Xieyi fell. From the distant sky to the earth, she plummeted, bathed in the light piercing through the clouds. Her black hair turned snow-white, and iridescent powder scattered around her. It was as if an angel had been banished and was falling to the earth.
Falling so surrealistically, Xieyi slammed into the ground with a *thud*. Dust and dirt rose from the impact. A collision following a long free fall. She should have died, naturally.
But why was it that no one could imagine her death?
The Human King smiled.
"Yeah. As expected. You're the biggest hindrance."
The Human King lightly threw his axe. The axe, leaving his fingertips, instantly vanished from sight, then *boomed* into existence at the spot where Xieyi had fallen. A subsequent explosion followed. It was less like an axe and more like something equivalent to a bomb or a meteor.
The earth recalled the scars of the distant past and trembled. Soon, a mushroom cloud rose from the epicenter, and the shockwave swept ferociously. It was far too excessive destruction just to confirm the kill.
"-Hehe. You worried about me."
However, Xieyi didn't look injured. She wasn't wounded, nor did she show any pain. Abruptly, entirely skipping the intermediate processes like walking or running, she calmly appeared before the Human King.
"Did you happen to see it? You grabbed me, worried about me. You were flustered. How long has it been since I saw such an expression on Hughes? Ah, I'm happy. Even after coming all the way here, I'm still happy."
Otherworldly. Anyone who saw Xieyi had that thought.
A haziness that seemed to exist here, yet whose true substance felt like it was somewhere far away. Skin so transparent that light shone through from behind. Snow-white hair whose length was impossible to gauge. It looked as if it flowed down to her waist, yet it also ended right below her ears.
The mysterious existence, as if materializing the unknown into reality, tilted her head and smiled innocently.
"I am the happiest person in the world."
[Xieyi, that appearance is….]
The unknown renders one speechless. Because what is unknown cannot be understood, and what cannot be understood cannot be packaged into words. It was the same even for the Heavenly Saint who saw the future.
[Just how many opportunities have you seized?]
The Saint's future cannot be divined. It is the same even for the Heavenly Saint. However, there are limits even to the range of what cannot be divined. Xieyi possessed an appearance that existed beyond those limits, one that did not exist in any future.
Where is the source of that power? What did Xieyi 'see' to change like that? There is only one reason. Because Xieyi is the Saint of Opportunities.
And she also understood the implication that Xieyi, having grasped so many opportunities, had finally returned.
[How could humans have failed despite receiving so many opportunities?]
Xieyi promises countless opportunities to humanity. That continues until Xieyi gives up on humanity.
This is a trial. It is an opportunity left behind with the final hope, after the first Saint, who looked upon all futures, witnessed the end. Does humanity know how precious that opportunity is?
However, Xieyi gave far more opportunities than even Meiel could fathom. And it is still ongoing.
[Despite so many failures, do you still intend to give humans opportunities?]
"Because I don't consider that a failure. I was happy every moment."
Xieyi fidgeted, clasping her hands together.
"When Hughes needed me, and when I needed Hughes. When we were exhausted, struggling, and running away, and even when we eventually held hands and died together. Even if it was painful, I was still happy. I held onto the hope that it would be different next time, that it would get better next time."
[The reason you could do that is because you were given endless opportunities.]
"That's right. Maybe so. At first, I thought regression was a curse, but at some point, I realized it. If I could keep this feeling, the opportunities that continued from then on would be no different from a blessing."
Xieyi, clasping her hands and smiling radiantly, looked as happy as a bride right before her wedding. What could anyone say to that face?
What meaning would there be in preaching to a woman currently overflowing with joy about the hardships and conflicts to come, the trials and pain, the endless patience and aging, and the lonely death that would visit her at the very end?
"That's right. Just having opportunities left is enough to make a person happy. So, it would be nice if other humans had opportunities too. Because it's a waste for them not to know this."
To Meiel, the future was fear. Having seen the end that would inevitably arrive one day, Meiel sought to erase that future.
But to Xieyi, the future was happiness. Even if the end came one day, as long as the journey toward that end was happy, Xieyi would willingly accept that conclusion.
Meiel realized she could not persuade Xieyi. Saddened by the fact that she could not understand and persuade her, who was chosen just like herself, she spoke.
[That is pain, Xieyi. Harboring expectations that will go unrequited.]
"I have already been rewarded. Did you see? Hughes's expression just now? Hehe. Even this time's Hughes has a heart that cares for me. Just a little, mind you."
Meiel should have been happy. This current situation was the best among the futures she had envisioned.
The Human King becomes the Guardian of Order, protecting order for generations and preserving civilization eternally. It was the only possibility found after Meiel, who had watched all futures in her slumber, repeatedly rejected the end.
However, this situation was also the future Xieyi envisioned.
The Human King of the other side becomes the Pioneer of Chaos, pushing humanity into endless chaos and possibilities. It was an opportunity handed to humanity by Xieyi, who had experienced countless opportunities while dying, still holding onto hope.
[Even though we look in different directions, the futures you and I envisioned have aligned. That is why this future has arrived as reality. Now, our envisioned futures will clash. Barbarically, the stronger future will prevail.]
"I shouldn't think like this, but I was actually relieved? Because Hughes has no interest in a pitiful and pretty girl like Meiel. If Meiel had been a bit more clingy and dependent, Hughes would have shown interest, you know."
[Ah. First Saint who blessed me. How could you bless such a cruel one?]
The two saints would never be able to understand each other. Because despite possessing the most powerful foresight, they were exact opposites.
"...Yeah. I still don't know."
The Human King, who had been pondering deeply all the while, stretched and moved. With that, the conversation between the two saints was cut off.
"I still don't understand your power. Even though I am your king."
The murmuring Human King raised his hand axe and spoke calmly.
"I must find out."
The axe moved blurrily once again. Xieyi stared straight at the axe, which possessed power comparable to a meteor. No matter how strong the current Xieyi was, taking the axe head-on would be troublesome.
Therefore, Xieyi did not take the axe.
She didn't dodge it. She didn't block it. The axe touched Xieyi's body and passed right through.
The Infinite One, the Wave of Existence.
Matter is a wave. Because of that, matter can pass through and transcend other matter. Just as a wave brushing past a lotus leaf does.
Why had no one known until now? Even though we normally see, hear, and feel it, and are even composed of it. Why couldn't we approach such a simple and plain truth?
It must have been because our field of vision was too broad and shallow. The matter we thought we knew well was actually nothing more than a macroscopic movement created by a cluster. It was no different from boasting that we knew water droplets just by looking at the flow of the river.
Thus, humans cannot blame the gods. Because it is natural for a god watching over order and civilization to be ignorant of the misfortune and suffering of a mere human.
"It passed through?"
Observing that phenomenon, the Human King tilted his head and raised the axe again.
"Divided into countless ripples, passed through the body, and then reformed behind. A wave?"
The Wave of Existence was a Demon God beyond the knowledge of the current era. The Human King closely inferred the correct answer to something that had not yet been born and no one understood. Xieyi admired him once again.
But the Human King could never reach the Demon God.
What Xieyi used was a Demigod. It did not belong to humanity of the current era, and she had manifested it through the Principle (Li) without even understanding it herself.
"That's right. It's a singularity that humans eventually reached in another loop. Amazing, isn't it? That everything in the world has the flow of a wave. I can understand why Dragon King Priana became a Demon God. She was a truly remarkable Demon God."
"It is fascinating. But."
Despite the wondrous discovery, the Human King impassively stroked the axe blade.
"It is merely fascinating."
The human possibilities Xieyi had seen were certainly fascinating and elicited admiration. If humanity survived, Demon Gods beyond imagination would appear and lead humanity to a new realm.
However, that was not the knowledge of the current era.
"You judge the present by the standards of the future. You are not living in this era. Everything you say is distant and hollow."
No matter how much one shouts that war is bad, it doesn't resonate with those standing in the midst of it. To those placed in that situation, war is reality itself.
Viewing it from afar makes it seem more objective. But the further away one is, the less the voice is conveyed.
"You cannot change 'me'."
The Human King raised his axe toward Xieyi.