Sylvia was a talentless impostor. She knew it. She had always known. No matter how bright the emeralds of the Crowfield family shone, their glow could only reach as far as the land of Crowfield. She was not the world's chosen one, nor was she favored by fate. She survived in destruction, wandered in loneliness, and lingered on the earth with a cursed skeletal body, drenched in misfortune.
It wasnât until she met Xu Xi that she stumbled onto the path of a sorcerer. A Sylvia like that never knew where her path lay. All she knew was to chase the light, like a moth drawn to a flame, stumbling behind Xu Xi. She followed his guidance and learned his sorcery. Sylvia wanted to keep going like that foreverâbut she couldnât. The light that once gently led her forward had already vanished without a sound.
The road ahead, she had to walk alone.
At the moment she ascended to the Fifth-Ring, Sylvia chose and followed her own path. She had no life, because she was a dead soul. She had no death, because she was a survivor. Sylviaâs path rejected both the beauty of life and the ugliness of death. What remained was the purity of the soul.
"Sylvia, it takes more courage to regain the light than to endure the darkness."
"I saw that courage in your soul."
"Itâs beautiful. I really like it."
Sylvia had nothing. But someone once acknowledged her soul, saying it was a holy spirit more dazzling than any biography or taleâpraising her courage, her kindness, and her strength.
And so, Sylvia carved her own path. It was full of courage and faith, but also fear and hesitation. It was a rugged and painful road belonging solely to the brave Sylvia Crowfieldâa path of salvation walked with nothing but a fragile soul and unwavering will.
In the chaos, countless plane worlds floated like stars in the gray, shifting void of disordered time and space. All was silent. All kept turning. That scene was dark and heavy. Some of the living fell into despair. Some of the dead could not pass on.
But the false hero raised her blade high, releasing a "holy light" far more radiant than any real hero's. Warm and bright. She cut through all the pain she could see in the world.
"Master Sorcerer, I wonât let you downâŠ" In a world of darkness and suffering, where Sylvia could no longer see any light, she chose to become the new light herself.
One woman, one sword, one tower.
As she pursued the Endless Nether Realm, she also saved countless people who suffered just like those in the former sorcerer world. Bit by bit, Sylvia rescued countless worlds. Bit by bit, her strength grew ever greater.
Through long years, time stacked upon time, her fragile soul became even purer. She reached the end of miracles, mastering both life and death, ascending to the long-dreamed-of Seventh-Ring level.
Holding the "holy sword" Xu Xi had given her, shining with visible soul-born "holy light," she entered the Endless Nether Realm alone.
âŠ
Within the Endless Nether Realm were vast soul-dominated planes. Each layer, each one, was as massive as a real living world. Chaotic and tangled, overlapping endlessly. Sylvia was focused. As soon as she entered, she followed the familiar aura of the sorcerer world and pierced through the void.
Finally, she saw itâher homeland, now changed beyond recognition, but still clinging to familiar traces. Past memories, beautiful and painful, rushed into her mind.
"Father, MotherâŠ"
"Grandpa Hansen, Grandma MenaâŠ"
"Master SorcererâŠ"
Tears silently slid down.
The hero who saved countless worlds could now only stand and watch the ruins of her homeland, unable to change a thing. But there was still something she could do. Something only sheâwho had survivedâcould do.
In the still, dark ruins of the old sorcerer world, the clear ring of a sword being drawn echoed. In that moment, laws and order collapsed, slashed and torn apart by the holy sword.
Power to save the world. Courage that could not be extinguished.
They lifted and carried that sacred soul higher, until it surpassed all the miracles of the world.
"The breath of the mother world? How is that possible?"
Ahead of Sylvia, a humanoid form twisted out of the void, speaking in disbelief at her origin.
"No, impossible! The mother world has already become my domain! How could there still beâ"
The sharp voice suddenly cut off. As if something clicked in its mind. The immortal paused. That tier made of layered truths entered a state of thought and recollection that ordinary beings couldnât understand. That simple action caused entire stretches of space to collapse.
"I see⊠someone who escaped long ago."
"A relative of those old fools?"
"Or maybeâ"
Pretending to come to a sudden realization, its face twisted into mockery and ridicule.
"One of those pathetic insects who were willing to die just to protect others."
BOOM!!
The sky fell. The earth cracked.
The tremor of the world echoed with the rage of the hero. Sylvia drove her knightâs sword forward, forcing the immortal to retreat all the way to the edge of the world.
"HeheheâŠ"
"AhahahahaâŠ"
The weight of the sword was overwhelming. The divine tier was shaken. Though the immortal was suppressed, it still laughed with ridicule, blocking Sylviaâs strikes while recounting old memories.
"Brother and sister?"
"Close friends?"
"Or⊠husband and wife?"
"I miscalculated."
"I never thought that the insect I casually crushed would bring forth a new Seventh-Ring."
"What a shame you didnât get to see how painful his death was."
Using the law of the Nether Realm, the immortal reversed the suppression and began to overwhelm Sylviaâs light. Heaven and earth lost color. Space and time shattered. Storms tore apart everything.
That was the power of a destined death. It could bring the end to even the undead. Even a powerful Seventh-Ring would be at risk of falling under such an attack.
The immortal's mockery intensified. A newly ascended Seventh-Ring was nothing compared to its years of accumulation.
This⊠was the difference.
The demonic immortal laughed hideously, striking Sylvia while gloating about the thrill of destroying worlds, declaring how trading the fate of ten billion lives for its ascension was well worth it.
With each word, Sylvia's sword trembled.
"I will kill you. I swear, I will kill you!"
"No matter what it costs, I will kill you!!!"
With a hoarse throat, she let out her most furious scream.
Sylvia looked miserable, but in her eyes burned pure rage. Her blood-soaked body and clenched teeth all expressed the fire inside her.
The voices of the lost echoed in her ears.
Every word.
Every sentence.
Became heavy kindling fueling the soul's flames.
Father and mother: "Kill⊠kill you⊠protect⊠SylviaâŠ"
The Hansens: "Miss Sylvia, youâre a truly good person."
Master Sorcerer: "Sylvia, you are my hero."
The dead could not rest. The living lived in fear.
And the one who caused all this was right in front of herâmocking the cries of humanity and describing in detail how Xu Xi was burned by scarlet flames, how his body and soul were annihilated together.
Pain.
Unbearable, tearing pain.
Grief and fury became the heaviest foundation, paving the way for the heroâs forward charge.
"I will kill you no matter what!!!"
Her bloodshot eyes, her ragged voice, and the brilliant edge of light that sliced through the entire ruined sorcerer world all echoed in the crumbling battlefield.