The pure white divine radiance, like the receding tide, slowly and gently dissipated from the top of the pyramid.
Beneath the purified, clear blue sky of Prospero, only a deathly silence remained.
And that air, complex and ineffable, mixed with the feeling of surviving a catastrophe and the shock of a miracle.
Magnus lay quietly within the warm, soft wings of Sanguinia, which radiated a faint scent of sunshine.
His immense body was motionless, like a broken ancient statue that had survived the flames of war.
He merely tilted his head and, with his only remaining, enormous single eye, stared blankly up at the four figures who were still holding hands, their bodies lingering with a faint divine glow, resembling gods of genesis.
His mind was a blank slate.
All the pain, all the anger, all the remorse, all the pride... had been completely and traceably washed away in that concerto of "genesis" just now, which surpassed all his understanding.
After a long while.
Magnus slowly and with great difficulty sat up from Sanguinia's wings.
Sanguinia sensed his movement, and her massive wings, as if possessing a life of their own, gently and considerately lifted him up before slowly retracting.
This once violent the crimson king slowly stood up.
His mountain-like massive body, for the first time, no longer appeared violent and filled with oppression before Leticia and the four Sisters.
In its place was a deep sense of loneliness and exhaustion, like fuel that had been completely burnt out.
He slowly lowered his head, looking at his hands, as massive as mountain rocks.
These hands had once pored over the most ancient scrolls of Terra, explored the deepest mysteries of alien civilizations, and recklessly drawn power from the ocean of knowledge in the Subspace.
It was also these hands that, after being blinded by pride, tore open the Webway leading to Terra, delivering a great gift to his father's enemies.
It was also these hands that, after being drowned in despair, pushed his own home and his own sons into an irredeemable hell.
"Heh..."
A long sigh, filled with endless self-mockery and relief, slowly escaped from Magnus's parched throat.
The laughter was hoarse and dry, yet it carried an unprecedented lightness, as if a burden of ten thousand years had been lifted.
I pursued knowledge, yet in the end, I was enslaved by it.
I craved the truth, yet in the end, I was toyed with by lies.
I once thought I saw through the chessboard, but I did not know that from beginning to end, I was merely the most pathetic pawn.
I once thought I bore the responsibility of saving my sons, but I did not know that I was the true sinner who pushed them into the abyss.
Ten thousand years of struggle, ten thousand years of remorse, ten thousand years of pain...
At this moment, all of it dissolved into this self-mocking, ridiculous sigh.
He slowly raised his head.
His enormous single eye swept over the four goddesses before him once again.
He saw Angronia, her amber pupils burning with an inextinguishable Battle Intent.
That anger was no longer for meaningless destruction, but the purest flame ignited to protect those behind her.
He saw Fogremia, her deep purple eyes flashing with the ultimate pursuit of "perfection."
That pride was no longer to satisfy hollow vanity, but to make the act of protection something flawless, an artistic extreme.
He saw Sanguinia, her sky-blue eyes filled with compassion and love for life.
That power was no longer for foreseeing a tragic future, but the warmest harbor that existed to heal pain and protect Hope.
Finally, his gaze fell upon that black-robed goddess who had stood there calmly from beginning to end, as if everything were under her control.
It fell upon Leticia's pure black eyes, which were so deep they seemed to contain all the mysteries of the universe.
She was the answer to all of this.
She was the "Truth" of all of this.
"So... that is how it is."
Magnus muttered to himself, looking dejected.
"So... this is the true form of knowledge."
His heart, which had been repeatedly torn by pride, remorse, pain, and despair for ten thousand years and was already shattered, was completely illuminated at this moment by this sudden light called "epiphany."
Knowledge has never existed in isolation.
It does not exist for the sake of acquisition, nor for the sake of showing off, and certainly not for the sake of power itself.
Knowledge only possesses its ultimate meaning when it is used to protect something.
It is for the sake of protection that the power of anger is needed.
It is for the sake of protection that perfect technique is needed.
It is for the sake of protection that newborn Hope is needed.
It is for the sake of protection... that one needs to seek that ultimate Truth that can guide everything.
His tragedy was doomed from the very beginning.
Because from beginning to end, he was merely a greedy, lonely drowning man drifting aimlessly in the ocean of knowledge.
He never thought to protect anything.
He couldn't even protect himself.
Crack.
It was as if something in the deepest part of his soul had completely shattered, and then, in an instant, was reshaped into a brand new, even more solid form.
Under the surprised gazes of Angronia, Fogremia, and Sanguinia.
This once supremely arrogant Primarch, the crimson king Magnus, who would rather be destroyed than bow his head...
Slowly and solemnly, he knelt on one knee in the direction of Leticia.
Boom.
His massive body, with just the action of kneeling on one knee, caused the entire top of the pyramid to shake violently.
He lowered that head which had been arrogant for ten thousand years and had never truly bowed to anyone.
He completely and unreservedly opened his shattered yet newly reborn soul before the black-robed goddess in front of him.
"I, Magnus..."
His voice no longer held the previous roar and indignation, nor the self-mockery and hoarseness from moments ago.
In its place was an unprecedented, absolute piety that came from the depths of his soul.
"I wish to offer up my shattered soul and my useless knowledge..."
"I only ask to follow you, to follow the light behind you, and to witness that ultimate, true 'Truth'."
He raised his head and looked up at Leticia's calm and sacred face with his single eye, which was streaming with scalding tears. Using all his strength, he squeezed out his final request, like a drowning man grasping at his only piece of driftwood.
"Please..."
"Accept my... destination!"
Leticia looked quietly at the shattered giant before her who had completely surrendered.
She looked at the pure piety in his eyes, which no longer held any falsehood or struggle.
She nodded calmly.
"I accept your loyalty."
As soon as she finished speaking.
Leticia reached out her hand, which was as fair and perfect as a work of art.
She slowly placed it upon Magnus's massive, crimson head.
In the next second, a power of genesis, pure to the extreme and fused with four kinds of authority, instantly enveloped him like a warm, boundless ocean of the universe.
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