The Fleeing Brave

The Tower of Salvation.

The plaza platform.

Dozens of people sat scattered about.

Their faces were blank, silent, like puppets whose souls had been drained, trembling as they choked back sobs.

Gradually.

Those choked sounds turned into clear weeping.

"Thank the lord for saving you, Awejin, my child."

A one-armed knight clutched his child tightly with his only remaining hand, his resolute face twisted into an ugly, tearful expression.

A gaunt, haggard woman cradled an infant, her cheeks streaked with tears.

Farewells, separations, the divide between life and death.

Words that once felt distant now descended upon everyone with crushing weight.

Loved ones gone.

Dear friends fallen.

Most of those who survived had lost their closest kin and companions.

Even those who lived were left in wretched states.

In the end.

That overwhelming despair and the hollowness in their hearts all dissolved into grief, dripping steadily into the steaming broth before them.

They had survived.

By the grace of that lord, they had lived through this calamity.

Sorrow mingled with gratitude, turning the warmth of the soup into glistening tears at the corners of their eyes.

"Lord Wizard, do you not plan to go down?"

Atop the tower.

Xu Xi and Servia stood at the heights, watching the people they had just saved weep and give thanks.

The sight was deeply moving.

A flower of tears blooming in despair.

"...If I go down, things will only get more chaotic."

"More chaotic?"

"Yes. It’d probably turn into a crowd of people bowing and crying before me."

Xu Xi shook his head. He disliked such scenes.

Before rescuing them.

He had used a spell of benevolent detection to briefly assess their character, ensuring he wouldn’t save ungrateful wretches.

It was a good method.

But as a result, those with virtuous natures held Xu Xi’s kindness in especially high regard, which he found slightly bothersome.

"Passing through seven kingdoms, fifty-three towns, and countless villages."

"Yet only forty-eight were saved."

"And among them, many were young children."

Xu Xi’s gaze lifted to the darkened sky, where a black sun hung high, filling him with complex emotions.

...

[You saved some people.]

[You don’t consider yourself noble—you merely extended a sliver of kindness within your means.]

[And you have other plans for those you saved.]

[The Tower of Salvation is vast. Tasks like observing and cultivating magical plants, breeding magical beasts, and maintaining the tower’s structure are time-consuming.]

[You and Servia need to grow stronger.]

[Such chores require extra hands.]

[The rescued have become part of the Tower of Salvation, holding you in reverence. You often hear echoes of "that lord" within the wizard tower.]

...

[Simulation Year 18, Age 35.]

[As the Tower of Salvation traveled, you saved a few more. With more hands, your wizard tower began operating smoothly.]

[Thanks to this, your soulfire harvesting also sped up.]

[The people grew even more respectful.]

[Servia, kind-hearted and cloaked in her half-cape, also bonded with them.]

[She often helped them settle into life in the tower, and each time she did, she felt genuine joy.]

[You were pleased to see this.]

[Simulation Year 20, Age 37.]

[The massive floating fortress plowed forward through a world now utterly silent. Encounters with living souls grew rare, even among wizards.]

[Though not yet truly dead, the world of wizards showed no signs of life.]

"Servia, this world is terrible, isn’t it?"

"...I will protect you, Lord Wizard."

The silver-armored warrior spoke firmly.

Her heavy blade gleamed.

Following the flicker of emerald at her fingertips.

It cleaved through the thick darkness, severing the skeletal form of a fallen wyvern.

The world’s ruin was irreversible, but at the very least, Servia would guard the light before her.

She refused—she could not bear—to sink back into the darkness of the past.

...

[Simulation Year 22, Age 39.]

[The tower’s population grew further, nearing a hundred.]

[Most were ordinary folk, but a few were wizard apprentices, easing your research burdens.]

[The warrior remained your most trusted knight.]

[She feared the dark, feared thunder.]

[Yet for your safety, she endured her terror, mastering her unease.]

[The only cost was the rapid depletion of the enchanted tome you once gifted her—its light and soundproofing spells nearly exhausted.]

[You replenished it with a new one.]

The cold night wind.

Made the soulfire flicker.

Above, the black sun and crimson moon still loomed, but the Tower of Salvation’s specialized wards perfectly shielded against their eerie presence.

Recreating the stars, the moon, the peaceful skies of old.

"Lord Wizard, I feel like I’ve troubled you again..."

At the tower’s peak.

Xu Xi and Servia conversed.

Handed the new tome, the warrior flushed slightly, ashamed of burdening Xu Xi—unworthy of her role as his guardian knight.

But Xu Xi only smiled.

Softly: "If it’s you, Servia, it’s no trouble at all."

"!!!!!"

Warrior Servia’s eyes widened.

Warrior Servia’s mind short-circuited.

Warrior Servia took the tome and fled in disarray.

...

[Simulation Year 23, Age 40.]

[Time’s passage and death’s erosion left your appearance untouched.]

[You remained youthful, though your every movement now carried deeper spiritual resonance, pressing upon the tower’s inhabitants like an unseen weight.]

[Your soul had reached its limit.]

[You were ready to advance to a Fourth-Circle Wizard.]

"So slow..."

"Compared to cultivation, magic, or martial arts, wizardry’s progress is sluggish."

"But that’s to be expected."

"Few paths explore the truths of the world as early as wizardry does."

The Tower of Salvation halted.

To ensure a smooth breakthrough.

Xu Xi secluded himself, adjusting his state.

Servia stood guard outside the meditation chamber, her greatsword steady, her senses sharpened by detection spells, alert to any disturbance.

"Now, then."

"Spiritual convergence, soul amplification, perception enhancement, the Sight of Observation."

"Life-tree leaves, water of eternity."

"Every preparation for ascension has been made."

"All that remains is the final step—for me to begin, to shift from observing the world to shaping it."

Within the chamber.

Silence reigned.

The darkness was so absolute it seemed to erase space and time.

At forty, Xu Xi sat alone, summoning his staff.

Crack—

Crack—

An invisible, surging force of soul energy erupted from within, a terrifying tide unseen.

The darkness twisted—and shattered.