City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Timeflames

As he sat down to think, Richard organised himself and set out a number of tasks for the future. His first priority was to analyse the laws of the Darkness to the point where he could defend himself, and the next was to explore the wastelands and find out which district of the Darkness this was. He then had to find a path to the Land of Dawn, locate Flowsand, and light the Lighthouse of Time to bring it under the control of the Eternal Dragon. That would allow the two of them to return to Norland.

Upon his return to Norland, he would plan his second expedition into Arbidis. Only now, there was an insurmountable obstacle that he had to deal with. No matter how his memories were distorted, he could recall the matchless blade of that man on the throne with perfect accuracy. Just how was he to deal with an attack that held the power of all Arbidis?

He felt like it wasn’t actually possible for an attack to possess all the power of a plane. If that were the case, that man could conquer every other plane in existence with ease. He knew this sort of situation was just a fantasy, and that the system of laws had to continue existing outside of an individual’s strength lest the plane itself collapse. Unfortunately, he had no way to solve the problem right now, and could only wait until he returned to Norland.

Now that he had some energy and mana, he set about depleting them once more. Fuelling his analysis with that power would greatly increase his efficiency, and now wasn’t the time to be miserly. His mana reserves slowly started to drop as he activated his blessings to their fullest.

Two days passed by in the blink of an eye as Richard used Bloodtooth and that burly man as the foundation to finish his seventh law. He then picked up a stone and unsheathed Moonlight, testing his carving skills with a likeness of Sharon. The result was a piece of workmanship that was top-notch even by Norland’s standards, but looking closely he could spot a number of imperfections. The result was a far cry from his masterpieces, but it meant he had recovered half of his control.

Looking at the carving, he felt like he would land in a lot of trouble in this area. Calculating the time, he crushed the stone into powder and left the house. The last thing he needed was a memento of someone who lived in his mind every moment.

“He’s here again! I was there when he killed Bloodtooth ten days ago!” someone hissed as he entered the tavern.

“It was nine days!” someone else cried.

“You buffoons, it was at least eleven!”

As the arguments broke out once more, he scanned the area to find the old man who’d brought him into the town near a window, walking over and sitting down, “Old Barduch?”

“That’s me.”

“Thank you for the help,” he bowed sincerely.

The man chuckled, “Help? My vision isn’t so warped that I can’t see clearly yet. If I allowed those brats to attack you back then, you could have killed everyone in this town. I also had a favour to ask.”

“Hmm? I’m listening,” Richard hedged, completely ignoring the part about killing the entire town.

Barduch stared him in the eye, “A long time ago, there was a very strong person who came here. He was stronger than all of us, but not as strong as you. He brought news of a distant city with thousands of people living there, and a veil of order that is much stronger and wider than our small town. I think you would want to go there anyway, or even further, but I hope you can return once and find a way to build a relationship between this town and the city. That way, we can live on.”

Richard frowned, “Why don’t you people just move?”

The old man forced a smile, “You’ve seen how weak we are. Most of us would perish after leaving the veil of order; even I have no confidence in staying alive to reach the city.”

“Okay… I can help, but I’ll need to see how these veils of orders are made first.”

Barduch finished his soup and stood up, “Follow me, it isn’t a secret.”

Richard followed the old man to a windowless room on the second floor, with a brazier in the middle that had pale gold flames burning within. The flames swayed feebly, but they were emitting strands of timeforce. He was a little surprised by the familiar sight; this was the same kind of brazier that was used outside teleport points in the Eternal Vortex.

So the veils of order were supported by timeflames… Lost in thought, he slowly walked into the room only for his entire body to freeze up and shiver. Barduch seemed to have been prepared, pulling his clothes tightly around himself before he walked in, “This room isn’t empty. Many deceased souls here refuse to dissipate, and just reside for an unknown length of time. The vicinity of the timeflames is the best for these wandering souls, so more and more of them squeeze into this room. I don’t know how many there are.”

Richard’s expression changed for a moment; most people that could come to the Darkness were legendary or close. If he could use the power of Issa to redeem them, he could pull the laws from their souls without even needing to tear them apart. His eyes immediately glowed as he activated the Field of Truth, revealing hundreds of points of light all around. One had to remember that these were all legends or close, with powerful wills to match. A normal person would fall sick simply staying here too long!

These souls had been here for quite some time, and had already been withered down to primitive instinct. They wanted to approach the timeflames, but didn’t dare to get too close. One that got too close was immediately burnt by the flames, shocking the others to hide in the corners for a while. As the burning soul cried out in agony, Barduch sighed, “Another unlucky fellow, but at least it’s a release. Much better than being trapped in this room.”

“Maybe I could help them,” Richard said as he put a hand over the timeflames, “In my name, I grant you Redemption.”

A soft, milky light shone on the timeflames, the fire suddenly bursting into his hand. Motes of light flew out like fireflies from within, merging into the white light and converging into his soul. This brought an end to the suffering of those who were being burnt by the flames.

However, the appearance of Richard’s power didn’t end there. The other souls wandering in the room suddenly lit up, rushing towards their redemption like moths, New faces started appearing on the three tetrahedrons within Richard’s soul, some even close to the top near the devil lords he had killed. Hundreds of powerful wills suddenly rammed into him, leaving him pale as he almost crumpled to the floor.

“What happened?” Barduch ran over in shock.

“Oof… Nothing much, these souls are heavier than I thought. Redeeming them had its price,” Richard said with a bitter laugh.

The old man’s eyes went wide open, “Do you mean… They’re all gone! That is… such a relief. I had no way to influence them, or even destroy them, only watching as they got captured by the flames one by one. I could only comfort myself by saying that entering the timeflames was the beginning of the end, and would allow them to return to eternity… I, too… Thank you. Thank you so much.”