Chapter 96 - Legacy of a Mother (1/2)

The body of Bao Bei, now devoid of all her eight legs, was slowly emerging from the lake. Her eight eyes were slowly closing in fatigue, and her breathing was getting heavier. Slowly but surely, she was dying.

The life force of Bao Bei was already in decline since Hei was a child. And it wasn't a decline derived from burning her blood essence and therefore recoverable, even if it was difficult. No, it was instead derived from having consumed the entire lifespan that had been given to her.

As much as she could try, there was no way to escape the chains of time. Sooner or later, everyone would die, no matter how strong they were. No, there was a method. To reach the Divine Rank. But it wasn't something she could hope to achieve even with another hundred thousand years of life.

However, it didn't matter. She didn't care about living for eternity. The only thing she wanted was to live to see her children grow up and create a family. Playing with her grandchildren and die wrapped in the love of her family.

Still, fate hadn't been so generous.

Unexpectedly, in her quiet and loving life, her old enemy had reappeared. All the emotions of anger that were sleeping inside her exploded. The mission she didn't want to think about was back in her life.

So she fought. To give a chance to her treasures. A possibility for the future. But to do this, Bao Bei had to consume all the life force she had tried to save over the years.

Assume her true dimensions, use elemental techniques, activate her bloodline, activate both her domains.

Each of these actions was a colossal waste of energy, but together, they had consumed Bao Bei entirely. Now, only her willpower and her desire to see her children for the last time were moving her forward.

Rumble

The water surface began to tremble, and from there came out the body of Bao Bei from which the rest of the spiderweb armor came off. Then, looking around with her eight eyes, the divine spider beast headed for where her children were, landing in front of them.

When they looked at the conditions in which Bao Bei was, Hei and Lian had their eyes flooded with tears while Ye and Xing were emitting heart-rending cries while writhing in pain. None of them dared to accept the reality they had before them. Gaiya was also crying. She could sense the condition of her beloved. Now that she had found her, fate was taking her away again.

”Come.”

A brief word came from Bao Bei. Her half-closed eyes were struggling to remain open as she urged those she loved to come closer.

”Mom ... Mom.” (Ye)

”Please ...” (Xing)

”Master ...” (Lian)

”Mother, I... why?” (Hei)

”Your Highness…”

Bao Bei, seeing them standing still in pain, began to move slowly with difficulty to approach them. Noticing her movement, the five immediately walked beside her with a pained face.

”Well done, my little ones. Come here. Gaiya, thank you for protecting them.”

”Your Highness, I am not worthy of your words. Sniff, sniff, Your Highness, you...?”

”Yes, I'm dying. This body had already reached the limit long ago, but I managed to conserve my strength. But now I have consumed it completely. You too, Gaiya, are about to disappear, right?”

”Your Highness, how...?”

”I know. I read the memories of my little ones now. I know everything you told them, including Hei An and the Heart. Ah, it's typical of him to surprise me and make me worry like that.”

”Your Highness, if you have read their memories, then...?!”

Gaiya's voice took on an agitated tone as her body became more and more transparent.

It must be known that when she had brought everyone out of the Secret Dimension and inserted the Secret Dimension within the Heart of the World Tree, at the same time, she had cut the bond that anchored her to this world. But even so, she would have had a long time before she disappeared.

However, as Bao Bei, her consumption of spirit power to protect all those present from the spirit power's undulations from the violent struggle had accelerated the process of decay. She now had just several minutes before she disappeared.

Bao Bei looked Gaiya in the eyes and answered her doubt.

”Yes, I saw what you said to Lian. No, actually, I had known about it for a very long time. The only reason I pretended nothing was because I was afraid of hurting you. Still, doing so maybe I ended up hurting you more. Therefore Gaiya, this time, I will listen seriously to what you feel, and I will give you my answer.”

Gaiya, when she heard those words, was astonished. She never imagined that her most intimate feelings, which she had done everything to hide, had been seen through by Bao Bei. As it was to be expected by her Empress, no one except her had noticed that.

Making several deep sighs, Gaiya prepared to reveal what she had never said.

”Your Highness. No. Bao Bei. I love you. I love you since we became friends. At first, it was simple curiosity, but seeing how you tried and how you were striving gave me the strength to continue in my role as Queen of plant divine beasts. I was very unsure of myself, but you became my source of strength, and you were near to me all the time. I never dared to say it so far because I didn't want to ruin the relationship we had between us. I knew perfectly well what you felt for Hei An, so I was afraid that if I told you my feelings, then I would receive a refusal, and I would finish losing you. In the end, I did nothing but lie to my heart and comfort myself in seeing you from afar.”

Gaiya's words contained a sadness and a wrenching pain. Strange as it may seem, the pain resulting from unrequited or unrealized love was more painful than a physical injury.

Seeing all the time, the one you loved and not being able to hug him/her, holding him/her, kissing him/her... it was an inexpressible pain. Seeing that person/being fell in love with someone else and for fear of losing him/her, you ended up being satisfied with looking at him/her from afar and savoring those few moments with him/her. And the only alternatives were to get away from your loved one or accept that situation. Or reveal what you felt.