After Senrix gestured for Elysia to sit down, the pink-haired girl quietly lowered herself beside him.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The cold sea breeze drifted through the ruined shelter while distant waves endlessly crashed below the cliffs. Above them, the dark sky stretched infinitely, illuminated only by scattered stars.
Elysia stared toward the distant mountain range in silence.
More specifically…
Toward the Hollow Mountains.
Even from afar, the mountains radiated an eerie sense of emptiness, as though the world itself had been hollowed out there.
Then, after a long pause, Elysia finally began speaking.
"You know… a very long ti ago, before everything turned to ash, humanity didn't pray to gods."
Her voice carried an oddly nostalgic warmth.
"We couldn't afford to."
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
"So instead, people placed their hopes on thirteen individuals. We called ourselves the Fla-Chasers."
She giggled softly.
"It sounds grand and romantic, doesn't it? Like heroes from ancient myths."
Then her smile softened slightly.
"But honestly… we were just a group of lonely and broken people desperately trying to hold back the dark."
Senrix quietly listened.
For so reason, Elysia's voice felt different tonight.
Lighter.
Yet strangely sad at the sa ti.
"We didn't have magical systems or ready-made miracles," she continued. "If we wanted to fight the monsters destroying our world, we had to beco monsters ourselves."
The sea breeze gently moved her pink hair.
"We fused our bodies with the genes of apocalyptic beasts. We abandoned ordinary humanity in exchange for power."
Her smile beca faintly bitter.
"And every single gift ca with a terrible price."
Elysia slowly raised her hand toward the sky.
"Like Kevin."
The mont she said that na, her tone unconsciously beca softer.
"He was our leader. The very first Fla-Chaser."
A faint warmth entered her eyes.
"He wielded a blade of absolute destruction, flas so powerful they could burn the world itself. He was humanity's strongest warrior."
Then her expression dimd.
"But his body beca colder than eternal ice."
The wind quietly blew past them.
"He beca so cold that he could never touch the people he loved again."
Senrix stayed silent.
Elysia quietly laughed.
"He couldn't even hold a warm cup of tea without freezing it solid."
There was humor in her voice.
But also pain.
"Then there was Mobius."
Her expression shifted into sothing complicated.
"She was our brilliant doctor. A terrifying genius."
Elysia leaned slightly backward.
"She discovered a way to escape death itself. Every ti she died, she would shed her flesh like a snake abandoning old skin and be reborn younger."
Her voice lowered.
"But with every rebirth… she lost pieces of herself."
A shadow crossed her face.
"In the end, her own mind beca a labyrinth she could no longer escape."
The waves crashed loudly below.
"There was Hua too," Elysia continued softly. "A warrior whose martial arts could shatter mountains and silence armies."
A faint sigh escaped her lips.
"But she carried mories that no human mind should ever bear."
"Vill-V was another genius," she added with a small smile. "She created countless inventions capable of changing civilization itself."
Elysia chuckled quietly.
"But eventually, her own mind fractured into multiple personalities just to survive the sheer weight of her brilliance."
Her voice beca softer and softer as she continued speaking.
"A silent assassin."
"A blind philosopher."
"A grieving painter who only saw the world through tragic colors."
"We were thirteen completely different souls."
Then she smiled helplessly.
"And honestly? We didn't always get along."
Senrix snorted quietly.
That part sounded realistic.
"But despite everything," Elysia whispered, "we all shared the sa desperate dream."
Her eyes reflected the distant Hollow Mountains.
"To keep humanity's fire burning… even if only for a little longer."
Silence followed.
The wind carried her words away into the darkness.
Then Elysia quietly continued.
"But dreams aren't always enough."
For the first ti, genuine sorrow appeared in her voice.
"In the end… our world died anyway."
Senrix looked at her quietly.
"The final calamity arrived, and everything we knew disappeared."
Her smile remained calm.
"Cities vanished. Oceans burned. Entire civilizations turned into dust."
Then she softly laughed.
"And yet… even after losing everything, we still refused to disappear completely."
Elysia lowered her gaze slightly.
"So we left behind the Elysian Realm."
Her voice beca almost reverent.
"A sanctuary built from mories, emotions, data, and souls."
"It was a flawless copy of us."
"Our minds."
"Our mories."
"Our regrets."
"Our mistakes."
The distant mountains lood silently beneath the moonlight.
"For fifty thousand years," Elysia whispered, "our ghosts slept in the darkness."
Then—
"A girl from the new era eventually found us."
A genuine smile appeared on her face.
"She was sweet. Clumsy too."
Elysia giggled softly.
"She laughed with us. Argued with us. Fought beside us."
"And little by little… she carried our burdens."
Her expression slowly beca lancholic.
"But just as she reached the end of her journey, corruption invaded the Realm."
The air itself seed heavier.
"It tried to erase the final proof that our civilization had ever existed."
Elysia quietly closed her eyes.
"So to save her…"
The smile on her face beca painfully beautiful.
"The thirteen ghosts finally accomplished sothing we never managed to achieve while alive."
Her voice trembled faintly.
"We united perfectly."
One by one," she whispered, "my friends stepped forward."
"They burned away their own mories."
"Their own souls."
"Their own existence."
"All just to buy one girl enough ti to escape."
The sea breeze passed quietly through the ruined shelter.
"Until eventually…"
Elysia slowly opened her eyes.
"Only I remained."
Despite speaking about tragedy, her eyes remained warm and gentle.
"The Realm collapsed."
"Our nas vanished."
"Our history disappeared."
"No one in the current era will ever truly know who we were… or what we sacrificed."
Then she turned toward Senrix with a soft smile.
"So tell …"
Her voice beca quiet.
"Why do you think they did it?"
She tilted her head slightly.
"If they were already dead… and knew they would eventually be forgotten… why did those lonely monsters burn themselves away just to let one girl walk into the light?"
Senrix remained silent for a very long ti.
The Hollow Mountains stood quietly in the distance.
Eventually, he answered softly:
"To keep humanity's fire burning?"
Elysia suddenly giggled.
"Hehe… wrong."
Her smile beca oddly mischievous.
"It was because that girl still had a role to play in the war against the divine."
The warmth in her eyes deepened.
"She was one of the last people left who still rembered us."
Elysia looked back toward the mountains.
"And honestly…"
Her voice beca faintly wistful.
"I just hope she spread our nas sowhere out there."
The two of them fell silent afterward.
Neither spoke.
Both simply gazed toward the Hollow Mountains in the distance.
A place where people lost themselves forever.
A place where identity, mory, and sanity slowly dissolved into nothingness.
Then Elysia suddenly spoke again.
"You oddly resemble one of the Fla-Chasers."
Senrix raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
Elysia smiled.
"His na was Kalpas."
A soft laugh escaped her lips.
"He looked terrifying. Rough. Violent. Like soone who would punch first and think later."
Her smile widened slightly.
"But honestly… he was very soft-hearted."
Then her expression dimd.
"Especially when Sakura died."
The wind suddenly felt colder.
"Back then, soldiers killed Sakura's little sister."
A dangerous glint appeared in Elysia's eyes.
"Kalpas completely lost control."
"He rampaged through the base trying to slaughter everyone involved."
She sighed quietly.
"If Kevin and I hadn't stopped him… he would've massacred an enormous number of soldiers."
Senrix listened quietly.
Then he smiled faintly.
"I'd probably do the sa if sothing happened to Nephis."
Elysia looked at him for a mont before smiling softly.
For a while afterward, they simply sat there together in silence, watching the Hollow Mountains beneath the moonlight.
Eventually, Elysia spoke once more.
"Wake up first tomorrow morning, okay?"
Senrix glanced toward her.
"Why?"
Elysia smiled gently while staring at the distant mountains.
"I like looking at them."
Her expression beca strangely nostalgic.
"Whenever I see those mountains… I always rember my big brother in this world."
Senrix frowned slightly.
"You have a brother?"
Elysia imdiately brightened.
"Yep!"
Her cheerful smile returned instantly.
"His na is Mordret Valor!"
The mont she ntioned the na, Senrix's eyes widened slightly.
anwhile, Elysia continued speaking happily.
"When we were kids, we used to play together all the ti. Even though he was five years older than , he always spoiled ."
A soft laugh escaped her lips.
"But when I was eight years old…"
Her smile slowly disappeared.
"A bastard nad Aster kidnapped both of us."
The atmosphere instantly turned colder.
"He experinted on us."
Elysia's voice remained strangely calm.
"He implanted the Divine Lineage of the Heart God into our bodies."
Her pink eyes dimd slightly.
"Mordret originally possessed the Divine Lineage of War, but the Heart lineage balanced it out."
Then she lightly touched her own chest.
"As for … the Heart lineage completely overwrote the War lineage."
Silence.
Senrix stared at her for several long seconds.
Then he finally asked:
"You're… a Valor?"
Elysia blinked before suddenly standing up gracefully.
With exaggerated elegance, she bowed like a stage magician introducing herself to an audience.
"My na is Elysia Valor."
A playful smile appeared on her face.
"The youngest daughter of Anvil Valor."
Then her smile turned strangely cold.
"And also the most hated daughter of Anvil Valor."
The sea breeze quietly passed through the shelter.
Elysia tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear before casually adding:
"Honestly, I hope he dies soon."
Then she smiled brightly again.
"So don't worry."
Her cheerful voice echoed softly in the darkness.
"We're definitely not enemies."
______
A/N: my phone was burning with heat when I was writing this, this shows how peak this shit is
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