Surrender

If one were to pick the person from Shattered Lake Prison who had helped Yaxiu the most, the answer was almost beyond doubt—it was not Harvey, not Langna, not 222, and certainly not Igola, but Valkas Ur. Without Valkas, Yaxiu would have been turned into a firework during the Blood Moon Trial long ago. It was precisely because the once-in-a-century spectacle of putting an elf on trial drew out the deepest malice of Kaimeng City's populace that Yaxiu, an infamous and sensational cult leader, managed to escape by a stroke of luck. Valkas naturally had no subjective desire to save Yaxiu. Even when he gifted Yaxiu sorcery spirits like Heart Sword, Earth Sword, and Wind Wall right before his death, it had merely been to spite Xilin. Nor did Yaxiu take it upon himself to feel indebted to Valkas. In fact, after going through a relentless string of ups and downs—mostly downs, downs, downs—such as breaking out of prison, fleeing the Blood Moon, joining Funerary, fleeing Azula, the white fog anomaly, and being captured by the Burdettes, Yaxiu had almost forgotten the elf who had taken the fall for him. Encountering Valkas in the Void Realm was unexpected, yet entirely within reason. When a sorcerer died, their soul plummeted into the Six-Layer Hell, where all emotions were washed away, leaving only the purest memories and soul behind to descend into the Void Realm as a sorcerer projection—a legacy trial left for future sorcerers. It was precisely this mandatory, age-old custom that prevented sorcerers from monopolizing intellectual property. Even if nations isolated themselves from the world, knowledge still circulated within the Void Realm, giving rise to a flourishing, diverse sorcerer civilization. As a Two-Winged Sorcerer, Valkas would naturally become a sorcerer projection on the Time Continent upon death. And since Heroic Spirit Commanders were converted from sorcerer projections, it was only reasonable that he had become one. Right after Valkas died, Yaxiu had wondered if he might ever encounter his projection in the Void Realm, but he hadn't expected fate to truly be so bizarrely wondrous. Yet— "Weren't you a guy?" Yaxiu asked, stunned. He and Valkas had crossed blades before; no matter how blind Yaxiu was, he wouldn't fail to tell male from female! "I wasn't always a man," Heroic Spirit Valkas said calmly. "After living nearly a century as a female elf, it was quite normal to want to experience the world of a male elf. In elven culture, this is very common thinking, and even humans choose their preferred gender once they reach adulthood. In my memories, almost every elf has gone through a 'transition period.' If they like it, they keep it; if not, they change back." "Aside from curiosity about the opposite sex, another reason was that I had my own child. The way I saw it, if I didn't alter my appearance, living with the child later on would still arouse suspicion from the Supreme Love Church. But since I was already getting cosmetic surgery, I might as well transition entirely. That way, at most people would suspect I was a pedophilic elf, rather than suspecting any blood relation between me and the child." "However, physical modifications in reality are not recognized by the Void Realm, which can only reflect the essential form of my soul. Thus, I reverted to my original appearance... Any other questions?" There were way too many questions! What kind of logic was "might as well transition if I'm already getting cosmetic surgery"? Was it like "since I have to rent anyway, might as well throw down extra to buy a house"? Did slippery slopes really slip this thoroughly? Although Yaxiu had heard many times that Blood Moon's biological modification was unmatched across the world, most such technological achievements were seen in the lower class undergoing mechanical modifications to adapt to advanced capitalist production. He truly hadn't expected the middle class to play it so wild—he hadn't seen the slightest trace that Valkas had ever been anything other than a man! Still, this made things a bit tricky. Seeing Yaxiu silently raise his longsword level, Valkas lightly grazed her fingers along her blade, falling into a standard swordsmanship stance. "Do you want to kill me too?" "Yes," Yaxiu answered bluntly. "Killing a commander drops a map, a Soul Summoning sorcery spirit, and a Commander Manual. Those are all resources I desperately need. Just as I told you earlier, I'm currently being hunted by Spider Tower and can't pass up any opportunity to quickly grow stronger... I need to protect the people I care about." Indeed, Valkas had saved Yaxiu, and the sorcery spirits he gifted had helped Yaxiu immeasurably. Without Heart Sword, Yaxiu wouldn't have been able to use the Severing Self miracle to break out of prison at all. The miracle "Sword Body Barrier," formed by combining Earth Sword and Wind Wall, remained an essential component of his tactical repertoire. Yet Valkas was already dead, swatted into a splatter of mosquito blood by the Titan Executioner during the Blood Moon Trial. What remained before Yaxiu now was merely a lingering thought of the past, a departed soul enlightened by a god. Though Yaxiu couldn't appreciate Harvey's necromancy faction, there was one saying among necromancers that rang entirely true: the dead should serve the living, not the other way around. Even if a faint unease stirred in his heart, Yaxiu would not be soft-hearted. He carried not only his own life, but also the futures of the Sword Princess and the Witch. "To protect others..." Valkas nodded. "I see. Then it can't be helped." "Then, Valkas," Yaxiu took a deep breath, "teach me—" "Could you do without the Commander Manual?" Yaxiu, who had already braced himself mentally, was caught entirely off guard by the question. It took him a while before he said, "...I suppose so?" The benefits brought by a Commander Manual were command skills and faction experience. Command skills were meaningless to a sorcerer, and Yaxiu wasn't in desperate need of that modest bit of faction experience. But why ask this? "I can give you the Soul Summoning sorcery spirit and the map," Valkas said calmly. "Could you spare my life?" It took Yaxiu a good while to process. "...Why?" "I have no soul power left right now, and continuing to fight you will most likely end in my death. If handing over certain resources can spare my life, it's a worthwhile trade," Valkas said. "Unless fighting another nation, there is no need for a commander to battle to the bitter end—dying here earns no merit whatsoever." "But a commander I killed before fought me down to the very last second..." "Perhaps he believed until the moment of death that he still had a chance to defeat you," Valkas shook her head. "I, however, have neither soul power nor retainers. The odds of victory are far too slim." "Yet you're not the type of person to surrender without a fight!" Valkas was slightly taken aback, then asked, "In your impression, what kind of person was I?" "Proud, impulsive, sentimental, and fond of using a sharp tongue to provoke others," Yaxiu said. "Even if you knew you'd lose, you would definitely maneuver against me to the very end until all hope was lost... To put it more accurately, you were someone who would rather die than compromise." "If you had been willing to compromise, you wouldn't have died in the first place." The primary reason Xilin drove Valkas to death was Valkas's refusal to give up raising the child. The fact that Valkas, an elf, ended up behind bars in the first place was largely due to Xilin's machinations. Yet Valkas refused to compromise to the bitter end, insisting on violating the Consanguinity Prohibition Act. Only then did an utterly disappointed Xilin resolve to abandon the son—or rather, daughter—he had watched grow up. In a sense, Xilin was the ultimate hypocrite of double standards. He took care of Valkas himself, yet forbade Valkas from caring for her child. Yet precisely because of this cognitive contradiction, Xilin had so violently forbidden Valkas from repeating his mistakes—in Blood Moon, 'selfishness' was the sole political correctness. Everything Xilin did was in hopes that Valkas would become more selfish, becoming an advanced elf better adapted to surviving Blood Moon's society. That was his version of being 'good' to Valkas. *If Valkas couldn't become 'normal,' then letting her die was perhaps the best outcome...* Yaxiu didn't know Xilin's true thoughts, but felt that Xilin might well have thought this way. When all was said and done, even a powerful mayor like Financier couldn't have contact with his own son. In all the vast expanse of Blood Moon, was there truly anywhere with room for a parent and child? "Is that so?" Valkas said. "So Valkas was that kind of person?" Yaxiu realized something. "Valkas, you..." The female elf sheathed her sword. Looking left and right, she walked over and sat down atop a relatively large boulder. Seeing this, Yaxiu couldn't maintain his combat stance either; he walked over and sat down cross-legged. "What do you want to know?"