Mister Zero, Her Story: Chapter 70 – Wildflower’s Fragrance
The rumbling of machinery and instruments continued, the “Ember” relentlessly releasing its endless energy.
Mister’s aged yet powerful aura was connected to the Ember, the boundless energy sustaining his failing body, keeping his spiritual energy reserves full.
Before his death, his demonic power, “Greed,” would reach its peak, but his own spiritual energy wouldn’t be enough to contain and utilize such immense power.
Therefore, he had to come to the “Ember,” the source of endless energy, to unleash his final, and strongest, “Greed.”
However, he hadn’t expected to find solace in his final, lonely journey, to witness his deepest regret finally resolved.
“Thank you…”
Mister, his voice barely a whisper, looked at the small figure before him, a faint smile on his lips.
He had always known that his sister’s death wasn’t just the end of her life, but also because her consciousness could no longer control her power.
The completely uncontrolled “End” ability, even among demonic powers, was incredibly dangerous.
That’s why she had chosen to seal herself in the “Ice Coffin,” to prevent a catastrophic disaster.
But now, after centuries, her consciousness was once again controlling her body.
And the rampaging power within wasn’t out of control. There was only one explanation.
—This “Miss Luo Yan.”
Mister stared at the faint red within the icy blue. He sensed another consciousness within this body, a consciousness that wasn’t his sister’s.
It was this consciousness that had effortlessly suppressed “End’s” rampage, allowing his sister to temporarily return.
What a “miracle”…
Although Mister had witnessed countless miracles in his long life, even his own existence was a miracle…
None compared to the wonder and emotion he felt now.
He recalled his first encounter with this mysterious girl, sitting there as if she didn’t belong to this world.
A lingering silver light had enveloped her, a gentle observer on the edge of reality.
Just then, Luo Yan’s consciousness returned, the confusion in her eyes fading.
She heard Mister’s faint words of gratitude and looked up at the tall, hunched figure, her voice filled with confusion.
“How…?”
She should have been talking to One in the consciousness space…
What had One done…?
Something was surfacing in her mind, the image of a small figure rushing towards her.
Right… One had said she would give her life to her…
“Miss Luo Yan,” Mister’s raspy voice interrupted her confused thoughts. “We meet again.”
Luo Yan shook her head, her gaze focusing on the elderly figure.
She immediately recognized him.
“Ah, Nine…”
Even in her current confused state, Luo Yan could tell that something was wrong with Mister.
“I didn’t expect you to remember your promise to this old man…”
Mister tried to smile, but he couldn’t.
A thick deathly aura enveloped him, a chilling silence spreading.
His thousand-year life was nearing its end, even the world seemed to mourn for him.
Luo Yan was silent for a moment, then she raised her hand, as if trying to grasp something.
But in the end, she lowered it.
“Yes,” she nodded. “I’ll stay here with you, Nine. You can… go in peace.”
“Thank you…”
He had said those words countless times, but Mister knew that these empty words couldn’t express the gratitude he felt for this precious gift in his final moments.
So…
“I said before, I have a gift for you,” Mister whispered. “I was planning to have my juniors deliver it after my death… but now, I can give it to you myself.”
“What?”
Luo Yan tilted her head, a habitual gesture of this body, but she didn’t understand.
“The truth.”
Mister raised his hand, a faint glimmer in his grasp.
The glimmer intensified, filling the Ember Furnace, avoiding only Luo Yan.
And Mister’s dying aura reached its peak.
At that moment, the most powerful demonic power ever wielded by a human descended.
Yet, it was silent, the spiritual energy fluctuations barely noticeable.
This was…
—”Greed.”
The power that had sustained Mister’s life for a millennium, the source of his torment and endless loneliness, the culprit behind all his suffering…
Was now unleashed.
The shimmering light filling the room drew upon the “Ember’s” energy, its insatiable craving reaching towards a specific moment in history.
Piercing through the layers of mist, reaching the single, hidden truth.
The truth Mister had sought for countless years, the truth he had guarded for centuries, was now within reach.
But he couldn’t hold on any longer; his flame had been extinguished.
His eyes couldn’t see the truth; his life had reached its end.
“The flowers have withered, yet their fragrance lingers…”
Mister’s nose twitched, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening slightly.
Ripples appeared in the shimmering light, gradually forming a beautiful image.
A few resilient wildflowers stood tall in the wind, the swirling debris unable to harm them.
Several familiar figures stood beside the flowers, admiring their beauty.
It was a heartwarming scene from the Endless Wasteland, a memory etched deep within Mister’s heart.
His clouded gaze looked towards the distance, seemingly seeing those figures, squatting and standing, looking back at him.
Gazes transcending time and space, meeting in this moment.
Mister smiled faintly, his hunched figure straightening slightly, his arms opening.
“Ah… I see them… my brothers… they’ve come for me…”
The image in the shimmering light dissipated, and Mister closed his eyes slowly, his aged body turning to ash, vanishing without a trace.
In his final moments, he hadn’t chosen to see the truth for himself, but to relive a cherished memory, then finally… let go.
A meteor streaked across the vast starry sky, a howling wind rising, even the heavens and earth seemed to mourn the passing of this life, filled with age and sorrow.
“Rest well, Nine,” Luo Yan whispered, tears streaming down her face as she watched Mister vanish.
Such a scene would move anyone.
However, the shimmering light didn’t dissipate with Mister’s passing. Instead, after a moment of distortion, another image appeared.
“Absolute Death.”
An unfamiliar voice echoed, yet it stirred something deep within Luo Yan’s memory.
She looked and saw a familiar yet unfamiliar figure standing before her, its back to her.
“Promise me… will you?”
Another, darker figure gradually materialized.
“Yes.”
The silent figure slowly turned and approached Luo Yan.
The figure from her dreams, now walking towards her calmly, its face familiar yet strange.
In the distance, the dark-haired girl, identical to her, stood motionless, watching.
“You are my mistake…”
The figure from her dreams squatted down slightly, as if speaking to Luo Yan, but its eyes were vacant.
“I… defied the rules… caused the gods to fall… unleashed the ‘Malice of All Worlds’.”
The dark-haired girl in the distance continued,
“I… deceived all beings… allowed the demons to manifest… brought suffering to the world.”
They whispered in unison,
“It was our shared transgression… that brought about your birth…”
“To atone for our mistake… we are willing to sacrifice everything, betray everything, and be exiled with you to the endless void…”
The two figures merged into one, standing before Luo Yan.
“And if we fail… we will use our lives to bind you… ‘Malicious God,’ slumber eternally with the ‘Malice of All Worlds’…”
“This is… our final defiance.”
The shimmering light dissipated, leaving only silence within the empty Ember Furnace.
Only the still-burning “Ember” silently witnessed it all.
…
“The unusual energy fluctuation has dissipated.”
Grifres immediately sensed the end of the anomaly in Yan City’s core district, but when he looked at Rhine, he saw the large man weeping.
“Mister… has fallen…”
His voice was filled with grief and sorrow.
Rhine’s senses were sharper. Besides the dissipation of the unfamiliar energy fluctuation, he also sensed another aura.
The power of “Greed.”
Although faint, Rhine recognized it, realizing that Mister was dying.
Having followed Mister for over a hundred years, Rhine knew that his frail body couldn’t withstand another use of his ability.
This last release of his power… was his final act.
But Rhine hadn’t expected Mister to go so abruptly…
Without even saying goodbye.
Perhaps… Mister resented them, resented the current Dawn.
Rhine had always known what Mister was thinking, what he wanted.
His two older brothers knew as well.
But they had remained silent.
Because Mister’s vision was too broad, he saw too far.
He wasn’t limited to Dawn; he was humanity’s Mister.
But… Dawn was just Dawn, not all of humanity.
And the current world, having fully entered the New Era, couldn’t support a Dawn that encompassed all of humanity.
Dawn could only be Dawn. If it lost its cohesion… it would be quickly devoured by other factions, not even a banner remaining.
A massive organization composed of over eighty percent ability users was a force to be reckoned with, even the Free Federation, composed of seventy percent of the mega-cities, couldn’t ignore them.
Only by staying together could they be “Dawn,” could they maintain their place in this world.
However, when the nine Misters founded “Dawn,” when they gathered all the displaced ability users, they had only wanted to create a warm home for those who suffered, a place where they could live better lives.
They had built a home, not a powerful organization.
But once this home grew, it became a powerful force.
All the Misters, including Nine, didn’t understand this, or rather, they did understand, but they didn’t want to see Dawn become this.
So, they remained silent, until the very end.
Just like Mister had said, he was a ghost from humanity’s dark age, lingering in the present, yet helpless.
But he was still Mister, the one who had built a home called “Dawn” for the ostracized ability users in the Endless Wasteland, the one who had sheltered them through the long winter.
And for his passing, these children, now grown, wept.
Rhine didn’t hide his tears; all the Dawn members present saw them, heard his cries.
An era had ended.
Sorrow filled the air, and all Dawn members stopped.
The raging sandstorm gradually subsided, and the Dawn members, ready to attack, stood motionless, looking towards the “Ember Furnace” in the distance, seemingly nestled among the stars.
The spiritual energy fluctuations from Mister’s “Greed” faintly reached them.
“Fall in! Attention!”
Rhine’s voice, filled with suppressed grief, boomed.
The Dawn members silently formed ranks, as they always did during drills.
Tears streamed down their faces, but their grips on their weapons were firm.
“A farewell… for Mister!”
Each word was heavy with sorrow.
Rhine clenched his fist, a gale gathering around him.
All Dawn members channeled their abilities, holding them back, ready to unleash them.
The energy fluctuations from “Greed” grew weaker and weaker, until finally, they vanished completely.
This meant that Mister had finally reached his destination, the ticket in his hand finally used, boarding the train of death that carried countless souls.
“Farewell… Mister Nine,” Rhine whispered, as if not wanting to disturb his final rest.
The gale howled and dissipated into the sky, and countless esper abilities bloomed in mid-air, a final farewell to Dawn’s last elder.
Somewhere in Yan City’s District Three, a figure in white witnessed this scene, looking up at the passing meteor, and whispered,
“Dawn’s Mister Nine, passed away in the year 1326 of the New Era, may he rest in peace.”
“He lived for 1336 long years, his journey ending today, returning to nothingness.”
“Oh Saint… have you seen this…?”
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