Chapter 146: Little Grey, the game should end now
A clear voice echoed across the entire royal city’s square, a chant both heartfelt and intimate.
And with the girl’s gentle singing, time froze in that moment.
The clock tower’s ticking hand trembled suddenly, then altered its trajectory, turning counterclockwise.
The tea in the cup, once swirling with steam, became scalding hot, then rapidly flowed back into the pot.
Lights flickered from dim to bright, then from bright to complete darkness.
On the square, where nothing stood before, figures now appeared out of the shadows…
Interfering with time, manipulating fate.
This was the ability that Grey had once used in Frostwater Town, long before she joined the Shoreguards and inherited that spark of flame, nearly ten years ago.
Back then, however, Grey couldn’t consciously control that force—this great power called “Fate” that tangled within her soul—she could only trigger it unconsciously when her life was threatened or her emotions surged violently.
She even, as a price for gathering such fortune herself, stripped luck from those around her, leading them toward bleak ends…earning herself a reputation as a cursed witch, a lone star of ruin for those close to her.
In the end, Grey had refused to accept the reality of Frostwater Town’s annihilation, dragging the entire town into an endless loop of the same day.
But—
Since that very day she first met Big Brother Rast.
Since she made a conscious choice to break out of that illusory dream and face the majestic force within her soul called “Fate.”
Every dawn and dusk of the following ten years… Grey dived deeper into her own soul, attempting to tame that elusive destiny, and bring it under her control.
To challenge a mighty existence called destiny with mere mortal will.
It was undeniably a foolish and arrogant decision.
In truth, during the first ten years, Grey’s attempts had each ended in failure—
She truly was a darling of fate, but that concept was closer to a “gift,” not a power Grey could truly comprehend.
Like the so-called “Divine Favored” among religious orders worshiping gods, or the church’s priests who, through prayer, acted as intermediaries tapping into divine might to perform miracles.
But those were still miracles born of prayer—blessings bestowed by deities out of mercy for their followers.
And if a Divine Favored or priest attempted to claim that divine authority as their own, their status would vanish, and the true god’s wrath would burn everything to ashes.
Grey’s earlier failures sprang from similar reasons.
She should have continued failing indefinitely…
Until that betrayal three years ago.
That stormy night, mingled with blood and cliffside mud, stole everything from the girl.
Her life goals that had risen from joining the Shoreguards, from making friends like Yanice.
Her hopes for reunions with Big Brother Rast, the half-year of happiness in the Watchtower…
Every single aspiration for their future shattered in that night’s torrential rain.
The bloodline tying her to this world was severed once more, and her connection to the joys and sorrows of mortal life drifted far, far away…
It felt as if everything had returned to the time before she met Big Brother Rast—
A cub-like little girl wandering alone across a lifeless wasteland, drifting among wolf packs, but with no real haven, only temporary refuge.
She once held the whole world and was the happiest treasure in existence… but it was all rescinded in one night, and Grey became a homeless, wandering spirit cast aside from the world.
Since there was nothing left to lose…
Except her own life, she thought she had nothing more to lose…
With that resolve to die, Grey embarked on three years of trial—
Years that felt less like human and more like demon and asura.
She believed she would die wretchedly in a hell like that… but even Grey herself hadn’t expected that she would endure.
Countless times on the brink of death, those brushes with mortality not only tempered the fire spark she’d inherited from the Shoreguards, but also that power called Fate.
And at this moment, the time rewind that once could only be triggered unconsciously in despair was finally mastered by Grey, becoming an ability she could fully control herself.
And this came after three years—
The confidence with which Grey chose to stand before Big Brother Rast once more was her final trump card, one she hadn’t even revealed to Leader Cisel.
If she had completely mastered “Fate” and the ability of “Time Rewind”—
Then she should be able to catch up with Big Brother Rast’s footsteps.
Even to fulfill that wish she had thought of day and night.
If one attempt failed, she could use time rewind to reset everything and try ten more times...
If ten times failed, then a hundred more...
Even if the chance of success was tiny, and her power weak.
Yet, among hundreds or thousands of timelines, there must be a way to save Big Brother Rast from the wrong path.
All along, by treating such belief as a lifeline and holding it in her heart, Grey was able to endure the three years of trials that led her into the paths of Asura and even demon.
…
Such a thought flashed briefly in Grey’s mind.
The scenery around her quickly shifted, and even the concept of time itself was no longer so elusive—it flowed beside her like a trickling stream, clearly perceptible to Grey.
If time were a river flowing downstream, then at this moment the river of time reversed and flowed upstream...
Under the wash of time’s river, the entire royal city rewound, leaving only Grey’s single grain of sand and impurities in the current that didn’t reverse with it.
Grey felt the flow of time beside her slowing bit by bit, and the previously shifting scenery gradually became clear and audible.
It was still the central square of the Paradise Royal City.
But compared to the square at the moment of Grey’s uprising after the sacred ritual had completed, there were far more people present now.
This was the time point ten minutes earlier.
The sacred ritual had not yet officially begun, and the Holy Grail had not yet manifested.
Therefore, the deceased in the square had naturally not yet been offered as sacrifices by the sacred rite, nor refined into part of the Holy Grail.
The crowd in the square only watched with fervent eyes as the youth, accompanied by retainers, slowly emerged onto the high platform, awaiting the Underworld’s Wise King to announce the official start of the sacred ritual.
In the previous timeline, Big Brother Rast must have anticipated where I would appear after teleporting and set a trap specifically for that spot.
After all, on the platform beside Big Brother Rast, there were only a few teleportation points capable of disrupting the Holy Grail at first opportunity.
And the spark I inherited from Leader Cisel—though secret—was said by Leader Cisel to originate from the Gravekeeper organization and was revealed to Big Brother Rast by that Famine Sequence legend named Noah, so it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.
Plus Big Brother Rast’s understanding of my personality could only be described as intimately knowing my roots.
No wonder every step I took before was seen right through by Big Brother Rast, even predicting my next move and location.
If I waited again until after the Holy Grail manifested to seize and destroy it—as in the last timeline—I’d probably fall under Big Brother Rast’s control once more, playing into his rhythm.
Since that’s the case, I might as well activate the backup plan.
Reverse course: not allowing the ritual to complete and act only after the grail appeared—but initiating early to directly obstruct the ritual’s progression and the grail’s creation.
Grey hid her petite form beneath a gray cloak, her delicate face concealed by the hood, blending into the crowd in the square. Drawing on her experiences from before the rewind, she rapidly devised her action plan for this timeline.
Soon, a silver light flickered once again in her emerald eyes.
“Psionic Grimoire, ‘Collective Subconscious Intervention’”
“Sequence Grimoire, ‘Mind Demon · Whisperer’”
“Sequence Grimoire, ‘Mind Demon · Mass Enchantment’”
“Sequence Grimoire, ‘Mind Demon · Soul Corruption’”
“Sequence Grimoire, ‘Mind Demon · Wide-Area Mental Suggestion’”
…
A faint flame flickered continuously in Grey’s eyes.
Each flicker represented her igniting the spark and equipping a grimoire that could simulate sequence or psionic abilities, ready for the moment.
The “Holy Grail” was the embryonic form of the Divine Realm among the three elements of divinity—a physical manifestation of the power of faith.
And if—
She could corrupt the participants’ pure faith in Big Brother Rast, the Underworld’s Wise King, and taint that faith.
Then as the crystallized form of faith and embryonic Divine Realm, the Holy Grail would naturally be tainted by impure faith, become polluted and distorted, losing its essence as one of the three elements needed for divinity.
This was Grey’s contingency plan prepared in advance for when directly destroying the grail failed: upon rewinding time, she would sabotage via corruption.
By targeting the crowd’s faith, she would alter the grail’s nature, turning it into a filth-laden, cursed “Black Holy Grail.”
Of course—
Destabilizing minds, inciting chaos, corrupting the public’s once-pure faith.
Such actions already sounded no different from a cultist.
And the grimoires Grey prepared for this—capable of mass mental interference, corrupting and enchanting hearts—were basically all derived from the “Mind Demon” or “Shadow,” a long-tier sequence that sounded villainous in both form and nature.
But at this moment, Grey naturally did not care that her actions appeared villainous.
As long as she could pull Big Brother Rast back from the wrong path and fulfill that daydreamed wish...
No matter how villainous it looked, even if she truly descended into the path of Asura and demon, Grey wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest.
“As with sequence grimoire—you are activated.”
The preset mental suggestion was quietly triggered.
However, just as Grey firmly made up her mind and formulated her plan for this timeline, before she could truly act—
In the next instant.
Grey clearly noticed.
A cold and commanding gaze was falling upon her from the high platform.
“So it is, Grey.”
“You’ve given up confronting me directly, and are instead targeting the crowd here.”
“You intend to corrupt the faith of the masses and soil the Holy Grail born of that faith, to stop me from ascending to the Seat Death God?”
With a faint, indifferent sound, Grey lifted her head in confusion.
Then, she met the gaze descending from the high platform.
Those jet-black eyes were so familiar, yet so strange.
They had been etched deep into Grey’s soul; even after a hundred or a thousand years, she would never forget the name of their owner.
How could that be?
Based on her own attempts, after the time rewind… except for herself, protected by Fate and independent of the flow of time—
Everyone within the rewind zone should have had their consciousness reset and lost all memories of the prior timeline.
Seeing the black-haired youth on the platform, not hosting the ritual as in the last timeline but looking straight at her, Grey felt her mind stiffen.
Her current mastery of time rewind could not possibly affect the whole world, only a specific region—like when she distorted Frostwater Town and its surroundings.
Moreover, if a legendary powerhouse were present in this field, Grey’s time rewind would fail due to the vast rank disparity—
Perhaps only when Grey herself ascended to legend could she include other legends within her time-rewind scope.
But if legendary-rank interference existed, her time rewind should have been blocked from the start, unable to be activated.
Yet at this moment, in Grey’s perception, the time rewind had clearly been activated smoothly without obstruction.
Except for herself, the entire world had clearly been reset to the point ten minutes earlier.
If that was the case, Big Brother Rast—who should have lost his previous timeline memory and been about to continue the ritual—how could he notice her, even fully understand her plan?
Was it because she had stood there lost in thought for too long, standing out oddly among the fervent crowd and caught his attention?
Big Brother Rast is the King of the Underworld; the entire royal city is his domain... within his realm, he holds incredible control.
Even among thousands attending the ritual, he could detect her momentary daze—though unbelievable, in this instant, it was the only explanation Grey could find.
In a flash of thought, Grey saw above her head a pale, bony hand descending toward her.
In a single glance, Grey clearly recognized—it was Big Brother Rast’s hand.
Bathed in a dim yellow aura, the gesture had no grand force but blocked all of Grey’s escape possibilities, extinguishing any chance of life.
In that moment, without having equipped a countermeasure grimoire, if that pale hand seized her, her life and death would lie completely in his grasp—no possibility of struggle.
Fixing her gaze on the slowly descending pale hand, Grey’s thoughts raced and she grit her teeth.
“Fate...”
A clear voice echoed again across the square—speaking was a young girl.
Her words felt like spells, stirring ripple upon ripple in the flowing tide of fate.
The dim yellow aura froze, time reversed, and the clamor returned to deathly silence.
The scene that had played once before repeated at this moment; the river of time was rewritten again, surging toward a more distant upstream.
…
Feeling the turbulent reverse flow of time beside her gradually slow until nearly halting.
Grey snapped her eyes open.
The wooden floor beneath jolted again and again as it traveled along a steep mountain road, shaking Grey’s figure as well.
In her view was a modest carriage compartment.
Outside the window, the fierce sun in the blue sky had not yet reached its zenith—it was rising slowly from the east.
“Little girl—”
“You came to the royal city for the ritual too?”
Opposite her in the carriage, a refined elderly lady with silver hair spoke to Grey kindly.
“You came alone to the royal city?”
“Your parents didn’t come with you?”
Ignoring the elderly lady’s kind inquiries, Grey drew a deep breath, snapping back to her senses from the earlier situation.
Another time rewind.
But this time, the time span was no longer the ten minutes Grey had last used.
Instead—
Four hours.
It rewound directly from the ritual’s official start back to four hours earlier, at 10 AM…
At that time, Grey was still on the carriage outside the royal city, not yet having truly entered its boundaries.
Grey couldn’t be completely certain, but the most logical deduction—
After containing the Death‑God Holy Grail, the entire royal city became Big Brother Rast’s domain, and he observed everything within with perfect precision.
She likely exposed her identity earlier due to some detail, drawing Big Brother Rast’s attention to her presence.
So he could prepare responses to her in advance—perhaps he had already suspected her existence, though not taken action yet.
If so—then she should rewind time to before anything had started.
Back to before she even entered the royal city.
No matter how incredible Big Brother Rast’s control over the city’s citizens was, he couldn’t detect signs of her arrival.
“Little girl, are you unwell?”
“Why do you look so startled?”
Watching as Grey's gaze turned from confusion and panic to resolve, the elderly lady across from her spoke with some concern.
But the gray-haired girl did not respond to the woman’s kindness.
Grey stared at the distant horizon of the plains outside the window; the carriage was steadily approaching the grand royal city already looming in view.
In her mind, she was rapidly considering her options.
Should she abandon her plan in the ritual and return to the Watchtower for backup?
No—that coastline of fractures is in a dire state, forbidden creatures in the Endless Sea are stirring, and a great war could break at any time...
Neither Leader Cisel nor anyone else in the Shoreguards can spare any additional assistance.
Besides, even if others joined her, their fate against Big Brother Rast would not change a bit.
But this ritual in the royal city is her last chance.
If Rast was allowed to obtain the Holy Grail and gather two of the three Bronze Keys required to open the Path to Godhood, then his strength would surely surge, making him even more difficult to handle.
There was even doubt whether her Time Rewind would still work on Rast.
Most crucially, after containing the Holy Grail and the power of faith from all people, Rast’s mind and soul would inevitably be influenced by that power of faith.
From a pure human, he would begin transforming into a true "Death God" who overlooked all beings and held dominion over the Underworld and death.
From man, to god.
From "he", to "He".
At that point, everything might become truly irreversible.
And the already faint hope of pulling Rast back from the wrong path would grow even dimmer.
Therefore—
No matter what, she had to sabotage this Holy Sacrament.
But how could she enter the Royal City, enter Rast’s domain, and hide her intentions without him noticing her plan in advance?
As this thought passed through her mind, Grey couldn’t help but lightly press her delicate temple.
She felt a trace of numbness and fatigue slowly spreading from deep within her soul.
As the sole bearer of the Higher Sequence of Fate, Grey indeed possessed a conceptual ability akin to a save-load function, allowing her to rewind time.
However—
To rewind time and reverse fate.
How could the user of such a power that rewrote the rules possibly avoid paying any price?
To rewind the time of all living and non-living things within a specific domain while retaining her complete memory...
Meant that her soul had to re-experience the entire span of the rewound time in a very short duration.
Like placing a stone into an aging chamber—within minutes, a once-solid rock could be weathered into ruin.
And the cost Grey had to pay for rewinding time was exactly like that.
Each rewind caused her soul to suffer a certain degree of erosion from the accelerated flow of time.
If it was only a rewind of a few seconds, the damage wasn’t too severe.
But if the span increased further, the "erosion" to the soul would deepen continuously—
Just like many long-lived beings who had forgotten their past humanity... soul erosion, mental flaws, or even loss of memory and personality were all likely to happen.
At this moment, Grey realized she might have forgotten parts of her memory.
But exactly which parts were missing, even she didn’t know.
Still, now was not the time to dwell on it.
Whether it meant falling into the path of Asura and evil spirits, suffering soul erosion, or losing memories...
These were choices Grey had already made—vows she had long sworn in countless midnight dreams.
Moreover—
If she too could experience the wear of time...
Then maybe, she could feel a fraction of what Rast experienced as an immortal being.
Truly empathize with him, understand what Rast faced, and the pain and numbness he endured.
With such thoughts in her heart, Grey ignored the astonished looks from others in the carriage and suddenly stood up.
She had to leave before the carriage truly entered the Royal City.
She must stop the Holy Sacrament, prevent Rast from obtaining the Holy Grail, and block the opening of the Path to Godhood… In other words, infiltrating the Royal City was inevitable.
However, she might need to find a more covert method of infiltration.
Perhaps her previous two timelines had been noticed by Rast because entering the Royal City by carriage was too conspicuous.
But—
It was at that moment.
Grey noticed the carriage she was riding in suddenly halted.
This wasn’t a stop due to her desire to get off…
Because just a second later, Grey heard the exclamations of the other passengers.
"Is that His Majesty the Wise King?"
"I was once fortunate enough to see a portrait of the Wise King. If I’m not mistaken, that is indeed His Majesty Rast."
There was a trace of being flattered in the passengers’ astonishment.
"But why would His Majesty Rast personally come to welcome us to the Holy Sacrament?"
Listening to the other passengers’ puzzled remarks—
Grey felt the blood in her veins freeze along with her heartbeat.
She stiffly raised her head.
And then she saw—over the distant sky beyond the outskirts of the Royal City—
The young man walking toward her step by step, bathed in dusky golden light.
"Why…"
"Why…"
Grey’s trembling whisper was swallowed by the gale blowing across the wasteland.
The world turned silent, leaving only the scorching sunlight—and the ruler of the Underworld who stood beneath it, reigning over all.
"Little Grey."
It was a name Grey knew all too well, but hearing it now sent a faint chill through her heart.
Only now did she sense the anomaly from deep within her soul that had been surfacing yet ignored.
Clearly, she had only used Time Rewind twice since arriving at the Royal Capital.
But the wear etched into her soul had long exceeded the count of "two".
"Game."
The young man’s voice descended from the distant sky.
Like a proclamation.
Like a judgment.
"It should end now…"