Chapter 163: “Such an ending, don’t you feel regret?”
Nightworld, deep beneath the crustal layers of the Royal City in Paradise.
Or rather, that place once known as the Nether Abyss.
Whether it be the bedrock or the earth... everything was pierced through and engulfed by the surging Brilliance, extending toward the distant reaches beyond the night sky.
Then, the explosion.
The crust and rock strata shattered, revealing the night sky beyond the Nether Abyss.
The Mark of Light was engraved upon the heavens, dyeing the entire starry sky above the Royal City in crimson red.
Immediately after—
From a distant direction...
The shockwave, arriving a beat later, reached the capital, dispersing rain clouds, shaking buildings, overturning forests and mountains, quaking the earth as it swept through.
And what remained—
Was only the reemerged beautiful bright moon and the boundless starlit sky.
And at the blade of that Sword of Zenith—
The tide of annihilation surged directly toward the summit of the Sky-Piercing Tower, toward the direction where the boy’s shattered humanoid form lay.
The towering spire fell into silence in an instant.
Before Rast’s eyes, Noah—standing at a higher elevation—his Incarnation of Bounty and Emerald Eyes domain lasted no more than ten breaths before crumbling under the aurora of the celestial blade.
Reduced to scattered dust, extinguished within the Brilliance.
And immediately afterward, with the obstruction of Noah’s legendary-ranked Incarnation of Bounty gone—
The radiant torrent born of the Sword of Zenith poured down upon Rast without reservation.
His figure bathed in the surging Brilliance, faint golden Divine Power rose around him, shielding Rast’s already battered and broken body from disintegration by the annihilating light—but it quickly dimmed.
Yet Rast paid no mind to it.
He simply closed his eyes, quietly sensing within the Spiritual World, the Nether Abyss—whose control he had seized by killing the Remnant of the Death God—along with all the powers left behind by the Old Death Gods within, gradually disintegrating under the crushing pressure of the Sword of Zenith.
It was only natural.
As a “Heaven-based Weapon” with the planet’s gravity as its bowstring, once amplified by The Fool’s Library and True Name Liberation—
The final outburst of power from the Sword of Zenith far exceeded what was originally defined within the Forbidden Catalogue of the Arcane Tower.
After slaying Noah’s Incarnation of Bounty, its power did not halt, and it sought to shatter the entire Nether Abyss.
And, of course, this weapon lacked any sophisticated friend-or-foe identification function.
Once the remaining Divine Power of the Death God within the Nether Abyss was fully consumed, and the entirety of the Death God’s corpse reduced to nothingness...
What awaited Rast was naturally the same ending as that of Noah’s Incarnation of Bounty.
Of course, it didn’t matter.
Whether it was the Death God's Star Cup, or the Nether Abyss control authority Rast had gained by devouring the Remnant of the Death God—
They were all ephemeral illusions obtained within the Nightworld, like mirages... never authenticated by the Nightworld, and thus could never be brought back to the Present World. Destroyed now by the Sword of Zenith, they were simply gone, and there was nothing worth regretting.
All that transpired before him was within Rast’s plans, and he had long prepared an escape route for himself.
【Your historical alteration value for the Civilization Epic Event: “Battle of the Fractured Coastline” has reached the baseline requirement.】
【The basic clearance requirement of this Nightworld has been fulfilled】
【Final evaluation and reward for this Nightworld mission will be calculated upon exiting the Echo of History】
【Night Traveler, please choose whether to exit the Remnant of the Age or remain within】
At this moment, lines of deep blue light screens flickered slowly in Rast’s mind.
The Remnant of the Age, accessible only from the Final Nightworld of the Arcane Tower, had differing clearance conditions from other Nightworld Remnants.
Night Travelers who chose to enter the Remnant of the Age would find themselves participating in a civilization-altering historical event as part of its progression.
Unlike in other Nightworld Remnants, they didn’t need to adhere to time limits or meet strict objectives... as long as they advanced the historical event significantly or reached a certain level of involvement, the mission requirements would be deemed fulfilled.
And now—
As a Shoreguard who had infiltrated the Gravekeepers, becoming the new King of the Underworld Nation... presiding over the Sacred Rite, and singlehandedly crushing the Gravekeepers’ plan to resurrect the Death God during their Divine Ascension Ceremony, even slaying a Fertility Half‑Body of legendary rank.
Within that Incarnation of Bounty resided half of Noah’s Spiritual Power. With it destroyed, the weakened Noah would likely falter... possibly even tipping the tide of the Battle of the Fractured Coastline on the other side.
Having accomplished such monumental feats, Rast’s alteration value in this Nightworld had long surpassed the mission threshold... Though the evaluation was yet to be finalized, by Rast’s estimation, it would undoubtedly be rated as an “EX”.
As he didn’t belong to the Sixth Era, Rast only needed to exit the Nightworld before the annihilating light fully consumed the remnants of the Nether Abyss, and everything that remained—including the legendary battle erupting at the Fractured Coastline—would no longer be relevant to him—
And Rast himself could return safely to the Present World.
However...
Rast silently closed his eyes, feeling his shattered form drifting like a leaf amid the roaring tides of Brilliance.
With the Nether Abyss’ power not yet fully exhausted, during the last remaining time he could stay within the Nightworld, Rast was reflecting on and analyzing his experience in this realm—
Back during previous entries into the Nightworld, while participating in Nightworld Remnants, Rast had already noticed anomalies unique to himself.
For ordinary Night Travelers, the historical echoes experienced in the Nightworld were but phantom reflections... like replicable instances, closing entirely upon the traveler’s exit, leaving no trace.
But—
Rast was different.
From the very beginning, due to some unknown reason, the Deep Blue Port instance he entered was a Nightworld that would never truly close no matter how many times it repeated.
And as his journey progressed after leaving the Deep Blue Port, these anomalies only grew more apparent.
Rast’s history of preventing the Descent of the (Evil) God at the Deep Blue Port was known to Cisel and documented in the Shoreguards’ archives at the Watchtower.
The gray-haired little girl he had saved during the Catastrophe Remnant of Frozenwater Town, the one he named like a newborn beast...
Would, in another Nightworld, reunite with him at the Watchtower ten years later—still vividly remembering the moments they shared.
All these anomalies led Rast to the only possible conclusion—
What he experienced was not merely an old instance, but a piece of reality.
What he was in was not a Nightworld Remnant, but the real history that occurred during the Sixth Era...
And everything Rast had done was rewriting the past by traversing time as a Night Traveler, personally penning the historical progress of a former era.
Based on the information he currently possessed, Rast could not directly deduce a clear answer as to why he was capable of traveling through time.
The only plausible conjecture—
Was that all these abnormalities and changes might be connected to his Night Blade, The Fool’s Library, and that unremovable inherent skill called “Origin of Fate” which he had obtained from Little Grey.
The Shoreguards of the Sixth Era, and that woman from his childhood memories who saved him from the ruins of Canaan, should have originated from the same source.
And his Night Blade, The Fool’s Library, also came from the inheritance of the Shoreguards—the very first seed of fire, stolen from the Gravekeepers by the original Shoreguard, passed down through the generations—
Because of his time-traveling, the originally unique Spark now existed in duplicate during the Sixth Era, currently held by both himself and Little Grey.
And having understood these prerequisite truths—
Even before entering the Echo of History this time, Rast had set two goals for his journey into the Nightworld.
The first goal Rast set for himself was to give Grey a profound lesson—an experience named failure.
Even though on that rainy night three years ago, Grey had already tasted the bitter wine of betrayal… and had undergone a transformation over the past three years, becoming more mature and learning how to grow stronger—
It still wasn’t enough.
Whether compared to the current leader of the Shoreguards, Cisel, or to the enemies and burdens she must face as the Next Leader of the Shoreguards, Grey was still far too green and naive, harboring many unrealistic fantasies in her heart.
After all, until now, no matter what Grey had experienced, including the betrayal on that rainy night... she always had Cisel as a shield to fall back on.
Thus, she had yet to experience a complete failure, never tasted despair that engraved itself deep into the soul.
Therefore, Rast orchestrated that battle against Grey atop the Sacred Rite in Paradise, and the dialogue where he confessed everything.
When the unique “Fate” Sequence, the strongest trump card The Fool’s Library, and all those skills and techniques you painstakingly trained—when all of it was also possessed by the enemy, and wielded even better than you—
When the adversary claimed to be from the future and revealed to you that the Shoreguards were destined to perish in that future—
When you had seen the darkest night—
Could the ideals you once believed in, the convictions you held, and the fiery brilliance in your heart still remain unshaken?
This was the trial Rast had set for Grey.
That light-consuming darkness, the deepest despair, was exactly the kind of black night that the Shoreguards of past generations, including Rast himself, had once faced.
And only by experiencing such failure and despair, and still rising again, continuing forward by the faint light in one’s heart… only by passing such a test could Grey truly bear the name of Shoreguard and become Cisel’s true successor.
And in the end, Rast had successfully achieved this goal.
That helpless defeat, the anguish of being betrayed by Rast a second time, the despair of realizing that her entire world was but ephemeral bubbles… all of it would become the nourishment for Grey’s growth, her strength to climb to the peak of the world.
To complete her final metamorphosis and rebirth—
Even if she lost the support of both Rast and Cisel, she would be able to walk the Shoreguards’ path firmly on her own, bearing the weight of humanity’s fate in the Sixth Era.
...
The second mission goal Rast had set for himself this time was to rescue Akxia from the deepest depths of the Nether Abyss.
At the same time, to bury everything left behind by that Old Death God—whether it be the Underworld Nation, or the Nether Abyss, Divine Husk, Star Cup, or Divine Authority… everything, completely and utterly.
Because only in this way could Akxia truly break free from the identity of “Divine Descendant of the Death God, Perfect Vessel,” and live in the world as an ordinary human girl.
And only then could Rast write a satisfying ending to that Unfinished Fairy Tale...
This was not just for Akxia, but also for Rast’s own redemption—
“If the fairy tale is false, the love is still real.” Since this story began from lies and deceit, even a fabricated emotion could still reach a perfect conclusion...
Then, even if one day—his utopia, that Canaan suspended between the Nightworld and reality, vanished like foam, proven to be false—
Then between him and Emis, whether true or false, there would still remain a feeling called “love.”
At the same time, rescuing Akxia was also to bring historical causality full circle.
Rast and Akxia’s souls did not belong to this era, yet due to some unknown reason, they had entered the historical river of the Sixth Era as foreign impurities… Only by returning these impurities to their original era and closing the loop of history, could many things avoid being overturned by the butterfly effect.
And now, Akxia had already been returned to the correct timeline.
All the mission objectives Rast had initially set for himself had now been fully accomplished.
His mission in the Nightworld had ended, and it was time to prepare to leave.
“Just—”
“There’s still some regret…”
Gazing at his dilapidated Mental Image World, where only gears turned on a crimson wasteland, Rast felt the most primal stirrings in his heart and spoke words that followed his true feelings.
This was not something the former Rast, who acted like a machine, would ever have uttered.
In the mechanical code that prioritized operational efficiency above all else, an emotion like regret held no value beyond meaningless internal consumption.
Aside from necessary actions to achieve goals, everything else was discardable… That had been Rast’s code of life, which meant he would never lament needlessly, nor experience the redundant emotion of regret.
But—
For the present Rast—for the one who had encountered Emis, Shiltina, Dean Silver… and many people and events at Starfall University, whose crimson mental landscape had begun to sprout green shoots—
This was his truest and clearest feeling in the moment.
Such a regret…
“To not have personally witnessed Leader Cisel’s final curtain call.”
“And even more… to not have properly said goodbye to Little Grey.”
Rast gently touched the left side of his chest, feeling the slow, vivid thumping of his heart within his chest—
Not the mechanical ticking of gearwork, but the heartbeat and pulse of a human being.
“From now on, we may go many years without seeing each other.”
“And during all that time, she’ll be forced to live on with hatred and resentment toward me.”
“Even though she’s someone who cries easily, who’s so afraid of loneliness—she’ll have to carry the fate of the entire Shoreguards and the era on her frail shoulders.”
“It really is…”
“Hard not to worry about.”
The final trace of amber light in the Nether Abyss was swallowed by the Brilliance, and with a subtle shift of thought, Rast was about to select the “Exit Nightworld” option on the azure light screen.
His murmurs faded into the flowing light, unheard by anyone.
The dim Divine Power was nearly exhausted, and the veil of darkness quietly rose within Rast’s vision, softly enshrouding him.
This was the omen of exiting the Nightworld. When the gauzy curtain of night fully obscured his sight, it would mean he had completely left the Nightworld, returning to reality.
However, just then, he heard a voice.
A voice that pierced sky and earth, ran through bedrock and crust, ignored the surging Brilliance, and rang directly in Rast’s ear.
“Don’t you want to see that little one one last time… to tell her the whole truth, to clear up the misunderstanding between you?”
“Do you really resign yourself to leave alone, return to your own time and space, without even a proper farewell?”
“Such an ending—don’t you feel regret?”
“If you do regret it, then stand up, and make up for it with your own hands.”
Along with that thunderous voice that echoed through heaven and earth, an aged figure like a lion descended.
Within the suddenly emerging black fissure, sunlight broke through the curtain of eternal night.
The torrent of light was torn apart.
Before that dazzling solar disc, the Sword of Zenith lost all brilliance, like a firefly before a full moon.
This moment was like the setting sun on the long river.
Cisel thus appeared before Rast, facing head-on the Divine Punishment that fell from the sky—a legendary weapon once called “Solidified Divine Punishment.”
“It’s nothing more than—”
“A mere Divine Punishment!”