Chapter 213: Ark of Promise
“Transform back.”
At the moment Fenna heard those words, she simultaneously heard an immense noise—indescribable in language—that was a continuous, deafening roar mingled with screams tearing through the burning flames. The sound did not come from any particular direction but seemed as if the entire City-State, even the whole world, was emitting this terrifying cacophony.
In the midst of the headache-inducing clamor, she looked towards the figure standing behind the Doomsday Preacher—that was “Captain Duncan” whom she had seen in the Dreamscape. But unlike the last time she saw him, the figure standing there now was entirely enveloped in Spectral Flames, his entire being taking the form of a “ghost” with a spectral body.
It only took a moment for Fenna to deduce that this was not the true form but another projection—except that this projection had come to this high tower using her as the “medium.” She could feel the flow of that power, feel something in her soul burning, feel a voice in her mind that was not her own.
She instinctively raised her hands, noticing a quiet greenish fire clinging to her body, seeing a fiery path spreading at her feet. She realized that the Ghost Ship captain had long since turned her into a sort of “node” capable of projecting power. The degree of erosion and contamination had far surpassed what she and Archbishop Valentin had imagined. And all of this… was for today.
The next second, the entire world before her eyes changed dramatically.
...
The spectral green flames spread—throughout every sea of fire in Plunder, through every pile of ashes, and within every rising plume of smoke across Plunder, these spectral green flames had been lurking for who knows how long. Now, in an instant, they erupted, engulfing the entire City-State!
It was too fast to react, or rather, everything had been completed before this “reality invasion” had even begun—Fenna recalled the scene she had witnessed on the other side of the veil, suddenly realizing that the great fire caused by the Doomsday Preachers and Sun Heretics had, unbeknownst to everyone, become the carrier for those Spectral Flames… Their action of burning the entire City-State with fire was the final step needed for the Ghost Ship captain to complete the “Usurping Flame”!
A piercing scream suddenly erupted, jolting Fenna back to reality. She turned towards the source of the sound and saw the emaciated Doomsday Preacher also burning with raging Spectral Flames. He twisted and howled at the edge of the platform like a torch, while the scene of the city’s flames being instantly usurped reflected in his melting eyeballs, causing the lunatic to loudly curse:
“Foolish acts, foolish acts! All is ruined in an instant! You refused the gifts of Subspace; now you will forever suffer in this world of torment… Foolish acts!!”
Opposite to the madman’s cursing, however, was another scene—
Plunder, completely burnt by the Spectral Flames, was recovering at an unbelievable speed!
Buildings burnt by the flames were rapidly reconstructing themselves; roads that had melted and torn apart were healing to their original state; the falling fire from the sky had ceased, and the clouds that seemed to herald the apocalypse were rapidly dissolving as if time was flowing backward. On the edge of the City-State, even a corner of the normal sky appeared, and from a much farther place…
Came the sound of bells that had long been silent.
Just as Captain Duncan had said, transform back.
Fenna’s eyes widened at this incomprehensible scene. She had never imagined that a city-state, completely destroyed, could actually be restored. Soon, she realized the nature of this “restoration”—
The historical pollution brought by the Doomsday Preachers and Sun Heretics was being peeled away; the “pseudo-history” that had completely covered and replaced the reality of Plunder City-State was being “expelled” by some powerful force!
She looked in astonishment at the tall figure standing not far away. He simply watched the Doomsday Preacher, who was nearly burnt to cinders, and after a long while, he spoke softly as if talking to himself, “Anything can be contaminated, except for Subspace…”
The Doomsday Preacher was not yet dead, despite being fully twisted into an inhuman form, and from that heap of char came a hoarse, shocked voice: “You… you’ve turned this City-State into a part of Homeloss?!”
“Homeloss is the Ark of Promise, and I think we can expand the concept of ‘ark,'” Duncan said with a smile, bending slightly, “If ships that encounter Homeloss on the sea get assimilated and absorbed, then… why can’t Plunder, under my gaze, be considered another Homeloss?”
The resonant bell tolls of a ship entering the harbor came from afar. Fenna instinctively looked up towards the distance. The next second, she saw a sight that left her stunned—
She saw a ship.
Homeloss appeared, sailing in from the direction of the Endless Sea, its body ablaze with towering Spiritual Fire, its translucent spiritual sails billowing like a curtain that blots out the sky.
The ship crossed the coast, passed the rapidly restoring harbor, and, as if sailing upon the water’s surface, directly entered the City-State of Plunder, now covered in spectral green flames. Between the continually repairing and resetting high walls, houses, and towers, it forged ahead majestically. Ripples of illusion spread from its sides, and with each ripple that dispersed, the City-State’s restoration advanced further. It seemed as if the entirety of Plunder was reborn in the wake of Homeloss!
“You… You may save the City-State… yet you can’t stop the coming of the Sun…” A faint sound emerged from the pile that once was the Doomsday Preacher, twisted and charred, like the final murmur before a nightmare dissipates, “Even if it’s just fragments summoned from history… they are still enough to… destroy… inevitably…”
The voice gradually weakened, fading to silence, and the twisted char laid to rest, finally devoid of all life, turned into a pile of dust scattered in the wind under the burn of the Spectral Flame.
Fenna, upon hearing the Doomsayer’s words, suddenly realized the gravity of the situation. She abruptly looked up into the sky, her eyes widening at the sight of the “Black Sun”—its edges blindingly bright, and its innards black and crimson like the mouth of an Abyss—still suspended high above the City-State. The pulsating sensation within the sun seemed even more apparent and intense than before!
The Homeloss’s flames had purged Plunder of its historical contamination, yet that profane sun… It had never been a part of Plunder from the start; it was a historical projection summoned by the Dooms Preacher and the Scions of the Sun, existing independently of all true and false history!
“There’s something awakening inside the Black Sun!” At that moment, Fenna forgot her identity and that of the “Captain Duncan”, instinctively raising her voice in warning, “It will…”
Duncan simply gave a gentle wave of his hand in response.
Then, Fenna saw the Ghost Captain turn toward the direction of the hanging profane disk. He lifted his hand as if calling, welcoming something, his voice gentle as he spoke—
“Come this way… yes, don’t worry, you won’t fall, just move forward.
“Do you remember how to ride a bike? Like that… come forward, I’ll hold you.”
The next second, a bright arc of golden flame suddenly pierced Fenna’s vision. She saw a massive gap tear open along the edge of the black sun, and an arc of flame leaped joyously onto Captain Duncan; and with the flame’s departure, a piercing howl erupted from within the profane and terrifying disk in the sky!
As if some giant beast had suddenly been struck through the heart, the black and crimson core of the sun rapidly filled with countless blinding red cracks. The bright halo around its edge was instantly infiltrated and consumed by a usurping green flame; then, that green flame began to rapidly spread into the sun’s dark heart.
The pulsating sensation within the dark core vanished entirely, the faint signs of life that had been there gone in the blink of an eye. It ruptured, and boiling hot matter flowed out, only to be cleanly burned away by the omnipresent green Spectral Flame before it could fall upon the City-State.
Accompanied by a succession of piercing shrieks, roars, and crackling explosions, the malformed, profane sun finally disintegrated, leaving only a few remnants that fell into the ripples around the edge of Homeloss.
The colossal Homeloss had now sailed to the center of the City-State, its spiritual form slowly ascending—close to the Cathedral’s bell tower amidst illusory sea water and ripples. The spectral sails that blotted out the sun swept across the sky, the light and shadow of the mast and ropes flitted past Fenna.
She heard the bells ringing—It was the Cathedral’s bells. The bell tower beneath her feet had also shaken off the historical corruption, and its bell mechanism began to operate automatically.
The figure of Archbishop Valentin gradually materialized in the air—The Archbishop who defended the City-State until the last moment returned to reality, proving that the historical branch leading to destruction had completely vanished.
Fenna’s gaze, however, didn’t linger on the Archbishop. She continued to stare intently at Duncan nearby, who had now turned around—he was surrounded by the leaping arc of flame, its warmth and brightness softening even his stern and dignified countenance.
“I thought you’d go for a flying kick,” Duncan said with a smile, speaking casually to Fenna as if in friendly chatter, “like the last time.”
“…I am not a mindlessly impulsive person.”
“Is that so? I thought you loved flying kicks—after all, every seasoned warrior cannot resist the urge to start with a flying kick at the opponent,” Duncan joked offhandedly. He reached out to soothe the arc of flame that seemed a bit restless at his side and then nodded at Fenna, “I’m done here, see you next time.”
Fenna paused, moving forward instinctively, “Wait! You can’t just…”
But Duncan had already turned away, waving his hand as he stepped towards the open air beyond the bell tower platform—Homeloss’s towering stern passed slowly by the high tower, next to the ship’s helm on the deck, the Captain personally at the wheel.
Duncan’s projection, wrapped in Spiritual Fire, stepped aboard and merged into one with his true self.
He stood at the helm, holding the steer, and nodded at Fenna with a smile.
The massive Ghost Ship then began to accelerate, the ethereal vessel sailing over Plunder, heading towards the coast on the other side of the City-State, into the Endless Sea.