act49side

The Ministry of War's envoy and his men freeze in place.

...Enough.

Here and now, I am still the warden of Yumen. If the Grand Commandant wishes to court-martial me after the matter, then whether I am to be sacked, exiled or otherwise, I will submit.

But as for now, out of my way. I must go see my men.

Zuo Le fully draws his sword, shielding his father as the two of them walk out the room.

Those so-called envoys are now in detention, Father.

Good. Next—

Grave news, General! The city's communications systems... They've been severed!

What?!

It seems those Ministry men picked up where the wind was blowing before they barged into the meeting room, so they performed some sabotage. We're relying on runners right now.

The mobility layer still works fine, but there are artillery emplacements all across Yumen, and the order has already been passed down. The orders the men receive keep changing...

Begin repairs immediately, and do everything you can to stop the cannons from firing.

Yes, sir!

Taihe, relay my orders to the mobility layer.

It shall be done.

Zuo Le, I shall entrust the emplacements within the deepest regions of the city to you.

Yes, sir!

One more thing.

You've done well today.

...Damn these monsters! There's no end to them!

We can't... hold out much longer...

Another twenty-four hours passed, and the fighting continues at the defensive line against the geists in Baizao.

The strange geists are like an endless tide, wave after wave crashing against their defenses. Though they may be cut down, they always reappear, stronger than before.

There is no doubt. The force the defenders face now are the 'god-hunters' of days long past.

Keep your chins up! The battle is not yet over! This is no time to admit defeat!

The sword in her hand is bent, her armor slowly but steadily getting covered in a mass of scars.

His Majesty decrees—

All soldiers, whether Patrol Battalion, Yulin Guard, or otherwise, are to gradually withdraw from Baizao's core plate. Join with the troops stationed outside the city, and pull back defenses to a ten-kilometer perimeter around Baizao.

Pull back our defenses?! That's ridiculous! The Forbidden City is right behind us!

Don't tell me His Majesty is prepared to abandon even the core plate?

I double-checked, those really are His Majesty's orders!

Your Majesty...

Where are you right now?

After forty years, he steps into this secret chamber once more.

He still remembers the emotions he felt the first time he set foot in here—

Remorse, confusion, resentment, terror...

Forty years has been long enough to smooth them away, long enough to grind away at all feeling, aside from the one known as helplessness.

Forty years, passed in a flash.

If you are still unwilling to bow your head to Yan, then I alone shall bear your thousand years of rage.

The sin of disloyalty... I shall also stamp out alone.

This millennium of grudges and grievances shall end here. From now on, Yan will begin a new chapter in its history...

Why wait for Heaven to bless the nation? There is only... the triumph of man over nature.

The True Lung looks towards the blazing radiance before him, as if he can see a pair of giant, ancient eyes burning within, burning with a great fury.

All he waits for is the signal that Sui has fully awakened before he martyrs himself.

The heart-pounding, golden light has nearly faded away. All that remains is an afterglow that falls into Wang's palm.

Within that very instant, a flood of jumbled, shattered memories flows past his eyes. With all his might, he reaches in to grab hold of a fragment, a splinter, anything with a trace of her.

For a hundred-and-twenty years, she has never appeared in his dreams.

Finally, finally, he grasps onto something that survived—

A record of a game.

Not some legendary game handed down the ages, but rather, a casual game between brother and sister as they chatted.

He flips the record over, wanting to see what was written in that message she left behind that is missing from his memory...

He finally reads it.

<i>You are a pessimistic one, brother, always thinking that the heart of humanity is unknowable, an unending flow of evil. Only through careful calculation and reasoning can it be understood.</i>

<i>I beg to differ. I believe humanity to be fundamentally good, evil deeds merely a covering of the heart. Thus, I believe there is no need to attempt to decipher it. Simply read the history books and learn the ways of the world, and you shall understand through analogy.</i>

<i>You knew I was lazing about, brother, which is why you came to give me a 'bored' written atop your board. Even before you placed your first stone with that blatant scowl on your face, I knew you had come to poke fun at me.</i>

<i>Both interpretation and analogy are fine. These split paths shall meet again, at a summary of the human heart. Of our family, only you and I walk this self-defeating road, always wanting to know the hearts of men.</i>

<i>Perhaps, when we both obtain the same answer...</i>

The letter stops here.

The weiqi player stares at the exquisite handwriting for a long, long time, seemingly forgetting the life-and-death struggle he is currently locked in.

Split paths shall meet again.

Split paths. She is long gone.

But to meet again...?

The game nears its end.

How amusing. She was the first of you to raise the flag of rebellion against me.

I must admit, over these past thousand years, I truly did fear her growing power, even if only for a moment.

But her plan was defeated by her lack of cunning, defeated by the 'unknowable heart of humanity'.

What is even more preposterous is that she chose to give you a chance to live...

...She has never once been defeated.

Through her own force of will, she bought the rest of us the chance to live.

Because she believed that after her death... we would be able to surpass you...

Haha... Hahahaha...!

How pitiful!

Are you actually feeling... regret?

You came to do battle with me, so determined to die, but you could not even triumph over your own weakness.

Do you care for her?

Yes. I care for her.

I once thought I did not... I thought the outcome of our battle should be the only thing I cared for.

Until I learned something later on.

The hearts of men. You, a wild beast... will never understand.

And so... You are doomed to pay the price.

Enough!

So this is to be your final struggle... This is the result of all your careful planning and preparation for a hundred years, this amusement that you now present to me?

Things will not end any different from last time.

The only difference is that now, you are even weaker than before!

Or do you mean to say that, with her choice, killing me will be akin to killing her, which is why you have not the will to make even a single move?

Pitiful! Pathetic! Laughable!

But no matter... None of it matters.

We can wait here. There is time to wait.

Let us see which of your so-called siblings shall come charging in to die in your stead this time.

The haggard weiqi player slowly rises from in front of the board, only a few black stones left within his bowl.

His movements are slow and stiff, so stiff as to seem like he had been sat there, withering away for the last hundred-and-twenty years.

As you lay there, half-asleep, half-awake, you turned the void within your body into a puppet, causing all sorts of trouble these past few centuries.

You decided that puppet should walk in the dark, while we walked in the light. And so at first, he tottered as he learned to walk, then he secluded himself to gather his strength, and finally, he ran amok.

But you forgot...

When all is said and done, there is only one of him.

If I had stormed in alone to that game a hundred-and-twenty years ago, having forgotten how wide the board is, and how suffused it was with your might...

Then this time, it is his turn to have too much to do. He must cover all of Yan... and even lands beyond, dealing with black stone after black stone.

This time... Will you still be able to see through my stratagem?

Hah...

You tore yourself into a hundred-and-eighty-one pieces, nearly driving yourself to madness, and you believed this would be enough to fool me?