Chat Group Crossover: My System Simulates Infinite Anime Worlds — Chapter 57

Chapter 57: I Gift My Sword to You

Thinking on this, you let out a silent sigh, clutching the Evoltruster a little closer. You would keep it as a memento. After all, you had lived as a recluse in this world for centuries, a long, quiet rest you felt you had more than earned.

If this device could indeed travel with you to other worlds, it would serve as a powerful trump card, one to be held in reserve.

You believed such power should only be unleashed at the most critical junctures. Whenever possible, it was better to resolve matters with your own strength.

Time flowed on, a slow and inexorable river, and gradually, your name was forgotten by the people of the Xianzhou. You merely smiled at this, a flicker of indifference in your gaze. Leaving a legacy for eternity or being reviled for ten thousand years—such things were no longer your pursuit. Once you had experienced enough, you understood that all of it was little more than smoke and passing clouds.

Over the past dozen years, Jingliu, Jing Yuan, Dan Feng, Bai Heng, and Yingxing had forged the legendary reputation of the High-Cloud Quintet, clashing with the Denizens of Abundance more times than you could count.

As a short-lived species, the passage of time was particularly evident on Yingxing. Once a whirlwind of activity on the front lines, his advancing age had begun to pull him back, consigning him to a role in the rear.

Meanwhile, you could feel the backlash within your own body growing more intense with each passing day.

Though you kept it suppressed with your Sword Qi and Sword Intent, you knew the day of reckoning would come, sooner or later.

In Star Calendar 7379, you had been in this world for over one thousand years. You were just marveling at how quickly time flew when the piercing shriek of alarm sirens ripped through the tranquility.

Under the leadership of Shuhu, an Emanator of Abundance, a coalition of the Denizens—the Borisin and the Wingweavers—launched a full-scale assault against the Luofu and the Yuque.

The attack had been long premeditated. The Emanator’s power spread like a plague, instantly corrupting nearly half of the Luofu’s celestial paradises.

Jingliu, Dan Feng, Bai Heng, and Yingxing were caught in the initial wave. Though they remained unharmed, it was clear they had been taken hostage, their very presence a tool to drag you onto the field.

The news reached you in an instant. Sword in hand, you walked out of your small courtyard, the scent of its quiet garden a stark contrast to the chaos now engulfing the star-skiff. You felt a grim sense of finality. What was meant to come had finally arrived.

Looking down at the blade in your hand, you flicked it lightly. “Old friend,” you murmured, “it seems my time is up. Please, take care of Jingliu for me.”

The longsword in your grasp let out a low, resonant hum, a clear sign that it understood. Having been nourished for years by your Sword Intent and the ambient power of various Paths, the blade had long since developed a spirit of its own.

You rushed to the heart of the conflict. Before you, a grotesque living planet, the command center of the Abundance fleet, swarmed with countless Denizens locked in a brutal struggle against the Cloud Knights.

From his perch atop the living planet, Shuhu saw you arrive and burst into loud, grating laughter.

“You have finally come! But look at you… you are already at your end. Why not join us? I can grant you a second life.”

You raised your longsword high, your voice soft yet carrying across the void. “Did you misunderstand something? You are right, I am nearing my end. But I still have the strength for one final blow.”

Hearing this, Shuhu’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I don’t believe you would dare strike that blow! You must know that your friends, your disciple, are all in my hands.”

Without another wasted word, you swung your sword. A gentle, almost lazy arc. And then, that star-destroying brilliance bloomed once more.

As the wave of Sword Qi swept past the Cloud Knights, their wounds knitted shut and their vigor was restored. But when it washed over the coalition of Abundance, it became the deadliest of poisons.

The Borisin and Wingweavers were shrouded in an aura of black decay, their forms crumbling into piles of ash that scattered on the solar winds.

The living planet itself began to erode, its fleshy surface dissolving at a visible rate.

As that power touched him, Shuhu’s pupils constricted. He recognized a force within it that was of the same origin as his own—it was the power of Abundance, twisted and refined into an instrument of pure destruction.

A cold, knowing laugh escaped his lips, a smile that seemed to say, I look forward to your future performance. He knew the Xianzhou Alliance would never accept an Emanator of Abundance. Spreading his arms wide, he faced his annihilation with unnerving calm.

Shuhu was cleaved in two. His body fell to the ground as two piles of twitching flesh. Though no consciousness remained, the mounds of tissue continued to wriggle, possessed of a tenacious, horrifying vitality.

You walked across the surface of the dying planet and found them: Jingliu, Bai Heng, Dan Feng, and the others. But all four had already been infected by Shuhu’s corrupted flesh.

A massive headache bloomed behind your eyes. You were a master of destruction, but this kind of delicate work was far beyond your skill.

Your gaze fell to the Evoltruster nestled in your robes. It seemed its time had finally come.

Seeing that they were still lost in unconsciousness, you drew the device and, in a flash of silver light, transformed into the human-sized form of Nexus.

With a gentle wave of your hand, a beam of pure light descended, casting a cell-reconstruction field over the four of them, purging the corruption from their bodies.

The transformation receded. You stumbled, reverting to your normal form, and drove your sword into the ground to support your weight. Using the power of Nexus had been a terrible strain on your already compromised body.

You looked down at your arms. Gnarled, branch-like growths were sprouting from your skin. You swore a silent, bitter oath. If you ever gained enough power to return to this world, you would find a way to slap the Aeon of Equilibrium. Twice.

Because of her superior constitution, Jingliu was the first to awaken.

Her eyes fluttered open, and the moment she saw your state, her pupils contracted into sharp pinpricks of horror. With a final effort, you pulled your sword from the ground and tossed it before her. Then, slowly, you spread your arms.

“Jingliu,” you said, your voice strained but clear. “Remember what I taught you. Hurry. Do it. Kill me.”

Her eyes trembled violently, a fierce psychological war raging within their depths. Her hand reached out, shaking, and her fingers closed around the hilt of the sword you had thrown. Step by agonizing step, she walked toward you.

Biting her rosy lip until it nearly bled, she imbued the blade with the power of her Path and thrust it directly into your chest.

You had abandoned all defense. The longsword pierced your heart with ease. You felt the destructive power of the Path of the Hunt erupting within you, frantically destroying everything.

You raised a hand, gently stroking her hair as a gentle smile graced your lips.

“Jingliu, remember this one thing: no matter what tomorrow brings, you must live on. Live, even if you have to do so shamelessly. This is the last lesson I will teach you.” Your voice softened to a whisper. “Also… I gift my sword to you.”

With those final words, you closed your eyes, gave her a gentle push, and collapsed to the ground.

You did not feel the cold arrival of death. Instead, there was a strange sensation, as if your entire body was dissolving, turning into pure energy and dissipating into the air.

Jingliu stood there, frozen, clutching your sword. Her eyes had become hollow, vacant. She slowly squatted to the ground, hugging her legs, a deep sorrow washing over her as if she had lost something irreplaceable.

But just as Jingliu was lost in her daze, a new horror unfolded.

As if drawn by the fluctuation of your dissipating energy, as if guided by some invisible hand, the writhing piles of Shuhu’s flesh slithered across the ground and appeared beside your dissolving body.

The corrupted mass began to consume you. You saw it happening. ‘I hope this doesn’t cause a major misunderstanding,’ you thought with a final, desperate flicker of awareness.

You wanted to scream, to warn her, but it felt as if your mouth was sealed shut. No sound could escape. You were helpless, a silent witness to the impending tragedy.