ones were unable to withstand such natural disasters.

Even with the protection of two fifth-level powerhouses, Feiyan Land still suffered a huge impact. A large number of coastal areas and port cities were swallowed up, and the Sea of ​​Tranquility turned into a closed inland sea, boiled by the heat originating from the earth's mantle. Let the terrible smoke cover half of the continent.

People die like grass and turn into ashes. No one can be saved. No matter whether they are good people or evil people, whether they are dreamy or ignorant, whether they are intelligent people and monsters or insects without their own thoughts, they are all the same.

It's all ashes.

Both Ian and King Jhin fell into silence as they watched this scene.

Just as Ian originally predicted in Harrison Port, there is no need for the end or the end of the world at all. Humanity will destroy itself. It only takes a war to kill more than 90% of the world's people.

And when the fifth energy level takes action, it is more than 99%.

At this point, it’s no longer possible to start the reincarnation plan.

Therefore, even though many details are still quite rudimentary, and even though many technologies are not yet fully mature, the entire territory of Feiyan Land has begun to 'devil transform'.

However, just the population of Feiyan Land cannot reach the lower limit of 'reincarnation'. To cause the distortion of the virtual world, twist the originally smooth flow of psychic energy-ether into a recurring circulation, and distort the real world into a virtual dream, more than 2.7 billion "artificial demons" are needed.

"Dad, just go ahead and implement the reincarnation plan."

【how about you? 】

"Since this world will turn into ashes no matter what...then now, I will add fire."

【……I do not understand what you mean】

""I'm going to destroy all the remaining humans and ascendants and transform them into demons. Don't worry, no one will survive. "

"I have this confidence."

"Do you have this confidence? No, wait, could it be that before this, I have already accomplished the achievement of 'Slaughter All of Terra'?"

Even though he could only hear the sound, even if he could only see the tired face of King Jhin, Ian was still a little unable to hold on, and King Jhin stared at the fragments of time in shock. He stared at it for a long time. Then he turned to look at Ian Silver Peak, the great prophet who "loved all mankind" in his heart, and couldn't help but take a breath: [Are you talking to me? 】

"Probably." Ian thought for a while, then nodded and admitted, but he immediately dismissed the blame: "But part of the reason must be because of your education!"

——Fart, I’m not that extreme!

King Jhin originally thought that he was already extreme, but after meeting Ian who was on other paths, he realized what true extreme was.

But he was also very curious about the next development, so he remained silent and continued to read.

Next...everything fell into place.

In front of Ian who has grown to the limit, no matter which Ian is, as long as he takes the time and does not mind destroying the world, he can always defeat any opponent he wants to defeat. As the entire world gradually became a broken wasteland, Terra, which was originally green and full of vitality, also turned into an apocalyptic world full of lava and broken crust.

But even this is an abyssal planet that is worse than hell and more doomsday than doomsday.

A fierce flame ignited the virtual realm and started reincarnation.

Reincarnation.

When the Apocalypse server started to operate, and all the backed-up human memories, thoughts and souls were thrown into the already chaotic and pitch-black virtual world and turned into demons, the virtual world also began to distort and change.

——At first, the world was empty.

There were only broken rocks, burning earth and boiling black water, and everything was shrouded in chaos.

Until one day, the first fire appeared in the dark chaos... The flames shone through the darkness, brightening the void. Things that did not exist before were created, and everything that had disappeared appeared again.

A whole new world was created.

Human beings in the new world have the memory of 'previous lives'. In every sense, they are the same people as before. It is just that they cannot correctly recognize themselves because of the distortion of the virtual world and demonization, and the Apocalypse server has smoothed it out for them. Remove all painful memories so that they can live peacefully in the new world.

For them, all this is no different from the disaster: they are protected in a huge shelter, and wait until the war world, the world is reborn. And now, it's just about building a home again.

The new world is boundless and broad, because everything is an expansion and imagination of the virtual world. People happily start from scratch, build towns and cities, and once again outline countries and societies. People thrive in it and continue to struggle and compete.

Because it is not completely starting from scratch, there are many people with professional knowledge. In the first few decades of reincarnation, "reincarnation humans" have built a fairly stable settlement and social structure.

But for some reason, technology has not developed, and the number of sublimators is very small. People maintain the city-state social structure, fighting with the power of the highest second energy level, and the highest science can only create Artillery, steam engines, and furthermore internal combustion engines and alchemical engines are already the most cutting-edge and advanced technologies in various countries and cannot be widely used.

And this certain reason is the limit of ‘reincarnation’.

With the third energy level of the mind-light body, they will be aware of the truth of the world. They will notice that they are living in an illusory dream, and they will also notice all the irrationality in this world.

The power of all high-level people in the past, after they were killed and put into reincarnation, became the power itself to maintain reincarnation. Even though reincarnation can recycle all energy almost losslessly, the higher the base, the higher the quality of reincarnation.

Although the power at the peak of the second energy level can defeat the army, it can still be defeated by low-level sublimators and various alchemical artillery. Therefore, the war in this world is more stable than the original Terra, and the society is also more stable.

As for technology, just because these reactions are relatively simple and can be carried by the server - higher-level ether reactions will involve the nature of the virtual realm and will still cause instability in the world.

Slowly explore the world, slowly expand territory, slowly reproduce and grow.

Everything in the world of reincarnation is stable. Although there are still many joys and sorrows in the world, and there are still many regrets, it is not like a fifth-level strongman will suddenly go crazy and want to transform the entire world into what he wants. .

And this world also has many adventures, battles and stories. The exploration of distant places, the experiences of adventurers, the legends of mercenaries, those classic swords and magic, and the battles between city-states are enough to hold people's hearts.

Soon, soon.

Thousands of years have passed, tens of thousands of years have passed, and the world still exists.

Everything remains the same. Although people have developed many new technologies and entered the electronic age, this is the limit. People are immersed in a stable society and continue a life that will not end no matter how long it takes.

Fifty thousand years.

Such was the lifespan of the First Age.

The reason for the end is also very simple.

The distortion reaches its limit. The nature of artificial demons gradually turns newborns into real demons. The passage of humanity and the deterioration of souls begin to cause monsters to appear. The originally peaceful world encounters a 'world-destroying demonic disaster'. In the face of this demonic disaster, , there are no heroes to turn the tide, and there are no undead people and ashes to continue the world.

The world was destroyed by a demonic disaster.

Then, all the twisted virtual realm began to flow back, shrink... and move towards the original flame.

"no problem?"

【Easier than expected. Fifty thousand years of time can actually pass by like water... It's hard to imagine the time when we were still human in the past, and the days were like years.]

[Is there anything happening outside? 】

"A few years after the reincarnation began, the Catastrophe of Light broke out, half of Terra was broken, and the rest turned into a lava planet. It has not completely cooled down yet, but the evaporated water was condensed into meteorites by me. You can wait until it cools down and throw it back to Terra to reshape the ecology."

"As for the half of the mass lost, take your time. Anyway, you can wait for the cosmic dust to condense."

[...I am just rekindling the flame, but you are really going to create the world again]

【Aren’t you lonely? 】

"The Dragon Kings handed over Dragon Island to me. Now I have to guard the seal, and at the same time, I have to suppress the remaining Thousand Stars. It will depend on it to rebuild Terra in the future. Overall, it's quite busy, but everything is fine We are on the right track, and I can also rely on Dragon Island to accelerate my time, even fifty thousand years is not long."

[Then let’s begin, the second reincarnation]

The First Age is over.

Then, came the beginning of the Second Era.

All over again, everything from scratch.

It's like a game that is constantly being rolled out and restarted. After the initial players invest, the world starts to move spontaneously, and then is reborn again and again.

Some people return to the server after finishing the beginning, while some people choose to enter a later time in development. The Terran souls in the Apocalypse server are the so-called players, and the information they copy is the player, and nothing will change. , they play it countless times and it will be as fresh as the first time.

In essence, the Samsara of Fire is not a living world.

But a tombstone.

It stores everything about Terra's civilization, and relies on the ritual of 'reincarnation' to be a 'fire' that can be preserved almost forever.

"Wouldn't it be boring?"

【Won't】

"Aren't you tired of seeing the exact same world?"

【A little bit】

"The thirty-fourth reincarnation... is almost two million years ago. The surface of Little Terra has cooled down. We can try to use thousands of stars to collect solar energy and cosmic dust to restore Terra's mass."

"Can you still hold on?"

【Also】

[No matter people or demons, they are all ashes after all. As long as the core data is not damaged, the cyclical 'circulation' caused by the intersection of the virtual world and the material world will continue.]

[If it lasts, I can last. Don’t worry about me, Ian, just do what you want to do]

[You go and wait for the result you want, let me continue burning]

King Jhin is never tired or bored.

Many people have said that eternal life is a curse.

The eternal person will lose everything, lose what he loves, and lose what he wants. The eternal person will lose again and again, leaving nothing but himself.

The eternal person will say goodbye to all his cares. He will lose his humanity, his animality, his fear of death, and his yearning for life. The eternal person will eventually lose his desire for eternal life, and then give up his life.

For short-lived humans, not denying everything about eternal life seems to be mocking the shortness of their lives.

So, how does he feel about King Jhin, who can be regarded as 'immortal' in a sense?

The answer is nothing.

From beginning to end, King of Jhin has no superfluous thoughts.

He has indeed lost everything and cannot even perceive the world. He can only watch from the perspective of a bystander as reincarnation advances at a speed of dozens or hundreds of times. Even if he can speed up his thinking and observe an individual's life, just like watching movies or reading novels, and reading everything in this world, he will ultimately I will also watch a movie, read a novel, and feel the 'melancholy at the end of the story'.

Even if he has nothing left, he will still lose.

But King Jhin doesn't care about this.

[Why do some people think eternal life is pain? 】

[Why do you feel lost when you lose something? Why do you feel so sad when you lose it? 】

[Why do some people always think that the flame will definitely go out? It is obvious that the sun burns for much longer than human civilization, but there are ignorant and weak humans pointing to that fleeting spark and confidently claiming that the flame is short-lived and will eventually be extinguished? 】

[Everything, whether it is the boredom of life, the disappearance of dreams, the end of civilization, or the unchanging things, I can endure and overcome them]

【because……】

[I really don’t want to]

[Unwilling to turn into ashes]

If there is a template for human personality, then King Jhin was not human from the beginning.

Human beings are essentially a short-lived race, and they value spending their whole life chasing what they want. Some people want to stand on the top of a mountain and overlook all living beings, some want to stand in front of others and teach the people, and some people want to lead. The army conquers all directions, and some people have the world in mind and want to put an end to all difficulties.

Some people want to be established in the royal court, some people want to be rich and prosperous, some people pay attention to benevolence and righteousness, some people pay attention to morality, some people pay attention to love and hate, and some people pay attention to self.

All these dreams, wants and fun are the reasons why human beings are excited. Some have achieved it, but most of them are unwilling to do so. There is gain, but more is lost.

People hate and even fear losing.

So people, human beings, cannot imagine the possibility of a person with an infinite lifespan constantly gaining and losing infinitely.

That is simply the greatest pain in the world.

But King Jhin couldn't understand this pain.

Because those who die will become ashes.

It will become nothingness that can no longer affect the world and can no longer see the world.

All meanings and dreams will become meaningless under the erosion of time. Even if the world is transformed, all bad habits of mankind are changed, and a perfect civilization is created, but after hundreds of thousands or millions of years, the civilization turns into ashes and dust in nothingness, then all this is simply Meaningless.

nothingness.

The only thing that can fight against nothingness is 'eternal existence and infinite continuity'.

To fight against this nothingness, this utterly boring nothingness, King Jhin will burn - forever and ever.

This is true even if he peels off his consciousness bit by bit, tears his soul into pieces, and turns his whole person into a pure ignition machine.

The thirty-fourth reincarnation.

The seventy-second reincarnation.

The 119th reincarnation.

The two hundred and twenty-fifth reincarnation.

Sometimes it takes tens of thousands of years, sometimes it takes thousands of years, and the shortest period is less than two hundred years, before an accident occurs and humanity returns, turning the whole world into a monster purgatory.

But the longest is more than 400,000 years. The entire era is divided into more than a dozen different eras. Wars and struggles, divisions and reunifications, provide the entire era with extremely rich legendary epics and history. People's Civilization even came close to discovering the reality of virtual reality and the world.

King Ember and Ember Ian saw everything.

They saw happiness and they saw pain. They heard singing and crying. They witnessed the sublime and the greatness.

They watched the establishment of all powers and the collapse of all kingdoms.

They all witnessed those oaths, curses, those sincere or false prayers, those tragic or funny wars.

Human cruelty and kindness, human viciousness and innocence, all are no longer strange. Parents who sacrifice everything for their children, parents who strangle their children to death with their own hands, all appear to be ordinary in the long cycle of reincarnation, and cannot be called noble or despicable, because this is just a part of human beings.

The reincarnation continues, and Ashes Ian waits silently in Dragon Island. If King Ember is an inhuman will, then Ember Ian is an obsession that even Ian cannot understand now.

He is waiting.

Even if he can't see it, even if he can only perceive the existence of Ember Ian from the side through the 'intermediary point' of King of Ember, Ian can still know what the other party is doing.

He took control of Qianxing and guarded Dragon Island on behalf of the Dragon Kings. The Scourge of Light destroyed half of Terra, and the remaining half was being reshaped in his hands.

Millions of years have passed, tens of millions of years have passed, and the final fragments in Dragon Island have not broken away from the seal. As the Dragon Kings said, as long as a successor who meets the requirements is found, the final fragment cannot come out.

After the Catastrophe of Light, the 'Cradle' was gradually and completely restored... In the sky, except for the planets inside Terra, there was no longer even a single star from the outside.

Even so, Ash Ian is still waiting.

What is he waiting for?

Ian doesn't know either.

It may be the limit of the cradle, it may be the return of the Star God, it may be when will the Final One outside launch an attack on the cradle without any stimulation... In short, Ash Ian is the one who knows the essence of the Guidance Star inheritance. Ian's purpose is to obtain information that is impossible to obtain through normal means.

The 314th reincarnation, 'In the Cradle', eight million years after the destruction of Terra.

Nothing changes.

The 1925th reincarnation, 'In the Cradle', 30 million years after the destruction of Terra.

Nothing changes.

The 5572nd reincarnation, 'In the Cradle', 100 million years after the destruction of Terra.

Nothing has changed.

One hundred million years seems like a long time.

Whether it is for people, a country, a civilization, or a species, 100 million years is a long time.

But for a planet, geological changes, and an entire ecosystem, 100 million years... doesn't seem to be a very long time.

On the former planet, dinosaurs ruled the world for 140 million years. They have undergone many changes from birth to destruction, but there are still many changes that have not changed. They are still dinosaurs, even if they become more adapted to the environment and more intelligent and sharp, they are still dinosaurs.

If it weren't for that meteorite that caused geological changes on the entire planet and completely transformed the planet's environment and climate, the dinosaurs would probably have continued to prosper for 200 million or 300 million years. It was possible.

The same goes for humans who are preserved in reincarnation.

Ian watched the time flow before his eyes, and King Jhin also watched all this in silence.

Whether they are predicted or reincarnated, they are all doing the same thing.

They are waiting.

Waiting for the change to come that will end everything.

And no matter how long the wait is, it will eventually end.

The 9704th reincarnation, 'in the cradle', the 160,801,4417 years since Terra was destroyed.

Change has arrived.

Dragon Island.

Surrounding the almost reshaped planet Terra, Dragon Island still rotates silently. It is so solid that more than 100 million years have left no trace at all on it.

In the final analysis, for the Star God's creations that transcend stars and stars, and for those ancestral dragons who are expected to become Star Gods, more than 100 million years is just one percent or even hundreds of times from the birth to the extinction of a star. It only took a fraction of the time, how could it be destroyed so easily?

However, at this moment, it was destroyed.

From the inside and outside, the sudden surge of gravity shattered the entire Dragon Island.

It turned into a black hole... and into an almost unnoticeable dot.

"finally!"

Seeing the same thing before him, Ian, who had been silently paying attention to all this, opened his eyes wide. In addition to being excited, he was also nervous: "Although I don't know what Ashes Ian did, he is definitely not the one who deliberately released the Final Fragments."

"Sure enough, the seal of Dragon Island is not permanent. Even if someone maintains it, it will collapse in 160 million years!"

"No...wait. It's not. The collapse of the Dragon Island seal was because of the ether!"

At first, Ian thought it was the dragon island seal that spontaneously collapsed, but soon he noticed the real dissonance: "Why did the concentration of ether become so low?"

Even Ian was unable to accurately notice the ether data that gradually became lower in 160 million years. In fact, as the planet Terra was shattered by the disaster of light, the virtual realm continued to reincarnate. , the concentration of surrounding ether is gradually decreasing, which is a normal phenomenon.

From Ian's point of view now, it may be that the Terran civilization has been destroyed in a substantial sense. The perpetual motion machine's 'Endless Tide' has returned to the Great Etheric Circulation. Therefore, there is no perpetual motion machine in the Cradle of Terra on the Ashes Path. .

Without a perpetual motion machine to provide a steady stream of ether, all ether in the natural environment would gradually degenerate into spiritual energy and source matter, and would then be unable to affect time and space.

Even though the sun is still continuously providing source of essence, without intelligent life to provide spiritual energy, and the virtual realm is reincarnating again, it is impossible for true ether to be born again.

In short, everything adds up. The accumulation of 100 million years has caused the concentration of ether to drop to a limit point.

The seal of Dragon Island could not be maintained, and the final fragments were released.

Then……

Ian saw that the black light spot formed by the collapse of Dragon Island flew away from the sun after continuing to flash for a long time.

Then, within three days.

The sun collapsed into a black hole.

quietly.

Without any gravitational changes, without any magnificent shock waves, the sun almost collapsed in a breath, accelerated its rotation, and then turned into a black hole. Its gravitational field is completely stable, the gravity of the entire galaxy remains stable, Terra is still in its original orbit, and nothing has changed.

It’s just that the sun has become a black hole, the light is no longer there, and there is no source of the sun flowing to the surroundings.

Everything became dark and silent.

But for people in reincarnation, all this does not matter. They do not rely on the brilliance of the sun to survive. Even if the sun turns into a black hole, the reincarnation of fire can still continue.

And whether it is the flame that King Jinder transformed into, or Ember Ian, they still exist.

Even though their thinking and consciousness have been distorted and transformed into forms that cannot be understood by normal humans, reincarnation continues.

So, fourteen thousand five hundred and ninety-five reincarnations.

'In the Cradle', 200 million years after the destruction of Terra.

Real change occurred.

Bang.

For those in reincarnation, there may be no sound.

But for Ian and King Jhin in reality, they both heard a slight sound of something shattering.

Then they saw it.

The cradle is broken.

Under the perspective that was accelerated by countless times, the entire cradle of the Prison Star Prison, which was spread across the entire Terra galaxy and had a radius of five light years, was shattered.

And all around the universe, the sparse but fierce starlight, the supernova light that had been blocked for 200 million years due to the existence of the Cradle, filled the entire Terra galaxy within five years.

Everything is destroyed.

Including reincarnation.

Reincarnation is not extinguished by burning out - reincarnation is extinguished by external forces!

Because the cradle was broken, the light that had been accumulated for 200 million years and condensed from many supernovae completely destroyed the entire Terra, boiled the entire virtual realm, and tore apart all the bubbles, so it dissipated!

【I see……】

Watching this scene, even King Jin showed a complicated expression and sighed: [Isn’t it my limit, but the limit of Hell...]

But Ian opened his eyes wide and stared in one direction.

A direction he has been waiting for.

He waited.

A dark shadow that cannot be described in words or speculated with logic... is slowly moving towards the center of the cradle, the center of the Terra galaxy, in a way that is unimaginable for space-dimensional life and cannot understand its cause and effect sequence. .

That's... the end.

The end that originally stayed outside the cradle.

For 200 million years, there was no abnormality or any unusual movement in Him. Even in the 40 million years since the final fragment broke away from the seal of Dragon Island and turned the Terra star into a black hole, He still did not make any move.

It wasn't until 200 million years later, when the cradle was shattered, that He finally took action.

Heading towards the ‘Terra Black Hole’ with an unspeakable weird amplitude.

"Why?"

This time, Ian did not stop the 'Precognitive Vision' directly because he stared at the black hole. Although he was indeed approaching the limit, the power of the fifth level was enough to allow him to continue until now with some energy left.

But until now, even with his wisdom, he couldn't figure out what all this meant - the fragments of the end turned the Terra star into a black hole, the cradle shattered, and the end of the world, which had been motionless, suddenly Start taking action and slowly sink into the black hole...

This is not surprising.

The Ultimates are weird existences that live in the horizon of black holes. No matter how powerful they are, they probably have the habit of returning to black holes. Just like how powerful human technology is, they will not have to transform themselves into strange appearances. To adapt to the alien planet, but to transform the alien planet to resemble the home planet.

but why? After waiting for 200 million years, is there any important information that Ian needs to understand?

Ian couldn't think of it for a moment, but he had it all memorized.

And soon, Ian noticed perhaps the most core difference.

"ether."

In the last few seconds of the precognitive horizon, in the seconds when the End was submerged into the black hole of Terra, Ian was keenly aware of the subtle differences in Terra that came into contact with the Universe Beyond the Cradle again after the Cradle collapsed: " Ether has completely disappeared?”

"No. It's not that the aether has completely disappeared...wait."

"Could it be that...the universe beyond the cradle..."

"No ether?!"