Chapter 466 - Not Human

A miracle has occurred.

The streets have yet to be cleaned from the grass sprouting from the ground and the giant trees that made for a ceiling for Livia. However, as hindering they were, no one wanted to cut them down.

They were birthed by the light of life, which overtook the capital when the miracle happened. The citizens were alarmed by the light, but it soon proved that it was the blessing of a god, as it worked to heal whatever minor wounds they had.

This was the result of that light, which blinded the world for a few minutes, making Livia the lighthouse of the continent. However, no one attributed the miracle to the man standing within that light.

"Come back, Ai," muttered Arthur as his hand interfered with the spiritual dimension, which had taken away her soul. As he breached into that dimension with no intention of staying, Arthur could feel countless beings watching him.

This was a realm he should not have stepped into, no matter the cost. It was the divine decree that the dead shall never return to life. Arthur felt small compared to them, but there was something that gave him strength: A belief that he was allowed to do this, a hazy memory that wanted to slip away.

Arthur knew he was gambling with something bigger than he is but wanted to see if he was indeed a human... or a god.

There was no resistance, and his rune took hold of the spiritual energy to pull the priestess back into the living. But, as he was about to do so, he could feel an entity locking on him.

A droplet of sweat rolled down his neck, as he could tell that this entity could destroy this world if it wanted. These were the celestial beings, spiritual entities who were as ancient as the universe.

However, it seemed that Arthur was only a passing interest, and the being soon vanished. Then, as Arthur sighed in relief, another hindrance appeared.

Chains wrapped around his arm to prevent him from going against the flow of life: birth, life, and death. That order could not be reversed, and these chains were the divine laws to make sure of that.

"Chains of Order," Arthur muttered in recognition, another memory he did not know of its source. However, he would be a fool not to realize that these memories only appeared with his left arm.

Arthur had similar chains, and he realized that he had to summon them. As he took a deep breath, his mana gathered into his soul, calling what had almost destroyed him once before.

A single ring began to form, and Arthur was already gritting his teeth. Another ring. A third one. As he summoned a chain, at last, Arthur felt like consciousness was leaving him.

The chain began to radiate the same aura as the one during his fight against Ellen, and it made sure that no one dared to interfere with his actions. Livia and the neighboring cities could all feel it, which was the source of their wrong belief: their god did it.

The Chains of Order seemed to resonate with the ones he had, and Arthur saw them align with his. It allowed him to bring back the soul into this world before the void collapsed to close.

"It is done..." he breathed out as a ghostly figure appeared in the world. It was pure white, with no blemishes. Arthur stared at the constitution, and he could see that out of all the people he could have revived, no one could have such a pure soul.

"The first step is over," Arthur looked down toward the lifeless corpse. "Now, I need a container for this soul," he could not simply place it into this body. "Heal."

***

"Where is the Saint?" asked Diana as she walked into his room, where Arthur sat on the disk and looked out of the window.

"I have no idea," he answered without turning to face her.

"You should have since you are the one to create her," she said as she walked over and stood beside the window, watching what he watched.

"I did not create her, only healed her," he muttered absent-mindedly.

"That woman was dead the moment the spear pierced her," said Diana as she turned back to him. "I don't believe that it is their god who rebirthed her. It was you."

"A fine story that works best for everyone," Arthur watched the workers fix the temple and the gardeners try to cut down the trees his mana created. "It seems I have an inseverable connection with trees."

"They signify life," she said, "and so do you," Diana stared at him silently, as if asking the same question that was on his mind. "Are you human, Arthur?"

At her question, he finally turned around to meet her eyes. After a moment, he shook his head, not able to lie to her. "I may be, but at this point, I doubt it."

"I am not fully human," she said as if to establish she was on his side. "A part of me belongs to the phoenix, another part belongs to the frost spirit, and a small part is human."

"It is not about being non-human that bugs me," Arthur laughed as he shook his head. "You know what you are ever since you were born. You will live on knowing who you are. As for me? I know nothing. Everything about this world seems bent on tearing my identity apart," he said in a single breath, almost shouting it.

"It does not matter what you are, as much as what you do and want."

"I want to be certain for a single fucking moment instead of being lost," he waved his hand. "I need to keep going to learn the truth, but every step I take, I lose a part of me. It is a vicious race between knowing who I am before I am nothing but an empty body."

Arthur could feel it this time. After using his powers, Arthur changed again, ever so slightly, yet so certainly. As he looked at the person he loved in front of him, it made him scared that he loved her a little less than yesterday, as if she no longer meant as much to him.

"I will be with you," she sobbed as she took a step forward, reaching her hands to his face. "I will help you with anything," she pulled his head to her chest. "I am here for you, Arthur."

This was what he needed, reassurance, but it was not what he deserved. Dia did not know that he was changing every day they were together and that his love was not as unwavering as hers.

"I want to be alone," he said quietly, but the words ripped a reality apart and destroyed another place that could have kept him. Arthur could feel her body stiffen, but somehow, it was breaking apart.

Their embrace ended, and she left the room. Arthur stared silently downward, not moving an inch. Her warmth was still there, but he was the one to push it away.

"You deserve someone who would love you just the same no matter how much time passes," his chest was crushed with guilt. Then came fear, accompanied by the realization that if not even his love toward her was enough to defy this power, nothing would.

'You made that choice once before,' said the Spirits Sovereign about Arthur losing his emotions. This was another sign that he needed to return to the Spirits Realm, where this all started.

As time passed by, the hole in his chest did not close. Similar to the time with Gala, a ripple flowed across existence around him and carried his emotions to all that he could feel. However, this time, Arthur could not cry.

***

"You can die however you want to, but die for yourself. Come back, Ai," a voice so gentle called for her, and it was her only guide in the infinite darkness. Ai was confused, but she still allowed the gentle power to carry her. Then, however, she realized that it was pulling her away from the warmth.

'The world is cold,' she knew that she had left it. 'I don't want to go back there,' she decided. Then, however, the voice told her to die for herself, which left her hesitant. 'What does that mean?'

How could anyone die for themselves? It was a silly concept, in her opinion. You can live for yourself, but you cannot die for yourself. You have to die serving something greater, like the Scholar Guardian.

'That is right. My god must be here to greet me,' Ai finally opened her eyes to look for him, but no god was there for her. Instead, it was an infinite void, filled with beings and mysteries that she never thought existed.

A chain appeared, and it pushed the other chains away, which held her to this world.. Then, Ai came back to life, leaving the void.