57 Acceptance

The room was quiet except for the sound of footsteps.

Shura didn't have the strength to keep his head up anymore and it fell to the ground. He couldn't look up, he couldn't see Ayra approaching, but he could hear her footsteps coming closer.

Shura could not even move his fingers right now, much less do anything else.

The distance between the two of them was close, was there even a need to get closer in order to do anything? Shura didn't think so, yet the sound of footsteps became louder and louder. He could even feel it.

This was the first time that Shura felt that death was approaching and that it was unavoidable.

Every footstep of hers made his own loud heartbeat sounded like thunder. His heartbeat was very loud, and so were the footsteps. Each step and heartbeat shook Shura's whole mind and body.

Just as the footsteps were nearing him, the ground below them quaked and shook. It was a very intense vibration. The ground blow Shura cracked and he fell down. Shura could only stare as the floor below him also broke apart, and then the floor below that floor also broke apart. Shura continued to fall. He couldn't see all around him or above him because he couldn't move, but he could see that everything was breaking apart from his peripheral vision. The whole structure was falling apart.

Both Arya and Shura were falling in the air, the massive flying structure of stone and metal that the size of a city was breaking into many pieces and the space around was turbulent. A great and mysterious force was exerting its strenght on the surrounding. The sky and the ground lost their colors. The changes to space itself was so astounding that Shura would've thought that he was somewhere completely different if he didn't see for himself that he had only fallen.

All he could see was darkness, he felt his body falling. He didn't know how long he fell, but that feeling eventually disappeared. He could only feel his body helplessly suspended. There was no longer any gravity to pull him down.

The darkness than disappeared. Everything disappeared. He was in a black and empty void. Shura heard a loud explosion and he could see a great light appearing at the corner of his vision. Shura moved his eyes. There was a gigantic sphere of light that lit up the dark void. This sphere of light was the size of a planet, it was majestic and profound. Merely looking at it filled Shura with a sense of greatness and desire. Shura also saw Arya. She stood motionlessly in space, as if there was something beneath her feet, even though there was nothing but empty space.

Everything had disappeared and this sphere of light appeared, but Shura knew where he was. He could sense the crack in space that he had made with his darkness power earlier when he attacked the ark. This was in outer space, and the planet just disappeared like that and left behind only this gigantic ball of light. The size of the planet and this sphere was similar, had the entire planet transformed into this ball of light?

'Is this the Supreme Truesoul?' Shura thought. Earlier he was anxious, and now he was excited.

Shura summoned all the strength he still had and reached out with his hand toward the light. It was nothing but a symbolic gesture made by instinct toward the target of his desire.

'So far away…' he said hoarsely.

Shura was barely conscious and he slipped in and out of consciousness. On one hand he was there, floating in space weakly, but on the other hand he had a vision, a dream.

It was sporadic, one moment it was vague and untangible, and another it was lucid and very solid. He saw himself living and growing old in peace. He had a wife and a daughter. Yes… a peaceful end… an end that signified that there would be no big changes or turbulence, and that his life would continue on a predictable path.

He wanted that… so much. The dream faded for a moment and Shura came back to consciousness. He could barely keep his eyes open but he looked at the light in the distance nonetheless. If he could obtain that light, then the end that he desired would come.

But how?

He was an arrow at the end of its flight, a candle that was about to run out, a flame that was flickering in the wind, a sun about to set. He did not have the strength left to achieve his desire.

More lights around Shura lit up and many people arrived. They were all esteemed personages with great power. They all eyed the mysterious ball of light with awe and greed in their hearts. They were all here for it, and they were going to fight and kill anyone who would get in their way.

Lights shot at other lights. Some lights faded, while others broke apart and exploded. Experts and powerful movers and shakers fought it out in order to obtain the Supreme Truesoul.

'Am I supposed to give up? Since I am unable to do it, should I just accept reality and accept everything?

There really wasn't anything that Shura could do. His body was messed up and in no condition to do anything at all. No matter how much he thought about it, there really wasn't a single thing he could do. Even if he was at full strength. He was no match at all for the foes who would stand in his way. There also wasn't any possibility of increasing his strength anymore... The concept of cultivation had long since faded from Shura's mind, along with the possibility of the act itself.

But perhaps this was for the best. Although that bright light was what he wanted, he didn't necessarily have to get what he want. Shura could answer if someone asked him if he wanted it or not in an instant, and he would say yes. And if someone also asked him if he it was something that he needed, he would instantaneously say that he didn't need it.

This was for the best. One couldn't always get what one desired, but wants and needs were two different things. The things one wanted may not be want one needed.

More explosions occurred and many lights lit up the darkness of space. Some shined brighter while others faded away. Everyone was fighting. Shura would fade away too. Shura quietly slipped away among the profound darkness.