Chapter 183: Toward the Distant Light (2)
[Silvena’s POV]
Click.
After quietly closing the door behind her, Silvena remained standing there without moving for several seconds. Her viridian eyes gradually lowered toward the floor, looking distant and unusually gloomy beneath the dim light of the room.
The memories of the recent battle against the high-level demons were still vividly engraved inside her mind, replaying themselves over and over again no matter how much she tried to push them away.
Ruvian had already warned them beforehand that going there would be dangerous. That the situation could spiral far beyond their expectations at any moment. That they needed to prepare themselves mentally and physically for the worst possible scenario before stepping into that battlefield.
And yet...
Deep within her heart, Silvena still believed that everything would somehow work out in the end.
After all, Ruvian was there. With his strange foresight ability, he always seemed one step ahead of fate. Time and time again, he had already proven it to them.
And so, because of that, Silvena had unconsciously begun relying on him far more than she realized.
Though, when she saw the shocked expression on Ruvian’s face after he had learned that Princess Lovia was the one who saved them...
It told her clearly enough.
Even he had never saw that coming.
Silvena slowly leaned the back of her head against the door now, her eyes quietly staring upward toward the ceiling.
’I really need to become stronger...’
The exhaustion from the battle still weighed heavily on her body, yet sleep felt impossibly distant. Perhaps it was because of how helpless she had felt at that time.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, an old memory returned.
A younger version of herself reaching desperately toward a familiar figure. A trembling hand that could not quite bridge the distance between them. Her voice breaking as she screamed for her mother, but there was nothing she could do to help her.
She had been too weak at that time.
Too weak to change anything.
The memory faded as quickly as it came, yet the lingering ache remained, quietly piercing through her chest like a thorn that had never truly been removed.
A faint sting slowly gathered around her eyes before she immediately raised her hand and lightly slapped her own cheeks, forcing herself to regain composure before those emotions could sink any deeper.
’Haa... crying over the past won’t change anything.’
She slowly exhaled afterward, tightening her fingers slightly as if trying to steady her own heart.
’If I stay weak... then eventually, I’ll just end up watching someone precious to me disappear again.’
That thought alone was enough to make her chest feel unbearably heavy.
For a moment, Silvena simply remained there in silence, quietly listening to the faint sound of her own breathing while countless thoughts slowly drifted through her mind.
Then, another figure naturally surfaced within those thoughts.
Ruvian.
His tired expression earlier.
The way he seemed to be always constantly carrying burdens alone while pretending everything was still under control.
’...Yeah, I also need to become stronger so that I can continue helping him.’
The thought emerged softly inside her mind. Because to Silvena, Ruvian’s existence itself already felt far too extraordinary for someone his age.
The ability to glimpse fragments of the future — no matter how many times she thought about it, such a power simply should not exist in the hands of an ordinary person.
After all, the future was something even the greatest sages throughout history had failed to fully perceive.
Countless legendary figures had spent their entire lives chasing after Heaven’s hidden will, yet most of them ultimately returned empty-handed despite sacrificing everything they possessed in pursuit of that impossible truth.
However, Ruvian possessed an ability capable of doing exactly that.
Perhaps imperfectly, but even then, it was already enough to defy common sense itself.
It was already amazing!
Because abilities tied to fate, prophecy, or Heaven’s will had never once been ordinary throughout history.
Every single one of them had always been connected to catastrophe. Just like the tale of Necraz Lox Mevilion that her late mother used to read to her.
And now, with the demons beginning to stir from the shadows once more after remaining silent for so long, Silvena could not help but feel that the world itself was slowly beginning to move toward another age of chaos.
An era where countless people would inevitably die.
An era where bloodshed and despair would once again spread across the world just like the dark periods recorded throughout ancient history.
History had always repeated itself, after all.
Whenever darkness grew too deep, whenever humanity stood at the edge of ruin, Heaven would eventually choose several individuals to rise against it.
The Virtuous Paragons.
Figures that were blessed by fate itself.
Warriors that were destined to stand at the forefront of a collapsing era and guide humanity toward salvation no matter how impossible the situation appeared.
That was why Silvena believed it was only a matter of time before a new generation of Virtuous Paragons appeared once again in this era.
And honestly, when she looked at Ruvian, she could no longer see him as merely an ordinary academy student anymore. His strange foresight ability. His calmness in the face of danger. And the way he always seemed to move several steps ahead of everyone else....
All of it slowly made him feel more and more distant from ordinary people. As though he was already walking toward a destiny that others could neither understand nor follow.
Perhaps because of that, Silvena could no longer shake away the feeling that one day, Ruvian would inevitably become one of those chosen figures as well — one of the Virtuous Paragons who would stand against the coming darkness.
And perhaps because of those thoughts...
She wanted to become stronger as well.
Strong enough to walk forward alongside him until the very end. And strong enough to remain behind those distant heroes and lend them her strength one day. (+300PP)
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[Chapter 183: Toward the Distant Light (2)]
Plot Points= 15,720
