Volume 4: The End of the World Chapter 104: Floral Kane
Back in the conference hall of the Bone White House, Flora slowed down her previously hurried pace.
The simple and solemn stone door slowly closed under her control, and the complex runes interlocked with each other, blocking out the harsh and noisy shouts and screams outside the door.
In the empty hall, only her footsteps echoed at this moment.
The gorgeous hem of Flora's skirt dragged a long red trail on the neat carpet, as bloody as the path she had walked over the years.
Walking in the empty hall, after many years , Flora felt that she was alone again.
This feeling was like the day when I was transformed into a lich by my adoptive parents; it was also like the day when I learned that I was chosen as the incarnation of the Holy Tree Mother and would hold a divine marriage ceremony with the Father of the Wilderness.
Adoptive parents...
Thinking back to them, a bitter smile appeared on Flora's lips.
The human adoptive parents who gave her a surname, raised her when she was abandoned, taught her what it meant to pursue the truth, and taught her magical knowledge, only tore off the veil of affection that they had been disguising until they took her to the core of the World Tree.
Raising an orphan forest elf was not for the purpose of better assimilating into a foreign culture, nor was it for the purpose of feeling the family love that they had never experienced in the past... The only thing they were pursuing was the legacy of the Frost Witch Nihel, a member of the Tribunal, and the information that could restore the glory of frost magic.
In fact, if this is true, Flora is not unwilling to sacrifice herself for the couple who study magic and for her only relatives in this world.
Because since she was a child, her adoptive parents, who considered themselves scholars, have always told her that family love is the greatest thing, and that the eternal pursuit of truth is greater than family love.
Apart from truth and family affection, everything else is worldly.
Therefore, in order to help her adoptive parents explore the pinnacle of magic, she is willing to sacrifice herself.
But they did not do all this in order to climb to the top of the magic path. Floro had already seen through the truth from their eyes that could not contain their excitement.
Those two taught her so well that after she was fourteen, in order to learn more about magic, Flora created familiars that even they couldn't detect, and lurked in the secret rooms that they thought were well hidden to look for new documents.
And heard their secret conversation inside.
They planned all this not for the purpose of seeking the truth, but only to find Neh's legacy to atone for their sins, so that they could return to the power center of the distant Platinum City and seek a comeback.
For the "worldly" things they despise.
It was obvious that at just one order, she would tie herself up and serve as a lamb in exchange for the truth, but they chose to deceive - with ridiculous and lame lies and a disguise that could be seen through at a glance.
So, she didn't want to follow their wishes.
"what your name?"
When opening the legacy, the mark left by Neh in the soul box asked her this.
"Flaror Kane."
She answered respectfully, facing a power that still made her feel awe from the bottom of her heart even after the passage of thousands of years.
"Kane? What a good last name! Are you the one who will inherit my legacy? Do you know what price you have to pay for this?"
"Death and rebirth."
Flora replied calmly.
"I have to say that you are too young, which makes your death seem like an inadequate price to pay for your rebirth. If it were any of the two people below, they would probably be able to inherit 40% of my experience and talent. As for you, I'm afraid you can only barely reach 20%."
Neh's remaining spiritual imprint suggested so.
"Then let them both be the price with me. I want 100%."
"...You might die immediately and won't be able to be reborn."
After a moment's silence, Neh's spiritual mark confirmed it for the last time.
"It doesn't matter. If that's the case, it's also what I'm pursuing."
…
Although she was not the one who did it, Flora did kill her adoptive parents on the day she came of age.
Lord William Kane's previous guess was wrong. In fact, her adoptive parents did not even live to see the day when she acquired that terrifying talent.
She should have told William this, but for some reason, she didn't want to say it.
Before killing her parents, Flora was curious about how she would feel afterwards.
She killed her adoptive parents who gave her a second life - even though they were wrong in many ways and only raised her as a sacrifice that could be used one day, every minute and every second that she had experienced in all these years was given by them.
After all, Flora did not hate her adoptive parents, but respected them very much.
Therefore, the truth that they taught her to pursue the truth above family affection and above everything else has always been engraved in her heart. Since the two of them are unwilling to climb the peak of the magic path for worldly things, she can only go on for them.
After killing her adoptive parents, her most intuitive feeling was - no feeling.
It's not that I'm numb and have no feelings, but that the "feeling" itself no longer exists.
Her heart was as empty as the void between the stars in the night sky, and nothing could fill .
All meaning disappeared in her heart. She lost the reason to live and the motivation to die.
If she hadn't seen the words on Neh's manuscript, she would have stayed in that secret room for the rest of her life, sitting there pondering the limits of truth. But Neh's last words gave her new motivation - the person who inherited the legacy of the Tribunal member had to take over his responsibility to protect Ravenwood.
At this point, Flora's spring was tightened again.
Protect Ravenwood, but in your own way.
Internally, it relies on its own strength to suppress the opposition that is ready to make moves; externally, it maneuvers between various forces, gradually pushing this ancient country out of its own cycle of corruption.
The only power will be held tightly in her own hands. She will deal with all problems with the simplest and most efficient logic, but will not take anyone's feelings into consideration - when the people say she has no heart, she ignores them; when the opposition secretly colludes to rebel, she suppresses them.
After leaving behind a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, she finally pushed the country three centimeters out of the fire pit.
However, she only left for a short while, and just let go of her hand a little bit...
The bloodstains on Flora's skirt were left when she returned to the Bone Palace and killed those guards.
After he left, the Oak Council's confederates in the palace raised their arms and launched a rebellion against his tyranny, overthrowing the order he left behind.
Only a very small number of guards stood on their side, and they were cleared out immediately.
When she and Ebony returned, the entire outer corridor of the Bone Palace was holding a communion ceremony.
Perhaps the intelligence between the Oak Council and the palace was out of sync, and the guards and ministers who had sworn allegiance in the past charged at her.
After killing several batches, they felt the fear of being forgotten again.
Those people stepped back and prostrated themselves in front of her, begging for forgiveness.
Just like the old days.
But when she walked into the inner courtyard of the Bone Palace alone and reinforcements from the Oak Council arrived, those people, feeling emboldened, rushed towards Ebony, who was left behind as a guard.
Same as in the past.
The illusion of peace and stability over the years even made her forget that she was alone.
Flora thought so as she sat on the throne of withered glory.
Then she felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation.
Because it's all finally... it's all going to end.
Because there is someone who will take on this responsibility for her, who will bear the anger and sadness of the disappearance of 40 million souls, and who will help her defeat the enemy that she can never defeat.
For Floro, who relied on her half-hearted determination and shouldered the fate of her entire race, this was a relief that was like a religious experience.
She had spent so many years and committed countless murders, but she had only managed to push this country three centimeters out of the fire pit.
But that person wanted to put out the entire fire pit.
He wants to snatch back the fate of the forest elves from the hands of the Void King.
The etheric domain was connected to the circuit of the Kuruo throne, and magic power began to replenish again.
Countless familiars flew to every corner of Ravenwood according to Flora's will.
"Hello, all the forest elves, all the citizens of the Jade Province, and the descendants of the conquerors of Ava Continent..."
Floro made her voice echo across the earth.
Soon, she will be able to...
It was also at this time that an arrow as smooth as glass, an arrow stained with the blood of the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, broke through the magic blockade of the hall and rushed towards her throat.
