Within the rippling barrier, a man, a fairy, and a serpent gazed up at the Sun in the sky.
Liliana looked at the Sun and couldn't help sighing in amazement.
"I never thought it would actually be the Sun that descended."
As she spoke, Liliana spread her arms toward the sky, making a gesture as though she were embracing the Sun.
This was a gesture once used by the nations and cities that had spontaneously worshiped the Sun in ancient times, as a way of praising it.
Irina tilted her head, then imitated her.
The Winged Serpent curiously watched their movements. It raised its head and spread its wings, attempting to imitate them as well.
Unfortunately, the positions of its wings were asymmetrical, making the gesture impossible to reproduce properly. This caused Irina to cover her mouth and giggle.
Messmer, who was observing the scene through their shared vision, couldn't help shaking his head.
At that moment, Irina gazed up at the Sun and asked Liliana,
"Has the Sun not appeared in the Lands Between for a very long time?"
"You seem to know something about it too, but there aren't many people praising it anymore..."
"In my memories, I don't think anyone ever mentioned it, even when I was little."
Hearing Irina's confusion, Liliana explained,
"It's only natural that you don't know."
"In my memory, the Sun was constantly moving farther and farther away from the Lands Between."
"From the earliest ancient era until before I sealed myself away, the change was quite obvious."
"As for the present, I've never seen the Sun in the Lands Between either. I only found that Faded Sun in the sky."
"Perhaps the Sun has already vanished completely from your lives."
Irina couldn't help asking,
"Then... what kind of deity is the Sun?"
Liliana answered without hesitation.
"The Sun is, of course, a selfless, righteous, and benevolent deity."
"Long, long ago, the Sun had always cast its radiance upon the world."
"But there was one thing it never did. It never interfered with matters in the Lands Between."
"No matter who called out to it, it never responded."
"Even the Sun City, which was once incomparably powerful and ruled over most of the Lands Between, could not communicate with it."
"It had nothing it needed people to do for it, nor did it ever descend any divine revelations."
"People could only seek out the Sun's power through their spontaneous, devout faith and the sunlight that fell upon the world, eventually giving birth to various incantations."
At this point, Liliana scratched her head.
"Actually... we fairies tried to find the Sun too."
"We hoped to borrow its power and turn it into a form of inheritance, something we could use as a trump card against the other Outer Gods."
"Of course, we failed as well."
Irina asked curiously,
"Why? Isn't it a benevolent deity?"
Liliana tilted her head and shrugged.
"Who knows what a god is thinking?"
"But the affairs of the Lands Between are probably just child's play to it."
"Or perhaps what it cares about are threats that run much deeper."
Liliana paused before continuing,
"Hmm, actually, I can more or less understand it."
"After all, if it isn't a threat that it is responsible for dealing with, then the moment it intervenes, it would be interfering with the course of the Lands Between."
"In the vastness of space, it has so many worlds to illuminate. It probably really doesn't involve itself in matters here."
Liliana's expression grew increasingly serious as she spoke, because she had reached a conclusion.
"But now that it has chosen to intervene, perhaps that means the Lands Between is facing a threat that falls within its responsibilities."
"...I'm not certain either. Perhaps we should ask Lucian."
Irina pursed her lips somewhat troubled.
To be honest, she didn't really understand much of it.
The matter was simply too distant from her, and it wasn't something she needed to worry about.
"Um... we should probably go meet up with Sir Lucian and the others first."
Liliana's attention was immediately diverted, and she happily flapped her wings.
"Yes, yes!"
"I want to go over and take a closer look at the Sun's power too."
"It's incredibly rare to have a chance to witness something like this from such a close distance!"
The Frenzied Flame that had once consumed the valley floor had been completely eradicated, leaving behind nothing but warm sunlight.
Irina and Liliana stepped out of the barrier and headed toward Lucian and the others.
Forget sealing away the remnants of the Lord of Frenzied Flame. Not even a speck of him remained. There was absolutely nothing left that required their assistance.
Still, the matter had been resolved perfectly.
A happy ending all around.
The Winged Serpent also twisted its half-formed, phantom body and followed after them.
Although neither Irina nor Liliana knew where it had come from, it seemed friendly enough, so they didn't pay it much attention.
By now, Messmer had already withdrawn his consciousness, allowing the Winged Serpent to continue interacting with them on its own.
Creating a phantom projection was one of the Winged Serpent's abilities. Sharing its vision with him was already the limit of what it could do.
As for actually speaking or communicating through some other method...
Unfortunately, the Winged Serpent that shared a symbiotic relationship with him had been naturally capable of communicating with him since birth. It had therefore never needed to develop such abilities.
Messmer knew that even if he came over, the serpent would have no effective way to communicate with Melina.
It could only stand there anxiously.
So he simply returned his consciousness to his true body.
As for Messmer himself, he was already rushing toward the location at full speed.
It wouldn't be long before he arrived.
Along the way, the soldiers could only see a streak of flame rapidly passing overhead and flying into the distance.
They couldn't help being surprised that Lord Messmer himself had personally set out.
——
Irina and Liliana soon arrived at the place where Lucian and the others had fought.
At this point, Midra's Manse had completely disappeared, along with the tangled and twisted love, hatred, grudges, and sins that had once existed within it.
Flying beside Melina and Asimi, Liliana couldn't help exclaiming in amazement.
"Wow, what a huge change."
"And you actually managed to completely control the Frenzied Flame?"
"I never imagined that the Frenzied Flame could have such a stable and harmless appearance."
"Did the Sun do this too? That's incredible!"
At this moment, Lucian's consciousness had yet to return, and he remained suspended in midair.
His blazing Frenzied Flame arm continuously distorted the space around it, while the miniature Sun that had replaced his head quietly radiated warm light.
Irina looked at Lucian, who remained completely motionless in the air, and couldn't help worrying.
He had remained in exactly the same position from the moment they arrived. Even after they had walked all the way over, he hadn't moved at all.
Irina couldn't help asking,
"Sir Lucian... has he been like that this whole time?"
"Did something happen?"
Melina shook her head.
"I'm not sure..."
"But now that that outer god has descended, perhaps they're communicating with each other."
Melina then turned her gaze toward the phantom of the Winged Serpent beside Irina.
The moment she looked at the peculiar serpent, Melina clearly froze.
There was something strangely familiar about it.
It was as though fragments buried deep within her memories were slowly beginning to surface.
However, Melina still couldn't remember.
She had already told Lucian before that after being reborn, some of her sealed memories had begun to unlock.
It was only then that she learned that she had a brother.
Although Melina had absolutely no memory of what her brother was like, she was certain that the moment she saw him with her own eyes, she would recognize him.
But... what was the matter with this snake?
She felt that it must have something to do with her brother, but she had no way to confirm it.
Seeing Melina, the Winged Serpent affectionately moved closer, just as it often had in the distant past. It buried its head into Melina's hand and rubbed against it repeatedly.
Seeing how familiar the Winged Serpent was with her, Melina already had her suspicions.
So Melina softly asked it:
"Um... do you know me?"
The Winged Serpent shook its head, its emerald-green eyes gazing at Melina.
Although Melina had no idea what it was trying to express, she somehow managed to discern a feeling of disappointment from the expressionless snake's head.
Melina waved her hand and said,
"You feel very familiar to me, but there are still some memories I haven't recovered yet. I'm sorry."
Just then, another disturbance came from the sky.
Everyone looked up.
The source of the disturbance was actually the sun itself.
The enormous sun hanging overhead began shrinking toward its center, its immense volume rapidly diminishing.
In only a moment, the sun hanging beneath the veil of the heavens had shrunk to one percent of its original size.
Yet its radiance had not diminished in the slightest. Instead, it had become even more dazzling.
The gentle sunlight grew overwhelmingly intense, transforming into a pure sphere of light that could no longer be looked at directly.
——
Floating in the sky, Lucian's consciousness returned to his body.
The miniature sun atop his neck slowly rotated, representing the thoughts surging through his mind.
Looking up at the constantly changing sun in the sky, Lucian finally realized that his perspective had changed once again.
Now that he had a sun for a head, his vision was completely different.
Although it still gave him an unobstructed view in every direction, it was different from the vision granted by Fairy Eyes.
No, perhaps this could no longer even be called "vision."
Everything within the surrounding space was illuminated by the miniature sun's radiance and simultaneously manifested within his mind.
It was somewhat like having a real-time strategic overview of the entire battlefield.
Lucian actually felt that this was even more intuitive than Fairy Eyes.
At this moment, the sun in the sky had finally completed its transformation.
It flew downward, eventually falling directly into Lucian's palm.
Within the dazzling sphere of light, a Great Rune slowly emerged.
This had once been Radahn's Great Rune.
It had burned away alongside its master during the festival, and afterward, Lucian had used it to store the sun's power.
Now, however, this Great Rune had undergone a complete transformation.
The Great Rune now consisted of nothing but a complete ring, without any unnecessary structures.
Around its outer edge, it had transformed into waves of flame resembling a solar corona, making it look just like the ancient depictions of the sun worshipped in antiquity.
Great Runes were symbols of the power of laws.
When Great Runes were used to construct the Elden Ring, the laws contained within them would be elevated into the laws governing the entire Lands Between.
And now, this Great Rune had already been transformed.
It had become imbued with the laws of the sun.
The Great Rune eventually floated toward Lucian's chest before slowly sinking into his body.
As the "sun" entered his body, the flesh along its path was scorched by its power.
In the end, it left behind a hollow sun-shaped mark across Lucian's chest.
With the Great Rune entering his body, an intense heat suddenly spread throughout Lucian's body.
From this moment onward, this was his "heart."
The blessing Lucian had previously received from the sun needed to be under sunlight in order to exert its full effect.
Day and night would also make a difference.
Of course, in a place like the Lands Between, the difference was not particularly obvious.
But now that he possessed the laws of the sun, this Great Rune would function as a "sun" at every moment.
Lucian could now enjoy the full blessing of the sun anytime and anywhere.
That was not all. The Great Rune also had another function, and its effect was extremely straightforward.
It was like the true core of the sun, continuously generating energy and supplying it to Lucian's body.
After carefully observing it, Lucian discovered that the amount of energy generated by the core was indeed not particularly large.
But he was still a long way from becoming a true sun, and his quality was nowhere near comparable to an actual celestial body.
Perhaps only after he truly became the sun would he be able to fully activate an ability akin to nuclear fusion.
Lucian had no idea what this ability should be called right now, but since it was something he had gotten for free, he wasn't picky.
In any case, he probably wouldn't have to worry about running out of FP anymore.
With a miniature sun for a head and an energy-producing core in his chest, Lucian was now essentially a monster wearing human skin.
A terrifying monster that was almost impossible to kill.
And a monster that could also cheat.
Still, when Lucian looked at yet another mark that had appeared on his body, he suddenly found the situation somewhat amusing.
He seemed to have accumulated an absurd number of marks already.
The Ancient Dragon Communion Seal, Ranni's Moonlight Mark, the Thorned Ring from the Spirit World, Miquella's deactivated mark...
And now there were the newly acquired Frenzied Flame markings covering his arm, as well as the sun-shaped mark on his chest.
He had originally thought that he shouldn't let any power slip through his fingers.
But as a result, the marks and seals covering his body had practically become tattoos, and they were already close to covering his entire upper body.
However, Lucian quickly stopped worrying about such trivial details.
Because the sun in his palm was continuously releasing a terrifying amount of energy.
After the core Great Rune had been transferred away, this immense power was gradually becoming impossible to sustain.
The fact that it had not erupted yet was already the result of the sun personally intervening.
If possible, Lucian actually wanted to continue storing and preserving this power, just as he had done before, so he could save it for his next use.
He knew better than anyone just how terrifying the power of this sun he had created was.
The power previously stored within the Great Rune had consisted of all the solar energy generated during several dozen seconds while he was under the effect of Infinite FP, and he had released all of it in a single burst.
After taking all sorts of buffs into account, the final result had then been multiplied by the Super Damage multiplier.
With such an enormous amount of power, the Great Rune would definitely have been overwhelmed and exploded.
But even if only one-tenth of that power could be preserved, Lucian would be able to steamroll practically every enemy except for genuine gods like the Elden Beast.
Unfortunately, that was no longer possible.
After the Great Rune had been transformed, it was no longer an empty vessel. It now carried a law.
And once it was occupied by a law, it could no longer store the remaining power like it had before.
For Lucian, a Great Rune carrying the law of the sun was far more useful than some leftover energy anyway.
Still, that enormous amount of power would not go to waste.
Under the sun's control, the remaining power was gradually converted into pure energy and injected into Lucian's body.
Runes were a form of life energy, so converting them was not particularly difficult for the sun.
As the energy poured into him, Lucian's various attributes began increasing at an astonishing rate.
One after another, the limits imposed upon living beings were continuously broken through, until every last bit of the available power had been completely exhausted.
Now, every single one of Lucian's attributes had surpassed their limits.
This was the parting gift the sun had given Lucian.
From this point onward, until Lucian completely destroyed the Faded Sun, it would be a very long time before the sun participated in the affairs of the Lands Between again.