Chapter 297: She Bought It?!
"It has ended."
Noxian blinked and watched the House of Night return to normal.
It was pitch-black earlier—as the Final Night suddenly made her move, swallowing the moon and stars. Something happened to Kai in the waking world, and she was angry. And the House of Night suffered the full brunt of it.
During the pitch-black, the Nightborns suffered immensely.
All of them were tied to the House of Night, to the Final Night.
A devastating disturbance like earlier put an immense strain on them—and at this point, some weaker Nightborns on the first floor must’ve perished. If they didn’t perish from the first roar of the Final Night, then the strain would crush them into nothing.
Fortunately, it didn’t last long, so there shouldn’t be that many Nightborns erased.
It took a good moment for Noxian to recover.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Then, he shook his head and sat down on the wooden stair again.
He closed his eyes—and focused on his connection with the First Son of the Primordial Night to check whether he was now fine or not. A frown crept to his face behind his helmet when he noticed something.
"Hm? He’s in the House of Night?"
Upon coming to that realization, the air churned.
Noxian scanned the border of his domain and saw the darkness beyond was shuddering, like it was afraid of the coming of a horror beyond comprehension. And then, when he turned his head and looked forward, he noticed a figure approaching.
A familiar figure.
"First Son?" He mumbled, recognizing the figure as Kai.
Initially, he thought that Kai was coming alone, but then he looked closer.
Kai’s arm was raised, and his hand seemed to be clasping something.
Once he had gotten closer, Noxian’s eyes widened when he realized the figure beside Kai was a presence of darkness. An entity of absolute darkness, so vast and silent it couldn’t be viewed by normal eyes.
All Noxian could see was the dark outline of her form.
She drifted into his domain without a sound, floating as if the soil was unworthy of her feet.
From the outline, Noxian could see her head turned left and right as if she was inspecting the domain and then looked forward, dismissing the domain as nothing more than the nest of an insect.
And only then did the Final Night spare Noxian her attention.
Immediately, Noxian was planted onto the floor.
Not by sheer force that pressed down on his body, but more like his body simply lost strength in an instant, as if the very will to stand had been stolen from his bones and muscles. Noxian crumpled to the floor, limp and helpless.
Struggling was meaningless.
Strength, willpower, even the desire to rise—all of it could be ended by the Final Night.
Just a passing thought from her would unravel him completely.
"It’s kind of dark right here," Kai mumbled, oblivious to Noxian right up ahead as he was still looking up at the sky as he walked. "Is it only me—or has the House of Night become darker? I don’t remember it being this dark."
Snap—!
Dotingly, not wanting him to be inconvenienced at all, the Goddess snapped her fingers.
Almost instantly, the pale light from the moon and stars shifted, lighting up the entire place.
"Oh, that’s far better." Kai nodded his head in approval, and then paused when he saw a dark figure on the floor not too far away from him. He raised a brow, confused—and then realized who it was. "Noxian?"
"Nightborn," the Goddess looked down at Noxian with cold eyes. "You are allowed to lift up your head."
Noxian twitched and then lifted his head to look at the Goddess and Kai.
His movements were reduced to what the Goddess allowed.
"Mother, you’re the one who did this? Did you suppress him?"
"Yes. Lower spawn such as this Nightborn only have a place under my feet."
Kai blinked, surprised by her answer.
He then quickly shook his head and snapped out of his daze.
"Mother, he’s the first Nightborn that I get to know! His power helped me survive!"
"Don’t get too fond of Nightborns—dear son. It didn’t matter if its power helped you. That’s the sole reason of its existence, so you have nothing to be thankful for. Had it not helped you, I would simply end it for good."
"But I’m already fond of him! Let him stand up, mother. Please?"
For a second, the Goddess looked at Kai’s pleading face and eventually sighed.
She couldn’t possibly refuse his wishes if he was being such a good boy.
"Alright." She finally surrendered and turned her attention back to Noxian again. With great reluctance, she lifted her power from Noxian, allowing him to have motor control again. "Rise, and be grateful to my son for allowing you to stand."
"Thank you, Final Night," Noxian said as he pushed himself from the ground and then faced Kai. "Thank you, First Son of the Primordial Night, for allowing me to stand. It’s a great honour to be given such liberty."
"Why are you so rigid?" Kai laughed—and slapped his back. "It’s nothing worth mentioning. Also, speak freely like you normally would."
Noxian could only bow.
’How am I supposed to speak freely?’ He thought inside, feeling the burning gaze on the side of his face as the Goddess watched him silently. Kai might’ve genuinely wanted him to speak freely, but there’s no chance he would do that.
Kai finally turned to the Goddess again.
"Right... Why are we here again?"
"For your gift."
Slowly, the Goddess raised her hand and pointed her index finger at Noxian.
A strand of darkness shot out and struck Noxian in the forehead—causing his head to recoil backward. Something happened to his insides, but he didn’t quite understand what. He could only feel the invasive darkness seeping into the deepest part of him.
"You will provide your next Ending Fragment for my son." The Goddess stated.
"W-What...?" Noxian recovered and touched his forehead. "It’s still too powerful for him."
"I already made it docile. There will be no further trouble."
"I-I understand..."
Noxian walked over to Kai and pressed a finger against his forehead. Energy coiled inside and then shot into Kai’s forehead. Kai thought that it would be painful, but all he felt was a light push to his forehead.
And then, a notification popped into his vision.
[You now have access to the True Arc Ending Fragment]
...
[Ending Fragment: True Arc (Incomplete)]
Your mastery over the slashing motion has reached an unprecedented level. Your slashes are now one with the natural friction of the world—allowing your slash to reach a finger’s width further, extending slightly beyond the physical, tangible edge. Complete this ending fragment to develop Sanguine Seeker.
...
Kai’s eyes sparkled with excitement as he instantly got the True Arc Ending Fragment.
Even though it was still incomplete, this was the Ending Fragment from Noxian, so it must be really strong. But then, as he read what it was, a frown crept to his face. "How can this Ending Fragment be too strong for me? It seemed simple."
"It is simple, but don’t let its simplicity fool you." Noxian pulled away.
He wanted to say something, but spared a glance at the Goddess, asking for permission.
Only when she gave a nod did he finally look at Kai again.
"All Ending Fragments—or those that belonged to Nightborns below the fourth floor utilized one source of power. Inner spirit." He explained as Kai listened attentively. "Inner Spirit is a source of power composed of the essences of the body, like stamina, silent mutation, and also the mind."
Kai reflected what Noxian said.
He reflected the Perfect Slash Ending Fragment that utilized silent mutation that allowed his body to move perfectly only during the slashing motion. Reflected the Stone Ending Fragment that is also the same, giving him the Inner Strength of Stone. And then the Reckless Ruin and Retribution Ending Fragment that relies on all three essences of the body.
And then he nodded as his understanding of the Ending Fragment grew.
"But the True Arc Ending Fragment does not rely on any of that. In truth, it relies only on the House of Night." Noxian raised his arm and turned it into a sword. He swung it to the side—the tip never touched the shallow water, yet the water split and splashed, as if struck by an unseen edge. "Even exhausted. Even broken. Even at the border of death. The True Arc will remain."
Kai’s eyes remained fixed on Noxian’s sword-arm.
Just earlier, he watched the sword-arm swing towards the shallow water and saw something.
An almost-invisible distortion along its sharp edge.
It was the distortion that struck the shallow water. An invisible reach that was hard to see.
"Also, it has mild elemental control. The transparent edge is made entirely of wind that was absorbed from the slash." Noxian reverted his arm back to normal. "I trained for two hundred and fifty years to achieve this power."
"T-Two hundred and fifty years...?" Kai gasped.
One hundred years for the Perfect Slash Ending Fragment.
Just that alone was already impossibly long for Kai—and yet the True Arc required even more than that. Two hundred and fifty years. That’s more than two lifetimes. Pure dedication manifested into sheer power.
It was unbelievable.
"How old even are you?" Kai asked out of reflex.
Noxian tilted his head. "Much, much older than the number you’re thinking right now."
"Do you like the gift?" the Goddess asked tenderly with a doting smile on her lips.
"Of course, I lik—" Kai paused—the gears in his brain worked overtime as a thought came to mind. "I thought it would be better than this. Mother—do you know how hard it was for me to achieve my goals?"
Almost instantly, the Goddess’ smile froze.
She looked at Kai and noticed his saddened expression as he turned away, shoulders heavy.
"I guess my suffering only amounted to this much." He said with heavy exhaustion.
Seeing this, Noxian’s eyes twitched.
’Is he pretending to sulk right now? He almost leaped in excitement earlier, and suddenly, he didn’t like the gift that much?’ He thought inside, clearly understanding that Kai was pretending. ’Did he really think the Final Night is dumb enough to not be able to te—?
"W-What? Of course, not!" the Goddess immediately said. She reached for Kai’s shoulder, but he walked away and sighed more heavily. "How could I only give one gift for my precious son’s big moment? I’m not that heartless. This is only my first gift! Yes, only my first gift!
"L-Let’s go to your next gift. Come on."
Noxian’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing right before his very eyes.
’She bought it?!’