"Jon, to meet you again on such an occasion is indeed a bit awkward," the Night King said indifferently.
"Just awkward? You became the Night King. You want to destroy the North, destroy Winterfell, slaughter all of humanity. After doing all that, you're only 'a bit' awkward?" Jon was on the verge of breaking down.
"Awkward is already a rather luxurious emotion. It is dull and unnecessary." The Night King's tone did not fluctuate in the slightest, though his voice paused briefly.
With a bang, Jon stepped back again and again until his back struck the shield of a Valyrian steel guard.
"Uncle Benjen, if you were ever Uncle Benjen, then tell me what exactly happened!" Jon's roar carried thick desperation.
After a long silence, just when everyone thought it would not answer, the Night King said softly, "I was ordered to investigate the unusual movements of the wildlings beyond the Wall, and I encountered—"
The howling wind suddenly weakened. The dragonflame fireball shone brilliantly once more, and the green flames in the brazier shot upward like a fountain, rising a full man's height.
This area once again permitted the existence of fire elements.
"Strike!"
Mind focused, muscles tensed, he stepped forward, only to shudder violently.
The north wind sliced like flying daggers, precisely finding the gaps in armor and drilling deep into the marrow, freezing blood and soul alike.
The fire-forbidden domain was activated again.
The second stag restrained himself once more.
Though he had walked back and forth twice like a dancer, leaving Daenerys feeling stifled, she stared at the Night King with dawning realization.
It most likely still retained part of Benjen Stark's humanity. When the human Benjen's emotions awakened, the Night King's divinity would be lost.
Humanity and divinity were incompatible, even in conflict. If Benjen's consciousness could be fully awakened through great love, then—
The Night King broke free from its memories and said coldly, "I was once Benjen Stark, but that name and the identity it represents no longer hold any meaning for me. Jon Stark, I am the King of the White Walkers!"
"If you are the Night King, then there is no need to be evasive or hide what once happened to Ranger Benjen. You yourself said that everything about him has nothing to do with who you are now," Daenerys said loudly.
The response was the ring of steel.
The Night King drew the ice sword from behind his back, its hilt curved like the handle of an umbrella.
Unlike the thin, transparent ice blades held by ordinary White Walkers, the sword in the Night King's hand seemed carved from solid milk-white crystal, gleaming and translucent. Strange ripple-shaped runes covered its surface, and the blade shimmered with a faint blue glow.
The three-foot-long, two-finger-wide one-handed sword pointed directly at the crowd before the city gate.
"You wished to challenge me. I am here. Now, who will come? Or will you come together?"
"Can we really all come at once?" Jaime blurted out.
"Yes," the Night King replied calmly.
The crowd was both startled and delighted. Jaime grinned. "That's truly wonder—urk!"
Without any visible movement from the Night King, the wind and snow suddenly eased. In the endless darkness, a tranquil glow lit up.
Those blue, bulb-like eyes shone like blue stars adorning the dark sky.
A host of White Walkers.
"Come, then. Together," the Night King said.
A shrill cry rang out as Drogon swept low and fast one kilometer behind the Night King, spewing blazing red dragonfire.
The darkness was like gelatin, filling heaven and earth, freezing the world solid. The dragonfire was like a blade slashing downward, carving a gash through the gelatin.
Everyone gasped. Through that opening, they saw a nightmare vision.
Hundreds of White Walkers stood in formation at the front. Some rode dead horses, others mounted spiked ice spiders, like the most disciplined knightly legion.
Behind the cavalry, the line stretched endlessly.
On the city walls, people watched through telescopes. The black dragon flew three kilometers away, yet across the snowy fields stood the army of the dead, ranked and ready.
But everyone also noticed that within one kilometer behind the Night King, there were only about two hundred White Walker cavalry.
Even that cavalry was five hundred meters away from it.
If they moved quickly, perhaps they could surround the Night King before the main army arrived.
Just as this thought formed, the second stag strode out from the protection of the shield wall and stood before the Night King. In a deep voice he said, "Benjen Stark, I do not know what you did or what those monsters did to you, but from the moment you led the army of the dead into the North, a battle to the death between us became inevitable."
Even though the White Walkers had brought an extreme winter to Winterfell, Melisandre still wore a single red robe. Her garments fluttered as she walked to stand beside the second stag.
"Everything has been arranged by fate. The long night is long, but it will end. Servant of the Cold God, your destiny shall end before the Savior!" She raised her chin, and the ruby at her throat shone with dazzling red light.
A wave of warmth, almost scorching, spread outward from her in all directions.
Daenerys watched in astonishment as the dragonflame fireball above her head swelled again, blazing white and illuminating all directions.
At that moment, even the raging north wind fell silent. The needle-like chill turned into a spring breeze brushing the face, and the frost that had solidified upon the ground at the Night King's arrival melted inch by inch.
The fire elements not only revived but began to concentrate.
Within the Night King's fire-forbidden domain, Melisandre created a domain of fire by her own power.
The wind and frost elements within the forbidden domain were converted into fire elements.
Daenerys' expression trembled as she suddenly recalled the three realms of fire control.
Back then, she had used the divine technique "Three Gods Return to the Cave" to exchange with the foremost young genius of the first generation for a Valyrian fire witchcraft inheritance.
She had given it the rather embarrassingly low name "Fire Control."
But in truth, its real name was "Flame Demon King."
Because its highest realm was the ability to convert other elements into fire elements and ignite all high-energy elements.
Unfortunately, Fire Control was incomplete, lacking the final and most crucial third realm.
Now, before the Dragon Queen's very eyes, Melisandre had displayed a method similar to that of the Flame Demon King.
Crack, crack.
Five meters before the Night King, the ice crystals on the ground alternately melted and re-froze in a tug-of-war, emitting faint sounds of splitting ice.
The Red Priestess and the Night King were locked in a contest of power.
The Night King controlled the elemental forces within a radius of five kilometers, while Melisandre could only maintain the natural balance of the elements within ten meters around her.
Yes, merely natural balance.
Perhaps because the enemy before her was too terrifying, she could not truly raise the potential energy of the fire element as the Lord of Flame Demons could.
Ten prisoners, filthy and bound hand and foot, were brought before the Red Priestess and arranged in an arc. The center of that arc was, astonishingly, the Night King himself.
The Night King did not move. His sword hung loosely in his right hand, its tip slanting toward the ground, as he watched everything before him with cold indifference.
Including Dany and Old Barristan, everyone watched helplessly as the ten wailing prisoners were drenched in bright green wildfire.
They knew what the Red Priestess intended to do, yet none tried to stop her.
"The night is long and full of terrors. We mortals are born alone and die alone, lost and helpless, wandering through dark valleys. Blessed be the Lord who grants His grace unto us."
With only a glance, the ten sacrifices were ignited. They burned fiercely like ten torches. Amid their shrill screams, the Red Priestess chanted softly.
Stannis and his five Flaming Heart knights chanted along with her.
Hm, something discordant seemed mixed in.
The one at the edge, why did he bear the white seven-pointed star of the Faith's knightly order on his chest?
Yet he was indeed wearing the Flaming Heart cloak. He prayed the loudest and wore the most solemn expression.
What should have been an exceptionally sacred and solemn ritual became strangely comical due to the sudden intrusion of the demon hunter Richard. Dany wanted to laugh, but she held it back with effort.
The sky split open with a resonant hum.
From the pitch-black firmament, like the underside of a cauldron, a thread of white light seeped through. It spread like a spiderweb.
A ray of sunlight fell upon the crowd.
"Ah, the sun! The sun has come out!"
"Long live R'hllor! Long live the Lord of Light! God-King R'hllor!"
The twenty thousand soldiers and civilians of Winterfell shouted in excitement, nearly driven mad with ecstasy.
The sun had emerged.
It tore open the cold, dark sky and revealed its face.
Winterfell, which had been shrouded in gloom for days, was once again bathed in sunlight.
The northern plains resembled a grand stage. Winterfell was the protagonist upon it. In a dark theater, a spotlight descended from above, enveloping the "lead character."
Melisandre raised both arms and cried out wildly, "Lord of Light, grant your followers strength!"
The sky trembled. The light grew ever stronger, as if a god were holding a magnifying glass beneath the sun, and the focus of that convex lens was—
Clang!
As if divinely inspired, Stannis suddenly drew the Hero's Red Sword from his waist and raised it high above his head, shouting fervently, "I am the rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and Protector of the Realm! It is my duty to protect Westeros from the invasion of alien gods!
"I am the savior foretold in prophecy. I will fulfill the responsibility entrusted to me by fate with my very life!"
"Long live R'hllor! Long live Westeros! The living shall never perish!"
The sun's focal point fell upon the red-glowing blade. Extreme heat and light radiated from it, as if it had become a miniature sun itself.
At that moment, people finally understood why a sword that emitted only red light was called Lightbringer.
"God of War, the greatest war god of the Seven Kingdoms!" The people upon the walls were swept up by such a miracle and shouted in fervor.
"War God, God of Law, God-King…" Jon murmured. "That idle talk from back then has come completely true."
Suddenly, Little Red from Slaver's Bay reached out to Dany through their dragon bond.
The sun over Slaver's Bay had vanished.
The sun had shattered. The sun was disappearing, yet it had not completely vanished.
Previously, there had still been a hazy white halo, and the daylight resembled an overcast sky heavy with dark clouds.
Now, Slaver's Bay was as dark as Winterfell.
The sudden darkness threw Meereen into chaos, and only then did Little Red contact Dany.
"The remaining light and heat of the sun have all been cast by R'hllor upon Winterfell."
Dany suddenly understood, yet she was filled with worry.
It was victory or death.
If they failed to kill the Night King today, the Long Night would descend upon the world at an even faster pace.
The shattering of the sun merely marked the beginning of the Long Night.
For it to fully descend, the sun would have to disappear entirely, plunging the world into polar night.
There was no doubt that R'hllor's actions had accelerated the process of the shattered sun's complete extinction.
Yet Dany did not believe R'hllor was wrong.
Only by using all of the sun's remaining power against the Night King could the sun's dying embers achieve their greatest value.
(P.S. The art of fire manipulation is divided into three major realms: Fire Magician—freely controlling the shape of flames; Flame Spirit gathering fire elements from nature to form rootless fire; Lord of Flame Demons transforming other elements into fire elements, even igniting all high-energy elements.
The mental power, witch power, and magic within extraordinary beings are also high-energy elements.)
(End of Chapter)
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