In order to completely seal the remaining monsters beneath the Abyss, someone needed to lure them to a designated location and then activate the seal.
That meant the person leading the way would have no chance of survival.
Bosacius smiled. He looked at the Thaumaturge Boyang beside him, then at the remaining Millelith soldiers behind him: "Gentlemen, are you willing to accompany me on this final journey?"
Not a single person shrank back.
The youth also wanted to step forward, but Bosacius held him back with a firm hand: "Kid, you have to live."
"Someone has to remember today, to remember why the Millelith fought."
He watched as Lord Bosacius, the Thaumaturge Boyang, and the rest of the Millelith led the last of the monsters and leaped into the Abyss, including comrades of his own age.
He watched as the surviving comrades collapsed from exhaustion one by one after activating the seal.
He was buried by rocks in the chaos, and when he woke up again, the great battle was over.
He survived, but he had lost the ability to stand forever.
[Part Four]
The days after his return were crueler than the war.
In the empty barracks, he was the only one left, staring blankly from his wheelchair. Those comrades he had once drunk with, trained with, and sworn oaths with had all become cold names on the casualty list.
Why... why was I the only one left?
Endless regret and pain tormented him day and night.
Looking at his immobile legs and thinking of those comrades who remained in The Chasm forever, he developed a desire to die.
One day, while his caretaker wasn't looking, he struggled to roll off the bed, seeking to end his life by hitting the wall.
However, the expected impact did not come; a force as steady as a mountain supported him. He looked up with difficulty and met a pair of cor lapis-colored eyes, filled with majesty and compassion.
The Geo Archon, Morax, had stood by the bed at some unknown time.
"Nonsense!" Lord Rex Lapis's voice was low, yet carried an unquestionable reprimand.
The Geo Archon—the deity he had only seen from afar during the oath-taking ceremony—was standing before him now, his eyes filled with unprecedented fury.
Lord Rex Lapis's voice was as cold as ice: "Why do you mistreat yourself so?"
The youth wept like rain, his voice breaking: "Lord Rex Lapis... I... I am already a useless person. I can no longer hold the Millelith spear, I can no longer protect Liyue... What is the point of living?"
Lord Rex Lapis gazed at him, his eyes deep.
"The sacrifice of the Millelith was so that those who live can live better, not for you to follow them!"
"Protection is not only found in the posture of charging with a spear."
Before Lord Rex Lapis departed, he gently placed the youth's pre-retirement battle armor beside him—that "Millelith's Steadfastness" set, stained with blood and dust but still solid.
"Remember." Lord Rex Lapis's voice echoed in his ears, "Millelith's Steadfastness, Unyielding Mountains. This lies not only in the strength of the armor, but in the resilience of the will. Your battle is not yet over."
That armor, as if carrying the warmth and entrustment of his comrades, pulled him back from the abyss of despair.
He suddenly realized his folly, prostrated himself on the ground, and wept bitterly.
[Part Five]
In the years that followed, Liyue Harbor gained a wealthy merchant with mobility issues who sat in a wooden wheelchair.
His trade caravans always prioritized hiring disabled veterans, and his workshops specifically designed tools for people with limited mobility.
No one knew his origin, only that he paid extraordinary attention to news of The Chasm.
Time flew by, and The Chasm regained its vitality.
Miners dug up rusted weapons, broken armor plates, and even spear shafts with names carved into them from the deep pits; these were sold as antiques in the market.
A mysterious collector in black robes would always quietly appear, buying up these relics stained with history and sacrifice at high prices, carefully treasuring them as if piecing something together.
In the dead of night when no one was around, he would wipe these relics over and over. Only when moonlight occasionally shone into the room would it reflect the wet tear tracks on his face.
[Part Six]
A few more years passed.
The former "child soldier," on a bright and beautiful day, had his apprentice push him back to The Chasm once more.
At the edge of the former battlefield, he erected cenotaphs for Lord Bosacius and all the martyred comrades whose names he knew or did not know.
The mountain wind howled, blowing his graying hair at the temples. He stroked the armrests of his wheelchair, just as he had stroked the cold spear shafts back then.
The old man presiding over the erection of the tombs sat in his wheelchair and personally set the final stone tablet in place. What was engraved on that tablet was exactly the text he had dictated years ago.
[...I lament the mercy of Rex Lapis, who returned the Helmets and armor of the Millelith. My private thoughts of being unable to serve further make me feel that keeping them would only allow them to gather dust. Thus, I place them here, for those destined to find them.]
The wind blew through the bells in front of the cenotaphs, making a crisp sound, like an answer coming from afar.
["Millelith's Steadfastness, Unyielding Mountains!"]
["Shield and armor of the city, to quell demons and banish evil!"]
Those oaths, those sacrifices, and that spirit of holding firm even in desperate straits had long since merged into every inch of Liyue's soil, turning into an eternal protection as time flowed on.
He, and countless Nameless people like him, were the witnesses of this spirit.
The youth who once wanted to give up on life had used his broken body to prove that the will of the Millelith never faded due to time or disability.
In his long remaining years, he lived out the life his comrades never got to witness.
Those who leave do not look back; those who stay do not forget.
The stone tablet remains silent, but the memory lives forever.
(This story is inspired by Liyue historical legends. This article is a tribute to all the heroes who sacrificed and dedicated themselves to protection.)
(End)
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