Fatima still maintained her smile while she spoke with a wavering voice.
“I knew. I was sealed here, along with the Void Beast. So, with the disappearance of the Void Beast, the core of the space would collapse bringing down everything related to it.”
She then looked up at the cracking sky, “And that includes me.”
“Is there any way-”
Before I could finish my line, Fatima placed her fingers on top of my lips.
“I already lived for way too long… And in my last moments, I even earned unforgettable memories.”
She winked playfully, referring to what happened last night.
The space started shaking violently, making it hard to keep on standing. Fatima quickly used some telekinetic skill and pulled Ember and Fang from the rubble and placed them beside me.
“Ember, Fang, don’t forget what we talked about earlier.”
When she said this, the two nodded their heads with serious expressions. Upon seeing their resolute response, she just nodded her head in approval.
“Will, you can keep my gun. Try to repair it, if you can. That’s the only thing I can give you as my Successor. Regarding the last hidden form, I guess I’ll leave that as an assignment to you.”
The space’s vibration was getting worse. However, before that, Fatima’s face was already full of cracks. I bit my lips as I keep my gaze on her eyes, not wanting to break eye contact for even an instant.
Fatima, as if noticing something from my gaze, just smiled wryly.
“I’m sure you would find other women more worthy of your love than I was. I don’t want to be the chains holding you down, so please forget about me. That’s my last request to you.”
As Fatima was about to reach her right hand and pat my head, her hand broke into thousands of pieces and vanished in the air. I gasped at the scene, but she was still smiling.
“I guess time’s up. Go, now. I don’t want others to see how I fade to nothingness.”
With a smile, she waved her remaining hand. With that, blinding light covered the three of us as we were quickly ejected from that space. However, at the very last moment, I saw tears appearing, sparkling, in the corner of Fatima’s eyes.
—
By the time we returned to our senses, we were standing in the middle of an empty open space. With just a glance, I could tell that we returned to the center of the Dark Forest.
However, neither the dungeon’s gate nor the large congregation of purple-black energy was present anywhere around.
“… Fatima…”
I muttered her name, wishing that she would just appear behind me once more and respond. However, such a thing didn’t happen. 𝐞𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.
“Master…”
“Leader…”
Ember and Fang looked in my direction worriedly. They each hugged one of my arms as they comforted me. The warmth of their bodies slowly melted the melancholy in my heart.
Fatima was the first human woman I loved, I admit that. Even though we spent no more than two weeks together, I can proudly say that I loved here as much as I do Ember and Fang.
I stared at the rifle in my hands. This gun was the last weapon that the Legendary Bounty Hunter Fatima Olgor used. Her final keepsake, and also the only reminder to prove that a brave and powerful woman named Fatima existed once upon a time.
Now that I have it in my hands, as her “successor” it is my duty to repair it. She even gave me the assignment to figure out the hidden mode. I would be busy for days to come.
So… Just for this short while… Let me shed a few tears…
—
Inside the sealed space, Fatima was keeping her smile as she saw Will and the others escape successfully. However, at the final moment, her facade broke.
A drop of tears fell from her eyes. She realized that Will saw it, making it the last regret she ever had.
“I wanted for my smile to be the last memory he had of me…”
She sighed as she let all the tension in her body go. As soon as she did, her legs snapped and vanished like glittering powder through the air.
“Ahhh… So this is my end…”
She had no regrets in her life anymore. With the Void Beast gone, she could proudly greet her fallen comrades in heaven. She could tell them that “I beat the Void Beast” and brag about it to them. She could even brag against her only best friend, soul sister, and rival that she lost her virginity before dying.
“… Helen would surely grit her teeth in chagrin if I talked about it…”
Fatima let out a long sigh. The smile on her face slowly vanished, turning to an anguished expression. Sobs escape her gritted teeth as the cracks spread faster around her body.
“Ahhh… Will… I really…”
Her voice echoed within the empty space, not a single soul heard her last words.
—
“Ancient families?”
Inside the inn, Ember and Fang finally spoke to me regarding the thing that Fatima told them before.
“Yes. Apparently, you have the blood of one of the ancient families.”
Ember said as she was still wrapped around my left arm.
“Although Fatima didn’t pinpoint which one, it should be among the most powerful ones in the past.”
“She gave us the last names of the top five families during her time. She said that we could start from there.”
Fang added as she was snuggling my other arm.
Since the moment that I cried my eyes out back in the Dark Forest, the two didn’t let go of my arm. Exhausted both mentally and physically, I decided to just lie down on the bed.
That was when the two started passing Fatima’s message. Apparently, unless I uncover the secret of my bloodline, it would be impossible for me to reach the God Tamer level.
“Among the five families she mentioned, only three still exist today. They are the Seimei, the Luo, and the Virigil families.”
Fang enumerated.
“… Luo?”
For some reason, this family name sounds extremely familiar.
“It’s the family name of the one whom Wan Li and Wan Er serve.”
After Ember’s reminder, I recalled it completely.
“Ah! Ying Yue’s family!”