Super Righteous Player
Chapter 1000 - 58 Nightmare: It’s fragile and easy to dissipate, pass through!

Chapter 1000: Chapter 58 Nightmare: It’s fragile and easy to dissipate, pass through!

Annan stood frozen in place, lost in a trance.

Within his heart, he also marveled at Hugo’s radiance and finally understood Bernadino’s moment... the remaining life of Bernadino, like a series of slides, crammed into Annan’s brain.

It wasn’t because Bernadino still retained a shred of consciousness.

Rather, it was Annan’s fully awakened Light Element, which dispelled the hidden shadows and unearthed the concealed truth.

Like watching a lengthy film, Annan finally unraveled it all—

The one who led everything to its downfall,

was Bernadino’s envy.

Hugo’s brilliant and flawless heart of ideals, which genuinely managed to "love everyone," naturally led him to become the successor of the Heath Tower of Black.

Bernadino became Hugo’s lackey.

Even when Hugo was still the Tower’s Child, he was already far more mature than Salvatore.

Through strong diplomatic means, he withstood pressures from the Tower of Black Radiance. By ceding some interests and promising to take good care of Bernadino, he obtained the Tower of Black Radiance’s withdrawal of the pursuit of Bernadino.

If only Hugo had asked him for something in return.

He could have shown Hugo his loyalty.

Then, he would have transformed into a loyal hellhound, tearing at all of Hugo’s enemies.

But Hugo asked for no such repayment.

He was genuinely happy from helping others.

...Just by being next to Hugo, Bernadino felt inferior and envious.

His heart harbored jealousy and hate. He envied Hugo, who shone like the sun, and hated those who made it impossible for him to possess the sun alone... the others who sought Hugo’s help.

But Bernadino couldn’t command Hugo to refuse helping others.

Thus, during his silver order, he willingly gave up the world’s possibly unique ability to resurrect others at will, thereby gaining the Bell Ringer’s approval and becoming his Pope.

Armed with the Bell Ringer’s resources and guidance, he delved into the other side of the "Soul Element," choosing to whimsically play with and control the souls of the dead, becoming the world’s last spiritfarer.

This disappointed Hugo somewhat.

But Hugo still did not interfere with his decision—he agreed with Bernadino’s thoughts, allowing him to leave the Heath Tower of Black.

During that time, Bernadino was always in a state of non-affiliation.

He went grave-robbing across nations, earning a notorious reputation. Normally, a non-affiliated Gold-tier wizard like him would have long since been hunted down... but generally, Bernadino was still considered an ally of Hugo’s forces by the outside world, and Hugo had not denied it.

Bernadino’s reason told him this was wrong.

—But he just wanted to have more.

He had no mentors or classmates, no relatives or family—all were dead. Nor did he have any students, for Bernadino had seen Hugo’s student Salvatore and found them lacking.

Apart from Hugo, he didn’t have a single friend. His increasingly aging body, the ugly and desiccated flesh, and the selfish heart that never considered others, kept him from having a lover.

Bernadino became increasingly aware that such an ugly creature was ultimately unworthy to be by Hugo’s side.

But he still craved recognition, longed for companionship.

—So wherever he went, legions of lost souls swarmed around him. He was like a king to these wandering spirits.

Like an old man muttering to his marionettes.

He lived in a dried-up world with only the sun and himself.

Even so, Bernadino still regarded Hugo as his only friend in this world.

Eventually, he realized his days were numbered, while Hugo could still, as the Tower Master... maintain eternal youth with the power of the Heath Tower of Black.

—He couldn’t accept this.

If he must die one day, Bernadino wished for Hugo to die with him.

This naturally wasn’t a correct thought... Hugo was Bernadino’s only friend, but Hugo had more friends, students, teachers, and others to care for.

"So, this is why Bernadino was able to return to the Heath Tower of Black all those years ago..." Annan murmured.

He remembered that the first time he saw Bernadino, he appeared grandly within the Heath Tower of Black.

At that time, he must have come as "the Pope of the Bell Ringer," to hasten Hugo’s death.

Hugo’s life was already exhausted, surviving only on the power of the Benevolent Fire. But the spiritfarer didn’t go to the Heath Tower of Black to fulfill his papal duties... he just hoped not to die alone.

And Hugo refused him.

He didn’t wish to die just yet—but he didn’t expel the impertinent spiritfarer who had come to ask the rude question of "when are you going to die."

He thought that if the spiritfarer had a student, it might be much better.

Despite the spiritfarer’s tarnished reputation, he was, after all, Hugo’s friend.

So Hugo didn’t stop him, nor did he attack him. Instead, he let him enter the Heath Tower of Black, let him scout his own students and mentors as disciples and successors...

At that time, Hugo had grown a lot and had been changed by life a lot.

But what remained unchanged was that radiant heart. He still trusted his old friend from the heart—the Bernadino he personally dug out from the mud, whom he had saved from the abyss.

He believed Bernadino was not born evil, nor did he have the temptation to become evil.

...If Bernadino had not obtained the recipe for the Philosopher’s Stone, he probably would indeed have ended his life quietly after finding a successor who could barely inherit his mantle.

He was indeed a villain, with greed, anger, envy, and hatred never subsiding in his heart. But as long as he never brought those evil thoughts to fruition, he would remain a "freak" until his death.

But Nicholas the Second ultimately told him the recipe for the Philosopher’s Stone.

That meant he had the power to defeat Hugo—and the possibility to change his own fate!

Bernadino eventually came back to kill Hugo and burned down the Heath Tower of Black, which had raised him and given him a second life... It was to make up for the ultimate ritual that he had failed in the past.

If the first person who tried to save Bernadino, offering him a bright future, was Father Ludwig.

Then the second one who saved him was Tower Master Hugo.

Father Ludwig was killed by his own hand... This secret, twice hidden and twice unearthed, must have been guessed by Bernadino in the end.

If we were to specify a time,

It must have been when the Dream Stealer Denton tried to invade Bernadino’s dreams.

It was at that moment Bernadino realized the inconsistency in his memory. He found a way to unlock his long-sealed memory and glimpsed the complete form of the "masterpiece ritual."

It was then Bernadino realized that to complete the sublimation ritual, he had to return to the Heath Tower of Black, kill Hugo, and seize the sacred flame.

This process actually did not require the sacred flame.

But as long as Hugo offered the sacred flame, his life would also end.

If Hugo were willing to die for him, that would indeed be the best scenario.

But obviously, he was not that important to Hugo.

So he could only exhaust Hugo to death, burning him entirely.

The life he now lived could be said to be given to him by Hugo. If he could kill Hugo just like he killed Father Ludwig, then the "artwork" that Father Ludwig hoped to create with his death would officially resurface in the world!

—And because it took two big detours, yet destiny brought it back to the original starting point... It was even more perfect than before!

As for the reason he tried to usurp the sacred flame, Annan had already understood.

Fire can be passed on.

The Benevolent Fire is so, and so is the fire of envy.

After obtaining the sacred flame, Bernadino would most likely use the jealousy he inherited from Julius to corrupt it. To transform the "fire not lit for oneself" into a twisted, polluted fire of jealousy that burns everything ceaselessly... That was the "creational work" he had planned for himself.

"...So that’s how it is."

Annan murmured.

Though Dream Stealer Denton had abandoned his duty as a mirror, his existence allowed another mirror to emerge.

And Nicholas the Second provided the "fuel."

The many "mirrors" surrounding Annan—the "coincidences" they formed—not only made Annan gradually stronger, and more brilliant and dazzling.

Mirrors are connected to each other too!

—All this, it was only then that it finally connected together!

Annan couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

He suddenly woke up from the illusion, as if only a moment had passed in the outside world.

But this nightmare’s side quest had, at some unknown point, been crossed out and rewritten by dim, black ink.

[Don’t regret] became [Repent for your sins];

[Wake up quickly] became [Apologize to Hugo];

[Survive] became [End this meaningless life].

The first two tasks were not completed, but behind the third task was marked as "Completed."

And above the side quest, [Main Quest: Play as Bernadino] had also changed under the writhing motion to new words.

—[Main Quest: Become a good man like Hugo]

And behind it, a "Completed" mark had already been placed.

This was... Bernadino’s true, hidden desire at the heart.

But the one who completed it was not Bernadino, but Annan, who came to purify this nightmare.

Annan felt his consciousness thinning out, the nightmare gradually disintegrating.

He took a deep breath and whispered, "It’s not difficult at all, rather...

"—I am here for that very purpose."

Annan’s confident murmur overlapped closely with the voice of the young Hugo from before.

For a moment, it was as if the world’s collapsing speed had paused.

Just so that Annan could exist in this world for one more second.

But that was a meaningless pause—within a flash, the nightmare finally collapsed, ceasing to exist.

Fire has its legacy, as does the sun have its own.

As the old sun nears dusk...

The new sun too will shine just as brightly—proud and dazzling.

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