A Giant Ship Crossing the River of Time?

Elena returned to the Demon Spirit Pyramid, treading the strange steps up toward the Yinsai Temple.

These steps felt backward because the pyramid was inverted, which meant she was essentially walking on the reverse side of the interior staircase.

Elena was pondering many questions. Ray's story had left her troubled.

It was as if something was lodged in her chest.

"Why couldn't Ray leave this city?"

"He hadn't even reached the storm when his consciousness light was destroyed by some strange force. I didn't have time to react."

"This shouldn't be possible."

Elena arrived at the temple entrance.

Just outside, she removed the coarse cloth cloak from her shoulders and draped it over her arm.

Elena's gaze swept across one of the pillars before the temple gate, and her brow furrowed slightly.

One of the pillars at the temple entrance had been carved to resemble Elena, depicting her in armor and carrying the Ruhe sword.

This transformation had occurred the day Elena arrived.

Elena had not requested it. The other Demon Spirits carved it to symbolize her responsibility and identity in this temple.

This seemed to be a tradition among the Demon Spirits.

However, Elena did not particularly like such superficial things. She preferred more substantial matters. Even regarding faith, she preferred action over words.

"Hmm?"

Upon entering, Elena immediately noticed a figure inside the temple.

A figure was praying inside, facing the statue of Yinsai.

The outer halls of the temple allowed all members of the Demon Spirit race to pray, though with time restrictions. Some newly awakened Demon Spirits also entered the temple to study the text tablets.

The person's prayer was not loud, but because the temple was so quiet, the words reached Elena's ears clearly.

"Because of loneliness, God created the Wisdom King Redlichia. Because of Redlichia's loneliness, God created the Trilobite Men."

"Thus began the race, and from this moment, the kingdom was established."

"God said."

"I am the God who created you, and you are their king."

He clasped his hands together, his body bent forward in reverence.

His clothes had many pockets. Beside him on the ground sat a box full of various items, with strings attached that suggested it could be hung on his body.

He had the appearance of a traveling merchant, one who would fill his pockets with goods and hang the box from his chest to display his wares.

Elena did not disturb his prayer and simply hung her cloak to one side.

Her thoughts were scattered, and she absentmindedly arranged her cloak.

By the time she came back to her senses, the praying devotee had already risen.

Instead of leaving, he walked up to Elena.

"Respected Lady Elena," he said. "I have a question for you."

"You are God's apostle. Perhaps you can provide guidance to someone as confused as I am."

Elena guarded this temple but did not consider it her responsibility to resolve the confusions of others.

Nor did she believe she could solve anyone's puzzles or mysteries.

However, since he had asked, she decided to listen.

The merchant-dressed Demon Spirit wore a box that hung from his chest. This, combined with his colorful, pocket-filled clothes, gave him a somewhat comical appearance.

He described his dream to Elena, the one that constantly entangled him.

"I often have dreams, and every time, I dream of a strange person."

"I feel he is me. He lives on an island covered with ritual workshops, where he has a shop."

"When I usually dream of him, it is mostly about trivial matters."

"But recently, I keep dreaming of him wandering beneath this inverted pyramid, under this temple. That is why I came here, to seek the reason behind my dream."

The merchant was peculiar. He also knew something about the origins of the Demon Spirits.

It was said that long, long ago, the Demon Spirits had transformed from another race.

After all, remnants of that race could be found throughout the city, along with the legends and myths they had left behind.

Additionally, their faith continued to linger, a lasting presence.

"But what puzzles me the most is this."

"If these are memories from a time long ago, belonging to another person, then why do I dream of scenes where he wanders beneath this pyramid?"

"And the pyramid in my dream is almost identical to the current one. I am certain it is the present pyramid because your stone statue was only recently added to the temple entrance."

Elena suddenly recalled her own recent dream. "Perhaps it is just a dream," she told him.

"An ordinary dream."

"You likely had this dream because you recently visited the temple and saw my statue."

But Elena then asked, "Is there anything special about that dream?"

The merchant-dressed Demon Spirit answered immediately. "In my dream, this place is quite strange."

"The pyramid is upright."

"The temple is not at the bottom but at the very top."

Hearing him say "upright," Elena responded slowly.

"It seems..."

"It is just a dream."

The merchant Demon Spirit scratched his head. "I see! Then maybe I am overthinking it."

Elena was about to turn away, but she suddenly stopped.

She seemed to have realized something.

She asked the merchant Demon Spirit, "How did you enter that place in your dream?"

The merchant Demon Spirit thought for a moment. "I just saw the pyramid, then the staircase. Then I saw another me wandering on the stairs."

"His form looked somewhat blurry, as if he were floating on the stairs."

"Oh, right!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"I saw light at the top of the pyramid, and many shadows seemed to be wandering around that light."

Elena said, "Come with me."

Elena led the merchant Demon Spirit toward the depths of the temple, where they arrived at a square hall.

The hall contained nothing. Its ceiling was flat and even, but the floor below was concave.

At the center of the hall stood a structure resembling a vertical shaft.

There lay the true bottom of the inverted pyramid. It could also be described as its very tip.

Elena had seen this place several times before but had never paid it much attention. Now, what happened with Ray told her that this inverted pyramid had issues.

The dream of this Demon Spirit before her gave her some clues and ideas.

Elena came to the shaft, looked down, and then jumped without hesitation.

The merchant Demon Spirit hesitated briefly, but to find an answer to his confusion, he jumped down as well.

Ah!

With a flash of light, they seemed to pass through a blurry boundary.

In his dazed state, the merchant Demon Spirit found himself landing on the ground.

Looking around, he discovered that he had fallen into another hall.

But after carefully examining his surroundings, he realized the place felt strangely familiar.

"This is..."

"The same great hall we were just in."

When he looked up, he realized the vertical shaft from earlier had transformed into a skylight.

The merchant Demon Spirit turned his head, searching for Lady Elena.

He caught sight of her garment just as it disappeared behind a side door.

Elena was already heading outside, and the merchant Demon Spirit hurried after her.

Elena was tall with long legs, and she walked with purpose. The merchant could only trot to keep up, made more difficult by the box hanging on his chest.

"Lady Elena!"

"Please wait for me!"

The merchant Demon Spirit passed through several palace chambers and corridors, finally reaching the main hall.

He followed Elena from inside toward the temple's exterior.

The scene suddenly opened up before them.

The pyramid had become upright.

This was a strange realm, with darkness enveloping the pyramid and a dreamlike darkness in the distance.

Elena had never thought that such a miraculous realm was hidden inside the inverted pyramid.

"There is actually such a place beneath the pyramid?"

"This is very strange."

"It is like a place formed by the convergence of transcendent powers. How was this formed?"

Many statues stood on the temple's plaza platform. Elena felt their auras were familiar.

Although these statues resembled the People of the Abyss, their current identities should be the priests, nobles, and guards of the Demon Spirit Kingdom.

They should all be people she had seen before.

Elena walked downward, the merchant Demon Spirit following her down the staircase.

Each time Elena had walked this stretch of stairs before, it had felt awkward because the staircase was reversed.

This time it felt much more comfortable.

As she walked, she looked at the stone walls on both sides.

The walls were covered with many reliefs of people. She roughly estimated that from the top of the staircase to the bottom, there were about eight thousand reliefs of the People of the Abyss.

The merchant Demon Spirit looked at these reliefs, and memories from his dream surfaced again.

The Demon Spirit puppet extended his hand, pointing at the reliefs and everything else he had seen before.

"This is it!"

"The place I saw in my dream is exactly this place."

The merchant Demon Spirit spoke excitedly to Elena, his footsteps quickening.

Unconsciously, he moved ahead of Elena, stopping about one-third of the way up from the bottom of the staircase.

"Right here."

"I saw another me, right here~"

He had barely finished speaking when a voice came from the wall in front of him.

"You have come?"

"You have come to release me?"

The merchant's voice trailed off. The metal puppet stiffly turned its head.

He saw a transparent shadow emerging from one of the reliefs on the wall, speaking to him.

It was a ghost.

The merchant Demon Spirit stared in shock at the transparent, ethereal ghost, as if seeing another version of himself.

When he had seen him in dreams, he had only felt confused. Now, face to face, he felt nothing but terror.

A storm of indescribable emotions welled up inside the merchant Demon Spirit.

He had finally solved one mystery, only for another to arise.

The merchant Demon Spirit stood dazed. "Who are you?" he asked.

The ghost's face was blank. "I am you," it said.

Although the ghost was speaking to the merchant Demon Spirit, its body began to move involuntarily upward, toward the temple.

"If you are me, then who am I?"

But the ghost no longer spoke to him, only floating upward.

Yet its mouth still moved, uttering words.

"You have come?"

"You have come to release me?"

The merchant Demon Spirit stood rigidly on the staircase, a chill running down his spine.

In this world, what could be more terrifying than seeing another version of oneself?

It was like a denial of one's own existence.

If the other was real, then what was he?

If the other was fake, why would it appear?

And then, he began to doubt the entire world.

Elena looked at the transparent shadow, and ancient memories surfaced.

She unconsciously uttered a single word.

"Ghost?"

In her mind, memories about ghosts emerged.

Images of the Sacred Mountain appeared, along with the figure of the Evil God's High Priest.

"This is a product of the Evil God's power. How could it appear here?"

Beneath the Demon Spirit Pyramid

The merchant Demon Spirit could not accept this at all. Shaking his head, he cried out.

"I am the real one!"

"I am right here. You cannot possibly be me."

"What exactly are you?"

He finally looked up and pursued the ghost.

He wanted to intercept the ghost and ask more questions, even though the other appeared confused and unlikely to provide answers.

However, the instant his hand made contact with the ghost, it was as if he had touched the coldest thing imaginable.

The ice-cold sensation spread from his fingertips, extending directly into the depths of his consciousness.

Ah!

Countless images flashed before the merchant Demon Spirit's eyes, not of the island or the daily life in the shop.

But of wandering in this darkness, day after day, year after year.

The merchant Demon Spirit trembled uncontrollably.

He dared not touch the ghost before him again.

It was as if what stood before him was not a fragile spirit but a bottomless abyss that would devour him.

The other had wandered as a ghost in this dark place for two hundred and fifty million years, from the previous era to the current one.

And his own awakening had been only decades ago.

The story of how ghosts came into being was very tragic.

The first ghosts were born beneath the Sacred Mountain, the Trilobite Men of the God-Servant City.

They were what remained after their spirituality and wisdom were drained away during their lifetime.

They were the memories of a person and some of their most profound emotions given form.

The ghost sensed the merchant Demon Spirit's touch and stopped.

It did not speak, only turning back to look at the merchant Demon Spirit.

It seemed to remember something.

An emotion flickered in the ghost's eyes, and he suddenly asked.

"What time is it now?"

The merchant Demon Spirit was still trembling uncontrollably, but Elena answered the question for him.

"The Second Era."

The ghost asked again, "Has God returned?"

Elena told him, "God has returned. This era is more abundant than the previous one. In this era, mortals possess even more."

However, she had one sentence she did not say.

"But this era does not belong to us."

The ghost turned away and continued walking upward, muttering incessantly, "That is wonderful. We succeeded. We succeeded."

Elena and the merchant Demon Spirit watched as the ghost walked all the way to the temple, floating toward the light-emitting part of the pyramid.

Soon, he returned.

"Cannot get out."

"Cannot get out."

"Of course, we cannot get out."

"It was arranged from the beginning. We will forever belong here, as seeds for the birth of consciousness."

The ghost walked back down, passing by the merchant Demon Spirit who stood frozen on the staircase.

He suddenly asked, "Is this immortality?"

"Can we live on like this forever?"

"Can this even be called living?"

But he quickly denied his own words.

"No."

"This is not for immortality. This is for the future."

The ghost's voice suddenly filled with emotional intensity. "For the continuation of our race, we must do this."

But as soon as he finished, the ghost's expression became distorted.

"No, I do not want to become like this."

"I would rather perish altogether!"

"Why did I choose this? What was I thinking?"

In this twisted and maddened conflict, the ghost gradually calmed down.

His face was once again without expression or emotion.

He returned to the relief, disappearing once more.

Elena fell into deep thought, pondering everything she had seen and all that the ghost had said.

But the Demon Spirit puppet on the lower staircase suddenly raised his head. Though his body was still trembling, he couldn't stop himself from asking Elena a question.

He looked at Elena, his voice pleading as he called out hesitantly.

"Lady Elena..."

"Will it be alright if I release him?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Elena's mind was also in chaos. She had not yet fully understood the secrets and truth of this pyramid.

"That is yourself."

"The decision is yours."

Elena then told him, "But I do not understand what will happen after you release him."

Elena asked the merchant Demon Spirit if he had witnessed anything unusual within the ghost's spirit.

The merchant Demon Spirit extended his finger, touching his own image on the relief.

"I just feel he is in pain. He is lonely."

"I want to release him."

"I want to do this."

At the very least, he could not let him wander forever in this darkness.

With that, he made his move.

The merchant Demon Spirit extended his hand, his palm emitting the light of transcendent power.

Even the most ordinary Demon Spirit was an Ability User.

He erased his own relief from the wall, the spiritual light on it crumbling bit by bit.

As the relief was erased, the ghost was squeezed out from within.

The process was visible.

The ghost's form was disintegrating bit by bit, vanishing like smoke.

When the ghost appeared, it repeated those words.

"You have come?"

"You have come to release me?"

At that moment, the merchant Demon Spirit responded with a loud voice, nodding repeatedly with determination.

"Yes!"

"I have come to release you. You are free."

He seemed even happier than the ghost, as if the one being released was not the other but himself.

The ghost's eyes were at first filled with confusion. Gradually, a light began to shine in his once-blank eyes as he locked gazes with the merchant Demon Spirit.

"I am free?"

With these words, the ghost's form completely dissipated.

A bubble emerged from within the ghost, reflecting colorful light.

White and black alternated, colors cycling continuously.

The merchant Demon Spirit did not know what it was. "A colorful bubble?"

From the colorful bubble, he saw ancient scenes rotating.

Among them were scenes he had seen in his dreams.

Elena stepped forward. "It is a Life Dream!"

Hearing this, the merchant Demon Spirit recalled a legend he had heard. "After death, life returns to the Creator's Domain."

"The ferryman will come to guide God's followers to that Dream Starry Sea."

"I have heard of it."

"I have heard this story."

Under their gaze, the Life Dream rose to the top of this realm.

The sky opened an invisible door, and ripples from the Dream Realm swallowed the Life Dream.

After that, nothing more could be seen.

But the merchant Demon Spirit could imagine the scene that would follow.

Before long, a massive ship glowing with golden light would emerge from the depths of the Dream Realm. It would carry this dream aboard and set sail toward God's kingdom.

The merchant Demon Spirit stood in place, his head held high.

"How wonderful!"

"He is free. He no longer has to endure that eternal darkness and solitude."

"He can go to the Dream Starry Sea."

The merchant Demon Spirit turned back to speak to Elena, his voice filled with a sense of relief.

But as he spoke, his metal shell began to corrode, the rust spreading rapidly and eating away at his very structure.

Even as his voice remained lighthearted, his entire form suddenly gave way, crumbling into a heap of broken parts.

Clang clang clang!

The box hanging on his chest fell, and the various odd little objects inside scattered all over the staircase.

Elena remained vigilant on the staircase.

After a Demon Spirit's death, the Demon Spirit Pyramid would emit light, reigniting their consciousness.

At that time, they would enter the next cycle, and everything would begin anew.

Though they would forget the past, it could barely be called a revival.

But this time, Elena waited for a very long time. He did not come back to life.

It seemed that with the ghost's release, his own existence had come to an end.

She waited, though she could not be entirely sure of what had happened.

Elena turned her head and spoke softly to the rusted remains of the puppet.

"Perhaps I should not have agreed to your request."

"However, even at the end, you did not seem to regret it."

"What exactly did you feel from within that ghost? Was it truly so painful?"

While waiting, Elena took the time to count all the reliefs in the area, along with the statues above.

"Eight thousand two hundred and sixteen."

Elena recalled what the Demon Spirit King had once told her. "This country has eight thousand two hundred and sixteen people."

Elena walked up the staircase, heading directly toward one of the pillars.

On the pillar was carved a valiant female knight.

Unlike the People of the Abyss present, she possessed a form remarkably similar to the divine beings.

Elena stopped before it.

"Number..." Elena paused, her voice trembling slightly. "Eight thousand two hundred and seventeen."

The female knight on the pillar suddenly moved. It turned its head and spoke to Elena, its voice proud.

"Halt!"

"Stand where you are!"

"None may approach God's temple without permission!"

This ghost was the strongest ghost here.

She had been born not long ago, probably appearing when Elena returned to this city.

Beneath her priest's robe, Elena unconsciously clenched her fist.

She finally understood. She knew the purpose of the Demon Spirit Pyramid and the meaning behind the name "Demon Spirit."

"So, this is what it means to be a Demon Spirit."

Possessing the transcendent body of a monster and the undying spirit of a ghost.

The two components formed what was called a Demon Spirit.

The body was made of transcendent materials, like an artifact, not easily destroyed or corroded.

Only the consciousness within the body was destined to wear away with time.

But as long as the ghost remained, when the body's consciousness died, they could use this Demon Spirit Pyramid and the ghosts inside as seeds to revive once more, giving birth to new consciousness.

They were a combination of monster and ghost, yet not entirely monsters.

As a result, they could live in the city that was once home to the People of the Abyss without being restricted by the Monster Covenant.

Elena stood before the pillar, facing her own ghost, with emotions she could not calm.

"Forge transcendent monster bodies from metal and use ghosts as candles to repeatedly ignite consciousness. This pyramid serves as a candlestick, sustaining the perpetual operation of this Demon Spirit Kingdom."

"Is this how the People of the Abyss cross time and continue to exist? Is this how their heritage is preserved?"

"Is this what I chose?"

"Is this the method I chose to save the People of the Abyss?"

Elena looked at the entire Demon Spirit Pyramid, her voice echoing in this empty realm.

"Is this the giant ship I created to cross the river of time?"

Her voice was cold and filled with confusion.

"Is this..."

"The future I chose?"

Elena stood tall for a long time, then suddenly drew the sword at her waist.

She pointed it at her own image on the pillar, her expression filled with fury.

It was as though she wanted to destroy the carving, to slash her own ghost into pieces.

"What kind of future is this?"

"Elena, were you out of your mind back then?"