Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 205 Are You Our Common Memory?

After enduring three sword skills from the Martial God Emperor Karna, the martial arts secret he displayed, [Illusionary Collapse of the Moon - Smile of the Bright Moon], also came to an end. Although he still had half of his health left, Olvera, who had already gained confidence, was no longer afraid of fighting him.

After she took back the Holy Lock, she slowly turned around and stared at the majestic giant who was still swinging his sword and the volcano below him. In the devastated ruins, she whispered, "I told you, I will win."

It was not to prove her strength, but she simply wanted to win. Because if she didn't win, she would have no way to leave here, fight against the curse that had caused her great pain, and bravely pursue her new life.

The face of the Martial God Emperor Karna was frozen and silent, but the corners of his mouth suddenly moved. He seemed to smile, but he was too far away and too tall, so Ovira did not see the smile. She only heard his voice. His tone had returned to its original rich and steady tone, without that passionate and enthusiastic fighting spirit: "No, Princess of Bemang."

"You've already won."

"Eh?" Olvera was stunned, not quite believing her ears: "What did you say?"

"I said, you've already won."

Emperor Martial God Karna began to retract his fierce aura, and his body shrank at the same time, and soon returned to the state when he first appeared. He stepped on the ruins left after the collapse of the stone pillars and high walls, turned to the princess and said, his deep eyes were full of satisfaction and appreciation: "You have proved yourself and successfully passed this trial."

"But I haven't defeated you yet..."

"You can't defeat her with strength alone. The most important thing is—" He put his hand on his chest, his eyes deep: "Your heart."

Karna shook his head slowly. "It has nothing to do with deception with words. Whether you understand the truth of the trial or not, you must fight me with all your strength. Because victory or defeat does not mean anything. Only fighting can let me know what kind of belief you have in mind to come here."

Ovilla was speechless for a moment, and thought carefully about what he said after he appeared, and found that it seemed to be true.

Ovilla was distracted by his words for a moment, and then she realized that the day when she would escape from this cage was not far away. However, she had never seriously thought about her life after leaving the castle as he said, as if she would have achieved her life goal as long as she left the castle. But in fact, that was just a starting point.

It turns out that's the case.

"Yes, what I am testing is your fighting faith." Karna said in a low voice: "Regarding the fighting skills, purpose and methods, you have already memorized them in the previous tests, but what is your fighting faith? Is it just to leave here? However, even if you successfully gain freedom, it is only the beginning. In the future, you will encounter all kinds of things and fall into all kinds of difficulties... By that time, you will lose your yearning for freedom. What reason do you want to fight for? Can you fight for something with all your strength and regardless of life and death? If you don't have such a firm belief, I can't let you leave here. Because people without beliefs have no goals, and for people without goals, what difference does it make whether they are in a cage or in the outside world?"

He threw something over to her, and Ovilla, caught off guard, quickly took it, only to find out it was a key.

"I never said from the beginning that you must defeat me if you want to pass the trial."

"Your performance satisfies me, Princess of Beman." Karna stared at the thoughtful princess with his deep eyes. "With such a firm belief, you can be called truly powerful. Even if you leave the castle and go to a strange world, no one will worry about you, because you have the support of courage, thoughts and will, and more importantly, you know why you are fighting."

“This is the key to the last level. When you are ready, open your own way forward. But I have to remind you that the ruler of the lowest level... is a very special guy.” When describing the other party, the word used by the Martial God Emperor Karna was not “powerful” but “special”.

The friends in her mind were just as surprised as she was. Alice was dumbfounded for a moment and couldn't help but blurt out: "It's actually a rhetoric trick, this is too cunning!"

"..."

"Faith?" Ovella seemed to understand.

Olvera looked confused: "My...heart?"

Karna nodded calmly: "That's right, use your heart to defeat her. That is a power that is more powerful than any weapon."

The conversation between the two always made Alice want to say "The heart of belief is your strength", but considering that the style of the painting seemed a bit wrong, she finally didn't say it. After explaining the aftermath (fog), the Martial God Emperor Karna raised his hand and summoned three red-gold giant swords from the void, interlaced them on the ground in the center of the arena, and the swords rubbed against each other, instantly igniting a boiling bright flame, and the brilliant flames enveloped every corner of the entire space.

"This is my last gift to you. Take a rest before you reach the end. No matter how powerful a warrior is, he must have a spiritual home to gain fearless courage."

As he spoke, he took slow and heavy steps towards the stone steps he had come from. After such a fierce battle, these steps were still intact, without even a trace of being affected.

Watching his majestic and sturdy back going away step by step, until he came to the stone door on the top floor and pushed it open to leave, Olvera suddenly shouted loudly: "Thank you, Lord Karna!"

The other person's back paused for a moment, standing still, and heard Ovira say in a sincere tone: "If it weren't for your hint just now, I would never have thought of a way to pass the trial, and... I have remembered what Karna meant."

He fell silent for a long time before replying: "Then-"

"Good luck, Princess of Belman."

After saying that, he stepped into the stone gate and disappeared from everyone's sight.

After he left, Alice in her mind finally got the chance to speak and asked curiously, "So, what does Karna mean?"

She was very clear about the hint. It was Karna's deliberate words "the strong will always be strong, the weak will always be weak" that gave Olvera the inspiration to use the weakening tactic. As for why it must be his deliberate reminder rather than his true thoughts... Because Karna said when he appeared on the stage that he himself had only gained his current strength after "a thousand temperings", how could he believe in the words "the strong will always be strong, the weak will always be weak".

The other friends were also very curious and waited for Olvera's answer.

The princess did not keep the secret and replied softly, "Karna means 'a thousand glories' in the ancient language of the light elves. Long, long ago, it was used to refer to the entire light elf clan. So I think that the special memory symbolized by His Excellency the Martial God Emperor Karna... is actually the memory of all the light elves."

Including Olvera.

It turned out to be the case.

Everyone understood at once, and many puzzled things before were perfectly explained: why Karna could hear the voices of Alice and others, why his power was not given by the lowest ruler but gained through his own training, why Olvera did not suffer from memory loss when facing him, and why he was so powerful, almost like a god... Because in Olvera's subconscious, she herself was just a part of the tribe, how could she possibly defeat the memory of the entire light elf race?
The memories of the light elves transformed into the final tester on the road to resisting fate, granting the last light elf princess of Beman a test of strength, and finally acknowledging her beliefs and sending sincere blessings for her future... This is truly a symbolic plot.

"The light elves are indeed very powerful, my father told me." Olvera suddenly whispered, "But the light elves of Bemang are very weak and do not have enough power to resist the disaster. When the curse broke out, even the whole country could not contain it. At that time, I doubted what my father said and felt that the light elves were not as strong as he said, until today..."

It was not until today that I finally witnessed his strength and his silent gentleness.

Perhaps, the Martial God Emperor Karna was born out of such a contradictory attitude, because Olvera trusted her father's words very much, but could not help questioning the facts before her. He was not an illusion, nor a trace of the past, but the unique Martial God Emperor, the hegemon who reached the pinnacle of martial arts, and the strongest person who symbolized the fighting faith of the light elves.

When the friends in their minds heard this, they didn't know what to say for a moment. If they wanted to encourage her, it seemed that the timing was not right; if they wanted to comfort her, it seemed that she was not that depressed, so they were a little entangled. In the end, it was Ovella who cheered herself up. Suddenly, she reached out and patted her cheek, making a "pa pa" sound, and said in a rising tone: "In this case, I have to work harder too!"

"Since we have already shouldered the expectations of that Excellency, we must not let him down!"

"Everyone, let's rest here for a while, and then--"

"Let's defeat the boss on the last floor!"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)