—–

Maybe it’s better if Song stays outside. Seeing the whole process might make him go crazy if he sees his parents suddenly.

Well, suddenly beginning to die.

…

Yeah, it’s for the better.

“Song…”

Her mother sighed, walking to his side.

“My dear, what have I told you before?”

“T-That… that I should be strong no matter what?”

“Indeed. No matter what happens, no matter what comes for you, for us… No matter what. You must remain strong.”

“But mama… I don’t want you to die…”

“I know you don’t want me to die… I don’t want to die either.”

She hugged him tightly.

“But this has to be done. This is the last hope we have,” she said. “I might look fine, but… even with the strength I’ve gained, the nanomachines remain powerful… I’ve been in pain since they entered my body. Slowly, they’re killing me. And… I don’t want to imagine what could happen if they eventually take over my entire body. I don’t… want to harm any of you if that were to happen.”

“Mom…” Song cried. “I…”

“Song.”

Her father stepped forward, looking down at him with his menacing, crimson eyes.

“Papa…”

However, his menacing, tenebrous appearance changed as he kneeled before his son and hugged him tenderly.

“You must remain strong, alright? You still have to save your other half. It doesn’t matter what happens to us. You have a mission,” he said. “And for that, you must remain strong.”

“…” Song sighed, looking down.

“I love you, son,” he said.

“P-Papa…” Song looked at his father.

“Never forget it,” he smiled. “Alright? You’re the only thing that… that has made me feel like I am not a monster. For the first time through my thousands of years of life… You’re my little miracle.”

“Daddy!” Song ended up hugging his father even tighter as he continued crying on his chest.

“I love you too,” her mother said. “We’ll always do.”

His two parents hugged him and then looked into his eyes.

“No matter what happens to us.”

“No matter where we go…”

“And no matter where you are…”

“We’ll always love you, and we’ll always be with you.”

Song gripped his fists tightly, cleaning his tears.

“If the worst happens to us… this world is yours, Song,” his father said.

“Please, protect it,” said his mother. “Just as much as we did, and just as much as we loved it…”

“Okay…” Song nodded, looking back into their eyes. “I promise I’ll protect it!”

They smiled happily, finally feeling at ease.

“Good.”

“Now, go.”

Song then looked at me.

I ran towards him and hugged him.

I knew I wasn’t the one being at risk here, but I wanted to give him a little hug at least.

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He’s so baby; I just wanted to comfort him.

“It’ll be alright,” I said. “I’ll do everything in my power, and I mean EVERYTHING, so this doesn’t fail, alright? Even if I have to sacrifice half my soul and all my powers or something, I’m definitely doing it. Okay?”

“Big sis…” Song’s eyes seemed full of hope.

Yes, that’s right…

The only thing I can give him is Hope.

These are the teachings of my master.

His Hope rushed towards me, overflowing like a mighty golden flame.

“Okay, I trust you!” He nodded. “Please, do your best!”

“Sure! Leave it to me!” I nodded, winking at him. “Now go already, little one! Your Aunt Wai Tian and your uncle Fang Shuan will take care of you.”

“Aunt?” Wai Tian blushed a bit.

“Haha, I don’t mind being his uncle,” smiled Fang Shuan. “Good luck, master.”

“I’ll need it,” I nodded.

The door closed, and then countless lights turned on across the gigantic hall within the Mechanical Tree.

“Ready?” Zero Two asked.

Mom and Dad looked at one another.

I could tell, for a moment, they were reminiscing about their life, their past.

“I can’t believe it that right now, we’re together in this gamble for our lives,” laughed the Heavenly Demon. “After we fought so much… after I wished you were dead so much, at the end… I can’t help but wish you lived. I value your life above mine… haha. This is so ironic. Life’s full of irony, isn’t it?”

“Come on, don’t be grumpy now,” giggled the Heavenly Empress. “You’re always so rough around the edges… Just say it already.”

“W-What do you want me to say?” he asked.

“What else?” she asked, smiling.

“…”

He remained in silence for a bit, but after considering everything, he sighed.

“I love you…” he muttered. “I’ll always… I’ll always love you.”

She smiled, hugging him and looking into his eyes.

“And I love you too,” she smiled. “I’ll always do…”

“Let’s go, together…” he said.

“Let’s face death together, head-on,” she nodded.

Until the very end, these two…

They were full of resolution and determination.

Such admirable people!

I can only yearn to one day become like them…

While holding hands, they walked towards the metallic tables and rested over them after taking away all their clothes.

They had to rest face down, as several tubes above them hovered, glowing with blue light.

They closed their eyes as they let fate decide the rest.

But they were wrong in something.

I was never going to let fate decide their outcome.

I’ll grab fate, distort it, and rearrange it with my bare hands if I must.

Even if my skin has to be torn apart, even if my body has to melt, even if my soul is destroyed…

Haha…

Maybe I already have their resolution, huh?

“Anna? Are you ready? It’s going to begin. We need you to stand in front of this machine and touch this tube over here,” said Zero One. “Imbue pure Cosmic Energy inside slowly. This machine works using Cosmic Energy, and using this powerful energy, it’ll begin to rapidly absorb the nanomachines one after another. We’ve calculated that there are currently… three million nanomachines inside of their bodies, a bit more or a bit less. It’ll take hours… Are you ready? Do you think you can do it?”

“What are you saying? I was born for it!” I smiled, nodding. “I’m ready.”

I stepped forward, touching the machine, placing my hand inside the tube, and then infusing cosmic energy.

The machine’s lights activated as a huge meter started filling.

It went from 0% to 100% in a couple of seconds.

“Cosmic Battery at full capacity!” said Zero Two. “Everything’s ready!”

“Then let’s begin,” said Zero One. “Activate Cosmic-Powered Nanomachine Extraction Machine!”

TRUUUM!

The machine activated, rapidly beginning to suck the nanomachines out of the two Venerables.

“Unnggh…!

“Ngaargh!”

They started screaming in pain… Perhaps for the first time since I’ve known them, they were screaming in pain.

And then, tiny little things, small metallic objects, began to be sucked, passing through their flesh, skin, muscles, and feathers.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

As they were absorbed by the tubes, the sound of clanking echoed from within their interior.

“One hundred nanomachines extracted confirmed… It’s working!” Zero One gasped. “Continue procedure!”

We’re doing this no matter what!

“Ugh…! It hurts like hell!”

“This is worse than when I bathed in the Nine Heavenly Volcanoes…!”

The nanomachines continued flying away from their bodies; they seemed strangely paralyzed; the machine itself was constantly stunning them.

If not, they would revolt and immediately gather to fight back. I see, so this is why the machine had to be modified so much; they added such a system into it!

Zero One and Zero Two, and this Mechanical Tree… They really thought about everything to such an extent!

“Five hundred nanomachines confirmed!”

CLANK!

“One thousand…!”

CLANK!

“Ten thousand each…!”

CLANK!

“One hundred thousand!”

CLANK!

“One… one million!”

One million!

They were already halfway through in just ten minutes.

However, their bodies were constantly bleeding; they were vomiting blood, crying blood, and their bodies constantly trembled.

“Nngaaarrggh!”

“Uuuggh!”

If people of such incredible resilience and resolve were crying in agony, the pain must be incommensurable…

They were also unable to use their techniques; they could only rely on their physical strength and stamina.

If they used martial arts or other spiritual techniques, they would disrupt the process.

Therefore, they were completely banned from using any of that…

“One million and five hundred thousand!”

Zero One continued the report.

We were halfway through now!

Halfway through!

We can do this; I know we can do this!

I kept infusing Cosmic Energy, as I started feeling incredibly exhausted.

“Hahh… Hahhh… Hahh…”

I wished there were cosmic energy potions, but there aren’t any of those!

My cosmic energy was already halfway empty; the other half was going to be exhausted quickly.

Can we do it before I run out completely?

Crack…!

“Ugh?!”

Suddenly, I heard a crack.

My Cosmic Heart gained a small crack.

Is this because of overexertion?

“One million seven hundred thousand!”

Crack, crack…!

Are you serious?!

—–

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep