The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World - #664 - Chapter 668 Why can birds fly?

“At this point, there is no need to repeat the tactics. Since you choose to fight directly at this moment, I can’t say anything more.”

A few hours ago, beside the Hyperion, which was undergoing pre-flight inspection, Otto smiled and sat on a velvet-padded chair, holding the red wine that he could not miss, and quietly watched the three people who were about to embark on the ship. The girl on the battlefield.

“I know that all three of you have a blood feud with me. If it weren’t for the goal of fighting Honkai, you would definitely slap me without hesitation if you had the chance to get so close to me. I am self-aware, so I believe that I have hardly ordered you or forced you in recent months – even though I have the power to do so under the Agreement of Rome.”

“So, you might as well make it clear to me directly, Otto.”

“Well…is it really more to your liking to be frank? Then I’ll tell you straight. This should be the first and only order I give you – when you have the chance to kill him, you must do it by Kiana uses the power of space on him first.”

“Huh? Why bother…I mean, is there any deep meaning in this?”

“Of course, of course. Do you think that becoming the Endgame means having freedom? No, obviously not. For Kiana, favors and dreams will bind her hands and feet in addition to [power]. And for that man, it’s even more tragic – because with his identity as [End Page], he can never do what he wants to do.

“The Cocoon of Ending has enslaved the earth, but in the final analysis, the cocoon itself is just a tumor parasitic on the Tree of Imaginary Numbers. Ending must also abide by the laws of the Tree of Imaginary Numbers. As [End Page], its existence is anchored On the tree of imaginary numbers, in the intrinsic world, so even if it has the power to change the tree of imaginary numbers, it cannot do this – because you cannot count on a fruit on the tree to build branches for the tree.

After saying that, this time, Mikael really turned around and left without any nostalgia.

“I’m not joking.”

“I really want to thank you this time. I originally wanted to guide you in the next battle, but I didn’t expect Otto to have already told you that… However, I have nothing to repay for this gratitude. Instead…I will trouble you again.”

On the contrary… I want to make time flow a little slower.

“And through this method, Alicia’s body was finally stripped away from the cocoon of the End. As for her personality, when I became the End, I had already tried every means to save the time that belonged to her personality. Pause, I also know that this sounds a bit unreliable. Maybe when you return to reality with her body in your arms, you will only get a vegetative state. If that is the case, I have a second plan. At least for now, love. Lissia is left to you, Mei. Just think of it as… fulfilling my last wish.”

“Sure enough, I still can’t help but want to say it, although you have probably guessed it – Mei, Kiana, Bronya… don’t look at me like this. You have saved the future of the world, next , let me, the sinner, save the world’s past. That’s right. Raiden Ryoma, Cecilia Chaniat, Siren, Himeko, Alexandra… all those who died because of my actions. People, all the people who died because of my inaction will get a second life like Alicia… Maybe this is better as a surprise, but I still don’t want to fight with him as an [enemy]. Say goodbye.”

Maybe it will take a long time.

When the distance is slightly closer, you can vaguely see the girl sleeping in the crystal.

“Kiana, from today on, you are truly the God of the Earth. But you must not relax. Mei once said that every star in the sky is our enemy. No one knows what will happen next. At what point will the war come? No one knows whether the power of the End is enough to cope with the next battle. And before you completely master the power of the End, all the rest of the Herrscher power will continue to flow back into the cocoon due to the siphon principle. It will be their weakest time, and all the responsibilities will be shouldered by you… But I believe you can do it. As for endless life, endless time and acquaintances who will eventually say goodbye, this is indeed true, but I believe you can do it. I believe this won’t defeat you, because no matter what, the three of you will be together, right?

Mikael was knocked down by the punch and fell to the sand.

That was the place of origin and end, and since it was nothing, he no longer had the qualifications to stay there.

Kevin ignored Mikael’s teasing. He looked at the Imaginary Tree not far away. For a moment, sadness and unwillingness sank into his eyes, and there was a hint of smile in his eyes.

Mikael chuckled and patted Kevin weakly on the shoulder.

Kevin’s slender eyebrows trembled, he opened his mouth suddenly and took a breath. Looking at the blood dripping from Mikael’s body, he asked:

Mikael bit his lip, and harsh and vulgar words came out of his mouth, but everyone could see that he just didn’t want Kevin to see himself now.

As for why Kevin appeared here, he was not surprised. With the Stigma Project that had not completely collapsed, No. 17 could easily pull Kevin, the starting point of the Stigmata, into the imaginary space, and even if it was not Deliberate manipulation will also appear not far from Mikael, the [end point of the stigmata].

“Okay, okay, it hurts enough. No need to whip the corpse. This time, I will indeed die completely.”

“But I’m different. Although Jiuyan’s authority has left me, I still have the authority to modify the tree of imaginary numbers in a short period of time – it’s really ironic. It’s obvious that Jiuyan can’t break through the rules of imaginary numbers to modify the tree. Data, but it does have such authority. Or maybe, the original Cocoon of Finality can do it, but in order to cope with my sudden birth of consciousness, Su also proved that it is more capable. The existence of a higher personality.

Kevin had calmed down and said coldly:

“Who do you think you are? Why do you decide your own memory for us? Why do you think it is a good thing for us to forget you? It’s all just your own self-righteousness.”

Both the pink color left by Ellie and the blood-red cross star have disappeared. Mikael’s eyes have long returned to the beginning, but what has returned to the beginning is just that pair of eyes.

One of them spoke harsh words, but had no intention of cutting off the raised sword.

“Icarus made wings of feathers and he rose high to reach the sun. That was where no one had ever been. He would melt and fall into the sea, and after that, there would be Countless people crossed his body and flew higher into the sky.

“Why do birds fly? I twice heard the wise man ask this question. In his youth, he believed that birds fly because they want to fly – and if we are lucky enough to be able to go back to the origin of the world, see When it comes to the first bird, it must not have wings. At that time, what it had was not the wings obtained by praying to the gods, but a heart as noble as the moon that wanted to touch the zenith.

“Since then, this idea has been binding me until now. Mebius and Hua have tried to persuade me to start over in various ways. In fact, starting over is not difficult at all, but it is limited by the thoughts at that moment. , starting over becomes impossible.

“In a world bubble, I saw someone making the same choice, but what he touched was not the real Tree of Imaginary Numbers, and he did not have the authority to change the Tree of Imaginary Numbers, so in the end he just deleted everyone’s information about him. Memory, but it does not change what has happened, it just becomes a clown.

Of course they saw the knife that Mei Yi swung, but now there were no wounds on Mikael’s body.

“Mikael – father…”

“Because… this was originally a script I prepared for myself, and what I want to do is in some ways the same as him. It’s really ironic. If we could change the time and let the two of us become the same age, There must be a lot of common language…”

The half with the purple cross star slid down from the broken space, fell on the water and fell into silence. However, Mei felt something bulging in her heart, as if she was connected to something, and then the cocoon of the end The broken half quickly repaired itself.

“So, why do birds fly? Because they have seen that the first birds tried to touch the sky with a heart as noble as the moon, but fell to the ground. Because they have seen that later birds did the same He made similar attempts and flew higher and higher – so at this moment, the bird is still hovering in the sky.

“I… came to say goodbye to you.”

However, Kevin kept smiling and remained silent.

“Have you ever heard of Icarus?”

“I know that story, so you don’t need to repeat it.”

“Mei! Was it successful?”

After saying that, ignoring the three people who had different expressions and hesitated to speak, Mikael turned around and prepared to leave.

Meiyi lowered her head and hugged the crystal in her arms, but she didn’t know whether to say “congratulations” or “goodbye” at this time.

The other two girls soon fell next to her.

He heard Mei Yi’s hoarse shouting, but he just smiled and didn’t look back.

Kiana asked quietly.

“From the very beginning, when all of us thought that the collapse was just an ordinary disaster, that it was just a continuous earthquake, tsunami, drought, virus, etc., and faced it with an optimistic attitude, you You have carried all the pain and despair alone and worked hard for it, and now you have used your own bones as a ladder to let those who come after you cross over. But you are still not satisfied, you still want to save the past…

Kevin stared at Mikael in disbelief, and even his hands trembled…until the end, he couldn’t hold back and punched Mikael in the face.

Kevin pursed his lips:

“You still want to save the world.”

He wanted to turn around, but his body moved. He held his forehead with his hand and thought for a moment, and finally said softly:

“Bronya, when you return to Earth, remember to say sorry to Xi’er and Nata for me. In addition, there is a small island numbered Z-08 in the South Pacific, with an area of ​​about 80,000 square meters, not counting Big, but all the payments have been made and all procedures have been completed using Nata’s identity. Didn’t she always want a small island to live with you and the children? Just think of it as a gift I left.

Mikael gently stroked the “rock” in front of him. Before Mei could say anything, he suddenly reached out and inserted his hand into his brain, pulled out a ball of pink crystals, and sprinkled it on the fragments of the cocoon of the end.

“This is not what you should…”

The memory stopped abruptly. According to Otto’s instructions, at that moment, Kiana had already shot the bullet containing the power of space.

With a calm smile, he handed his hand to Mikael.

With a hoarse voice, Mikael pointed casually, and the three of them found a crack on the Cocoon of Ending that they had not noticed before, but the crack was extremely neat, as if someone had cut it out with a knife.

Their eyes met, and in Mei Yi’s eyes that had returned to their original silver-gray color, she saw herself about to strike with a sword.

Mikael was only halfway through his cold words when he was interrupted by Kevin who looked even colder.

Mikael laughed miserably.

“Although you have lost the final power, you are still a Stigmata Awakener. When the power returns, they will not dare to do anything to you. At most, it will only be a symbolic imprisonment.”

“Look, there’s a crack here.”

“So, we won’t even remember you, right?”

“I told him that the reason why birds can fly is because they have to fly – when the final meteorite falls in the Cretaceous, only free birds can escape the destined destruction. My answer made him silent, and then , he shared the story of Icarus with me.”

“Why, I thought you were here to supervise me. Could it be that at this time, you want to stop me?”

At this speed, how long will it take to reach the tree of imaginary numbers?

Mikael opened his eyes.

In the blink of an eye, Kevin seemed to have made up his mind again. He walked down the sand dune and came to Mikael. He raised his hand to support him, but Mikael looked at him without any wavering. Next, he finally had no choice but to take back his hand.

Kevin opened his mouth in vain, but could only hold back one sentence——

“It’s rare to see you speak in such a tone…”

“sorry.”

Mikael shook his head in shame, but this made Kevin feel even worse.

Under Mei’s unsurprised gaze, Mikael turned around and walked slowly and hard towards the Cocoon of Ending not far away.

it’s all over.

There were still too many things that he had not had time to think about, and there were still many things in the past that he wanted to recall. In fact, as long as he stopped, he was still moving forward stubbornly, until he saw on the sand dunes in front of him. A cold figure.

Kevin snorted slightly, seemingly not surprised by this.

Mikael’s expression was extremely serious.

“You…forget it, you’re hopeless.”

Mei’s question was met with a lonely look from Otto——

Mei just shook her head, she knew what Mikael was going to do.

Mikael blinked, squeezed the tears from his eyes, and took Kevin’s hand.

In the past, when imagining this moment, Mikael always felt that he would be anxious, but when it actually came to this moment, he didn’t feel anxious at all.

Kiana was also a little at a loss and just leaned close to Mei Yi, while Bronya, who knew everything about Mikael as the [Herrscher of Reason] from the inheritance, sighed helplessly and helplessly. , finally asked softly:

“Are you leaving?”

“Icarus will eventually fall to welcome his victory. Although many people say that he is an arrogant villain and his own death is to blame, he is undoubtedly a hero. Because heroes are divided into two parts. There are two kinds of heroes: heroes who trample on other people’s ideals, and heroes who hope that their own ideals will be trampled on. The former carries everything on his own, becomes a sinner, and tramples on his ideals, while the latter, through his own failure, leaves a cornerstone for the advancement of those who come after him. He is waiting. The latecomers surpass themselves and usher in the day when they can truly touch the sky.

Does Mei Yi want to call her father, or does she want to talk about her father? Mikael didn’t know, didn’t want to know, and had no need to know.

“After entering this era, I told everyone this: The reason why I want to save this world is because Alicia must want to see such an ending. I believe it myself. But maybe This is not an excuse. From the beginning, the reason why I embarked on the path of saving the world was because Alicia wanted to save the world. In this regard, I am the same as you, Kevin.

After being targeted one after another, Kevin also became angry. He simply grabbed Mikael’s collar and yelled at him. But after yelling in one breath, he just let Mikael go with trembling hands. .

Did that knife fail? No one would believe that Mei’s attack would fail at such a short distance. No one would question whether Mei would hold back at the critical moment, but…

“You ask me, why are we still moving forward… I don’t know. Kevin, I just rescued Alicia. Although it may not be successful, even if that plan fails, the second plan will be enough to make up for it. . But… I didn’t feel any joy or satisfaction. I didn’t even dare to have much contact with her. I just handed her over to Mei Yi before she woke up, and then escaped from there…

“No, I think it’s safer to cut it twice more. For people like you, it’s better to grind it into powder and spread it through the black hole throughout the universe.”

Mikael didn’t answer.

“Come on, your body can’t hold on for long. Since I can’t stop you, all I can do is accompany you through the last part of the journey. This is also my honor.”

The power of the end no longer exists, the power of reason and the power of death can no longer be used, and the power of the stigmata is temporarily unable to respond due to the collapse of the stigmata plan. However, there is still a power that is constantly repairing his body. .

The look at each other only lasted a tenth of a second. When Mei slashed with the knife without hesitation, and when the blade was about to touch Mikael’s neck, he closed his eyes without any expression that should or should not be there. It seemed like a very ordinary blink of an eye.

“That’s too much Kevin. There is nothing more disgusting than facing a grown man before you die. Or do you have some special hobby that Mei doesn’t know about?”

Kevin’s right hand that he punched just now was still trembling. He grabbed his right fist with his left hand and tried to make his voice as cold as ice again.

“What exactly… do you want to do?”

“She did come, but I asked her to go back… It was a torture for her, and you know this pain best, Mikael.”

Mikael dug his fingers into the crack, and with a slight exertion, the cocoon of the end, which was obviously countless times larger than him, was neatly broken into two halves along the crack.

Mikael responded lightly, finally having a smile on his face.

His movements were much faster and wider than before those three people, but they were still slow.

Mikael walked slowly, with cracks constantly popping up on his skin, which were quickly repaired as before. Only blood flowed into the sand under his feet bit by bit.

“The Herrscher of the Sky’s power is extremely special. When operating at full power, this power obtained from the imaginary number space will distort the imaginary number space corresponding to the real number space together, resulting in a phenomenon called [Imaginary Number Heavy You don’t need to know the specific principle, you just need to know that in this way, the man can completely get rid of the identity of [Final], he will lose all his power, and the only thing he gets is change. The possibility of the Imaginary Tree. You must give him this opportunity, because this is his most essential expectation for this battle.”

“sorry……”

“But I don’t agree with this answer. I really want to know how he would give different answers to the same question after spending his short life. So, when the wise man was dying, I asked him again I met him. I asked him why birds can fly, but he still gave me the same answer. This made me a little disappointed.

Soon, his figure disappeared from the gorgeous galaxy.

“Lastly, Mei Yi, I… you are the child I care about the most. In fact, it doesn’t have to be like this. Maybe I always mistake you for Eve when I’m not sober… I’m sorry for the harm I caused to you. But I still want to say a few words – sometimes Kiana eats instant noodles and snacks or plays games all night, so don’t be too strict about it. You are all Herrschers, and your body’s metabolism has long been different from that of humans. It’s the same, even if I don’t sleep for half a year, nothing will happen.”

“You bastard! Do you know what you are talking about! What kind of weird logic are you using? One moment you say you don’t love Alicia, and the next you say you must be the one to save him. Who do you think you are? Ah! Are you serious about the following words? “

“…”

The man turned around, glanced at Mikael’s embarrassed figure with sad eyes, and couldn’t help but close his eyes.

“So, I will delete everything about [Mikael] from the Tree of Imaginary Numbers. From now on, [Mikael] in all timelines will cease to exist, and the world will automatically repair the holes caused by my absence. , those who originally died because of me will also “exist” because of my “non-existence”.

In front of Kevin, Mikael lay directly on the blood-red sand. Kevin quickly leaned over to pull him up, but then realized something and slowly sat down next to him.

“No problem Mikael, you can stop here.”

Then, the purple thunder knife passed through without any hindrance, and a few scattered drops of blood floated in the vacuum, but only a few drops.

“Stop acting like you’re thinking about us.”

“so……”

“But if I asked you to stop, would you stop, Michail?”

Although the appearance of its killing was just tearing a one-meter-long hole in the giant’s body, exposing Mikael’s body, it did use the full power of the Herrscher of the Sky. What Mei Yi feels so clearly is that Kiana has mastered the power to the extreme – she has not exerted too much power in the form of Honkai energy in the real number world, but the corresponding Honkai internal energy in the imaginary number space may have already collapsed. Tsunami.

“But the difference is… you have been practicing the path of salvation, even if the original intention was just a selfish idea, but I am different. Everything I did almost destroyed the entire world, and this cannot be erased Sin. Since it is a sin, it must be paid off. Didn’t you just say that I am already a bastard, so don’t stop me anymore. If a bastard suddenly changes his mind and wants to take responsibility for his mistakes, shouldn’t you? Encouragement?”

“Ha…Mikael, about two thousand years ago, I met a wise man in Attica, and he told me a story.”

For the last time, Mikael temporarily stopped moving forward.

“Mei!”

But that doesn’t affect what he has to say.

Only when the hand holding the knife could no longer feel any resistance did Mei Yi realize this, and Mei Yi had to accept this.

“It’s just because Alicia wants to see it.”

…………

While thinking, Mei Yi had already rushed in front of Mikael, less than half a meter away from him.

puff–

“In this way, Mei Yi is also the true origin.”

“Mei Yi, do you want to stop him?”

Without any special instructions or reminders, Mei put down the knife in her hand, stepped forward, and took the crystal wrapping Ellie from Mikael’s hand.

“Mikael, you…”

His hands and feet were also extremely cold, the cold air flowed out of these places uncontrollably, and there were even ice particles on his fingertips.

“Um……”

With that said, Kevin had already stood up.

“Just listen to me Kevin…”

He came to the blood-red sand, and at the end of his sight was the big tree emitting sacred golden light.

“You…you bastard, do you know what you are talking about?”

“I……”

“I thought the person who came was Hua. After all, we agreed that she would be the one to send me off on my last journey.”

There was some hesitation on Mei Yi’s face, but her hand raised the long knife again without hesitation, which made Mikael have to smile bitterly.

Kevin’s nearly collapsed roar was heard in his ears. In the sky above his head, several slender branches of the imaginary number were already faintly visible.

“Well done, Mei, Kiana, and Bronya.”

But suddenly, the scenery in front of me changed.

Even so, he still said these words.

“As [Endgame], not only can I not change the rules of imaginary numbers, I can’t even have any impact on the Cocoon of Endgame itself. This is what I said, I can’t even commit suicide. However, five hundred years ago, Through the battle with Kevin, I forced him to withdraw the power of the end from my body in advance, which enabled me to successfully find the dividing line between [Final] and [Origin]. In the next five hundred years, I never got my power back, I was just waiting for the two powers to become distinct.”

“But… there is really no way… If possible, I hope you can remember me, but if that is the case, there will be no way to save the world.”

Mikael swallowed, no more cracks appeared on his body, and the bursts of pain remained at a constant level.

The dazzling light obscured the sight of the three people. When the light dimmed, Mikael had already walked back with a human-sized pink crystal in his arms.

“No matter what your motives are, what you do will not lie. A hero can never become a hero on his own initiative. Whether it is us or Kiana, if we are facing a peaceful era, we will only We are just ordinary people. We just happened to appear in such an era and encountered such a disaster. Even so, we did not choose to save the world for any particularly noble reasons. If you think we are heroes, then. Of course you are too. Yes, you have never been a sinner. You are a hero who saved the past of this world and created a future for this world.

“But…but…”

But even that kind of light couldn’t illuminate the dark purple sky.

But after taking two steps, he turned around with a wry smile and said:

“It doesn’t hurt to tell you. This is the method I saw from another world – I want to delete my existence from the tree of imaginary numbers.”

The monotonous and dark universe was suddenly filled with brilliant starlight, and the water beneath our feet faithfully reflected it all. At the intersection of the sky and the water, the cocoon of the end was twitching regularly. Such a scene is not unfamiliar, but Mikael is still standing in front of Mei Yi, but there is a horizontal line missing from his neck.

Mikael wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and explained in a low and cold voice.

“What?”

Then, the eyes that had been tightly closed without any trembling opened.

According to Otto’s words, [Imaginary Number Renormalization] should be successful, right?

“But why do I want to save the world? You know what, Kevin? In the scorched earth of Klosten, in the snowfields of Siberia, in the ruins of the Salt Lake City base, do you know what I felt – refreshing, very It’s very, very satisfying. It turns out that killing is such a pleasant thing, and destroying is such a pleasant thing. Don’t worry about it. Let’s just destroy everyone who deserves to die. If that’s what I thought at the beginning. If I destroyed civilization as a normal Herrscher would in the beginning and was killed by humans, would I not have experienced so much pain?”

“I will be proud that I was once your comrade-in-arms and your family. I am like this, they are like this, and Alicia must be like this too. If we are destined to forget you, it will be our regret, not anything else. Good thing.”

“Just now, you thought you hit my neck, but in fact I deliberately induced you to swing the knife. What you hit happened to be the dividing line between the two powers… I’m sorry, I also hope that this person is not you Mei Yi. But only those who possess the power of the Origin can do this, and only those who have not completely become the Origin can wield a knife against the Cocoon of Finality.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Do I still love Alicia? I can’t answer this question. Maybe I stopped loving her before the seventh collapse began. She can never be my lover. Because from that time Starting from a certain moment, I felt that I was not worthy of being on the same footing as her. She could only be the person I had to save, and I could only be the one who finally saved her, that’s all.

Gulu——

“Then what do you think I should say? Like a ‘hero’ urging you, a bastard who is eager to die, to die quickly and save the world? Can I just say this? I am not a hero in the first place. , and I didn’t want to save the world. I joined the Fire Moth because of Mei. I went to save the world because Mei wanted to save the world… I am… I saw that you are cool in saving the world. , that’s why I want to save the world…So, what’s wrong with me wanting you to live? I’m such a selfish person!”

“How cruel, Mei.”

“And…Mikael, I know that without you, I will be the one who becomes Icarus. You not only saved the world, saved her, but also saved me and us. Because of this, I… …Mikael, I know I can’t stop you. Soon, I will completely forget even this conversation. But at least for this moment, I hope you understand——

“Well. When the concept of Mikael itself no longer exists, the related memories will not exist. No one except the Herrschers will remember Mikael… I’m sorry, maybe my name should be used as an object of hatred. Those victims will be remembered for a lifetime. This is the ending that a sinner deserves, but I really can’t change everything on the basis of taking this into consideration, but it is also a good thing for you, right? If you don’t remember me, you can forget about me. some pain.”

One person spoke with words of complaint, but there was only relief and satisfaction in his slightly trembling voice.

Kevin’s words made Mikael silent for a full half minute, and in the end he just repeated the unfinished sentence before:

“That’s not something you should say.”

The flesh and blood where Kevin had punched him peeled off quickly as if it had dissolved, and then repaired quickly. However, due to the overwhelming pain, he didn’t even feel the new injury. He just rested for a moment, looked at the silent Kevin and spoke again. :

“As expected… Alicia…”

Looking at each other at such a close distance, even though it was only for a very brief moment, what Mei Yi saw was the faint and peaceful smile on his lips.

“Uh…but, how do you know this? And how do you know he needs us to do this?”

“Did you inject yourself with Garuda’s factor in advance? Are you crazy? Why on earth do you continue to move forward despite enduring such pain?”

Mikael’s movements were really slow, and every step he took forward seemed to be using all his strength. Even though the cocoon of the end was not far away from him, it still took a lot of time to reach the cocoon.

“Millions of people will be reborn in an instant. Teresa and the others will have a headache. And because I still retain the final person, my existence itself is an extremely heavy weight. In exchange for this At the end of the day, there will be residual power, and those powers can be used to exchange for the ending of “our era will not be destroyed” and “Alicia will definitely survive”. As for how our era will turn out. I don’t know if it will be repaired, but Sakura will definitely come back.”

Kevin only said two words before he felt his throat tightening.

The two spoke almost at the same time and lowered their heads at the same time.

Time was suspended, but it wasn’t Mikael who did it, and presumably it wasn’t Kiana.

The muscles on his cheeks began to twitch, because he could see the bright stars lighting up in the purple sky in the imaginary space without raising his head.

And, a strange voice sounded from behind:

“I’m sorry, but I think you won’t be able to walk this last stretch.” (End of Chapter)