Shadow Slave novel Chapter 3229

Smile of Heaven had expected to be burned by the flames and endure horrible agony. But, to her surprise, no pain came.

Instead, the roaring wall of purifying fire vanished.

Suddenly, she found herself in total darkness — pale moonlight illuminated the entrance of the temple behind her, but up ahead, there was nothing but an echoing black void.

There was silence, as well, enveloping her like a heavy blanket.

She froze for a moment, failing to process the sudden and inexplicable change.

‘Did I... just imagine those flames?’

Had they been an illusion all along?

Smile of Heaven hesitated, then assumed her Transcendent form and looked at her wings.

The feathers were still singed, their edges blackened.

The flames had been real.

‘What is going on?'

Just as she formed that thought, a nebulous voice suddenly resounded from the darkness, reflecting from the metal walls and surrounding her like a tide.

“Aren't you afraid of death?"

Smile of Heaven flinched.

That voice... that infinitely cold, utterly indifferent voice. It was completely inhuman, reminding her that the ruler of the first human kingdom was a different kind of creature.

A nephilim.

She did not know a lot about these beings, except for the fact that everyone in the mortal realms was both appalled by and terrified of them.

The nephilim was seemingly curious about Smile of Heaven's perceived lack of the self-preservation instinct. Anyone would have been turned to ash by those flames, after all.

She cleared her throat.

“Oh, no. I am afraid of death very much, actually."

Smile of Heaven smiled timidly.

"So... please don't kill me, if you may!"

She grew quiet for a moment and then added in a more subdued tone:

"I can heal damage done to my soul quite swiftly. So, I was planning to mend myself at the same rate the flames burned me... or as close to that as I could get."

There was a long stretch of silence.

Then, the same awesome voice resounded once more.

"You thought you would be able to endure it... have you been burned before?"

Smile of Heaven shivered.

"I can't say that I have experienced being burned alive before. But I am no stranger to pain, either."

Being able to heal herself did not mean that getting hurt was painless, after all. The pain the soul experienced when it was damaged was nothing short of gruesome — so, Smile of Heaven knew agony quite well.

‘What about White Abyss?’

She was suddenly curious.

Could flame be burned?

The inhuman voice resounded from the dark depths of the temple again, flat and emotionless.

"You would have died."

Hearing that, Smile of Heaven shivered again.

But then, her eyes glistened with a hint of hope.

‘Wait a minute.'

If diving into the white flames would have been fatal for her, and White Abyss dismissed them... then didn't that mean that White Abyss recalled her flames to save her life?

If so, then this ancient Titan was not entirely devoid of benevolence. Smile of Heaven had assumed that her existence would be of no consequence to a creature that old, that powerful — but it seemed that the nephilim was willing to act in order to save the life of a complete stranger. Maybe... perhaps her task was not as difficult as she had feared it would be.

Gulping, Smile of Heaven cautiously summoned her light. A soft radiance spilled from her winged figure, illuminating the interior of the golden temple. She found herself in a wide triangular corridor with a soaring ceiling, leading straight into the depths of the pyramid.

Both the walls and the floor of the corridor were cast from gold — or at least from a metal that resembled gold.

‘Strange.'

She would have expected the metal to be incandescent with heat after containing the incinerating flames of White Abyss for so long, but it was not glowing — in fact, it was cool to the touch.

Inhaling deeply, she wiped the sweat off her brow and cautiously took a step forward. Her footsteps resounded in the solemn silence of the ancient temple, causing her heart to skip a beat.

She tensed, then asked tentatively:

“Your Majesty, White Abyss... can I assume that you are granting me the audience I requested?"

The only answer she received was silence. Smile of Heaven slowed down, but didn't stop.

‘She didn't say no, right? So... I'll be presumptuous and take it as a yes.’

Smile of Heaven was facing a minor crisis, though.

She did not know where she was going, and had no idea what White Abyss looked like. That ancient Titan was, presumably, an ocean of flame. Now that the flame was gone, where the hell was White Abyss? Had she taken a human form, like Shadow? Or were the flames still burning somewhere in the depths of the pyramid?

Smile of Heaven was not sure, but judging by the length of the corridor, she would reach the center of the great pyramid's golden pinnacle soon.

And indeed, the walls of the corridor parted before too long.