Chapter 373: Chapter 316: See You Later

“What’s wrong?” Sonia was somewhat nervous.

“Nothing, I was just thinking, if I recover my memories, does that mean the ‘me’ at this moment is killed by the ‘me’ from the past?”

“Why are you suddenly indulging in philosophical speculation now?” Sonia, tense in every nerve, was infuriated.

Denzel suddenly asked, “Are you afraid?”

Ash thought for a moment and actually nodded. “Maybe.”

“Let’s say,” Ash looked at Sonia, “weren’t you saying that our real relationship might not be that of lovers? But right now, I truly see you as my lover.”

“Or to put it in another way, more direct, without any ambiguity, laying my heart bare–I like you now.”

Sonia was startled.

“But if after leaving the cabin, our memories tell us that we are not in that kind of relationship, does that mean the ‘me’ who likes you now is killed by the earlier ‘me’?”

“Thinking about it that way,” Ash sighed, “memory truly is a terrifying power.”

“But this is just evasion.”

Everyone was startled.

The speaker was Diya, who had just awakened from her coma. She, always timid, was now expressing her opinion with firm conviction. “The past does not cease to exist just because you don’t face it; rather, it is precisely because you carry the past that you become who you are now. Living, in essence, is a process of killing oneself–knowledge kills ignorance, reality kills innocence, silence kills the voice. Evasion is meaningless, because who we are now is the product of our past.”

“To achieve our goals, killing ourselves is sometimes inevitable. Even if we start over, fate is a very harsh, narrow path. Whatever we have forsaken, we must forsake in the end.”

Ash blinked, “You make a lot of sense…”

“No.”

Sonia looked at Diya and then at Ash. “If forsaking the past can make me better, then I would rather forsake it. I believe in starting anew more than repeating the same mistakes.”

Ash was slightly taken aback, then realized that Sonia was recalling what he’d mentioned earlier in casual conversation about “Let’s conform to repeating the same torturous mistakes,” and couldn’t help but chuckle, “Who do you want to start over with?”

Sonia snarled, “None of your business!”

At that moment, Denzel placed his hand on top of Ash’s, which was holding the doorknob, “So, is everyone mentally prepared?”

Sonia, not to be outdone, pressed her hand on top of Denzel’s, “I am prepared to break up.”

Diya placed her hand on Sonia’s. “I… We are ready too.”

“Then…” Ash said, “Knight, lover, sister, beloved… see you in a moment.”

The overstressed doorknob turned urgently, eager to send off this group of visitors.

The cabin door opened.

In their view was the timeless, inverse Golden Rain.

As they stepped out of the cabin, the brilliance of the Golden Rain reflected in their pupils, and with it, the palace of memory was illuminated, and all the surrounding darkness was dispelled.

The countless factors that constituted their personalities, souls, wisdom, thought patterns, and action principles were fully awakened.

Everyone’s pupils grew wider and wider.

Wider and wider.

…

…

Inside the cabin.

With Denzel’s departure, the phantom of the Empress that restored memory also dissipated.

However, the other three phantoms seemed still enamored with the warmth of the cabin and did not exit the stage immediately.

“I think Diya’s words just now were very well put, truly worthy of me,” the Witch walked behind the Observer and smiled, “What should be forsaken, better to do so sooner rather than later. Escaping the past is futile, under the grand arrangement of Fate, everything will repeat itself… Observer, there is still time to change the plan.”

The Observer did not respond to the Witch, who then hopped and bounced next to the Sword Maiden, trying to gain an ally, “Sword Maiden, what do you think?”

“On the contrary, I think Sonia was right,” the Sword Maiden said lightly, “As long as one can become better, forsaking the past can be acceptable. I believe our ‘interference’ has been enough; Observer, we should take a more cautious approach to our interventions from now on.”

The Witch was taken aback, “But I recall that you were the one most against the plan–”

“That signifies that I have already killed my past self,” the Sword Maiden said with her eyes closed.

“But aren’t you jealous?”

“Jealous of what?”

“Shouldn’t the one to start anew be you who has been through so much?” the Witch whispered into the Sword Maiden’s ear, her voice like a slick tongue stirring the chords of chaos, “If it were you, you’d surely do better than her…”

“You could reclaim everything you never had before, honor, spotlight, fervent applause, envious gazes…”

“You would walk a starlit path paved with flowers, not a bloody trail built on mountains of corpses and seas of blood; you would have countless admirers longing for you, not endless enemies seeking vengeance; you could live a peaceful life like an ordinary swordswoman, rather than become one–”

“Do you think I resent everything I’ve been through?”

The Sword Maiden grabbed the Witch’s wrist, “No, I hold no resentment at all. The mountains of corpses and seas of blood are familiar to me, slaughtering avengers is a diversion in life, peace, ordinariness, society are the top three things I despise most.”

“I relish every feast Fate has prepared for me; it is precisely by drawing enough nourishment that I have become so powerful.”

“I don’t need to compensate for regrets or reminisce about remorse like a weakling.”

The Witch stared into the Sword Maiden’s eyes, “You’ve avoided my question–are you not envious of Sonia Sevi?”

“Why would I be envious of her?” The Sword Maiden remained expressionless, “Although her naivete is somewhat irritating, at least she has grown up normally.”

The Witch fixed her gaze on the Sword Maiden, her lips curving into a subtle arc, her murky pupils reflecting profound malice. The usually fearless Sword Maiden felt a twinge of nervousness at that moment, her hand slowly reaching for the hilt of her sword–

“Never mind.” The Witch quickly distanced herself from the Sword Maiden and looked towards the Observer, “Observer, what do you think? Instead of allowing ‘the present’ to grow slowly, why not let ‘the past’ take the field itself?”

“Um…” The Observer said leisurely, “I’ve heard your suggestion.”

“Hey!” The Sword Maiden abruptly stood up, “You’re not thinking of giving up halfway, are you?”

“Of course not,” the Observer shook her head.

“Then what do you mean?” the Witch asked, “Are we to reduce intervention as the Sword Maiden suggested, or take direct action as I proposed?”

“What do I mean?”

The Observer tapped her fingers on the tabletop, “Ash’s will is my will.”

“The decision I made that day is deeply engraved in my soul, twisting my cognition, shaping my thoughts.”

“My personality, my realization, my memory, they all exist to carry out this will.”

“You ask me what I mean?”

The Observer cast a cold glance over them, “You phantoms who have nothing left but memories, do you also dare to question my decisions?”