Cloud Thinking

The moment the bronze hour hand pierced the "1" scale, Helia's vision was suddenly stained with blood.

A sweet smell mixed with rust and rot rushed into her nose. This smell was too familiar, and she could even say it was an old acquaintance over the years she had traveled through time.

It's just a corpse, a dead person, nothing strange.

She blinked, only to find herself in a mud pit where she should have been fighting Oceanoto in the snow.

The surrounding area was filled with corpses with their eyes open.

She scratched it twice, looked at her tender white little hands, then looked at the scars on her arms, and immediately understood.

She returned to the original owner's past memories.

When the original owner was six years old, he was kidnapped and the kidnappers treated him like a pig and kept him in a corpse pit for a long time.

So now... is she seeing the memories she least wants to face?

But these are the original owner's memories, not hers, so what is there to be afraid of?

Realizing that she was not afraid of this, the scene changed again, this time to the Amber Palace. She was sitting by the window in a daze, with her hands hanging in front of her covered with traces of self-harm.

Hmm... It's the memory of the original owner going mad and seeking death after seeing the truth of the world...

She was not afraid, on the contrary, she became even more angry, and this anger gave her a vague hope of breaking through the shackles of memory.

The next moment, the scene changed again, but this time, Helia could no longer remain indifferent and stay out of it.

She knelt in front of the statue of the Goddess of Mercy, with a thin, lifeless body lying on her knees, and her hands were covered in blood.

And around her, there were several more corpses like this.

While she was stunned, the children came back to life and clung to her with their broken bodies like wronged ghosts seeking revenge, spouting words of resentment and curses.

"If it weren't for you...we wouldn't be dead..."

"It's all your fault... You killed us..."

"Why do we die tragically and unjustly... while you can live a peaceful life... This is unfair..."

"Give me my life...Give me my life..."

Helia was practically frozen in place, not daring to move. Her mental defense, which was so strong that it wouldn't waver even after seeing countless corpses, was shaking and trembling violently at this moment, as if a building was about to collapse.

This is indeed a hurdle that is difficult for her to overcome.

But just because you can’t get over it doesn’t mean you can’t move forward.

This was her mistake, the unjust death she caused, and the sin she bore. She would not escape or ignore it.

Although she cannot overcome it, she is willing to carry this shackle, this sin that can never be forgotten, and continue to move forward.

No matter how heavy it is, even if the body is crushed by the weight, they will not easily abandon it.

This was the choice Helia made.

She held the children who died because of her in her arms and accepted all their hatred and curses.

Be it resentment or hatred, this is what she should bear. She is not afraid, nor does she escape.

The shaky defense line was stabilized at this moment. The swords that the Osinot tried to stab her with made her stronger. She didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse.

The scene changes again.

Before she opened her eyes, she smelled the pervasive smell of gunpowder, and the feeling of weightlessness immediately took over her entire senses.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a fire dragon that almost covered the entire sky, and below her were many flying monsters with their bloody mouths wide open, ready to eat her.

With her abilities at the time, she could only stab the Fire Dragon's eyes with all her might, and then was thrown into the tide of monsters by the mad dragon, and died when she fell.

It was Watersise who gave her a second life. She devoured all the power left in Adalesi's body, grew wings, and with the help of the God of Time and Space, was able to take a brief respite.

But right now, there is nothing.

She was like a stone, hitting the middle of the monster tide. She had no strength to resist and could only let the fishy saliva cover her body and let those strange and disgusting monsters eat her flesh bit by bit.

She could only watch herself die.

It was very painful. She even felt that her soul was being torn into pieces. She was afraid that being torn into pieces by five horses would not be as painful as the pain she felt at this moment.

And then, there was the angry roar of the Flame Dragon, and the scorching air waves swept through her body before the fire, burning her exposed flesh and making crackling sounds.

Just before she was burned to ashes, Helia actually felt a sense of relief.

It is more painful to be burned to death than to be eaten bite by bite.

The severe pain made it almost impossible for her to control her body, and her spirit was severely traumatized. The shadow of death hung over her, and she began to lose track of the boundary between reality and memory.

But after that, her hazy consciousness returned to a village that was not familiar to her.

She heard the people's cries and their prayers, but she was firmly fixed in the clay statue, in the torso of the god named Oun. She could only see pain and could not respond.

She saw people's tragic fate, their initial admiration and respect for her, their painful desire, and finally their anger and resentment when no response was given.

All the resentment from her tragic death condensed and clung to her clay body, gnawing away at her already dwindling soul bit by bit until it was completely annihilated.

Her consciousness also dissipated from the world as the statue collapsed.

who I am……

where am I……

What am I going to do...

At this moment, Helia on the battlefield fell heavily to the ground like a bird that had lost its soul, sinking deep into the snow. Dark red blood spread from her body, melting the surrounding snow like fire.

She stared blankly at the sky with lifeless eyes, her stiff body twitching occasionally, and she had already lost her fighting ability.

The flint and sickle that fell beside her had also lost its flames at this moment, and was buried in the snow like a piece of scrap metal. A layer of mold had grown on its surface and was eroding it inwards bit by bit.

Tarod knew that Helia was unreliable, but he didn't expect her to fall to the ground so quickly. He didn't even have a chance to help her.

The seven soul chains he summoned instantly pierced the wind and snow, blocking the tentacles that were attacking Helia, but suddenly became slow when approaching the tumor.

Tiny spots of mold appeared on the surface of the thinnest chain, and then it broke and disintegrated like a corroded rope, with fragments flying in all directions.

It was like a match, it caught fire the moment it flew out, and it also brought with it the breath of death, piercing Helia, who fell to the ground and lost consciousness, into a hedgehog.

At the same time, several small openings suddenly grew out of the tumorous hill. When they opened, the densely packed sharp teeth revealed were no different from those of the monsters.

Accompanied by a unanimous roar, those small openings suddenly spewed out scorching flames, instantly melting the surrounding snow into water, trying to create another avalanche on the basis of this avalanche that had not yet stopped.

After the snow cleared, ghosts emerged from the exposed black earth one after another, carrying the most vicious and resentful spirits, heading straight for Tarod.

If you look closely, you can find that the faces of those evil spirits are almost identical to what Helia saw in her memory.

They didn't seem to have emerged from the ground, but rather from Helia's memories.

"Helia! Wake up!" Tarod shouted angrily, with countless chains wrapped around his hands, and the other ends of the chains bound those murderous evil spirits.

"It's polluting reality with your memories!"

It was already difficult enough for Yuros to withstand one avalanche, but if there were a second and third round...

Even if he is a great immortal, he cannot withstand the wrath of nature.

Helia's consciousness was like a small boat floating in the dark water. She felt like she was being sleep-deprived. She anxiously wanted to wake up quickly, but she couldn't control her body.

The sounds from the outside world seemed to be blurred through a layer of frosted glass, but she knew how bad the situation was without having to listen.

This first move of Nima is going to knock her down, so what about the remaining six! Let’s play to death here!

"Aya." Watersise's voice was gentle and warm like the morning light, echoing in her ears.

She understood why the other party called her at this moment, but she lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, then shook her head and refused.

The decision to attack Osinotte was made after consultation with Watersise, and was not her own willful act or out of arrogance.

For Watersise, killing a false god who had lost his mind, a fallen angel, would take some effort, but it was not difficult.

And the rewards were considerable, so He was happy to serve Helia.

But Helia insisted on doing it herself.

She wanted to try and see if she had the courage and strength to wield a sword against a god, and whether she could accomplish the feat of killing a god with her mortal body.

She made an agreement with Watersise that she would try first, and if the situation developed to the point where she could not solve it, Watersise would take over her body and kill Osinoto for her.

Just like dealing with the Lord of Memory in Arctic Township.

But Helia didn't want to surrender now, she felt she could still fight.

Her body, swaying with the current, no longer struggled to resist. She relaxed her limbs, enjoying the peace and tranquility of the moment.

But soon, she seemed like the clothes on her body had faded, and layer after layer of ink spread outward from her.

The water beneath her body seemed to be boiling. First, one or two bubbles appeared, and then more and more bubbles came out, gurgling and pushing Helia's body up and down.

"Swish--" An unknown object suddenly emerged from the mottled water surface, like a hair, a vine, a silk ribbon, or perhaps a stone pillar.

But if you look closely, you will find that it is just water, but for some reason, it is as black as ink and as turbid as a solid object, as if it is hiding the dirtiest and most filthy thing in the world.

This was just the beginning. Immediately afterwards, streams of water broke through the water surface and pierced into the equally dark sky, jagged and one after another, as if playing a discordant tune.

Helia's motionless body, floating on the water, was rushed straight into the sky by the combined force of several water columns, and then fell heavily into the water.

The living water rushed into her nostrils, trying to rob her of all the air, and she slowly sank without any resistance, landing on the ground as light as if she were also heavy as if tied to a huge rock.

"Cough--" The non-existent water in her mouth and nose spurted out with a violent cough. She finally broke out of the sleep paralysis state and successfully regained control of her body.

She struggled to get up, and strange black lines spread across the exposed white backs of her hands and neck, densely entwined like seaweed, with a somewhat strange beauty.

The fragments of the chain that had pierced her body fell off naturally as she stood up, and the wound that should have been bleeding profusely was mended by one thin black thread after another, leaving an indelible black mark.

She picked up the extinguished sickle that had fallen to the side and relit it with her palm without hesitation. The blood-covered areas forced the mold spots on them to retreat little by little until they were completely devoured.

Although Tarod was not exhausted at the moment, his condition was not much better than Helia's.

His right eye had turned into a turbid gray at some point, and black tears were constantly flowing out. The hand that had been holding countless wronged souls had had its flesh gnawed away, revealing its white bones.

Fortunately, Helia woke up in time, and the strange creatures that were copied from her memory into reality immediately changed direction and rushed straight towards her. The pressure on Tarod's side suddenly decreased, and he finally got a chance to catch his breath.

She raised her hand and chopped horizontally, swinging the flint in her hand in a circle. The wronged souls who came to claim her life were reduced to ashes the moment they touched the flames, like bubbles in a dream, which burst with a poke.

Fake is fake, no matter how realistic it is, it will never come true.

Helia's condition was not good at all. She looked as cold as if she had just been pulled out of the water. Even though she was holding a blazing fire in her hands, the chill in her body did not diminish at all. It even became more intense as she took action.

Osinotto was unwilling to give any chance to breathe. When the first move failed, he immediately used the second killing move.

The moment the pointer jumped to "2", Helia's right hand suddenly felt a piercing itch.

She looked down and saw that her fingernails were bulging and the nail bed underneath had turned a disgusting purple-black color.

Even more terrifying was the tingling pain in the knuckles—something was wriggling under the skin, and then five white nematodes pierced through the fingertips and crawled out.

"Four-quarters of an hour. Flesh and blood are in harmony." Tarod's voice suddenly became unusually calm. "He is transforming you into one of His kind."

The chains in his hands were turning black at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his face was aging rapidly at a terrifying rate, with his skin and flesh becoming loose, swollen and purple.

Where the wrinkles pile up, it looks like a screaming human face.

Helia swung her sickle without hesitation, and three completely mutated fingers snapped off, twitching like living things as they fell to the ground.

What flowed out of the wound was not blood, but black mucus with a foul odor.

She pressed the cut surface of her finger against the blade of the flint, enduring the pain and burning the wound. Amid the "sizzling" sound of the burning flesh, there were also faint screams - that was the sound made by the parasitic ghost when it was burned to death.

After adjusting her condition, she attacked immediately. Osinotto did not give them a chance to recover, so she could only endure the pain and rely on force to force the other party to stop.

With a sickle in one hand and a flame bomb in the other, she cut off nearly a quarter of the tumor on Osinoto's body and injected the deadly poison given to her by Aphra into his waving tentacles.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The roar of pain shook the mountain twice. The poisoned tentacles twitched and shrank, slapping the earth like crazy. The second round of avalanche was an unstoppable fact.

Half of Helia's body had been transformed into a monster similar to Osinotto. As if she felt no pain at all, she decisively cut off the transformed torso, and the black lines all over her body intertwined and solidified, turning into her new limbs.

Tarod suddenly groaned, and several chains in his hands wrapped around his neck uncontrollably, leaving not blood marks but black mold spots.

His right eye was completely occupied by the black substance, but he was still struggling to maintain the remaining chains: "Be careful of the third one..."

The deafening sound of the time chime rang out again.

When the pointer jumped to "3", Helia's vision suddenly split into three overlapping battlefields.

In the left side of the space-time, Tarod was being pierced through the chest by a purple-black tentacle, and his blood solidified into ice crystals in the air.

The right side of the space-time showed his remains reduced to bones, with the fire of the soul still beating in the empty eye sockets of the skull.

Although he was still using illusions to interfere with Osinoto in the middle time and space, black blood was already oozing from the corners of his mouth, and it was obvious that he could not hold on for much longer.

The most terrifying thing was the purple-black lightning - it struck her forehead from three time and space at the same time.

Helia instinctively rolled to the left, but heard the sound of burning flesh behind her.

When she turned around, she saw that she had been struck by lightning in a certain future time and space. The right half of her body was carbonizing and her feathers turned into black ash and floated away.

"Triple space and time..." She knelt in the snow, gasping heavily, her flaming sickle deeply inserted into the frozen soil to maintain her balance.

The three Tarods suddenly turned around and shouted to her at the same time, but their voices seemed to be through a layer of thick glass: "Choose the wrong time and space and you will..."

The Tarod in the middle time and space suddenly exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

Helia instinctively lunged to the left, and the spot where she had been standing was immediately scorched by lightning.

When she looked up again, the three time and space had collapsed into a single reality - the price was that her right arm was completely severed as if cut by a knife, turned into charred shatters, and scattered in the wind. This was the trauma left by the future version of herself that was hit by lightning.

She was so lucky, had she made the right choice? Helia couldn't help but wonder.