It was the strange substance that Huai Shi had seen before.
A viscous, pitch-like liquid surged in every nook and cranny, with deformed appendages springing from it, endless and unceasing, twitching like someone in their death throes, trying to grasp at anything within reach.
Vainly seeking a non-existent hope.
"Ah, ah, Sun Caster, I beg... I beg for Mercy..."
Countless twisted faces overlapped each other, constantly emerging. As the Perpetual Core operated, they screeched hoarsely, emitting a tragic wail.
"Don't go... Don't leave... Don't abandon..."
"Please, save me..."
"Please, you..."
"...grant salvation!"
In that moment, Huai Shi stood frozen in place, immobilized by the lament that hit him full on.
Pain like a tidal wave, boundless, turning into a sky-high surge.
In a realm of darkness, countless shattered records transformed into the Hell and the Abyss from tens of millions of years ago, engulfing him.
It was as if he were an onlooker wandering between the curtains of a grand play.
In an instant, he saw the decay of all things, the arrival of the end, the extinguishing of the sun and the moon, the drying of the earth. He saw how the massive world slowly sank into Hell.
And he saw... how this unrecognizable everything was once again re-forged by them.
To redeem the world, they recast heaven and earth. To return to Paradise, they recreated all things: iron trees, copper birds, steel walking beasts, and even stars cast from silver.
In the end, the eternal power descended within this Paradise.
And with it came the despair of Hell.
As the sun, symbolizing salvation, rose, the unexpected transformation shrouded the entire Hell—a transformation the Forgers never imagined.
Countless smiling faces gradually grew rigid, rapidly cracked, and fell apart...
Eternal life, under the illumination of the eternal sun, finally reached its ultimate metamorphosis—behind the porcelain-like shattered shells, flowed a viscous, tar-like sludge...
Then, one by one, involuntarily flying towards the tower, they merged into the Eternal Frozen Core like parts.
In indescribable pain, they cried out, but no relief came. In unending despair, they longed for an end that would never arrive.
The Forgers finally understood what had happened.
But everything was beyond redemption.
Their immortality had begun.
As Huai Shi aimlessly wandered through this Hell, he was surrounded by innumerable piercing shrieks.
Was this Hell ever born from failure?
He finally understood how the so-called Perpetual Motion Machines were created and how the endless eternal power was materialized...
They had recast heaven and earth, the sun, the moon, and all things. They had recreated the world and the Eternal Life Machine. They had even achieved the eternal power that sustained the foundation of all ages—the Eternal Frozen Core.
They had, indeed, accomplished all that.
They did not fail. They are all still alive.
All of them.
Right here in this Hell they forged with their own hands!
The so-called Eternal Life Machine was one and the same as the Eternal Frozen Heart!
And the power source of the Eternal Frozen Heart was all those who had used the Eternal Life Machine to survive in Hell... They all were assimilated by Hell, transformed into a sludge-like, ghastly substance that hung within the Core.
Like batteries that never ran out.
In an endless agony with no sight of an end, they continuously generated despair, becoming an inexhaustible energy and power for the Hell Workshop Masters to squander.
There was no escape.
For thousands of years, for tens of thousands of years, they wailed through eternity until reaching ruin's end, the deepest part of the Abyss...
Now, Huai Shi finally understood where everything he had seen in the illusions originated from, and who had witnessed the destruction depicted in the scene before his eyes.
"Sun Caster... Oh, exalted supreme one..."
Countless writhing and twisted maniacal faces emerged from the sludge, staring at Huai Shi's location—no, staring at the former Sun Caster—futilely calling out.
"I beg... beg for your mercy..."
This time, Huai Shi finally heard their words clearly.
"Please, save us..."
The voices of countless laments rose again. In their suffering, they called out, longed for, and hoped that the last hero would bring them a miracle.
A humble prayer, containing their last shred of hope.
"Please... kill us!"
This was their final wish.
But even so, it was already an unattainable, luxurious dream.
They tried every means, attempted all possibilities, until even other Kings of Casting one by one lost the power to resist and gradually turned into sludge.
No more hope was left for this land.
Only the Sun Caster aimlessly wandered in this empty Hell.
"Don't be afraid, I will save you, I must be able to save you, definitely," he repeated over and over, hollowly whispering, "So please, wait for me..."
This was the despairing cry of the last survivor in the perpetual eternity.
"—Please, don't leave me behind."
* * *
He no longer knew how much time had passed, or what else had transpired.
Too many records flooded Huai Shi's soul—the downfall of the Town of Dusk, the casting of the Eternal Frozen Heart, the descent of the Hell Workshop Masters, the countless failed rebellions.
Too much history and far too prolonged pain were carried in the records of the Sun Caster, engraved within this Hell.
Just by observing, one could become infected by boundless despair.
Huai Shi felt himself falling faster and beginning to dissolve.
He had ventured too deep—as before, drawn by the pull of Hell, he began to step towards assimilation.
Until a cracked hand grasped his shoulder, pulling him up, abruptly halting Hell's assimilation.
Then, using its last bit of strength, the hand pushed him upward, out! Away from this endless nightmare.
"...Condra?"
In the final moment, Huai Shi saw that familiar uniform and, on the mechanically-altered face, lips that opened and closed with difficulty, offering a silent farewell to the world of the living, with a smile.