Looking at the blackened figure in that giant crater, Hainowei trembled all over.
She rushed to his side as fast as she could, terror mixing with tears that poured out uncontrollably.
Zhang Ye lay in the cooling magma, his body like charred coal, barely recognizable as human. In the center of his chest was a gaping hole through which one could see right, wrapped in lingering power of laws.
That single beam of golden light had pierced his chest and destroyed his heart. The power of laws embedded within it had erupted alongside the beam, bringing terrifying heat and shockwaves that wildly reaped all life within a hundred-kilometer radius.
Hainowei reached out a trembling hand, wanting to hold his. But the moment she touched his arm, it crumbled like fine coal, shattering into powder that spilled into her palms.
Her heart broke into pieces.
“No... No...” She shook her head, her voice quivering.
She could still sense Zhang Ye's presence.
Yes, Zhang Ye wasn't dead yet, but his presence was as weak as could be, hanging by a thread that seemed ready to snap at any moment.
Zhang Ye's face was completely charred, his skin burned to a crisp, and his eyes glued shut. Yet his mind remained conscious, aware that Hainowei was by his side.
He tried hard to open his mouth, but at the slightest movement of his lips, the skin on his face cracked apart, crumbling like charcoal to the ground.
In truth, he should have been dead already, but some mysterious force seemed to be sustaining his final spark of life.
He couldn't hear anything, nor could he see anything, but he knew Hainowei was crying.
Unable to speak, he could only curl his lips into a smile.
With that facial movement, cracks radiated outward from the corners of his mouth. Like a piece of glass on the verge of shattering, he emitted heart-rending clicking sounds.
Hainowei saw it.
He was smiling.
The charred face and fractured skin coalesced into a terrifying sight, giving his smile a gruesome look.
Yet the sense of warmth in that smile remained impossibly vivid.
“Don't cry...” Zhang Ye's voice came through.
It was a mana transmission.
He was using the last dregs of mana in his body to speak to Hainowei.
“Don't cry...”
Hainowei's shoulders trembled as her tears fell even faster. Disregarding everything, she channeled all her power, flooding Zhang Ye's form with surging water elements.
【Water Spirit's Healing】!
【Water Spirit's Healing】!!
【Water Spirit's Healing】!!!
She cast her healing magic over and over, yet Zhang Ye's life force continued to dissipate uncontrollably.
“Please don't die... I beg you, don't die...” Hainowei wept heart-wrenchingly. Looking at the gruesome yet warm smile on Zhang Ye's face, her heart shattered.
He was on the brink of death, yet even in his final moments, he was still trying to comfort her.
“It's okay... It's okay...” Zhang Ye's voice was faint, his mana transmission faltering and weak.
“I'm just... taking a short break...”
“Go... go to the ocean... It's... safe there...”
Exerting every last ounce of strength, Zhang Ye lifted his hand. With that movement, his palm broke apart, then his arm, until only a small stump remained reaching toward Hainowei.
He wanted to caress her cheek.
“No... No...” Hainowei frantically caught his severed arm, tears dropping like pearls.
“Be good... Go... to the ocean...” Zhang Ye's voice faded to the absolute minimum, his mana fluctuations nearly coming to a complete halt.
“Tell... Leona for me...”
“I... love...”
Before he could finish, the mana fluctuations vanished, and his life force dissipated entirely.
Hainowei felt the remaining weight in Zhang Ye's arm go completely limp as it fell downward.
Hainowei gripped his hand tightly, refusing to let it fall, as if doing so could keep him from dying.
But she knew.
Zhang Ye's life force was gone.
“Zhang Ye? Zhang Ye?” Light seemed to drain from Hainowei's eyes as she stared at his face and called out, “Don't go... please don't go...”
“I beg you... I beg you...”
“Don't go...”
“I'll bring you back... I will...”
Whispering softly, she reached into her own chest. Moments later, a crystal-clear Water Spirit Origin appeared in her hand.
Hainowei's presence instantly grew listless and weak, yet without a second's hesitation, she pushed the core origin straight into the gaping hole in Zhang Ye's chest.
The moment it sank into his chest, the Water Spirit core radiated a faint blue light that enveloped Zhang Ye.
Zhang Ye's body began to transform.
His charred skin actually began to regenerate, and his broken hand was restoring itself as well.
In just moments, Zhang Ye was fully restored to how he was before, whole and unharmed.
However, as the blue light faded, no aura returned to Zhang Ye, nor did any spark of life reappear. He remained completely dead.
Hainowei gently nudged Zhang Ye's body.
“Wake up... Wake up...”
Zhang Ye gave no response whatsoever, and the hope in Hainowei's eyes slowly dimmed.
The Water Spirit Origin clone could restore Zhang Ye's physical body, so why... why still hadn't he woken up?
“Please wake up...” Tears drenched Hainowei's face as she sobbed like a little girl who had lost her parents. Despair and agony flooded over her, and she felt as though the entire world had fallen silent.
No... it wasn't just a feeling.
Startled, she suddenly looked around.
As a World Elemental Spirit, she could feel the rhythm of the world. But at this moment, she realized...
Time had stopped.
The entire world seemed to have been placed on pause.
Wh-What was going on?
“He's dead,” a voice spoke softly.
Startled, Hainowei turned to look beside Zhang Ye.
Floating there at an unknown time was a tiny figure.
She was only palm-sized, with gray hair and gray eyes, and tiny black horns atop her head.
She was Ella.
“His soul has already left his body and is about to leave this world.”
Hainowei stared at her blankly, then pleaded urgently, “Can you save him?”
She didn't ask who Ella was; all she wanted was for Zhang Ye to wake up.
“I can't,” Ella shook her head. “If it were before, I could. But now, I cannot. I no longer possess great power. All I can do is pause time for this moment so his soul doesn't depart immediately.”
Hearing this, Hainowei lowered her gaze, her eyes filling with lifeless despair. “Is there... no other way...?”
“Of course there is,” Ella said suddenly.
“What? What way?!” Hainowei asked frantically, clinging to this like a dying person clutching at a final lifeline.
Ella spoke slowly: “The reason his soul hasn't chosen to return to his body immediately is that he is feeling disappointed.”
“Disappointed? Disappointed by what?” Hainowei asked.
“I don't know. I only know that disappointment has surrounded him all along.”
“From beginning... to end.”
“From the moment he arrived in this world, it hasn't dispersed for a single moment...”
“That's why he's like this.”
“He gave his all to be good to you, good to them, good to everyone he cared about.”
“He did this not just for all of you, but for himself as well.”
“He hoped to receive emotional feedback from you.”
“So, please don't let him be disappointed anymore, okay?”
Hainowei looked at Ella as Jormungandr's past words surfaced in her mind.
She looked down at Zhang Ye's face, her eyelashes drooping, and murmured softly.
“This time...”
“I won't let him be disappointed again...”
That song echoed silently.
“He has returned...”
“I want to go back...”
“I want to tell him...”
“How much I love him...”
Hainowei clutched her chest, feeling warmth there.
“I understand,” she whispered softly. Then she leaned down, gazing at Zhang Ye's face, a gentle smile appearing on her face.
She was talking to herself, yet it felt as though she was speaking directly to Zhang Ye's soul.
“You did it. You didn't disappoint me.”
“You protected me right up to the very last moment.”
“From the moment you came to my side, I was no longer alone.”
“You allowed me to feel happiness and warmth once again.”
“I don't understand what love is, but I know I love being with you.”
“I cherish every minute and every second I spend with you.”
“I don't want to lose you.”
“I want to be with you forever.”
As she spoke, her lips drew closer to Zhang Ye until she could feel his cold lips.
Slowly closing her eyes, she pressed her soft lips against his.
“If this is love...”
“...then I want to tell you.”
“I love you.”
...
...
Rate on N.U.
