TN: And we're back! sorry for the week long hiatus, it was not intentional since I had to get my right leg in a cast after tripping 3 floors down a stairwell (like an idiot ://) and be unable to use my PC setup upstairs BUT I should be OK now.
Anyways, Thanks for Arcanic Madness, WeissAkumu and WolfWTF for becoming as Supporters!
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Taking advantage of the moment when the diseased Dendro elemental lifeforms had quieted down and the Warden of the Last Oasis was undergoing changes, Victor Wang took out the materials he had collected earlier and placed them beneath the radiance of the Heart of the Oasis, allowing them to be purified as well.
Paimon felt those materials looked familiar—especially the two yellow spikes—but she just couldn't remember where she had seen them before. She stared at Victor Wang, hesitating as if she wanted to say something, then helplessly scratched her head and stopped thinking about it.
On the other side, the Warden of the Last Oasis's power revived with the aid of the Heart of the Oasis, yet it fell into a pathological obsession with protecting the oasis, immediately turning around and launching attacks against its benefactors once more.
Now, every movement it made was accompanied by Dendro elemental power, greatly expanding its attack range and significantly increasing its destructive force.
It straightened its body, and as its arms swung, numerous Dendro elemental energy orbs condensed and came raining down in an indiscriminate bombardment.
Then it curled its body, causing grass and vegetation to grow wildly from the ground, tightly tugging at everyone while beams of light descended from the sky in a ferocious coordinated assault.
"So, we really have no choice but to cripple it?"
"Why isn't the Dendro Dragon doing anything about it?"
"Apep's body is simply too massive. Perhaps it hasn't fully recovered yet."
"Then… let's endure it a bit longer."
No one here had much desire to fight, but the Warden of the Last Oasis was simply too unruly. It rose into the air, spread all of its arms wide, then slowly began to draw them together as a terrifying presence started to gather.
Victor Wang's heart jolted. This was the Warden of the Last Oasis's most powerful attack—one that could easily shatter the Jade Shield and take most of the protected target's life with it. With so many people relying on his shield alone, could it really hold?
Lumine and Nahida also sensed the danger of this attack. The group gathered together, preparing to resist jointly, when suddenly a Dendro elemental barrier formed ahead of time and protected everyone.
There were only two people present who could use Dendro. It wasn't herself… Lumine looked toward Nahida, but Nahida shook her head.
Lumine asked, "Then this is…?"
Nahida guessed, "It might be Apep helping us."
Even inside the barrier, Victor Wang didn't dare lower his guard. He released three layers of Jade Shield before stopping.
The Warden of the Last Oasis finished charging its energy. All of its hands came together, then abruptly spread apart. Dendro elemental power expanded outward from it as terrifying green beams descended from the sky, sweeping outward like a cleansing wave. Fortunately, the barrier provided by Apep withstood the assault.
Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Apep's voice suddenly echoed out, "Why didn't you kill it?"
"Huh?" Paimon asked in surprise. "But… as the Warden of the oasis, it must have stayed with you for a very long time, right?"
"No matter how long it accompanied me, like other lives corrupted by forbidden knowledge, its wisdom can never return. Its existence is merely special, which is why it didn't perish during purification."
"So… the only option is to kill it?"
"They were originally nothing more than my elemental power. After death, they merely return to me once more and will have another chance to be born in the future. What is there to hesitate about?"
"That's not how it works—what's reborn later isn't the same individual at all…"
"This is the reality. Do you have a better solution?" Apep asked.
"Th-That, I really don't. But that's not actually what I wanted to say."
Lumine whispered softly to Paimon, "The fact that Apep isn't personally killing the Warden of the Last Oasis might already be its greatest act of mercy."
Nahida also shook her head. "Pure elemental life and we differ in our perspectives on many things. Some concepts are simply destined to be impossible to fully understand between us."
Since even the Dendro Dragon demanded the Warden of the Last Oasis's elimination, there was nothing more to say.
Stepping out of the barrier, Victor Wang directly activated the [Portable Elemental Particle Generator] to produce Pyro elemental particles. Fire and grass ignited, wind and fire spread the flames further, intensifying the blaze. Then Lumine spread the elements again, fueling more combustion. In this cycle, the fire engulfing the Warden of the Last Oasis became impossible to extinguish.
This was the nature of pure elemental life—they always carried their inherent elemental attribute. Once countered by a superior element, it became a fatal weakness. And since their bodies were composed entirely of elemental power, unless they died, that weakness was fundamentally unsolvable.
Unable to hold out for long under the scorching flames, the Warden of the Last Oasis reverted to pure elemental power and flew into the Heart of the Oasis.
At last, peace returned. The family members contained within the four Fungus-form elemental lifeforms also flew out from their bodies, transforming into a desolate rain of light that completely merged into the Heart of the Oasis.
Apep's voice sounded once more, "I thought that once my power returned, my anger would swell along with it. Yet at this very moment, what I feel is an emotion I had long forgotten—calm."
Nahida said, "Forbidden knowledge subtly changed you, amplifying your negative emotions."
"…An irrefutable truth," Apep said with some emotion. "The one I truly despise is that outsider from beyond the skies. Destroying you and your people serves no purpose at all."
"But even so, I have no intention of changing my stance or forming any ties with you… When you too perish due to curiosity, I will laugh at you in my heart."
Paimon scrunched up her little face, looked up seriously, and spoke to the Apep whose whereabouts were unknown. "You really say some awful things."
Apep ignored Paimon entirely, while Nahida responded, "I respect your choice, and in the future, I will prove to you—we will never repeat the same mistakes."
"Heh."
"Before we part, there's one more thing I need to know. How did forbidden knowledge come to entangle you?"
"That is a long story…"
Apep began its account:
"In the distant past, the [Dragon King]'Nibelung' obtained pitch-black power from beyond the world. That was forbidden knowledge, and we all believed it to be the only force capable of defeating the Heavenly Principles."
"Relying on that power, the [Dragon King] led us in rebellion against the order imposed by the outsiders. An unprecedented war erupted, so devastating that the entire world was nearly destroyed."
"The victor gained the right to shape the world. The defeated could only be reduced to ash… The [Dragon King] fell, yet even so, I did not abandon the search for a way to reverse everything."
"I reached the edge of a world on the brink of collapse, hoping to obtain more forbidden knowledge, but was stopped by a massive nail descending from the heavens…"
"Sumeru's environment also underwent earth-shattering changes because of that nail. It was as if it were telling me that the era of dragons had come to an end."
"But you didn't give up, did you?" Nahida said. "Because of Amun—also known as 'Al-Ahmar'…"
"That's right. Later, Al-Ahmar also obtained that power with the help of 'Nabu Malikata.' His ambition kept swelling, and he sought to establish a kingdom within my territory."
"Though I looked down on him, I still made a deal with him. I allowed him to build his kingdom, and after his death, all the knowledge he possessed would belong to me. My heart still harbored regret—still yearned for power."
"When the [Dragon King] returned, the world had already changed beyond recognition."
"Some dragons grew too close to you, forgetting the hatred of having the world stolen from them. Some died in battle, leaving behind only bones. Some, wounded and broken, chose to flee…"
"But to me, the scales and will of the [Dragon King] still shine within my heart with an indelible light."
Even merely hearing this retelling made Nahida shake her head. "You're truly mad."
"When Al-Ahmar's nation fell, I came as promised and swallowed him whole. But after absorbing his elemental power, what I gained was not the solution, but 'apocalypse.'"
"I had no mind left to analyze his knowledge. From that point on, every moment of my existence was spent exhausting myself just to resist the pain…"
"I admit that I was outmaneuvered by him. His madness far surpassed my own. Think about it—what I suffered was merely the final safeguard in his plan."
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