"Looks like you've recovered quite a bit since coming here."
Samael glanced at the King of the Huns beside him, who had shaken off her regressed childlike state and regained the body of a young girl. He smiled faintly, thoughtful.
"I seem to have remembered many things, but it also feels like I remember nothing at all. Like a very long dream…"
Altera murmured in reply, confusion filling her eyes.
"Was it a good dream, or a nightmare?"
Samael propped his chin on one hand and looked quietly at Altera, asking with interest.
A good dream… a nightmare…
As Altera murmured, she thought of the burning surface, the lives breaking apart, the first ray of sunlight shining into the stone chamber, and the breeze mixed with the scent of grass. She lowered her head and looked at the Sword of the War God beside her, her voice gradually sinking.
"Probably… both…"
After a moment of silence, the white-haired girl gazing out at the Sea of Oceanus turned to Samael.
"Did we know each other before?"
"I suppose so. It has indeed been a very… very long time…"
Samael froze for a moment. Then he looked at the sea, now returned to calm, and countless emotions rose in his heart. A carefree smile followed. He pulled out the cork, poured the crimson wine down his throat, then tossed the wineskin to Altera beside him, inviting the King of the Huns to drink with him.
Altera drank deeply, casually wiping the wine from the corner of her mouth. A faint taste of blood blossomed on her tongue. She paused for a moment, then continued drinking. Glancing at the faint red mark on Samael's palm, an inexplicable urge to speak slipped from her lips.
"Do you hate Sefar?"
"Hate? I don't think it goes that far…"
Samael rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before answering casually.
"Why? She almost destroyed your world…"
Altera tilted her head slightly, looking at Samael in quiet confusion.
"Hmm. The way I see it, the Sefar of the past was only a weapon that destroyed for the sake of destruction. Its actions held no malice, nor did it seek any benefit. It destroyed without being influenced by emotion. Its existence was no different from a natural disaster.
"Or rather, when a sword kills someone, we usually direct our hatred toward its owner. We don't cling to the idea of condemning the sword itself."
The Ancient Serpent picked up the Sword of the War God beside him, shimmering with colorful light, and casually tossed it aside. A faint smile appeared on his face as he shook his head slightly.
"But it's rather sad too, isn't it?"
"Sad?"
"To destroy for the sake of destruction means that aside from destruction, it has nothing and leaves nothing behind.
"It has no independent personality, nor can it be regarded as an individual with the right to bear responsibility. In the end, it doesn't even have the right to be hated, remembered, or resented by anyone. Its life has no color except pallor, and no meaning at all."
Samael raised his head and looked toward the vast, lonely starry sky. As he murmured quietly, a trace of penetrating wisdom appeared in his deep eyes.
"Should life have meaning?"
Altera looked at her palm and murmured softly. Every grain of stardust held the cries of countless souls. Every line in her palm was built from immeasurable flesh and blood. Civilization after civilization, countless individuals, had once slipped through her fingers like sand.
The white giant in her memory had never thought, never hesitated, never wavered.
"Life has no meaning to begin with…"
Samael drank a mouthful of crimson wine and answered with a light smile.
"Then why…"
"That is exactly why we live, to seek meaning!"
The Ancient Serpent's expression suddenly turned solemn, his gaze distant. Under Altera's stunned eyes, he spoke quietly.
"Life on the earth swarms and writhes. Birth and death are simply the laws of nature. Everything comes from nothing. In the beginning, there was no meaning at all.
"But in the same way, because life has no meaning at the start, its future can create infinite possibilities.
"If a person can become a hero, then writing an epic and earning great deeds becomes the meaning of their life.
"If a person can become a Magus, then pursuing Magecraft to its limits and seeking The Root becomes the meaning of their life.
"If a person is obsessed with travel, then seeing the world's scenery and experiencing different customs becomes the meaning of life.
"If a person loves fine food, then tasting great dishes from every land, or cooking something stunning with their own hands, becomes the meaning of life.
"Even if you like sleeping until you wake naturally, then entering dreams from different angles and in different ways, losing yourself in strange and dazzling fantasies, can also become the meaning you pursue in this life."
Life has no meaning at first, so meaning must be sought.
And in the pilgrimage between life and death, the weaving together of one life with another would draw forth infinite possibilities, just like this vast universe and the countless stars across the sky.
Altera looked up at the stars beneath the night curtain, thoughtful, yet only half understanding.
The great waves churning on the sea struck the cliff wall, pushing the skeletons of sea beasts onto the beach and leaving behind the pale misery of withered life.
As the wine flowed into her stomach, mouthful by mouthful, that faint taste of blood spread over her tongue. Rich emotions brewed and rose within her. Altera's eyes blurred for a moment as she murmured,
"What about Sefar? Isn't her meaning slaughter?"
"That was only the instruction written into her, not her will…"
Samael pondered for a moment, then gave his answer seriously.
"Even if she truly had to slaughter, she should have experienced this civilization herself, come into contact with the lives here herself, and decided for herself whether this world deserved to be destroyed or could be saved. Only then would she be a living life, not a weapon that simply carries out orders."
Altera's body trembled. Her eyes shook violently as tangled emotions surged through her.
Samael supported his chin with one hand and looked quietly at Altera, his tone low and steady.
"So, King of the Huns, tell me as a life standing upon this earth. What is the meaning of your existence?"
"To let the tribe prosper, to live up to their expectations, and to lead them into the eternal kingdom…"
Altera answered instinctively, her voice heavy and restrained.
"I'm asking about you, not your tribe! If the world ended in the next moment, would you really be content to let everything end here?"
Samael raised his voice. He stood and looked down at her from above, a trace of sternness appearing on his face.
"No. I hate the thought of everything ending here! I don't want to walk toward the end knowing nothing except my sword!"
Altera's confused vermilion eyes broke through the mist of chaos, shining with firm light as they met Samael's gaze.
The Ancient Serpent placed one hand on Altera's shoulder, looking encouragingly at the King of the Huns, whose "self" and "desire" were beginning to sprout further. He pressed her seriously.
"Then answer me. As a life standing upon the earth, what do you long for? What do you want to pursue? Say it out loud!"
"I want… I want to ride a horse at full gallop. I want to become a gust of wind racing across the grasslands…"
A green grassland and a breeze mixed with the fragrance of earth appeared in her mind, and the answer slipped from between Altera's lips.
"And what else?"
"One sheep, two sheep. No, a whole flock! I want to raise a flock of sheep! Drive them across the pastures during the day, then hold them while I sleep at night…"
Altera tightened her arms around the sheep plush in her embrace. Its warm temperature and soft touch were enough to sink into, and the bleating seemed to still echo in her ears.
"And more!"
"I want to eat the food you make, and one day, I want to make delicious food myself!"
"Good. As long as you're willing to come, I can make it for you anytime. Anything else?"
Altera's eyes grew bright. More and more whimsical thoughts and desires broke through their cage and surged into her mind. At last, she could not help pouring out what was in her heart, her gaze unconsciously turning toward the figure beside her.
"I want to know what 'love' is, and what 'beauty' is. I want to wear bridal clothes and live out the life of an ordinary person!"
"Is that so? If you work hard, perhaps it might come true…"
Samael froze slightly when he heard that. Then he blinked and leaned forward with a teasing smile, his right hand held behind his back. The wine stirring within him seemed to turn into a restless impulse, and the distance between them shortened inch by inch in the night wind.
The Sword of the War God, lying among the cracks in the stone, kept trembling. Yet beneath the smear of blood on its blade, it could barely make a sound.
Two elongated shadows intertwined. In the haze, a coiled serpent seemed to breed within the darkness, raising its head, flicking out its tongue, and slowly baring its venomous fangs toward that fair neck.
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