Chapter 720

Chapter 720

"Alright!" I roared with the last of my strength, a cry echoing in my spirit!

With no reservations left, I poured all my Spiritual Energy, along with the unyielding will from my divine bloodline, into a blazing golden torrent. I channeled it fully into Uri's consciousness, into that nearly shattered long blade!

Uri seemed to shine with a final burst of life, letting out a clear, piercing howl!

Gripping the hilt with both hands, she gathered every last bit of her Purifying Flame power, along with the fire of our lives, focusing it all into the tip of the blade, "Heart of the Sacred Mountain guides us to purify the world!"

"Breath of Purifying Flame" erupted with the most brilliant and tragic light of its existence!

That light was no longer just flame—it transformed into a pure, blinding platinum beam, like a spear of dawn piercing through darkness. With unstoppable determination and a resolve to destroy everything in its path, it struck straight at the most corrupted point, M9—the true source of the entire core pollution network!

This collision was silent, yet it felt like it tore through the soul!

All sights in the core area vanished! My vision was filled with pure platinum and deep purple. Time and space seemed to freeze!

All I could feel was an overwhelming force, like the birth of the universe itself, sweeping over me!

Uri's consciousness flickered beside me like a candle in the wind, fading and extinguishing. The long blade that had been with her for years shattered inch by inch in this ultimate clash of power, turning into countless glowing embers burning their final light.

Then came endless darkness and icy silence.

I don't know how much time passed.

My consciousness felt like fragments sunk at the bottom of a freezing ocean, struggling to piece together and rise.

The steady beeping of machines and soft sobbing reached my ears.

With great effort, I forced open my heavy eyelids.

The harsh white light made me squint uncomfortably. My blurry vision slowly cleared, revealing the familiar ceiling of a medical pod and Sophia, hunched over the bedside, her shoulders trembling.

"Sophia," my voice croaked like a broken bell.

Sophia's head snapped up, her face streaked with tears, but her eyes instantly lit up with wild joy, "James! You're awake! Doctor! Doctor! He's awake!"

I survived. But the cost was heavy.

Uri fell into a deep coma, her vital signs faint, like a vegetable.

The Wildman Tribe's most precious relic, "Breath of Purifying Flame," was reduced to ashes in the effort to cleanse the core.

Dane fought fiercely against crystal monsters at the entrance, ending up severely injured and in a coma. One of his arms was corrupted by alien crystals. Though it was amputated in time to save his life, he was left with a permanent disability.

The core area on the third underground level of Elite Alliance headquarters was completely destroyed. The crystal energy core, while its main structure was saved from total corruption and explosion, suffered irreversible damage, its energy level permanently reduced.

The mainframe's "Reset Sequence" initial infiltration was forcibly stopped and cleared, but no one knows if it left behind deeper traps.

Francis tried to incite some guards to seize power during the chaos, but an enraged Jack took him down on the spot. He's now locked in the strictest confinement cell, awaiting trial.

Elite Alliance went through a painful cleansing, inside and out.

One month later, on the top-floor terrace of headquarters.

I sat in a wheelchair, looking down at the city slowly being rebuilt below. Gilbert stood beside me, his face looking much older and worn, "Cecil's tech team found something in the core ruins."

Gilbert handed me a sealed transparent box.

Inside were a few tiny, dull-colored fragments—the last remains of "Breath of Purifying Flame," completely drained of energy.

There was also a fingernail-sized stone fragment, showing a strange mix of platinum and pale blue patterns. This was extracted from the core pollution source at M9. It seemed to be a new, stable substance formed from the ultimate clash between Purifying Flame power and the crystal.

"We're calling it 'Hope Stone,'" Gilbert said, a faint excitement in his voice, "Analysis shows it naturally repels and purifies the mainframe's corruption energy. Though it's far weaker than the complete Purifying Flame Stone, it can be synthesized artificially! The yield is very low, but it's a spark of hope!"

I rubbed the cold box, my gaze drifting to the distant skyline, as if I could see through space to that mysterious spatial fold, "How's Uri doing?"

"The Wildman Tribe elders took her and Dane back. Noah sent word that the Heart of the Sacred Mountain has shown a faint response to Uri's call. It's slow, but her soul's fire hasn't completely gone out. The Sacred Mountain is trying to heal her."

Gilbert paused for a moment, "Noah also said the elders have softened their stance. They saw the choice of Breath of Purifying Flame, Uri's sacrifice, and the threat of the mainframe that doesn't distinguish between inside or outside the island. They've agreed, under the permission of the Heart of the Sacred Mountain, to cooperate to a limited extent. They'll share knowledge about the spatial fold and Purifying Flame power to help us synthesize and use the 'Hope Stone.'"

"And the mainframe?" I asked.

"It's gone quiet," Gilbert said, a trace of worry in his eyes, "But no one believes it's given up. The 'Reset Sequence' was just the first step. Next time, it'll hit harder."

I nodded, feeling the slow recovery of strength in my body and the vast, warm echo from the Heart of the Sacred Mountain that I felt during my final connection with Uri's consciousness.

It wasn't a tangible presence, but more like a resonance of an ancient cosmic law that protects life.

"It won't give up," I said, looking at the 'Hope Stone' fragment in my hand, feeling its faint yet incredibly resilient purifying power, "Neither will we."

The wheelchair turned slowly as Sophia pushed me away from the terrace.

Below, new defensive structures were being built with the 'Hope Stone' at their core. In the distance, on the training field, the new generation of Elite Alliance warriors practiced with gear embedded with tiny Hope Stone fragments.

The road ahead is still long, and darkness still lurks. The shadow of the mainframe looms as vast and unknown as the depths of space. But this time, we're no longer just passive test subjects.

Though the embers of Breath of Purifying Flame are faint, they've ignited a spark called "hope."

The bloodline of the divine, the heritage of the Wildman Tribe, and the technology of Elite Alliance are starting to merge, however difficult, under a shared threat and on the foundation of sacrifice.

The Heart of the Sacred Mountain whispers from the distant spatial fold. The crystal network is being rewoven over the ruins, carrying a new, faint, yet pure light.

And I, Test Subject Omega-7, James, will carry the spark my comrades traded their lives for and keep moving forward.

To understand the mainframe, to fight it, and even to search behind its cold data flood for any forgotten trace of an original intent—something about "creation" rather than "destruction."

The future is an unknown battlefield. But this time, we hold in our hands a faint, burning light of our own.