Chapter 1087: Hold On

Within the newly born crimson sun dripping tears of blood, a streak of blue light and a streak of yellow light twisted around each other. At times, they were entangled, and at times, they were apart.

No matter how fiercely they clashed, their tails remained intertwined. The blue light was K9, and the yellow light was Lily.

Here, strength held no significance. The only weapon they had in their possession to resist each other was their will.

K9 refused to become another person. Neither did she want to surrender her fate to someone else.

Having been through countless battles, her will seemed to slightly overpower Lily. Within the swirl of the two souls, K9 was gaining the upper hand.

The situation had turned perilous for Lily. She could feel herself slipping away. But just then, she noticed the contradiction between K9's memories and hers.

Realization dawned upon her.

K9's memories were fake. Like the former Light God, K9 was deceived.

It was the opening Lily needed, and she hurriedly pushed the inconsistencies from her own memories into K9's.

Almost immediately, K9 suddenly halted as a wave of shock overwhelmed her.

The surface world is actually beneath the sea? That doesn't match with what I remember… One of our memories must be wrong. Is it hers or mine? If it's mine, then… who am I? Am I really

K9? Does the Foundation even exist?

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lily moved to reclaim the upper hand.

The blue light grew dimmer while the yellow light grew brighter with each passing second. Eventually, the yellow light finally absorbed the last of the blue light and turned into a soft green color.

Just when Lily thought she had won the battle of will and was moments away from fully claiming the divine body, something unexpected happened.

The boundaries between K9 and Lily blurred. Their identities began to intertwine, and their self-cognition no longer mattered.

K9 was Lily; Lily was K9.

When the last bit of doubt that clouded K9 seeped into Lily's heart, Lily gradually stopped. Even if they were to continue clashing, there would be no K9, nor would there be Lily.

All that would remain was a composite born from them and the remnants of the Dawns.

There would be no victor in this battle. No matter who won, the winner would end up absorbing the other and be assimilated into a single entity.

Silence engulfed them. Neither Lily nor K9 spoke. There was no point to their battle. After all, fusion was their inevitable fate.

"We have to go back," Lily said, her voice breaking the silence. "Mr. Charles needs our strength."

K9 responded, her tone heavy with resignation. "Alright, let's go."

The sudden change in K9's attitude caught Lily off guard.

"There's nothing to be surprised about. Yes, he destroyed the Foundation, but he has already inherited its will. That makes him the Foundation now.

"Regardless of how much of my memory is real, I am still a part of the Foundation. So, I will give my all to help him. That's the only thing I can do now."

Their reconciliation accelerated the irreversible merging of their consciousness.

Just as the final bits of their consciousness began to merge, K9 suddenly said, "Don't let my regrets play out in your story. I am Lily."

In that instant, K9's memories were assimilated into Lily. Immediately afterward, the two Lilies with the same mindset overlapped gradually until there was only one consciousness.

A new Divinity was born.

Once again, the sun radiated an intense, blinding light. And alongside the sunrays was its deferential might that was impossible to ignore.

Under the glow of the sunlight, life stirred once more. On barren islands, seedlings rapidly erupted from the soil. In the sea, all that had perished was granted life again.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Standing in the vast emerald forest, Charles tilted his head up to look at the sun that was no longer bleeding.

He reiterated his question, "Who are you?"

"I'm Lily." It was an ethereal voice that held no hint of hesitation.

It was inevitable that K9's personality and memories would be melded into Lily. However, she had given up at the final moments and minimized her influence over Lily's consciousness.

Lily was no longer the same Lily before, but she was still undeniably Lily.

As Charles stared at the massive glowing sphere in the sky, he nodded in approval. He was satisfied with this particular contingency plan. A god of such power would surely be able to aid his other self in the other planes.

"Great. I'll open the portal and send you to

that

plane."

However, the moment Charles' words left his lips, Lily had already turned and floated toward the pitch-black waters.

"There's no need," Lily replied. "I've already found the portal beneath the vortex. The same one that I have crossed through previously."

As soon as Lily's words fell, her figure atomized and vanished completely. The bright surroundings were suddenly thrown into silence.

Without Lily's thriving sunlight, the forest rapidly withered in moments. The originally warm breeze turned into a chilling gust, like a dark, lifeless claw, clawing at one's skin.

Charles stood rooted to his spot, not sure what he ought to do next.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. He flipped it open with a flick of his wrist and remarked, "Three hours left before I become Edikth… say, First Mate, what do you think I should do in these three hours?"

However, Bandages offered no answer. Instead, his gaze was locked onto 134, who was stomping toward them and muttering curses under her breath.

"Captain…there's no longer…any use for her… right?" Bandages raised a bandaged finger and pointed it at the sharp-teeth girl.

"I've only got three hours left. I doubt I'll be creating another new Light God. I think I'll spend this remaining time with my wife," Charles answered.

"I want to leave that last bit of my humanity for her, my beloved Margaret."

Again, Bandages gave no response.

When 134 stopped in front of Bandages, a black spear shot out from within the layers of his bandages and pierced 134's stomach.

It was an assault that no one had anticipated. Mithila didn't even have a chance to react. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she looked down at the blood pouring from her abdomen.

She thought that they had formed an alliance, so she had never expected to be attacked.

Her first reaction was grievance, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

The gray mist with the bone flute and the chubby man with boils all over screamed hysterically and charged toward Bandages in fury.

With a simple wave of his hand, Charles brought them to their knees.

Charles didn't feel any rage. Instead, he was confused.

"Why did you do that?" Charles questioned.

The silent Bandages suddenly snapped. His eyes now burned with a hatred that he had buried for years. His chest heaved as he drove the weapon in his hand deeper into 134.

"Because she killed my father!" Bandages' roar echoed throughout the entire island.

He hadn't forgotten, not even for a single second. He hadn't forgotten that because of these pirates, his father was plunged into the abyss of despair until suicide became his only escape.

Schlick

.

The bloody spearhead emerged from 134's back and pointed toward the rocky terrain up above.

134's head lolled to the side. She was gone; her wide eyes no longer held light.

"

Hmm…

Well, if you put it that way, I supposed that's fair," Charles said nonchalantly. Then, with a casual wave of his hand, the other two "Kings" of Sottom dropped dead to the ground.

Then, he gave the First Mate a gentle pat on the shoulder before he awakened the human shell he had left behind on Hope Island.