Chapter 792: Chapter 789: The Rotting Black Sun Chapter 792: Chapter 789: The Rotting Black Sun It wasn’t there — the sun that blazed furiously in the void was just another shadow.

After the initial surprise, Duncan quickly realized this. He did not sense any real presence from the “Crawling Sunwheel” before him, nor did he feel its ostensibly scorching heat. It seemed to him that the fireball was empty and distant, a feeling… very similar to when he first peered at it through the “Golden Mask.”

This “True Sun God” must have found Alice’s Mansion by some means and sent its projection here… What exactly attracted this ancient deity? Was it some change triggered by his own entrance into this place, or was it the noise made by Alice while analyzing the “course”?

Duncan quickly collected himself and asked with a hint of curiosity, “How did you find this place?”

His tone was cautious, yet bore no hostility — although he had dealt with those mad believers of the Black Sun and the Scions of the Sun, as well as remnants, and none of these encounters had been pleasant (although each had ended successfully on a violent note), he harbored no grievances against the “Crawling Sunwheel” itself. In fact, knowing that this ancient god too was against its will, and had never intended harm to the mortal world from the start to the end, he felt somewhat sympathetic.

After all… the world might teem with ancient gods, but only one such god was tormented by its own followers and children over a slow-burning fire. If the True Sun God had a bit more freedom in its actions, each of its tendrils would probably be etched with the word “Tragic”…

“I ‘heard’ a sound coming from Subspace. Navigation Unit Three had laid dormant for many years, but suddenly became active; I knew then that the day was near,” the deformed sun spoke with a trembling voice, weak yet gentle, “Usurper of Flame, we meet again.”

“The day is near… Did you know I would appear here?” Duncan immediately frowned, noting the detail in the other’s words, “You also know about Navigation Unit Three?”

“…I am ‘one of them,'” the Crawling Sunwheel slowly said, “Before Navigation Unit One decided to raise a new sun, I too played a role in constructing this Shelter.”

Duncan remained silent, his eyes suddenly showing a shift.

After several seconds of silence, he spoke solemnly, “What are you here for? Do you still hope that I can help extinguish you? If so, I’m afraid I’m too busy — your ‘Scions’ and ‘Believers’ keep rekindling you, and I don’t currently have time to deal with them…”

Before he finished speaking, he heard the deformed sun tremble, “You need not worry about my scions… nor those mortals who follow the ‘Sun God.'”
Duncan’s expression became stern, “What do you mean by that?”

“At this moment, there is no worship of the True Sun God left in this world, and soon, no one will remember what the Black Sun is… the memories and records related to it will gradually blur into distorted ‘impressions,’ and will be replaced with semblances of truth… Usurper of Flame, if you doubt, you can always verify this in the mortal world; I know you can do it.”

Duncan’s expression quickly grew grave, and he did not rashly question the other but broke the silence after a moment’s contemplation, “…What happened? Why is this happening?”

His first thought was that the “True Sun God” couldn’t bear the slow-roasting torment anymore and had somehow eliminated all the Scions of the Sun, Sun remnants, and Black Sun worshipers, but soon he realized it wasn’t that simple — the other party also mentioned that the memories and records related to the Black Sun were gradually vanishing from the world, to be “replaced with semblances of truth,” a notion… that made him think of historical contamination!

He stared intently at the coronae-shrouded tendrils and flesh, watching those chilling limbs slowly writhing, and the sound coming from that flesh seemed to carry sorrow —
“Because I am decaying; after such a long time, it has finally reached its final phase.”

“Decaying?” Hearing this familiar word, Duncan was instantly struck!

He had heard this word several times before, first from the four Pontiffs, then from Gomona, and now from this “True Sun God”…

And through these encounters, he was gradually understanding the concept of the gods’ “decay.”

“I am forgetting everything associated with ‘me,’ and this world is forgetting me too,” as if sensing Duncan’s thoughts, the deformed sun took the initiative to speak, “I… can barely remember the appearance of my homeland, the individuals who created me, who ‘constituted’ me, who turned into this current form with me… They are all evidence that the ‘Old World’ existed, and they are also the ‘essence’ of my current form.

“Usurper of Flame, I don’t know if you can understand — my ‘essence’ is falling apart; it is vanishing bit by bit, and this, this is the result of ‘decay.'”
Duncan’s expression turned grim; he rapidly pondered, struggling to keep up with the other’s abstract and profound descriptions. He gradually understood and hesitatingly broke the silence, “…So you mean that your self-awareness and memories are uncontrollably dissipating, thereby causing things built upon your self-awareness and memories to also vanish from this world… This is the ‘essence’ of decay?”

“As you said–and it is a gradual process,” the Deformed Sun spoke softly, and it seemed, perhaps it was an illusion, that it had become weaker than before, “Since we arrived in this ‘world,’ our decay had already begun, and this ‘decay’ has accompanied the entire history of the Shelter…

“And the sad part is, our ‘rational’ part has actually always been conscious throughout the process–I clearly know what I am ‘forgetting.’ Even after those things disappear from my essence, I still clearly know what exactly those disappeared things were; yet, such ‘memory’ is meaningless. Those ‘elements’ we brought over from the old world will keep peeling off over time, until they turn into indistinguishable fragments…

“I am like this, and so are those known as the four gods, ‘they’ are the same…

“Usurping Flame, through the long passage of time, I have experienced not just one stage of ‘decaying’ exacerbation. The disappearance of the ‘Black Sun’ from this world might be its last and most severe exacerbation–my time is short.”

The Deformed Sun quieted down, seemingly too weak to continue speaking after saying so much.

Duncan gradually furrowed his brows, understanding the “decay” of the “gods,” and vaguely connecting it to many things. But before that, he was more curious about the purpose of this “Black Sun.”

“You came to me, you must want more than just to tell me these things–what do you hope I will do?”

The Black Sun remained silent for a long time before a voice finally reached Duncan and Alice’s ears: “I still beg you to extinguish me… but when that day comes, I also hope you will do another thing–light my remains with your flame, burn it down, and then remember it.”

Burn down the remains? Remember the remains?

Duncan slightly frowned, and after a brief moment of puzzlement, he suddenly understood something.

“…You seem to have a certain understanding of my ‘power,'” he said gravely.

“I have always been watching this Shelter, although continuous decay and isolation prevent me from acting, but I am aware of many things happening in this world–including yours,” the Black Sun slowly stated, “I hope… to secure a place.”

“A place in the ‘New World,'” Duncan’s brows remained tightly knit, he neither agreed nor refused immediately, “…you make me somewhat confused. How do you know this will definitely secure a place in the ‘New World’? Or in other words… how do you know there will definitely be a ‘New World’?”

He paused, his expression became serious and his tone especially solemn, “You must know, although I now have a ‘plan’ to reshape everything after the end of the Shelter, even I am not sure if this plan is feasible–I haven’t even figured out exactly how to implement it yet… and here you are, asking to reserve a place?”

“This is exactly the ‘exchange’ I propose,” the pale flesh suddenly started slowly rippling and expanding, tiny tendrils stretching out from its coronal edges outward, as if to illustrate something, “If you agree to my request, I am willing to show you… the evidence of a future continuation, and this evidence will be very helpful to you.”

Duncan’s gaze sharpened instantly.

“You have a piece of ‘evidence’?!” he stared intently at the fleshy sun, “You mean, evidence that can prove the ‘New World’ can indeed be successfully brought about?”

The Black Sun was silent for a few seconds, giving a strange answer: “Right now, it does not exist.”

Duncan felt choked, even suspecting for a moment whether the dreadful ancient god was deliberately playing tricks on him, but soon he came to a realization–after dealing with many strange and bizarre occurrences, and witnessing many incredible phenomena on this “frontier,” he seemed to understand the other’s meaning.

“How can this ‘evidence’ come to exist?”

“When you agree to my proposal,” the Black Sun slowly said.

Duncan did not respond, just silently pondered.

“I still have some time, I can wait patiently for your answer,” the voice of the Black Sun reached his ears, as the tendrils spreading from the corona began to retract into the sea of fire, “I understand your concerns and hesitations–the ‘Black Sun’ has brought many threats to this world, and I… may not be an enemy to you, but am also not yet trustworthy.”

“I want to ask you a question,” Duncan suddenly raised his head, steering the conversation in another direction, “the position you seek, is it for yourself? Or for those ‘Scions’ you’ve forgotten? Or perhaps for…”

“It is for our civilization,” the Black Sun spoke softly, “It once existed.”